Vimy Ridge

On April 9th, 1917 (95 years ago), the Canadian troops did what the Allies had been trying for almost 4 years and captured Vimy Ridge.  This event was semenal in our national history and was the single event that made the world sit up and take notice of Canada.  As I started to do some research into Vimy Ridge in preparation for our visit (and my history lessons for the kids), it became apparent that Canadians had taken notice of the anniversary and more than 5000 high school aged kids plus our Governor General and his wife were to be in attendance on the 9th.  We had planned to be with Macrae, Jillian and Liam during that period so were unable to push it forward on our itinerary - but as we learned later, it was probably for the better.  We did see most of these 5000 kids around Paris taking in the sites.  It was great to see the Maple Leaf out in such prominence - and our future generation paying respect to our veterans and the fallen.

Frequent readers of my blogs will remember some of the history around Canada's contribution to the Boer War in South Africa (only 20 years before the First World War).  Britain had asked for help from the Commonwealth and Canada responded by sending more than 7300 of our young men overseas to fight under the British Flag.  Similarly, when the obscure Austrian Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austrian throne) and his wife were murdered in Sarajevo by a Yugoslav nationalist and Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia which invoked all the treaty members to come to each others defense - and Canada sent more than 600,000 troops (from a population of about 8M).

The Russians were allied with Serbia and declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany and launched an invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg and France while the Russians attacked Germany.  The Germans and French had fought not 40 years previously in the Prussian-French War resulting in France losing their provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany so were no strangers to each other. The Germans quickly raced through Luxembourg and Belgium and then through most of France towards Paris which brought in the British to support the French.  The Allies (Triple-Entente) were made up of Britain, France and Russia, while the Triple-Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy - although Italy resisted getting involved initially and later fought for the Allies.   Within a few short weeks of the assassination, the world was at war.

Once again, Canada rushed to join in support of Britain and again we immediately sent more than 30,000 (from an initial standing army of only 3200... the rest were volunteers) of our young men overseas to fight for the Commonwealth under the British Flag.  After the disastrous battle of the Somme, in which 60,000 Commonwealth troops were killed on a single day trying to capture indeterminate objectives, Canadian leaders argued and won the right for Canada's troops to fight as a unit at Vimy Ridge.  This was the first time all of Canada's four divisions (97,000 men) fought together and for one objective.

To understand how important this was, you must understand a bit of history of the war up until that point.  When the Germans had initially attacked France (and Belgium/Luxembourg), they got to within 120 kilometers of Paris before the French and British armies were able to fight them to a standstill (more because the German supply lines couldn't support their rapid advance).  The lines quickly formed from Switzerland all the way to the English Channel with most of the troops on both sides surrounding a line around Paris.  What happened then were attempts by both sides to race around the other's Northern flank, causing what became known as the "Race for the Sea" as both sides tried to encircle the other.  The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) became a key link in stopping the German advances there and huge losses were suffered by both sides as the war became static and trench warfare ensued.

The German's recognized that they would be unlikely to make major advances and essentially spent their time fortifying their defenses so that they could wear the Allies down until they sued for peace.  The Allies on the other hand squandered millions of lives (500,000 in one 100 day period alone) trying to breach those formidable defenses.  The Germans quickly developed tactics that called for light support in the first trenches with heavy reinforcements rushing to where ever there was a break.  The Allies never really cottoned on to this and would launch attacks with impressive initial gains only to be fought to a standstill or a retreat once the German reinforcements arrived.

The British (and other Allies) weren't squemish about wasting lives on these set piece battles and the casualty lists grew horrifically.  By this time the Germans were also using poisonous gasses (in violation of treaties) and had invented such horrors as flamethrowers to make our soldier's lives unbearable.

In April of 1917, the Allies again were to launch offensive on the Germans.  The central point of this offensive was a high ridge of land overlooking both the German and Allied battlefields.  This had been held by the Germans since the war's start and the Germans had spent the previous 3 years fortifying it to the point that they believed it was impregnable.  There had been several attempts by the Allies to take it to the cost of over 100,000 dead.   Currie committed to taking the ridge and the French and British  were to take advantage of the fact that the high ground would be under Canadian control and attack the German flanks.

