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Article: At Vimy Ridge, there was forged a nation --.
- Article from:
- Esprit de Corps
- Article date:
- March 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 S.R. Taylor Publishing. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A nation, like a human being, must first be conceived. Then born. Then matured. Canada was conceived and born in the 19th century but it was not until the second decade of the 20th century that it matured and came of age. Its coming of age took place on an embattled ridge at Vimy, in northern France, whose defences were then the most formidable on the Western Front. On three occasions the French had failed to take the high ground overlooking the plains of Douai and paid a price of over 140,000 casualties. The British tried to regain lost ground but failed, and the task then fell to the newly formed Canadian Corps.
It was the first battle in which four Canadian ...