The German Army on Vimy Ridge

[Halder]

Another masterpiece from Pal Jack. Generations of Western Front historians will forever be in his debt for shedding light on the German Army, rather than simply quoting Ludendorff, Hindenburg and Juenger. Now if we can just persuade him to turn to the Eastern Front...

Anyway, herewith my review from the May edition of Navy News (admittedly it's not very naval, but we've not had too many nautical books in recently...)

IN APRIL 1917, the Western Front was ablaze.

The Royal Naval Division stormed German lines outside Arras; the French attacked along the Chemin des Dames, an imposing ridge beyond Reims, intending to deliver the German Army a fatal blow; and in the skies, the Royal Naval Air Service was locked in mortal combat with its German foe.

There were few reasons for the Allies to cheer in ‘Bloody April’:

Britain’s diversionary attack at Arras failed to draw German reserves from the Chemin des Dames so the French offensive failed miserably; the French Army mutinied; and the RFC suffered horrendous casualties.

The one bright spot, however, was the capture of high ground to the north of Arras which offered a commanding view of Artois.

The capture of Vimy Ridge was a decisive success – and one which has become a defining moment in Canada’s national identity, for her men were at the forefront of the onslaught.

Little space has been afforded to the defenders of Vimy... until now. In his unceasing efforts to give a voice to the men ‘on the other side of the hill’, Jack Sheldon has turned his attention to The German Army on Vimy Ridge 1914-1917 (Pen & Sword, £25, ISBN 978-1844-156801).

Few people are better qualified to offer an insight into ‘Fritz’ than the author whose trawl of the archives, regimental histories and countless first-hand accounts has already shed light where it is dark on the Somme and at Passchendaele.

His Vimy Ridge work continues in the same outstanding vein.

Foe or not, it is hard not to feel sympathy for the German defenders – who have left us with some vivid, and incredibly haunting, first-hand accounts.

All survivors of the Easter battle of 1917 attest to a strangely mesmeric “thunderous hail of iron”. Feldwebel (Sergeant) Paul Radschun’s regiment stood firm until “the last waves of the British burnt out and the dreadful storm of steel ebbed away”, but at a cost of nearly 900 men.

“It had not yielded. It had defended its appointed place to the last drop of blood; worthy of its fathers; worthy of the heroic spirit of its beloved commander,” he recalled.

The English-speaking focus is invariably on those fateful April days. But there were ferocious battles for the ridge, largely between Gaul and Teuton, in 1915.

And while the warriors fought to the death above, an army of tunnellers and counter-tunnellers burrowed beneath Vimy, determined to blow a gap in the enemy lines – or to bring their adversary’s tunnel (or ‘gallery’) crashing down. There was no more horrible a fate on the Western Front.

One German engineer tried to rescue a comrade trapped by a British charge which had already killed a second miner.

“We could hear the moans and groans of this unfortunate man, trapped by his legs which were gripped tight by the collapsed chalk walls,” he recalled.

The unfortunate man was rescued – his legs had to be amputated and he died shortly afterwards.

Such was war on Vimy Ridge.

[truthergw]

Very good review, Halder. Perhaps you should be writing that work on the Eastern Front!

[Halder]

Hi Tom,

I'm sort of Jack's WW2 counterpart (only not as productive).

I've done one Eastern Front book (Blitzkrieg Unleashed), and I'm writing another (siege of Breslau), then I'm doing WW1... and starting with the Western Front. Doh!

I'd love to tackle Tannenberg one day though.

[truthergw]

I look forward to the Western Front one.

[AGWR]

Another masterpiece from Pal Jack. Generations of Western Front historians will forever be in his debt for shedding light on the German Army, rather than simply quoting Ludendorff, Hindenburg and Juenger. Now if we can just persuade him to turn to the Eastern Front...

Halder,

Couldn't agree more with your assessment of this book. I reckon that this is the best one yet...

Regards,

AGWR

[Black Watch]

My son bought me a copy in France when he was visiting the battlefields with the Army, excellent book.

Neil

[Jack Sheldon]

Many thanks AGWR and BW, or A & B, if I may make so bold. I am glad that enjoyed reading it. It was certainly interesting from my point of view to be able to work with so much primary source material; it does not happen very often on the German side, I am afraid.

Jack

[phil andrade]

Many thanks AGWR and BW, or A & B, if I may make so bold. I am glad that enjoyed reading it. It was certainly interesting from my point of view to be able to work with so much primary source material; it does not happen very often on the German side, I am afraid.

Jack

All honour to Jack Sheldon : the word "Sheldonian" should now enter the lexicon of Great War historiography.

His book on the Germans at Vimy Ridge completes a superb trilogy : meticulous research into Bavarian archives, a disciplined narrative and cogent analysis are brought to bear, along with striking potographs and simple - but effective - maps.

The view that Vimy Ridge was nearly impregnable is now to be changed. The narrowness of the Ridge hindered effective artillery deployment. Infantry were deprived of properly constructed zones of support in the rear, and were crammed excessively into the first line of defence.

