We went to see the trenches and tunnels at the Vimy Memorial Park. Each year the Canadian Government hires Canadian university students as guides for the Memorial Park.

We had a very informative Canadian University student from Waterloo. Our guide explained the tunnels and how they were used to move troops and supplies to the front lines during the battles. We went down a set of stairs that led into an area of the tunnels which have been opened to the public.

The tunnels which were built to move troops and supplies was built with the help of British Tunneling companies. The Canadian military used these tunnels before the Battle of Vimy Ridge as a way to protect soldiers as they moved to the front line.

The tunnels were crucial for the movement of Canadian Soldiers because the Germans were able to see any above ground movements for several miles.

We walked through the tunnel imagining what it must have been like. The soldiers stayed underground and literally lived underground for days at a time.

Some of the tunnels were over a kilometer long. We walked through the tunnels and could see different things carved into the walls.

We came across a section of the tunnel that was enlarged where troops would gather. There was also remnants of equipment that was left in the tunnels.

The tunnels were damp with low ceilings and a dirt floor. The conditions during the war must have been horrific for the Canadian soldiers. After viewing the tunnels we headed to see the trenches.

There is a short section of the German and Allied trenches that have been preserved and open to the public. This was the position of the two front lines on this part of Vimy Ridge at the time of the launch of the Allied offensive in April and May 1917. We walked into the trenches and tried to imagine how it must have been.

The trenches had different lookouts and corners every so often.

The trenches were not all straight and there were many corners. This was because if an enemy managed to get into the trenches you could hide around a corner and defend yourself.

We walked through the trenches and looked through the lookouts. The enemy line was very close approximately three meters away. The distance between the German and Allied trenches was known as no-mans land.

On the other side of the trenches were remnants of shell craters from the battle of Vimy Ridge.

There were areas off-limits, with electric fences, because there still are active landmines and explosives buried in the ground.

The trenches and tunnels were quite interesting and a moving experience for us. Walking through this site was a surreal experience that will stay with us for ever.

“Au revoir et passez une bonne journée”