Pierre Berton Critical Essay | Critical Review by Desmond Morton

SOURCE: "Tainted Victory," in Books in Canada, Vol. 15, No. 8, November 1986, pp. 21-3.

In the following review, Morton criticizes Vimy, stating that it is "laden with errors and inaccuracies."

Nations, claimed the French historian Ernest Renan, are not created by speaking the same language or even by occupying the same territory. They are made by people who have done great things together in the past and who expect to do great things together in the future.

Even at the time, the Canadians who captured Vimy Ridge in 1917 knew that they had done a great thing. The bodies of close to 50,000 French and British soldiers who had died in earlier attempts seemed warning enough that the Germans could hold the ridge as long as they chose. For months, through the coldest winter Europe had known in decades, Canadians tunnelled and dragged supplies and raided enemy trenches. Generals...
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