Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WAR HAS NO WINNERS":
to 19:33 and 18:40....
The "Nation Building" that occurred at Vimy is a topic that came up a lot over the last few months in preparation for the centennial, however I think you must go back 100 years to fully understand the rationale.
In the first few years of the Great War, the Canadian units deployed in France and Belgium were under the control of British Army Generals. They (as well as other Commonwealth units) were considered mere extensions of the British Army. Vimy Ridge was the first battle that all four Canadian divisions were combined into a common force. The "nation building" was really the unification of these units. After the successful battle of Vimy Ridge the British High-Command realized that the Canadians can be a force on their own. To that end, there eventually was the assigning the Canadians a leadership that was Canadian too. No longer a part of the British, they were a force of their own.
Back on the home front in 1917, the success of the Vimy battle was seen as a successful unification of Canadians from all corners of the country. Also, remember that all of these men were volunteers - there was no conscription at this time.
As some background information. My Grandfather and great-uncle (his bother) both came to Canada from northern England in 1905. Both were married (my grandfather with 2 daughters) enlisted into the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) in late 1915. They shipped out to England in the summer of 1916. In January 1917, my grandfather was wounded in a battle south of Vimy that was meant as a rehearsal for Vimy. He missed the Vimy battle, but my great-uncle fought and was wounded at Vimy, and continued with all of the major battles for the rest of the war and even served in the occupation forces post 11/11/18.
It is unfortunate that the current political talking heads try to wrap themselves in a flag and talk about nation-building when they really do not know what they are talking about.
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 2 May 2017 at 12:22
Thanks Evelyn for posting that comment. It does clarify a little what these glorified politicians and media people meant by the term "unifying a nation". Although that being said, it's still heart wrenching to know how many died and were wounded along with how many families suffered the losses after the war. Then a decade after that suffering the great depression followed by WW2. What an unbelievable era in time.
ReplyDeleteI wrote the original post Evelyn. Thank you for publishing it.
ReplyDeleteThe Great War was a terrible time. I think more so than WWII. It was a time when technology was being tested but still "old school" tactics and weapons were being used.
The airplane had only existed since 1903. Only 12 years later flimsy contraptions were being used to find and photograph the enemy, shoot down the enemy or bomb the enemy. Meanwhile, old-style trenches extended for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Most of them filled with mud, water, rats and death. The machine gun was a recent invention. No longer did you need to be an accurate shot, all you had to do is press the trigger and move it left to right and back again. The Germans created the first weapon of terror.... mustard gas. Put into artillery shells or just in canisters that were opened and let travel on the winds. Of course, this brilliant weapon was not lost on the allies, they developed their own gas weapons.
Part of the success of the Vimy battle was attributed to the artillery barrage that "crept" in front of the troops. As the shells fell and exploded, the troops moved behind them. After a period of time, the guns were adjusted to shoot a little further, and then the troops moved up behind.
I visited France and Belgium two years ago. If anyone needs to understand the horror of this conflict, you only need to drive along any road in the Calais area. You can be driving along and a small cemetery appears. In some cases it may be as small as 10-15 headstones. But, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains every one of these cemeteries. The grass is immaculate. Dead flowers are disposed of. Broken headstones are replaced. At the entrance to every cemetery, there is a nook with a door. In there is a binder with a catalogue of all those buried there and in needed, a map to help find the grave.
The Vimy memorial itself, contains the names of every Canadian solder that was killed but their body never recovered. The names go all around the structure. To further bring some reality to the area, the grounds of the park area where the memorial is located have not changed substantially in 100 years. There are craters from the shelling. Signs and wires tell you to not go into those areas because there is still unexploded ordinance there. Inside that area are sheep grazing. It is more pleasant to pick up exploded sheep than exploded people.
Travel a little further east and you go to the Town of Ypres, Belgium. Google Ypres and look at the pre-1915 photos and compare to 1918. The town was levelled. They rebuilt it and you would never know what savage destruction was here. On the east entrance to the town is the Menin Gate. A large structure that contains the name of every Commonwealth soldier that was killed but who's body was never found. Thousands of names.
A final thought. Driving down those roads and you come to a cemetery. The headstones for the allies are bright white granite. I happened by a German cemetery. All of those grave markers were black. Think about the imaging of that.