Canada

This made me laugh!

As we await the latest heresy from the Great Orange Leader, I came across this revised map. It's too good not to share.

ABC Wednesday V is for Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge by Richard Jack (1866-1952) painted c1918

The men are loading a QF 4.5 inch howitzer

Canadian War Museum

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Vimy Ridge is a steep cliff five miles to the north-east of Arras, in France, giving an uninterrupted view for many kilometres in all directions. The battle of Vimy Ridge took place between 9^th and 12^th April, 1917 as part of the first phase of the British-led Battle of Arras. The objective was to take control of the escarpment which had been held by the Germans since 1914. The main participants were the Canadian Corps against three divisions of the German Sixth Army. 97,000 Canadians were supported by 73,000 British troops and opposed 30 to 45,000 Germans.

It was the first time that all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together. These men had been drawn from all parts of the country and it was the fact that they fought as a cohesive unit that made the battle important for Canada and a symbol of national unity. It was also a symbol both of Canadian triumph and sacrifice. The widely held belief in Canada is that her national identity and sense of nationhood arose from the victory at Vimy Ridge.

Late at night on 8^th April and in the early hours of 9^th April final preparations were made for the attack, following three weeks of heavy bombardment by the British. At 0530 hours the barrage began. Mines laid under no man’s land and German trenches were detonated. The Canadian Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng, advanced behind a creeping barrage, light artillery firing shells ahead of the troops to prevent the enemy seeing them and shooting at them. This tactic was intended to allow the enemy little time to leave their dugouts and protect their ground.

At first the Germans were able to defend their positions, despite heavy losses, but as the Canadians advanced, many of the German guns were overrun. They were unable to be moved to the rear because the horses used to haul them had been killed in the initial gas attack. Although the Hague Declaration of 1899 and the Hague Convention of 1907 prohibited the use of chemical weapons in time of war, more than 124,000 tons of gas were manufactured by the end of the First World War. The French were the first to deploy them in World War I, using tear gas.

By nightfall three days later Vimy Ridge was under the control of the Canadian Corps, which had lost 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded. The number of German casualties is unknown, but around 4,000 men became prisoners of war.

Four Victoria Crosses were awarded to Canadian soldiers and at least two Orders Pour le Merité, the highest Prussian military honour, to German commanders.

The Germans did not attempt to recapture the ridge, which remained under British jurisdiction until the end of the war.

In 1922 France gave Canada the use in perpetuity of 250 acres of the battleground site to serve as a memorial park. The ground is riddled with tunnels, trenches, shell craters and unexploded armaments but part of it has been made safe and accessible to visitors. Today the trenches look benign and belie the horror of trench warfare.

Mother Canada mourning her dead

Part of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is Canada’s largest overseas war memorial.

It is sobering to travel in this part of France and to see the war cemeteries for those thousands of young men, German, British, Canadian and so many more, who died believing they were fighting a just war. The saddest and most poignant of all are the headstones which bear the words ‘Known unto God’, particularly when a single grave contains the remains of two or three men.

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ABC Wednesday Q is for Quebec

This 1797 engraving is based on a sketch made by Hervey Smyth, General Wolfe's aide-de-camp during the siege of Quebec. A view of the taking of Quebec, 13th September 1759

Library of the Canadian Department of National Defence

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Battle of Quebec, otherwise known as The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Bataille des Plaines d'Abraham or Première bataille de Québec was fought during the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War in the USA) which took place from 1757 to 1762.

It began on 13^th September, 1759, between the British and the French on a high plain outside the city of Quebec in Canada. The land originally belonged to a farmer called Abraham Martin and gave rise to the name the Plains of Abraham.

The French, Canadian and Indian forces were commanded by Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm and Major General James Wolfe led the British and American soldiers. Montcalm’s men numbered 5,000 with three guns while 4,500 of Wolfe’s force went into battle on the Plains of Abraham with one gun.

On the night of September 12^th Wolfe’s force rowed along the St. Lawrence River towards Anse de Foulon where they intended to disembark. They drifted slightly off-course and landed near a slope. The 4,500 men scaled the cliffs and assembled on the plains in a single line of battalions.

Montcalm was unaware of their presence until the morning of 13^th September. At 10:00 am his troops began their advance. The British lines held their fire until their opponents were within range then loosed two volleys which destroyed the French attack. The British then advanced and forced the French to retreat from the field of battle.

