Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00This is the War Memorial in Stratford, Ontario, and it's typical of all the War Memorials
00:15across Canada, in every village, in every town, and in every city.
00:19These memorials are gateways to the First World War.
00:24Unfortunately, most Canadians have forgotten the First World War, and they don't realize
00:28that it was the greatest and most traumatic episode in our history.
00:35400,000 Canadians went overseas between 1914 and 18, and 60,000 died for King and Empire.
00:58INCLUDE
01:40The Canadian National Memorial Park on Vimy Ridge in the heart of France.
01:46People say there are 60,000 trees in this park, one for every Canadian killed in the Great War.
01:57The park is a gift of the people of France to the people of Canada.
02:02In its centre stands Canada's National Memorial, dedicated to those Canadians who died in the Great War.
02:10Of those men, much has now been forgotten.
02:22But even as the grass grows over shell holes, mine craters and trenches, the land remembers.
02:30Land given in gratitude for a victory no one thought possible, the capture of Vimy Ridge.
02:36In 1917, there are no trees.
02:47Vimy Ridge is bare, a muddy, forbidding fortress.
02:51A six-mile-long bastion of the German army that has conquered northern France.
02:55Since German armies invaded Belgium and France, the war has been fought along a line stretching from the North Sea to the Alps, what is called the Western Front.
03:07Some of the most ferocious battles have taken place in the Vimy sector, just north of the ancient French city of Arras.
03:13Having captured the coal fields of northern France, the Germans are determined to keep them, and turn two ridges, Notre-Dame de Lorette and Vimy, into impregnable fortresses to protect their plunder.
03:30And in late 1916, it is to the Vimy front that the four Canadian divisions come, marching from the nearby battlefield of the Somme, where they had suffered 25,000 casualties.
03:49A bloodbath such as Canada had never known.
03:53Now mistrustful of the British High Command and its officers, the Canadians are ordered to Vimy.
03:58Among the survivors of the Somme is Donald Fraser, a cool, tough Scot from Alberta.
04:07We are treading the road again on the way to a new front.
04:12Slag heaps become a prominent feature of the landscape.
04:16Countryside embracing Notre-Dame de Lorette and Vimy Ridge is somewhat pretty.
04:21Round here are scattered the ruins of quite a number of houses.
04:24On the other side of the valley, opposite us, is the northern end of Vimy Ridge, occupied by the enemy.
04:30Next to Vimy de Lorette promontory has been the scene of such frequent and bloody combats that the French call it the butte de la mort, the rage of death.
04:41In 1915, the French had driven the Germans from Notre-Dame de Lorette, but they failed to capture Vimy Ridge.
05:00After months of savage fighting, French missing, wounded and dead numbered 150,000.
05:07We're at the La-Targette French military cemetery near Vimy Ridge.
05:19And it's one of the many French cemeteries in the area that commemorate the fallen of 1915.
05:25But fighting around this particular area, Nouvelle-Saint-Vas, was ferocious.
05:30At the initial stages of the war, the French wanted to push the Germans out and felt that by continuously driving at the Germans,
05:40they would ultimately break through and force the Germans to retreat, as they had done at the Marne in 1914.
05:46They just kept hammering at them and hammering at them.
05:48The problem was here, the Germans didn't break.
05:50They just kept hammering back.
05:51The French built very big cemeteries, massive cemeteries.
06:01And you do feel the massive loss, but at the same time, you don't sense the individual loss.
06:06The British Commonwealth cemeteries are smaller and more individual.
06:11So they both have a different effect, but both are very sad.
06:15In the winter of 1916, the dead from the year before are still unburied at Vimy Ridge,
06:31as Agar Adamson, the 53-year-old commander of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry,
06:37soon discovers when he enters the trenches.
06:39My dear Mabel, here below Vimy Ridge in Nouvelle-Saint-Vas, we are suffering a great deal of irritation from rats.
06:50In one cave, leading into the trench, when the French were here, the Germans refused to come out
06:55and shot a French officer who went down.
06:58The French then put smoke bombs down the shaft and suffocated them all, 280 of them.
07:04They are still there, huddled together as they died.
07:06It is a dreadful and unsavory sight with thousands of rats.
07:10I am having the shaft closed and sealed up with cement.
07:13Well, that's it for today, old girl.
07:15Never thine.
07:16Agar.
07:19In the ferocious struggle to drive the French back from Vimy,
07:24the Germans had suffered 140,000 casualties.
07:28We're in Nouvelle-Saint-Vas, a German military cemetery, near Vimy Ridge.
07:37It's the largest German cemetery in the area and contains about 45,000 burials.
07:44German cemeteries of this nature put four men to a cross.
07:47The ones that are headstones and not crosses are Jewish, Jewish-German soldiers.
07:55This is, I don't know if I can pronounce his name, Isidore McColl.
08:02He was killed November 1916.
08:04German cemeteries have a different atmosphere, one of foreboding and one of sadness and pain.
08:15It's a different atmosphere than a British cemetery, which is like in a Dwardian garden.
08:21I think when you lose a war, such as the First World War,
08:26where you lose millions of men for nothing at the end,
08:29I think it's got to have a devastating effect on the national character.
08:39Rifling the dead used to be considered the ghoulish business in pre-war times.
08:44But over here, the dead are of no account.
08:47They're scattered all over the battle area.
