When General Currie received orders to capture Vimy Ridge in February of 1917, Canadian soldiers prepared for the toughest battle they would face. This would be a battle of hard fought teamwork under one dominant force, the Canadian army. When the offensive was launched on April 9, 1917 Canadians prepared to do what the British and French had failed to do numerous times before, take over Vimy Ridge. With 100,000 troops the Canadians advanced under General Currie's strategy of "paying for victory in shells rather than in lives {Lotz, p.42}. When the tear gas and dust cleared on Easter Monday this goal would be reached with only 3598 soldiers dead. This battle would put Canada on the map not only as great soldiers and a brave people but also as a "true nation" separate from Britain.
Since it's capture in 1914 by the Germans, Vimy Ridge was a key to the German defence system. Towering 61 metres above the Douai Plain it gave the Germans a unique birds eye view of their enemy's every move. For the allies to attack they would have to scurry across open plains where they would be sitting ducks for German soldiers. To add to the natural fortifications, which already existed on the ridge, the Germans built a maze of interconnecting trenches and enormous underground chambers, some of which could hold entire German battalions in time of enemy shelling. Vimy also had numerous concrete machine gun posts; all of which were surrounded by massive amounts of barbed wire. "These conditions were summed up by Canadian soldier James Buchanen as "Hellish" "(Lotz,p.42). The Germans not only used all these defences to protect themselves but also factories, which lay behind Vimy ridge that were used for munitions production. These factories were on French land, which had been invaded and occupied by the Germans. All these defences had proven to be too much for the British and French to overcome alone, but with the help of 100,000 hearty Canadian soldiers the seemingly invincible Vimy Ridge would be captured.
