Vimy

[left, German ambassador to the US, Von Bernstorff; right, German general Von Hindenburg]

"[Before the conflict] we were content to be Colonials . . .  but Vimy Ridge was the first battle in which Canadian divisions fought as a whole, and it was purely a Canadian effort. [A] National spirit was born . . .; we were Canadians."
Corporal F. F. Worthington

"There they stood on Vimy Ridge that 9th day of April 1917, men from Quebec stood shoulder to shoulder with men from Ontario, men from the Maritimes with men from British Columbia, and there was forged a nation tempered by the fires of sacrifice and hammered on the anvil of high adventure."
Lord Byng of Vimy, 1922