08:50I observed a row of dugouts built along the side of the ridge.
08:53The first dugout had a corrugated iron roof pretty well smashed in by a shell.
08:58Peering in through the entrance, I was astonished to see, almost in skeletal stage,
09:02a man in underclothes reclining on a bed.
09:05On the floor lay the remains of two other Germans.
09:08They must have met death suddenly.
09:10I cut three buttons of the tunic of one of them.
09:13It was a peculiar experience, peeping into the dugouts in this quiet and dark ravine
09:17and witnessing the result of tragedies enacted over a year ago.
09:20By 1916, the British and French armies are exhausted,
09:28with casualties totalling more than a million.
09:31Undiscouraged by such enormous loss of life,
09:34the generals plan a vast new offensive for 1917.
09:38The British will attack from Arras,
09:40while the French attack 80 miles to the south at the Chemin des Dames.
09:43The Canadian objective will be the most formidable of all,
09:47the German fortress of Vimy Ridge.
09:51Among the first to arrive on the Vimy front is 54-year-old Canadian army chaplain,
09:57Canon Frederick Scott,
09:59whose son had been killed only weeks before at the Somme.
10:03It was certain now that all serious fighting was at an end till spring.
10:11So everyone settled down to his world with a sense of relief
10:13and tried to make the best of things.
10:16The men were in splendid spirits,
10:18and we were all buoyed up with the hope that we were going to end the war.
10:22I used to speak about the war outlook
10:24and tell them there were only two issues,
10:26victory or slavery.
10:28At which shall it be, boys?
10:30And a shout, victory, went up.
10:32As they crouch in their freezing winter trenches,
10:38Canadian troops know they face a fateful year,
10:41and they suspect that their next task will be to attack Vimy,
10:45the Ridge of Death.
10:48I had a service on New Year's Eve.
10:51The theatre was filled with men.
10:53Rumors were abroad that with the opening of spring,
10:55we were to begin an offensive,
10:57and it was generally believed that towards the close of the next year,
11:00we might hope for the end of hostilities.
11:05The visions came before us of the terrible battlefields of the sun
11:09and of the faces who had gone.
11:14Then we all rose,
11:15and there was a brief moment of silent prayer.
11:18At midnight, the buglers sounded the last post,
11:21and the band struck up the hymn,
11:23O God, Our Help in Ages Past.
11:25A mighty chorus of voices joined in the well-known strains.
11:29It was an inspiring sight,
11:31and we all felt we were beginning a year
11:34that was to decide the destinies of the empire.
11:37When they arrive on the Vimy front,
11:48the Canadians have not yet recovered
11:50from the bloodbath of the Somme.
11:53Their British commander,
11:55Julian Bing,
11:56knows he has only a few months
11:57to transform his exhausted Canadians
12:00into a single dynamic fighting force,
12:03the Canadian Corps.
12:04Under Bing,
12:08the four Canadian divisions
12:09spend their first winter together,
12:11sharpening their fighting skills
12:12against the Germans at the base of Vimy Ridge,
12:15on the Crater Line,
12:17an eight-kilometer front
12:18of huge mine craters
12:20blown by the Germans and French
12:22in their struggle for Vimy Ridge.
12:25The Crater Line is a deadly place,
12:27with Canadians and Germans only meters apart,
12:30as Agar Adamson writes to his wife, Mabel.
12:33Dear Mabel,
12:36Our front line is most curious,
12:38consisting of craters
12:39with the Bosch on the higher lip
12:40and we on the lower,
12:42less than 50 feet apart.
12:44The craters are about 20 feet deep,
12:46filled with barbed wire
12:47thrown in by both sides.
12:49We are very close,
12:50and both sides snipe continuously.
12:53We had one killed
12:54and four wounded last night.
12:56Our snipers claim to have shot six,
12:58including one staff officer,
13:00but this cannot be depended upon.
13:02Ever thine,
13:03Agar.
13:09We're in the Vimy Memorial Park,
13:11and these are the Canadian front lines
13:13of 1917.
13:15The Crater Line
13:17was one of the most dangerous positions
13:19on the front.
13:20Unfortunately,
13:21most of the front was Crater Line.
13:23Any man here could be killed
13:25in any way at any time.
13:27They were so close to the Germans.
13:28They were deathly afraid
13:29of mines going up.
13:34And they were deathly afraid
13:36of trench mortars.
13:37From their position inside the trench,
13:39they could actually see
13:40a trench mortar being launched up in the air
13:41like a football being punted.
13:44And of course,
13:44they would know where it's going to land
13:45and they'd have to run like hell
13:47to try to get away from it.
13:48It was a really terrifying experience.
13:51But perhaps what scared them the most,
13:53and especially in the Crater Line,
13:55were the enemy snipers.
13:59Because they're only 150 feet away.
14:04One newcomer on the Crater Line
14:06is a freshly arrived volunteer
14:07from Nova Scotia,
14:0926-year-old Will Bird.
14:10Will is a crack shot,
14:13an ideal sniper.
14:16But inexperienced troops
14:18coming into the line,
14:19like when Will Bird
14:19first came into the line,
14:21they were the easy targets.
14:24And the Germans would pick them off
14:25on a regular basis.
14:26And because the only thing
14:27showing was their head,
14:29the only thing that would be hit
14:30was their head.
