German attack on Vimy Ridge
The German attack on Vimy Ridge (Unternehmen Schleswig-Holstein/Operation Schleswig-Holstein) was a local attack on the Western Front on 21 May 1916, during the First World War. The Germans intended to prevent mines being blown under German positions by capturing the British front line and mine gallery entrances. After the Third Battle of Artois (25 September – 4 November 1915) the French Tenth Army had held positions on the western slope of Vimy Ridge and the German 6th Army occupied positions on the steeper eastern slope. During the Battle of Verdun (21 February – 18 December 1916), the Tenth Army was withdrawn and the British First Army and Third Army, on either flank, took over the French positions.
The mine warfare waged by the French was continued by the British, exploiting the advantage of being on the dip slope and only having to dig horizontally into the ridge to undermine German positions. The Germans, on the steeper scarp slope, had to dig down before they could dig horizontally, a disadvantage made worse by a shortage of manpower and mining equipment. An attack was planned by the Germans to capture the British positions, from which mine galleries were being dug under the German defences. Success would gain more defensive depth and forestall mine attacks on the German positions before the British could organise their defences on the ridge.
The Germans attacked on 21 May and were able to consolidate their objectives before the British could conduct counter-attacks powerful enough to recapture the ground. In the attack and its aftermath the Germans suffered 1,344 casualties against 2,475 British losses. A British plan to recapture the front positions and take the German side of the ridge was cancelled because of the demand for men and equipment for the forthcoming Battle of the Somme. The Attack on the Gommecourt Salient took priority over another attack on the ridge. British planning continued and became the basis for the much larger attack by the Canadian Corps at the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9–12 April 1917).
Prelude[edit]
British operations[edit]
When Haig discovered the real state of the French defences on the ridge, he ordered Allenby to hold the front line with outposts and strongpoints further back on the best defensive line that could be found. A retirement for 3,000–4,000 yd (1.7–2.3 mi; 2.7–3.7 km), to a defensible line between Ecurie and Souchez, was judged politically impossible, after the great sacrifices made by the French in 1915. A retirement would also show the Germans that no spring offensive was intended, contrary to Haig's desire that one should be made to appear imminent by mining and trench raiding on the ridge. The British inherited a substantial French mining effort but found that German mining was more advanced. The war underground was taken over by the 172nd, 175th, 176th, 181st, 182nd, 184th, 255th Tunnelling Companies RE, the 23rd Division mining company and the New Zealand Tunnelling Company, with five French tunnelling companies (gradually reduced to two). For the infantry of both sides, the feeling of sitting on a volcano was nerve racking. When either side sprung a mine, their troops would rush forwards and try to consolidate the near lip as their opponents smothered the area with artillery and machine-gun fire.[13]
At 4:45 a.m. on 3 May, the British sprung four mines a little to the north of Ersatz Ave, which formed three big craters. The crater lips, from which the British had excellent observation, were occupied by troops from the 1/21st Battalion, London Regiment (1/21st Battalion) of the 142nd Brigade, 47th (1st London) Division (Major-General Sir Charles Barter) and the 2/3rd London Field Company RE, with casualties of four killed and 18 wounded; the craters were named Momber, Love and Kennedy. On 15 May, the British blew another five mines between White Hart Ave and Angel Ave in the Berthonval sector under German trenches in an area they had captured in a previous attack. The new craters were swiftly occupied by six parties of the 11th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers and a detachment from the 9th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire from the 74th Brigade, 25th Division and named the Crosbie Craters. Working parties dug in on the forward edge of the craters, assisted by the 105th Field Company RE and the divisional pioneer battalion, at a cost of 107 casualties. The Germans detonated a mine some distance behind the German front line to site an observation post but did not counter-attack. The Germans bombarded the craters every night and used trench mortars, systematically to obliterate the British defensive positions on the ridge.[14]
After a British mine attack on 15 May, a German destructive bombardment on the ridge defences was accompanied by artillery registration (adjustments of aim by trial and error, directed by an observer in the air or on the ground) on the British communication trenches.[15][16] In the five weeks before 21 May, the 25th Division (Major-General Beauchamp Doran) suffered 1,270 casualties, although the British miners gradually gained an advantage over their German counterparts.[13] The infantry thought that the Germans were going to attack but air reconnaissance found no signs of preparations. In the weeks before the German attack, the weather was so bad that reconnaissance flights over the ridge by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) had been possible on only ten days. Aircraft observers saw several new light railways, a supply dump and at one place new assembly trenches were observed. The last reconnaissance before the German attack was flown on 17 May; the crew flew over the German trenches from 2,500 to 4,000 ft (760 to 1,220 m) but found that it was too dark to see into them. British military intelligence took the view that the Germans lacked the infantry and artillery necessary for an attack and the transfer of divisions from the First, Second and Third armies to reinforce the Fourth Army continued.[16]