ervices was an
officer who had won the V.C. and the D.S.O. and had a foreign
Decoration as well. In the afternoon I visited and gave an address to
one of the battalions moving up the line. I also had a service in the
cinema that evening.

It was a time of mingled anxiety and exhilaration. What did the next
twenty-four hours hold in store for us? Was it to be a true Easter for
the world, and a resurrection to a new and better life? If death
awaited us, what nobler passage could there be to Eternity than such a
death in such a cause? Never was the spirit of comradeship higher in
the Canadian Corps. Never was there a greater sense of unity. The task
laid upon us was a tremendous one, but in the heart of each man, from
private to general, was the determination that it should be performed.
On that Easter night, the battalions took their places in the line.
The men at the guns, which had hitherto been concealed and kept
silent, were ready to open fire at zero hour, and all along that front
the eager heart of Canada waited impatiently for the dawn.

CHAPTER XVI. (p. 167)

THE CAPTURE OF VIMY RIDGE.

_April 9th, 1917._

My alarm clock went off at four a.m. on the great day of April 9th,
which will always shine brightly in the annals of the war. I got up
and ate the breakfast which I had prepared the night before, and
taking with me my tin of bully-beef, I started off to see the opening
barrage. It was quite dark when I emerged from the door of the Chateau
and passed the sentry at the gate. I went through the village of
Ecoivres, past the Crucifix by the cemetery, and then turning to the
right went on to a path which led up to Bray Hill on the St. Eloi
road. I found some men of one of our battalions bent on the same
enterprise. We got into the field and climbed the hill, and there on
the top of it waited for the attack to begin. The sky was overcast,
but towards the east the grey light of approaching dawn was beginning
to appear. It was a thrilling moment. Human lives were at stake. The
honour of our country was at stake. The fate of civilization was at
stake.

Far over the dark fields, I looked towards the German lines, and, now
and then, in the distance I saw a flare-light appear for a moment and
then die away. Now and again, along our nine-mile front, I saw the
flash of a gun and heard the distant report of a shell. It looked as
if the war had gone to sleep