Hill 70

Thursday, February 22, 2024

When we were done at Vimy Ridge we continued on to Ypres. Ypres was near one of the areas where I served on my mission and I just can’t say the name of the city in English. It will always be Ieper to me. When I was here on my mission Ieper was actually spelled Ijper. In old Dutch they used to have a letter which looked like a y with two dots over it. Once typewriters came along they didn’t have that letter so they decided to type it using an ij together which kind of looks like a y with two dots over it. For the city of Ieper, the English decided to just go with a y to get Ypres and the Flemish decided to just go with Ieper since that is how it is pronounced in Dutch anyway.

On our way to Ieper (I’m going with the modern Flemish spelling) we stopped at hill 70. This was James second battle. After the Canadians success (but a loss for the greater battle) in the battle of Vimy ridge, Arthur Currie was put in charge of the Canadian Army. Arthur was the guy in charge of the first Canadian division. While he didn’t have a ton of battle experience, he was a brilliant man and not scared of saying what he believed.

The biggest difference he made was he kept the Canadians together. With the loss of so many troops, the British wanted to split the Canadians up and use them to strengthen other battalions, but Arthur would have none of it. He figured that his men had now fought together and had formed a bond between the men that can’t be forged in any other way. He also argued that they knew how each other fought and that also gave them extra strength. As the war progressed, he was proven correct, and the reputation of the Canadians as a superior army continued to grow.

For those (like me) who don’t know what a salient is, it is when a line surrounds an area on three sides.

At Ieper, the allied forces had pushed back the German lines enough to form what they now referred to as the Ieper Salient. The Germans were trying hard to close the salient and the Allies were doing their best to take advantage of it.

Hill 70 was just south of the Ieper salient, so the Canadians were told to go take hill 70 to draw German troops away from Ieper. Actually, the Canadians were told to take the city of Lens but Arthur told them that would be a waste of time. Hill 70 was a high point and as long as the Germans controlled it, they could control anything nearby. He finally convinced them to let him take Hill 70 instead of Lens.

The battle of hill 70 was taken by the Canadians without the help of any other forces. It was a success that they shared with nobody else.

The Canadians attacked hill 70 on August 15, 1917 with 100,000 troops and then held off twenty-one German counter attacks. They lost 9,000 soldiers (1,556 died) but took out 25,000 Germans. That means that he had a 1.6% chance of dying in this offensive.

If we’re keeping track (and I am), James had a 3.6% chance of dying a Vimy Ridge and 1.6% of dying here so at this point in his career as a soldier he had a 5.1% chance of dying.

If we’re talking about being wounded, he had a 7.4% chance of being wounded on Hill 70 and a 7.0% chance of being wounded at Vimy Ridge so overall he had a 13.9% chance of being wounded. Adding it all up, the odds of him still standing at this point were 82%. That’s crazy, he had a 1 in 5 chance of being dead or wounded after only two battles. If he had five friends, one of them was gone.

The monument at Hill 70 was very simple but quite nice. I thought it was very well done for such a small town. This is what they had on top of the hill.

Vimy Ridge

Thursday February 22, 2024

On the morning of February 22, we got up, ate breakfast, took one last trip through the Small Market of Arras, and then headed north to the City of Ypres. On the way to Ypres we stopped at Vimy Ridge.

As long as I can remember, I have always heard about “The Battle of Vimy Ridge”, but it wasn’t until we went on this trip that I realized that most Americans haven’t heard of it. I now realize that while the battle of Vimy ridge was pivotal in the war and it was the battle that brought Canada to significance and gave them a seat at the planning table for how the war was prosecuted, it was just another ugly battle for most Americans who couldn’t tell you the name of any battle in World Ward One. It was the battle that brought the Canadians into their own. 

Up until this point, Lisa, Alex and I were humbled and affected by the destruction of the battlegrounds but at Vimy Ridge, this became personal. This is the first battle that James Shaw fought. It was here that he first fired his gun at an enemy; and James had a big gun. He was a Lewis gunner and that also made him a big target for the enemy. As we walked the grounds around the memorial, we walked on the same ground that James walked on. They have a Canadian flag outside the visitors center and that is the exact spot where the troops mustered before they engaged the enemy. We stood exactly where James would have stood. 

