| As this part of the web site has again grown
past the "one page" size, it has been split into two (2)
sections, one dealing with general issues and research related to Vimy
Ridge and the second to the specific records of Grandfather Laughton,
recording his first hand experience at Vimy that fateful day of April 9,
1917.
In July 2010 I adjusted these pages (see index
page correction as well) to reference that Grandfather Laughton was
a participant in the great Battles of the Scarpe (Arras 1917).
Although a Canadian, George Laughton was a soldier of the British 3rd
Army, thus he did not participate in the Battle of Vimy. On that fateful
day in April 1917, the 26th Northumberland Fusiliers were on the
immediate right (south) border of the 1st Canadian Division (the south
border of Vimy Ridge). The British refer to Canada's action at Vimy
Ridge as a diversion to draw away German forces from the more important
action at the River Scarpe. The Canadians refer to it as a parallel
assault, all part of a well orchestrated and combined action. In the
end, the Canadians and British did fight as a unified force in the 3rd
Battle of the Scarpe in May 1917.
There is a good short description of the difference between the
parallel battles in the documents "Battle Honours of the Canadian
Forces". Links to these documents are as follows:
The links to the sub-pages that related to the specific action of
George Van Wyck Laughton, are as follows (titles now adjusted to
"Arras"):
You will find that the records of Grandfather Laughton add a lot to the
history of the Scarpe Battles (at Arras and Vimy Ridge), as I was fortunate to be left his original maps and field
notes of that famous battle.
A specific aspect of this information now deals with the topic of what
we call "The Other Canadians at Vimy" as it tells
the story of the members of the initial Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)
that left the CEF as privates or NCO's (Non Commissioned Officers) to take
on an Officer's role in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
A great deal of information has come from colleagues that are
researching the Great War on the new Internet Forums, as well as from
texts that have been historically and recently published. Where
possible, we have directed the reader to the source of the text, so you
can further your own research. We are also pleased to provide the
research links to the Internet Forums, as follows:
The CEF Study
Group is the premier research board for those studying or researching
the role of the Canadian's in the Great War. The Great
War Forum deals more with the history of the battlefields and the role
of soldiers from the BEF in the Great War. The Lost
Generation Forum, the newest to the field (circa 2005) is where we
have been discussing the role played by "The Other Canadians at
Vimy".
You will also want to visit the web pages that explain how to retrieve
records about CEF and BEF soldiers. For this information, please
refer to these pages on this site:
Additional information is now also available on the web pages of my
second project, as it details the exploits of my maternal grandfather Josiah
Alexander Chancellor Kennedy who served with the CEF Princess
Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (P.P.C.L.I) and later with the BEF
Royal Irish Rifles (R.I.R.).
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