Vimy Ridge (In Memory of Filip Konowal) - 1914

Things didn’t go down as expected

Hill 145, ill-fated Vimy Ridge

We are entrenched in mud as wild hogs, my 47th Battalion

A small wooded knoll we called «the Pimple» 2 miles in front of us

We need to capture the machine gun nests, each was heavily defended

Thousands of wounded, thousands of dead

We’re pinned down by the machine guns

Millions of shells were fired had not done damage

But Vimy Ridge will be in Canadian hands

We’ve got straight orders:

Follow your lieutenant and if he dies follow your corporal

Prepare to use grenades and bayonets

Don’t lose contact with the fellow next to you

And for crying out loud, try not to die

A freak snowstorm struck just as we started, but blizzard proved fortunate

Snow blinded heinies lost their courage, we captured trench by trench

We killed them as rats in the pit, some begging for help to the skies

More of the war now could be seen than from any other place in France

Thousands of wounded, thousands of dead

We’re pinned down by the machine guns

Millions of shells were fired had not done damage

But Vimy Ridge now in Canadian hands