How many casualties were there during the German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916 ?
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.
75th Battalion (Mississauga), CEF
The raid was especially costly, as it claimed the life of the Commanding Officer, LCol S.G. Beckett, and the numerous casualties (9 Officers, 112 other ranks killed, missing or wounded) so depleted the battalion that its participation in the multi-divisional assault of Vimy Ridge on 9 April 1917 was as a weakened battalion in the 11th Brigade, behind the 87th Battalion, the 102nd Battalion, and the 11th Canadian Machine Gun Company. Elements of the 75th attacked in the first wave at 0530 hrs in front of the Tottenham Trench on a particularly stubborn German sniping position. By 1500 hours the area was reported clear with 40 prisoners captured.
Mametz Wood Memorial
Mametz Wood was the objective of the 38th (Welsh) Division during the First Battle of the Somme. The attack was made in a northerly direction over a ridge, focussing on the German positions in the wood, between 7 July and 12 July 1916. On 7 July the men formed the first wave intending to take the wood in a matter of hours. However, strong fortification, machineguns and shelling killed and injured over 400 soldiers before they reached the wood. Further attacks by the 17th Division on 8 July failed to improve the position.
Battle of Remagen
On 14 March Hitler ordered SS General Hans Kammler to attack the bridge with V2 ballistic missiles. The German General Staff was shocked that Hitler would order the use of the inaccurate weapons on German soil when they would very likely kill German citizens and troops. On 17 March, Batterie SS Abt. 500 at Hellendoorn in the Netherlands, about to the north, fired eleven V2 rockets at the bridge. It was their first and only use against a tactical target and the only time they were fired on a German target during the war. The inaccurate missiles landed as far away as Cologne, to the north. One struck the town of Oedingen, destroying a number of buildings, killing three U.S. GIs and a number of German residents, and wounding many others. One missile struck the 284th Combat Engineers Command Post in Remagen at 12:20 pm, missing the bridge by about . Those present said it felt like an earthquake. The blast damaged or destroyed buildings in a radius, killing three soldiers and wounding 30 more.
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
The centennial commemoration of the Battle of Vimy Ridge took place at the memorial on 9 April 2017, coincidentally during the Canadian sesquicentennial celebrations. Estimates before the event indicated that an audience of up to 30,000 would be present. The Mayor of Arras, Frédéric Leturque, thanked Canadians, along with Australians, Britons, New Zealanders and South Africans, for their role in the First World War battles in the area.
Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf
The fighting from 20 December 1915 to 8 January 1916 cost the French 7,465 casualties, about 50 percent of the attacking force, of whom 1,103 were taken prisoner, along with thirty machine-guns; German casualties were 4,513 men, 1,700 being taken prisoner. Dubail stopped offensive operations to rest the survivors and to avoid French resources being drained away to little purpose; in "Étude au sujet des opérations dans les Vosges" (4 January 1916) Dubail recommended that such enterprises be avoided.
1st Surrey Rifles
In Spring 1916 the division was moved to the Vimy Ridge sector near Arras. This was quiet to begin with, but in April intensive mining operations were begun by both sides, and on 20 May the Germans attacked and took some ground from the division. The 1/21st and 1/24th Bns counter-attacked on the evening of 23 May. The 1/24th was held up, but A Company of the First Surreys went ahead and recaptured the old line, holding it for about an hour and causing heavy casualties to the enemy. However, they were unsupported by flanking forces and were compelled to return: 'Nothing was left to show for this gallant and costly action beyond a few yards of our old front line'. To hold its position against German counter-attack at the end of the action, the battalion had to be reinforced by a company of the 1/22nd Londons, by the divisional engineers and pioneers and by the tunnelling companies. The First Surreys suffered 187 casualties of all ranks in this action.
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.
252nd Tunnelling Company
Vimy was an area of busy underground activity for much of the war. Between October 1915 and April 1917 an estimated 150 French, British and German charges were fired in the -long Vimy sector of the Western Front. The British gallery network beneath Vimy Ridge eventually grew to a length of . Other units active around Vimy, particularly in preparation for the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9-12 April 1917) were 172nd, 175th, 176th, 182nd and 185th Tunnelling Companies.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
Trench raiding involved making small-scale surprise attacks on enemy positions, often in the middle of the night for reasons of stealth. All belligerents employed trench raiding as a tactic to harass their enemy and gain intelligence. In the Canadian Corps trench raiding developed into a training and leadership-building mechanism. The size of a raid would normally be anything from a few men to an entire company, or more, depending on the size of the mission. The four months before the April attack saw the Canadian Corps execute no fewer than 55 separate trench raids. Competition between units even developed with units competing for the honour of the greatest number of prisoners captured or most destruction wrought. The policy of aggressive trench raiding was not without its cost. A large-scale trench raid on 13 February 1917, involving 900 men from the 4th Canadian Division, resulted in 150 casualties. An even more ambitious trench raid, using chlorine gas, on 1 March 1917, once again by the 4th Canadian Division, failed and resulted in 637 casualties including two battalion commanders and a number of company commanders killed. This experience did not lessen the extent to which the Canadian Corps employed trench raiding with raids being conducted nightly between 20 March and the opening of the offensive on 9 April, resulting in approximately 1,400 additional Canadian casualties. The Germans operated an active patrolling policy and although not as large and ambitious as those of the Canadian Corps, they also engaged in trench raiding. As an example, a German trench raid launched by 79 men against the 3rd Canadian Division on 15 March 1917 was successful in capturing prisoners and causing damage.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
The mine warfare waged by the French and Germans was continued by the British, exploiting the advantage of being on the dip slope and only having to dig horizontally into the ridge to undermine German positions. The Germans, on the steeper scarp slope, had to dig down before they could dig horizontally, a disadvantage made worse by a shortage of manpower and mining equipment. An attack was planned by the Germans to capture the British positions, from which mine galleries were being dug under the German defences. Success would gain more defensive depth and forestall mine attacks on the German positions, before the British had been able to organise their defences on the ridge.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
Just before German barrages began on the 99th Brigade front, between two battalions on the lower east slope of the "Talus des Zouaves", on the "Talus" and on the communication trenches. The jumping-off trenches were destroyed, the 1st Battalion, royal Berkshire Regiment lost 100 men and after a platoon advanced and lost half its men, the attack was cancelled on local initiative. Communication with the rear was cut but a wireless stayed operational for long enough to inform the 99th Brigade and a liaison officer was sent to the 22nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers on left flank and runners went forward immediately. B Company and its section of the 226th Field Company did not receive a message and attacked at reaching the German front line, despite German machine-gun fire sweeping across no man's land. Officers went forward to lead the company back but found only dead and wounded. The attack by the battalions on the flanks of the 99th Brigade went ahead and the 3rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment of the 7th Brigade captured the objective. On the left flank, the 1/24th London and 1/21st London bombed their way into the old support line and front line, were driven out, recaptured them and were pushed back a second time.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
IV Corps had the 23rd Division and 47th Division in the line and the 2nd Division (Major-General William Walker) in reserve near Brouay behind the front line. When the 47th Division moved its right flank to the south, Central Ave became the army boundary instead of Ersatz Ave. Two battalions of its 142nd Brigade held the Carency sector and a battalion of the 140th Brigade held the line in the Souchez sector, with the other battalions holding the Loretto Spur defences. During the reshuffle of 19/20 May, the northern defences were taken over by the 23rd Division and the 140th Brigade took over Berthonval from the 74th Brigade, 25th Division and the 141st Brigade took over Carency from the 142nd Brigade, which went into divisional reserve and the 7th Brigade, 25th Division in P sector came temporarily under the command of the 47th Division. The intention to use the French front line as the principal defence had been thwarted by the German miners and the detached posts established instead of a trench line, were under constant German observation. Troops moved forward after dark and held the posts from but hardly any more wire had been put out and the posts had no dugouts. The support line towards the bottom of the slope was supposed to be the main line of resistance but wet weather and German bombardments destroyed during the day what had been build in the night.
IV Corps (United Kingdom)
In March the British took over line from French Tenth Army. IV Corps was moved south of Givenchy, opposite Vimy Ridge, which gave the Germans the advantage of height. 47th Division conducted effective mining operations on 3 May and 15 May. A surprise German attack on the evening of Sunday 21 May moved forward 800 yards, capturing 1,000 yards of the British front line. The subsequent counterattack failed and Wilson was almost "degummed" (relieved of command).
Battle of Arras (1917)
The most quoted Allied casualty figures are those in the returns made by Lt-Gen Sir George Fowke, Haig's adjutant-general. His figures collate the daily casualty tallies kept by each unit under Haig's command. Third Army casualties were 87,226; First Army 46,826 (including 11,004 Canadians at Vimy Ridge); and Fifth Army 24,608; totalling 158,660.
