Canadian National Vimy Memorial
Originally this episode aired April 9th 2017. Prior name of the Podcast was Tea with Puppets.
In episode #19 we talk about the courageous assault on Vimy Ridge by Canadian soldiers on April 9, 1917 and the stamps issued that depict the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
I know it’s hard to imagine now, but the Canadian Parliament didn’t actually have a choice to go to war in 1914. The country’s foreign affairs were guided in London. Now we could certainly spend hours talking about the details of what led to one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century, but we’ll just touch on the basic facts that led to war, as many of you are already probably familiar.
The trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by a Yugoslav nationalist in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a diplomatic crisis in July when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, with a series of ten demands that were made intentionally unacceptable, in an effort to provoke a war with Serbia. This set off triggered all sorts of international alliances that had been formed over the previous decades. One of the most important was the Franco- Russian alliance.
Russia mobilized against Austria Hungary in support of Serbia. France supported Russia. Germany supported Austria. Germany mobilized their army, and went into Belgium. Britain demanded Germany leave Belgium and so…. when Germany did not withdraw its army from Belgium on 4 August 1914, the British Empire, including Canada, was pulled into a war, allied with Serbia, Russia, and France against the German and Austro-Hungarian empires.
When the the hostilities began the enemy’s entrenched themselves in positions and there were hard fought battles and countless lives lost in the process. Let’s also not forget that Military tactics developed before World War I failed to keep up with advances in technology. This is a war that saw barbed wire, machine guns, mustard gas, tanks and more. Commanders on both sides failed to develop tactics that resulted in heavy casualties. Essentially the war on the western front was years of trench warfare in with no major exchanges of territory.
This is a good a time as any to mention, the Americans did not enter the war until 1917. The U.S. wanted to maintain a position of neutrality, but some Americans felt strongly about joining up, and crossed the border to do so.
The official number of U.S. recruits during the war has been pegged at around 35,000, but that number is hard to confirm given the fluid border and the amount of intermarriage there is between Canadians and Americans, especially at the time.
According to some estimates, approximately 3,500 Americans were killed fighting with Commonwealth forces. Many are still buried in Europe, often as Canadians, not as Americans.
In the summer of 1916 the British launched a major offensive against German lines at Somme. The battle lasted five months, killed or wounded approximately 1.2 million men, and produced little gains. It really defines the the futility and the staggering losses of the First World War.
When British soldiers “went over the top” of their trenches tens of thousands of men were mowed down by machine-gun fire, or caught up in barbed wire and then killed as they tried to reach the German lines.
In 1916, Newfoundland was not part of Canada, so they were considered British soldiers. The Canadian forces at the time, were stationed in Belgium near the city of Ypres. They were spared the first few months of fighting on the Somme. However by the end of August, with manpower on the Somme running low, the first three divisions of the Canadian Corps were relocated to the battle to help with the offensive.
The Canadians entered the battle on August 30, taking part in a number of bloody attacks from September through November, supported by the first tanks used in action on the Western Front. The corps captured a series of strategic objectives including Courcelette, Thiepval and Ancre Heights. In November, the 4th Division of the Canadian Corps, then fighting alongside British troops, helped capture the German stronghold of Regina Trench.
Allied losses were estimated at 623,907, of whom more than 24,700 were Canadians and Newfoundlanders. German losses were estimated at 660,000.
The seemingly pointless slaughter on the Somme led to questions and severe criticism of the Allied leadership, but the offensive’s failures also sparked new thinking about tactics. Some of the ideas already being experimented with in the final months of fighting on the Somme would be successfully refined, contributing to the achievements of the corps in 1917 at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.
Now let’s move to the Battle for Vimy. No Allied operation on the Western Front was more thoroughly planned than this deliberate frontal attack on what seemed to be virtually invincible positions.
Vimy Ridge was so well fortified that all previous attempts to capture it had failed. However, Canadian commanders had learned the bitter lessons from the cost of past frontal assaults that had been attempted. To reduce casualties, they would ensure their preparations were elaborate.
The battle of Vimy would also be the first time all four Canadian divisions fought on the same battlefield. They were led by Sir Arthur William Currie, who was the first Canadian-appointed commander of the Canadian Corps. Currie, who himself was under the command of British General Byng, fought to keep the Canadian divisions together rather than having them mixed in with various British units.
