Canadian National Vimy Memorial

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Canadian National Vimy Memorial Veterans Affairs Canada Commonwealth War Graves Commission The front of the Vimy Memorial. For First World War Canadian dead and First World War Canadian missing, presumed dead in France. Unveiled 26 July, 1936 By King Edward VIII Location Coordinates: 50°22′46″N 02°46′25″E / 50.37944°N 2.77361°E / 50.37944; 2.77361 near Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, France Designed by Walter Seymour Allward Total commemorated 11169 To the valour of their countrymen in the Great War and in memory of their sixty thousand dead this monument is raised by the people of Canada. Statistics source: CWGC cemetery register: Details • Reports • Plans • Photographs

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the commemoration of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and Canadian Expeditionary Force members who were killed during the World War I. The 91-hectare (220-acre) preserved battlefield park that surrounds the monument encompasses the grounds over which the Canadian Corps made their assault during the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a military engagement fought as part of the Battle of Arras.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was the first occasion during which all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force participated in a battle together. France granted Canada the land at Vimy Ridge in perpetuity for the purpose of a battlefield park and memorial in 1922, in recognition of Canada's war efforts. The grounds of the site are still honeycombed with wartime tunnels, trenches, craters and unexploded munitions, and are largely closed off for public safety. Along with preserved trench lines, there are a number of memorials and cemeteries contained within the site.

The memorial took monument designer Walter Seymour Allward eleven years and $1.5 million to build and was unveiled on 26 July 1936 by King Edward VIII, in the presence of President Albert Lebrun of France and 50,000 or more Canadian and French veterans and their families. The monument was rededicated, following an extensive restoration, on 7 April 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II. The memorial site is one of only two Canadian National Historic Sites located outside of Canada and has become a Canadian nationalistic symbol of achievement and sacrifice.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Early conflicts on site 1.2 Battle of Vimy Ridge 2 History 2.1 Selection 2.2 Land acquisition 2.3 Memorial construction 2.4 Pilgrimage and unveiling 2.5 Second World War 2.6 Restoration and rededication 3 The site 3.1 Vimy memorial 3.2 Moroccan Division memorial 3.3 Grange Subway 3.4 Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Watkins memorial 3.5 Interpretive centre 3.6 Death of Georges Devloo 4 Notes 5 Footnotes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Background

[edit] Early conflicts on site

Vimy Ridge is a gradually rising escarpment on the western edge of the Douai plain. At approximately 7 kilometers in length and culminating at an elevation of 145 meters, the ridge provides a natural unobstructed view for tens of kilometres. The ridge had fallen under German control in October 1914 during the Race to the Sea as the Franco-British and German forces continually attempted to outflank each other through northeastern France.^[1] The French Tenth Army twice attempted to dislodge the Germans from the region but were unable to hold the height of the ridge owing to a lack of reinforcements.^[2] The British XVII Corps relieved the French in the sector in February 1916.^[3] In May 1916, the Germans attacked the British lines and successfully captured a number of British-controlled mine craters and tunnels before halting their advance and entrenching their positions.^{[4][Note 1]} Small British counterattacks did not manage to change the situation and the Canadian Corps relieved the British IV Corps stationed along the western slopes of Vimy Ridge in October 1916.^{[5] [4]}

[edit] Battle of Vimy Ridge

For the first time, all four Canadian divisions were to be assembled to operate in combat as a corps. The Canadian divisions were joined by the British 5th Infantry Division, and reinforced by artillery, engineer and labour units.^[6] The Canadian Corps was supported to the north by the 24th British Division of I Corps which advanced north of the Souchez river and by the advancing XVII Corps to the south.^[7] The attack began at 5:30 a.m. on Easter Monday, 9 April, 1917 whereupon every artillery piece at the disposal of the Canadian Corps began firing. Light field guns laid down a barrage which advanced in predetermined increments, often 100 yards (91 m) every three minutes, while medium and heavy howitzers established a series of standing barrages further ahead, against known defensive systems.^[8]

