Day Twelve: 12 November 2010, Part One

Before I begin: a thousand apologies for the gap in blogging.  The Christmas-New Year holidays were a bit wearying, and I just wanted to procrastinate.   But I am back now, to resume my travels in Belgium and France....

The rain that fell on 11 November finally stopped this morning, but it was windy and cold and still overcast.   After another awesome breakfast at Erna's B&B, I decided to walk to Steve Douglas' bookshop in Ypres; I was going on a First World War battlefields tour with him.   The walk took around 20 minutes--and this time, I kept my eye out for local landmarks, in case I had to walk back to Erna's that evening.  I arrived at the shop just in time: Steve was just ushering into his van the only other tour group member: a delightful young Canadian woman named Kate.   When he saw me, he motioned 'hurry up!', so I clambered into the van, and introduced myself to Kate as Steve slammed the door behind me.

Kate was in her early 20s, I imagined; she was from Victoria, British Columbia, and was working as an au pair in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, for an American couple's three children.   She had decided, however, to return to Canada for Christmas.   We were on our way to France, to visit the Vimy Ridge battlefield: Kate said she'd learned about the battle in school, but her brother back in Canada was much more knowledgeable about it than she.

So--off we went: Kate and I were the only people on this tour with Steve.   Which was rather nice, I thought; then Steve could take time to explain the various sights to us in detail.   And we were in for a great day.

On the drive to our first stop, Steve gave us a little background of what was happening in the Ypres vicinity during the First World War.   He would point here and there, to indicate where the Allied and German forces were situated on the ground.   The terrain was generally flat, but there were small hills here and there--and those hills and ridges were bitterly fought over between 1914 and 1918 by both sides.   There was a decisive British victory won in this area in October 1917: the Battle of Messines.

Our first stop was in the village of Wijtschate, and the Church of Sint-Niklaas (St Nicholas).

Inside, we found a lovely little Catholic church (photo left).   Steve took us down into the church crypt, and told us a bit about its First World War history: it was used as a German field hospital.   And one of the wounded soldiers being treated there was none other than....Adolf Hitler!   Hitler was a young corporal during the war, and was primarily a messenger between units in the trenches.   By all accounts, he was a brave one, too.   He was even cited for saving the life of one of his commanding officers, who happened to be Jewish!!

In the rear of the crypt, there was a war memorial, with both a Catholic crucifix, and what looked like a Jewish menorah, or seven-branched candleabra (photo right).   It wasn't difficult to close one's eyes and imagine what it was like in here during the war: wounded and dying men; the stench of blood and death; the cries of the wounded.  And the overwhelmed medical staff, dealing with all of the chaos.

There was also a medieval tomb in this crypt as well: (photo left) Steve told us it was the final resting place of William the Conqueror's mother-in-law: one Adela of France, Countess of Flanders.   Her daughter Matilda was William the Conqueror's wife.   According to what I've found on Wikipedia, Adela became a nun after the death of her husband, Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, and was instrumental in establishing various Catholic colleges (as in 'communities', not educational insitutions) in the region.   She died in September of 1079.   How she ended up in this relatively tiny village church is a mystery!

Unfortunately, it's an empty grave today.   Steve thinks the Germans removed Adela's bones and took them back to Germany, where they might still be today.   And where that might be, no one knows.

Poor Adela: she can't Rest In Peace, after over 900 years.....her son-in-law The Conqueror can't be too pleased about that!

The church, like most every building standing in this part of West Flanders, was destroyed during the First World War.  But you'd never know by looking at it today.

We left the church, and made a brief stop in the nearby village of Ploegsteert.  During the First World War, British soldiers called it "Plug Street"!   We stopped in front of the Town Hall, where there was a plaque on the wall dedicated to Winston Churchill (photo left).   From 1914 to 1915, Churchill was First Lord of the British Admiralty.   But in 1915, Churchill was forced to resign his post, because of the failure of the Dardanelles, or Gallipoli, campaign in Turkey (which was aimed at knocking Turkey out of the war on the German side), and he became a front-line officer in the British Army, stationed near Ploegsteert.

The plaque had been unveiled by his late grandson and namesake, Winston S. Churchill MP, and also shows a portrait of his grandfather.   Steve told Kate and me that he once led a battlefields tour for Churchill's great-grandson Randolph!

Leaving Ploegsteert, we drove over a small ridge, to the town of Messines, site of a First World War British victory--and where several huge mines were set off, as the battle began.   We passed one roadside farmhouse, and Steve told us there was a huge unexploded mine buried beneath this very house!   God forbid the owners decide to dig under it anytime: the explosion could be catastrophic!

