Re: [VWoT] OT: Lest We Forget

["Mark Reda" <m.reda@xxxxxxxxxx>]

While I was at the Vimmy Memorial I had the great oppertunity of taking a
tour given by Canadian university students provided by the Canadian
government.

The Germans had a stronghold of Vimmy ridge,
At the peak of the ridge you could see your enemy approching from miles away
on all sides.
It was said that the battle of the ridge would determine the end of the war.

Canada prepared for months for the battle.  They were the first milltary at
that time to actually prepare for battle by staging mock attacks.
The Canadian millitary also dug a series of underground tunnels, called
subways, to store ammunition and to prepare for the attack.  Over 2
Kilometers of tunnels were dug in prepation for the attack.
At the same time the German army was also digging tunnels. There were many
times when the Canadian and German tunnels crossed and a battle would erupt
underground.  The tunnel diggers were unarmed but the men behind them were
on guard for what may lay ahead.

When the time came the Canadian military literally popped out of the ground
and practly surrounded the Germans to win the battle.

In some of my pictures you can see the craters caused by shells.  The
grounds of Vimmy have signs posted everywhere warning not to walk on the
grass or off any paths, there are still many undetonated shells (duds)
underground that sometimes go off without warning.

The Canadian soldiers wore British uniforms but the only distinguishing mark
was the Canadians had a Maple Leaf on their shoulder.

I could go on and on....

Mark Reda.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Drew" <drew@scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca>
To: "vwot" <list@vwot.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: [VWoT] OT: Lest We Forget


> On Thu, 2004-11-11 at 12:20, Mark Reda wrote:
> > since today is rememberance day....
> > I took a bunch of pics when I was at Canada's WWI monument in Vimmy
> > Ridge, France.
> > http://mark.narc.ca/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album16
>
> Thankyou for posting these Mark.  The Vimy memorial is on ground ceded
> to the Canadian government by France in the early '20s.
>
> > By the way, the battle at Vimmy Ridge won the war and Canada won that
> > battle for the allies.
>
> Vimy Ridge was a landmark victory in the Great War, and a turning point
> in Canadian history.  All four divisions of the Canadian Corps - close
> to 100,000 men, fought for the first time together for a single
> objective.  At the end of four days of fighting, and at the cost of
> almost 3600 Canadian lives, our troops won the single greatest victory
> to date of the war, with significantly lower casualties than had been
> experienced on previous French and English offensives on the
> heavily-guarded ridge.
>
> Canada's role in WWI was perhaps the single greatest step on the road to
> Nationhood.  We entered the war on Britain's coattails, and at the end,
> Canada signed the Treaty of Versailles alongside England and France, in
> the blood of over 60,000 men and women who gave their lives in the
> conflict.
>
> I would urge everyone to take a minute and read the War Museum's
> write-up about Vimy.
>
> http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/vimy/index_e.html
>
>
> > Be proud to be Canadian, after traveling around the world there's no
> > place I'd rather be.
>
> Amen.
>
> Drew
>
> -- 
>
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