Hill's, Caterpillar, Christmas and Frogs

Tuesday March 24, 2015
It is going to take something pretty special on day two of our WWI tour, to top the magnificent sites that we took in on Monday.  We were absolutely wiped after day one, and ended it with a great dinner at restaurant in town, called Vivaldi.  Fin gave Vivaldi's "five bars", for their free WIFI, so it's gotta be good...

Day Two Itinerary

• Hill 60
• Caterpillar Crater
• Bayernwald
• Pool of Peace
• Christmas Truce

Based on the success of day one of our battlefield tours,  we were excited to start day two.  Assuming that we would have the same lack of food options, we packed a picnic lunch, and headed out the door.

We talked a little bit in the last blog post about Hill 60, this was another spot that held a strategic viewpoint of the Ypres Salient.  The hill was occupied by either the Germans or the Allies over a few year period.  On April 17, 1915, the British had regained the hill, only to lose it to German gas use on May 5th.  During the summer of 1915, the British and Australians ramped up tunnelling and the development of underground mines.  In a synchronized attack at 3:10 am on June 7, 1917, 19 mines holding 990,000 lbs of explosives underneath German held positions, were detonated. Although only 17 exploded, apparently the blast could be heard as far away as London and Dublin.  A large portion of the hill was destroyed, and 10,000 German soldiers were killed.  I guess that is one way to take a position!

Bunker at Hill 60 

The forever changed lumpy landscape of Hill 60.

A shell lies in a large crater in Hill 60.

After visiting Hill 60, we drove around for several minutes trying to find the Caterpillar Crater, one of the mass craters left following the synchronized explosions on June 7, 1917.  Although it is apparently right across the train tracks from the hill, we were unable to locate it. 

The next spot on our list was Bayernwald,  The kooky thing about this place is, it's about 15 mins outside of Ypres, but you have to buy ticket for it at the information centre in Ypres.  When you get to Bayernwald, it's an unmanned electronic gate.  Why you can't buy your tickets from a vending machine at the sight, is beyond me.  Having said that, we arrived there, without tickets of course, and there was a sign that read "without exception, closed for the week."  It's really too bad, the trenches looked awesome through the fence....  Bayernwald is a series of German trenches dating back to 1916.

The elusive trenches of Bayernwald.

Pool of Peace Crater.  Not be be confused with the pool under Manneken Pis... This bad boy was created when one of the 19 mines blew up.  The crater left was the largest of all of the explosions.  It's now filled with water about 9 meters deep.

Along the way to Bayernwald and The Pool of Peace, we saw this moving tribute, in the middle of nowhere.

You don't see this sign everyday!

The Christmas Truce

On Christmas Day in 1914, one of the most unusual events of the war took place.  The Allies and Germans were in the midst of a trench battle.  On Christmas Eve, the German soldiers began singing "Silent Night" in their trenches. The Allies soon joined in, and each side slowly poked their heads above the trench lines.  As legend has it, they eventually got of their trenches and greeted one another.  Apparently one of the British soldiers had a soccer ball, and they had a short game.  The next day, things were back to normal, as both sides knew that fraternizing with the enemy was one step away from treason, punishable by death.  To make a point, a high ranking British Officer shot and killed one of the German soldiers.

Love the quote:  "A lull in the hate."

A Christmas Truce soccer game is held annually at the sight.

The list of sights to visit today were not as time consuming as the previous day, so we made the decision to drive across to France, and visit the famed Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge, and what a great decision it was.....

The Battle of Vimy was fought from April 9-12, 1917.  The German's held the very advantageous position, high above the town of Vimy.  If the Canadian's were to capture the hill, they could push the German frontline back, and provide the Allies with a secure spot to continue their advancement into France.

The use of new tactics by the Canadians allowed the Canadian's to successfully capture the ridge, for the most part on the first day of battle, and they went on to capture two key towns by April 12th.  A few key tactics used by the Canadian's were:

1. Tunnelling - There are over 1.2 KM of underground tunnels at Vimy, some of them are over 30 meters deep!  The deep tunnels were used for spying on the Germans conversations, and the rest of the tunnels were used for moving troops to the frontline.  Troops would have spent several hours waiting in the tunnel for the ultimate signal to join the attack.

2,  Slow moving troops, advancing forward, as friendly fire mortar flies overheard.  The key was for the troops to walk at an extremely slow pace, so as not to get hit be friendly fire.  Then, after the mortar landed, the surviving Germans would run out of the bunkers just as the walking Canadian Troops arrived.

3.  Sharing of battle plan - In an unprecedented approach, the soldiers were told every detail of the battle plan, and they were all given maps of the attack.

But again, all of this comes at a cost.  The Battle of Vimy Ridge took 3,598 Canadian lives, and wounded another 7,000.

The memorial at Vimy Ridge was opened in 1936, and pays tribute to the soldiers of the young Dominion of Canada, and acts as a reminder of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers who died in France, and have no known grave.

The land surrounding the memorial was gifted to Canada, by France, back in 1922.

The land surrounding the memorial is lumpy and bumpy.  There are electric fences surrounding the property, with the sign listed above.  In the summer they use sheep to cut the grass, as the sheep are not heavy enough to detonate any of the live explosives.  Over 30 people have been killed in France since the end of the war from explosives that have gone off.

Vimy trenches.

There were no trees in Vimy during the battle.  All of the trees in this picture have been planted since the war ended.  Legend has it that there is one tree for every Canadian Soldier that died at Vimy, but our Canadian tour guide told us that is not true.

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Exiting the tunnels at Vimy.

 Tactical crater created by the Allies at Vimy.

In the parking lot on the way out of Vimy, two car's pulled up next to ours.  Out of the car's came 6 adults.  They were locals that had come to Vimy for the afternoon.  They were very nice, and they asked us where we were from.  When I told them Canada, they started thanking us, for what Canada has done for France.  It was actually pretty surreal, and very humbling.  I would guess that they were in their late 50's early 60's, and they had a love for Canada, it was really quite moving.  They even shared us that there is one tree planted in the forest for every Canadian solder that died at Vimy.  Liars.

Seriously, I said that it would take something special to top our first day of battle tours, and for me, Vimy took the top spot.