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Posted on 04/09/2003 5:33:46 AM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.
Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different veteran each Wednesday. The "ordinary" Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine who participated in the events in our Country's history. We hope to present events as seen through their eyes. To give you a glimpse into the life of those who sacrificed for all of us - Our Veterans.
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The Battle of Vimy Ridge This Warrior Wednesday the Foxhole honours the soldiers of our neighbor to the North, Canada.  "They fought as Canadians and those who returned brought back with them a pride of nationhood that they had not known before." Dear Readers, I first heard of Vimy Ridge and trench warfare as a high school student sitting in Mr. Stephens' history class. We watched movies like “All Quiet on the Western Front” and attended Remembrance Day services. It would not be until years later however that I came to fully understand what it was I was to be “Remembering”. This epiphany came to me in the form of a letter, a lost piece of family history. My maternal grandfather wrote this letter from his hospital bed where he was recovering from wounds sustained in the battle of Vimy Ridge during W.W. I. Some historians would say the Canadian victory achieved on Vimy Ridge changed the outcome of the war and helped shape the country we live in today. This letter is my grandfather’s, account of the battle. Heather Reid, Brampton, Ontario , Canada  Pte Leo Kelly, Fulham M. Hospital London W., 6, H.1.W. Mr. P.M. Kelly; Dear Father, I am writing to you a short story on what took place in the great battle won by the Canadians on Easter Monday on Vimy Ridge. On the morning of April 9th between the hour of five-thirty or six o’clock was the time selected for the Canadians to make the big drive on the Germans at Vimy Ridge. All day Easter Sunday and all that night the boys worked hard preparing for the awful work which they had before them still they never faltered but I laughed and sang as if nothing was going to happen. We all spent the night in a tunnel about forty feet in the earth. It was the only safe place around Vimy Ridge then for it was about as much a hell hole as one would want to be in. About three o’clock that morning we had breakfast which was a very good one. It consisted of bacon, bread, butter, tea and oranges, a meal we do not get very often out here. I guess the cooks opened their hearts for once. They knew the boys would have a hard day and that it would be the last meal for quite a few of them. Never the less our Battalion was very fortunate in the line of casualties, which I think was quite light. After breakfast we got our issue of rum, which was rather small, but we don’t need rum to fight, all we need is grub and cigarettes. Well, Father, it was getting near the time for work. We got the order “ get ready” which we were not long in doing. We had a heavy load to take across. I was in the Machine Gun Section and had to carry ammunition for the gun. We then lined up in the trench, got into position, fixed bayonets; everything was as quiet as a mouse. The Huns knew we were going over but little did they expect us on that morning. We did not have long to wait. Our engineers blew two mines that ran under the Hun’s front line. This was a signal for the artillery. The explosion was hardly heard when many thousands of guns both large and small opened a terrific barrage on the Hun front line. The boys waited no longer, they went over the top in a moment, making their way bravely across “No Man’s Land” to meet the Germans. To our surprise when we got there we found the line quite empty as the enemy could not stand our terrific artillery fire and fled for shelter to their dugouts and were taken prisoners. The barrage was now playing on the German’s second line, which was our objective, so we pushed over the shell ploughed ground, mud and water to the waist. Men were falling here and there but still the boys kept on. Our gun crew got scattered. The man who carried the gun and I we were alone and we did not go far when he fell. I turned him over but he did not move. I could not wait so I picked up the gun hoping to get it to the second line safely, for a machine gun is a great weapon against the enemy. It fires six or seven hundred rounds a minute. But luck was against me for I did not go very far when it was smashed to pieces on my shoulder; it had been struck by sniper fire. I was not hurt and I did not mind the gun only I now had no weapon. I had thrown my rifle away when I had picked up the machine gun. All I had was a revolver but it would not work for mud. I reached the second line safely, I seen Jack and Leo McGuire and they were O.K; they said it was great sport. Well father, I was looking for souvenirs when I got hit with shrapnel in the left hand. One of our officers sent me out to a dressing station, so they kept me going until I finally arrived in a London hospital. It was a beautiful place and the people were so kind especially the young nurses. Well Father, if the town people of Pembroke had seen the Pembroke boys of the 130th battalion (now the 38) go through the Hun that morning they would not say that they were Kitchener’s last hope. There are quite a few Pembroke boys in the 38 Battalion. Well father, I guess I will ring off, wishing you all had a Merry Easter and eat some eggs for me. Your loving son, Leo Kelly
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So that the German's were not alerted to the existence of the tunnels, the excavated chalk was placed near the entrance by day and taken away by night. Some of it was put in sandbags to reinforce the trenches. There was heavy snow that winter so the remaining white chalk was hidden in the snow. If the far entrance to the tunnels was visible to the Germans, they could work out their location and shell them. To avoid this the tunnels were taken right down to the town behind the Canadian lines.
Once the tunnels were finished they made sure they had everything they needed inside. There was a forward checkpoint inside the tunnel entrance where soldiers had to check in and check out. If too few checked back in, they could identify who was missing. They could also perform a roll call, if there were too many, in case there was an enemy spy.
When we went inside the tunnels, I noticed that the air immediately got a lot colder, even though I was wearing a fleece. The soldiers in the tunnels must have been freezing in their uniforms and overcoats. I thought the tunnels were quite small, but the Canadian guide told us they had been widened for safety. We walked along to the water supply point. Here there were two different types of water pump. The gas pump was noisy and could only be used in the day, under cover of noise from the practice battlefield. The manual pump was used if the gas pump broke or if water was needed during the night.
They have found lots of artefacts from the war, in the tunnels. Some are in good condition and others are not so good. They have found things like gas containers and water buckets, pieces of uniform and different kinds of soldiers' hats, sandbags and sandbag holders and even two different types of barbed wire picket. The hammer in style was soon obsolete as too many soldiers were killed putting them in; the enemy could hear them hammering the picket in and see them standing up. The screw in style was invented so that there was no noise when it was screwed into the ground and the soldier could remain low down. After the war it was observed that both the Germans and the Allies had been using the same type of barbed wire picket. You can still see these pickets being used by Belgian and French farmers to hold up their fences over eighty years later.
Officers Quarters, in the Tunnels
One of the bunkers captured near Bois de la Ville
April 9, 1917
Battle of Arras, Vimy Ridge. Movement from the assembly areas to the jump off trenches was through a set of tunnels burrowed through the chalk. These tunnels were originally dug for an earlier assault as mines, the end of which was under the then German lines. It had been filled with explosives and detonated shortly before that unsuccessfull attack. Now the German lines had been pushed back and the old tunnel reopened, emerging into the crater. Captain MacIntyre recalled:
"I was all through a most wonderful cave carved in the solid chalk... It was suupported by pillars of chalk. It looked like some scene from "Ali Baba and the forty thieves". On every side men were sleeping, eating, playing cards and cleaning their weapons by the light of scores of candles".
These British officers at Vimy Ridge also favored the Cadillac
15th INFANTRY BATTALION (48th Highlanders of Canada)
Formed in August in 1914. Appointed to the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Canadian Division throughout the war
German troops surrender to the advancing Canadians
For Canada, the attack on Vimy Ridge marked a turning-point in the country's march towards distinct nationhood. In the words of Brigadier-General Alexander Ross, DSO, who commanded the 28th (North West) Canadian Battalion at Vimy,
"It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade. I thought then that in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation."
Is that a tambourine?
I believe so.
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