The capture of Vimy was more than just an important battlefield victory. For the first time all four Canadian divisions attacked together: men from all regions of Canada were present at the battle. Brigadier-General A. Vimy became a symbol for the sacrifice of the young Dominion. In , the French government ceded to Canada in perpetuity Vimy Ridge, and the land surrounding it. The gleaming white marble and haunting sculptures of the Vimy Memorial, unveiled in , stand as a terrible and poignant reminder of the 11, Canadian soldiers killed in France who have no known graves.
Buy Tickets. Vimy Ridge was a particularly important tactical feature. Its capture by the Canadians was essential to the advances by the British Third Army to the south and of exceptional importance to checking the German attacks in the area in The Canadians had demonstrated they were one of the outstanding formations on the Western Front and masters of offensive warfare.
Four Victoria Crosses VC were awarded for bravery. Of these, three were earned on the opening day of the battle: Private William Milne of the 16th Battalion. Lance-Sergeant Ellis Sifton of the 18th Battalion. It contains the names of 11, Canadian soldiers - 71 who were from the county and city - who died on French soil during the First World War and have no known graves, said local military historian David Edgerton.
Edgerton said it's important to understand that the memorial honours only the soldiers whose remains were never found. He said the reason this happened was that during the war battle lines were constantly shifting and wounded or dead soldiers would be pulled behind the line to "makeshift cemeteries.
The memorial in France was unveiled in after 11 years of work by Walter Allward. The Toronto born sculptor was originally commissioned to craft the Peterborough Citizens' War Memorial, which stands today next to the Cenotaph in Confederation Square.
Plans changed when the city refused the sculptor's request for an extension in while he worked on the memorial at Vimy. Allward enlisted the help of English sculptor, Gilbert Bayes, to finish the city's memorial based on his original design. NOTE: David Edgerton said he has been working on historical accounts for many years now and asks anyone with military artifacts to contact him at Peterborough will pay tribute to the memory of the Battle of Vimy Ridge Sunday at 2 p.
The ceremony includes an installation of ceramic trillums to honour fallen First World War soldiers from Peterborough and area. Vimy Ridge was the first time the entire Canadian Corps, which was composed of at least 75, to 80, Canadian soldiers across four divisions, fought together. Essentially, the entire Canadian Army that was on the Western Front at that time all went into action together.
With all four divisions in action, the Vimy Ridge saw men from every part of Canada going into battle at the same time. Canada was a young nation that had heavily relied on immigration. At the beginning of the Great War, 70 per cent of the men who served in the Canadian Army were born in Britain and would have probably identified themselves as British first.
Until then the Canadian Corps had been used in a piecemeal fashion, division after division, and the reputation of the Canadian soldier had steadily grown.
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