On the morning of April 9, 1917, troops of the Canadian Corps under General Julian Byng attacked the formidable German defences of Vimy Ridge. Since then, generations of Canadians have shared a deep emotional attachment to the battle, inspired partly by the spectacular memorial on the battlefield. Although the event is considered central in Canadian military history, most people know very little about what happened during that memorable Easter in northern France.
Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment draws on the work of a new generation of scholars who explore the battle from three perspectives. The first assesses the Canadian Corps within the wider context of the Western Front in 1917. The second explores Canadian leadership, training, and preparations and details the story of each of the four Canadian divisions. The final section concentrates on the commemoration of Vimy Ridge, both for contemporaries and later generations of Canadians.
This long-overdue collection, based on original research, replaces mythology with new perspectives, new details, and a new understanding of the men who fought and died for the remarkable achievement that was the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Co-published with the Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies

Andres Iarocci’s principal rsearch interests include Canada’s First World War military operations and postwar commemoration. His publications include Canadian Forces Base Petawawa: The First Century (2005).

Andrew Iarocci's profile page

A graduate of WLU and Western, Geoffrey Hayes is a former student and long-time friend of Terry Copp. He teaches Canadian political and military history at the University of Waterloo. He is the co-editor of [http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/hayes.shtml Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment (WLU Press, 2007) and [http://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/hayes-sedra.shtml Afghanistan: Transition under Threat (WLU Press, 2008).

Mike Bechthold is the managing editor of Canadian Military History and the communications director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies. He teaches military history at Wilfrid Laurier University and has published numerous articles on Canada and the Second World War.

Matt Symes is a PhD candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University. He works as the publications manager for the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies and as the online editor for canadianmilitaryhistory.ca. With Eric McGeer, Matt has published three Battlefield Guides on the Italian Campaign in the Second World War.

Geoffrey Hayes' profile page

Mike Bechthold is the managing editor of Canadian Military History and the communications director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies. He teaches military history at Wilfrid Laurier University and has published numerous articles on Canada and the Second World War. He has led civilian and military groups on tours of the Canadian battlefields in Europe and has taken thousands of photographs of the battlefields.

Mike Bechthold's profile page

The problem with any narrative that sees Canada maturing form colony to nation on the top of Vimy Ridge is that is misrepresents both the nature of the Canada Corps' victory and exaggerates its place in Canadian constitutional development. A scholarly 'reassessment' of Canada's most heralded military achievement is thus long overdue and welcome....Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci, and Mike Bechthold...have delivered a worthy addition to a body of literature that is disproportionately small in relation to the magnitude of Vimy's contribution to Canadian nationalism. The authors have managed to clarify some persistent misconceptions about the Canadian Corps and have clearly demonstrated the value of ongoing study of this monumental event.

Jody Perrun, University of Manitoba, H-Net Reviews, 2008 June

This a very fine collection and an important contribution to Canadian military history. The authors point to the importance of the battle at Vimy Ridge, but they do not go on a nationalist rampage, and this adds to the strength of the work. The book will add to our knowledge on a subject that most thought was 'done,' and it deserves to sell well in the 90th anniversary year of the great battle.

J.L. Granatstein, author of <i>Whose War Is It?: How Canada Can Survive in the Post-9/11 World</i> (2007), 2007 February

Clarifying what actually happened before, on, and after 9 April 1917 is overdue in a year when Canada's government has given orders to celebrate a ninety-year anniversary and when virtually none of the original participants will be alive to complicate the ceremonies with their own memories. I welcome [in Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment] a number of innovative contributions, notably when the text sets Vimy in the context of the British Arras offensive, when it underlines the British contribution to the Canadian Corps operations, and explores the contributions and problems of specific branches of the service, such as artillery engineers and medical corps. Not only have the authors dissected the battle, they have contributed to an understanding of all those myriad but vital elements of victory that most historians ignore except for specialist audiences. This book restores a fuller historical context to the capture of Vimy Ridge without undermining, in any substantive way, the pride Canadians can take in their achievement.

Desmond Morton, founding director, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada

The best book on this battle remains Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci and Mike Bechthold (eds.), Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Assessment.

Major John R. Grodzinski, CD, MA, Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canadian Military Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2010 January

Practical, detailed, and superbly researched.

J.L. Granatstein, emeritus, Canadian War Museum, CHOICE, Vol. 45, number 6, 2008 February