'A captured German gun emplacement near Thelus', 1917

Photograph, World War One (1914-1918), 1917 (c).

A captured German concrete gun emplacement near the village of Thelus. Wicker shell carriers and rolls of wire mesh litter the area. According to the caption the German howitzer had been removed and was put to use against its original owners by British and Canadian gunners.

The caption continues, '8" How: actually in Farbus wood. Used by my brigade first 164 Siege then 6th Canadian Siege for 3 months till ammunition finished; then replaced by own 8" Hows. Always badly shelled.'

On 9 April 1917, four divisions of Canadian infantry recaptured the four-mile long strategic height of Vimy Ridge as part of the Battle of Arras (1917). Vimy Ridge had been occupied by the Germans since October 1914. Fortified, it commanded the flat countryside for miles around. Heavy bombardment prior to the attack helped neutralise numerous German gun positions.

From an album of 253 photographs compiled by Charles William Stulpnagel (known as Swinton after December 1914), 50th Heavy Artillery Group, 1889-1920.