2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. You're invited to a talk/visual presentation at the L&A County Museum & Archives in Napanee on April 18th. Based on his book Victory At Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9 – 12, 1917, author Ted Barris reconstructs the blow-by-blow moments of that historic four-day operation, that some say changed the momentum of the war. It put Allied troops in control of the strategic Vimy heights for good. For the first time, it sent the most powerful army in Europe into full retreat. It also firmly established the four Canadian Infantry Divisions as the most effective fighting force on the Western Front.The Americans called them “an inspiration … for a generation.” The British described what they did as “the greatest victory of the war.” The French declared their achievement an “Easter gift.” What the world witnessed that Easter Monday morning – April 9, 1917 – was a near miracle of ingenuity, co-operation and courage among volunteers of the Canadian Corps. That day, 80,000 of them – fighting for the first time as a national army – swarmed up that strategic ridge in north-central France and in a matter of hours accomplished what no Allied army had, in nearly three years of blood-letting in Europe. They seized Vimy from an entrenched German army. Some say those young citizen soldiers also breathed life into a fledgling nation – Canada.'Tuesday Night at the Museum' is a monthly feature at the L&A County Museum & Archives. For more information about a wide array of programming happening at the L&A County Museum & Archives, please call 613-354-3027.
VICTORY AT VIMY
Date
Tue, 04/18/2017 - 19:00