www.ns.legion.ca 77 in location by 4 o’clock on the morning of Easter Monday, some only 100 metres from forward German outposts. The soldiers settled down as best they could in the frosty pre-dawn to await the artillery barrage. The previous evening’s mildness had been replaced by cold squalls of hail and sleet. Everyone was soon chilled to the bone. At 5:30, 983 Canadian and British guns and mortars opened fire as two huge mines exploded under the German lines. This was the signal for 15,000 men in 21 battalions — the first attack wave — to go over the top. They advanced across open ground towards their objective in driving wind, snow and sleet, following closely behind a creeping artillery barrage. As some battalions moved forward, machine-gun fire momentarily checked their progress. But they soon surged forward and to the flanks, overcoming enemy strong points by bayonet and bomb. Captured German soldiers help a wounded Canadian soldier (centre) during the Battle of Vimy. (AP File) “Winnie” McClare In the thick of it, Private Percy “Winnie” McClare of the 24th (Victoria Rifles) Battalion kept his head down while fighting across the cratered, machinegun swept landscape. McClare had enrolled six weeks after his 17th birthday, but only after begging his mother to sign the consent form. Although born in Boston, he was the first of eight children raised by Canadian-born parents who moved back to Nova Scotia. By early 1914 they had settled on a farm at Mount Uniacke. Telling the recruiters he was 18, McClare joined the 63rd Regiment Halifax Rifles in April 1915. He trained on McNabs Island, where he was happy to have the company of two American cousins who had also enrolled. In July 1916, all three boys sailed to England, where — much to their disappointment — they were separated into different units. McClare entered the trenches for the first time a day before the April battle. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial in Vimy, France. (AP/Michel Spingler) continued ...
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