Vimy Ridge

Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI. I didn't know that at the time, but it was fitting I went to Vimy Ridge this past weekend.

I traveled to Arras on Friday evening after class. The train ride was just over 2 hours. The town was so quaint. I wasn’t expecting the flemish style of building but it is only about 1 1/2 hours from Belgium

The hotel (l’Hôtel Diamant) was on Les Place des Heros, only a 10 minute walk from the train station. My room was on the very top floor.

It was very small, but had everything I needed and it overlooked the square and the city hall.

I had planned go to Vimy Ridge for the day on Saturday, but found out that there was a tour that went to a few different sites, including Vimy, so I booked it instead for that afternoon. I would go back to Vimy on Sunday. That left me with time to explore the town a little in the morning.

What woke me up first thing in the morning were the trucks and vans getting ready for the weekly market. at first a few trucks…

And then a few more…

Everyone getting ready for a busy few hours. The market opens from about 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Later that morning I visited the “Boves,” underground tunnels used historically by merchants and townsfolk to keep produce cold. The boves were at least 36 feet underground. At this level the temperature stayed relatively constant and the storage rooms remained fairly dry. Above this depth, water is a problem because the chalk is porous. Further down, however, there is a layer of flint that keeps water from penetrating further. 

The tunnels came about initially from mining the rock (chalk) used to construct the buildings. There were many stone quarries in the area. Later on these tunnels were used by the miliary in World War I to prepare various battles.

Not only did the armies use the tunnels that existed, they built other ones. One of the places on the tour in the afternoon was the Wellington Quarry, built by miners from New Zealand during WWI. Other countries also supplied miners for similar work in other quarries. In the military, these men were called "sappers" - engineers of many types. Some of my uncles were "sappers" in World War II. 

After visiting the boves, I went up the belfry for a birds eye view of the city.

And the market below.

I have a setting on my camera that transforms a scene to look like a miniature. It's perfect for this view.

After lunch, I walked to the Wellington Quarry for the start of the tour. The tour guide was originally from Australia but had lived in France since she was a teen. She still has an Aussie accent. The other people on the tour were from Calgary.

  I don’t remember all the details about how long it took to make the tunnels, but it was extraordinarily fast. The miners working from the Wellington Quarry came from New Zealand and they named different parts of the tunnel after their home towns: Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch… They built 20 km worth of tunnels very close to the front line. Upward of 20,000 men could be housed in the tunnels.

Very primitive conditions - men washed in the same cold water. If the men waited until at least 4 others used the water - it was a little warmer. Not sure what it was like after the 12th. There were film clips that played at different sections of the mine as well as pictures taken from the war.

The tour was incredibly moving. A lot of work and been done to give some sense of the space and the work needed for the war.

As we drove through the area, our guide showed us where the different lines of the Western Front were fought. Now these same places are residential areas or farmland.

We stopped a one of the cemeteries that dot the countryside. As in Belgium, soldiers were buried where they died. Sometimes, there would be a temporary grave and later the remains would be moved to a permanent site. One of the grave sites we visited had the remains of the "chums." When the temporary grave was found years later, there were several of the skeletons lying arm in arm. They were buried together as "chums."

We went from here to a memorial commemorating the heroism of the Newfoundland brigade. I had forgotten that at the time of the First World War, Newfoundland was part of the British Commonwealth.

We went next to Vimy Ridge, but I will write about that a little later, because I went back again the next day.

After the tour, we went back to Arras and I was too tired to stay out very late. From my window, I could watch the goings on in the square. There was music and so many people were dancing – but not any modern dances.

They were doing things like the two-step, a version of the round dance, and something similar to the schottische (I had to look it up) They were having a lot of fun!

There were a lot of first aiders and police available in case of trouble, but I think the night was pretty quiet.

The event was a real community and family affair – lots of children and even a bride and groom getting pictures in front of city hall.

The next day I took a cab to Vimy Ridge. I planned to spent several hours there. I signed up for a tour of the tunnels.

Shane, from Mississauga, was our guide. University students from Canada staff the centre in the summer. Shane's great grandfather and great uncle fought in the war. The other couple on the tour was from England.

The tunnels here were constructed by miners (sappers) from Canada.After WWI, when the memorial was being built, the workers also decided to rebuild some of the tunnels and trenches. Although the tunnels we visited were not exactly like the original (they were made wider, higher and better fortified), there were still a couple of section that were the same – 1 meter wide and 2 meters high.

Shane showed us a room that was rebuilt to show the "plush" accommodation that the "runners" had. These men were the messengers in battle. They received a daily wage of $6 - versus the $1 a day the other soldiers received. Sounds good, but their life expectancy was 2 weeks. There were no shortage of runners in the war.


Again, I don’t have all the numbers, but this Ridge was extremely important as a lookout. It is the highest ridge in the area. The Germans had it under their control and the Allies wanted it captured. One of the unique features of this site is how close the Canadian and German armies were to each other.

The lookout in the foreground was German held. Shane seen mid-photo is by the Canadian trench. I would say there was less than 50 meters between the two posts.

You can also see the craters that are now grass-covered. People are told not to go into the craters, because there are still munitions buried throughout the area.

Our tour guide said that every year 80 tons of unexploded munitions surface each year in Arras. Farmers have iron plates under their tractors and there have been deaths attributed to the munitions. When they find something, they leave it on the side of the road and a truck comes around and collects all the material to be destroyed.

On the site they use sheep to keep the grass trimmed.

In all, I visited the Vimy Ridge Memorial three times: Saturday evening, Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon. Each time I cried for all the deaths and for all those who mourn the death of a loved one because of war.

You walk up to the back of the memorial. The first figures you see are are man and a woman.

Around the front is the figure of a woman mourning. She represents Canada, a young country, mourning its dead.

Although she is looking down at the coffin, she is also looking out over the landscape. The Memorial commemorates the 66,000 service personnel who died in the First World War.

There are other figures on the monument.

Carved on the walls of the monument are the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who were killed in France and who were not found. I found the names of 32 Campbells.

Nearby are two cemeteries of those found.

I found this trip very moving, especially today when there are so many armed conflicts taking place. The monument was to commemorate the war to end all wars. It was completed in 1936. Three years later World War II started.

Next week I am taking a week off from studies and going to a few other sites, including Juno Beach. I'm a little late learning my Canadian history. But being here and seeing the actual places makes all the difference.