The encounter lasted around fifteen minutes and was a pivotal moment in the conflict between France and Britain over sovereignty in New France, ultimately leading to the creation of Canada. French forces continued to battle and were victorious in several skirmishes but within four years most of France’s assets in eastern North America had been relinquished to Great Britain. In effect, the victory at Quebec marked the beginning of the end of French rule in Canada.

What of the generals?

General Wolfe had moved to a high point to see the battle action. Earlier he had been shot in the wrist but had wrapped it and continued to fight. Now, within moments of the order to fire the volleys, he was shot in the stomach and chest and carried to the rear of the battle field. One of the soldiers near the General shouted out, ‘They run, see how they run.’ Wolfe, who had declined medical assistance, asked what had happened, gave orders for following action and said, ‘Now, God be praised, I will die in peace.’ It was reported that he then turned on his side and died. He was 32.

Meanwhile, the Marquis de Montcalm had been shot in the thigh and lower abdomen while retreating but was still mounted. He was carried along with his army and eventually taken from his horse into a nearby house where he died the following morning. His body was buried in the Ursuline chapel in a crater left by a British shell. He was 47.

The Plains of Abraham are preserved in The Battlefields Park in Quebec City.

This meme is hosted and organised by Denise Nesbitt and her team. Click here to see more Qs.

Blogging from A to Z April challenge Brother

A year ago my brother died.

He was five years older than me and emigrated to Canada more than forty years ago. After many years he left Canada to teach English in a Chinese school. He was made very welcome by the Chinese, finding them most hospitable and generous. Sadly, the climate disagreed with him and he developed health problems from which he never really recovered, so he returned to British Columbia, much to the relief of his daughter.

There was rarely any communication from him. My parents said little on this subject. When he did write letters they were like long essays, with nothing personal in them.

My father died and then my sister and he didn’t come back for their funerals. He returned later to spend a year at my mother’s home but didn’t maintain close contact with her after he left for Canada again. He was her only son and although she and my father repeatedly said that he had ‘always been odd’ I think she was probably hurt by his apparent indifference. I don’t believe she thought it was deliberate – more that he lived in another world inside his head.

Eventually, my mother died and once again he couldn’t afford to return to England, until he learnt that there was a legacy from her which gave him the wherewithal to travel.  So, he came back for her funeral, staying with us and then going to Norfolk to spend time with my late sister’s family.

At this time we discovered just how ‘odd’ he had become, believing that the world had been invaded by space aliens. He was not delusional – at least, not certifiably. He was just a gentle, quite passive, undemanding man who had probably spent too much time on his own and been persuaded by plausible writers of implausible things.

When my niece phoned to tell me he had died in his sleep I felt nothing apart from deep sadness for her. I hadn’t known him for many, many years and it was like hearing of the death of a slight acquaintance. I have never shed a tear over his passing and never will. I suppose I am angry with him for his lack of consideration for my parents. They deserved better.

On the Square (Part 1)

