In reserve: 13th Battalion (5th Royal Highlanders)
1st Brigade (In Reserve)
Right: 1st Battalion (Western Ontario)
Centre: 3rd Battalion (Royal Regiment of Canada, Toronto)
Left: 4th Battalion (Western Ontario)
In reserve: 2nd Battalion (Eastern Ontario)
2ND DIVISION: Henry Burstall, C.O. 4th Brigade (Right)
Right: 18th Battalion (London, Ontario)
Left: 19th Battalion (Central Ontario)
In reserve:
Right: 20th Battalion (Central Ontario)
Left: 21st Battalion (Eastern Ontario)
5th Brigade (Left)
Right: 24th Battalion (Victoria Rifles, Montreal)
Left: 26th Battalion (New Brunswick)
In reserve:
Right: 22nd Battalion (Canadien Français, “The Van Doos”)
Left: 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Rifles)
6th Brigade (In Reserve)
Right: 31st Battalion (Alberta)
Centre: 28th Battalion (North West)
Left: 29th Battalion (“Tobin’s Tigers,” Vancouver)
In reserve: 27th Battalion (City of Winnipeg)
3RD DIVISION: Louis Lipsett, C.O. 8th Brigade (Right)
Right: 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles
Centre: 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles
Left: 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles
In reserve: 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles
7th Brigade (Left)
Right: Royal Canadian Regiment (Toronto)
Centre: Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
Left: 42nd Battalion (Royal Highlanders, “The Black Watch,” Montreal)
In reserve: 49th Battalion (Edmonton)
9th Brigade (In Reserve – not committed to the battle)
43 rd Battalion (Winnipeg)
52nd Battalion (Port Arthur)
58th Battalion (Brantford)
116th Battalion (Nova Scotia)
4TH DIVISION: David Watson, C.O. 11th Brigade (Right)
Right: 102nd Battalion (“Warden’s Warrior’s,” Northern B.C.)
Left: 87th Battalion (Grenadier Guards, Montreal)
In reserve:
Right: 54th Battalion (Kootenays)
Left: 75th Battalion (“The Jolly 75,” Mississauga)
Attached and in reserve: 85th Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders)
12th Brigade (Centre)
Right: 38th Battalion (Ottawa)
Centre: 72nd Battalion (Seaforth Highlanders, Vancouver)
Left: 73rd Battalion (Royal Highlanders)
In reserve: 78th Battalion (Winnipeg Grenadiers)
10th Brigade (Left)
44th Battalion (Winnipeg)
50th Battalion (Calgary)
In reserve:
47th Battalion (British Columbia)
46th Battalion (Regina and Moose Jaw)
Author’s Note
A great many books have been devoted to the Battle of Vimy Ridge, more perhaps than to any other battle involving Canadian troops in any war. It is not the purpose of this volume merely to repeat what has already been published (although the story is retold where it is necessary for background). Nor is Vimy intended to be definitive from a military or a tactical point of view. I have not thought it necessary to mention every battalion that took part in the action or every senior officer. There are several books, easily available, that do this.
My purpose, as in my two-volume work on the War of 1812, has been to tell not just what happened but also what it was like. I have tried to look at the Vimy experience from the point of view of the man in the mud as well as from that of the senior planners. The new material in this book comes from them-several dozen survivors of the battle, interviewed over the past two years – supplemented by the recollections in tape recordings of earlier interviews conducted two decades ago by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and, even more valuable, by unpublished letters, memoirs, and manuscripts acquired largely with the help of The Legion, the veterans’ magazine. For these reasons I have not thought it necessary to append extensive source notes. The bibliography will make clear the personal papers and conversations from which this new material comes.
One thing that impressed me in the unpublished material is the eloquence of the writing. A good many Great War veterans obviously felt the need to record their experiences. Some did it: to get it off their chests, others for the more important purpose of leaving a memoir for their sons and daughters. One of the latter was George Frederick Murray of the 5th CMRs, a man who never got past Grade 6 but who, at the request of his son Ernie, proceeded to fill in handwriting fifty quarter-inch-ruled loose-leaf sheets, every one of which is a pleasure to read.
This book also fulfils a second purpose. In these pages I have tried to continue my study of the Canadian character as it differs from the American and the British and also to chronicle the steps this country has taken toward nationhood. Vimy was clearly a milestone on that journey. In fact, the present book might be seen as a kind of sequel to The Promised Land, my account of the settlement of the North West in the years before the Great War. Vimy is peopled with many Westerners, some of them Old Country immigrants who had resolved to make Canada their home in the early years of the century. My own view is that the country has never overcome their loss in the First War; they were a different breed from the more cautious native-born. Who can say what these future entrepreneurs, lost in the appalling trench warfare of 1914-18, would have wrought if they had lived?