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Divisions reported reaching and capturing their first objective, the Black Line, by 6:25 a.m.^[9] The 4th Canadian Division encountered a great deal of trouble during its advance and was unable to complete its first objective until some hours later.^[9] After a planned pause, during which positions were consolidated, the advance resumed. Shortly after 7:00 a.m., the 1st Canadian Division had taken half of its second objective, the Red Line, and moved a brigade forward to mount an attack on the remainder.^[10] The 2nd Canadian Division reported reaching the Red Line and capturing the town of Les Tilleuls at approximately the same time.^[11] Units at the 3rd Canadian Division reached the their section of the Red Line at around 7:30 a.m.^[12] However, due to an exposed left flank caused by the failure of the 4th Canadian Division to capture the top of the ridge, the 3rd Canadian Division was forced to stop and establish a divisional defensive flank to its north.^[13] It was not until 11:00 a.m. that that the defending German 79th Reserve Division mounted a counterattack, by which time only the 4th Canadian Division had not reached its objective.^[14]

Three fresh brigades were moved up to the Red Line by 9:30 a.m., 10 April to support the advance whereupon they leapfrogged existing units occupying the Red line and advanced to the Blue Line.^[15] By approximately 11:00 a.m., the Blue Line, including Hill 135 and the town of Thélus, had been captured.^[16] The advance briefly halted, the artillery barrage remaining stationary for 90 minutes to giver troops time to consolidate the Blue Line and bring supporting machine guns forward.^[17] Shortly before 1 p.m., the advance recommenced with the Brown Line being secure around 2:00 p.m.^[18] By this point only the northern half of Hill 145 and "the Pimple", a fortified highpoint outside of Givenchy-en-Gohelle, remained under German control. Fresh troops finally forced the remaining German troops from the northern half of Hill 145 at around 3:15 p.m and by nightfall of 10 April, the only objective not yet achieved was the capture of "the Pimple".^[19] Supported by a significant amount of artillery and the 24th British Division of I Corps to the north, the 10th Canadian Brigade attacked the hastily entrenched German troops and captured "the Pimple" on 12 April, bringing an end to the battle.^[20] By nightfall on 12 April 1917 the Canadian Corps was in firm control of the ridge.

The corps had suffered 10,602 casualties; 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded.^[21] The German Sixth Army suffered an unknown number of casualties with an approximate 4,000 men becoming prisoners of war.^[22] Four Victoria Crosses, the highest military decoration awarded to British and Commonwealth forces for valour, were awarded to members of the Canadian Corps and at least two Orders Pour le Mérite, the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order, were awarded to German commanders.^[23] The Germans did not attempt to recapture the ridge, including during the Spring Offensive, and it remained under British control until the end of the war.

[edit] History

[edit] Selection

In 1920, the Government of Canada announced that the Imperial War Graves Commission had awarded Canada 8 sites, 3 in France and 5 in Belgium, on which to erect memorials.^[24] Each site represented a significant Canadian engagement and for this reason it was originally decided that each battlefield would be treated equally and graced with identical monuments.^[24] In September 1920, the Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission was formed to discuss the process and conditions for holding a memorial competition for the sites in Europe.^[25] The first meeting of the Commission was held on 26 November, 1920 where it decided that a competition for memorial designs would be open to all Canadian architects, designers, sculptors and artists.^[26] The commission launched a national competition in December 1920 and 160 design drawings were placed before the jury. Seventeen of these submission were selected for consideration, each artist being commission to produce a plaster maquette of their design.^[27] In October 1921, the submission of Toronto sculptor and designer Walter Seymour Allward was selected as the winner of the competition. His idea for the memorial having apparently been inspired by a wartime dream that he had. At the outset, there was some debate as to where this monument should be located. Many felt the monument should be placed in Belgium on Hill 62 near the Ypres Salient.^[28] In the end the commission selected Vimy Ridge, due largely to its elevation above the plain below, as the preferred site of Allward's design.^[29]

