VIMY HEIGHTS WON.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 April 1917, Page 6

VIMY HEIGHTS WON.

■ FRENCH SUCCESS IN lis;.3 ' GERMAN ATTACK LAST MAY Vimy Ridge, captured by the Canadian forces, is roughly in the shape of a ■half-moon, lying between Souehez and the village of Thelus. The greatest height is 400 ft, but the< heights command the Vimy station and the railway between Lens and and give a prospect over rolling slopes away to the Valley of the Scarpe. The capture of the Vimy Heights by !'tho French in September, 1!)15, was one of the results of the offensive in the .north coincident with the great effort in Champagne. These operations were under the general direction of General Foeh. While the British advanced against the line La Bassee-Loos, the French 10th Army under General D'Urbal attacked the Vimy Heights. Both operations designed to isolate the railway junction of Lens and to open the road into the plain of the Scheldt, and also to prevent the Germans sending reinforcemets to meet the main attack in Champagne. The attack in Artois opened on September 25, after a bombardment lasting three weeks. There was very heavy fighting on the first day, but it wtu on September 20 that the French won their greatest successes. On their right they gained the lower slopes of the heights; on their left, they carried the line of the Souehez River, and by the evening had won the greater part of Givenchy Wood, and were well up tue north-west of the Vimy slopes. The centre carried Souehez village. The final movement against the heights was made on September 2S, and although the Germans received large reinforcements, the heights were won by the following jnorning. Owing to the necessity for reinforcing the British by taking over part of its line, the advance was not carried beyond the crest, and the plateau the eastern slopes remained in German possession. The Vimy heights became part of the British front in April, 1010, when the British armies, to relievo the pressure of Verdun, took over th» whole front from Ypros to the Somme, D'Urbal's 10th Army being released for servico elsewhere. In the middle of May, the Vimy ridge, which had been quiet for some months, became again the centre of interest. On May 15, at 8.30 p.m. the British exploded several mines on the ridge, and the craters were for some days hotly contested. A battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers occupied the German first line on a front? of 250 yards, and for some days held the position under a storm of shell. Early on the morning of May 21, the fire rose to hurricane pitoh, and tliat evening the German infantry the north end of the ridge and carried the British first line on a front of 1500 yards. The fighting died down about May 25, and during the past 10 months, there has been little activity in th 3 sector.