Remembrance Day at Vimy Ridge

When determining how to the last few days of Shea's holiday time for the year, it was easy to decide that visiting Vimy Ridge was a must.  Although a time-consuming process to get there, it was well worth it. We were even able to time it perfectly to attend the Remembrance Day Memorial Service.

Vimy Ridge is located in Northern France. It is a long, high hill that dominates the landscape.  Early in WWI, Germany had captured Vimy and it became a strong defencive position.  Tunnels and trenches were added.  The British and French troops had attempted numerous times to take Vimy, costing them thousands of casualties.

The landscape around Vimy Ridge.

The Canadians moved to the front lines across from Vimy in late autumn 1916 and began planning and preparing.  Under the  command of General Sir Arthur William Currie, the entire winter was spent strengthening the lines and preparing for the assault.  Every soldier knew the plan and was provided with maps. They drilled rigorously on what they were to do.  Raids of German positions took place to gather intelligence and tunnels were dug beneath the German lines and filled with explosives.

A map of the attack.

Before the main attack, the Canadians shelled the Germans over a week in order to not tip off the Germans of exactly when the assault would take place. More than a million shells rained down on the Germans in what they called the "Week of Suffering." They also detonated all those explosives they hid in tunnels under the German lines. These created huge craters in the ground.

One of the craters.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge began at 5:30am on Easter Monday (April 9, 1917).  A creeping barrage was used where intense artillery fire advanced the line ahead of the troops. 20,000 Canadian soldiers (each carrying up to 36 kilograms of equipment) emerged from the Allie tunnels, and attacked. By noon, most of the heavily-defended ridge was captured but Hill 145 (the main peak that is 145m above sea level) was not taken until April 10. On April 12, Canadians took "the Pimple" (another large hill along the ridge, aka Petite Vimy on the map above) and the Germans were forced to withdraw. The Canadian Corps, together with the British to the south had captured more ground, prisoners and guns than any previous British offensive of the war.  This was a huge success but the cost was great. 100,000 Canadians fought in Vimy. 3,598 lost their lives.at Vimy. By the end of the First World War, Canada, a country of less than eight million citizens, would have more than 650,000 servicemen. More than 66,000 Canadians lost their lives during the war.

Trenches were full of rats, lice, sitting water, and sometimes the dead. Soldiers could be stuck in a trench for days.

Canada entered the war as part of the British Empire but emerged as a sovereign nation that represented itself at the Treaty of Versailles.  Through the capture of Vimy, all four Canadian divisions attacked together. Men from all regions of Canada worked together, fought together and died together. On those plains was a birth of a nation.

Celebrating the victory of Vimy Ridge.

Visiting Vimy was an unforgettable adventure. Seeing the crater marks, trenches and tunnels allowed me to gain a bit more perspective on what soldiers faced during WWI.

The landscape is full of dips that were created from the barrage of shells during the Battle. Much of Vimy is not accessible due to unexploded ordnance.

y. 3,600 died at Vimy. By the end of the First World  

Interesting fact: A crater is named after my family.Well, maybe it's just a coincidence but still!

The Monument. It took 11 years to build and was completed on July 26, 1936. 

It is breathtaking! When you approach the monument, you are approaching the back of it. One pylon has a maple leaf for Canada and the other has a fleur-de-lis for France.  They represent the sorrow and sacrifice of war both countries shared.

At the top of the two pylons, eight figures are present to represent Justice, Peace, Hope, Charity, Honour, Faith, Truth and Knowledge. Peace is the highest figure on the monument, reaching upward with a torch. At the bottom, between the pylons, a dying soldier has passed a torch to a comrade. This represents the Spirit of Sacrifice. 

Three figures breaking a sword are called the Defenders. The cannon on the top right is silent and draped with laurel and olive branches. 

This group is called Sympathy of the Canadians for the Helpless. 

One of two mourning parents.

The second mourning parent. 

This is "Mother Canada." She is looking down towards a stone sarcophagus, representing Canada's war dead. She mourns for Canada's dead. 

Because Remembrance Day is not a bank holiday in Europe, they celebrate the day on the Sunday before November 11. Here, we are waiting for the ceremony to start and for the "dignitaries" to arrive. You can see the tomb that Mother Canada mourns for. 

Throughout the ceremony, it was very cloudy. The clouds broke finally at the end of the 2 minute silence. 

After the ceremony we visited Canadian Cemetery No. 2. Approx. 75% of the soldiers buried here were never identified. Some were as young as 16 when they died.

The gate to the cemetery.

Lines and lines of gravestones. 

An unknown Canadian.

Lest we forget.

This sign made me miss home. Reminded me of Banff.

A sheep farm lies beside Vimy Ridge.  

 Free tours are offered that allow you into the tunnels. The tour guides are all students who know their information.

Inside the tunnels. They were originally 5'7 high and 2 feet wide and made with wood beams.   Tunnels were used for protection from artillery.  They were also used to get under German tunnels. The ground would be muddy and rats would be present.

If you were a runner (a soldier who would run messages from one person/battalion to another while wearing a white arm band), you got to live here.  You also got paid $4 a day instead of $1 a day.  Unfortunately, the average career of a runner was 4 days. 8 soldiers would live in this space.

The trenches.  Mud could have reached up to a soldier's knee while in the trenches.  There would be rats and mice living here too. 

After a long day of Remembering! 

I would recommend to anyone who wants to visit Vimy to start planning for 2017, the 100th anniversary of the battle. I have never been so proud to be Canadian as I felt experiencing this historical site.