[edit] Land acquisition

In 1920, prior to the design competition, the Government of Canada announced it had acquired the land at highest point of the ridge from private owners for the purpose of establishing a memorial.^[30] When it was decided that the memorial designed by Allward was to be located at Vimy Ridge the government announced its desire to acquire a more considerable tract of land along the ridge.^[31] In the interval between the 1st and 2nd session of the 14th Canadian Parliament, Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons Rodolphe Lemieux had been sent to France to negotiate the acquisition of more land.^[31] In December 1922 he concluded an agreement in which France granted Canada "freely and for all time" the use of 250 acres (100 ha) of land on Vimy Ridge, in recognition of Canada's war effort.^[32] The condition of the donation was that Canada use the land to erect a monument for the purpose of commemorating Canadian soldiers killed during the First World War. The Government of Canada was also to assume the responsibility for the maintenance of the memorial and the surrounding battlefield park.^[32] Following a custom brought into being during the United States Civil War, the dead would rest in park-like cemeteries adorned with notable memorials.^[33]

[edit] Memorial construction

In June 1922 Allward set up a studio in London, England and toured for almost two years to find a find a stone of the right colour, texture, and luminosity for the memorial.^[34] He eventually found it in the ruins of Diocletian's Palace, a fact that Allward took as evidence of the stone's durability.^[34] Known as Seget limestone, it was a stone that came from an ancient Roman quarry located in Croatia.^[35] Not only was the stone difficult to quarry but it had to then be shipped by boat to France and then transported to Vimy Ridge by truck and by rail. Not until 1927 did the first shipment of stone arrive at the memorial site.^[34]

In 1924, the Canadian Battlefield Memorials Commission hired Dr. Oscar Faber, a Danish structural engineer to prepare foundation plans and to provide general supervision on the foundation work for Allward. Major Unwin Simson served as the principal Canadian engineer throughout the memorial's construction, overseeing much of the daily operations.^[36][34] Allward himself moved to Paris in 1925 to supervise the construction of the monument and the sculptures for it.^[37] Construction of the memorial commenced in 1925 and took eleven years. The necessary road building and landscaping being carried out by French and British veterans employed by the Imperial War Graves Commission.^[37]

During the lengthy delay before the first delivery of stone for the memorial, Simson had noticed that the trench line landscape features were beginning to extensively deteriorate.^[34] To keep his staff busy Simson decided to preserve a short portion of trenches as well make the Grange Subway more accessible.^[34] Sections of sandbagged trench walls, on both the Canadian and German side, were rebuilt and preserved in concrete.^[34] The Grange subway had a new concrete entrance installed then a section was excavated and electric lighting installed.^[34] The stone finally began to arrive in 1927 but it was not until 1931 that the large blocks, intended for the human figures, began to arrive.^[34]

Allward chose a relatively new construction method, a cast concrete frame to which the limestone was bonded. The monument rest on a foundation bed of 11,000 tonnes of concrete, reinforced with hundreds of tonnes of steel. The memorial base and twin pylons contain almost 6,000 tonnes of a Seget limestone.^[38] The 20 sculptured figures which grace the memorial were actually carved where they now stand, from the huge blocks of stone. The carvers used half-size plaster models produced by Allward in his studio and an instrument called a pantograph to reproduce the huge figures to the proper scale.^[39] All this work was carried out inside temporary studios built around each figure, including those at the top of the pylons.

The inclusion of the list of missing, names of those killed in France with no known grave, had not been part of the original design and Allward was unhappy when the government subsequently asked him to include them.^{[40][Note 2]} Allward protested arguing that the inclusion of names had not been included in the original commissioning.^[40] Through a letter to Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission in October 1927 Allward indicated his intention to relegated the names of the missing be to pavement stones.^[40] The collective dismay and uproar of the commission forced Allward to relent, including the names of the missing on the memorial walls.^[40]

[edit] Pilgrimage and unveiling

In preparation for the 1936 Vimy Pilgrimage, a special Vimy passport was made available to pilgrims, without cost, by the Government of Canada. On July 16, 1936, five trans-Atlantic liners departed the port of Montreal, Canada, for the unveiling of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.^{[Note 3]} About 6,400 people sailed on the five steamships from Canada and 1,365 Canadians came from England.^[41] The official unveiling was on July 26, 1936, by Edward VIII in his capacity as King of Canada, one of his few official duties before he abdicated the throne.^[42] The event was attended by senior Canadian, British, and European officials, including French President Albert Lebrun and over 50,000 Canadian, British and French veterans and their families.^[43] There was also a guard of honour of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, a contingent of Canadian Naval Guard members with rifles, and flyovers by two Canadian squadrons and two French squadrons.

