Centenary of WW1 by Service Editorial web

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EDITORIALS Christian Mantei, Managing Director of Atout France One hundred years! It has already been 100 years since the First World War broke out. Amongst the nations involved, Canada responded to the call, distinguishing itself through the heroic actions of its troops. Today, the French are showing their recognition and celebrating, with emotion, each of the soldiers who fought this bloody conflict. The events put in place by the First World War Centenary Partnership Program to commemorate the War of 14-18 will allow us to discover exhibitions, audio-visual productions, publications, educational activities, and more, in various venues throughout France.

This is a great opportunity for the French people to welcome the descendants of those who came to fight for freedom. Welcome to France!

Army General (2S) Elrick Irastorza, Chairman of the First World War Centenary Partnership Program management board

For the past year, France has entered a memorial cycle that has, once again, brought it back to its history’s darkest hours. To commemorate is to remember, to strive together to understand how we could have reached such international disorder, how men were able to inflict such suffering and endure all this for 52 months. To commemorate today, with our memories appeased by time, is also a way of honouring those who took part in this bloodshed. For Canadians, who live so far away and have been officially independent since 1867, it is also a way to understand what motivated their momentous surge to engage with us in a conflict that did not directly threaten them. Automatism does not explain everything. The rise of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which resulted in the establishment of a four-division corps under national command in the aftermath of

Vimy, as well as the heroic behaviour of Canadian soldiers in the most inhuman battles, attest to their willingness to fight with us for freedom and justice. In this centennial year, the French demonstrate all their appreciation by welcoming today’s Canadians, those who are anxious to regain the past of their ancestors who fought in this conflict. From Le Quesnel to Ypres, passing by BeaumontHamel and Vimy Ridge, home of the conflict at the center of our shared recollection and but a few kilometers from grief-stricken Notre-Dame de Lorette, the presence of lost Canadians buried under French soil is resonant. The memorial unveiled on November 11, facing the national necropolis, will maintain the flame of their memory.

For more information: www.france.fr centenaire.org

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR THE BEGINNING OF CANADIAN TROOPS In August 1914, Great Britain and France went to war against Germany. The Canadian government sent a part of its troops to assist the British army, with the level of military participation being decided by Ottawa.

ÂŠ Wimereux Communal Cemetery

Many Canadians were excited about helping the Allies, especially recent immigrants from the

British Isles, who volunteered in large numbers. To prepare for combat, the Canadian troops received basic training in a hastily built camp in Valcartier, Quebec. On October 3, the first contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, made up of 32,000 men, sailed for Britain. At the same time, the British Dominion of Newfoundland sent 500 soldiers.

Wimereux Communal Cemetery

DID YOU KNOW... In 2012, the Bank of Canada released a new 20-dollar bill, choosing to honour the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in tribute to the Canadians who fought and lost their lives along the Western Front during the First World War.

www.france.fr

TWO GREAT BATTLES

Canadian National Vimy Memorial

BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE Launched on the first day of the Battle of Arras, the Battle of Vimy Ridge (Northern France) was a crucial, defining moment for Canada as a nation. The battle’s centenary, April 9, 2017, will be an opportunity to commemorate this event, which saw more than 66,000 young Canadians give their lives for France.

BATTLE OF THE SOMME

July 1 marks the first day of the Battle of the Somme, a four-month-long campaign in which Canada played an active role. The 1st Newfoundland Regiment suffered staggering losses at Beaumont-Hamel, and July 1, today the province’s Memorial Day, bears a solemn connotation in Newfoundland and Labrador.

WHERE TO COMMEMORATE THESE BATTLES?

VIMY RIDGE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE OF CANADA

Vimy Educational Centre

BEAUMONT-HAMEL NEWFOUNDLAND MEMORIAL Thanks to its extremely well-preserved battlefield and trench lines, this commemorative site provides a moving, realistic point of view of the battles in which men from the Newfoundland Regiment were involved. 168km from Paris, 1h52

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The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial

The new Vimy educational centre The Vimy Foundation was created in 2006, with a mandate to preserve and promote the First World War’s Canadian heritage. Today, the Foundation is overseeing the construction of an educational center on the site of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France, to be inaugurated on April 9th, 2017, exactly one hundred years after the infamous battle. This ultramodern educational center is destined to become a popular destination not only for Canadians on a pilgrimage in France, but also for visitors from around the world who are hoping to better understand this landmark Canadian moment. (To make a donation: Vimy100.ca). 191km from Paris, 1h54

Atop this ridge stands one of the Great War’s most beautiful commemorative monuments: the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.

MAP OF THE

WESTERN FRONT 14-18

CANADIAN MEMORIAL SITES MONCHY-LE-PREUX

CABARET ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY

NEWFOUNDLAND MEMORIAL

In Souchez, the Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery regroups 7,665 graves of Commonwealth soldiers who fell during the Great War. It is from this cemetery that the body of the «unknown Canadian soldier» was exhumed on May 25, 2000, who now lies in front of Canada’s National War Memorial in Ottawa’s Confederation Square. 176 km, 1h40 from Paris CDG Airport

WIMEREUX COMMUNAL CEMETERY

ZIVY AND LICHFIELD CRATERS

In the centre of Monchy-le-Preux, a proud bronze caribou stares off into the horizon. It is one of the five commemorative sites in Europe dedicated to Newfoundland soldiers who fought in the First World War. The same caribou can also be found in Masnières in the North, in Beaumont-Hamel and Gueudecourt in the Somme, and in Courtrai, Belgium. 157 km, 1h28 from Paris CDG Airport

