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Editorial Review Product Description
Vimy Ridge was one of the most important geographic features on the entire Western Front in World War I. In early 1917 it was considered practically impregnable, but on 9 April the Canadian Army Corps, under the command of the British Lieutenant General Sir Julian Byng, assaulted it as part of the Arras offensive. In one of the most spectacular operational attacks of the war, they seized almost the entire ridge in a single day. This book describes how the innovative efforts that went into every aspect of the preparation for this attack ensured that the Canadian and British troops achieved unprecedented success. ... Read more Customer Reviews (5) 
A Classic report on a Classic battle!
Many readers remark on the quality of most Osprey Campaign publications: this one could serve as the epitome of these efforts.Let's first note that the author has the standard 94 pages to cover a complex event.To succeed in his aim of providing the reader with an accurate and thorough understanding of the Vimy affair, he organizes the book as though he was in Byng's shoes.He moves the reader along step-by-step through the planning process - literally paralleling the methodology used by Byng himself - as follows :
1. He concisely sets the scene by summarizing the situation that generated this attack and then clearly delineating the reasons, purpose, and scope. These criteria controlled and shaped the decision-making before, during, and after the battle. It is important for the reader - as it was for the officers involved - to keep these restrictions firmly in mind. Applying them in evaluating apparent mistakes or lost opportunities, etc., will inevitably identify the reasons behind those decisions.
2. Next, the opposing forces, their commanders, and the material resources and limitations are revealed and discussed. The resulting advantages and disadvantages accruing to both sides from this evaluation, in combination with the overall criteria, give the reader a seamless understanding of the development of Byng's battle plan.
3. The plan of attack is then set out in detail, wonderfully supported by superbly organized maps. The infantry and artillery tactics are described tersely and validated by references to hard lessons learned from previous battles. The numbingly complex logistical, medical, signaling, security, reconnaissance, training and other crucial preparations are concisely but informatively identified. This vast tableau is enriched with cameos detailing the activities of specific individuals and small units right up to Army level tasks. These vignettes are dispensed sparingly but with excellent effect.The author effortlessly weaves these many threads into a verbal Bayeux Tapestry, resulting in a sparse yet easily understood overview of the Vimy assault. It's impressive how much is covered in so few pages!
4. The Battle description is organized sequentially by each of the five attacking Divisions and by time. The overall progress is controlled by linking each Division's progress to the four Objective Lines against their assigned deadlines.This structured approach results in a pleasingly-understandable view of the battle as it unfolded.
5. The Aftermath follows.The criticisms and negative commentary of historians on several aspects of the Vimy affair are neatly disposed of by the author.With pointed references to the terrifying environment that shaped the thoughts and actions of soldiers on both sides, he proceeds to justify their actions and decisions with an insight that can come only from experience. His polite comments remind me of a telling lyrics from (I know this is an odd quote - but it fits...) the Rolling Stones:
"Like Ladies-in-Waiting to a Virgin Queen,
Bitchin' about things they've never seen."
That said, the shortcomings are minimal. The excellent and mostly uncommon photos are carefully selected to support the text but usually too small to allow the reader to identify details given in the descriptions. A puzzling omission in the otherwise laudable maps is the clear identification of the ridge line! A transparent overprinting of its location would ease comprehension considerably. The main problem - not enough pages! This budgetary constraint is not the author's doing, but to our good fortune his craftsmanship certainly helps blunt its impact.
Comments: It is my habit to skip any author's bio, 'Forward', or 'Introduction', etc. I just start at Chapter One and read right. Only when finished do I then go back and review those items initially ignored.This permits me to assess the effect and, IMHO, the quality of the author's effort without being influenced by reputation or prior apologetic whinging. My impressions of this work were that the author HAD to be a well-trained military man. The book's structure, organization, and clarity, combined with the restrained tone and the sparing yet skilled use of words, evoked memories of my environment when in uniform (Canadian Army). The brief bio declared that Alexander Turner is, indeed, a soldier. The quality of this Osprey book implies that it would be unfortunate for any reader to have to oppose him while he exercised the skills of his profession.
A 94 page superb effort, unreservedly recommended! One wonders what he could achieve with 300 pages.
Vimy Ridge 1917 - Byng's Canadians Triumph at Arras
World War One battles by their static - and horrific - nature are difficult to bring to life, but that is exactly what Mr. Turner does in this book. He effectively combines the intellectual background (e.g. short biographies of the officers/men, reviews of strategy and technology), photos, and maps. Maps - how important they are, and yet how often a good military book fails to tie the text to good graphics, so one can understand the terrain and the place in the overall "big" picture. While I waited in suspense for the battle to begin, I learned about fascinating developments in strategy ("defense in depth), when I thought there were little or not developments during the war, the abilities of the officers on both sides, and the men who were going to fight the battle. I have never read an Osprey book before, but this will surely guide me in that direction. This was a terrific read.