14:31And they could just pick them off,
14:33silent death, boom.
14:35The distance was not more than 100 yards,
14:38and I had crosshair sights.
14:40It was not a great shot,
14:42but I'd really killed a Hun,
14:43my first.
14:45A second German,
14:46wearing his full pack,
14:47appeared in the same place.
14:48I shot him as soon as he appeared.
14:53Another man appeared.
14:54He had his hair close-cropped
14:56and binoculars in his hand.
14:58I shot him,
14:58and as he went down,
14:59the binoculars were flung
15:00in a high loop over his head.
15:07With German guns and snipers
15:09looking down from the heights
15:10of Vimy Ridge,
15:11the fighting moves underground,
15:13with sappers digging tunnels
15:15right up to and under
15:17German lines.
15:19And as new arrivals,
15:21Will Bird and his pal Tommy
15:22are sent into the tunnels
15:24to dig in sweaty silence
15:26only meters away from the Germans.
15:30They lowered Tommy and me down
15:32by a ladder that was quite vertical
15:34to a chalk tunnel.
15:35When we got down there,
15:36all sounds stilled,
15:37and it was warm.
15:38We had to shed our greatcoats
15:40and equipment at once.
15:42We went crouching on all fours
15:43along a tunnel in solid chalk
15:45just four feet high
15:46and hardly three feet wide.
15:48The chalk face was sprayed
15:49with vinegar.
15:50Then one man cut it with a knife
15:51as it softened
15:52and passed back large chunks
15:54to his helper.
15:55At any moment,
15:55it was possible the removal
15:56of a new chunk
15:57might reveal a German dugout
15:59filled with men.
16:00For weeks afterwards,
16:01my whole body were tense
16:03as I thought of that night.
16:06We're in the grain subway
16:08that runs under the Canadian
16:09front lines at Vimy Ridge.
16:10Vimy was synonymous
16:13with the tunnels
16:15leading to and from
16:16the front lines.
16:17All the troops
16:18would come through here
16:19going up to the front
16:20and returning to the depot.
16:23This is the CO's office,
16:24I believe,
16:25or this is the officer's quarters.
16:29And these are very nice.
16:30You can see they actually
16:31got beds.
16:32This is more than
16:33the other troops would get.
16:34My dear Mabel,
16:38it is very late at night
16:39and even in the bowels
16:41of the earth
16:41with an oil stove smoking,
16:43it is very cold.
16:44A little after midnight,
16:46the mining detachment
16:46are going to blow up
16:47their minds
16:48with a view to destroying
16:49the German tunnels
16:50which are above ours.
16:52Thank you for the bundle
16:52of socks.
16:54Everthine, Agar.
16:55This is a hand bore
16:58so they could dig
17:00into the chalk.
17:01One of the problems
17:02with mining around here,
17:04particularly in chalk,
17:05is that the poor,
17:06unfortunate infantry
17:06on the top
17:07could hear you mining
17:08because the chalk
17:09doesn't hold the sound.
17:10So you could actually
17:11hear them digging in
17:12and of course
17:13when they stopped digging,
17:14that's when they'd start
17:15to bring the bags
17:15of a monolup.
17:16So they knew that
17:17sooner or later
17:18there was going to be a blow
17:18and that would probably
17:20be the most terrifying
17:21period of all.
17:24The mining officer
17:24would come up
17:25and he would listen
17:26to the ground
17:26and he would find out
17:28when they're going to blow
17:29but of course
17:30the mining officer
17:30was instructed
17:31never to talk
17:32to the infantry
17:32so whenever he was around
17:34they had to get
17:34very concerned.
17:37Dear Mabel,
17:38we can hear the Germans
17:40working a mine
17:41over one of our mines
17:42and under part of our line.
17:44We will have to let one off
17:45pretty soon
17:45or be too late.
17:47The miners are curious fellows
17:48and say there is no hurry
17:50as they are still working
17:51and have not commenced
17:52putting in the explosives.
17:53They have said this before
17:55and been out
17:56in their counting.
17:58Goodbye my dear.
17:59Everthine, Agar.
18:04You can actually see
18:05how far it goes down
18:07and they go down
18:08to a certain depth
18:09and then they decide
18:10to go under
18:10the German lines
18:12and then they would
18:13have a gallery
18:14they'd dig a little hole
18:15for all the monol
18:16and there'd be bags
18:17and bags of it
18:17and then they would
18:18fill it full of sandbags
18:20so that when the explosive
18:21charge went
18:22it would go straight up
18:23in the air
18:23and none of it
18:24would be diverted laterally
18:25and that was the whole
18:27science of mining warfare.
18:31From the crater line
18:32larger tunnels
18:33nicknamed subways
18:34lead back behind the lines
18:36towards the ruins
18:37of Mont Saint-Elroy
18:38at the heart
18:39of the Canadian sector.
18:40These are the ruins
18:46of Mont Saint-Elroy.
18:48This was a landmark
18:49that was known
18:50to every Canadian
18:51on the Vimy front.
18:54To the west
18:55you can see
18:56all the towns
18:57and villages
18:58and fields
18:58and woods
18:59that were all considered
19:00part of Canada
19:01in 1917.
19:03This area
19:04contained 100,000
19:05Canadian troops
19:06and it was virtually
19:07a province of Canada.