There were about 100,000 Canadians who fought at Vimy Ridge and 3,600 of them died in that battle. That means that James had a 3.6% chance of dying. That doesn’t seem too bad but I’d be really worried if someone told me that I had an a 1 in 30 chance of dying today. There were also 7,000 wounded so his odds of being wounded were 7%. The odds of being wounded or dying were over 10%. If he had 10 friends there with him, one of them was wounded or dead by the end of the battle.

Vimy Ridge was part of a larger plan of what was called the “Spring Offensive” that covered a large area along the front running from just north of the Belgium border near the coast, down through half of France towards Paris. The task of taking Vimy Ridge was given to the Canadians who up until now had been just a part of the British army. The Canadians were divided into four divisions and James was a part of the 3rd Division. This was the first time that all four of the Canadian Divisions fought together as a single entity.

In order to get closer to the German trenches, tunnels were dug up to just a few yards from where the Germans were located. We know exactly which tunnel the 3rd Division used to enter the battle. We were able to tour the very same tunnel that James used. Alex could be James except that James wouldn't have had to hunch over like Alex is doing.

At 5:30 in the morning, James ran down this tunnel and exited right next to these German trenches. The sand bags and the boards in the bottom of the trenches are concrete but the trenches are otherwise pretty much how they would have looked on the morning of April 9, 1917. They are the actual original trenches, just restored.

The Canadians led with a heavy artillery barrage just prior to the attack, and at 5:30 in the morning, during all the confusion, the Canadians rose out of the ground right next to these very trenches and attacked. This is a picture of one of the craters from a mine that had been placed under the German trench.

The French army had been trying to take Vimy Ridge for some time. It was a real problem for the Allies since it had such a commanding view of the entire area.

The British commander assigned Vimy Ridge to the Canadians. Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng, the guy in charge of the Canadians, drilled his troops endlessly so that every soldier knew his job perfectly. In most battles, the commanding officers are targeted by the enemy because when they fall the remaining troops fall into disarray. A big part of the Canadians success is that they knew their tasks so well that if their officer fell, they didn’t falter but continued to do their job.

We know exactly where James exited the tunnels, and he would have run up this very hill. The trees have grown since the battle, the original trees were completely obliterated, those shell holes would have been new and a lot more treacherous.

A big reason why the battle of Vimy Ridge is not well known outside of Canada is because the overall offensive failed, but Vimy Ridge was an amazing success. On April 12th, after four days of bloody battle and the loss of 10,000 solders, either killed or wounded, they took Vimy Ridge. One of the few battles to succeed and to the surprise of many. The Canadians suddenly had the admiration and respect of the entire offensive. They were now invited to the planning table.

The death toll would have been much worse, but the Canadians went to great lengths to save the lives of their wounded.

The memorial sits on top of Vimy Ridge and consists of two tall pillars which I’ve always thought was an odd memorial, but when you’re there it gives you a real sense of awe. It has several absolutely gorgeous statues spread around the memorial.

This statue represents “Mother Canada” morning the loss of so many of her sons. It seems appropriate.

The Tunnels of Arras

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

On February 21, we woke up in the City of Arras and found ourselves in a very beautiful apartment.

The first tunnels in Arras were dug shortly after the time of Christ, when the local population realized that the chalk rock about six feet beneath the ground was easy to cut and made great structural material. As a side note, these local people were actually Flemish but that is a different story.

As the city grew, they decided that it wasn’t all that smart to dig these huge caverns below your city, so they started a new quarry outside the city walls. As the city continued to grow, they continued to move the quarries. One of these quarries was the Wellington Quarry and that is where we went for our tour.

When the Allies moved into town during WW1, they realized that these tunnels would be great bomb shelters and some of the tunnels already lead most of the way to the German trenches. They conscripted miners, who mostly came from New Zealand, to connect the tunnels and continue them on to the German front.

