Are there good accounts somewhere online of what happened in the days and months after the capture of Vimy Ridge? Most books stop right after the capture. I would like to think it was a valuable achievement, it gave a great view down onto the plain and coalfields, which could have been a follow-up target? Was that ever in the grand plan for Vimy Ridge?
An old French guidebook tells me there were "powerful counter-attacks against the eastern edge which were repulsed" in the days after the capture. The Germans pulled back to a new line, then not much seemed to happen except attacks at Gavrelle, and later Oppy Wood. The Arras attacks had to continue in May to support the French, so this area overlooked by Vimy Ridge towards Lens seems to be a better spot than continuing east of Arras.
Thanks, this might start an interesting discussion. Falls, C. London: HMSO. ISBN Hi, yes I have followed that my great-grandfather was killed at Wancourt , the attacks kept pushing east through May But the easiest sector specifically to keep advancing would have been in front of Vimy ridge with that great observation from above, push north-east towards Lens.
I wondered why that sector wasn't chosen? Contemporary German sources viewed the action, at worst, as a draw, given that no breakthrough occurred following the attack.
Thanks, that free online Canadian account certainly fills in the blanks between the books about individual battles. Is the British official history also available online? Ok, I would love to tag onto this and ask a follow-up question. Does anyone know who garrisoned the line in that sector Arleaux-Oppy when the Canadian Corp was pulled out and up to Ypres- Passchendale battles?
