72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

HISTORIC GROUND.in connection with the 72nd was made. It is satisfactoryto note that the transport section never lost the reputation of being the best Transport Section in the 12th Brigade, bestowed upon them on this occasion.The move of the Canadians to the North, in which the72nd now joined, was part of the general scheme for thecoming spring campaign. A great battle which it was hopedwould break the German front was to be fought betweenArras and Lens. Extending from Arras, northward morethan two-thirds of the way to Lens was the famous VimyRidge, the name of which was soon to echo around the world.To westerners, accustomed to the mountain heights of British Columbia, this hill of 475 feet high might well seema low eminence. But it dominated the country for milesround and the advantage of holding it was one which theGermans had worked hard to preserve. The Allies side ofthe Ridge was of a steeper acclivity than the side held by theenemy. Here some of the bitterest fighting of the early daysof the war had been waged. The country on the west siderose in a slope to the summit of the Ridge. The Alliedtrenches ran right along within a short distance of the top,but the top itself was still in German hands, and this gavethem a great advantage. The trenches that the 72nd werenow to occupy and re-occupy were a little way down on thewrong side of the crest. They could not command the country on the other side, whereas the enemy could see and command miles back over the Canadian positions. It was, therefore, impossible to approach the Canadian front across theopen. The only way was through long communicationtrenches. The Germans had all the advantages of position.On the east side,where the ridge drops sharply down, theyw ere able to place their great guns in massive concrete positions, well concealed, sheltered and difficult to reach. Operations against this enormously strong position were begun bya succession of raids in which the 72nd bore a strenuouspart.