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We turn onto Rue des Canadiens, but we are not in Canada, not even in Qu\u00e9bec. Ten minutes later, the forest road opens onto the National Historic Site of Canada on the plain of Douai. We are in Vimy, ten kilometers north of Arras, in northern France. On our right, the 27-meter-high twin towers of the Vimy Ridge Memorial, representing Canada and France, aim at the sky like a futuristic spaceship ready to launch. <\/p>\n
Alongside our silent walk to the monument, sheep graze the mounded land among red posts signaling Danger – Unexploded munitions: <\/em>A reminder of the million shells that pummeled the land. I ponder the fate of the men who fought in WWI. I think of my grandfather who defended his homeland in the Somme, leaving most of his soul somewhere in the trenches, only to be called again as a border patrol (near Geneva) during WWII. But I am on Canadian soil to remember the men who defended my homeland, far from theirs, and where so many of them lost their lives. Gratitude isn\u2019t enough of a word sometimes. But gratitude is why, in 1922, France ceded 250 acres\u2014for the Vimy memorial and battlefield site\u2014to the people of Canada \u201cfreely and for all time.\u201d<\/p>\n By destroying this German strategic point (between Arras and Lens), the Canadian troops not only gave a turning point to the Allied Forces, but they also validated Canada as a nation.<\/p>\n The memorial stands on Hill 145, the highest and the one the Canadians first captured, on April 9, 1917. Three days later\u2014assisted by the British 5th Infantry Division\u2014they reclaimed the entire ridge.<\/p>\n After the Germans took the ridge in October 1914, the French tried to regain it in 1915. A year later, the British did too, but had to retreat before their offensive. Some 150,000 French and British casualties later, the Canadians then engineered a new strategy: attacking simultaneously under and above ground.<\/p>\n They dug a five-kilometer subway of tunnels under the German lines and set up the creeping barrage <\/em>concept.<\/em> Every three minutes, the infantry advanced 100 yards under the protection of the artillery\u2014the soldiers called it the Vimy Glide<\/em>. The speed and magnitude of the attacks took the Germans by surprise, isolating them in their dugouts and away from their machine guns.<\/p>\n Although the artillery was heavier by 1917, and aerial reconnaissance\u2014including by kite balloon\u2014provided intelligence about German positions and artillery sites along the eight-kilometer-long ridge, there would be no victory without heroism. The first six minutes sacrificed sixty percent of the Canadian forces. Some had been young civilians when they volunteered, but by the time they arrived at the Vimy Ridge battlefield, they were the survivors of the abominable battle of the Somme that had lasted nearly four months. When the Vimy Ridge bloody battle was over, 10,548 among them were killed or wounded.<\/p>\n Although we can’t visit the tunnels due to temporary partial flooding, I try to imagine the soldiers spending a whole winter ten meters underground, rehearsing the daring attack with a model battlefield and trench system. Muddy, cold, and enduring various afflictions, they had readied themselves to face the worst. Photographs of their drawings and poems engraved in the walls of those tunnels stand as a poignant testimonial of their will.<\/p>\n A passionate about history, my husband wanted to visit Vimy Ridge. I confessed not knowing about it, perhaps because in my family my grandfather evidenced enough those horrible years. But for Canadians, the Vimy Ridge victory is a source of national pride. As members of the British Empire, Canadian soldiers were always embedded in the British Army, hence every conquest was a British victory. Vimy Ridge changed that.<\/p>\n For First Division Arthur William Currie\u2014the first appointed Commander of the Canadian Corp\u2014keeping the four divisions of the Canadian Corps together was a matter of principle. Canada Prime Minister Robert Borden had committed hundreds of thousands of men in the past and, reportedly, with little British appreciation in return. Even if the risk was high, Vimy Ridge could become the first all-Canadian military victory. \u201cIn a few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation,\u201d Brigadier-General A.E. Ross would later say.<\/p>\n The closer we get, the more impressive is the memorial. Conceived in Seget limestone by Canadian sculptor and architect Walter Seymour Allward, it rises 65 meters above the Douai plain, on a massive base of more than 15,000 tons of steel-reinforced concrete.<\/p>\n A maple leaf engraved on one of the four-sided towers symbolizes Canada, and a fleur-de-lys\u2014the symbol of the French presence in Canada\u2014on the other is for France. At the top, two figures represent Peace and Justice, and below, two more represent Truth and Knowledge. Carved around them are the shields of Canada, Britain, and France. But most poignant is the largest one representing a bereft woman in a hooded wrap, the symbol of Canada mourning her dead. On a sarcophagus next to the base, a French veteran organization has laid a bouquet. More than showing deference, they somewhat appease my heavy heart.<\/p>\n The Vimy Ridge Memorial stands as a tribute to the 11,285 Canadians who served during WWI\u2014soldiers and military service personnel\u2014and lost their lives in Europe. The names of those whose final resting place is unknown are engraved on all four sides of the base. With a respect as overwhelming as my emotions, I read one name after another, and wish I could read them all.<\/p>\n Note: This is not the topic of this article but, not forgotten are the 117,000 American soldiers who died, among the 2,100,000 who were deployed under the Power Ententes.<\/p>\n Original article published November 2013 \u2013 The West Vancouver Beacon<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\tThe Canadian Strategy<\/em><\/h2>\n
A Canadian Battlefield<\/em><\/h2>\n
To All Canadian Soldiers and Military Service Personnel in Europe<\/em><\/h2>\n