So in late autumn of 1916, the Canadians moved north, to relieve British troops opposite the western slopes of Vimy Ridge. They spent winter strengthening defences, carrying out increasingly frequent raids on enemy trenches and gathering intelligence, all in the preparation for the spring offensive. While these raids would see 1,400 Canadian casualties as a result, the knowledge gained helped Canada take Vimy Ridge with a lighter losses.
With all the intel collected a full-scale replica of the battle area was laid out. There were reams of coloured tape and flags, all erected far behind the Canadian lines. This is where the Canadian units prepared and carried out repeated exercises. They rehearsed exactly what they would do throughout the attack so the Canadian troops were fully informed about their objectives and their routes.
To soften up the German defenses before an infantry assault, the allies preceded the attack with a massive artillery barrage. By the time the infantry set out, a million artillery shells had been dropped on the German lines.
One Canadian commented that shells poured over his head onto enemy positions “like water from a hose.” More than 80 per cent of the German guns had been identified by aerial reconnaissance and by other spotting methods which Canadians had perfected. The Germans called the period “the week of suffering.”
Trenches were shattered and a new artillery shell-fuse demolished many barbed-wire entanglements, thereby easing the Canadians’ dangerous path to combat.
This was also a battle heavily impacted by the air war. The support it afforded the victory at Vimy was significant. There were offensive patrols designed to either destroy or discourage the enemy’s reconnaissance aircraft (and balloons) from doing their job and there were defensive patrols were to protect friendly corps machines. With all the pieces in play, the stage was set.
Canadian soldiers in the trenches at Vimy Ridge in 1917 during the First World War.
At 5:30 a.m., April 9, 1917, Easter Monday, a slow artillery barrage began to move steadily toward the Germans. Behind it advanced 20,000 soldiers of the first attacking wave of the four Canadian divisions.
There was some hand-to-hand fighting, but the greatest resistance, and heavy Canadian losses, came from German machine-guns. By midday, and right on schedule, three of the four Canadian divisions captured their part of the Ridge and overcame this resistance.
By April 12th, the Canadians had succeeded and the Germans accepted the loss of Vimy Ridge as permanent. They pulled back more than three kilometres away.
Vimy Ridge marked the only significant success of the Allied spring offensive of 1917. And although the Canadians had won a great tactical victory, they were unable to exploit their success, mainly because their artillery got bogged down in the muddy, shell-torn ground.
Nevertheless, the Canadian achievement in capturing Vimy Ridge was substantial. At Vimy, the Canadian Corps had captured more ground, more prisoners and more guns than any previous British offensive in two-and-a-half years of war. It was one of the most complete and decisive engagements of the Great War and the greatest Allied victory up to that time. The Canadians had demonstrated they were one of the outstanding formations on the Western Front and masters of offensive warfare.
Though the victory at Vimy came swiftly, it did not come without cost. The corps suffered 10,602 casualties: 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded. By the end of war close to 61,000 Canadians were killed during the war, and another 172,000 were wounded.
The Canadian success at Vimy also marked a profound turning-point for the Allies, though. A year-and-a-half later, when the Great War was over Canadian achievements like at Vimy, earned Canada a separate signature on the Versailles Peace Treaty ending the war in 1919.
Even before the war ended, in May 1917, The Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) was established. Their mandate was to ensure the proper burial of the the dead and establish permanent cemeteries. They also tried to determine how to memorialize the dead and missing. In 1918, at an Imperial Conference in London, England approved five general principles. The two relating to memorials stipulated that they should be both public and permanent.
At the end of the war, an IWGC committee awarded Canada eight battle sites — three in France and five in Belgium — on which to construct memorials. In 1920, the newly established Canadian Battlefields Memorial Commission organized a competition for a Canadian memorial to be erected on each site. There would be 160 submissions.
In October 1921, the commission announced the winner: Walter Seymour Allward of Toronto, Ontario, a gifted Canadian architect and sculptor. Who later once said about his design that his inspiration for the monument came to him in a dream.
In the summer of 1922, the Canadian Battlefields Memorial Commission selected Vimy Ridge as the only site for Allward’s winning memorial. It was decided this would be the spot of land where a monument would be built as a tribute to all the Canadians who fought and sacrificed themselves in the Great War.
