Vimy Ridge

Many Canadians today see The battle of Vimy Ridge as the birth of their nation and a defining moment in Canada’s history. One of the most important reasons why Vimy Ridge is a defining moment in Canada’s history is because of the independence it gave Canadians and most of all Canadian troops. The Canadian’s troops and soldiers did something that the French and the British troops could not do. For example, the French were an utter failure. They only had a quarter million men and seven thousand guns. As for the British troops, the further one moved south from Vimy Ridge, the more depth of British penetration diminished. Eventually, the British troops got to The Sensee Valley and found themselves putting up a fight against nearly one hundred thousand casualties. The British troops gave up and stopped. As a result of Britain’s failure to carry out a successful battle, the British officers and generals gave the Canadian troops more independence and because of hree line divisions, with seven infantry regiments between them, were responsible for the immediate defence of the ridge.[29] The established strength of each division was approximately 15,000 men.[30] However, the actual strength of the German forces was significantly less. In 1917, a full-strength German rifle company consisted of 264 men; at Vimy Ridge, each rifle company contained approximately 150 men.[2] Each German regiment was by design responsible for staffing approximately 1,000 metres (1,100 yd) of front including its depth of defence back to the rear area. As a result, when the Canadian Corps attacked, each German company initially faced two or more battalions of approximately one thousand men each.[31] Reserve divisions were kept approximately 15 miles (24 km) behind the front lines instead of assembling close behind the second line as espoused by the defence-in-d