19:09It was bigger
19:09than any city
19:10in Canada
19:10with the exception
19:11of Toronto
19:12and Montreal.
19:15And they had
19:16a whole community
19:17living here
19:17with railway stations
19:19with cinemas
19:21with theatre
19:22with wristwatch
19:23repair shops
19:24convalescence camps
19:26they produced
19:27their own papers
19:28you name it
19:29like with any big town
19:30they had all
19:31the same entertainments.
19:34They had
19:35baseball games
19:36they had
19:37football games
19:38they had
19:38soccer tournaments
19:39say at athletic events
19:40you name it
19:42everything was here.
19:46Dear Mabel
19:47the follies
19:48were greatly appreciated.
19:50Maud's dress
19:50was worn
19:51and looked very well.
19:53Also for the Romanian
19:53characters
19:54the dress looked very well
19:55with a red sash.
19:57The officers
19:57who do themselves
19:58very well
19:59gave us the most
20:00excellent supper
20:01and I enclosed
20:02some badly taken photographs
20:03by the local photographer
20:04of some of the characters
20:06in our follies.
20:07Everthine
20:08Agar.
20:10The idea here
20:11was to coordinate
20:12the operations
20:13of the Canadian Corps
20:14and to bring it
20:16into a focus
20:17like a team
20:18and it was that team
20:20that was going to take
20:20Vimy Ridge.
20:23By March 1917
20:25even the most jaded
20:26veterans
20:27and raw recruits
20:28had become part
20:29of Julian Bing's team.
20:31But while the men
20:32fight in the cold
20:33and snow
20:34and sleet
20:34on the crater line
20:35the countdown
20:36has begun.
20:39In the Chateau
20:40Camp Blanc-L'Abbé
20:41General Bing
20:42and his staff
20:43feverishly finalized plans
20:45for the attack
20:45on Vimy Ridge
20:46now only days away.
20:50We're on the grounds
20:51of the Chateau
20:51at Camp Blanc-L'Abbé.
20:53This was Canadian Corps
20:55headquarters in 1917
20:56and this is where
20:57Julian Bing and the staff
20:58planned the Vimy operation.
21:05At the Somme
21:07the Canadians
21:08had been slaughtered
21:09by German machine guns
21:10and artillery
21:11left untouched
21:12by the Allied bombardment.
21:19Far more difficult
21:20than the Somme
21:21the attack on Vimy Ridge
21:23will require
21:23a perfectly coordinated plan.
21:26Guns and infantry
21:27working together.
21:28And to prepare
21:29such a plan
21:30Julian Bing assembles
21:31a crack team
21:32including the Canadian
21:33Master of Tactics
21:34Arthur Curry.
21:36If the plan
21:37is not flawless
21:38the attack on Vimy
21:40will end
21:41in a massacre.
21:43The big thing
21:44that Bing did
21:45was the artillery
21:46preparation.
21:47It was fantastic.
21:48So when the troops
21:50went over
21:50most of the German positions
21:51were smashed.
21:53This had not been the case
21:54on the Somme
21:55where the Canadians
21:56had suffered terrible casualties
21:57for almost no gains at all.
21:59And that's one of the primary lessons
22:00that he learned
22:01from the Somme.
22:03The second was
22:04that the men
22:05had to know
22:05where they were going
22:06what trenches
22:07to go after
22:08and how to do it.
22:10In a revolutionary move
22:12maps are distributed
22:14down to platoon
22:15and section level.
22:16Each unit is trained
22:17to act independently.
22:19Accompanying a group
22:20to the chateau
22:21is Canon Frederick Scott.
22:25We had a large model
22:27of Vimy Ridge
22:27which all the officers
22:29and men of the battalions
22:30visited in turn
22:30in order to study
22:32the character of the land
22:33over which they had to charge.
22:37If German artillery
22:38remains in action
22:39the attack will end
22:41in butchery.
22:43Observer balloons
22:43are sent up
22:44pinpointing the guns.
22:46With air photographs
22:50and new maps
22:51Canadian gunners
22:52rush to triangulate
22:53the position
22:54of each German gun
22:54so that by the day
22:56of the assault
22:56each Canadian gun
22:58will have its list
22:59of targets
22:59on Vimy Ridge.
23:04The Canadian attack
23:05will be part
23:06of a bigger offensive
23:07as 350,000 men
23:09of the British Army
23:10prepare to attack
23:11just south of Vimy.
23:13The preparations
23:14are immense.
23:17In front of Vimy
23:17for the Canadian attack
23:18three miles of plank road
23:20are laid,
23:2120 miles of tramway built,
23:2442,500 tons
23:25of ammunition
23:26piled up,
23:281,000 artillery pieces
23:29pulled into the line,
23:31one big gun
23:32every 20 meters
23:33of front,
23:34one field gun
23:35every 10 meters
23:36of front,
23:37and 30,000 Canadians
23:39in the line
23:40concentrated for the attack
23:41on Vimy Ridge.
23:45Convinced that no one
23:46can take the ridge,
23:48the German commander
23:48keeps his reserve troops
23:50far back,
23:5136 hours away.
23:54Julian Bing's orders are
23:56take the ridge
23:57in nine hours.
24:01The attack is planned
24:02for Easter Monday, 1917,
24:05but two weeks earlier,
24:07hundreds of Allied guns
24:08begin pouring
24:09high explosive shells
24:10onto the ridge.
