# Book Review: Vimy



## 311 (31 Dec 2003)

Vimy by Pierre Berton

        First and foremost this book is so much more than the battle of Vimy Ridge. This book goes deep into the infrastructure of Canada pre-World War One. It explores the problems of creating an army from scratch, to forging an effective fighting force. The book tells of important changes to warfare brought to World War One by (for the most part) Canadians. This book explores the life of the average soldier, from life in the trenches to their experiences in combat. This is a book about Canada in World War One.

	Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is where it starts. Chapter one starts off by telling us the great commanders Canada had and what they did before the World War. It is astonishing that four of the five generals that took part in the planning for Vimy Ridge were civilians at the start of World War One. Canadaâ€™s military in all respects was a militia, and a highly disorganized one at that. This brings us to the first character of the book, Canadaâ€™s Minister of Defense, Sam Hughes. 

	This portion of the book was dare I say hilarious. To loosely quote the book, our Prime Minister was too intimidated of Hughes to fire him! Hughes was the type of man who spoke his mind and expected everybody to agree with it. The Governor General called Hughes, â€œmentally unbalancedâ€.  Hughes is most remembered for his scandals (Ross Rifle) which are documented to a certain degree in the book, however it more looks at his accomplishment (yes one). Upon Britain entering the war they expected Canada to send troops to support them. From Britainâ€™s perspective they wanted to assimilate the Canadians into British units. However Hughes fought to keep the Canadians separate to fight as their own army. Hughes believed if Canada was to be recognized as its own country and not some British colony, it was vital that Canada fight as Canadians.

	The more interesting point came after, in how most Canadians became involved in the war effort. He tells of individuals that joined, why and how they ended up in the conflict. One such teenager joined because he hadnâ€™t studied for his exam and rather then failing his exam he went to the recruiting office. He later went on to be a telephone operator in the field and was near deafened by the artillery at Vimy Ridge, lying next to his friend, who was killed by exploding shrapnel. The quote that best sums up how Canadians viewed the war is â€œCanadians werenâ€™t afraid of missing the war, they were afraid of missing the adventureâ€. They truly didnâ€™t understand what they were getting into.

	The book general fills in blanks as it goes on. You learn about Julian Byng, Arthur Currie and Andrew McNaughton and how Canadian officers acted back than. The book teaches about trench life, how people got stuck in mud and how the dead were so common that they became part of the landscape (people would lay on dead bodies). How the rats infested there trenchâ€™s, how there blankets were full of fleaâ€™s.

	The interesting part comes in how class distinction played such a role in Britainâ€™s army that it actually hindered there effectiveness. A British artilleryman had a scientific idea for finding the German artillery for counter-battery fire, but his superiors discarded his idea. When McNaughton was assigned to make the artillery more effective for Canada, he listened to the idea and went on to form an effective system of counter-battery fire which accounted for 82% of German artillery during the battle of Vimy Ridge. The British also believed only the generals were smart enough to comprehend the information required to perform an attack. At Vimy, every man knew the complete plan and what he was to do.  

	This book has many first hand accounts of how things went on. From people who brought water to the front lines, to people listening to the enemy from underground tunnels.

	Finally the book describes in detail the preparation and execution of the attack on Vimy Ridge. From the setting up of Vickers machineguns to the trench raids (which were used to destroy machinegun placements, get prisoners and information). 

	This is in no way all thatâ€™s in this book, as there are many accounts which are only a couple paragraphs long and would make this review very long. This is but a taste of what you will find in the novel â€œVimyâ€.

	Overall, I enjoyed this book, because not only did it give me a good account of what was happening in Canada before and during World War One, it sparked my interest to do additional research. The book made me want to read on to find out about real heroes who lived through horrible conditions for years, to defeat a distant enemy. I think everybody in the CF should read this book as it tells of our history that seems to be getting forgotten by most people today. It speaks of the PPCLI and the â€œVan Dooâ€™sâ€, and what they did in the Great War. The book is a fairly simple read, the author flows the story well.

	There were some things which I did not like about the book. First of all the book is only 308 pages, which isnâ€™t enough for the amount of information. What I mean is you wonâ€™t find many specifics on say the PPCLI. The author talks about Somme, and Ypres very briefly, which left me wanting more. I suppose this book is just suppose to be about Vimy, but given that only the last third of the book is specifically on Vimy Ridge, I thought it could have went more in depth. It includes several maps, however no photographs. There are some excellent pictures of trench life at:
  http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/dms/past/ww1/trenches.html   

Specifically the one where the caption is â€œTrench or Canalâ€.  

	However, this book is too good to disregard. I would rate it a 9/10 for being a great history book that needs to be longer.


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## Mike Bobbitt (31 Dec 2003)

Excellent review Thunder, thanks for taking the time to write it up.


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## logau (3 Jan 2004)

Other Excellent Books on Cdn Army in the Vimy Area which give Pierre Berton some serious competition - in fact they quickly out pace him

The 50th Bn in No Man`s land By Victor Wheeler (he was an inf sig -- an INCREDIBLE STORY)

Only This by James H. Pedley, MC - a Scout Platoon Officer = Recce PL Offr in today`s talk

THESE ARE AVAL AT CHAPTERS

I mentioned the war diaries a while back

Here`s how to read your units WW1 War diary

1. Go to www.archives.ca
2. Click English
3. Click Archivia NET
4. CLICK War Diaries of the First World War  
5. CLICK Search the database 
6. put in a key word like 16th (for 16th BN - aka CAN SCOTS today - or 14th BN for RMR - or 1st for 1st Cdn Bn - 1st Cdn Div etc - experiment a bit and you`ll get the hang of it
7. Then read away - all the units are there for the most part.
8. If you get stuck send me an email




> Originally posted by Thunder:
> [QB] Vimy by Pierre Berton
> 
> First and foremost this book is so much more than the battle of Vimy Ridge. This book goes deep into the infrastructure of Canada pre-World War One.....


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