Vimy RidgeCanada’s Impossible Mission

New Weapons of World War 1

Machine Gun• Accounted for most

casualties in WW1• Steadily refined and

improved• Hundreds of rounds per

minute

New Weapons of World War 1

Tanks• Developed by Britain• Used to crush barbed

wire and cross No-Man’s-Land

• Protect troops• Underpowered and

hard to turn• Often stuck in the mud

New Weapons of World War 1

Artillery and Field Guns• Fired shells filled with

explosives and shrapnel (metal balls or fragments)

• “Big Bertha”– Could fire at targets

120km away– Mounted on railcars

New Weapons of World War 1

Aircraft• Used for

reconnaissance (information gathering)

• Later armed with machine guns for attack

New Weapons of World War 1

Poison Gas• Used by both sides by

1917• Chlorine Gas

– Burns lungs and eyes

• Mustard Gas– Creates huge skin blisters

• Phosgene Gas– Invisible – causes

suffocation

Vimy Ridge

• What we know so far … – The ridge was a strong point of German defenses

in Northern Europe– Provided an unrestricted view of Allied positions– Considered impregnable• Strong fortifications along the ridge• Underground chambers inside the ridge• 212 artillery positions behind the ridge

Vimy Ridge

• What we know so far … – Between 1914 – 1916, the French and English

launched three unsuccessful attacks– Cost 150,000 Allied troops– Artillery failure

• Troops in underground shelters• No Man’s Land was more treacherous

– Poison gas failure– Tank failure

• Mechanical problems, lots of mud in No Man’s Land

Vimy Ridge – Reconnaissance Photos

Canadian Front Lines

Vimy Ridge – Reconnaissance Photos

Allied Trench fortifications facing Vimy Ridge

Vimy Ridge – Reconnaissance Photos

Protection for our snipers …

Vimy Ridge – Reconnaissance Photos

A view of the terrain at Vimy (but, in 1917, this was muddy and filled with hazardous materials)

Vimy Ridge – Reconnaissance Photos

Vimy Ridge – Reconnaissance

Photos

German trenches at the top of the ridge … with a view DOWN onto the battlefield

Vimy Ridge – Reconnaissance Photos

A German machinegun pillbox (the Ridge is littered with these)

Vimy Ridge – Reconnaissance Photos

Operation: Take that Ridge• Working alongside Canadian

General Arthur Currie, you and your squad are to plan for the successful destruction or the German fortifications of Vimy Ridge …

• You are to plan your attack based on our reconnaissance of the German defenses and the terrain.

• Remember, the British and French failed on three different occasions. Let’s show the world what Canadians can do!