24:12A week later,
24:13twice as many guns
24:14go into action.
24:17The week of suffering
24:19is what the German infantry
24:21call the last week
24:22before Easter.
24:24On Easter Sunday,
24:25Kenan Scott
24:26moves up to the front line.
24:30It was a time
24:31of mingled anxiety
24:32and exhilaration.
24:34What did the next 24 hours
24:36hold in store for us?
24:38Was it to be
24:38a true Easter for the world,
24:40a resurrection
24:40to a new and better life?
24:42If death awaited us,
24:44what nobler passage
24:45could there be to eternity
24:47than such a death
24:48in such a cause?
24:55dawn, April the 9th, 1917,
25:06Easter Monday.
25:08The four Canadian divisions
25:10are poised to attack
25:11Vimy Ridge,
25:12from the 4th division
25:14at the northern steepest end
25:15of the ridge
25:16to the 1st division
25:17at its southern end.
25:18Thousands of Canadian troops
25:24wait anxiously
25:25in the early light.
25:271,000 Canadian guns
25:28sit silent,
25:30waiting for zero hour.
25:32In the eerie silence,
25:34Canon Frederick Scott
25:35rises early.
25:36I climbed the hill
25:39and there on the top
25:40I waited for the attack
25:41to begin.
25:42It was a thrilling moment.
25:45Human lives were at stake.
25:47The honour of our country
25:48was at stake.
25:49The fate of civilisation
25:51was at stake.
25:53I watched the luminous hands
25:54of my watch
25:55get nearer
25:55to the fateful moment,
25:57for the barrage
25:58was to open at 5.30.
26:01At 5.15,
26:03the sky was getting lighter.
26:04The fields,
26:06the roads,
26:07and the hedges
26:07were beginning to show
26:08the difference of colour
26:09in the early light.
26:125.27.
26:13In three minutes,
26:15the reign of death
26:16was to begin.
26:17In the awful silence around,
26:19it seemed as if nature
26:20were holding her breath
26:21in expectation
26:22of the staggering moment.
26:255.28.
26:275.29.
26:30God help our men.
26:325.30.
26:40The tempest of death
26:41swept through the air.
26:43It was a wonderful sound.
26:45The flashes of guns
26:46in all directions
26:46made a dull red light
26:48behind the clouds of smoke,
26:49adding to the grandeur
26:51of the scene.
26:52I knelt on the ground
26:53and prayed to the god of battles,
26:55to guard our noble men
26:57in that awful line
26:58of death and destruction
26:59and to give them victory.
27:05At precisely 5.30,
27:08the 8,000 men
27:09of the first wave
27:10of the Canadian attack
27:11begin the long,
27:13dangerous,
27:13muddy slog forward,
27:15sticking as close as possible
27:17to the creeping barrage,
27:20exploding just yards
27:21ahead of them.
27:22The Germans who have survived
27:28the bombardment
27:29send up flares
27:31signaling for help,
27:32but there is no help.
27:34The German batteries
27:35are silent.
27:36Each Allied gun
27:37has found its targets.
27:41As the Canadian barrage
27:42creeps ahead,
27:44Arthur Curry's 1st Division
27:45attacks across
27:46the southern end
27:47of the ridge.
27:48With their front lines
27:50blown away,
27:50second-line German
27:52machine gunners
27:53manage to open up
27:54a withering fire,
27:56cutting down
27:56up to 5 Canadians
27:57out of 10.
27:59Still,
27:59the 1st Division
28:00pushes quickly forward,
28:02the men tossing grenades
28:03into dugouts,
28:04killing many-dazed Germans
28:06who don't even realize
28:07the attack has begun.
28:12As the 2nd Division
28:13fights its way
28:14towards the ruined town
28:15of Telu,
28:16Donald Fraser
28:17and his machine gun section
28:18head for the division's
28:20most distant objective
28:21to set up their gun
28:22against German counterattacks.
28:25At 9 a.m.,
28:26we were ordered
28:27to get ready to move.
28:29Picking up our respective loads,
28:30we quickly climbed
28:31out of the trench
28:31and into the open.
28:33As whiz-bangs rained down,
28:34we dropped
28:35into a shallow trench.
28:37Within a few hundred yards,
28:38I saw a 5th Brigade man
28:40struck in the head
28:40by a piece of shrapnel,
28:42which knocked his brains out.
28:44They were lying
28:44two feet away
28:45and resembled
28:46the rose of a fish.
28:52We're walking
28:52across the fields
28:53captured by the 2nd Division
28:54early in the morning
28:56on April 9, 1917.
28:58They moved so quickly
28:59into the village
29:00over here at Telu
29:01that they actually captured
29:02a German mess
29:04full with the waders
29:05and their white outfits
29:05and the whole thing.
29:07But the whole division
29:07moved across these fields
29:09very, very quickly,
29:10and it was a tremendously
29:12successful action.
29:16We got on the move again
29:17and made for a sunken trail
29:19to the north of Telu.
29:20Looking around,
29:21I noted that Telu
29:22was a village no longer,
29:24just a mere shell.
29:26Coming into the village,
29:27I ran into a German
29:28machine gunner face to face.
29:30He was a tall man
29:31with an overcoat on
29:32and his sleeve
29:32he had a machine gun badge,
29:34mostly a silver thread
29:35and very pretty.