German losses are more difficult to determine. "Gruppe Vimy" and "Gruppe Souchez" suffered 79,418 casualties but the figures for "Gruppe Arras" are incomplete. The writers of the German Official History "Der Weltkrieg", recorded losses to the end of April and another by the end of May, a total of and casualties. German records excluded those "lightly wounded". Captain Cyril Falls (the writer of the Official History volume on the battle) estimated that 30 percent needed to be added to German returns for comparison with the British. Falls made "a general estimate" that German casualties were "probably fairly equal". Nicholls puts them at 120,000 and Keegan at 130,000.
Battle of Vimy Ridge order of battle
Three divisions were ultimately responsible for manning the front-line defences opposite the Canadian Corps. The 16th Bavarian Infantry Division was located opposite the town of Souchez and responsible for the defence of the northernmost section of the ridge. The division had been created in January 1917 from existing Bavarian formations and had so far only opposed the Canadian Corps. The 79th Reserve Division was responsible for the defence of the central section, including the highest point of the ridge, Hill 145. The 79th Reserve Division had fought for two years on the Eastern Front and was transferred to the Vimy sector at the end of February 1917. The 1st Bavarian Reserve Division had been in the Arras area since October 1914 and was holding the villages of Thélus, Bailleul and the southern slope of the ridge.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The Canadian Corps was posted to the northern part of Vimy Ridge in October 1916 and preparations for an attack were revived in February 1917. British tunnelling companies created extensive underground networks and fortifications. Twelve subways, up to long were excavated at a depth of and used to connect reserve lines to front lines, permitting soldiers to advance to the front quickly, securely and unseen. Often incorporated into subways were light rail lines, hospitals, command posts, water reservoirs, ammunition stores, mortar and machine gun posts and communication centres. The Germans dug a number of similar tunnels on the Vimy front, to provide covered routes to the front line and protection for headquarters, resting personnel, equipment, and ammunition. The Germans also conducted counter-mining against the British tunnellers and destroyed a number of British attempts to plant mines under or near their lines.
Vimy Ridge Day
Vimy Ridge Day is a day to commemorate the deaths and casualties of members of the Canadian Corps during the First World War Battle of Vimy Ridge. The holiday has been observed annually on 9 April since 2003. It is a non-statutory observance.
Ellis Wellwood Sifton
On 9 April 1917 at Neuville-St.-Vaast, France, during an attack on enemy trenches, Lance-Sergeant Sifton's company was held up by machine-gun fire. During an attack on Vimy Ridge, "C" Company of the 18th Battalion was held up during its advance by German machine gunners who had survived the artillery barrage by taking refuge in concrete shelters. As the Canadians moved forward, the German machine guns swept the battlefield, causing heavy casualties. Sifton saw the machine gun nest first. He jumped up, rushed forward and leapt into the trench. He then charged into the German gun crew and knocked the gun over before turning on the gunners with his bayonet, killing each man. More Canadians hurried forward, but not before a small German party moved down the trench towards Sifton. He used his bayonet and his rifle as a club to fight them off until help arrived. Despite these efforts, Sifton was killed during the fighting.
Mines in the Battle of Messines (1917)
In December 1916, Füßlein, commander of German mining operations in the salient, had recorded that British deep mining was intended to support an offensive above ground and received three more mining companies, to fight in the British lower as well as the upper mine systems and had gained some success. In April 1917, the 4th Army (General Friedrich Bertram Sixt von Armin) received information from air reconnaissance that a British offensive was being prepared in the Messines Ridge sector and a spy reported to OHL, that if the offensive at Arras was frustrated, the British would transfer their effort to Flanders. Hermann von Kuhl, the Chief of Staff of (Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht), suggested that the salient around Messines Ridge be abandoned, since it could be attacked from three sides and most of the defences were on forward slopes, vulnerable to concentric, observed artillery-fire. A voluntary retirement would avoid the calamity experienced by the defenders at the Battle of Vimy Ridge on 9 April.
Vimy Ridge Day
The corps had suffered 10,602 casualties; 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded. The German Sixth Army suffered an unknown number of casualties with an approximate 4,000 men becoming prisoners of war. Four Victoria Crosses, the highest military decoration awarded to British and Commonwealth forces for valour, were awarded to members of the Canadian Corps and at least two Orders Pour le Mérite, the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order, were awarded to German commanders. The Germans did not attempt to recapture the ridge, including during the Spring Offensive, and it remained under British control until the end of the war.
Battle of Vimy Ridge order of battle
Canadian Corps commander Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng had four attacking divisions, one division of reserves and numerous support units under his command. He was supported to the north by the 24th British Division of I Corps which advanced north of the Souchez river and by the advancing XVII Corps to the south. The 4th Canadian Division was responsible for the northern portion of the advance which included the capture of the highest point of the ridge followed by the heavily defended knoll known as "the Pimple" just north of the town of Givenchy-en-Gohelle. The 3rd Canadian Division was responsible for the narrow central section of the ridge, including the capture of La Folie Farm. The 2nd Canadian Division, which later included an additional brigade from the 5th British Division was directly south of 3rd Canadian Division and entrusted with the capture of the town of Thélus. The 1st Canadian Division was responsible for the broad southern sector of the corps advance and was expected to make the greatest advance in terms distance. Byng also planned for a healthy reserve for contingencies in case additional troops were needed to relieve forward troops, help in consolidating positions or aiding the 4th Canadian Division with the capture of "the Pimple". As a result, the 9th Canadian Brigade, 15th British Brigade and 95th British Brigade were kept in a corps-level reserve.
List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Artois
At this phase of the war, the Allied objective was to end the stalemate of the trenches and break through the German defences into the open ground beyond and engage the numerically inferior German army in a war of movement. The French High Command's plan was to launch a massive attack (the "Nivelle Offensive") about to the south of the British sector in the Aisne region and at Arras the Allied objectives were to draw German troops away from the ground chosen for the French attack and to take the German-held high ground that dominated the plain of Douai. The British effort was a relatively broad front assault between Vimy in the northwest and Bullecourt in the southeast. After considerable bombardment, Canadian troops advancing in the north were able to capture the strategically significant Vimy Ridge and British divisions in the centre were also able to make significant gains astride the Scarpe river. In the south, British and Australian forces were frustrated by the elastic defence and made only minimal gains. When the battle officially ended on 16 May, British Empire troops had made significant advances but had been unable to achieve a breakthrough and the stalemate of the trenches returned.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The Canadian Corps was to capture the German-held high ground of Vimy Ridge, an escarpment on the northern flank of the Arras front. This would protect the First Army and the Third Army farther south from German enfilade fire. Supported by a creeping barrage, the Canadian Corps captured most of the ridge during the first day of the attack. The village of Thélus fell during the second day, as did the crest of the ridge, once the Canadian Corps overran a salient against considerable German resistance. The final objective, a fortified knoll located outside the village of Givenchy-en-Gohelle, fell to the Canadians on 12 April. The 6th Army then retreated to the Oppy–Méricourt line.
Second Battle of Ypres
After the war, German casualties from 21 April to 30 May were recorded as 34,933 by the official historians of the . In the British Official History, J. E. Edmonds and G. C. Wynne recorded British losses of 59,275 casualties, the French about 18,000 casualties on 22 April and another 3,973 from Canadian casualties from 22 April to 3 May were 5,975, of whom about 1,000 men were killed. The worst day was 24 April, when were suffered during infantry attacks, artillery bombardments and gas discharges. In 2002, Clayton wrote that thousands of men of the 45th and 87th divisions ran from the gas but that the number of casualties was low. The Germans overran both divisions' artillery but the survivors rallied and held a new line further back. In 2010, Humphries and Maker, in their translated edition of "Der Weltkrieg" recorded that by 9 May, there had been more than 35,000 German casualties, 59,275 British between 22 April and 31 May and very many French casualties, 18,000 on 22 April alone. In 2012, Sheldon gave similar figures and in 2014, Greenhalgh wrote that French casualties had been exaggerated by propaganda against German "frightfulness" and that in 1998, Olivier Lepick had estimated that were killed by gas in April out of casualties.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
At a conference, Wilson decided that the 47th Division should control a counter-attack at on 23 May, after the moon was up, by the 99th Brigade, 2nd Division, the 142nd Brigade, 47th Division and the 7th Brigade of the 25th Division. Haig intervened later that day to insist that no hasty attack be made and the counter-attack was postponed until dusk on 24 May. On the night of more artillery batteries were brought into action to fire on the new German positions and links to the rear. The 140th Brigade was withdrawn and replaced by the 99th Brigade and battalions of the 141st Brigade were relieved by part of the 142nd Brigade. The Germans kept up an intense bombardment of Zouave Valley, which made the reliefs more difficult and was apparently prompted by a British deserter, who told the Germans that a counter-attack would begin late on 22 May.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
The Germans attacked on 21 May and were able to consolidate their objectives, before the British could conduct counter-attacks powerful enough to recapture the ground. In the attack and its aftermath the Germans suffered against the A British plan to recapture the front positions and take the German side of the ridge was cancelled, because of the demand for men and equipment of the forthcoming Battle of the Somme, the attack on the Gommecourt Salient taking priority. British planning continued and became the basis for the much larger attack by the Canadian Corps at the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9–12 April 1917).
Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
Carency sector
List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Artois
In February 1916 the British XVII Corps relieved the French Tenth Army from the sector and, on 21 May 1916, the German infantry attacked the British lines along a front in an effort to force them from positions along the base of the ridge. The Germans captured several British-controlled tunnels and mine craters before halting their advance and entrenching their positions. British counter-attacks on 22 May did not manage to change the situation, and in October 1916 the Canadian Corps relieved the British IV Corps and took up position along the western slopes of Vimy Ridge.
1st Hussars
On 9 April 1917, the Battle of Vimy Ridge commenced. During the battle, the CLH was committed on the southern flank of the line where elements of the regiment were tasked with reconnaissance towards the village of Willerval to determine if a breakthrough would be possible, or if the village could be held. Two mounted patrols set out at around 4:30 p.m., one approaching from the north and the other from the south. The northern patrol entered the village and was able to take about 15 prisoners before withdrawing under fire from a German machine-gun. The southern patrol ran into a German position and was also forced to withdraw under fire. The two patrols lost six men killed, six wounded and another three missing.
47th (1/2nd London) Division
The 47th Division conducted effective mining operations against Vimy Ridge on 3 May and 15 May 1916, but a German attack on the evening of Sunday 21 May moved forward 800 yards, capturing 1,000 yards of the British front line, and the Division performed badly during a counterattack on 23 May. The 47th Division conducted a carefully planned single battalion raid on the night of 27–8 June, claiming to have killed 300–600 Germans for only 13 British casualties.
Grimsby Chums
The Grimsby Chums joined the 101st Brigade of the 34th Division where they were joined by the two battalions of the Edinburgh City Pals. The division moved to France in January 1916 and first saw action in the Battle of the Somme. On 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, the Grimsby Chums were in the first wave attacking the fortified village of La Boisselle, just south of the Albert–Bapaume road. To aid their attack, a massive mine, known as the Lochnagar mine, was detonated beneath the German trenches at 7.28 am, two minutes before Zero hour. At 7.30 am, the Grimsby Chums rushed forward to occupy the crater. Here many were trapped for the rest of the day, harassed by both German and British artillery.
A few of the Grimsby Chums made it into the German trenches. The only officer to make it was 2nd Lieutenant Harold P. Hendin who led five men to the German reserve trench (the third trench in the front-line system) and, gathering stragglers as the day progressed, he held off a series of German counter-attacks before having to retire. In total the Grimsby Chums suffered 502 casualties on 1 July; 15 officers and 487 other ranks. Only two of the officers came back unwounded, and only about 100 men.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
As the greater part of the attack was to be conducted by Infantry Regiment 163, it was named "Schleswig-Holstein" and orders for the operation were issued on 9 May. The attack was to begin in the middle of the month but postponements delayed the attack until British Summer Time) on 21 May. The front was divided into three sectors, South with Foot Guard Regiment 5 (4th Guard Division), Centre with Reserve Infantry Regiment 86 of the 18th Reserve Division and North with Infantry Regiment 163 from the 17th Reserve Division, all three sector regiments being reinforced by machine-gun and engineer units; two more infantry regiments were held in reserve. Eighty artillery batteries, including the artillery of IX Reserve Corps, IV Corps and the Guard Reserve Corps, plus six batteries of heavy howitzers and nine mortar batteries, along with six heavy, nine medium and eight light "Minenwerfer" were to participate. Sufficient ammunition was provided for batteries to fire at 200 shells per hour and counter-battery reconnaissance aircrews managed to locate 83 British artillery emplacements.
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
The ridge fell under German control in October 1914, during the Race to the Sea, as the Franco-British and German forces continually attempted to outflank each other through northeastern France. The French Tenth Army attempted to dislodge the Germans from the region during the Second Battle of Artois in May 1915 by attacking their positions at Vimy Ridge and Notre Dame de Lorette. During the attack, the French 1st Moroccan Division briefly captured the height of the ridge, where the Vimy memorial is currently located, but was unable to hold it owing to a lack of reinforcements. The French made another attempt during the Third Battle of Artois in September 1915, but were once again unsuccessful in capturing the top of the ridge. The French suffered approximately 150,000 casualties in their attempts to gain control of Vimy Ridge and surrounding territory.
East Riding Royal Garrison Artillery
164th Siege Bty moved to First Army where it was attached to the Canadian Corps from 22 March 1917 (joining 28 March) and to 1st Canadian HAG from 8 April. The artillery preparation for the Battle of Vimy Ridge had begun on 20 March, with the batteries of 1st Canadian HAG firing from behind Bois de Berthonval in 1st Canadian Division's sector. The artillery plan for the heavy guns emphasised counter-battery fire in the days before the assault. Then at Zero hour, while the field guns laid down a Creeping barrage to protect the advancing infantry, the howitzers would switch to laying down a 'standing barrage' on the German support trench. When the creeping barrage reached this line, the standing barrage would then lift onto the phase two objectives (the 'Blue Line'). Once the infantry had achieved their phase two objectives, the field guns would move forward into No man's land and the 6-inch howitzers would move up into their vacated positions to shorten the range to targets deeper behind the German lines. The attack went in on 9 April with Canadian Corps and I Corps successfully capturing Vimy Ridge while Third Army attacked further south near Arras. The only hold-up on 9 April was at Hill 145, near the north end of the Canadian attack, and the capture of this position was completed the next day. Fighting in the southern sector (the Battle of Arras) continued into May.
50th Battalion (Calgary), CEF
From the Somme, the battalion was moved northward to Artois in November 1916, where they spent their winter and Christmas preparing for the offensive against Vimy Ridge. From January to March, the 4th Division's artillery provided part of the pre-battle barrage. In March, the Canadian Corps changed the commander of the battalion, as Colonel E.G. Mason was transferred to another battalion and replaced Lieutenant-Colonel Page. In April, the Canadians made their three-day offensive, starting the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
Reinforcements
Battle of Vimy Ridge
On their arrival, the British began offensive mining against German miners, first stopping the German underground advance and then developing a defensive strategy that prevented the Germans from gaining a tactical advantage by mining. From spring 1916, the British had deployed five tunnelling companies along the Vimy Ridge and during the first two months of their tenure of the area, 70 mines were fired, mostly by the Germans. Between October 1915 and April 1917 an estimated 150 French, British and German charges were fired in this sector of the Western Front. In May 1916, Operation Schleswig-Holstein, a German infantry attack, forced the British back , to stop British mining by capturing the shaft entrances. In the second half of 1916, the British constructed strong defensive underground positions and from August 1916, the Royal Engineers developed a mining scheme for a big infantry attack on the Vimy Ridge proposed for autumn 1916, although this was postponed. After September 1916, when the Royal Engineers had completed their network of defensive galleries along most of the front line, offensive mining largely ceased although activities continued until 1917. The British gallery network beneath Vimy Ridge eventually grew to a length of .
Battle of Vimy Ridge
Operations along the Vimy Ridge were accompanied by extensive underground excavations. The Arras–Vimy sector was conducive to tunnelling owing to the soft, porous yet extremely stable nature of the chalk underground. Underground warfare had been conducted on the Vimy sector since 1915. Bavarian engineers had blown twenty mines in the sector by March 1915. By early 1916, German miners had gained an advantage over their French counterparts. British tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers took over progressively from the French between February and May 1916.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
On the front of FR 5 the reinforced II Battalion was to a narrow-front attack straight down Hill 145 and just before H-Hour the battalion was squeezed into every patch of cover up Hill 145 from the "Transfeld" Crater. After the bombardment from the troops attacked and a mine exploded, creating the "Schleswig-Holstein" Crater, near Broadmarsh Crater. A British machine-gun crew fired from the south and hit several German machine-gunners, preventing the Germans from occupying the crater until the gun was silenced. Another German platoon was shot down by a British machine-gun on the far side of the "Transfeld" Crater but the German infantry managed to advance between the two craters and close the gaps that had appeared in the German line as the Germans and British fought with hand-grenades and by touch had been gained with RJB 9 on the left and the 5th Company on the right. Several troops tried to rush the British third line but were caught in crossfire and killed. An officer jumped into a trench and cut the all the wires he could find but engineers advancing with the infantry failed to find any mine entrances.
