WORLD WAR I – THE BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE
By Duncan Leonard Johnson
The First World War started in the summer of 1914, and ended in November 1918. But before the 1940s, no one called it The First World War. They called it the Great War, because they thought there would never be another war so big. It was a terrible war, and more than 9 million people died altogether.
For Canada, one of the most important battles of that war was the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Vimy Ridge is in the north east of France, near to the town of Arras. On the internet, it says that the soldiers “fought as Canadians and those who returned brought back with them a pride of nationhood that they had not known before.” People say that the Battle of Vimy Ridge turned Canada from a colony into a nation.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was the first successful operation against the Hindemith line during World War I. Vimy Ridge was a terrible place to fight. Bombs and bullets were everywhere, and the ground was wet and muddy. Soldiers dug under the ground to live in trenches and tunnels.
There were so many trenches, that the generals had to make maps to keep track of all the trenches.
People thought the enemy line at Vimy Ridge was unbreakable, and thousands of French and British soldiers were killed trying to get across the line. But the Canadian soldiers broke the line in one day in April of 1917. This was a turning point for the Allies in the war.
Today, there is a huge Memorial at Vimy Ridge in France, for the 66,000 Canadians who died in that war. France gave the land at Vimy Ridge to Canada to thank her for the sacrifices of those soldiers during the war. The memorial is on top of the ridge, and is 27 meters tall. It has a figure on top, named Peace.
If you go to Vimy Ridge today, you can walk inside the old trenches. Today they look like this.
Even though it has been more than 100 years since that war, there are still so many unexploded bombs left in the ground that you must stay on the paths, and are not allowed to walk on the grass. Since they can’t even use lawnmowers, they have sheep that wander around to eat the grass. Hopefully they sheep stay light enough that they don’t set off any unexploded bombs!
Duncan, thanks for sharing your project.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to Vimy Ridge, but last week I saw a photography exhibit that was of nightime photos of the memorial. The photos were taken after the 2 year renovation of the memorial. The memorial was rededicated in 2007 and the fellow who designed all the lighting for the memorial at night was a theatre lighting designer with a good eye for dramatic lighting.
The photos of the Vimy Ridge Memorial at night really conveyed how awesome the memorial is -- that is, how it inspires awe in the people who see it.
Thanks again for sharing.
Mary
I reread your blog post on Vimy Ridge today, Duncan. My Uncle Greg took me and others to that historic site on November 11, 1985. What really stayed with me from that trip was the loving care with which family after family approached the memorial and placed a wreath. At that time in my life, it was through the eyes of others that I came to understand the devastation of war and the gratitude of the survivors to the Canadian soldiers who gave their lives.
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