29:37He was very pale
29:38and blood was trickling
29:39down my cheek.
29:40This cemetery was made
29:47right after the battle
29:48and then after the war
29:49they brought in
29:50a handful of graves.
29:51But it contains
29:52a large number
29:53of second division men
29:54that were killed
29:55in these fields.
29:59It's one of the most
30:00rarely visited cemeteries.
30:02It's quite pretty
30:03but no one comes here.
30:10You can see both sides
30:17of the line from here.
30:18You can see over here
30:19Telu village
30:20which was captured
30:22by the 31st battalion
30:23from Alberta,
30:25Private Fraser's old unit.
30:27And this behind us
30:28must be the north part
30:29of the ridge
30:30and you can imagine
30:31the Canadian troops
30:32streaming right across here.
30:38This is 19th from Toronto.
30:42W Thomas killed in action
30:449th of April 1917
30:45age 22.
30:48Forever with the Lord
30:49which is far best.
30:50This one
30:53Russell Tremere
30:56just says asleep.
30:59He was 24.
31:13We'll just check
31:14the visitor's book.
31:20Starts in 1979 here
31:22and it's probably
31:25about a third full.
31:27So probably 200 people
31:29in 20 years.
31:31This makes it
31:32an even more lonely place.
31:42Attacking the center
31:43of the ridge
31:44the 3rd division
31:46heads towards
31:46La Folie Wood
31:47but from shell holes
31:49and shattered trenches
31:50German snipers
31:52and machine gunners
31:53take a heavy toll.
31:55Particularly
31:56on Agar Adamson's
31:58Princess Pats.
32:01My dear Mabel
32:02we took all our objectives
32:04pushing off at 5.30am
32:05in a rainstorm.
32:07Sladen killed.
32:0810 officer casualties
32:09including 3 killed.
32:11Pearson shot
32:12through lung and spine.
32:13I think we can hang on.
32:15Ever thine,
32:16Agar.
32:19We're in La Folie Forest
32:24and this is where
32:25the 3rd division
32:26particularly the Canadian
32:27Mounted Rifles
32:28came through
32:28on April 9th, 1917.
32:30You can see all the shell holes,
32:33trenches,
32:34a lot overgrown.
32:37This is part of a concrete
32:45reinforcement of some form.
32:48Besides the bolt on the end.
32:52The Germans would have really
32:53made heavy defenses here.
32:54A lot of concrete
32:55that would be built
32:57right into their trenches.
33:01This is a big shell hole
33:03from 1917.
33:06And it seems to be connected
33:08to an even larger one
33:09over here.
33:12This looks like a basement
33:14of a building
33:15that's collapsed.
33:16There was probably
33:17a German dugout underneath
33:18and over the years
33:19it's subsided
33:20and the whole thing
33:21has collapsed
33:21into this big hole.
33:22This is a piece of a
33:30or a piece of a fuse
33:31off an 18-pounder shell.
33:35So that could have helped
33:37with this big hole.
33:38Certainly wouldn't have made it.
33:39A hole of this side
33:40would be made by a naval gun
33:42if it was just one shell
33:43that made it.
33:44But you can imagine
33:45the artillery bombardment
33:46that destroyed the German positions
33:48before the attack.
33:49It was a very successful action
33:54but there were a lot
33:56of casualties
33:57and at nightfall
33:58that's when the stretcher bearers
34:00would come in
34:00to take care of the wounded.
34:04There'd be hundreds of them
34:06scattered all over
34:06the battlefield.
34:09One of those stretcher bearers
34:10was my grandfather.
34:12He was with the 8th Canadian
34:13Field Ambulance
34:13and his memories of Vimy
34:15were very vivid
34:16and it was a sense of pride
34:18with him to have been here.
34:19on this famous day.
34:24As the stretcher bearers
34:26carry off thousands of wounded
34:27most of Vimy Ridge
34:29is already in Canadian hands.
34:31The 1st, 2nd and 3rd
34:32Canadian Divisions
34:33have taken their objectives
34:34but the attack
34:35by the 4th Division
34:36has floundered
34:38in a welter of blood.
34:39and still holding the two highest
34:47and most fortified points
34:48on the ridge
34:48Hill 145
34:50and a plateau
34:51called the Pimple
34:51the Germans can threaten
34:53the whole Canadian advance.
34:56A German officer looks down
34:57on the dying
34:58of the 4th Division.
34:59In the entanglements
35:02of the German line
35:03where the corpses
35:04lie in khaki heaps
35:05the Canadian attack
35:06against us
35:07peters out
35:08in blood.
35:15Late afternoon
35:16April the 9th
35:181917
35:18the Canadian Corps
35:20have seized
35:21most of Vimy Ridge
35:22but the highest crest
35:24of the ridge
35:24Hill 145
35:26and an old
35:27called the Pimple
35:28are still in German hands.
35:32Just before dusk
35:33the Canadians
35:34finally drive the Germans
35:35from the crest
35:36of Hill 145
35:37but the enemy
35:38fights back
35:39desperately
35:40hanging onto
35:41the hill's
35:41eastern slope.
35:42The next morning
35:44the Canadians
35:45throw in fresh troops
35:46among them
35:47is a survivor
35:48of the Somme
35:4921-year-old
35:50Victor Wheeler.