The 47th Division HQ had ordered the 142nd Brigade up to a reserve position behind the front line and Wilson ordered the 99th Brigade, 2nd Division forward in lorries and buses to the 47th Division HQ. Plans were made for a counter-attack at on 22 May by the 47th Division reserves but only some under-strength companies of the 1/15th London, 140th Brigade and the 1/18th London of the 141st Brigade took part. The Germans had already consolidated and the attack was repulsed. On the right flank the 8th Loyal North Lancashire recaptured the lost portion of the 7th Brigade area. Artillery reinforcements of BL 9.2-inch howitzer and two BL 60-pounder gun batteries from the First Army was sent to IV Corps and the corps moved two field brigades of the 2nd Division from reserve to the 47th Division. Ammunition for the guns was limited, much of what was available was faulty and the new units were unfamiliar with the ridge.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
On 28 May 1916, Byng took command of the Canadian Corps from Lieutenant-General Sir Edwin Alderson. Formal discussions for a spring offensive near Arras began, following a conference of corps commanders held at the First Army Headquarters on 21 November 1916. In March 1917, the First Army headquarters formally presented Byng with orders outlining Vimy Ridge as the Canadian Corps objective for the Arras Offensive. A formal assault plan, adopted in early March 1917, drew heavily on the briefings of staff officers sent to learn from the experiences of the French Army during the Battle of Verdun. For the first time the four Canadian divisions would fight together. The nature and size of the attack needed more resources than the Canadian Corps possessed; the British 5th Division, artillery, engineer and labour units were attached to the corps, bringing the nominal strength of the Canadian Corps to about 170,000 men, of whom 97,184 were Canadian.
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
The British XVII Corps relieved the French Tenth Army from the sector in February 1916. On 21 May 1916, the German infantry attacked the British lines along a front in an effort to force them from positions along the base of the ridge. The Germans captured several British-controlled tunnels and mine craters before halting their advance and entrenching their positions. Temporary Lieutenant Richard Basil Brandram Jones was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his ultimately unsuccessful defence of the Broadmarsh Crater during the attack. British counter-attacks on 22 May did not manage to change the situation. The Canadian Corps relieved the British IV Corps stationed along the western slopes of Vimy Ridge in October 1916.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
The survivors from the British front line retreated to the reserve line along the "Talus des Zouaves" embankment in Zouave Valley and the 1/3rd. 1/4th and 2/3rd London Field companies RE were rushed up to occupy the trenches on the west slope of Zouave Valley. The German attack to the south against the positions of the 7th and 141st Brigades was less successful but the outpost line, part of the support line and Broadmarsh Crater were lost. The 10th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment on the right flank and the 1/20th London made defensive flanks along communication trenches and prevented their positions from being rolled up. All of the heads of the British mine galleries except for one in Royal Ave had been captured; the Germans began to consolidate and the German guns kept up their bombardment for another eight hours. Small British parties attempted to make hasty counter-attacks but until the German bombardment slackened around British headquarters remained ignorant of the situation on the ridge but he commander of the 141st Brigade, Brigadier-General William Thwaites was in Zouave Valley when the German bombardment began and managed to contact the 47th Division HQ.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
After 24 May, fighting on the ridge diminished and the Germans did not take over the former British support line. At a conference in the morning, Wilson ordered that the 47th Division be relieved by the 2nd Division the following night, ready for an attack on 3 June, with Walker in command. Troops of the 99th and 6th brigades edged forward and dug a new line up the slope from Zouave Valley. Mining in the Berthonval sector was not renewed and instead, German mine entrances were bombarded constantly by guns and trench mortars; tunnels were dug on the east slope of Zouave Valley as shelter for infantry in support and the situation did not change until the Canadian attack on 9 April 1917.
Battle of Savage's Station
The fighting turned into a bloody stalemate as darkness fell and strong thunderstorms began to move in. The Land Merrimack bombarded the Union front, with some of its shells reaching as far to the rear as the field hospital. The final actions of the evening were by the Vermont Brigade, commanded by Colonel William T. H. Brooks, of Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith's division. Attempting to hold the flank south of the Williamsburg Road, the Vermonters charged into the woods and were met with murderous fire, suffering more casualties of any brigade on the field that day. The brigade as a whole took 439 casualties; the 5th Vermont regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. Lewis A. Grant, lost nearly half of its men, 209 of 428.
Operation Totalize
Within 48 hours of the end of Operation Goodwood, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division launched an attack against the "formidable" German defences on Verrières Ridge. The Canadians suffered over 1,300 casualties and territorial gains were minimal. From 25 July to 27 July, another attempt was made to take the ridge as part of Operation Spring. Poor execution resulted in around 1,500 Canadian casualties. The Battle of Verrières Ridge had claimed upwards of 2,800 Canadian casualties. While the ridge remained in German hands, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division gained a foothold on the ridge between the village of Verrières to St.Martin-de-Fontenay, which would allow the troops to assemble free of German observation while they prepared to launch Totalize.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of the German 6th Army. The battle took place from 9 to 12 April 1917 at the beginning of the Battle of Arras, the first attack of the Nivelle Offensive, which was intended to attract German reserves from the French, before their attempt at a decisive offensive on the Aisne and the Chemin des Dames ridge further south.
Battle of Vimy Ridge order of battle
German Sixth Army commander General Ludwig von Falkenhausen had 20 divisions (plus reserves) responsible for the Cambrai–Lille sector. Vimy Ridge itself was principally defended by the ad hoc formation under the I Bavarian Reserve Corps commander General der Infanterie Karl von Fasbender. A division of , under the VIII Reserve Corps commander General Georg Karl Wichura, was also involved in the front-line defence along the northernmost portion of the ridge.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The 4th Canadian Division faced difficulties at the start of the battle that forced it to delay its assault on the Pimple until 12 April. The Pimple was initially defended by the 16th Bavarian Infantry Division but the Canadian Corps' preliminary artillery bombardment leading up to the assault on 9 April caused heavy casualties amongst its ranks. On 11 April, the 4th Guards Infantry Division first reinforced and then relieved affected 16th Bavarian Infantry Division units. The night before the attack, artillery harassed German positions while a gas section of Royal Engineers, employing Livens Projectors, fired more than 40 drums of gas directly into the village of Givenchy-en-Gohelle to cause confusion. The defending German troops managed to drive back the initial Canadian assaults at around 4:00 am using small arms fire. The 10th Canadian Brigade attacked once again at 5:00 am, this time supported by a significant amount of artillery and the 24th Division of I Corps to the north. The German defensive artillery fire was late and too light to cause the assaulting troops great difficulty, allowing the Canadian Corps to exploit wide gaps and break into the German positions. The 10th Canadian Brigade, assisted by snow and a westerly wind, fought hastily entrained German troops to capture the entire Pimple by 6:00 pm.
Battle of Vimy Ridge order of battle
This listing covers Allied Powers and Central Powers formations and units involved in the battle. Although the Canadian side is well studied, historians have had trouble determining the exact dispositions of the German forces and even more trouble assessing the casualties it suffered in the battle. The Canadian Corps suffered 10,602 casualties; 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded. The German Sixth Army suffered an unknown number of casualties with an approximate 4,000 men becoming prisoners of war.
Battle of Vimy Ridge order of battle
The significance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge is most strongly felt in Canada. Elsewhere the battle is principally noted as part of the much larger British offensive known as the Battles of Arras 1917. The historical reality of the battle has been reworked and reinterpreted, in a conscious attempt to give purpose and meaning to an event which came to symbolize Canada's coming of age as a nation. The idea that Canada achieved nationhood as a direct result of the experiences of the First World War, is an opinion widely held in military histories of Canada and also regularly appears in general histories. A portion of the former battleground is preserved memorial park and site of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
Battle of the Hills
The French attack between Mont Cornillet and the north of Le Téton on 20 May, failed on the north slope of Mont Blond and the north-west slopes of Mont Haut but succeeded to the north-east, north of Le Casque and Le Téton, where were taken. German losses in dead and wounded were considerable; in the Cornillet tunnel, more than were found. In 1918, the number of German prisoners taken since 17 April, was given as and The attacks on 20 May were the final stage of the Nivelle Offensive, in which most of the Chemin des Dames plateau, Bois des Buttes, Ville-aux-Bois, Bois des Boches and the German first and second lines, from the heights to the Aisne had been captured. In 1940, Cyril Falls, the British official historian, wrote that the Fourth Army attacks took and on the first day. German counter-attacks on 27 May had temporary success, before more French attacks recaptured the ground around Mont Haut; lack of troops had forced the Germans into piecemeal attacks instead of a simultaneous attack along all the front.
Battle of Bazentin Ridge
The Fourth Army had the 9th Division, the 3rd Division, the 7th Division and the 21st Division. BIR 16 had on 14 July, of the it suffered on the Somme that month. In July, British casualties on the Somme were French losses were (a combined total of and the German 2nd Army suffered of Allied casualties.
