April 1-7, 1917 Artillery preparations for the battle are immense. In the week preceding the attack, more than one million rounds of all sizes are fired. By the time of the advance on April 9, the Canadians had obliterated many of the main German trenches and prevented supplies from reaching the German lines.

	From March 22 to April 5 the Canadians had 11 officers and 326 men killed.
	Lieutenant Cyprian A. Thompson of the Royal Canadian Regiment. On April 8, 1917, he was killed in the Vimy sector during an operation carried out preparatory to the main attack on Vimy Ridge.