- Country:Canada
- Collection:Silver Commemorative $3
- Metal:Silver
- Year:2017
- Denomination:$3
- Finish:Complete
- Weight (oz):0.25
- Purity:0.9999
- Mintage:
- Product type:Coin
In April 1917, all four divisions of the Canadian Corps were ordered to capture the heavily fortifiedVimy Ridge in northern France. This was the first engagement in which Canada's soldiers from coast-to-coast would fight side-by-side as one using innovative tactics. Those forces secured a hard-fought victory that earned them a reputation as a formidable opponent on the western front, while inspiring a nation's sense of pride and unity. This was one of Canada's finest hours during the First World War-but it came at a cost of nearly 11,000 casualties.
Since 1936, an impressive national memorialhas marked the site as a tribute to the Canadian soldiers who fought for the cause of peace and freedom during the First World War. The Royal Canadian Mint proudly commemorates the Canadians who served atVimy Ridge-and throughout the First WorldWar-with a powerful pure silver coin that showcases a poignant symbol of a nation's sacrifice, even in triumph.
Commemorate Canada's historic 1917 battle with this pure silver coin. Order today.
Special features:
COMMEMORATES THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF CANADA'S HISTORIC BATTLE. Your coin commemorates the 100th anniversary of one of the most important battles for Canadian forces during the First World War (1914-1918).
A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN CANADA'S 150-YEAR HISTORY. If Confederation represents the political birth of our nation, then the Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9-12, 1917) marks the beginning of its rise to independent greatness - born of valour and sacrifice on the battlefield, where the Canadian National Vimy Memorial now stands.
CAREFUL APPLICATION OF SHINY AND MATTE POLISHES. The lined specimen background onyour coin provides a solemn backdrop that highlights the engraved design, whose detailed features arebeautifully enhanced by the careful application of shiny and matte polishes.
PACKAGED IN A FOLDOUT DISPLAY CARD. Your coin is packaged in a foldout display card that provides all the information you need at your fingertips-coin specifications, certificate of authenticity, and more.
PURE SILVER! Your coin is crafted from 99.99% pure silver.
NO GST/HST!
Design:
by Canadian artist Laurie McGaw, your coin features a frontal view of the iconic sculpture "Canada Bereft," which is prominently featured at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in Vimy, France. An allegorical figure, she is Mother Canada-the powerful personification of a nation mourning her fallen sons. Mother Canada rests her chin on her hand and bears a sorrowful expression thatis beautifully re-created with finely detailed engraving. On the reverse, the engraved figure is front and centre as the main focus of the design; on thememorial, the limestone carving stands on the northeast edge of the monument platform, where she looks down at a ground-level tomb. The Vimy Memorial is recreated behind and to the left of the grieving sculpture; set against the lined specimen background, the Vimy Memorial is depicted further in the distance to provide a full sense of the stately grandeur of this Canadian site of remembrance overseas. To the right of Mother Canada are the large letters "VIMY". The obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.
Did you knowÃ
German forces seized the seven-kilometre ridge and surrounding territory in 1914. The French had tried to recapture it in May 1915 and again in September 1915, at a cost of up to 150,000 casualties-a higher number than the 100,000 Canadians whotook part in the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917.
The Vimy Memorial was unveiled by King Edward VIII on July 26, 1936, in a ceremony attended by more than 100,000 people, including many veterans and dignitaries.
Visitors to the memorial in Vimy, France, can still view a portion of the Grange Tunnel, which was part ofa network of underground passageways that were dugat least 10 metres beneath the ground.
For their individual acts of valour at Vimy, four Canadians were awarded the Victoria Cross:Private William Milne, Lance-Sergeant Ellis Sifton,Captain Thain MacDowell and Private John Pattison.
The commander of the Canadian Corps, Lieutenant-General Julian Byng, was beloved by Canadian troops, who called themselves the Byng Boys. Raised to the peerage after the war, he was titled 1st Viscount of Vimy and was appointed Governor General of Canada from1921 to 1926.
The Battle
Intense preparations marked the weeks leading up to the offensive. Canada's troops used models and maps to rehearse and recreate the conditions they'dface during the attack. Tunnels were dug to the front lines and beneath No Man's Land, some equipped with rail lines, water, electricity and large storage bunkers. Each soldier would know his task, since infantrymen were assigned specialized roles such as grenade-throwers, riflemen and machine-gunners.
After an intense bombardment (dubbed the "Week of Suffering" by the German forces defending theridge), the first wave of 15,000 Canadian soldiers set out at 5:30 a.m. on April 9, 1917. Infantrymen advanced [they weren't side by side, they used a new innovation of attacking in depth and in phases.]behind a creeping barrage of unrelenting artillery fire that was aimed just ahead of them to destroy and supress enemy defences This advance was carefully paced and timed to the minute. Withina half hour, Canadians had captured most of the front line and by noon, a large portion of the ridge was in Allied hands. Continued fighting allowed themto take the highest point, Hill 145, on April 10, and "the Pimple" on April 12. Defeated, the enemy retreated from the position they had occupied since 1914.
The Memorial
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is located 14 kilometres north of the French city of Arras, on Hill 145, where it towers over the former battlefield. In 1922, the people of Canada were granted perpetual use of the battle-scarred land on Vimy Ridge, and in 1925, construction began on a monument that would honour all of Canada's soldiers who fought in the First World War
Completed in 1936, the Vimy Memorial was designed by Canadian sculptor Walter Allward in a modern classical style. The two 30-metre high pylons tower over the battlefield park, rising up from their stone and concrete base to represent Canada and France. All along the exterior walls are the inscribed names of the 11,285 Canadians who were killed in France during the First World War and have no known grave. This senseof loss is heightened by the prominent sculpture of"Canada Bereft" at the front of the memorial. One of 20 allegorical sculptures, the cloaked figure of Mother Canada bears a mournful expressionto represent a nation mourning its lost sons, as she looks down at the ground-level sarcophagus adorned with laurel branches, a sword and a Brodie helmet.
Coupled with the preserved trenches and tunnels, Canada's powerful ode to the combatants of one war would survive another-even as Vimy fell once more behind enemy lines in 1940. Re-dedicated in2007 after an extensive restoration, the iconic Vimy Memorial remains one of Canada's most important monuments-a timeless symbol of valour, peace, honour and remembrance, but also a stirringreminder of the tragic cost of war.