The tunnels were amazing. They had built walkways, and the entire area was lit so we could see the work that had been done. The tour projected images on the stone walls which made for a poor image, but the effect was amazing.

Since the maze of tunnels was so vast and confusing, getting lost was a real risk. To help navigate, each support pillar was given a number. If you look carefully at this picture, you can see a #3 written on this pillar. They have maps with all the pillars and exits marked.

In the picture before the above picture, you can see stairs leading up to exit #10. On the walls they have projected images of soldiers running up the stairs. This tunnel led right to the German front line and the exit opened up yards from the Germans. In the middle of the night the soldiers ran up the stairs and attacked the Germans catching them completely off guard.

During this time, everyone (not just the soldiers) lived in the tunnels. The Germans continually shelled the city, and no one was safe so everyone who hadn’t left town, lived in the tunnels. They had stores, beds, kitchens, and even church, all in the tunnels.

And then, during the night, when the shelling stopped, everyone came to the surface and the city thrived with a vibrant nightlife of dancing and the markets all opened.

After touring the Wellington tunnels we took a self-guided walking tour of the city. We saw some pretty amazing things.

This picture of me and Alex is on the grounds of a big, beautiful cathedral.

Here are the three of us in the courtyard of an old convent. It is now a bunch of offices, but the exterior of the building has been preserved.

The older parts of this city were not made for people like me.

This is the grand market. Our room was in one of the buildings in the middle of the far-right side. Do you see that black structure in the middle of the parking lot? That is an elevator and a set of stairs leading down to underground parking.

Our room was on the top floor of the building painted blue.

After our self-guided tour, we decided to check out the clock tower.

Of course, my greatest interest was trying to figure out how all the internal mechanisms worked.

Once we got to the top of the tower we could walk around the outside of the tower. The views were amazing but boy was it windy. You can see the Grand Market in this picture.

The hands on the clock were so close I could have touched them if some spoil sport hadn’t installed the plexiglass shield to prevent people like me from damaging the clock hands.

Directly below the clock tower is the Little Market. It is surrounded by a bunch of cool little shops.

After the clock tower, we decided to take a tour of the tunnels below the city itself. At one time these tunnels were all connected, but since WW1 some have collapsed, and it is no longer possible to walk them from downtown Arras to the Waverly tunnels.

These tunnels are right below the city and so they were the original ones made during the Middle Ages and earlier. Over the years, merchants have fixed them up and used them for storing inventory and wine. 

This picture is taken looking straight up. That is a trap door that opens into a shop on the small market.

There are several entrances into the city above us.

For the tourists, they had several lights illuminating features that they found interesting. I don’t remember exactly what this light was supposed to illuminate. It may have been a storage area or something, but I found it fascinating that plants could grow thirty feet below ground just from a light that is on for a few hours every day. Nature is amazing.

Once again, these tunnels were not made for people like me.

Caen War Memorial

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

On Tuesday, February 20, after we finished with the Bayeux tapestry we headed to Caen to check out the museum there. 

On our way out of town we stopped for a few minutes at a British Museum. It was a beautiful cemetery and I loved how each of the tombstones had some sort of emblem on them. I was a bit disappointing that all the Canadian soldiers got a maple leaf, which was beautiful, but they didn’t get the insignia from their group like all the others did.

The museum in Caen was amazing. We arrived somewhere around noon and stayed there until they kicked us out. We probably didn’t see half of the museum.

The coolest thing about the museum was that it was built on top of the Nazi headquarters for that area. The German leader dug one huge tunnel in the rock and set up business. His job was to fortify the Atlantic Coast against an allied invasion but lucky for us, it was too little too late. He had barely settled in when D Day happened, and he was driven out. I love that his headquarters is now a museum. It seems fitting.

When they finally booted us out of the museum we checked out what they had going on outside the museum. One side of the courtyard in front of the museum was a row of stone monuments from many of the countries involved. They were all beautiful much like the Canadian one shown here and they had well thought out and thoughtful words engraved on them.

We then came to the last one from Norway. 

It was a simple uncut boulder and it simply said, “Son, defend the freedom that your father won.” I loved it. It was by far my favorite memorial.