Edward VIII gave a speech, starting in French and switching to English, thanking France for its generosity and assuring those assembled that Canada would never forget its war missing and dead. The King then unveiled the Royal Union Flag from the central figure of Canada Bereft, and the military band played the Last Post.^[44]

[edit] Second World War

When the threat of conflict with Germany increased throughout 1939 there was genuine concern for the safely of the memorial. However, nothing more than protecting the base of the memorial and pylons with sandbags could be done.^[36] When war did break out, the British Expeditionary Force was sent to France and made responsible for the Arras sector, which included Vimy.^[36] In late May 1940, following the British retreat in the aftermath of the Battle of Arras, the status and condition of the memorial became unknown.^[45] The site caretaker, George Stubbs, had also been captured and kept in a Ilag internment camp for Allied civilians in St. Denis, France.^[46] There were however extensive rumours, which were widely reported in both Canada and the United Kingdom, that the Vimy Memorial had been destroyed.^[47] The rumors led the German Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to publish denials of the memorial's destruction.^[48] Adolf Hitler even personally toured the Vimy Memorial and its preserved trenches on 2 June 1940, and was photographed doing so, to demonstrate the memorial had not been desecrated.^[49] The undamaged state of the memorial was not conclusively confirmed however until September 1944 when Vimy Ridge was recaptured by the Welsh Guards.^[50]

[edit] Restoration and rededication

In May 2001, the Government of Canada announced a major $30-million restoration project to restore and rehabilitate Canada's memorial sites in France and Belgium, in order to maintain and present them in a respectful and dignified manner.^[51] The Canadian Battlefield Memorials Restoration Project.^[52] In 2005, the Vimy memorial was closed for major restoration work. The restoration of the memorial was directed by Veterans Affairs Canada in cooperation with other Canadian departments, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, consultants and specialists in military history.

This restoration project intended to address the root causes of the deterioration and included repairs to the stone, walkways, walls, terraces, stairs and platforms of the memorial.^[51] Time, wear and severe weather conditions have led to many of the identified problems on the monument the single most pervasive problem being water damage.^[51] In building a memorial made of cast concrete covered in stone, Allward had failed to take into account how these materials would shift over time.^[52] Furthermore, insufficient space was left between the concrete and stones which resulted in water infiltrating the structure.^[52] Over time water entered the monument through its walls and platforms and coursed through the structure, dissolving lime from the concrete foundation and masonry.^[51] As the water exited it deposited lime on exterior surface walls obscuring many of the names inscribed on the memorial.^[52] Poor drainage and water flows off the monument had also caused significant erosion and deterioration to the platform, terrace and stairs.^[51]

The restored memorial was rededicated by the Queen of Canada, Queen Elizabeth II, in a ceremony on April 9, 2007 commemorating the 90th anniversary of the battle. Also present were Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. They were joined by thousands of Canadian students, veterans of World War II and more recent conflicts, and descendants of those who fought at Vimy, comprising the largest crowd on the Ridge since the 1936 dedication.^[53]

[edit] The site

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial site is situated approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of Arras, France, near the towns of Vimy and Neuville-Saint-Vaast. The site is one of the few places on the former Western Front where a visitor can see the trench lines of a First World War battlefield and the related terrain in a preserved natural state.^{[54] [55]} The site is the largest site dedicated to the memory of the Canadians killed during the First World War. Although founded to principally honour the memory of the Canadian Corps, the site also contains a number of memorials. These included memorials to the French Moroccan Division and Lions Club International as well as two cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission; that of Canadian Cemetery No. 2 and Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery.^{[56] [57]} Beyond being a popular location for battlefield tours the site is also a important location in the burgeoning field of First World War battlefield archeology, because of its preserved and largely undisturbed state.^[58] The Canadian National Vimy Memorial and Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial sites, comprise close to 80 percent of conserved First World War battlefields in existence.^[59]