Arras
The town is located approximately south of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial built in 1936 on Hill 145, the highest point of the Vimy Ridge escarpment. It is dedicated to the Battle of Vimy Ridge assault (part of the 1917 Battle of Arras) and the missing First World War Canadian soldiers with no known grave; it is also the site of two WWI Canadian cemeteries.
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
On the morning of 10 April, Canadian Corps commander Lieutenant-General Julian Byng moved up three fresh brigades to support the continued advance. The fresh units leapfrogged units already in place and captured the third objective line, including Hill 135 and the town of Thélus, by 11:00 am. By 2:00 pm both the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions reported capturing their final objectives. By this point the "Pimple", a heavily defended knoll west of the town of Givenchy-en-Gohelle, was the only German position remaining on Vimy Ridge. On 12 April, the 10th Canadian Brigade attacked and quickly overcame the hastily entrenched German troops, with the support of artillery and the 24th British Division. By nightfall on 12 April, the Canadian Corps was in firm control of the ridge. The Canadian Corps suffered 10,602 casualties: 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded. The German Sixth Army suffered an unknown number of casualties, and around 4,000 men became prisoners of war.
Battle of Verdun
Later in May 1916, the German attacks shifted from the left bank at Mort-Homme and Côte 304 and returned to the right bank, south of Fort Douaumont. A German offensive began to reach Fleury Ridge, the last French defensive line and take , Fleury, Fort Souville and Fort Vaux at the north-east extremity of the French line, which had been bombarded by a day since the beginning of the offensive. After a final assault on 1 June, by troops, the top of the fort was occupied on 2 June. Fighting went on underground until the garrison ran out of water and surrendered on 7 June. In five days the German attack had advanced for a loss of against casualties. When news of the loss of Fort Vaux reached Verdun, the Line of Panic was occupied and trenches were dug on the edge of the city. On the left bank, the German advanced from the line Côte 304, Mort-Homme and Cumières and threatened Chattancourt and Avocourt. Heavy rains slowed the German advance towards Fort Souville, where both sides attacked and counter-attacked for the next two months.
Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
The attack front was divided into three sectors, South with Foot Guard Regiment 5 (4th Guard Division), Centre with Reserve Infantry Regiment 86 of the 18th Reserve Division and North with Infantry Regiment 163 from the 17th Reserve Division, all three sector regiments being reinforced by machine-gun and engineer units; two more infantry regiments were held in reserve. Eighty artillery batteries, including the artillery of the IX Reserve Corps, IV Corps and the Guard Reserve Corps, plus six batteries of heavy howitzers and nine mortar batteries, along with six heavy, nine medium and eight light "Minenwerfer" were to participate. Sufficient ammunition was provided for batteries to fire at a rate of 200 shells per hour and counter-battery reconnaissance aircrews managed to locate 83 British artillery emplacements.
Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
Berthonval sector
8th Lancashire Artillery Volunteers
1/1st Lancashire Hvy Bty had been transferred to 57th HAG on 7 December 1916. It rejoined 29th HAG when it was brought up to six guns, and then on 14 March transferred to 84th HAG with First Army further north, which it joined a week later.. First Army was preparing for participation in the Arras Offensive, and 84th HAG was assigned to I Corps for the attack on Vimy Ridge on 9 April. The concentration of heavy guns was one for every of front. The artillery preparation began on 20 March, with the batteries of 84th HAG firing from around Bois de Bouvigny on the north flank of the attack, from where they could virtually enfilade the German lines in support of I Corps. The artillery plan for the heavy guns emphasised CB fire. At Zero hour, while the field guns laid down a Creeping barrage to protect the advancing infantry, the 60-pounders switched to 'searching' fire on the German rear areas to catch machine gunners and moving infantry. When the British infantry reached their Phase 2 objective (the Blue Line) the field guns would move forward and the 60-pounders move up to occupy their vacated positions. The attack went in on 9 April with I Corps and Canadian Corps successfully capturing Vimy Ridge while Third Army attacked further south near Arras. The only hold-up on 9 April was at Hill 145, near the north end of the Canadian attack, and the capture of this position was completed the next day. Fighting in the southern sector (the Battle of Arras) continued into May.
Hooge in World War I
On the morning of 28 April 1916, a German camouflet killed three men of 177th Tunnelling Company, including an officer (Lieutenant C.G. Boothby). The men were trapped underground and their bodies not recovered. After the war, they were commemorated nearby at the RE Grave, Railway Wood. On 6 June 1916, the Experimental Company of the Prussian Guard Pioneers succeeded in blowing four large mines under the British trenches at Hooge held by the 28th Canadian Battalion. After intense and sustained fighting, the Germans also retook the crater created by the British mine on 19 July 1915 as well as the British front line. The German surprise offensive also captured the neighbouring Observatory Ridge and Sanctuary Wood—the only high ground on British hands in the whole of the Ypres Salient. Canadian units later regained Observatory Ridge and Sanctuary Wood, but not Hooge.
7th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment
During the winter of 1915–16 the 1/7th Londons carried out regular tours of duty in the Loos sector. losing a steady stream of casualties to artillery and mine attacks. In March 1916 the 47th Division took over part of the Vimy sector on the west side of the Vimy Ridge. On 21 May 140 Bde (temporarily under the command of Col Faux of the 1/7th) was subjected to a heavy bombardment, and the Germans attacked in the evening. The weight of the attack fell on 1/7th and 1/8th Londons, who were forced back from their front and support lines halfway down the slope. 1/7th made a local counter-attack, but it was too weak to succeed. After a night and day of confusion, the 1/6th and 1/7th Bns pushed forward 250 yards to reoccupy an old French trench which they consolidated and thereby prevented any further enemy advance. They were relieved in the evening of 22 May, having suffered heavy casualties.
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
French and Joffre still expected victory by July. Whilst the Germans attacked Smith-Dorrien at the Second Battle of Ypres (April), new Allied offensives were planned by the French at Vimy and by Haig at Aubers Ridge (9 May). It was believed on the British side that the lessons of Neuve Chapelle had been learned—reserves were ready to exploit and mortars were ready to support attackers who had advanced beyond artillery cover —–and that this time success would be complete not partial. The attack was less successful than Neuve Chapelle as the forty-minute bombardment (only 516 field guns and 121 heavy guns) was over a wider front and against stronger defences; Haig was still focussed on winning a decisive victory by capturing key ground, rather than amassing firepower to inflict maximum damage on the Germans. Attacks (at Festubert, 15–25 May) as a diversion, gained over a front of , with 16,000 British casualties to around 6,600 German losses. Sir John French was satisfied that the attacks had served to take pressure off the French at their request but Haig still felt that German reserves were being exhausted, bringing victory nearer.
20th Battalion, London Regiment (Blackheath and Woolwich)
Vimy Ridge craters: Aggressive patrolling of the craters facing Vimy Ridge was instituted by 180 Bde. Over succeeding weeks the 2/20th Bn alternated with the 2/18th Londons for eight-day spells in the line. The 60th Division adopted coloured flashes painted on each side of the new steel helmets to aid recognition: 180 Bde adopted a triangle, which was vermilion in the case of the 2/20th Bn. On 11 September the battalion carried out a pre-dawn raid on the German lines. By the time the division left the line in late October 1916, the 2/20th had suffered casualties of 3 officers and 48 men killed or died of wounds, and 5 officers and 187 men wounded.
Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
Central Avenue – Ersatz Alley sectors
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
At 10 Kite Balloon Section RFC, sent up its balloon, which stayed up all night. The balloon observers were able to see the German bombardment and keep HQ informed as the bombardment intensified at and track the barrage as it crept forward in front of the German infantry. When the German barrage lifted off the British front line at a mine exploded close to Royal Ave and the German attack began. The German left flank (British right flank) advanced on Royal Ave, short of which was Broadmarsh Crater, to the north-west of a new crater, which had been captured by the British on the night of 18/19 May and the German right flank (British left) attacked towards Momber Crater. In the smoke and dust the German infantry got half-way across no man's land before the British could see them, moving in skirmish lines, the men apart. Behind the foremost line, the British could see men carrying barbed wire, wood and machine-guns. The Germans were able to walk into the sector of the 140th Brigade, where the survivors of the bombardment were stunned and their weapons smashed or buried. The 47th Divisional artillery was unable to help as communications had been cut and was short of ammunition. Many men of the 1/7th and 1/8th London were caught in their shelters and captured, except for a few who fought hand to hand.
