Vimy ridge memorial

We were off bright and early this morning to the Vimy Ridge memorial in the north of France near Arras.

We stopped at numerous cemeteries with row upon row of fallen soldiers. 

This was the actual gravesite that during the year 2000, the body of an unknown soldier was exhumed and transported to Ottawa to be commemorated in "The Tomb of the Unkown Soldier".

The bumpy terrain was caused by the trenches as well as artillery shelling, still evident 100 years later.

We saw the Great War memorial. You could look out on the fields around the ridge and understand why capturing this strategic location was important. For those of you, who like me, high school history lclass was a long time ago, the capture of Vimy Ridge was done by all Canadians. It was the first time in history that all four Canadian divisions work together...and it was successful! April 9, 1917

We got a tour of the recreated trench system-both the allied forces and the Enemy trenches. In this location, the trenches were a mere 30 m apart, not normally this close!

The tunnels were dug by welsh miners to transport men, supplies and, ammunition so that on the day of the attack, many soldiers could arrive at the front as a surprise. In this area, there were 13 km worth of tunnels, just for this battle! 15 to 20,000 Canadian soldiers participated in the battle of Vimy Ridge. 10,000 soldiers were killed or wounded in the four days of the victorious battle.

We did see poppies blooming along the road.