The German stronghold of Vimy Ridge had been targeted many times by Allied attacks before it was taken in one of the defining battles of the First World War over Easter 1917. French forces had lost thousands of men in several botched missions and the British had fared no better. Now the task fell to 100,000 men from Vancouver to Montreal.

It was the first time all four divisions of the Canadian army had fought side by side. Vimy Ridge would be the place where they were bound together in courage and sacrifice. In the weeks leading up to the battle, a network of tunnels was dug beneath the battlefield. Ammunition was stockpiled and every detail of the assault was meticulously planned.

In those final hours of preparation, Lieutenant Gregory Clark of the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles wrote these words in a letter to his father back home. “For our Easter Sunday, with peace on earth and good will towards men, I will take part in the greatest battle in Canada’s history. Farewell if I go down.” Before the war, Gregory Clark had worked as a crime reporter for the Toronto Star. But as a direct result of the horrors at Ypres in April 1915, his focus had shifted.

In the face of such unimaginable loss, he became a voice for Canadian families, sharing their stories in his newspaper articles, bringing a human side to the savagery of war. So moved by stories of loss, Clark enlisted. He would go on to provide a first-hand account of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the experiences of the men he fought alongside.

 Clark described the carnage of the first wave as they ran into a storm of bullets “Before us was the edge of hell” he said “Distorted silhouettes of advancing men against a wall of smoke and fire.” Men took cover in craters left by artillery explosions. Others huddled together amidst the cries of their fallen brothers.

 By April 12th, the the ridge was in Canadian hands but the cost was immense. 3,500 of their men had died with many more wounded. On the German side the figures were twice as high. The firepower unleashed onto Vimy Ridge over the Easter weekend of 1917 was greater than the whole of the Battle of the Somme combined. 

Canada, as a nation, was only 50 years old at that time and regarded as little more than an extension of the British Empire. Now her reputation as a fighting force was indelibly written into history. 25 years later in WW2, The Royal Regiment of Canada would spearhead the attack at Dieppe, then on D-Daythe Queens Own Rifles of Canada would storm Juno Beach in Normandy. Gregory Clark, now too old for active service, was there as a war correspondent alongside his countryman in battle.

Throughout that Easter conflict in 1917, Vimy Ridge trembled and the sky darkened with the smoke of artillery fire. The history is preserved through the eyewitness accounts of men who were there and lived through the unimaginable terror. First-hand accounts also exist of another Easter battle 2,000 years ago on a highpoint known as Golgotha. An ancient Aramaic word that broadly translates into English as Skull Hill. It served as both an execution site and a rubbish dump. It was here that a street preacher and miracle worker was put to death.

Days earlier, adoring crowds had cried “Saviour!” as this hero of the ordinary entered Jerusalem through the old Eastgate. By the end of the working week, many of them would be shouting “Kill him!” as he was sentenced to die by crucifixion. Like Vimy Ridge, reports say the sky turned black and the earth shook at Golgotha. A spiritual battle as the son of God spanned time and eternity and died for the sin of the world.

As Easter approaches each year, Canadians gather at the towering white memorial that stands upon Vimy Ridge, its two pillars reaching to Heaven like hands in prayer. It commemorates their nation’s heroic victory on a battlefield far from home. They come to honour the memory of young men who gave their lives in the cause of freedom.

The designer of the majestic monument had a dream of dead soldiers rising to come to the aid of the living. Captain William Longstaff captured it in his painting ‘The Ghosts of Vimy Ridge’ When I saw it for the first time, it spoke to me of the Easter story recorded in the pages of the Bible. A story of selfless sacrifice but also of new life and victory. The New Testament Gospel writers provide us with eyewitness accounts of the resurrection of Jesus following his death three days earlier over that first Easter weekend.

Vimy Ridge is preserved not just as a battlefield, but as hallowed ground. Trenches have been reclaimed by nature and echoes of gunfire replaced by the whisper of the wind. But the memories remain. And so we stand in the shadow of these two Easter battles that were fought and won on the hills of Vimy and Golgotha. The sacrifice at Easter 1917 shaped the soul of a nation. The sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus opened up the access route to God for us all.