The battle that helped create a national identity for Canada
Essentially the first BEF victory on the western front (pre Messines), Vimy Ridge gave Canada an epic battle all its own. Today the towering memorial on Hill 145 holds the names of the nation's missing (including one of my distant relatives) and is a focal point for Canadian national pride as the statue of Canada weeping for her fallen sons looks out over the coalfields of Lens.
In typical Osprey fashion, this volume presesnts a clear, concise and complete story of this great battle, with excellent graphics, photos, and, perhaps most refreshing, maps (why can't WWI authors and publishers create some decent maps? Osprey seems to be able to pull it off). The final chapter is an excellent description of the battlefield today, made more interesting of course by the the fact that Canada has preserved portions of the trenches as well as part of the Grange Subway on the ridgetop.
Read this Campaign series to get the overview and the lay of the land (and subway system!) then root out a copy of Berton's Vimy for a real understanding of what the battle meant to a 'dominion' that had to fight the British to maintain their identity in a separate corps (a preview of the fight Pershing was to have with the same Brit leadership when the doughboys arrived)and protect their egalitarian society from the class structure the dominated the BEF.
Even if you know this battle well, and perhaps, because you do, the graphics are worth the small investment in this volume. Most Osprey Campaign issues are a nice addition to lengthy tomes simply for the maps and illustrations.
One of the better Campaign Series
The vice of the Campaign Series can be to cover so large a subject in one small volume and give so much introductory material that the subject of the book is covered in less depth than in an Encyclopedia. In the end you get little more than an introduction, a few nice pictures, if you're lucky some nice maps, and photographs so small you can never see the detail mentioned in the captions.
In Vimy Ridge the author has avoided these perils. He limits himself to the battle, not a history of the whole West Front, and assumes you knew something about World War One before you purchased the book. The result is a gem. A concise description of a battle very different from what you thought it would be, well-written, well-illustrated other than the too small photos. The only criticism is that you are left wanting more, but to get that you need a much larger and more expensive book than Osprey promised you.
The Canadian Triumph
Alexander Turner, a battalion-level officer in the British Army, delivers a solid summary of the Canadian Corps' impressive capture of Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Although Turner offers the capture of Vimy Ridge as refutation of claims that Allied generalship in the First World War was fatally flawed, his conclusions skim by the fact that Vimy Ridge was one of the very few attacks that enjoyed this kind of success at such low cost. Furthermore, the amount of mistakes made by the German commanders at Vimy Ridge seem to be beyond the norm for that army in the First World War. Statistically speaking, Vimy Ridge was something of an aberration and therefore difficult to use as a case study. In any event, Turner provides a detailed summary of the preparation and execution of this highly successful Allied offensive.
Turner begins with the usual section on the background to the campaign and opposing forces, which tends to digress a bit into a broader discussion of the tactical-technological problems facing First World War armies. At points, the author appears to want to paint a broader canvas á la John Keegan, rather than deliver a campaign study, but he settles down by mid-volume. The volume includes five 2-D maps (the German retirement to the Hindenburg Line; Arras and the Chemin des Dames Offensives; Locations of Allied Artillery units near Vimy Ridge; the Battle of Vimy Ridge; Attack on the "Pimple" and Bois-en-hache, 12 April 1917) and two 3-D maps (the Assault on Vimy Ridge in the 1st and 2nd Canadian Division areas and the fight for Hill 145 and "the Pimple"), as well as two excellent battle scenes (advance of the 2nd Canadian Division on 9 April 1917 and the defense of the Zwischenstellung). The maps are decent, but the dominant nature of Vimy Ridge is less apparent on the 3-D maps than a standard military 1:50,000-scale map of the area. Furthermore, the operational-level maps provide only vague details on the larger picture of the Arras offensive, without even showing the equally impressive advance of the British XVII Corps to the south of Vimy Ridge.
The author makers clear that both the German and Canadian troops at Vimy Ridge were high quality, but that the Canadian Corps had an overwhelming superiority in artillery, which was enhanced by careful planning. The author also disputes the idea that Vimy Ridge was an all-Canadian affair and points out the contributions of various British support units. Although the author briefly mentions the air superiority battles that preceded the Allied offensive, he offers few details once the attack commenced. He does spend a fair amount of time describing the extensive Allied mining and tunneling efforts, much of which did not pan out during the actual offensive.
While Turner notes faulty German dispositions and planning, he does not seem to appreciate that the Allied attack was assisted by fog and snow, which severely reduced German visibility. Instead, Turner emphasizes the muddy ground as an impediment to Canadian mobility. The magnitude of the Allied success at Vimy Ridge is not always apparent in Turner's account, which does not mention that this attack resulted in the furthest Allied advance in one day since the start of trench warfare. Turner's background in an infantry battalion aids him in painting the portrait of Canadian infantry struggling through the mud and shellfire, but there is little actual analysis of the battle's outcome. Overall, Vimy Ridge 1917 is a solid campaign summary, albeit one that could benefit from a bit sharper focus.
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