Hong Kong 1928 - aged 24

For more than sixty of his eighty-four years of life my father was a practising Freemason. His father, who drowned when his ship went down off Sheerness in 1914, was also a Freemason. In fact, his Masonic regalia was washed ashore and returned to his widow and eventually passed on to the youngest of her three sons, my father, who was then ten years old. He in turn passed it on to his only son, my late brother, in whose care it went up in flames with the rest of his possessions in a log cabin in BC, Canada many years ago. Freemasons who have only just met me know within a very short time of conversing with me that I am a Freemason's daughter, not because I tell them but because there are certain expressions or words I use that are a key to this knowledge. I don't know what they are! I used to observe my father discovering a brother mason through apparently casual conversation but never fathomed how he did it.
My father always maintained that Freemasonry was not a secret society but rather a society with secrets; there is a subtle difference. He often stated that anyone could find out anything about Freemasonry if they carried out some research. Throughout his time in the Royal Navy, which totalled more than thirty years, he knew that, as a Master Mason, wherever he went in the world he would be welcomed as a brother at any Masonic Lodge governed by or affiliated to the United Grand Lodge of England. The language might be different but the ritual was familiar and comforting. Added to this was the fact that he was an accomplished organist and pianist and could be called upon to play at meetings if required. At a time when naval commissions could take three years, recognisable surroundings and ceremonies provided a pleasant change from shipboard life and a reminder of home in often exotic locations.
My father's eldest brother, Will, was also a Freemason and continued his participation after he emigrated to Canada. Whether Harry, their middle brother and their mother's favourite, was ever initiated was never known since he removed himself from the family and cut all contact, leaving their mother heartbroken for the remainder of her life.
It is not clear how and why Freemasonry arose as an organisation. In its ritual it makes reference to the builders of King Solomon's Temple but I have always thought that its origins lay in the formal foundation of guilds of stonemasons. I suspect I was told this indirectly by my father as I'm sure this is what he believed.
The term freemason was believed to have been coined in the fourteenth century and there are several definitions of it. One of these describes a worker in free-stone. Quarry stone used in everyday building was unevenly laid down and had either a coarse crooked grain or a grain like that of a plank of pine wood. This meant that it could not be cut or carved with any degree of accuracy as it might split along any of its grains. Stone used for carving needed to have either no grain or a very fine grain so that it could be worked without cracking or chipping and could be polished if required. This stone was called free-stone. Thus a mason working with this material would be known as a free-stone mason.
Another definition describes how local stonemasons under normal circumstances were constrained by guilds and civil law to work only in their own parishes. However, masons involved in church and cathedral work were not restricted and could move freely from parish to parish. This was at a time when an ordinary workman going into a parish other than his own would be regarded as a foreigner, even if he had travelled from a neighbouring parish. Street riots could be caused by incursions from such outsiders.
Mediaeval stonemasons traditionally served a seven-year apprenticeship. Apprentices were indentured, or under contract, to their masters in payment for their training. At the end of his contract the apprentice would be examined and then set free as a master mason to follow his trade. Accordingly a master mason was considered to be a free mason.
A city or town charter is a legal document establishing a municipality which is a clearly defined area governed by a mayor and his council. This concept was developed in Europe in mediaeval times. When a town was granted a charter it was able to govern itself and its residents became citizens, free from bondage to local landowners. Within the town or city walls there was freedom from serfdom. Outside serfdom persisted legally up to the 17^th century in England. So a mason in a chartered town would be a free citizen while a mason outside the walls would not be free. Strangers entering a municipality with the intention of living there might receive their freedom or citizenship after a residential period of one year and one day.
Free stonemasons working on ecclesiastical buildings restricted their contact to other masons, keeping themselves apart from local workmen working with them. It would appear that they did this under the authority of the church. Stonemasons were highly skilled, the élite of the workforce and held in great respect by other less accomplished artisans. The craft attracted the more ambitious candidates among otherwise poorly-educated recruits.
It is uncertain how or when or even why guilds of working or operative masons began to accept speculative, intellectual, non-operative masons. What is known is that some lodges in England were composed entirely of non-operative masons by 1646.
Where does the expression 'on the square' come from? It is understood as meaning an individual behaving honestly and straightforwardly in his dealings with his fellow man. Around 945 BC, at the time of the construction of King Solomon's Temple, the ancient Egyptians referred to truth and justice as being 'on the square.' In 500 BC Confucius spoke of 'the squareness of actions' and Aristotle in 350 BC linked 'square actions' with honest behaviour. So to be 'on the square' is understood, from ancient times, to be resolute and dependable.
(I have used many sources in my research. I have been unable to recover the links but am indebted to those whose work has provided me with a greater insight into Freemasonry. I believe I have not plagiarised anyone's work – that was not my intent – there is a large body of information 'out there' to which I have added my own small knowledge garnered from my late father according to the facts he felt able to share with me.) 

What does Facebook say about you?

Facebook, the social networking site, which claims to be a superb way to regain contact with former friends and maintain relationships with friends and relations, has many followers. Its members may post photographs, join groups of like-minded people, support a myriad of causes, communicate with each other openly or in private through the inbox. There are many sometimes addictive games to play and quests to be followed. It can be an outlet for housebound people, a means of escape from problems or ills but beware what and how you post for it seems that other eyes are monitoring your actions and judging you. This Facebook user in Canada has discovered that the hard way in a very worrying turn of events. It seems that the time of George Orwell's Big Brother has finally arrived!