The Battle of vimy ridge
World War I: April 9th - 13th, 1917
Taking Clutch Trench
On the night of April 8th, 1917, the Seaforths filed into Gobron Tunnel to await the morning’s assault on Vimy Ridge. It was Easter Sunday, and it began to snow.
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At zero hour on the morning of April 9th, mines were blown along the enemy’s front lines, and the attacking force of 13 officers and 249 other ranks of the 72nd Battalion advanced behind a precisely-timed creeping artillery barrage.
Positioned on the left flank of the Canadian attack, the Seaforths’ objective was to take Clutch trench between the junctions of Cyrus trench to the south and Cluck trench to the north.
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Moments after the attack began, withering German machine gun fire from Hill 145 and Hill 120 (the Pimple) began inflicting tremendous casualties on the Battalion. This enfilading fire from both flanks slowed, but could not halt the 72nd Battalion’s advance. The 72nd took their objectives, but the toll was devastating: by day’s end, 206 Seaforths were killed, wounded or missing.
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After three days of mopping-up and consolidating their position, the Battalion overran the last vestiges of German resistance at Claude trench on the morning of April 13th. The Seaforths had secured the left flank of the attack, and the ridge was in Canadian control.
Vimy Ridge: the Seaforth Highlanders’ costliest victory of the First World War.
The Key to the Battle
Planning and Preparation
Constant patrols and trench raids in the weeks leading up to the attack on Vimy Ridge provided the 72nd Battalion with invaluable information on German defences, but it came at a steep cost: dozens of fatalities and over 150 wounded Seaforths.
Massive models of the German trenches were constructed behind the lines so every soldier knew the ground like the back of his own hands.
Vimy Ridge before the battle: the extent of the German defensive network is shown in red.
Private Tom Lawson, an engineer from Saskatchewan, joined the 72nd Battalion in France in August of 1916 as part of a draft of men Lieutenant-Colonel J.A. Clark would later describe as “real skookum Saskatchewan farm boys.” He went missing on a major raid at Vimy on March 1st, 1917. His remains were never found.
