Vimy: The Battle and the Legend

by Tim Cook

Overview

A bold new telling of the defining battle of the Great War, and how it came to signify and solidify Canada's national identity.

Why does Vimy loom so large in Canada's identity—and should it? Tim Cook, Canada's foremost military historian and a RBC Taylor Prize winner, examines the battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917 and the way the memory of it has evolved over a hundred years. Vimy is unlike any other battle in Canadian history: it has been described as the "birth of the nation." But the meaning of that phrase has never been explored, nor has any writer explained why the battle continues to resonate with Canadians. The Vimy battle that began April 9, 1917, marked the first time the four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together. 10,600 men were killed or injured over four days—twice the casualty rate of the Dieppe Raid in August 1942.

Cook has uncovered new material and photographs from official archives and private collections across Canada and from around the world. Many of these resources have never been used before by other historians, writers, or filmmakers.

This book is about more than a defining battle: it is a story of Canadian identity and memory, by a writer who brings history alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735233188
Publisher:	Penguin Canada
Publication date:	03/06/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

TIM COOK is Chief Historian and Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum. His bestselling books have won multiple awards, including three Ottawa Book Awards for Literary Non-Fiction and two C.P. Stacey Awards for the best book in Canadian military history. In 2008 he won the J.W. Dafoe Prize for At the Sharp End and again in 2018 for Vimy: The Battle and the Legend. Shock Troops won the 2009 RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Cook is a frequent commentator in the media, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada.

Read an Excerpt

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was the most carefully planned operation the Canadians fought during the First World War. The ridge was the site of several titanic battles, starting in October 1914, and a place where hundreds of thousands of French and German soldiers had been killed or maimed in attempting to capture or hold the critically important geographical position. The 7-kilometre Vimy Ridge protected the coal-rich area around Lens that the Germans occupied and desperately needed to retain to supply their war effort. When the Canadians arrived at the foot of the western side of the ridge in October 1916, Vimy was a vast desert of shell craters and rotting corpses. The Canadians faced one of the most formidable positions on the Western Front. Under the command of British general Sir Julian Byng, the four Canadian divisions, with significant support from British engineers, gunners, and soldiers, prepared for the battle in April 1917. The assault on Vimy was part of a larger British push, the Arras offensive, which was, in turn, a supporting attack for the French Artois offensive to the south. Through meticulous preparation, training, determination, and sacrifice, the Canadians succeeded where the French armies had failed in the past. The Corps’ victory solidified its reputation among allies and opponents as an elite fighting force.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Vimy"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Tim Cook.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Canada.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Maps viii

Chapter 1 Vimy: Battle and Legend 1

Chapter 2 Vimy Battleground 8

Chapter 3 Preparing the Assault 36

Chapter 4 Over the Top 72

Chapter 5 Vimy Aftermath 114

Chapter 6 Vimy's Impact 138

Chapter 7 Commemorating the Fallen 164

Chapter 8 Constructing Memory 191

Chapter 9 The Great War Contested 218

Chapter 10 The 1936 Vimy Pilgrimage 249

Chapter 11 Forging an Icon 274

Chapter 12 Birth of the Nation 300

Chapter 13 Vimy Contested 328

Chapter 14 Vimy Reborn 366

Afterword 385

Endnotes 395

Acknowledgments 449

Select Bibliography 454

Index 489

Credits 510

Editorial Reviews

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE J.W. DAFOE BOOK PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA'S NATIONAL AWARD FOR CANADIAN NON-FICTION
FINALIST FOR THE TEMPLER MEDAL BOOK PRIZE
FINALIST FOR THE OTTAWA BOOK AWARD FOR NON-FICTION

Praise for Vimy:
“There is no one better equipped to retell the Vimy story than Cook.” —The Chronicle Herald

“Through this book, Cook … cements himself as the nation’s premier military historian.” —The Vancouver Sun

Praise for At the Sharp End:
"Provides an intimate look at the Canadian men who fought in World War One.... An engrossing, moving experience." —The London Free Press

Praise for Shock Troops:
"Cook has written what will surely be the definitive history of the Canadian Army in the First World War." —Edmonton Journal

Praise for The Madman and the Butcher:
"[A] masterful book." —Maclean's

"In The Madman and the Butcher, [Cook] tells at least two stories that deserve that overused word 'epic'.... An emotive writer.... He has a playwright's ear for knowing when to let his subjects speak for themselves." —The Globe and Mail

From the Publisher

01/23/2017
Cook, whose Shock Troops won the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction, insightfully examines the 1917 battle of Vimy Ridge and evolving perceptions of it as Canadians prepare to commemorate its 100th anniversary. Four Canadian divisions fought at Vimy, and after four days, the Canadians succeeded where other Allied forces had failed, taking the strategic ridge from the occupying German Sixth Army, albeit at the cost of nearly 3,600 Canadian lives. It was a battle that shaped the still-forming Canadian identity as Canada evolved from colony to dominion to sovereign nation, and the battle has sometimes been described as “the birth of a nation.” Although Cook sees that description as myth, and one that has been used by some politicians to promote their own agendas, he writes that it is one of Canada’s most enduring narratives. He analyzes the ways that subsequent generations have commemorated Vimy: some made grand speeches and iconic memorials, but others, disenchanted with war, saw the battle as a terrible waste of human life. Covering a century in fewer than 500 pages, Cook’s account is necessarily highly compressed, but he effectively conveys a complex topic in a few well-chosen words, showing how Vimy came to hold a place in the Canadian consciousness that no other battle does. Agent: Rick Broadhead, Rick Broadhead & Associates. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly