National Network for Equitable Library Service

On Easter Monday April 9, 1917, sixteen battalions of the Canadian Corps rose along a six-kilometre line of trenches in northern France against the occupying Germans. All four Canadian divisions advanced in a line behind a well-rehearsed creeping barrage of artillery fire, and by nightfall the Germans had suffered a major setback. The Ridge, which other Allied troops had assaulted previously and failed to take, was firmly in Canadian hands. It was the first time Canadians had fought as a distinct national army, and in many ways it was a coming of age for the nation. Some descriptions of violence. c2007.