Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.
See also the video clip at the subject line hyperlink.
Posted on 04/09/2012 4:27:38 AM PDT by Clive
Some historians will tell you that Canada really defined itself as a nation 95 years ago, at Vimy Ridge in France.
Thousands of young people from across the country are overseas this weekend, getting ready for a hallowed ceremony at the Vimy Ridge memorial to honour the Canadians who mounted a daring battle there during the Great War.
On Easter Monday, April 9, 1917, at 5:30 in the morning, all four divisions of the Canadian Corps came together for the first time and stormed the seven-kilometre-wide ridge that had been long held by the Germans, dug in with machine guns. They suffered more than 10,600 casualties --3,598 of whom died -- but by April 12 they had captured it, achieving what others could not.
"The Canadians would be assaulting over an open graveyard, since previous French attacks had failed, with over 100,000 casualties," writes the Canadian War Museum on a special Vimy Ridge memorial site. "The key to victory would be a devastating artillery barrage that would not only isolate enemy trenches, but provide a moving wall of high explosives and shrapnel to force the Germans to stay in their deep dugouts and away from their machine guns."
The monument to the war dead stands at the highest point of Vimy Ridge, on Hill 145. It was the most important feature at the ridge, and was captured in a frontal bayonet charge by Canadians against machine-gun positions.
Ceremonies are also being held across Canada, including an overnight cadet vigil Sunday at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, and a special one in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on Saturday.
"They invented something that had never been done before, called the rolling barrage -- allied guns were pounding down on Vimy Ridge, and every few minutes the Canadians would move forward," said Mike Duffy, senator for Cavendish, P.E.I. "Never again after that battle did Canadians fight under another command -- British Command, French Command, whatever, we always fought as Canadians as a unit ever since then. That's what they really mean by at that battle Canada became a country."
Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.
See also the video clip at the subject line hyperlink.
When time came to sign the Versailles Treaty, the British Government presumed to follow established practice and to sign it on behalf of the Empire, binding on all of its component colonies and Dominions. Canada insisted and won its insistence, to sign the treaty in its own right. It had earned that privilege, not just at Vimy Ridge, which was outstanding but also at Passchendaele and many other places where, they had paid the Butcher's Bill.
To borrow a phrase from Robert A. Heinlein, they had made their names to shine.
"They invented something that had never been done before, called the rolling barrage -- allied guns were pounding down on Vimy Ridge, and every few minutes the Canadians would move forward," said Mike Duffy, senator for Cavendish, P.E.I.
True enough, bit a bit understated.
The German practice when dealing with an incoming barrage was to take cover in the trenches and wait it out then pop up when the barrage lifted to be ready for the assault that conventionally followed the barrage.
Sir Arthur Currie's concept had his troops following very close to the fall of shot, practically in the fall of shot, so that when the barrage lifted on a position, the Canucks were already on top of the trenches. No time for the Germans to get ready.
Another innovation was to rehearse the assault and to make sure that every soldier knew what his unit's part of the operation was to be and what was expected of him. The British never considered that the Tommy really needed to know all of that, enough to point at the enemy and order a charge.
Canadians had become the shock troops of the Empire.
Ugly monument. The symbolic elements are overwhelmed by the massive base and the pylons.
I have to disagree with you. I think it is beautiful monument. I visited it for the first time last October. From all angles, especially from the valley to the east, the monument is striking.
The park in which it was built also contains Canadian war cemeteries and one of the few remaining remnants of the WWI era trenches.
The land was given by the French government to Canada in recognition of the sacrifices the of the Canadian soldiers and is officially Canadian territory.
According to the guides I spoke with there, most of the visitors these days are French students on class trips. It is too bad more Canadians are not aware of the important role that Canada played in the World Wars. A visit to Vimy Ridge provides a moving lesson.
But when you survey Canadians, they tell you that Canada defined itself as a nation when Kiefer Sutherland’s grandfather rammed through Socialized Medicine.
If you are interested in a good fictionalized account, I first read of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in a book by Canadian author: Lucy Maude Montgomery “Rilla of Ingleside”. The story is told through Rilla Blythe a young woman of PEI, CA who comes of age in the course of WWI. While the book is directed to young adults, the author tells a very powerful and historically correct story of the war which made it more understandable to me than all the facts in all the dry and learned history books which put me to sleep in high school and college. Montgomery’s treatment of Vimy Ridge in particular, stuck in my memory better than any professor’s sleepy facts.
Audiobook (free)http://librivox.org/rilla-of-ingleside-by-lucy-maud-montgomery/
Audiobook ($20 or so) Audible.com narrated by Anna Fields (absolutely the best!)
Text (free) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3796
The CEF contingent was about 650,000. At the time, Canada's polulation was less that 7 million, so nearlly every able bodied Canadian male, except for those require for necessary industry and farming back home, was in the army.
CEF losses were some 65,000. They retook a few miles or land at Passchendale, and the next season, after the rains, when the ground had dried, the Germans took it all back.
The Canadian military deaths in WWI were about half the US total—the US population was around 100 million so 13 or 14 times as large as Canada’s.
Thank you for a very moving post. My head is bowed in prayer for the Canadians lost in The Great War.
“But when you survey Canadians, they tell you that Canada defined itself as a nation when Kiefer Sutherland’s grandfather rammed through Socialized Medicine.”
That’s not true. It’s when you survey staff at the CBC that you get that answer.
RHR Black Watch CANADAA proud regiment. Forty-three Battle Honours going back to the South African War (aka Boer War) including Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.Six Victoria Cross awards.
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT
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