To prepare for this battle, Currie introduced several new innovations.  First he ensured that every soldier had a map of the battlefield and knew his platoon's objectives so that if the commanding officer was killed, the next most senior person could take command and so on until the objective was met.  At the time, this was unheard of and many battles were lost as both sides had become very adept at picking out the leaders and shooting them turning attacks into routs.

The second innovation was even better.  He developed what became known as the creeping barrage.  Up until that point, prior to an attack, each side would fire artillery into the other sides front lines for hours and then cease fire allowing their troops to climb out of the trenches and across the barbed wire and shell craters against the army.  Of course both sides quickly realized that as long as the bombardment continued, they were best to keep their heads down in bunkers or tunnels  and the moment the barrage ceased would race out of their shelters and gun down any attackers headed their way.  In this manner for the previous three years, the battles continued and millions of lives were wasted.

Currie's Canadian Troops developed a strategy where the troops would march as the shells were still falling and as they marched the shells would be lifted at a set rate to go further into the enemy lines.  This left many of the German troops in their bunkers waiting for the shelling to end where the Canadian's could flush them out without much loss of life.  It also meant that the rear of the German lines were under bombardment while the front lines were under attack which defeated the German strategy of racing reinforcements to the front lines.  On the morning of April 9th, 1917, the Canadians burst out of the tunnels they'd dug right up to the German lines and right under their own guns, advanced upon the killing grounds of Vimy Ridge.  By noon, they'd accomplished 3/5 of their objectives and by 6pm on the 12th, all objectives had been accomplished and the Ridge was under Canadian control.

After the horrific losses earlier that year, Vimy Ridge was the first major win by the Allies of 1917 and the news was splashed on newspaper headlines around the world.  Canada had won its place with other nations and became the shock troops for the Allied army leading it into battle on most of the following campaigns.    The Canadian's had suffered 10,602 casualties (3598 killed and 7004 wounded) but emerged with the pride of the nation at an all time high.

After the war, the French granted Canada perpetual use of the land to host Canada's largest and principal overseas war memorial dedicated to the Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers lost in WW1.       It also serves as the place of commemoration for First World War Canadian soldiers killed or presumed dead in France who have no known grave.   It sits on 100 Ha (250 Acres) of former battlefields and trenches, much of which is uncleared and still roped off with unexploded ordinance.  It was completed in 1936, just 3 years prior to the start of the Second World War.  It was opened by King George and 50,000 veterans and their families.  It was created from limestone mined from Seget in Croatia as the Diocletian's Palace (Diocletian was a Roman Emperor in the 4th century) in Split which was constructed from it had withstood over 1600 years without obvious effect.  I'll talk about the memorial more in the pictures below.

It is impossible to come away from Vimy Ridge without a strong feeling of pride in what our young men accomplished here and yet a feeling of profound sadness for their loss.  This portion of France seems so peaceful now that without the bomb craters and occasional building with scars from the war, it is impossible to imagine the horrors that occurred here.  Most of the villages and towns here have been completely rebuilt in the old style so it is tough to understand that most of this area was a wasteland 95 years ago.  The Vimy Ridge Memorial stands proud documenting the 11,285 Canadians who lost their lives in France and who's resting place is undetermined.

The monument up the hill the men fought.... you still can't walk up that slope as it's all full of UXO (UneXploded Ordnance)

The forests around the area have been replanted with Canadian Pine... but they don't cut the grass... UXO.  They let sheep do the work.

These were all over the area... most of the 250 Acres in fact.  

The shot just doesn't do justice to how big this crater is... it's at least 20' deep

Former trenches (and craters all around them).

Canadian Cemetery No. 2 is actually a Commonwealth cemetery... there are 2965 buried here but only 695 of them are Canadian's.  The vast majority are from the UK but most of the buried here are unknown as well showing the severity of the fighting.  There is another cemetery on site (Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery) where another 109 Canadians are buried.  Most of the casualties bodies were never recovered and their names are reflected with the 11,169 Canadian soldiers who's remains were never found on the Vimy Memorial itself.

The scars of taking that hill still show today (and this is the easy way up).

Just one of the 2965 soldiers buried here....  a 36 year old private who was a Christian.  There are a few Jewish stars and a few atheists that don't have the cross but more than 90% of them had the cross.  This fine gentleman died the day  of the successful attack.  We remember you sir!

