German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
In 1932, Edmonds recorded 1,344 German casualties; 615 men in the attack and 729 during British counter-attacks. British casualties in the 47th Division from 22 to 24 May were 1,571, 2nd Division casualties were 267 and the 7th Brigade (25th Division) had 637 casualties, a total of 2,475. In 1936, the official historians of "Der Weltkrieg", the German official history, recorded that 300 British prisoners had been taken.
Franz von Papen
Later in the World War, Papen returned to the army on active service, first on the Western Front. In 1916 Papen took command of the 2nd Reserve Battalion of the 93rd Regiment of the 4th Guards Infantry Division fighting in Flanders. The Guards units of the Prussian Army had the responsibility of protecting Wilhelm II in peacetime, so a posting to a Guards unit was very prestigious. On 22 August 1916 Papen's battalion took heavy losses while successfully resisting a British attack on the river Somme that earned him praise for his courage under fire from his commanders. Between November 1916–February 1917, Papen's battalion was engaged in almost continuous heavy fighting, where Papen displayed coolness under fire and a certain "reckless courage" as he seemed to have no fear of death, but other officers criticized him for his tendency to charge into things without thinking matters through. On 11 April 1917, Papen fought at Vimy Ridge, where his battalion was defeated with heavy losses by the Canadian Corps. The Germans had held Vimy Ridge against repeated French attacks in 1915 and British attacks in 1916, and the ridge become a symbol of German power, so its loss in only one day's fighting to the Canadian corps was considered humiliating. In a report after Vimy, Papen's commanding officers praised him for his courage and elan as he resisted the Canadian assault up the heights of Vimy, ordering counter-attack after counter-attack, but criticised him for poor planning and execution of his counterattacks. Papen argued that the defeat was not so bad as the Canadian Corps were unsuccessful for the previous four weeks in attempting to take Vimy, so its loss in only one day was really not that bad. After Vimy, Papen stated he was tired of commanding infantrymen in defensive battles on the Western Front, and asked for a transfer to the Middle East, where he could fight in offensive battles as a cavalryman, the style of war in which he had been trained, and which suited his personality better. Significantly, Papen's commanding officers were not sorry to lose him, and approved his request to go to the Ottoman Empire.