Very soon, we got on a busy expressway, leaving Belgium behind and entering France.   The surrounding landscape was still pretty flat--but the villages all looked the same: red pointed roofs on the houses, and a church with a tall steeple in the center.   Traffic was busy, but it moved fairly steadily, as we headed toward the city of Lens.

Soon, we noticed a wooded hill looming ahead, with two 'towers' just above the treeline.  This was Vimy Ridge, and the 'towers' were the Canadian National Vimy Memorial (to give it its formal name), marking the site of Canada's great victory at Vimy Ridge, in April 1917, in the First World War.

We turned onto a narrow road, to enter the Park.   There were wooded areas on both sides of the road.  But we also noticed grassed-over mounds of various sizes: these were made by artillery shells (photo left) fired in the runup to the battle itself.   These woods were marked-off with warning signs: there is still a lot of unexploded shells and other ordinance buried in the ground, and the Park staff doesn't want souvenir-hunters going beyond the ropes and blowing themselves up!

Kate and I both noticed how neatly trimmed the grass around the shell craters was.  Well, Steve told us the reason for that: one, the Park staff use specialized lawn-mowers that don't press down heavily on the ground.  And two: they also employ SHEEP (photo right)!   Vimy Ridge has its own shepherd on staff to care for the sheep--and nary a sheep has been lost to a shell or mine.

Steve told us a very funny story about Vimy Ridge's sheep: when the Memorial was being restored and refurbished beginning in 2001, the annual Remembrance service in April was moved to the small Givenchy Road Canadian Cemetery in the Park.   As the service started, the attendees heard the sound of hoofbeats: the whole sheep herd came over to see what was going on!   As the service progressed, the sheep got bored and wandered off.   But as it ended, the sheep galloped back in force to gawk!

Soon, we approached the parking lot near the Memorial.   The three of us climbed out, and Kate (photo left)  and I asked Steve to take our photos, .   It was definitely windy and cold at Vimy Ridge; the wind blew right in our faces.   Good thing I had my heavier red sweater on, and I brought my hat and gloves.   I'd need them up on the ridge summit itself!

A little background about the site is in order here.  Vimy Ridge was in German hands starting in October 1914, and there were several French attempts to retake it in 1915 and 1916, but with little to no success.  The ridge itself overlooks the Plains of Douai, and rises here to 200 feet: you can see the whole plain stretched out in front of you, as we were to see for ourselves (see right photo).

In February 1916, the British XVII Corps took over the sector from the French.   They were based at the foot of the ridge, and the Germans attacked them in May 1916, attempting to force the British from their position.  They captured several British-built tunnels and mine craters, before deciding to stop and entrench their position.   In October 1916, the Canadian Corps relieved the British IV Corps stationed along Vimy Ridge's western slopes.   It was also the first time in the war that the entire Canadian Corps fought together in the same battle.

On 9 April 1917, Easter Monday, the Canadian Corps under British General Sir Julian Byng (supported by the British 5th Infantry Division, the 24th British Division to the north, and the British XVII Corps to the south) began its attack.   Three out of the four Divisions achieved their objectives easily, but the 4th Division had much more difficulty; the Third Division had to come to their assistance, holding up the overall advance.   By nightfall on the first day, the Canadians achieved their initial objectives.   On 10 April, Byng brought in fresh Canadian reserves to renew the advance.  These fresh units leapfrogged Canadians already in place, and captured their third objective line, including Hill 135 and the town of Thelus.  By 2 pm, the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions reported capturing their final objectives.

 By now, a heavily-defended knoll known as "The Pimple" was the only remaining major objective.   On 12 April, the 10th Canadian Division attacked "The Pimple", and overcame the German defenders.   By nightfall, Vimy Ridge was firmly in Canadian hands.

The Canadians had achieved what the French and British could not do: capture Vimy Ridge.   Since then, Vimy Ridge has become a symbol of Canada coming of age as a nation, separate from Great Britain.   But it also came at a great cost: almost 3600 Canadian soldiers were killed, and just over 7000 were wounded.

After the war, General Byng was appointed Governor-General of Canada (the viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch--in this case, King George V) in 1921 by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George.   Byng traveled the length and breadth of Canada, meeting Canadian citizens.   He also immersed himself in Canadian culture, and was especially fond of Canada's national sport, ice hockey.   He and his wife, Evelyn, never missed an Ottawa Senators game.  