Near the Cross of Sacrifice, one grave stands out in particular, adorned with small Canadian flags, crosses and paper poppies. It is the final resting place of poet and Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, who wrote the famous poem, «In Flanders Fields». 256 km, 2h27 from Paris CDG Airport

During the Battle for Vimy Ridge, two mine craters at the foot of the ridge have been used to inter one hundred soldiers killed in the fighting. Today the burial grounds of Lichfield Crater and Zivy Crater are beautifully gardened although they still retain their circular shape, a unique feature among the Commonwealth War Cemeteries. 170 km, 1h33 from Paris CDG Airport

www.france.fr

BEAUMONT HAMEL NEWFOUNDLAND MEMORIAL

Flers-Courcelette was the Canadian Corps’ first major battle in September 1916. The memorial stands in the centre of a circular park, around which more than ten varieties of maple trees are planted. 144 km, 1h27 from Paris CDG Airport

Thanks to its extremely well-preserved battlefield and trench lines, this commemorative site provides a moving, realistic point of view of the battles in which men from Newfoundland Regiment were involved. 154 km, 1h50 from Paris CDG Airport

LE QUESNEL CANADIAN MEMORIAL

VIMY RIDGE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE OF CANADA

The Canadian memorial in Le Quesnel is made of granite from Quebec, and pays tribute to the achievements of the Canadian Corps during the Battle of Amiens, which lasted from August 8 to 11, 1918. 102 km, 59 min from Paris CDG Airport

Canada’s monument to her 11,285 soldiers reported lost on French soil during the Great War stands at the heart of a 107-hectare park overlooking the Pas-de-Calais coal basin. Built at the place where, in April 1917, Canadian troops fighting as part of the British Army captured Vimy Ridge, the memorial’s white pylons and sculpted figures mark a defining event in the history of Canada. 170 km, 1h50 from from Paris CDG Airport

COURCELETTE CANADIAN MEMORIAL

www.france.fr

CURRENT EVENTS

The Ring of Remembrance, dedicated to fallen soldiers in Northern France during WW1

As part of the centennial celebrations, here are the latest commemorative site openings and renovations.

Extension of the Thiepval Visitor Centre June 2016 - Thiepval For the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, the Somme Departmental Council and Historial, Museum of the Great War, are opening a new extension to the centre. The main feature of the exhibition will be the mural by Joe Sacco depicting the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The Ring of Remebrance, an International Memorial to Fallen Soldiers in Nord-Pas de Calais during WWI November 2014 - Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (Northern France) This new memorial, one of the largest in the world, is resolutely modern, unifying and inspiring, with its elliptical shape designed by architect Philippe Prost. It pays homage to the 580,000 soldiers who lost their lives on the battlefields of the Nord-Pas de Calais region between 1914 and 1918.

enaissance of the Verdun Memorial, a R museum built on the battlefield February 2016 - Verdun (Lorraine) Understand the battle but also the inhuman conditions experienced during the misery of Verdun through a 1,600m² permanent exhibition. The mise en scène is to be made up of largeformat archive image projections, sounds bites, videos, and other artefacts.

Reorganization of the Pompelle Fortress and its Museum June 2014 - Reims (Champagne-Ardenne) The Germans, French and Russians fought here throughout most of the war, and one hundred years later, the Pompelle Fortress still bears the scars of these battles.

Hartmannswillerkopf April 2015 - Wattwiller (Alsace)

This 520m² commemorative museum dedicated to the Battle of Fromelles is half-buried to resemble a bunker.

After renovations to the national monument, crypt, and battlefield scenography, the site was reopened on August 3, 2014 by the Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic.

Lens’ 14-18-War and Peace History Centre June 2015 - Souchez (Northern France)

Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne Early 2015 - Péronne (Picardy)

This new, soberly designed 1,200m² visitors’ centre will become an essential link in Northern France, providing valuable historical information on the events of the Great War in the region.

New exhibition spaces in the courtyard of the medieval chateau help define the castle’s historical context, taking us through its transformations, from the Middle Ages to today.

The Museum of the Battle of Fromelles July 2014 - Northern France

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A NETWORK OF PROFESSIONALS AT YOUR SERVICE

Nearly 460 tourism professionals make up the Somme Battlefields’ Partner, Northern France Battlefields Partner and Aisne 14-18 Passing on the Memory networks: accommodation providers, restaurateurs, tourist offices, visitor sites, guides, taxis, merchants, etc. All are enthusiastic and

committed to providing you with a top-quality welcome year round. They are well versed in the major events and sites of the First World War, and, to help you make the most of your trip, are happy to offer advice, share tips, and provide comprehensive tourist information.

Northern France Battlefields Partners www.remembrancetrails-northernfrance.com Somme Battlefields’ Partner www.somme-battlefields.com Aisne 14-18 Passeurs de Mémoire www.aisne14-18.com

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RETURN TO NORTHERN FRANCE AND NORMANDY

漏S. Dh么te - N. Bryant - Fotolia

Visit the battlefields of World War I, World War II and see the places where Canadian troops gave their lives in opposition to tyranny. Visit the stunning landscapes and beaches of northern France and Normandy. This fully guided tour will present you with the incredible history of this region and the major sites that will be remembered for all time.

We can customize any itinerary for your groups or you may wish to join one of our existing groups. Let us help you and your clients with our expert service.

CONNAISSANCE TRAVEL AND TOURS Contact Liz Dachuk: 1-877-701-7729 ext. 239 Email: lizdachuk@connaissancetravel.com www.connaissancetravel.com