The narrative is very informative, but retains drama. The first one hundred and thirty pages deal mainly with the frightfully intense Franco - German fighting of 1915 "..a series of battles of extraordinary savagery." This in itself reassures us that Sheldon is never guilty of upholding the Anglo-centric view of 1914-1918. He observes that this fighting yielded lessons to the Germans that helped them formulate such an effective defence against the Entente on the Somme a year later. He comments, however, that " One of the ironies of Vimy Ridge is the fact that local geographical factors, lack of depth and diversion of effort to more pressing priorities elsewhere, meant that few of these lessons could be applied there."

The next chapter, on the trench warfare of 1916, illustrates how aggressive the Germans were, even in their preponderantly defensive role. They conducted many local attacks, in order to consolidate superiority or spoil enemy plans. This was quite apparent on Vimy Ridge in the first half of 1916, when the Germans mounted local attacks against the French, followed by a larger scale offensive in May against the newly arrived British. Here we read interesting accounts of the interrogation of British prisoners. That this occurred while the Germans were making their principal effort at Verdun is significant - we learn that the Crown Prince Rupprecht was aggrieved by the transference of his Bavarian troops to other sectors : he even believed that some high ranking German officers suspected him of trying to construct a Bavarian front !

This was warfare of particular intensity : on the ground, above it, and - most notoriously, below it. The chapter titled Mining Beneath Vimy Ridge is spine chilling. The Sheldonian approach works well here - information, analysis and carefully delivered conclusions, based entirely on research into Bavarian archives. There is also a good measure of sensitivity apparent in the way Sheldon finishes the chapter, as he reflects on the ordeal of "...the men of both sides involved in mining and counter-mining on Vimy Ridge. Working in appalling conditions, and at constant risk of their health and their lives, they gave their all, elevating their craft to levels rarely reached on other sectors of the Western Front. Their courage and skill was seldom equalled and never surpassed." He concludes this chapter with a quotation from Friedrich Ruckert ( 1788-1866), who, we read in the notes "...was a prolific poet with mastery of many different forms of verse and an outstanding self taught orientalist."

It should be mentioned that the notes at the end of each chapter are superb, with necessary references and intriguing anecdotes, none more amazing than the account of Otto Ludwig Dorr, a story which exemplifies the notion of truth being stanger than fiction.

The final three chapters deal with the build up to the Canadian assault on Vimy Ridge, the battle itself and, finally, how the German High Command analysed defeat.

We are reminded of the scale and intensity of Canadian trench raiding in February and March 1917. This, along with relentless artillery and mortar fire, caused a single Bavarian regiment to suffer losses of 79 killed and 217 wounded in one week in the line at Vimy Ridge in February. Conversely, Sheldon describes the raid on March 1st as "...an utter debacle, and the casualties were so high that it is possible that it was the most costly failure of its type of the entire war on the Western Front....From the approximatley 1,700 Canadian raiders, no fewer than 687 - including two battalion commanders - became casualties."

In this situation, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria was keen to retaliate with an offensive "...to show the enemy that we are not content just to resign ourselves to passive defence." It is fortunate for Canada that this attack was not made.

Sheldon uses documents to great effect when describing the ordeal endured by German soldiers as they faced the huge preponderance of Allied artillery, supplemented by gas attacks, constant raiding and the onslaught of numerically superior British aircraft. Two days before the great attack of April 9th, we have the report made by a German Medical Major who laments the wastage caused by dysentery and nervous exhaustion. Most striking is a report from another German officer who reckoned that, in terms of the toll it took in the battleworthiness of the troops, Vimy Ridge surpassed the Somme and Verdun.

The culminating assault is vividly described. Rupprecht wrote in his diary, that very day," It is questionable if we can hold in the face of artillery fire of this increasing intensity.....is there any point in continuing to prosecute the war ? " Many of us equate the onslaught of April 9th 1917 with a smooth and efficient Canadian victory. Sheldon provides testimony that, despite the confusion and terror that bore down on them, many of the German defenders exhibited the most resolute resistance.

The unflinching summaries of the Crown Prince form the crux of Sheldon's final chapter, The Epilogue, and we appreciate that it was not only the British who experienced "learning curves" as they dealt with the challenge of warfare on the Western Front. We can better understand how the traumatic events of Vimy Ridge impinged on the German command as it prepared to cope with the Flanders fighting later that year, so expertly chronicled by Sheldon in his book The German Army at Passchendaele.

A couple of days ago, I was enjoying a visit to the battlefields of the Georgette offensive of April 1918. I was fortunate to stand on the slopes of Mount Kemmel in the most glorious weather, and I reflected on the achievement of the German Alpen corps that, almost exactly one year after the loss of Vimy Ridge, succeeded in carrying that formidable bastion of Flanders in an attack that, surely, is the equal of any in that war. How exciting it would be if we could enjoy another Sheldonian foray into the Bavarian archives, consummated by an account of the taking of Mount Kemmel on April 25th 1918 !

Phil.

[Jack Sheldon]

Phil

Many thanks for this generous review, which is much appreciated. I am pleased that you found the book useful. You are quite correct that the Kriegsarchiv in Munich has quite good holdings of material concerning the Kemmel fighting. I checked some of it out a few years ago when I was doing some work on Bavarian Jaeger Regiment 1, but I am afraid that any further exploitation will have to take its turn in the queue.

Jack