Ironically enough, Lady Byng donated the trophy that bears her name--the Lady Byng Trophy--to the National Hockey League in 1925, which is given to the player who exhibits 'gentlemanly play and good sportsmanship.'

In 1920, the Canadian Government announced that the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) had awarded Canada eight sites--five in France, and three in Belgium--on which to build war memorials.  In September 1920, the Canadian Battlefields Memorial Commission was formed, and it opened a competition for Canadian architects and designers to build appropriate memorials.  In 1921, Toronto sculptor Walter Seymour Allward's design was the one chosen.  When Vimy Ridge was chosen as the site to place Allward's design, the Canadian Government started to negotiate with France, to obtain more battlefield land, and ended up with 250 acres at Vimy Ridge; in turn, the French stipulated that it be used to create a memorial and battlefield park.   

Construction on the Memorial (photo left) began in 1925, and took eleven years to complete.   It was dedicated on 28 July 1926 by King Edward VIII, in his capacity as King of Canada.   It was also one of the few official duties he performed before his abdication later that year.  Over 50,000 Canadian, British and French war veterans and their families attended the ceremony, which was also attended by senior Canadian, British and European leaders, including French President Albert Lebrun.

On our walk from the parking lot to the Memorial, Steve gave us a little background on the Memorial itself: it is faced with limestone taken from an old Roman quarry in what's now Croatia.   The two 'pylons' represent Canada and France, and have maple leafs and fleur-de-lys sculptures, respectively, on them.   There are also several massive human-figure sculptures in place as well.   The base of the Memorial is inscribed with the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers killed in France, who have no known grave.

There are a number of representative human figures on the Vimy Memorial.   The two photos immediately below are the Mourning Parents, representing the mothers and fathers of the Canadian soldiers who died in the First World War.   Their possible inspiration is that of the four Michelangelo statues on the Medici Tomb in Florence, Italy.

The sculpture Sympathy of Canadians for the Helpless depicts (photo below)  a man standing above three bowed figures representing famine, disease and oppression.   It symbolizes Canada's defense of civilians affected personally by war and oppression.

The Spirit of Sacrifice (photo left) depicts a dying soldier in a crucifixion-like pose, holding a torch aloft to a comrade standing above and behind him.  It's a veiled reference to a portion of the poem In Flanders Fields, written by Canadian Army doctor John McCrae, which says:

"To you from failing hands we throw

the torch; be yours to hold it high".

The Spirit of Sacrifice is such a moving sculpture.   I then asked Steve to take a photo of me standing in front of it:

But to me, the most moving and beautiful sculpture on the Vimy Memorial is known as "Mother Canada". Her formal name is "Canada Bereft".   But to most visitors, she is simply called "Mother Canada".   She is a mourning woman holding what looks like an an olive branch, and she looks mournfully down on a sarcophagus below, which represents Canada's war dead:

In the photo of Mother Canada below, my Canadian friend Steve Douglas patiently waits for Kate and I to finish our walking tour around the Memorial:

The rather stormy-looking photo below is my favorite personal photo of the Vimy Memorial:

We eventually climbed down (and it IS a climb, especially for me!) the steps of the Memorial to the base, to see some of the floral tributes left on Armistice Day.   They were left by the Royal Canadian Legion's Europe branch, the Canadian Space Agency (I honestly didn't know Canada has a Space Agency!) and representatives from Canadian political parties.

Oddly enough, one of the memorial wreaths was left by  Gilles Duceppe , the leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, who wants to take Quebec out of the Canadian Confederation!

I wonder if the 'fallen' maple leaves were purposely left scattered round the Canadian wreaths?

And even stranger, but a wonderful gesture nevertheless--there was a wreath left by the American Battle Monuments Commission, (photo below) which oversees the care of US battle monuments and cemeteries scattered throughout Europe, from both World Wars:

It was very difficult to leave the Vimy Memorial; as you can see, it is a very moving site indeed.  But Steve asked Kate and me if we wanted to go on a "tunnel tour" in the Park: a guided walking tour through one of the restored Canadian-built battlefield tunnels.   We both said "Yes!": however, the tour wouldn't begin until 2 pm--and it was now just short of lunchtime.   So, to use the time well, he took us to visit German and French war cemeteries near the village of Neuville-Saint-Vaast.

And by the looks of it, this post is quite long!  So I will continue with "Day Twelve, Part Two"!