Vimy
Authors: Pierre Berton
Vimy
Pierre Berton
Anchor Canada (2010)
Rating: ★★★★☆
Tags: History, Canada, General
Historyttt Canadattt Generalttt
One chill Easter dawn in 1917, a blizzard blowing in their faces, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in France went over the top of a muddy scarp knows as Vimy Ridge. Within hours, they held in their grasp what had eluded both British and French armies in over two years of fighting: they had seized the best-defended German bastion on the Western Front.
How could an army of civilians from a nation with no military tradition secure the first enduring victory in thirty-two months of warfare with only 10,000 casualties, when the French had lost 150,000 men in their unsuccessful attempt? Pierre Berton's haunting and lucid narrative shows how, unfettered by military rules, civilians used daring and common sense to overcome obstacles that had eluded the professionals.
Drawing on unpublished personal accounts and interviews, Berton brings home what it was like for the young men, some no more than sixteen years old, who clawed their way up the sodden, shell-torn slopes in a struggle they innocently believed would make war obsolete. He tells of the soldiers who endured horrific conditions to secure this great victory, painting a vivid picture of trench warfare. In his account of this great battle, Pierre Berton brilliantly illuminated the moment of tragedy and greatness that marked Canada's emergence as a nation.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Review
"Among the most important and vital accounts of war that we have…it is inexcusable not to read it."
—Timothy Findley
"…
Vimy
is Berton at his best and that's the best there is."
—Peter C. Newman
"A book to make us proud, to make us week."
—June Callwood
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Inside Flap
One chill Easter dawn in 1917, a blizzard blowing in their faces, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in France went over the top of a muddy scarp knows as Vimy Ridge. Within hours, they held in their grasp what had eluded both British and French armies in over two years of fighting: they had seized the best-defended German bastion on the Western Front.
How could an army of civilians from a nation with no military tradition secure the first enduring victory in thirty-two months of warfare with only 10,000 casualties, when the French had lost 150,000 men in their unsuccessful attempt? Pierre Berton's haunting and lucid narrative shows how, unfettered by military rules, civilians used daring and common sense to overcome obstacles that had eluded the professionals.
Drawing on unpublished personal accounts and interviews, Berton brings home what it was like for the young men, some no more than sixteen years old, who clawed their way up the sodden, shell-torn slopes in a struggle they innocently believed would make war obsolete. He tells of the soldiers who endured horrific conditions to secure this great victory, painting a vivid picture of trench warfare. In his account of this great battle, Pierre Berton brilliantly illuminated the moment of tragedy and greatness that marked Canada's emergence as a nation.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
As far as I could see, south, north along the miles of the Ridge, there were the Canadians. And I experienced my first full sense of nationhood.
Lieutenant Gregory Clark, M.C
.
Weekend Magazine,
November 13, 1967
Copyright © 1986 by Pierre Berton Enterprises Ltd.
Anchor Canada paperback edition 2001
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photoc opying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher — or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency — is an infringement of the copyright law.
Anchor Canada and colophon are trademarks.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Berton, Pierre, 1920–
Vimy
eISBN: 978-0-385-67361-7
1. Vimy Ridge, Battle of, 1917. 2. World War, 1914–1918 –
Campaigns – France. 3. World War, 1914-1918 – Canada. I. Title.
D545.V5B47 2001 940.4′31 C2001-930603-2
Published in Canada by
Anchor Canada, a division of
Random House of Canada Limited
Visit Random House of Canada Limited’s website:
www.randomhouse.ca
v3.1
Books by Pierre Berton
The Royal Family
The Mysterious North
Klondike
Just Add Water and Stir
Adventures of a Columnist
Fast Fast Fast Relief
The Big Sell
The Comfortable Pew
The Cool, Crazy, Committed World of the Sixties
The Smug Minority
The National Dream
The Last Spike
Drifting Home
Hollywood’s Canada
My Country
The Dionne Years
The Wild Frontier
The Invasion of Canada
Flames Across the Border
Why We Act Like Canadians
The Promised Land
Vimy
Starting Out
The Arctic Grail
The Great Depression
Niagara: A History of the Falls
My Times: Living with History
1967, The Last Good Year
Picture Books
The New City (with Henri Rossier)
Remember Yesterday
The Great Railway
The Klondike Quest
Pierre Berton’s Picture Book of Niagara Falls
Winter
The Great Lakes
Seacoasts
Pierre Berton’s Canada
Anthologies
Great Canadians
Pierre and Janet Berton’s Canadian Food Guide
Historic Headlines
Farewell to the Twentieth Century
Worth Repeating
Welcome to the Twenty-first Century
Fiction
Masquerade (pseudonym Lisa Kroniuk)
Books for Young Readers
The Golden Trail
The Secret World of Og
Adventures in Canadian History (22 volumes)
Contents
OVERTURE:
Ten Thousand Thunders
CHAPTER TWO
A Ribbon of Deadly Stealth
CHAPTER SIX
Not What They Expected
CHAPTER SEVEN
Things Worth Remembering
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The 2nd Division
CHAPTER TWELVE
The 3rd Division
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The 4th Division
APPENDIX ONE British Army Formations
APPENDIX TWO The Canadian Battalions at Vimy
List of Maps
The Vimy Sector
The Western Front, 1917
The Ridge
Subways at Vimy
A Portion of the Grange Subway
1st Division Assault
2nd Division Assault
3rd Division Assault
4th Division Assault
Maps by Geoffrey Matthews
Drawing of Vimy Ridge by Robert White
OVERTURE
Ten Thousand Thunders
5:30 came and a great light lit the place, a light made up of innumerable flickering tongues, which appeared from the void and extended as far to the south as the eye could see, a light which rippled and lit the clouds in that moment of silence before the crash and thunder of the battle smote the senses. Then the Ridge in front was wreathed in flame as the shells burst, confining the Germans to their dugouts while our men advanced to the assault.
Private Lewis Duncan to his aunt Sarah,
April 17, 1917
Ten Thousand Thunders