In the week of April 9 the British made great gains in the Arras sector, capturing German positions to a great depth and taking a total of some 15,000 prisoners and 190 guns of all calibers, some of which were turned against the Germans as they sought to stem the tide of British successes by desperate rearguard actions.  Notable victories were won by the Canadian troops in the capture of the hotly contested Vimy Ridge and other positions during the battle of Arras, as this series of important engagements was called, even before it was concluded with all the honors in Allied hands.

For several days after the first dash on Monday morning, April 9, the British tore through the German defenses on an extended front north and south of Arras, from the north bank of the River Scarpe to the German trench system just south of Loos, and straddled the iron line of Hindenburg by April 13 as far as a point seven miles southeast of Arras.

But success did not stop here.  To the south the British progressed on a front of about nine miles, between Metz-en-Coutre and a point to the north of Hargicourt The French columns joining the British in this sector swept forward along with their allies.  They attacked with tremendous vigor German positions south of St. Quentin and carried several lines of trenches between the Somme and the St. Quentin railway.  These positions were held despite every effort of the Germans to retake them.

Throughout the length of interlinked chain of advances the fighting was of the utmost ferocity.

For the first time in the war the British were making sharp drives and smashes like a skillful pugilist, every one of which contained force enough to have been considered a major attack in the history of other wars.  In places the attack has shaken loose from the trenches and was being delivered along the lines of the old Napoleonic strategy.

The British captures of Vimy and later of Givenchy were looked on as victories of the utmost importance, equal to the storming by the Canadians of the Vimy Ridge.  When this line of hills was firmly in the hands of the Canadians, they hauled their heavy guns up to the summit with extraordinary speed and proceeded to batter to pieces the powerful defenses of Vimy, while they made continual thrusts down the eastern slopes.

In 1915 Vimy was for a time held by the French under Gen. Foch, but they were shouldered out with great slaughter by the Germans, who proceeded to lavish the last details of their military science upon the fortifications of the town.

Givenchy, too, before which many British dead lie buried, was a stronghold upon which the Germans counted to stem any advance.