The other battle sites, with the exception of that at St. Julien (which received the competition’s second-place design) made do with less distinguished monuments.
Vimy Ridge seemed like the obvious choice with it’s impressive location and vantage point. The battle’s military significance to the new nation of Canada certainly contributed to its selection, as well.
Work began on the monument in 1925. Built into the side of the hill at the highest point of the Ridge, the monument rests on a bed of about 15,000 tonnes of concrete, reinforced with hundreds of tonnes of steel. The excavation had to be done with great care as the ground was littered with live bombs and shells. It took more than 2 years just to do that.
The base and twin pylons contain almost 6,000 tonnes of a special type of extremely durable limestone brought to the site from a quarry near Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) where, in 1914, the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife had precipitated the outbreak of the First World War.
Along with the twin pylons are 20 sculptures representing allegorical figures such as Faith, Hope and Canada Bereft, with expressions and poses that signify sorrow and loss.
Allward spent years sculpting them in his studio in London, England. The models Allward created were life-sized plaster models at first, and later doubled in size using an instrument called a pantograph to reproduce the sculptures at the proper scale. Finishing touches were then added by a master carver.
As seen in this aerial picture, statues were protected by temporary studios in which carvers could work.
All the work was carried out inside temporary studios built around each figure, including those at the top of the pylons. The pylons tower 27 metres above the base of the monument. Because of the height of the Ridge, the topmost figure — that of peace — is approximately 110 metres above the Douai Plain to the east.
Eleven years after construction was begun, the monument at a cost of approximately $1.5 million (or roughly $26 million in 2017 Canadian dollars) was completed. A ceremony was held on July 26, 1936, and the monument was officially unveiled by King Edward VIII. Here is a newsreel at the time.
If ever you have seen the monument you know it’s impressive, even on the stamps that depict it (more on that in a moment). However, to give you even greater details of the monument, the Veterans Canada website has tons of great resources, and photos. Check that out here.
Now we turn to the stamps, Canada Post has issued depicting the monument. The first was issued in 1968 and commemorated the 50th anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War. The 15 cent denominated stamp was designed by Harvey Thomas Prosser and released on October 15th 1968 (scott # 486). It depicts a view towards the two towering pylons and in the foreground, the stamp displays “The Defenders and the Breaking of the Sword”, one of many sculptured groups decorating the massive Canadian Vimy Memorial. Learn more about the stamp here.
The next stamp issued, is the one issued on April 8th, 2017. It’s a joint issue with France’s La Poste to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The joint issue features two stamps — one designed by Canada Post and the La Poste — honouring the bond forged between the two nations.
The Canadian stamp was designed by Susan Scott, of Montréal, and like the earlier stamp from 1968, it features the two towering pylons of Walter Allward’s Vimy monument, which represent France and Canada. However, I feel this stamp does a better job of capturing the sheer scale of the monument.
In the foreground of the stamp is a figure of a grieving man, one of the monument’s statues, symbolizing loss and grief.
Also represented on the stamp are the thousands of names inscribed around the base of the monument. They are a memorial to all the Canadians who died in France during the First World War and had no known grave at the time. Laurel sprigs surrounding the monument’s two towers on the stamp represent the victory and tragic loss of life. A maple leaf on one sprig represents Canada, while an oak leaf on the other represents France.
As for the French stamp, it focuses on one of the most poignant statues at the site, a cloaked woman. Representing a country in mourning, “Canada Bereft” gazes down at a symbolic tomb at her feet and overlooks the French countryside where Canadians fought for peace and sacrificed for freedom.
There are a couple of ways to collect this issues. The Canadian domestic rate stamp is available in a booklet of 10.
There are official first-day covers with a single domestic-rate stamp and a joint official first-day cover with both stamps at the Canadian international rate.
However to me, the most impressive item is the Canadian souvenir sheet. It contains the two international rate stamps. The Canada Post stamp, is on the upper left, and the French stamp, is on the upper right. In between the stamps is an impressive illustration of the two pylons symbolizing the two nations and by images of the preserved trenches from the surrounding battlefield. It truly is a piece of art.
Regardless of what you choose to collect, any version of the stamp from this release is a great addition to your collection. You can find more information on purchasing them here.