Acknowledgements
The names of the survivors of the Battle of Vimy Ridge interviewed for this book are listed in the Bibliography. Several, alas, have died in the interim. Almost all the others have entered their tenth decade. For their patience and their enthusiasm I am more than grateful. Without them, this book would not have been possible.
In addition I have drawn heavily on the oral history tapes in the Public Archives of Canada and on the published memoirs of three men-Will Bird, Duncan Eberts Macintyre, and Victor Wheeler. The memoirs of Lieutenant-General E.L.M. Burns, Dr. Robert Manion, and Ernest G. Black, and the letters of Donald Fraser were also useful. I have in addition drawn on several of the interviews appearing in Alexander McKee’s Vimy Ridge, on the Letters from the Front of Bank of Commerce employees, as well as on personal material appearing in the various battalion histories.
The two biographies of Arthur Currie, that by Hugh M. Urquhart and the more recent work by Daniel G. Dancocks, provided useful background information on Currie, though the first makes no mention of his financial difficulties and the second glosses over them. These were first brought to light by R.C. Brown and Desmond Morton in an article in the Canadian Historical Review and are supported by letters and documents in the Borden Papers, Public Archives of Canada. Two other biographies, those of Julian Byng by Jeffery Williams and of Andrew McNaughton by John Swettenham, were very useful. Charles Winter’s sycophantic treatment of his former employer, Sam Hughes, was not so valuable; most of my material on Hughes comes from other sources, notably the Borden and Foster papers in the Public Archives. Much of my background on Raymond Brutinel is drawn from Larry Worthington’s Amid the Guns Below, and I want to thank her son, Peter, for drawing my attention to it.
My thanks, too, to Lieutenant-Colonel D.F. Spankie for his advice and counsel, to Bill Gray for allowing me to use material collected on the saps, subways, and craters in the Vimy sector, to Timothy Findley for lending me his uncle’s letters from the Great War, to Dave Breckenridge for background on his uncle Bill, to Ben Sivertz for background on his brother Gus, to Frank E. Macintyre for background on his father, to Mrs. Audrey Ball for background on her uncle, John Mould, and to the Hon. J.V. Clyne for bringing to my attention his brother Harry’s history of Tobin’s Tigers.
My research assistant, Barbara Sears, who again devoted her unflagging energy and questioning mind to gathering much of this material, would like to thank the following for their assistance: Sylvie
Robitaille and Jana Vosikowska of the National Film, Sound and Television Archives; Robert Grandmaitre, Map Division, Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa; Gordon Dodds, Bob Tapscott, and Michele Fitzgerald of the Provincial Archives of Manitoba; Eric Gormley, at the Glenbow Alberta Institute; the staffs at the British Columbia Archives, New Brunswick Museum, Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia, and the Historical Directorate, Department of National Defence, Ottawa; Don Wilson and Don Harrison, Department of Veterans Affairs, Ottawa; Reginald Roy, the University of Victoria; and from the Royal Canadian Legion: J.D. Bridges, Regina, Al Erikson, Prince Albert, William Jack, Saskatoon, Kenneth Rooke, Halifax, Alex Andrews, Kentville, James Sandford, Annapolis Royal, Lorraine Sherwood, Vancouver, Robert Horncastle, Saint John, and C.H. Graham, Ottawa.
Because of Jan Tyrwhitt Patton’s extraordinary acumen I was persuaded to rewrite Vimy, and there’s no doubt that without her counsel it would be a lesser work. Janet Craig, the best copy editor in Canada, saved me as usual from myself. Elsa Franklin’s critique, which supplemented Ms. Patton’s, convinced me that I was on the wrong track in an earlier draft. As always, the proofreading of my wife, Janet, has been impeccable. My research notes were organized by my former secretary, Caryle Jakobsen, and the various drafts of the manuscript were typed at blinding speed by my present secretary, Susan Blackwell. In a work of this complexity there are bound to be errors and omissions. These are mine.
