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Home , Battle of Vimy Ridge, Vimy, Walter Seymour Allward

canadian national memorial

Designed by Canadian sculptor and 11,285 who died in architect , Front of Monument 1 6 and whose final resting this majestic monument took 11 place was then unknown. Standing years to build. It rests on a bed of 1. Faith 2 7 6. Honour on the monument’s wide stone 2. Hope 7. Charity 11,000 tonnes of concrete, reinforced 3. The Torch Bearer 8. Figure of terrace overlooking the broad with hundreds of tonnes of steel. 4. Sacrifice 9. The Tomb fields and rolling hills of Northern 5. Breaking of the Sword 10. Sympathy of Canadians France, one can see other places The towering pylons and sculptured for the Helpless where Canadians fought and figures contain almost 6,000 tonnes 3 8 died during the war. More than of limestone brought to the site from 7,000 of these fallen heroes are an abandoned Roman quarry on the 4 9 buried in 30 war cemeteries Adriatic Sea (in present day ). within a 20-kilometre radius of the VIMY 5 10 Canadian National Vimy Memorial. The figures were carved where More than 66,000 Canadians gave they now stand. A cloaked figure their lives during the First World (8), made from a single, 30-tonne War. block of stone, stands at the front Self guided tour map of the monument overlooking the The twin white pylons, one bearing Douai Plain. This sorrowful figure the maple leaves of Canada, of a woman represents Canada—a the other the fleurs-de-lys of young nation mourning her dead. 11 14 France, symbolize the sacrifices of both countries. At the top are Below is a tomb (9), draped in laurel Rear of Monument figures representing Peace (11) 12 15 branches and bearing a helmet and and Justice (14); below them on sword. On each side of the front 11. Peace 14. Justice the back of the pylons are the 12. Knowledge 15. Truth walls at the base of the steps are 13. The Female Mourner 16. The Male Mourner figures representing Truth (15) and the Defenders – two groupings Knowledge (12). Around these of figures known as the Breaking figures are shields of Canada, of the Sword (5) and Sympathy of Britain and France. At the base of Canadians for the Helpless (10). the pylons is a young dying soldier, Above each grouping is a cannon 13 16 the Spirit of Sacrifice (4), and the draped in laurel and olive branches. Torch Bearer (3). On each side of the staircase are the male (16) and Carved on the walls of the female (13) Mourner figures. monument are the names of some 1. Visitor Centre “You Are Here” Grazing Sheep 1 Visitors Centre The Visitor Centre at the Canadian National Much of the 100-hectare (250-acre) Canadian National Vimy Memorial is off-limits to visitors to 2 Subway/Restored Trenches Vimy Memorial was officially unveiled ensure public safety. The site’s rough terrain and large wooded areas, combined with the many 3 No Man’s Land on November 9, 1997. The centre offers unearthed and unexploded munitions that still litter the former battlefield, make the task of 4 “Gift from France” Plaque information about events at Vimy Ridge grass mowing impractical – and far too dangerous – for people to do. Instead, a herd of sheep 5 Craters during the First World War and the part grazes on the site to help keep the grass trimmed. 6 Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery played by the in GATE 7 Canadian Cemetery No.2 recapturing this important high ground in the that was fought 8 Moroccan Division Memorial 9 Front Lines Map Plaque -12,1917. To VIMY & THELUS 10 VIMY Monument BEECH There are maps, presentation boards, 10 AVENUE P Parking lots photographs, military exhibits and 9 PW Public washrooms personal artifacts on display. There AO Administrative office is also a film showing documentary PW footage. Postcards, books and pamphlets related to the Battle of Vimy lost their lives in the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the Canadian National Vimy RUE CANADIENNE Ridge. This cemetery was established Memorial are available at the reception 3 AO by the Canadian Corps after the desk. 2 fighting at Vimy Ridge. The majority 2. Tunnels and restored P PW PW of the fallen were reinterred here in 5 4 the years following the end of the Trenches YOU ARE 1 war from surrounding battlefields The First World War’s Western Front had an P HERE and isolated gravesites nearby. extensive system of trenches, underground To BROADMARSHCRATER 8 Twenty-nine Canadian soldiers who tunnels and dugouts. In preparation for the GIVENCHY had been buried in the 11th Canadian Battle of Vimy Ridge, five British tunneling 25 metres (27.3 yards) Infantry Cemetery and the Canadian companies excavated 14 “subways” in apart. What is visible cemetery near Gunner’s Crater, but whose the Canadian Corps’ sector, the longest today represents only graves are now lost, are commemorated of which was more than 1,700 metres To a small portion of the here by special memorial headstones (1,880 yards) in length. These special network of trench lines inscribed with the quotation, “Their Glory tunnels connected the Allied reserve lines NEUVILLE ST VAAST that originally ran the entire shall not be blotted out.” to the front lines and permitted soldiers seven-kilometre length of the to advance to the front quickly and Canadian sector at Vimy. 8. Moroccan Division unobserved by the enemy. The subways’ during the First World War. Craters could Memorial main passages typically measured about 3. No Man’s Land 6 offer some cover from enemy fire during The Moroccan Division Memorial was two metres high and one meter wide, and P For most of the First World War, the an attack and larger ones were sometimes erected between 1919 and 1925. The were dug seven to ten metres (7.7 to 11 Western Front was a stalemate of given identifying names with a taste of monument commemorates the brave yards) below the surface for protection trench fighting. Soldiers faced the home. The Montréal Crater at Vimy Ridge, for soldiers of the French Army’s Moroccan from heavy artillery fire. These large P enemy across a narrow strip of example, was named for the 13th Battalion Division who lost their lives during a fierce underground networks incorporated light land that ran between the opposing 7 (Royal Highlanders of Canada) which had assault here in May 1915. Members of the rail lines, dressing stations, command lines – a harsh “No Man’s Land” of mud, originated in that city. division fought their way to the top of Vimy posts, water reservoirs, ammunition stores, barbed wire and shell craters that was Ridge but, in the face of determined German mortar and machine gun posts, and swept by deadly rifle, machine gun and 6. Givenchy Road Canadian counter-attacks, they were unable to hold communication centres. A portion of the artillery fire. This is what soldiers had to Cemetery the gains that they had made and were Grange Subway, originally some 1,230 cross when they went “over the top” of the National Vimy Memorial possible. In 1922, This cemetery, originally known as CD 1, forced to withdraw with heavy losses. metres (1,340 yards) in length, is now open trenches and launched an attack. Sadly, the use of the land for the battlefield park was contains the graves of soldiers who lost to the public. dead and wounded who fell in No Man’s granted to the people of Canada for all time their lives April 9-13, 1917. More than 100 9. Front Lines Map Plaque Land often could not be recovered as it by the grateful French nation. Canadians who fought and died in the Battle This large plaque features a map of the front The trenches that can be seen at Vimy was too dangerous. of Vimy Ridge are buried here. lines at Vimy Ridge prior to the attack on were reconstructed between 1925 5. Craters April 9, 1917, as well as the positions of the and 1927. They are located in the same o 4. ‘Gift from France’ Plaque The many craters the visitor sees today 7. Canadian Cemetery N . 2 major Allied and German units there. positions as the original Canadian and This cairn and plaque commemorates at Vimy Ridge were created by the heavy There are nearly 3,000 First World War German outpost lines of 1917. At some the generosity of the people of France in artillery fire and powerful underground mine soldiers commemorated at this cemetery, 10. VIMY Monument points, the opposing trenches were only helping make the creation of the Canadian explosions that blasted the landscape there including more than 370 Canadians who See reverse side for discription.