Battle of Vimy Ridge - Aftermath

Aftermath

By nightfall on 12 April 1917, the Canadian Corps was in firm control of the ridge. The corps suffered 10,602 casualties: 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded. The German Sixth Army suffered an unknown number of casualties with approximately 4,000 men becoming prisoners of war. Four members of the Canadian Corps received Victoria Crosses, the highest military decoration awarded to British and Commonwealth forces for valour, for their actions during the battle:

• Private William Johnstone Milne of the 16th (Canadian Scottish) Battalion.
• Lance-Sergeant Ellis Wellwood Sifton of the 18th (Western Ontario) Battalion.
• Private John George Pattison of the 50th (Calgary) Battalion.
• Captain Thain Wendell MacDowell of the 38th (Ottawa) Battalion.

At least two Orders Pour le Mérite, the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order, were awarded to German commanders for their actions during the battle:

• Oberstleutnant Wilhelm von Goerne commander of the 261st Prussian Reserve Infantry Regiment, of the German 79th Reserve Division.
• General of the Infantry Georg Karl Wichura commander of the VIII Reserve Corps and Gruppe Souchez.

Following the defeat, the Chief of the German General Staff, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, ordered the Supreme Army Command to conduct a court of enquiry into the defensive collapse of the Arras sector. The court concluded that the Sixth Army headquarters had disregarded frontline commander reports, noting a possible imminent attack, and as a result, reserve units were kept too far back to execute a timely and effective counterattack. The court concluded that Sixth Army commander General Ludwig von Falkenhausen failed to apply an elastic defence properly as espoused by German defensive doctrine of the time. Instead, the defensive system was a series of unmoving strong points and static lines of resistance, which the Canadian artillery ultimately isolated and destroyed. As a result of the inquiry, Hindenburg removed Falkenhausen from his command and transferred him to Belgium where he served the remainder of the war as that country's Governor General.

The Germans did not see the Canadian Corps's capture of Vimy Ridge as a loss. Contemporary German sources viewed the action, at worst, as a draw, given that no full-scale breakthrough occurred following the attack. The Germans did not attempt to recapture the ridge, even during the Spring Offensive, and it remained under British control until the end of the war.

The loss of Vimy Ridge forced the Germans to reassess their defensive strategy in the area. Instead of mounting a counterattack, they pursued a scorched earth policy, and retreated to the Oppy–Méricourt line. The complete failure of the French Nivelle Offensive in the week after the Arras Offensive placed pressure on Field Marshal Douglas Haig to keep the Germans occupied in the Arras sector to minimize French losses. The Canadian Corps participated in several of these actions including the Battle of Arleux and the Third Battle of the Scarpe in late April and early May 1917.