On the front of Reserve "Jäger" Battalion 9 (RJB 9) the 1st and 4th companies advanced to encounter determined resistance from the British infantry in the front trench, which was quickly overcome. The fight for the British reserve trench was much harder, particularly in sections where the German bombardment has been least effective. Some British troops erected barricades in parts of the trench and then fought until all were killed. Liaison between German units was difficult and later a fighting patrol was sent to gain touch with Footguard Regiment 5 (FR 5). On the right flank, RIR 86 had advanced so far that the 4th Company RJB 9 had to attack again to come into line and bogged down in the British reserve positions. Small British counter-attacks were repulsed during the night but the main effort went into consolidating the new positions and linking them to the old front line.
List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Artois
A great deal of ground was gained for relatively few casualties in the first two days and a number of strategically significant points were captured, notably Vimy Ridge. Additionally, the offensive succeeded in drawing German troops away from the French offensive in the Aisne sector. In many respects, the battle might be deemed a victory for the British and their allies but these gains were offset by high casualties and the ultimate failure of the French offensive at the Aisne.
Tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers
For the start of the battle on 1 July 1916, the Royal Engineers planned to fire a group of eight large and eleven small mines along the Somme front line. The most important of them were beneath Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt at Beaumont-Hamel, beneath a German field fortification known as "Schwabenhöhe" just south of La Boisselle and three in a sector named "The Tambour" near Fricourt. The Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt mine, which consisted of of explosives, was the first to be detonated. This led to the successful filming of the explosion by British cinematographer Geoffrey Malins, who was filming the 29th Division's attack on that day. Despite their colossal size, the largest of the mines fired on 1 July 1916 failed to help sufficiently neutralise the German defences. At La Boisselle, the ruined village was meant to fall in 20 minutes, but by the end of the first day of the battle, it had not been taken while the III Corps divisions had lost more than . At Mash Valley, the attackers lost 5,100 men before noon, and at Sausage Valley near the crater of the "Lochnagar" mine, there were over 6,000 casualties – the highest concentration on the entire battlefield. The III Corps' 34th Division suffered the worst losses of any unit that day.
Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
Southern Sector
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is Canada's largest and principal overseas war memorial. Located on the highest point of the Vimy Ridge, the memorial is dedicated to the commemoration of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. It serves as the place of commemoration for Canadian soldiers killed in France during the First World War with no known grave. France granted Canada perpetual use of a section of land at Vimy Ridge in 1922 for the purpose of a battlefield park and memorial. A portion of the former battlefield is preserved as part of the memorial park that surrounds the monument. The grounds of the site are still honeycombed with wartime tunnels, trenches, craters and unexploded munitions and are largely closed off for public safety. A section of preserved trenches and a portion of a tunnel have been made accessible to site visitors.
List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Verdun
Both monuments stand on Cote 304 which was yet another piece of high ground that had to be fought over and the memorials are dedicated to more than 10,000 French Soldiers who were to perish there. The hill was first attacked by the Germans on 20 March 1916 and again on 9 April 1916. Neither of these two attacks were successful but finally on 29 June the Germans took the hill and less than two months later the French were able to re-take it. On the right hand side of the memorial to the 40th are listed the divisions who fought here in 1916 and on the left those divisions who fought in 1917, when further fighting took place.
Henry Horne, 1st Baron Horne
The attack on Vimy Ridge was spearheaded by the First Army's "shock troops" (the Canadian Corps). The ensuing Battle of Vimy Ridge, the first of a series of actions known as the Battle of Arras was successful: supported by Horne's 1,000-odd artillery pieces, the Canadian forces took the ridge in four days, with approximately 10,000 casualties (against 20,000 German casualties). The capture of Vimy Ridge would prove essential to the British Army: it served as the backbone of the British defence from March 1918 onward.
Battle of Mons
At dawn on 23 August, a German artillery bombardment began on the British lines; throughout the day the Germans concentrated on the British at the salient formed by the loop in the canal. At the first German infantry assault began, with the Germans attempting to force their way across four bridges that crossed the canal at the salient. Four German battalions attacked the Nimy bridge, which was defended by a company of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers and a machine-gun section led by Lieutenant Maurice Dease. Advancing at first in close column, "parade ground formation", the Germans made easy targets for the riflemen, who hit German soldiers at over , mowing them down by rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire. So heavy was the British rifle fire throughout the battle that some Germans thought they were facing batteries of machine-guns.
Hindenburg Line
The first attack of the Nivelle Offensive by the British First and Third armies came at Arras, north of the Hindenburg Line on 9 April and inflicted a substantial defeat on the German 6th Army, which occupied obsolete defences on forward slopes. Vimy Ridge was captured and further south, the greatest depth of advance since trench-warfare began was achieved, surpassing the success of the French Sixth Army on 1 July 1916. German reinforcements were able to stabilise the front line, using both of the defensive methods endorsed in the new German training manual and the British continued the offensive, despite the difficulties of ground and German defensive tactics, in support of the French offensives further south and then to keep German troops in the area while the Messines Ridge attack was being prepared. German casualties were British losses of the Third and First armies.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
The relief of the French Tenth Army by the British First Army (General Charles Monro) and Third Army (Lieutenant-General Edmund Allenby) was accomplished by early March 1916. The French had held about of front line from Ransart in the south, to the east of Arras, west of Vimy, east of Souchez, west of Lens and east of Loos. The southern portion of the line up to Arras had been quiet since the battles of manoeuvre in September 1914 and an informal truce had emerged. Further north, in the area of the three great battles of Artois in 1914 and 1915, hostilities had continued and on 8 February, the Germans captured of trench south of Central Avenue (Ave). On 21 February, the first day of the Battle of Verdun, the Germans captured Hill 145 (the Pimple), the only ridge-top position still held by the French from the offensives of 1915. The German positions on the ridge gave excellent observation over the positions inherited by the British and made finding sites for artillery appear most difficult. The maze of derelict and active trenches and artillery positions on and behind the ridge turned out to an advantage, because the German artillery lacked the ammunition to bombard every position and many empty ones were hit and then repaired as a deception.
The King's Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC)
During the Great War, the 50th Battalion (Calgary) engaged in some of the most hard-fought battles on the Western Front. These included The Battle of Ypres (1915, 17), The Somme (1916), Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele to name but a few. During the Battle of Vimy Ridge, Pte John G. Pattison of the 50th Battalion CEF was awarded the Empire's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross, for his heroic actions on April 10, 1917, storming a German machine-gun nest.
Battle of Arras (1917)
The preliminary bombardment of Vimy Ridge started on 20 March; and the bombardment of the rest of the sector on 4 April. Limited to a front of only , the bombardment used 2,689,000 shells, over a million more than had been used on the Somme. German casualties were not heavy but the men became exhausted by the endless task of keeping open dug-out entrances and demoralised by the absence of rations caused by the difficulties of preparing and moving hot food under bombardment. Some went without food altogether for two or three consecutive days. By the eve of battle, the front-line trenches had ceased to exist and their barbed wire defences were blown to pieces. The official history of the 2nd Bavarian Reserve Regiment describes the front line as "consisting no longer of trenches but of advanced nests of men scattered about". The 262nd Reserve Regiment history writes that its trench system was "lost in a crater field". To add to the misery, for the last ten hours of bombardment, gas shells were added.
Vimy Ridge (British Columbia)
Vimy Ridge is named to commemorate the Battle of Vimy Ridge in World War I.
Mines on the first day of the Somme
During the Allied preparations for the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9 – 12 April 1917) the mines fired on the first day of the Somme became the object of strategic considerations. In order to assess the consequences of infantry having to advance across cratered ground after a mining attack, officers from the Canadian Corps visited La Boisselle and Fricourt where the mines had been blown. Their reports and the experience of the Canadians at St Eloi in April 1916 – where mines had so altered and damaged the landscape as to render occupation of the mine craters by the infantry all but impossible –, led to the decision to remove offensive mining from the central sector allocated to the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge. 
William Orpen, an official war artist, saw the "Lochnagar" mine crater in 1916 while touring the Somme battlefield, collecting subjects for paintings and described a wilderness of chalk dotted with shrapnel. John Masefield also toured the Somme, while preparing "The Old Front Line" (1917), in which he also described the area around the Lochnagar Crater as dazzlingly white and painful to look at.
