We drove to Vimy today to see the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, which is dedicated to the memory of all the Canadian soldiers killed during the First World War, but particularly for those who have no known grave.
Getting there was a bit of an adventure, since Sybil (our GPS) didn't know that parts of her route were completely closed. We would turn to avoid the closed road, and Sybil would do her darnedest to make us turn around and try again. When she finally gave up and programmed a new route for us, I swear I could hear a whiff of annoyance in her voice.
When we pulled into the parking lot, we realized we had parked right next to Carl, yesterday's tour guide! He greeted us and shook our hands, then returned to his tour.
We took the free Vimy tour with a young student guide from Montreal and only about eight participants. Very informative and interesting. We saw the dips and bumps everywhere that are the remains of shell craters and old trenches. We also went underground to tour a small part of the extensive tunnel system dug (by Welsh miners, mostly) at Vimy. The 800-metre-long tunnel we toured is called the Grange Subway and was used to bring men and material to the front without the Germans knowing. On the eve of the battle in April 1917, some 900 Canadian soldiers waited in that tunnel, not allowed to speak, smoke, or move around for 36 hours straight.
After, we explored the huge monument. It took 11 years to build, and Edward VIII, in his capacity as King of Canada, officially unveiled it on 26 July 1936. The ceremony was one of the King's few official duties before he abdicated the throne.
The figure of a cloaked young female stands on top of the front wall and overlooks the Douai Plains. The woman has her head bowed, her eyes cast down, and her chin resting in one hand. Below her at ground level of the former battlefield is a sarcophagus, bearing a Brodie helmet, a sword and draped in laurel branches. The saddened figure of Canada Bereft, also known as Mother Canada, is a national personification of the young nation of Canada, mourning her dead.
There are 20 carved figures, and I won't describe them all here. But the meaning of each is covered in the wiki, and is definitely worth exploring. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Vimy_Memorial
After Vimy, we visited the Passchendaele Museum (the obsolete spelling is retained in English, and appears that way in the name of the museum) in the Zonnebeke Chateau. It had an impressive collection of artifacts, and was very well organized. As well as artifacts, it had video of veterans describing their experience, and a wonderful short film that showed the movement of the various battalions as the battle progressed. A very good museum to visit.
Next, we stopped at the German cemetery at Langemark. Some 44,000 soldiers are buried there. It was a little disheveled, as there is a restoration project underway.
We also had an unscheduled stop at a little memorial just down the street from our B&B. The memorial (honouring the British cavalrymen who died holding the line here in 1914) is accessed through a narrow pathway between two houses. Fred came upon it quite by accident, then came and got me. We signed the beautiful leather-bound guest book.
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