Kleinburg, Ontario
April, 1986
Select Bibliography
Unpublished Manuscript Material
Public Archives of Canada:
MG27 Lord Beaverbrook Papers
MG26 H Robert Borden Papers
MG26 J W.L. Mackenzie King Papers
MG26 II D7 George Foster Papers
MG27 III B7 R. J. Manion Papers
MG30 DI50 Andrew Macphail Papers
MG30 E619 David Watson Papers
MG30 E100 A. W. Currie Papers
MG30 EI5 W. A. Griesbach Papers
MG30 E241 D.E. Macintyre Papers
MG30 E236 Villiers Papers
RG9 series 3, vols. 4912-4951, battalion war diaries
Department of National Defence:
Capt. Robert N. Clements, “Merry Hell the Way I Saw It”
Lieut. J.H. Fairweather diary
John Swettenham, “Two First World War Battles”
SGR II 202, Miscellaneous German Sources
British Columbia Archives:
Arthur Crease diary
Mrs. E.M. Garrard diary
Andrew S. Baird letters
Col. Cy Peck diary
Glenbow-Alberta Institute:
M742 Harold McGill Papers
F. Johnson, oral history interview
Manitoba Archives:
MG7 H11 George Hambley diaries
Ontario Archives:
MU4693 Lewis Duncan Papers
MU996 Matthew Ellis Papers
Provincial Archives, Nova Scotia:
MG 100 Harvey Crowell Papers
MG23 A.M. Taylor war diary
Privately held papers:
Gordon Beatty, “Reminiscences of an Old Soldier”
William Breckenridge, “From Vimy to Mons”
Art Castle, “The Takeover of Vimy Ridge”
W.E. Darknell, “The Battle of Vimy Ridge”
Jules De Cruyenaere, “The Battle of Vimy Ridge and Hill 70”
Dr. E. Douglas Emery diary
T. Irving Findley letters
Eric Forbes diary
Bill Gray, Papers on subways, saps, and craters, Vimy Memorial Park
Bill Green, “Autobiography of World War One”
J.N. Gunn diary
R.A. Henderson letters and diaries
Arthur Jenkinson, “My War Experiences”
Harry Gait Lithgow letters
Harry Loosmore, “Recollections of Vimy”
H.W. Lovell manuscript
Andrew McCrindle, “From Private to Private in 36 Months or a Worm’s Eye View of World War One”
John Mould diary
George Frederick Murray, “Account of Service in the Canadian Army During the Great War”
Percy Albert Murray manuscript
A.L.S. Nash, “The Story of the 40th Battery CFA, CEF 1915-1919”
William Pecover diary
___“A Memory of Vimy Ridge by One Who Was There”
Arthur C. Pollard, “Memoirs of a Soldier/Airman in World War I”
Ian Sinclair diaries
John Henry Stacey diaries
Frank Tamblyn diary
Alfred Thomson diary
George C. Walker, “Accounts of Events at Vimy Ridge”
Claude Williams letters
Len Youell letters
Newspapers
Toronto Daily Star, 1914,1917
Globe (Toronto), 1914,1917
Manitoba Free Press, 1914,1917
Edmonton Bulletin, 1914
Calgary Herald, 1914,1917
Mail and Empire (Toronto), 1914
Ottawa Citizen, 1914
Toronto News, 1914
Government Documents - Published
House of Commons, Debates, 1914-1918
Interviews
George Alliston; Harold Barker; J. Gordon Beatty; Roland Bird; Clifford Brown; D. Allan Brown; Lewis Buck; E.L.M. Burns; Benson Case; Art Castle; Robert Chambers; Jim Church; Dean Colpitts; Charles Dale; W.E. Darknell; George Drew; Dr. E.D. Emery; Robert England; Norman Evans; Len T. Fairey; Eric Forbes; Doug Forman; William Gale; Whitfield Ganong; Albert Gervais; Lester Giffin; Duncan Green; Eric Grisdale; William Hemming; Roy E. Henley; John Hill; Fred W. Hodges; Fred Holm; Leslie Hudd; George Johnston; James Johnston; Sam Kirk; William F. Klyne; James A. de Lalanne; William Lundal; Andrew McCrindle; D.I. McCullough; James McRuer; Bruce Menzies; David Moir; James Montgomerie; Gad Terence Neale; Harold Nixon; Frank Ormiston; Bob Owen; William Pecover; John Quinnell; Gordon Rafuse; George Raisbeck; A. Dodge Rankine; Fred Robertson; Lewis Robertson; Harold Rogers; Albert Rose; Wesley Runions; Gordon Shrum; Charles Sills; Cyril Smith; John Spears; Aubrey Staples; Fred Stapley; Alfred Thomson; James Todd; C.W. Topping; George Turner; James Wallis; Albert Welch; Harry Wilford; Claude Williams; Thomas Wood; Frank Yates; Len Youell
Public Archives of Canada:
Oral history tapes (interviews originally conducted for the CBC radio series “In Flanders Fields”): Percy Ackerley; T. Adams; V. Armstrong; F.C. Bagshaw; Stanley Baker; Capt. Royden Barbour; Robert George Barclay; Harry Bond; Arthur Bonner; Archie Brown; Bob Brown; Raymond Brutinel; Harold Campbell; Gregory Clark; H.R.N. Clyne; Henry Sloan Cooper; Richard Elmer Crowe; Harvey Crowell; N.G. Dean; G. Dorman; Cuthbert Joseph Dutton; James Ellis; Arthur Farmer; Leslie Fennel; Arthur Andrew Galbraith; T.C. Gaunt; T. Goodhall; Arthur Goodmurphy; George T. Hancox; Allen Hart; Thomas Hewitt; D’Arcy Higgins; P.J. Hopkins; W.J. Howe; Alex Jack; William Jenkins; Col. Kirkpatrick; Richard Leach; J.A. MacDonald; A. Manson; Douglas Marshall; H.C. McKendrick; W.S. McMactier; Andrew McNaughton; William Nickle; Victor Odlum; Daniel Ormond; M.E. Parsons; George Randolph Pearkes; Alfred Pearson; Elmore Philpott; Jack Pinson; R.S. Robertson; Clayton Ross; E.S. Russenholt; G. Scott; S. Scott; R.H. Sinclair; Gus Sivertz; John Stewart; Frank Thomson; Frank Vandenbosch; W.S. Wilson.
Published Sources
Allen, Ralph. Ordeal by Fire. Toronto: Doubleday, Canada. 1961.
Bank of Commerce. Letters from the Front, vols. 1 and 2. N.p., 1920.
Barnes, Leslie W.C.S. Canada’s Guns: An Illustrated History of Artillery. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1975.
Beattie, Kim. The 48th Highlanders of Canada. Toronto: 48th Highlanders of Canada, 1932.
Bell, Douglas Herbert. A Soldier’s Diary of the Great War. London: Faber and Gwyer, 1929.
Bennett, Capt. S.G. The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles 1914-1919. Toronto: Murray Printing Company, 1926.
Berger, Carl. The Sense of Power: Studies in the Ideas of Canadian Imperialism 1867-1914. Toronto: University of Toronto Pr
ess, 1970.
Bird, Will. And We Go On. Toronto: Hunter-Rose Co. Ltd., 1930.
____Ghosts Have Warm Hands. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin and Co. Ltd., 1968.
____Thirteen Years After: The Story of the Old Front Revisited. Toronto: Maclean Publishing Company, 1932.
Bishop, William. Winged Warfare. New York: George Doran Company, 1918.
Bishop, William Arthur, The Courage of the Early Morning. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1965.
Black, Ernest G. I Want One Volunteer. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1965.
Blake, Robert (ed.) The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914-1919. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1952.
Bliss, Michael. A Canadian Millionaire, the Life and Business Times of Sir Joseph Flavelle, Bart. 1858-1939. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1978.
Borden, Robert Laird. Robert Laird Borden: His Memoirs, vol. 1. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969. (reprint).
Boudreau, Joseph A. “Western Canada’s Enemy Aliens in World War One,” Alberta Historical Review, vol. 12, no. 1, Winter, 1964.
Bray, R. Matthew. “Fighting as an Ally: The English-Canadian Patriotic Response to the Great War,” Canadian Historical Review, vol. LXI, March 1980.
Brown, R.C. and Morton, Desmond. “The Embarassing Apotheosis of a ‘Great Canadian’: Sir Arthur Currie’s Personal Crisis in 1917,” Canadian Historical Review, vol. LX, March 1979.
Brown, Robert Craig. Robert Laird Borden. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1975. Burns, E.L.M. General Mud: Memoirs of Two World Wars. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1970.
Byng, Viscountess. Up the Stream of Time, Toronto: Macmillan Co. of Canada, 1945.
Cameron, Kenneth. History of No. 1 Canadian General Hospital CEF. Sackville: Tribune Press, 1938.
Canada in the Great War, vol. 4, The Turn of the Tide. Toronto: United Publishers of Canada, n.d.
Carlyle, Randolph. “Our National Army,” Canadian Magazine, vol. 31, no. 5 (1908).
Chaballe, Joseph. Histoire du 22e Bataillon Canadien-Français. Montreal: Les éditions Chantecler ltée., 1952.
Chapman, Guy. A Passionate Prodigality. New York: Holt Rinehart, 1933.
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