35:54As soon as
35:55the softening up
35:55barrage
35:56had done its work
35:57and lifted forward
35:58we were ready
35:59to stalk
35:59our own pacing barrage
36:00and advance
36:01over the hill.
36:03The first chap
36:04struck down
36:04was Sergeant
36:05Harry S. Diller
36:06he was severely
36:07wounded by shrapnel.
36:09We sprang forward
36:10into action
36:11and in extended
36:12formation
36:13advanced towards
36:14the summit
36:14of the hill.
36:16Down went
36:17a dozen
36:18of Canada's
36:18finest chaps
36:19in the first
36:2060 seconds.
36:22The distance
36:23between me
36:23and the next man
36:24as we lurched forward
36:25grew wider
36:26and wider
36:26every minute
36:27and left me
36:28with the sunken
36:29feeling of facing
36:30Heine and his
36:30guns alone.
36:32When the Buck
36:32Private is really
36:33thrown on his own
36:34whether he will
36:35gain his objective
36:36and survive
36:37will be the best
36:37test of his courage.
36:39Perhaps for the
36:40first time in his life
36:41he finds himself
36:42staring alone
36:43into the face
36:43of the Almighty
36:44a breath of blackness
36:46blows on his
36:47innermost soul.
36:52We're on the
36:53highest end
36:55of Vimy Ridge
36:56the only area
36:57that was uncaptured
36:58on the 9th
36:59and the 10th
37:00of April
37:00and was an area
37:01known as the Pimple.
37:03All that remains
37:04here today
37:05of that fighting
37:06is this beautiful
37:08little cemetery
37:08called
37:09Gavinci-en-Goel
37:10Canadian Cemetery
37:11and it's one
37:13of the nicest
37:13and most remote
37:15historically anyway
37:17cemeteries
37:18on the western front.
37:20You can hear
37:21the cars speeding
37:22by on their way
37:22to Paris
37:23and no one has
37:24any time
37:25for these
37:25sacrifices here.
37:30It's a beautiful
37:30little cemetery
37:31it was made
37:32in the rabbit
37:33warren of trenches
37:34that were
37:36all throughout
37:37this part
37:38of the ridge.
37:39It was just
37:39totally an impossible
37:40place.
37:41Shell holes,
37:42old trenches,
37:43barbed wire
37:43and these men
37:44were all killed
37:45fighting their way
37:46along the trenches
37:46towards Vimy Ridge
37:47Hill 145.
37:50You can see
37:50the nature
37:51of the graves
37:52they're all
37:52packed together
37:53there's often
37:54two or three names
37:54to a headstone
37:55that's a trench burial.
37:56officer of the
38:0178th battalion
38:02which is
38:03Winnipeg Grenadiers
38:04Major W.T. Hooper
38:069th of April
38:071917
38:08age 38
38:09tell England
38:10that we died
38:11for her
38:11and here we
38:13rest content.
38:15Unknown corporal
38:16of the Seaforth
38:16is buried
38:17in the same area.
38:26Private C.W. McClure
38:3072nd Seaforth
38:31Highlanders
38:32Canadian Infantry
38:339th of April
38:341917
38:35age 34
38:36not forgotten.
38:50We had fought
38:51our way
38:51to the crest
38:52of the ridge
38:52and now the Germans
38:54fought like animals
38:55at bay
38:55to drive us
38:56back up
38:56the eastern slope.
38:58I asked myself
38:59will we have
39:00enough men left
39:00to take and hold
39:01our objective?
39:03At that very moment
39:04Private John George
39:05Patterson
39:06leaping ahead
39:07like a Madden Jaguar
39:08bombed
39:08and then bayoneted
39:10all the men
39:10of a German
39:11machine gun crew
39:12that was hindering
39:12our progress
39:13and came through
39:14without a scratch.
39:17His fearless act
39:18enormously encouraged
39:19us to continue
39:19toward our final
39:20objective.
39:22For his valor
39:22King George V
39:24awarded Private Patterson
39:25the Empire's
39:26rarest
39:26and most coveted
39:27honor
39:27the Victoria Cross.
39:30As we plunged forward
39:31with the Dewey plane
39:32clearly in view
39:33we now smelled victory.
39:36Corporal Victor Wheeler.
39:39On the evening of April 9th
39:40the Canadians were in control
39:42of Hill 145
39:43but the Germans
39:44were still clinging
39:44to the ridge.
39:45So the next day
39:46on April 10th
39:48the 50th Battalion
39:49with Victor Wheeler
39:50and other men
39:51from British Columbia
39:52and Manitoba
39:53pushed the Germans
39:54right off the ridge
39:56and this is the view
39:57that they had.
39:59This is the Dewey plane.
40:01You can see the
40:02city of Lenz
40:04you can see the slag heaps
40:06and this beautiful
40:09lush green territory
40:10now the Canadians
40:12were the ones
40:12that were in control.
40:13They had one more attack
40:16to make
40:16to secure the entire ridge
40:18and that was going to be
40:19at the Pimple.
40:21It would take place
40:22two days later.
40:25We went forward
40:26with chronometer accuracy
40:28virtually touching
40:29the steel edge
40:30of the beautiful
40:30creeping barrage
40:31always a few feet
40:32ahead of us.
