News — The Vimy Glide

Courtesy of CBC Learning     Just before dawn on April 9, 1917, Lieutenant Claude Williams lay in a muddy trench in northern France, cold and shivering and ready for battle.     Williams, along with thousands of other Canadian soldiers, awaited the signal that would launch one the great battles of the First World War and represent the coming of age for Canada.     "At the arranged time, to the absolute second, suddenly, as dawn was breaking, every gun on the whole front opened up. The roar of the heavy guns was deafening," remembered Williams, a 21-year-old medical...