Thursday 16 May 2013

Vimy Ridge - the frontline trenches

I'll try to do this with text and add the pictures at the bottom but the pictures are what makes this so impactful!

The Grange tunnel leads into the Grange trench. At the memorial centre these have been preserved. The actual trench lines including communication trenches, observation posts and firing steps are all in the exact location as on April 9th 1917. The sides are supported now by 'concrete' sandbags but the layout is genuine.

In front of the Grange trench as the Grange mine crater. An enormous hole - at least 30 ft deep and 75 ft across - it was blown in no-mans land to clear the wire. Bit of a mixed blessing according to our guide because now you have a huge hole to cross which is full of...wire and water...

The amazing thing about this bit of the line is that the German trenches were so close - about 25m away! The crate virtually  touches the front lines and joins them up. To have been so close must have been a very weird indeed.

As at the other Canadian memorial sites the ground has been left as it was - so although the craters and trenches are grass covered you can get some sense of how devastated the area must have been. Of course none of the trees would have survived the shelling...


Grange trench
 
The German front line - with concrete observation post (genuine). The OP looks away at 90 deg into no-mans land. The way I am facing to take the picture is back towards the Canadian front lines
The Grange mine crater! Looking back from the German lines towards the Canadian - you can just make out the lip of the trench on the other side! So close.


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