40:33The whipping
40:34cutting sound
40:35of hard steel fury
40:36was music to our ears
40:38and the sight
40:39of the German dugouts
40:40parapets
40:40and machine gun
40:41emplacements
40:42exploding skyward
40:43was a pleasure.
40:45More like enraged
40:45avengers
40:46than well-disciplined
40:47Canadian volunteer soldiers
40:48we mills bombed
40:50shot dead
40:50bayoneted
40:51grappled
40:51and rifle butted
40:52the enemy
40:53and within an hour
40:54we had succeeded
40:55in capturing the Pimple
40:56Corporal Victor Wheeler.
41:02The Pimple was a position
41:03that ran from that wood
41:04which is called
41:05Gevinci Wood
41:06across that big mound
41:08and it's from these points
41:10that about 2,000 men
41:11from Western Canada
41:12charged across
41:13no man's land
41:15in a blinding snowstorm
41:16and drove out the Germans
41:18from the Pimple.
41:19They fought in the
41:20Boa de Gevinci
41:21and into Gevinci village
41:22and by the end of the night
41:24the Battle of Vimy Ridge
41:25was over.
41:38when they captured Vimy Ridge
41:48the Canadians took thousands
41:50of German prisoners
41:51many dazed
41:52many only too happy
41:54to be alive.
41:58As he had hoped
41:59in a few short months
42:01Sir Julian Bing
42:02had transformed
42:02the four shattered
42:03Canadian divisions
42:04into an elite
42:05and aggressive
42:06Canadian Corps
42:07and had led them
42:08to a great victory.
42:10Now it was no longer
42:12the German army
42:13that dominated
42:13the great wealth
42:14of the French coal fields
42:15of the Douai Plain
42:16it was the Canadian Corps.
42:18We were now near
42:23the crest of the ridge
42:24a perfect panorama
42:25unfolded before our eyes
42:26the wide Douai Plain
42:28stretched to the horizon.
42:30The attack
42:30which we had looked forward to
42:32and prepared for
42:33for so long
42:33had been successful.
42:35The important strategic point
42:37which guarded
42:37the rich coal fields
42:38of northern France
42:39was in our possession.
42:42Dear Maple
42:42our observation
42:43over Vimy Ridge
42:44is magnificent.
42:46The Germans
42:46are falling back
42:47across the plain.
42:48News of the Canadian Corps'
42:51spectacular capture
42:53of Vimy Ridge
42:53resounds around the world
42:55echoing in headlines
42:57from Paris to Tokyo.
42:59The victory at Vimy Ridge
43:01was so stunning
43:02and so complete
43:03but historians often claim
43:05that it was on Vimy Ridge
43:06that Canada as a nation
43:08truly came of age.
43:11But for the men
43:12who dodged the bullets
43:13and slogged through the mud
43:14of the shell-shattered
43:15patch of France
43:16the cost of victory
43:18was not small
43:1821,000 Canadians fell
43:21dead, wounded and missing.
43:24On Easter Monday alone
43:25in a few hours
43:263,000 young Canadians died
43:28here
43:29on this land
43:31where the scars
43:34can still be seen
43:35on Vimy Ridge.
43:37Vimy is Canada's
43:54national memorial.
43:56It commemorates
43:58the sacrifice
43:58of the Canadians
43:59over 600,000
44:01who served in the war
44:02and specifically
44:03those who died.
44:06The inscription here reads
44:08To the valour
44:11of their countrymen
44:12in the Great War
44:13and in memory
44:14of their 60,000 dead
44:15this monument
44:16is raised
44:17by the people of Canada.
44:22The names on this monument
44:24are men
44:24who are missing in France
44:25and who died
44:26in the battles
44:27of the Somme,
44:28Festiber,
44:29Gevinci,
44:30Hill 70,
44:31Vimy,
44:32and in the 100 Days.
44:33Each name has a story
44:35and it's that story
44:38which draws people
44:39into the history
44:39of this period.
44:41Every man here
44:43has one.
44:43The sight of our
44:48decimated ranks
44:49after the capture
44:50of Hill 145
44:51almost tore the hearts
44:53out of us
44:53as we who were
44:55still standing
44:55looked around
44:56for our buddies
44:57and brothers
44:57and saw them not.
45:00Runner Bob Forrest
45:01spoke with tears
45:02in his eyes
45:03and said,
45:04I was the only one
45:04of 18 to come out alive.
45:07I knew we would not
45:08be back
45:08across the ridge again.
45:10So I stopped a minute
45:11and took my steel helmet
45:13off in remembrance.
45:18This statue
45:19is the soul
45:20of the monument.
45:21This is the spirit
45:22of Canada
45:22weeping for fallen sons
45:24and it's the centerpiece
45:26of the whole,
45:27the heart of the monument
45:28really.
45:29It's a beautiful statue
45:30by Walter Allward
45:31of Toronto.
45:37This monument
45:38is just the most
45:39moving tribute
45:41to Canadian sacrifice.
45:42and as a Canadian
45:43I'm instilled with pride
45:45when I come here.
45:47This is just
45:47the most magnificent
45:48monument I've ever seen
45:51to every detail
45:53and the fact
45:54that it's Canadian
45:55just moves me
45:56incredibly.
45:56and as a man
45:59and as a woman
45:59Eine
46:15I'll pray
46:16or
46:17her
46:18I
46:19am
46:19I
46:20am
46:21I
46:21am
46:22I