Vimy

Pierre Berton

Dec 2010 · Sold by Anchor Canada

About this ebook

One chill Easter dawn in 1917, a blizzard blowing in their faces, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in France went over the top of a muddy scarp knows as Vimy Ridge. Within hours, they held in their grasp what had eluded both British and French armies in over two years of fighting: they had seized the best-defended German bastion on the Western Front.

How could an army of civilians from a nation with no military tradition secure the first enduring victory in thirty-two months of warfare with only 10,000 casualties, when the French had lost 150,000 men in their unsuccessful attempt? Pierre Berton's haunting and lucid narrative shows how, unfettered by military rules, civilians used daring and common sense to overcome obstacles that had eluded the professionals.

Drawing on unpublished personal accounts and interviews, Berton brings home what it was like for the young men, some no more than sixteen years old, who clawed their way up the sodden, shell-torn slopes in a struggle they innocently believed would make war obsolete. He tells of the soldiers who endured horrific conditions to secure this great victory, painting a vivid picture of trench warfare. In his account of this great battle, Pierre Berton brilliantly illuminated the moment of tragedy and greatness that marked Canada's emergence as a nation.

Ratings and reviews

(7 August 1899 – 12 April 1917) The Boy Who Died On Vimy Ridge By Steven James Bowyer-Dickson Wamback (2008) At the end of the Eighteen Hundreds in the year of Ninety-nine, Thomas and Mary Ann Dickson bore a son handsome, brave and fine. Descended from hardy Canadian stock, Loyalists, and pioneers, They farmed Ontario’s fertile soils and enjoyed peace for a hundred years. Among the thousands of boys who die in wars, Russel was just one. He might have been our uncle, friend, or brother... this Thomas’ and Mary Ann’s son. From war to war, we measure our history. Sadly this no nation can abridge. Just seventeen short years later, Russel James would fight and die on Vimy Ridge. In France by Nineteen Fifteen, there was no stopping the Hun invasion. Britain called upon her boys from every Commonwealth Nation. Russel James heard this call from his Country and his King. For honor, for glory, for manhood, for Canada, he would sacrifice every thing. When they asked him for his date of birth, “Eighteen Ninety-seven” he attested. The lie he told for honor that day would see his young life soon arrested. Mustered in, lie not found out, and with shiny new uniform unfurled, Home to Lanark County for goodbye hugs and photos; then off to see the World. The One Thirtieth had collected boys from Smiths Falls, Perth, and Sharbot Lake. They drilled them, marched them, trained them hard; and Men of them did make. Late in Nineteen Sixteen, Russel was absorbed into the Third Infantry Battalion; But proudly on his collar wore his One Thirtieth Lanark-Renfrew brass medallion. Through mud and blood and body parts and craters, we can never know that stench, These boys they fought and toiled and died to dig another stinking trench. A mile of ground they gained that day, hauled back the dead, and cut and hung more wire. All this they braved without complaint and under steady machine gun fire. A year of plans were made for this day; and each man prayed he would not die. On Easter Monday April Ninth, young Russel took one in his thigh. They did their best to save his life at the Twenty-Second Casualty Clearing Station; But on Thursday April Twelfth, Russel gave the last he had for glory and for his Nation. In this Great War to end all wars, the best allied efforts had generally been failing; But on the day that Russel died, the Canadian allies found themselves prevailing. Artillery fire, a creeping barrage, rationed ammo, wire cutters, and for each a dram o’ rum, Neigh thirty-six hundred Canadians died that day to get this victory won. Today white crosses and poppies stand o’er remains in the cemetery at Bruay. Let us not forget those lives lost… now a hundred years away. From war to war, we measure our history. Sadly this no nation can abridge. Just seventeen years old was Russel the boy, but nay, The Man who died on Vimy Ridge. (Steven J. Wamback)

More informative and interesting than any history lesson could ever be. Great book

About the author

Pierre Berton was one of Canada’s most popular and prolific authors. From narrative histories and popular culture, to picture and coffee table books to anthologies, to stories for children to readable, historical works for youth, many of his fifty books are now Canadian classics.

Born in 1920 and raised in the Yukon, Pierre Berton worked in Klondike mining camps during his university years. He spent four years in the army, rising from private to captain/instructor at the Royal Military College in Kingston. He spent his early newspaper career in Vancouver, where at 21 he was the youngest city editor on any Canadian daily. He wrote columns for and was editor of Maclean’s magazine, appeared on CBC’s public affairs program “Close-Up” and was a permanent fixture on “Front Page Challenge” for 39 years. He was a columnist and editor for the Toronto Star and was a writer and host of a series of CBC programs.

Pierre Berton received over 30 literary awards including the Governor-General’s Award for Creative Non-Fiction (three times), the Stephen Leacock Medal of Humour, and the Gabrielle Leger National Heritage Award. He received two Nellies for his work in broadcasting, two National Newspaper awards, and the National History Society’s first award for “distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history.” For his immense contribution to Canadian literature and history, he was awarded more than a dozen honourary degrees, is a member of the Newsman’s Hall of Fame, and is a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Pierre Berton passed away in Toronto on November 30, 2004.