Vimy Ridge, in a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department. The ridge runs south-east from Givenchy-en-Gohelle to Farbus
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Local operations, December 1915 – June 1916
Actions
Gas: Wieltje
The Bluff
Hohenzollern Redoubt
St Eloi
Gas: Hulluch
Gas: Wulverghem
Kink Salient
Vimy Ridge
Mt Sorrel
Associated articles
Ypres Salient
Hooge in World War I
Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge
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Western Front
1914
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Gas: Wieltje
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The Bluff
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Kink Salient
Vimy Ridge 1916
Mont Sorrel
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Associated articles
1914 Christmas truce
French Army mutinies
Western Front tactics, 1917
The German attack on Vimy Ridge (Unternehmen Schleswig-Holstein/Operation Schleswig-Holstein) was a local attack on the Western Front on 21 May 1916, during the First World War. The Germans intended to prevent mines being blown under German positions by capturing the British front line and mine gallery entrances. After the Third Battle of Artois (25 September – 4 November 1915) the French Tenth Army had held positions on the western slope of Vimy Ridge and the German 6th Army occupied positions on the steeper eastern slope. During the Battle of Verdun (21 February – 18 December 1916), the Tenth Army was withdrawn and the British First Army and Third Army, on either flank, took over the French positions.
The mine warfare waged by the French 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 could organise their defences on the ridge.
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 1,344 casualties against 2,475 British losses. 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 for the forthcoming Battle of the Somme. The Attack on the Gommecourt Salient took priority over another attack on the ridge. 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).
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The GermanattackonVimyRidge (Unternehmen Schleswig-Holstein/Operation Schleswig-Holstein) was a local attackon the Western Front on 21 May 1916, during...
Army from the sector in February 1916. On 21 May 1916, the German infantry conducted the GermanattackonVimyRidge along a 1,800 m (5,900 ft) front to...
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VimyRidge Day is a day to commemorate the deaths and casualties of members of the Canadian Corps in the Battle of VimyRidge, which took place during...
The Battle of VimyRidge was a military engagement fought as part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First...
the Souchez–Vimy area, 20 mi (32 km) south instead, which has been misinterpreted in earlier accounts. The attack was the début of the AIF on the Western...
could attack targets within the German Empire. The Vickers F.B.27 Vimy is an equal-span twin-engine four-bay biplane, with balanced ailerons on both upper...
British plan was a preparatory attackon the German positions south of Ypres at Messines Ridge. The Germanson the ridge had observation over Ypres and...
capture VimyRidge by planning British attacks against Aubers Ridge. The attacks would confront the German 6th Army with a joint offensive, on a 70 mi...
Engineers developed a mining scheme to support a large-scale infantry attackon the VimyRidge proposed for autumn 1916, although this was subsequently postponed...
the German diversion of troops to the Eastern Front. The French Tenth Army was to attack the German 6th Army north of Arras and capture VimyRidge, preparatory...
many casualties on the Germans, attracted reserves and captured VimyRidge to the north. The main French offensive on the Aisne began on 16 April and also...
the Canadian Corps in the Battle of VimyRidge, which attacked and defeated the Germans, driving them from the ridge. As a result, the Canadians became...
Division finally secured most of the German trenches in Courcelette and then rejoined the Canadian Corps at VimyRidge. The Battle of the Somme claimed more...
VimyRidgeon the Artois plateau was also planned to threaten the road, rail and canal junctions at La Bassée from the south as the British attacked from...
machine-gun fire. During an attackonVimyRidge, "C" Company of the 18th Battalion was held up during its advance by German machine gunners who had survived...
high point of the hump-backed ridge stands 165 metres high and – with VimyRidge – utterly dominates the otherwise flat Douai plain and the town of Arras...
culminating in the GermanattackonVimyRidge in May 1916, where Cuthbert led the division in lieu of the divisional commander, who was on leave. He was not...
In the lead-up to the attackonVimy, most of the battalion were used to support tunneling operations in the vicinity of the ridge at locations like Neuville-Saint-Vaast...
in the 7 kilometres (4.3 mi)-long Vimy sector of the Western Front. The British gallery network beneath VimyRidge eventually grew to a length of 12 kilometres...
"The Underground War: Military Mining Operations in support of the attackonVimyRidge, 9 April 1917" (PDF). Canadian Military History. I (1–2). Laurier...