From there we headed up to the city of Arres and stayed in a beautiful B&B right on the Great Market. The only thing that would have made it better is if we had a window overlooking the market. It was still wonderful, and it had a separate bathroom.

Bayeux Tapestry

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

It was a busy day, but we were able to see all the beaches in one day on Monday February 19. We were also able to visit the war memorial and American cemetery. The cemetery is located on top of the cliffs overlooking Omaha beach. In this picture you can see the beach in the background.

This cemetery has 9,387 graves, most of whom died on D Day. Another 1,557 names of soldiers whose remains were never found are recorded on a big wall. As we were checking out the names on the wall, we noticed that a few of them had a little rosette next to their names. We figured that they must be soldiers who had received a medal of honor but when we asked, we were told that these were missing soldiers whose bodies have been found.

There were a few soldiers in the cemetery who had been medal of honor recipients and they did have stars on their markers and the words medal of honor written on them. They would also allow relatives to color the letters on the markers with gold.

It was a beautiful memorial and really makes you wonder how some people can allow this kind of thing to happen.

We spent two nights in Bayeux, and on Tuesday morning, Feb 20, we packed up our stuff, checked out the Bayeux Tapestry and a British Cemetery and then headed up to the city of Caen to check out the museum there.

We had breakfast in this cute little patisserie which felt very French. I think all we ate on this entire trip was pastries and breads. They really were very good.

As we were walking to the tapestry museum, I felt like I was on my mission again. The cobblestone streets and old houses were very quaint. They are murder on a bike though.

After the tapestry, we got brave and took a shortcut back to the car. We saw some very interesting scenery that you don’t see from the streets. I would love to have that house on the canal where the back door opens right onto the canal. Let’s just hope it doesn’t flood.

I wasn’t overly thrilled when Lisa said she wanted to see the Bayeux tapestry because I had no idea what it was. As Alex repeatedly said, “it’s just drapes”. As it turns out, it was amazing. No one is sure just who commissioned the Bayeux tapestry, but it tells a story about William the Conqueror who took over England. I had no idea that we knew so much about that event in history. Because most of the population in those days were illiterate, they used images to tell the story but without our audio guides I would have figured out about 3% of the story.

The Bayeux tapestry isn’t actually a tapestry, but an embroidery using wool thread on a linen fabric. The tapestry is 20 inches high and 230 feet long and depicts fifty-eight scenes that culminate in the battle of Hastings. The tapestry is thought to have been given to William as a gift shortly after the Battle of Hasting that took place in 1066. While I would find this history fascinating anyway, I think I am especially intrigued because it is thought that my ancestor was among the troops that accompanied William, and left Normandy and settled in England.

OK, let me give a very condensed version of the story as told by the tapestry. Look, we even have a picture of William.

William was born to the concubine of some important aristocrat but later his mother married a man who later had two kids, one who went on to become the bishop of Bayeux. I love that his name was Odo. Because of his illegitimacy, it was a rough road for William. He was usually referred to as “The Bastard”. Because of this, he became a real scrapper growing up, and only because of his mother’s fierce protection did he live to become an adult. As a young adult, he was generally recognized as a good man and was eventually recognized as a Duke. In 1059, at the age of sixteen, he appointed his brother Odo as a bishop.

Meanwhile, Henry, the king of England, was dying and stated that he wanted William to succeed him as King of England. He asked some guy named Edward to go tell William he was to be the next king. Edward swore he would do so.

Edwards party was blown off course and he was captured but some of the dukes’ vassals, but William ransomed him and received the message.

So, Edward heads back to England but when the King dies, he violates his oath and takes over England. When William learns about this, he masses his armies and crosses the sea and wipes out Edward and takes over England. The tapestry depicts this is very gory detail. The poor horses. Listening to someone tell the story as we viewed the tapestry made it an amazing experience. Without the audio, I would have been done in there after about 15 minutes.

As I said earlier, while this story is fascinating in and of itself, it is even more interesting to me because I probably had an ancestor among Williams soldiers. Alex is pretty sure that he found our ancestor on the tapestry.