Canadian soldiers left their mark on history on battle-scarred Vimy Ridge in France nearly 100 years ago, in a nation-defining victory. Now, researchers are finding the First World War troops also left their mark in carvings made in underground caves nearby. Chip Martin reports.
– – –
Londoner Zenon Andrusyszyn recalls sitting alone in the dark and the silence of a cave near Vimy Ridge in France, reflecting on the marks left there by Canadian soldiers on the eve of battle.
“It was a very moving experience,” he said, knowing the battalion and regimental crests and names of soldiers around him may have been among the last earthly works of men before they died.
Among them is a large carving by Robert McKee, a private in the 48th Highlanders, who carved a likeness of the Highlander badge.
Andrusyszyn, team leader of Canadigm, a 10-member Canadian Historical Documentation and Imaging Group, said sitting there was a bit like being in a church.
His crew found more than 200 images carved in the soft chalk of a cave about four km southwest of Canada’s monument on Vimy Ridge, the scene of a defining First World War battle where thousands of Canadians died and thousands more were wounded.
Andrusyszyn and his crew used expensive cameras and three-dimensional scanners to capture the carvings for posterity.
“Our goal was to document, preserve and share,” said the visual artist and former art teacher.
Having recently created three-dimensional copies of the handiwork left by the soldiers, Andrusyszyn will show them publicly for the first time Sunday at the Eldon House Interpretive Centre.
Also for the first time, he’ll show both how the images were captured and the more than $30,000 worth of equipment Canadigm took underground as part of its project, called Souterraine (underground) Impressions.
Andrusyszyn said about 25 copies of the carvings will be put on a tour of public and military museums from 2015 to 2018. The idea is to show the interesting Canadiana that is 11 metres underground in France.
The federally chartered, non-profit Canadigm gets no government money and has been looking for sponsors.
“The project is ongoing. This is only one cave,” Andrusyszyn said of the particular one, which has an overall width and length of 40 m by 40 m. “Two others are within a five-minute drive.”
The other caves were also used by Canadian soldiers to gather and prepare for battle against German troops.
“We are the only people doing this work overseas,” Andrusyszyn said, adding his group has enjoyed great help from British and French researchers.
The cave they’ve documented was discovered by a French researcher in 2006. It had been a mine for building materials in Medieval times, but after the Second World War was stuffed with garbage and forgotten.
The garbage acted as protection from looting and vandalism, it turned out.
Canadigm is willing to go wherever there’s interest in how soldiers occupied themselves in their down time.
“We’re quite willing to do this for educational purposes,” said Andrusyszyn, who said his group has found an invaluable partner in Western University.
Another event for Canadigm is April 13 in Mt. Brydges at the Great War Forum and Military Show where its work will be explained and samples of the soldier handiwork will be shared.
“The intent of the exhibit is to concentrate on the personal side as opposed to the military side,” he said.
– – –
What: Digital Documentation of First World War Carvings Near Vimy Ridge
Where: Eldon House, 481 Ridout St., London
The Canadigm project hopes families will check its website — www.canadigm.ca — for information about soldiers, which in turn may help the project learn more about the men who left their mark in the soft rock near Vimy Ridge.
DID YOU KNOW?
Gen. Arthur Currie, born near Strathroy, is considered the architect of Canada’s Vimy Ridge victory, especially for his artillery tactics that a so-called “creeping barrage” — a moving curtain of shells, behind which Canadian troops advanced.
BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE
When: April 9-12, 1917, near Arras, France. The Germans had occupied the strategic ridge since 1914 and could not be dislodged.
What: The Canadian Expeditionary Force, with all four Canadian divisions fighting together for the first time, overran the Germans to end the lengthy standoff.
Casualties: 3,598 Canadians killed, 7,004 wounded; German losses unknown, but 4,000 taken prisoner
Significance: Historians say the battle helped forge the nation, drawing respect for the fighting ability of Canadians.