Vimy Ridge Memorial Tour

Stop #2 - Tunnel Intersection

LOW RES. HIGH RES.

When the Canadians arrived, the Ridge was already a warren of small tunnels or saps dug by the British and French, chiefly in order to blow mines under the German lines.

General Byng had twelve tunnels (or "subways" as they were called) driven forward from the rear areas to the front. Behind the front line were other tunnels parallel to the front with exits to the trenches so that the infantry could deploy under cover and wait in relative safety for the time to attack.

The tunnel you are in now, the Grange Subway, was dug during the winter of 1916-1917 by the 172^nd Tunnelling Company of the British Royal Engineers, with the help of the men of the 7^th Canadian Infantry Brigade.

When the attack began on the 9^th of April, 1917, the three infantry battalions which were to lead it in this sector had been in the line for five days, but with only half their rifle companies in order to avoid over-crowding. Forty-eight hours later before Zero Hour, their remaining two companies came forward from the rear and sheltered here in the tunnel.

From the right, leading battalions of the 7^th Brigade were The Royal Canadian Regiment, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and the 42^nd Battalion (Black Watch) from Montréal. Following them, with the job of "mopping up" any enemy which the leading troops had missed, was the 49^th Battalion (The Edmonton Regiment).

These units are still today part of the Canadian Forces, two of them as "regular" regiments and the other two as militia.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge lasted for three days. When it ended the four Canadian Divisions had driven the Germans from the Ridge, achieving what was the first major Canadian victory of the War for the armies of the British Empire.

This tunnel was one of the longest of the subways, running about one kilometre back from the front. You entered it just behind Crater Post which is in the outpost line. You are ten (10) meters, or thirty-three (33) feet underground. The chalk is porous - three days after it rains on the surface, it rains in the tunnel.

Brigade Report Center

LOW RES. HIGH RES.

The first room on the left was the Forward Report Centre for the 7^th Brigade and it became the Rear Report Centre and part of the communication links to the rear areas after the Brigade had moved forward. Brigadier General MacDonell, who commanded the Brigade, and his staff were not in the Grange Tunnel but in dug-outs in the reserve line.

The tunnel to the right leads to the trenches on the left flank of the Brigade where the Black Watch attacked.