[edit] Vimy memorial

There is a wealth of symbolism in its sculpture, containing 20 stylized human figures, which help the viewer in contemplating the structure as a whole. The wall at the front, normally mistaken for the rear, is 24 feet (7.3 m) high. A cloaked figure stands at the front, or cast side, of the monument overlooking the Douai Plain. Her eyes are cast down and her chin is resting on one hand and holds a bundle of laurel limp at her side in the other. Below her is a sarcophagus, draped in laurel branches and bearing a helmet and a sword.^[60] This saddened figure known as Canada Bereft represents Canada, a young nation mourning her dead.^{[60][Note 4]} The statue, a clear reference to traditional images of the Mater Dolorosa presented in a similar style to that of Michaelangelo's Pietà, faces eastward looking out to the dawn of the new day.^[61] This figure was carved from a single 30-tonne block of stone, the largest piece in the monument and served as a focal point to the monument.^[61]

On each side of the front walls at the base steps are two groupings of figures known as the Defenders. In Breaking of the Sword three young men are present, one of whom crouches and breaks his sword. This grouping of figures is the most overt image of pacifism in the monument, the breaking of a sword being extremely uncommon in war memorials.^[62] The sculpture was originally supposed to include a German helmet being crushed under the foot of one of the figures but this feature was dropped because of its militaristic imagery.^[37] In Sympathy of the Canadians for the Helpless one man stands erect and proud and is surrounded by three other figures who are crouched because they are stricken by disease or pain. All four appear to be starving, their ribs being very apparent. The standing man is posed as if a Greek warrior and is supposed to represent Canada. Above each grouping are cannon barrels carved into the wall, silent now and draped in laurel and olive branches, further symbolizing peace.

Carved on the walls of the monument are the names of 11,285 Canadians who were killed in France and whose final resting place is unknown. The custom for most Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials was to inscribe the names on removable panels in a descending list format. However, Allward decided to inscribe the names in a continuous bands, across both vertical and horizontal seams, around the base of the monument.

The two pylons of the memorial rise 30 metres above the sprawling stone platform. The twin white pylons, one bearing the maple leaf for Canada the other the Fleur-de-lis for France, symbolize the unity and sacrifice of both countries. At the top of the pylons is a grouping of figures known as the Chorus, the most senior figures representing Justice and Peace. The pair are in a similar style to Allward's previously commissioned statues of Truth and Justice, located outside the Supreme Court of Canada in the Canadian capital city of Ottawa. Peace stands with a torch upraised, making it the highest point in the region.^[63] The figures of Hope, Charity, Honour and Faith are below them on the eastern side, and Truth, and Knowledge on the western side. Around these figures are shields of Canada, Britain and France. Large crosses adorn the outside of each pylon. Also appearing on the pylons are the First World War battle honours of the Canadian regiments that fought during the First World War and, in both French and English, dedicatory inscriptions to Canada's war dead. Located between the two pylons, at their base, is the Spirit of Sacrifice in which a young dying soldier gazing upward in a crucifixion like pose throws his torch to a comrade who holds it aloft.^[61] The two figures are gaunt, their ribs clearly visible. One figure is shown giving his all to pass the torch to his comrade, in an effort to keep alive the memory of the dead, a clear reference to the famous poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae.^[63]

On the reverse side of the monument are the Mourning Parents, one male and one female figure reclining on either side of the western steps. They represent the mourning mothers and fathers of the nation and is likely patterned on the four statues by Michelangelo on the Medici Tomb in Florence, Italy.^[64] The Vimy Memorial is by and large a pacifistic monument, with few patriotic references to Canada but many references to grief.

