VIMY RIDGE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9053, 25 July 1917, Page 2

VIMY RIDGE.

A SIGNIFICANT VICTORY.

ENEMY'S STRONGHOLD YIELDS

TO BRILLIANT ATTACK

(Issued by the War Office.)

Along that terrible line, of trenches, redoubts, inundations, and mine traps that is the , high-water mark ■of the flood of war in Western Europe there are certain places whose names are familiar as those of the site of struggles almost superhuman in their intensity. Sometimes the name is one that recalls a triumph, sometimes it recalls an indecisive result when neither side could claim a victory; but always these names bring to mind memories of great deeds, heroic courage, and appalling carnage. Ypres, Verdun, the; SdmmcJ arid Vimy Ridge, all are familiar, and the very ground is soaked with the blood of Germans and of Allies.

Tho Vimy Crest has fallen at last, fallen to the assault of the Canadian troops, and this great breakwater of the, German defence, against which previous offensives had been broken, yielded to a brilliant attack. The German losses have been heavy, the blow to the German plan of campaign is even heavier, their fortress works that they had doomed impregnable, have l?ecri won at little cost, and the celebrated Vimy Ridge has passed into our hands.

Tho significance of this victory cannot be overestimated, for the Vimy •position is one that lias been ardently desired by both sides all through the war. These heights command the lowlying plain of Douai, and in war today, as ever, high ground is an immeasurably important advantage. By their glorious success the Canadians have set the seal upon the heroic sacrifice of their comrades, British and French, who gave their lives since the early days of the war to win this goal. When the battles of the Marne and the Aisne gave place to the race of Allies and Germans towards the sea, in their attempt to outflank one another, the Germans seized the whole of the high ground north of Arras, including the Vimy Ridge and its extension past Souchez, well known as Notre Dame or Lorette.

During the fighting round Arras, in October and November, 1914, the Germans maintained this hold, and it was not until May, 1915, that a French offensive was launched towards the Viray Ridge. The earlier battles had been an attempt on the part of the Germans to break through. 'Arras had been bombarded, charges in mass formation had been made agjbinst the French positions, and thegj Germans had always been beaten ba^s, mainly by rifle and mitrailleuse fire,"and their rout completed by a victorious countercharge. Nevertheless, until . May, 1915, the Allied line was on the dei tensive.

During May and June the attack developed before Souchea and the ou£Jying: hill of;Notre vDamede; Lorette,ivhicli is-a continuation of thoWArtois chalk: ddwiis that are the '<Viriiy Ridge. The position was defended by the celebrated German defence .work 'known as "the labyi-iiith," a maze of trenches, barbed wire, saps, and fortified redoubts. It was here that the fiercest fighting took place, the men struggling bareheaded and shirtsleeved in the hot sun. The casualties to the Germans were prodigious, and ffcjio attackers paid a high price for jtheir success, but. despite three weeks of furious resistance the French troops won their way foot by foot, and captured Buva Bottom, and lastly Notre Dame de Lorette. The Germans were driven back to the Vimy Itidge position, and here, safe in their prepared works arid reinforced with artillery, it was found impossible to dislodge them without a period of preparation such as is demanded by modern scientific warfare.

Roads were repaired, artillery emplacements and gun positions constructed, water supplies .were laid, and, in September, the French again attacked. The action was fiercely contested and gallantly fought, but such was the natural strength of Vimy Ridge that the assault only gained the village of Souchez and a position upon the western spur of the llidge. This was consolidated and held.

The position of affairs now was that the Allies and the Germans both had command of the wide field of view commanded by the ridge, but this was far more important an advantageto the Germans than it was for us, for their lines were on the high ground and ours upon the level. Today the position is reversed; the Germans are "in retreat arid their next, positions are down upon', the ■•plain, of Douai, overlooked by this ..very.'.Vimy. Ridge.

In May, 1916, a heavy bombardment and attack led to our abandonment of a portion of the- ridge, which we. had taken over from the .French when wo extended our line east toward Arras. Since then it has been a part of the line where no offensive has been launched, although active mining and counter-mining measures were always in progress. Beyond Vimy Ilidge lies the Plain of .Douai, rich and fertile, and leading directly to the centre of the great coal fields of Northern France. Across this level radiate a network of roads and railroads, communications tha.t have been of inestimable value to the German for the swift movement of his troops and supplies from point to point.

Vimy Ridge- is more than a tactical victory, more than a. moral victory— i;b is the actual demonstration that ground which the Germans have doomed impregnable, ground every inch .of* which has cost the blood of countless men,- a position so fortified by Nature and artifice as to be held by all soldiers to be the finest defensive work on the Western front, has fallfi-n before the Allies.-—H, B. C. Pollard.