Battle of Pilckem Ridge
On 4 August, Haig claimed to the Cabinet that the attack was a success and that casualties had been low for such a big battle, from compared to on 1 July 1916. An advance of about had been achieved in the centre and north. German observation areas on the highest part of the Gheluvelt Plateau near Clapham Junction and the ridge from Bellewaarde to Pilckem had been captured, nine German divisions had been "shattered" and hurriedly relieved by the first echelon of "Eingreif" divisions. The reliefs of the ground holding divisions implied that fresh divisions had replaced them, beginning the process of drawing German divisions to Flanders, away from the bulk of the French armies. An unusually large number of German dead were counted and more than had been taken along with The nine Fifth Army divisions had been intended to gain the green line, possibly parts of the red line and then be capable of pressing on to the Passchendaele–Staden Ridge before needing to be relieved. The green line had been reached in the north but only part of the black line on the Gheluvelt Plateau, at a cost of casualties and about half of the tanks knocked out or bogged down.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
Haig thought that IV Corps had bungled and that a counter-attack big enough to ensure success would need another 40 British heavy artillery batteries. The offensive on the Somme was imminent and although Haig thought that the guns could be returned to the Somme in time, this would depend on the German reaction. Should the Germans continue operations on the ridge, the existing British positions would be at risk and the return of the artillery might be delayed. Although the Germans had gained observation over the British lines, they had not become untenable and Haig decided that the diversionary Attack on the Gommecourt Salient north of the Somme, was more important. On 17 May, Haig ordered the First Army to cancel its attack; IV Corps was to plan instead for a much bigger effort. The plans produced by IV Corps were the basis of the scheme for the Canadian Corps attack at the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9–12 April 1917). Rupprecht was pleased about the large bag of prisoners (229) who were questioned by German interrogators and gave away much information on the orders of battle of the 47th (1/2nd London) and the 25th divisions, artillery-observation officer working methods, details about machine-guns and field fortifications.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
Historians attribute the success of the Canadian Corps to technical and tactical innovation, meticulous planning, powerful artillery support and extensive training, as well as the German 6th Army’s failure to properly apply the new German defensive doctrine. The battle was the first occasion when all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together and it was made a symbol of Canadian national achievement and sacrifice. A portion of the former battleground serves as a memorial park and site of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
Givenchy-en-Gohelle
The centennial commemoration of the Battle of Vimy Ridge was held at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial near the village on 9 April 2017. Estimates before the event indicated that up to 30,000 would attend.
184th Tunnelling Company
The Canadian Corps was posted to the northern part of Vimy Ridge in October 1916 and preparations for an attack were revived in February 1917. Prior to the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9 – 12 April 1917), the British tunnelling companies secretly laid a series of explosive charges under German positions in an effort to destroy surface fortifications before the assault. The original plan had called for 17 mines and 9 "Wombat" charges to support the infantry attack, of which 13 (possibly 14) mines and 8 "Wombat" charges were eventually laid. At the same time, 19 crater groups existed along this section of the Western Front, each with several large craters. In order to assess the consequences of infantry having to advance across cratered ground after a mining attack, officers from the Canadian Corps visited La Boisselle and Fricourt where the mines on the first day of the Somme had been blown. Their reports and the experience of the Canadians at St Eloi in April 1916 – where mines had so altered and damaged the landscape as to render occupation of the mine craters by the infantry all but impossible –, led to the decision to remove offensive mining from the central sector allocated to the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge. Further British mines in the area were vetoed following the blowing by the Germans on 23 March 1917 of nine craters along no man's land as it was probable that the Germans were aiming to restrict an Allied attack to predictable points. The three mines already laid by 172nd Tunnelling Company were also dropped from the British plans. They were left in place after the assault and were only removed in the 1990s. Another mine, prepared by 176th Tunnelling Company against the German strongpoint known as the Pimple, was not completed in time for the attack. The gallery had been pushed silently through the clay, avoiding the sandy and chalky layers of the Vimy Ridge, but by 9 April 1917 was still short of its target. In the end, two mines were blown before the attack, while three mines and two "Wombat" charges were fired to support the attack, including those forming a northern flank.
175th Tunnelling Company
From spring 1916, the British had deployed five tunnelling companies along the Vimy Ridge, and during the first two months of their tenure in the area, 70 mines were fired, mostly by the Germans. Between October 1915 and April 1917 an estimated 150 French, British and German charges were fired in this sector of the Western Front. In May 1916, a German infantry attack, which forced the British back , was aimed at neutralising British mining activity by capturing the shaft entrances. From June 1916, however, the Germans withdrew many miners to work on the Hindenburg Line and also for work in coal mines in Germany. In the second half of 1916 the British constructed strong defensive underground positions, and from August 1916, the Royal Engineers developed a mining scheme to support a large-scale infantry attack on the Vimy Ridge proposed for autumn 1916, although this was subsequently postponed. After September 1916, when the Royal Engineers had completed their network of defensive galleries along most of the front line, offensive mining largely ceased although activities continued until 1917. The British gallery network beneath Vimy Ridge eventually grew to a length of .
Operation Virginia Ridge
On 16 May Company M encountered a small entrenched PAVN force killing 4 and capturing 1. For the remainder of May the 1/3 and 3/3 Marines swept east towards the A-4 Strongpoint () meeting limited resistance. On 20 May an estimated force of 20 PAVN attacked Company C's night defensive position losing 15 killed for the loss of 3 Marine dead and 8 wounded. On 22 May Company B ambushed a 30-man PAVN force killing 19 and capturing 2.
Battle of Albert (1916)
4 July was rainy, with low cloud and no German aircraft were seen by British aircrew, who flew low over the German lines, on artillery-observation sorties. In the evening, a large column of German troops was seen near Bazentin le Grand and machine-gunned from the air and the British advance to the southern fringe of Contalmaison was observed and reported. On 6 July, German positions near Mametz Wood and Quadrangle Support Trench were reconnoitred by a 3 Squadron crew, which reported that the defences of Mametz Wood were intact. On 6 July, a 9 Squadron observer saw infantry and transport near Guillemont and directed the fire of a heavy battery on the column, which inflicted many casualties; a German infantry unit entering Ginchy was machine-gunned and forced to disperse. Later in the evening, the crew returned and directed artillery onto more German troops near Ginchy, prisoners later claiming that the battalion lost half its men in the bombardment. Infantry attacks on 7 July, made very slow progress and observers from 3 Squadron reported events in the late afternoon and evening. A crew which flew behind a German barrage saw Quadrangle Support Trench suddenly fill up with troops in field grey uniforms, who repulsed a British attack. British observers were overhead and saw continuous attacks and counter-attacks by both sides until midnight on when Mametz Wood and Quadrangle Support Trenches were captured.
The battle for Trônes Wood was also followed by observation-aircraft and at on 12 July, a 9 Squadron observer saw a German barrage fall between Trônes Wood and Bernafay Wood. The observer wirelessed for an immediate counter-barrage, which obstructed a German counter-attack at so badly, that the German infantry were easily repulsed. Bombing of German-controlled railway centres continued on 9 July, with attacks on Cambrai and Bapaume stations, in which two British aircraft were lost. Le Sars and Le Transloy were attacked in the afternoon and Havrincourt Wood was bombed on 11 July, after suspicions had been raised by increasing amounts of German anti-aircraft fire around the wood. Twenty bombers with seventeen escorts, dropped on the wood and started several fires. On 13 July, a special effort was made to attack troop-trains on the Douai–Cambrai and Valenciennes–Cambrai lines. One train was derailed and overturned near Aubigny-au-Bac and a train was bombed on the Cambrai–Denain line, the British pilots making use of low cloud to evade German attempts to intercept them.
Battle of Arras (1917)
At roughly the same time, in perhaps the most carefully crafted portion of the entire offensive, the Canadian Corps launched an assault on Vimy Ridge. Advancing behind a creeping barrage and making heavy use of machine guns – eighty to each brigade, including one Lewis gun in each platoon – the corps was able to advance through about of German defences and captured the crest of the ridge at about 13:00. Military historians have attributed the success of this attack to careful planning by Canadian Corps commander Julian Byng and his subordinate General Arthur Currie, constant training and the assignment of specific objectives to each platoon. By giving units specific goals, troops could continue the attack even if their officers were killed or communication broke down, thus bypassing two major problems of combat on the Western Front. The Canadian troops could see the Germans in retreat across the Douai Plain away from the ridge.There was nevertheless an inflexibility to the plan which prevented the leading troops from continuing the advance and on 10 April the Germans began to stop the gaps with reserves.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The British moved three fresh brigades up to the Red Line by 9:30 am on 10 April to support the advance of the 1st and 2nd Canadian Division, whereupon they were to leapfrog existing units occupying the Red line and advance to the Blue Line. Fresh units including two sections of tanks and the 13th British Brigade were called up from reserve to support the advance of the 2nd Canadian Division. By approximately 11:00 am, the Blue Line, including Hill 135 and the village of Thélus, had been captured. To permit the troops time to consolidate the Blue Line, the advance halted and the barrage remained stationary for 90 minutes while machine guns were brought forward. Shortly before 1:00 pm, the advance recommenced with both the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions reporting their final objective. The tank-supported advance via Farbus and directed at the rear of the 79th Reserve Division, was eventually halted by concentrated German fire short of the village. The Canadian 1st and 2nd Divisions were nonetheless able to secure the Brown Line by approximately 2:00 pm.
