The best MTB trails around Sailly-En-Ostrevent

A memorial that should not be missed

Splendid memorial. It is worth the detour, to the point of meeting many Canadians.

Be careful, there are lots of nettles on the path leaving Biache.

End of the trip at this villa in Vitry en Artois

Wancourt was captured on 12 April 1917 after very heavy fighting and the advance was continued on the following days. The cemetery, called at first Cojeul Valley Cemetery, or River Road Cemetery, was opened about ten days later; it was used until October 1918, but was in German hands from March 1918 until 26 August, when the Canadian Corps recaptured Wancourt. At the Armistice, the cemetery contained 410 graves, but was very greatly increased in the following years when graves were brought in from a number of small cemeteries and isolated positions on the battlefields south-east of Arras. The cemetery now contains 1936 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 829 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 76 casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and to 20 who were buried in Signal Trench Cemetery whose graves were destroyed in later battles.

A remarkable story about the Vimy Memorial concerns its unveiling in 1936. More than 50,000 people, including 6,200 Canadians, attended the ceremony. The presence of so many veterans and survivors underscored the profound impact of the war and the enduring bond between Canada and France. The memorial has since become a symbol of Canadian courage and sacrifice.

The Mémorial national du Canada à Vimy is an impressive war memorial, commemorating the members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who died during the First World War. The memorial, designed by Walter Seymour Allward, was unveiled on 26 July 1936 by King Edward VIII. It commemorates the 11,169 Canadian soldiers who died in France and have no known grave.

The Vimy Memorial is the most prestigious Canadian monument in Europe. It is located on the very site of the 1917 fighting near Vimy in the Pas-de-Calais region of France. Erected on the highest point of the hill, Hill 145, the objective of the operations that began on April 9, 1917, it overlooks the Douai Plain. In 1921, architect and sculptor Walter S. Allward (1875-1955) won the competition from the Canadian Battlefield Memorials Commission. The significance of the battles at the site and the favorable location at the top of the hill allowed Vimy to receive the most prestigious work.