Battle of Vimy Ridge produced four Victoria Cross recipients, including one Moose Javian
Canadian soldiers overcame impossible odds and the chaos of battle to capture the seemingly impregnable Vimy Ridge in 1917, with four soldiers — including one Moose Javian — receiving the highest military medal for their efforts.
The April 9 to 12 battle was the first time all four Canadian divisions — composed of 100,000 men — fought together during the First World War, while it was also the first time that they fought under a Canadian leader — General Sir Arthur Currie. While the British and French had bled themselves dry attempting to capture the strongpoint, with a new strategy and newfound drive, the Canadians overcame the strongest German defences in northwest France and succeeded in their mission — with almost all objectives achieved during the first day.
Four Canadians were awarded the Victoria Cross — the highest military medal that the British Empire awarded — for their courage and bravery. These men included Pte. William Johnstone Milne, Lance-Sgt. Ellis Sifton, Pte. John Pattison and Capt. Thain MacDowell.
Moose Jaw connection
Milne was born in Cambusnethan, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1892, and moved to Canada with his family in 1910. He worked on a farm near Mortlach before enlisting in Moose Jaw in 1915. He was assigned to the 46th Battalion before being transferred to the depleted 16th Battalion. Early on April 9, German machine-gun fire checked the advance of Milne’s company. Crawling on his hands and knees, he managed to reach the gun, kill the crew, and capture the gun. Milne, 24, later repeated this action against a second enemy machine-gun crew but was killed shortly afterwards.
Milne’s body was not recovered from the battlefield. He is commemorated on the Vimy Ridge Memorial in France. According to a McLean’s magazine article from Feb. 15, 1929, “The front of the 16th Battalion was swept by a leaden belt and the Highlanders dropped. Many casualties were suffered from a machine gun that was being industriously served by a resolute crew. Private Milne spotted the emplacement, and, on his hands and knees, he worked his way toward it. “A bag of bombs was slung over his shoulder. The fire was low, bullets almost ricocheting off the ground, which forced Milne to hug the mud. By some saving grace he was untouched. He got within measurable distance of the emplacement and leaped to his feet. Into the middle of the machine-gun crew, he hurtled his bombs, following these up by rushing the gun itself.
“This menace removed, his comrades dashed on to their first objective and continued to the next—the famous ‘Zwischen Stellung’ (Intermediate Position). “The front of the Highlanders was raked by a vicious fire, which came with particular ferocity from an old haystack directly in the line of advance. Milne’s tactics, having proved successful in the first instance, he elected to repeat them. Again crawling forward, he discovered the haystack
to be a concealment for a concrete emplacement, behind which a group of gunners were exacting heavy toll. “Milne’s first missile knocked the gun out of commission. Taking advantage of the consternation among the crew, the gallant Highlander rushed the position and forced the surrender of the enemy. Of him, the (Victoria Cross) citation says: ‘His wonderful bravery and resource on these two occasions undoubtedly saved the lives of many of his comrades.’
“Private Milne was killed shortly after capturing the second gun.”
A heritage site in Moose Jaw is dedicated to Milne’s heroics. William Milne Place is
located at the Old Fire Hall at 136 Fairford Street West, where a plaque honours his actions during the battle.
Other VC winners
Besides Milne, the three other Vimy Ridge Victoria Cross recipients met different fates during and after the battle. Sifton — whose actions mirrored those of Milne — was killed during the attack, Pattison died during an attack on Lens, France on June 3, 1917, while MacDowell survived the battle and later died in Brockville, Ont., on March 29, 1960.