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(soft music)

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- (woman): I wanted to see
- Vimy Ridge before sunrise,


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like you did.

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I know you're still here.

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- Nothing of you made it back
- except a death certificate,


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- and this notebook
- you sent to your wife,


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my great-grandmother.

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- (man): My first day
- on the frontline,


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- everything was suddenly
- very real.


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- The enemy was close.
- There was no turning back.


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- Nothing can prepare you
- for this. For war, I mean.


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Training was tough,

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- but we were miles away
- from danger.


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- All we did was chores
- and drills.


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(soldiers shouting)

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- But we soon realized
- how bad things could get


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when we trained for gas attacks.

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- Some said they were more afraid
- of that than bullets.


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- A lot of us enlisted
- with friends,


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guys from school or even work.

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(ship's horn sounding)

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- It's quite a trip
- to come all the way to France.


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- I'd never seen so many people
- on a boat.


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- (woman): More than 100,000
- soldiers like you


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prepared for a great offensive.

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- This next battle would have
- the four Canadian divisions


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- fighting side by side
- for the first time.


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- (man): Our job is to take back
- Vimy Ridge from the German army.


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- (woman): At the time,
- people said it was impossible.


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- The French and the British had
- lost more than 150,000 men here.


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- They were going to need guns,
- lots of guns.


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- (man): Everyone works hard,
- day and night,


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- like we're building
- a small city.


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- (woman):
- After more than 100 years,


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- the ingenuity shown
- by the Canadian Corps


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is still impressive.

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- They made the best
- of the old and the new,


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- using a tumpline system
- and carrier pigeons.


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They didn't have the Internet,

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- but they sent messages
- through the clouds.


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- Canadians also pioneered
- the use of sound ranging


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- and flash spotting
- to locate enemy artillery guns.


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- But some men
- still had to risk their lives


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to be the eyes in the sky...

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- ...locating enemy positions
- and relaying the information


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to the gunners on the ground.

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- (man): We heard the officers
- are planning the assault


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- on a big model of the German
- lines and trenches.


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- We trained to walk
- at a certain speed


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behind the artillery fire.

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It's called a creeping barrage.

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(background chatter)

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Away from the frontline,

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- the simple things make life
- easier.


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(background chatter)

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- We're always eager
- to get word from home,


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- to know
- somebody's thinking about us.


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- Though there isn't much
- to spend it on,


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it's still nice to get paid.

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- We learn to take things
- one day at a time.


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- The Corps
- is like another family,


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- a brotherhood of wet wool,
- cold rations,


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- and a random death
- in no man's land.


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- Sometimes
- we have to cross shell holes


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the size of small mountains.

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- We lose men,
- whether it's a bullet, a shell,


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or some awful disease.

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- The nursing sisters
- try to help us with prayers,


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- kind words
- and their healing touch.


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(solemn music)

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- (woman):
- The Battle of Vimy Ridge


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- required meticulous
- and thorough preparation,


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above and below ground.

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- And regular soldiers like you
- were given maps


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for the first time.

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(man): With every night raid,

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- our maps of German trenches
- become more accurate.


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The heavy shelling has started.

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We don't know when we'll attack,

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but it's coming soon.

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- (woman):
- During the Battle of Vimy,


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the Canadian Corps,

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- with support
- from one British division,


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- fired more
- than a million shells.


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- Guns fired above your head
- into the German line


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for a whole week.

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Relentless. Murderous.

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You were part of the first wave.

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But after the whistle,

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- nobody knows
- what happened to you.


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(soldiers shouting)

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One man among the many,

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- across a frontline
- six kilometres wide.


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(soft music)

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(soldiers roaring)

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(soft music)

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- Capturing Vimy Ridge
- was a historical victory,


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but you never had a chance

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- to see the other side
- of the ridge.


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- Despite running the assault
- almost perfectly,


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casualties were high.

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- More than 3,000 soldiers
- were laid to rest.


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- Others went home with visible
- and invisible wounds.


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- War would rage
- for another 19 months


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on the Western Front.

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- The Canadian Corps
- would go on to fight,


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- right up until the morning
- of the Armistice.


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- I came to the Vimy Memorial
- to find your name on the wall


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- and bring an imprint of it
- back home.


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Your home.

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- For every name,
- a heartbroken mother,


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a family in grief.

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For every name,

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- a face we cannot summon
- from the abyss.


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(soft music)

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- (man): I wonder how we'll be
- treated when we go back home,


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- how the lost ones
- will be remembered tomorrow


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and the years after.

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(soft music)

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Subtitling: CNST, Montreal