Canada Day

Almost 100 years later, it is still very easy to tell that something incomprehensibly violent occurred at Vimy Ridge. Mines, trenches and shellfire shape a landscape in ways that are impossible to believe.  The Vimy Ridge Centre is a national historic site of Canada.  As such, it is funded by the Canadian government and operated by Canadian students.  As we take the tour, the Canadian accents welcome after months away, we were able to experience a small taste of what life in the tunnels and trenches may have been like although generally, and thankfully, such experience remains incomprehensible. The monument itself is striking; both somber and inspiring.  Vimy Ridge was high ground that had given the German Army a commanding view of that sector of the front since 1914.    The French had lost 150,000 men trying to take the ridge and the British had fared no better.  Recognizing that conventional methods of fighting would not succeed, Allied military leaders turned to the most unconventional force at their disposal and late in 1916, the Canadian Corps was moved into the front lines at Vimy.

Canada fielded a primarily volunteer army at Vimy Ridge.  Canadian politicians and military leaders had fought their own battles from the beginning of the war to ensure that our soldiers were kept together in Canadian units and not fed piecemeal into British units as replacements.  This insistence had paid dividends throughout the war.  Canadians thought differently, planned differently, and fought differently.  They had earned the grudging respect of both their Allies and German opponents who labelled them “stormtroopers”.  Canadians won great victories before and after Vimy, but it was at Vimy that one can see the sense of being Canadian coalesce into something tangible.

Canada in 1914 was a young nation that was struggling to find a sense of itself.  Canada was largely undeveloped and unpopulated at that time.  People from around the world came to Canada because they thought differently, because they had a different worldview. However the disparate backgrounds made national self awareness an elusive concept.  Looking back, it could be said that Great War provided the opportunity, the test of fire needed to create the sense of nation, of being uniquely Canadian. On April 9, 1917, one hundred thousand Canadians underwent such a test on our behalf and prevailed.  Remember.

Denouement

Walking through the Foret de la Londe along a quiet path which is covered, appropriately I suppose, with fallen maple leaves, one comes upon a small memorial to the Canadian forces that fought a three-day battle over that ground some 69 years ago. The Canadian forces were pushing forward to liberate Rouen and close out the Normandy chapter of the war. The Germans, as ever, were stubborn in defence, and over 600 Canadians became casualties.

Battle of Foret de la Londe memorial

The discovery of this memorial, and subsequent evidence of Canada’s involvement in the liberation of France in the Second World War, came about following a visit to the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian war cemetery, located south of the city of Caen.  My friend Daryll and I noticed a surprising number of men had been killed between August 26-29, 1944.  I knew that Rouen had been liberated on the 30th of August and so believed that these men must have been part of that effort.  I was humbled to discover that the battle took place, and their lives ended, mere miles from where our family was staying in the Rouen area.

Our family (I include Daryll) then undertook to visit the battlefield and follow the “Maple Leaf Up” route, albeit in reverse,  from Rouen to Falaise.  The drive reveals evidence of the Canadian effort; towns liberated, memorials to Canadian soldiers, Canadian flags, and disabled German vehicles.  Over 5000 Canadians lost their lives to liberate France in the Second World War.  D-Day was a remarkable achievement; a historical turning point that deserves awe and remembrance.  It was also only the beginning of the Normandy campaign.  The denouement at Foret de la Londe serves as a reminder of that, one that my family and I now appreciate all the more.

German Tiger tank at Vimoutiers

 

Je me souviens

Kelly and I have agreed to share this blog – meaning that certain explorations may certainly, as evidenced below, be better described by Kelly than myself. 

Dieppe.  A name that evokes, or should evoke, emotions in each Canadian.  Pride. A sense of futile loss.  Anger at the Germans.  Frustration with the British planners.  Standing on the rocky beach of Dieppe, viewing the small crowd enjoying the late summer sunshine and lack of congestion, one has a difficult time imagining the chaos of 71 years ago. The evidence that something extraordinary occurred is there.  The numerous Canadian flags where none should be present.  The streets named after our nation.  The war memorials with the maple leaf present and indeed, foremost.  The peaceful and immaculately kept cemetery, with over 700 Canadian servicemen buried there. The French remember.

On August 19, 1942, some 4963 Canadians of the 2nd Canadian Division and 1070 other Allied troops assaulted the German-held port of Dieppe on the Normandy coast, with diversionary attacks on Puys and Pourville.  Roughly  six hours later, 907 Canadians were dead.  568 Canadians were wounded.  1946 Canadians were captured.  A shocking 69% casualty rate.  The mission was ill-conceived, poorly planned, and had, at best, nebulous objectives.

The German bunkers that remain on the sheer cliffs of Dieppe still provide a perfect view of the beach.  However the size of the beachhead allows one to at least see a puncher’s chance of striking a blow against the defenders.  This is not the case at Puys. The miniscule landing area is flanked on either side by huge cliffs.  The seawall, which was supposed to provide defilade against German fire was in fact perfectly situated beneath the muzzles of German machine guns.  83% of the 556 members of the Royal Regiment of Canada became casualties.  The weather changes here. The temperature drops. The fog rolls in. And it is fitting.

Watching my boys play in the water and on the beach at Dieppe, I am struck by the fact that other Canadian youth had to suffer so deeply in this same place.  They helped to ensure our ability to freely enjoy our world.  I am deeply thankful. Je me souviens.