This is a question for our Canadian/World War I historians.
I was reading a bit about the Vimy Ridge Memorial, and noticed this photograph from 2017, showing the Canada Bereft statue.
What caught my eye in the distance were those large conical hill-like structures. I'm guessing those are slag heaps? And presumably that is in the direction of Lens?
My question is whether those specific hills or others like them were on the battlefield during World War I, because I can't say I recall reading much about such objects, but they have such a dominating presence over the landscape, if they were there, presumably they would have had some sort of tactical advantage.
Hi /u/Kochevnik81, thanks for your question. Yes the slag heaps of Lens were present during the First World War and during the battle to take Vimy Ridge. As you may know, Lens held a prominent place within France's coal mining industry, Pierre Burton refers to Lens as the "heart of France's coal mining region" in Vimy. I couldn't find anything that indicated that the slag heaps were utilised for any defensive purposes after the Germans lost Vimy Ridge but Burton's work certainly states that the Germans could see the slag heaps from their positions on the ridge.