185th Tunnelling Company
The Canadian Corps was posted to the northern part of Vimy Ridge in October 1916 and preparations for an attack were revived in February 1917. 185th Tunnelling Company then dug subways near Neuville-Saint-Vaast in early 1917. Prior to the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9 – 12 April 1917), the British tunnelling companies secretly laid a series of explosive charges under German positions in an effort to destroy surface fortifications before the assault. The original plan had called for 17 mines and 9 "Wombat" charges to support the infantry attack, of which 13 (possibly 14) mines and 8 "Wombat" charges were eventually laid. At the same time, 19 crater groups existed along this section of the Western Front, each with several large craters. In order to assess the consequences of infantry having to advance across cratered ground after a mining attack, officers from the Canadian Corps visited La Boisselle and Fricourt where the mines on the first day of the Somme had been blown. Their reports and the experience of the Canadians at St Eloi in April 1916 – where mines had so altered and damaged the landscape as to render occupation of the mine craters by the infantry all but impossible –, led to the decision to remove offensive mining from the central sector allocated to the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge. Further British mines in the area were vetoed following the blowing by the Germans on 23 March 1917 of nine craters along no man's land as it was probable that the Germans were aiming to restrict an Allied attack to predictable points. The three mines already laid by 172nd Tunnelling Company were also dropped from the British plans. They were left in place after the assault and were only removed in the 1990s. Another mine, prepared by 176th Tunnelling Company against the German strongpoint known as the Pimple, was not completed in time for the attack. The gallery had been pushed silently through the clay, avoiding the sandy and chalky layers of the Vimy Ridge, but by 9 April 1917 was still short of its target. In the end, two mines were blown before the attack, while three mines and two "Wombat" charges were fired to support the attack, including those forming a northern flank.
List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Artois
In 1922, the French government ceded Vimy Ridge to Canada in perpetuity together with the land surrounding it. The gleaming white marble and haunting sculptures of the Vimy Memorial, unveiled in 1936, stand as a terrible and poignant reminder of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers killed in France who have no known graves.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
British army, corps and divisional boundaries were changed in early 1916, when divisions from the First Army, Second Army and Third Army were withdrawn to reinforce the Fourth Army on the Somme. On Vimy Ridge, the Berthonval and Carency sectors were transferred to the First Army, IV Corps (Lieutenant-General Henry Wilson) from the Third Army, XVII Corps (Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng) and from the 25th Division to the 47th (1/2nd London) Division, which extended its right flank southwards to P sector. The positions were high along the western slope of Vimy Ridge and down the north-facing slope between Souchez and Givenchy-en-Gohelle. From south to north the communication trenches to the British front line on the ridge were Grange Ave and Lassalle Ave–Royal Ave in P sector. In the Berthonval sector, access was by Central Ave–Cannon Street, Wortley Ave–International Ave, Landwehr Ave and in the Carency sector, the communication trenches were Ersatz Ave–Ersatz Alley, Uhlan and Coburg alleys. Neither side controlled the crest and to the south of the Berthonval sector, the British intended to treat the front line as the main line of resistance, to protect Zouave Valley, which rose southwards from the valley of the Souchez river, about back from the front line. German gunners continually bombarded the "Talus de Zouaves" (Zouave embankment) in Zouave Valley, which could cut off British contact with the front line. The British could see the Douai Plain behind Vimy Ridge from Loretto Ridge to the north-west but the pit villages dotted around the Lens coalfield gave easy concealment to the German artillery.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
Three line divisions, comprising seven infantry regiments were responsible for the immediate defence of the ridge. The paper strength of each division was approximately 15,000 men but their actual strength was significantly fewer. In 1917, a full-strength German rifle company consisted of 264 men; at Vimy Ridge, each rifle company contained approximately 150 men. Each German regiment held a zone approximately wide as far back as the rear area. When the Canadian Corps attacked, each German company faced two or more battalions of approximately 1,000 men each. Reserve divisions were kept about back instead of assembling close behind the second line according to the defence-in-depth theory.
Battle of Remagen
On 14 March, German Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler ordered Schutzstaffel (SS) General Hans Kammler to fire V2 rockets to destroy the bridge. This marked the first time the missiles had been used against a tactical objective and the only time they were fired on a German target. The 11 missiles launched killed six Americans and a number of German citizens in nearby towns, but failed to damage the bridge. When the Germans sent a squad of seven naval demolition swimmers wearing Italian underwater breathing apparatus, the Americans were ready. For the first time in combat, they had deployed the top-secret Canal Defence Lights which successfully detected the frogmen in the dark, and they were all killed or captured.
Battle of Villers-Bocage
Contradictory sources make casualty figures difficult to establish. The 22nd Armoured Brigade group suffered around 217 men killed, wounded and missing, many of whom were taken prisoner at Point 213. This figure includes five riflemen who had been captured but were then shot by their guards, apparently for attempting to escape, when they took cover spontaneously in a ditch under American artillery fire. The British lost from more than half of which were on Point 213, where A Squadron 4th CLY lost all 15 of its tanks. The Panzer-Lehr Division and the 2nd Panzer Division were in action elsewhere on 13 June and did not count the casualties at Villers-Bocage separately from the day's losses. The 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion was only engaged at Villers-Bocage and Taylor gave nine men killed and ten wounded in the 1st Company and one killed and three wounded in the 2nd Company.
Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
"Unternehmen Schleswig-Holstein" was intended to capture British positions, from which the French mining offensive had been continued, to gain more defensive depth and to forestall mine attacks on the German positions. The British divisions were still organising their defences on the ridge, having recently relieved the French when the German attack began. The attack was a success and raised concerns that it was a prelude to a more ambitious attempt to capture Arras. Plans were made for a British counter-attack but it was cancelled, to avoid a diversion of effort from the forthcoming offensive on the Somme, in favour of the Attack on the Gommecourt Salient; plans laid in the meantime formed the basis for the attack of the Canadian Corps in April 1917.
Raimund Weisbach
Weisbach commanded "U-19" until 10 August 1916. His next command was , which he took over on 22 August 1916. During his time in command Weisbach's submarines sunk 36 ships for a total of , and damaged another two for a total of . "U-81" was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine on 1 May 1917. 24 members of the U-boat crew were killed, with Weisbach, his watch officer Otto Walter and five other Germans surviving to be rescued by the British. Weisbach and the surviving crew spent the rest of the war as prisoners in Britain.
Vimy
Vimy ( or ; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. It is located east of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial dedicated to the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the Canadian soldiers who were killed during the war. The Memorial is also the site of two Canadian cemeteries.
Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery
This small cemetery contains the graves of 109 Canadian soldiers, principally of the Canadian 4th Division, all of whom fell between April 9, 1917 and April 13, 1917 during the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Battle of Kakamas
Ritter attacked Kakamas on 4 February 1915, hoping to capture two Orange River fords and head south further into South Africa. A fierce skirmish developed with the Germans being beaten back, with the loss of seven dead, sixteen wounded and sixteen taken prisoner.
High Peak Rifles
The German Spring Offensive opened on 21 March while the division was in the Bullecourt sector of the line, 178th Bde holding the right sector with 2/6th Bn on the left, occupying a thinly-held forward zone with the main position behind. A heavy German bombardment began at 05.00 and immediately cut all telephone lines; the brigade commander last heard from the signalling officer of 2/6th Bn at 05.05. When the German infantry attack came in at 08.30 it was covered by morning mist and within an hour had penetrated and rolled up the line as parties of Sherwood Foresters were cut off and surrounded but fought on until they were overrun. Only 53 men of 178th Bde got away, the rest becoming casualties or prisoners. The CO of 2/6th Bn, Lt-Col H.S. Hodgkin, was among those taken prisoner, and the battalion suffered 131 killed, one of the highest casualty rates of the battle. The survivors, together with their rear echelon troops, then spent the next 10 days wandering around with divisional HQ on a long retreat.
German attack on Vimy Ridge, 21 May 1916
Vimy Ridge extends from the Scarpe river valley east of Arras for north to the valley of the Souchez river. During the winter of 1915–1916, the German and French troops on the ridge spent much time trying to drain and repair trenches. In the area of the German 17th Reserve Division, long trenches were dug to divert water from the front trenches; in January 1916, about of duckboards were laid by Reserve Infantry Regiment 76 alone. Conditions were so bad in the front line, that soldiers fraternised to alleviate the conditions; on 25 January, the German companies in the line were transferred to prevent it. Conditions became so bad that infantry units were set to work to maintain the troops in the front line. The rains and French mortar fire destroyed German field fortifications almost as fast as they were built. To gain more defensive depth and to mislead the French about German offensive preparations at Verdun, the I Bavarian Reserve Corps ("General der Infanterie" Karl von Fasbender) conducted "Unternehmen Rupprecht" (Operation Rupprecht), several carefully prepared local attacks.