[edit] Moroccan Division memorial

During the Second Battle of Artois in May 1915, the French 1st Moroccan Division attacked the German position at Hill 145 on Vimy Ridge.^[2] The division managed to briefly capture the height of the ridge, with small parties even reaching the far side of the ridge, but was unable to hold it owing to a lack of reinforcements.^[2]

[edit] Grange Subway

The First World War's Western Front included extensive systems of underground tunnels, subways and dugouts. The Grange Subway is a tunnel system, approximately 800 metres (2,600 ft) long, that was utilized to connect reserve lines to front lines, permitting soldiers to advance to the front quickly, securely and unseen.^[65] A portion of this tunnel system is open to the public through regular guided tours provided by Canadian student guides.^[66]

The Arras-Vimy sector was conducive to tunnel excavation owing to the soft, porous yet extremely stable nature of the chalk underground.^[65] As a result, pronounced underground warfare had been an active feature of the Vimy sector since 1915.^[65] In preparation for the Battle of Vimy Ridge, five British tunnelling companies created extensive underground networks and fortifications. Twelve subways, up to 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) in length, were excavated on the Canadian Corps front at a depth of 10 metres (33 ft) to ensure protection from large caliber howitzer shell fire.^[67] The subways were often dug at a pace of 4 meters a day and were often 2 meters tall and one meter wide.^[65] Concealed light rail lines, hospitals, command posts, water reservoirs, ammunition stores, mortar and machine gun posts, and communication centres were often incorporated into the network.^[67]

[edit] Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Watkins memorial

Near the Canadian side of the restored treches is a small memorial plaque dedicated to Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Watkins MBE. Watkins was head of Explosive Ordnance Disposal at the Directorate of Land Service Ammunition, Royal Logistics Corps and a leading British explosive ordnance disposal expert.^[68] In August 1998 he was killed in a roof collapse near a tunnel entrance while undertaking a detailed investigative survey of the British tunnel system on the grounds of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.^[69] Watkins was no stranger to the tunnel system at Vimy Ridge having earlier the same year participated in successfully disarming of a 3-tonne (6,600 lb) mine of deteriorated ammonal explosive located under a road intersection on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial site.^[69]

[edit] Interpretive centre

Opened in 1997, The centre is intended to complement currently available guided tours of the tunnels and trenches on site. It helps visitors to more fully interpret the Memorial and the history of the Battle of Vimy against a backdrop of Canada's participation in the First World War.

[edit] Death of Georges Devloo

The memorial may be accessed by car, taxi or tour bus, but there is no public transportation to the memorial. Canadians looking for transportation used to be able to get rides from a senior resident of Vimy, Georges Devloo. Known as the Grandpa of Vimy to the Canadian guides, he would offer car rides to Canadian tourists to and from the memorial at no charge, as a way of paying tribute to the Canadians who fought at Vimy.^[70][71] M. Devloo died in February 2009. He had been giving free rides to Canadians for 13 years.^[72][73]

[edit] Notes

[edit] Footnotes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Canadian National Vimy Memorial

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Experience Vimy
• Vivez Vimy
• Vimy Memorial—Veteran Affairs Canada
• Vimy War Memorial Gallery, including photos of Hitler's visit
• CBC: Remembering Vimy Ridge
• CBC Archives: King Edward VIII's speech at the dedication ceremony
• CBC News story regarding the rededication ceremony
• Radio Canadá, Monument historique: Un français à restaurer (In French)
• 360° Panoramic view

v • d • e Canadian First World War Memorials In Europe   Canadian Expeditionary Force Memorials in France Courcelette Memorial  · Dury Memorial  · Canadian National Vimy Memorial  · Bourlon Wood Memorial  · Le Quesnel Memorial Memorials in Belgium Hill 62 (Sanctuary Wood) Memorial  · Passchendaele Memorial  · Saint Julien Memorial  · Menin Gate Memorial   Royal Newfoundland Regiment Memorials in France Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial  · Gueudecourt Memorial  · Monchy-le-Preux Memorial  · Masnières Memorial Memorials in Belgium Courtrai Memorial