Can you imagine fighting through this

Heading down 24 feet into the tunnels they dug right up to the German lines.  These tunnels went back to the rear lines (and HQ) 1.2 kilometers away and had railway lines in them.  They were named after Canadian subway lines.  This was the Grange subway.

This was a room for the messenger runners that carried messages to and from command.  Their life expectancy was 36 hours.

They put old shells in the walls of the new stairway leading out.

Those cement duckboards were originally wooden, and the sandbags would have been filled with sand, not cement and there would not have been drainage or gravel at the bottom.  A lot of troops drowned in the muck if they stepped off the duckboards.  Now imagine being under constant bombardment and gas attacks.  

Looking out a gunner emplacement.  Those white flags in the distance (about 200 yards) was the German lines at the initial attack.

This was the result of a Canadian mine.  The Canadian trench is where I am standing and the German lines are at those white flags.  The Canadian and British tunneling teams laid mines underneath this area and then exploded them the morning of the attack.  Our guys jumped up from where I am standing and ran through that to the German trenches and beyond.  The summit is about 1Km from here.

Yeah, they had to climb that....

These were the original Canadian lines.... you can see the trenches weaving around.  It is still all roped off with electric fences because of UXO.

These were the German trenches... note the corners so that any shell or machine gun could not take out more than a few men.  

That tower was 1.2 miles away and that is where the Canadian HQ was (and where the tunnels started from).  That is 60 times zoom.

A French school group being led by French veterans.

And there she is.... (from the back)

That is the town of Lens and the Plains of Douai.  This high ground is why it was so important.  Lens was in German hands and from this ridge, the Germans could see what the Allies were up to but the Allies had no idea what was gong on behind it.

The twin pylons rise to a height 30 metres above the memorial's stone platform, one bearing the maple leaf for Canada and the other the fleur-de-lis for France, symbolize the unity and sacrifice of both countries.

The kids were a bit shocked by this (Shawn asked why statues always have naked ladies) but she is intended to  be a mourning mother (the father is on the other side of the stairs).  They are modeled after the Michelango Medici Tomb in Florence.

Truth.... Knowledge was on the other pylon... but on the reverse side it was Justice and Peace.  Hope, Charity, Honour and Faith are below her.  Collectively, these are known as the Chorus and are also on the statue on the Supreme Court in Ottawa.

Canada Bereft.  This is meant to be young Mother Canada mourning her dead (looking out over the battlefields but also down at a stone sarcophagus representing Canadian War Dead ). 

The Spirit of Sacrifice at the base, a young dying soldier is gazing upward in a crucifixion-like pose, having thrown his torch to a comrade who holds it aloft behind him in a lightly veiled reference to the poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, where the torch is passed from one comrade to another in an effort to keep alive the memory of the war dead.

The wall from the front....  with Mother Canada looking out and down at the stone sarcophagus directly below her.  This wall symbolizes the impenetrable wall of defense. There is a group of figures at each end of the front wall, next to the base of the steps The Breaking of the Sword is located at the southern corner (left) of the front wall while Sympathy of the Canadians for the Helpless is located at the northern corner (right side). Collectively, the two groups are  known as The Defenders and represent the ideals for which Canadians gave their lives during the war. There is a cannon barrel draped in laurel and olive branches carved into the wall above each group, to symbolize peace. In Breaking of the Sword, three young men are present, one of whom is crouching and breaking his sword. This statue represents the defeat of militarism and the general desire for peace.  This grouping of figures is the most overt image to pacifism in the monument, the breaking of a sword being extremely uncommon in war memorials.  In Sympathy of the Canadians for the Helpless, one man stands erect while three other figures, stricken by hunger or disease, are crouched and kneeling around him. The standing man represents Canada’s sympathy for the weak and oppressed.

Breaking the Sword.

Major battles were fought over these two towns....  Lens was the Canadian sector for much of 1917 until they were pulled out to fight at Passchendale.

After seeing the memorial, you can understand why Hitler after viewing it in 1940, ordered it not be touched (there was a lot of Allied propaganda saying that they had already destroyed it so he came and had photos taken to prove they had not touched it).  It was totally renovated in 2007 and Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Harper reopened it to the public.  It is an outstanding piece and made us proud to be Canadians.