Bourlon Wood Memorial

== Monument design ==

== Monument design ==

===Site selection===

===Site selection===

[[File:Flesquières Hill British Cemetery.JPG|thumb|right|Bourlon wood is seen in the background of Flesquières Hill British Cemetery.]]

[[File:Flesquières Hill British Cemetery.JPG|thumb|right|Bourlon Wood is seen in the background of Flesquières Hill British Cemetery]]

At the end of the war, The [[Imperial War Graves Commission]] granted Canada eight sites - five in France and three in Belgium - on which to erect memorials. Each site represented a significant Canadian engagement in the war and for this reason it was originally decided that each battlefield would be treated equally and graced with identical monuments.{{cite book |title=Canada and the Great War: Western Front Association Papers |last=Busch |first=Briton Cooper |year=2003 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |location=Montreal |isbn=0-7735-2570-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/canadagreatwarwe0000unse}} 205 The [[Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission]] was formed in November 1920 and decided a competition would be held to select the design of the memorial that would be used at the eight European sites.{{cite web | title = Design Competition | publisher = Veteran Affairs Canada | date = 2007-03-25 | url = https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/vimy/design/competition | access-date = 2020-08-19}} In October 1922, the submission of Toronto sculptor and designer [[Walter Seymour Allward]] was selected as the winner of the competition, and the submission of Frederick Chapman Clemesha placed second. The commission decided Allward's monumental design would be used at [[Vimy Ridge]] in France as it was the most dramatic location.{{cite book| title= Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War |last=Vance |first=Jonathan Franklin |year=1997| publisher=UBC Press |location=Vancouver |isbn=0-7748-0600-1}} 66–69 Despite a consideration that Alward's monument at Vimy could stand alone as the sole monument to the Canadian efforts in Europe Clemesha's 'Brooding Soldier' design was selected for the remaining seven sites but was later, for a number of reasons, erected only at [[Saint Julien Memorial|St. Julien]] in Belgium.

At the end of the war, The [[Imperial War Graves Commission]] granted Canada eight sites - five in France and three in Belgium - on which to erect memorials. Each site represented a significant Canadian engagement in the war and for this reason it was originally decided that each battlefield would be treated equally and graced with identical monuments.{{cite book |title=Canada and the Great War: Western Front Association Papers |last=Busch |first=Briton Cooper |year=2003 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |location=Montreal |isbn=0-7735-2570-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/canadagreatwarwe0000unse}} 205 The [[Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission]] was formed in November 1920 and decided a competition would be held to select the design of the memorial that would be used at the eight European sites.{{cite web | title = Design Competition | publisher = Veteran Affairs Canada | date = 2007-03-25 | url = https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/vimy/design/competition | access-date = 2020-08-19}} In October 1922, the submission of Toronto sculptor and designer [[Walter Seymour Allward]] was selected as the winner of the competition, and the submission of Frederick Chapman Clemesha placed second. The commission decided Allward's monumental design would be used at [[Vimy Ridge]] in France as it was the most dramatic location.{{cite book| title= Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War |last=Vance |first=Jonathan Franklin |year=1997| publisher=UBC Press |location=Vancouver |isbn=0-7748-0600-1}} 66–69 Despite a consideration that Alward's monument at Vimy could stand alone as the sole monument to the Canadian efforts in Europe Clemesha's 'Brooding Soldier' design was selected for the remaining seven sites but was later, for a number of reasons, erected only at [[Saint Julien Memorial|St. Julien]] in Belgium.

The memorial site is on land donated by the [[Charles de Franqueville|Comte de Franqueville]], the Mayor of Bourlon at the war's end. It is found at the end of the 'Avenue du Bois' in the southeastern corner of the village of Bourlon.

The memorial site is on land donated by the [[Charles de Franqueville|Comte de Franqueville]], the Mayor of Bourlon at the war's end. It is found at the end of the 'Avenue du Bois' in the southeastern corner of the village of Bourlon.

[[File:Bourlon Wood Memorial 1.jpg|450px||thumb|right]]

The park is a beautiful series of terraces lined with ancient [[Tilia|lime tree]]s that were nursed back to health after having been shattered by [[Artillery|shellfire]] during the battle for Bourlon Wood. Two parallel paths ascend from the base up to a plateau on the hilltop where the Canadian [[granite]] block monument is set in a glade of lawn upon a low circular [[flagstone]] terrace. Through the trees, the view from the top of the site looks back over the former battlefields that approached Bourlon, across which the Canadians advanced through August and September 1918, and Vimy Ridge can be seen on the northwestern horizon.

The park is a beautiful series of terraces lined with ancient [[Tilia|lime tree]]s that were nursed back to health after having been shattered by [[Artillery|shellfire]] during the battle for Bourlon Wood. Two parallel paths ascend from the base up to a plateau on the hilltop where the Canadian [[granite]] block monument is set in a glade of lawn upon a low circular [[flagstone]] terrace. Through the trees, the view from the top of the site looks back over the former battlefields that approached Bourlon, across which the Canadians advanced through August and September 1918, and Vimy Ridge can be seen on the northwestern horizon.

At Bourlon Wood, the inscription on the monument reads:

At Bourlon Wood, the inscription on the monument reads:

{{blockquote|The Canadian Corps on 27th Sep. 1918 forced the Canal du Nord and captured this hill. They took Cambrai, Denain, Valenciennes & Mons; then marched to the Rhine with the victorious Allies}}

{{blockquote|The Canadian Corps on 27th Sep. 1918 forced the Canal du Nord and captured this hill. They took Cambrai, Denain, Valenciennes & Mons; then marched to the Rhine with the victorious Allies}}

Bourlon Wood Memorial 1.jpg|The memorial block on the summit plateau

===Images===

Bourlon Wood Memorial 2.jpg|The memorial from the southwest (April 2012)

{| class="wikitable center" style="text-align: center;"

Bourlon Wood Memorial 3.jpg|The memorial from the southeast (April 2012)

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| [[File:Bourlon Wood Memorial 2.jpg|500px]]

| [[File:Bourlon Wood Memorial 3.jpg|500px]]

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| A view of the Bourlon Wood Canadian Memorial from the southwest (April 2012)

| A view of the Bourlon Wood Canadian Memorial from the southeast (April 2012)

|}

==References==

==References==