The Franco-British forces
were everywhere victorious and by hard and continuous fighting forced
the Hun back to the famous Hindenburg line. It was in this battle that
the tanks, evolved by the British, were used for the first time, and
played a most important part in breaking down wire entanglements and
rounding up the machine gun nests. The part played in this battle by the
Canadian corps was conspicuous, and it especially distinguished itself
by the capture of Courcelette. Although the battles which the Canadian
corps took part in subsequently were almost invariably both successful
and important, they can be merely mentioned here. The Canadian corps now
known everywhere to consist of shock troops second to none on the
western front, was frequently used as the spearhead with which to pierce
particularly tough parts of the enemy defenses.
On April 9th to 13th, 1917, the Canadian corps, with some British
support, captured Vimy Ridge, a point which had hitherto proved
invulnerable. When a year later, the Germans, north and south, swept the
British line to one side in gigantic thrusts they were unable to disturb
this key point, Vimy Ridge, which served as an anchor to the sagging
line. The Canadian corps was engaged at Arleux and Fresnoy in April and
May and was effective in the operations around Lens in June.
Pages:
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542