Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday began commemorations to mark the 90th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge, a painful World War I victory in France that helped firm Canada's national identity.
"The events here 90 years ago were, for our country, a coming of age," he said in a speech after 300 Canadian soldiers ended a parade through this northern French town that was watched by thousands waving French and Canadian flags.
"At the Battle of Vimy Ridge, troops representing all four divisions of the Canadian Army fought together for the first time, achieving a spectacular victory that affirmed our national identity and national character."
Accompanied by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister, was due to lay a wreath yesterday at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial near Arras.
The event will commemorate a battle that began at 5:30am on April 9, 1917, when almost 100,000 Canadian soldiers charged Vimy Ridge, which the German army had fortified heavily with trenches, barbed wire, artillery and machine-gun nests.
A total of 3,598 Canadian troops were killed and 7,004 were wounded over four days of fighting as they slowly took control of the escarpment.
The victory was a strategic breakthrough that had eluded their British and French allies for two years.
"In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation," Brigadier General Alexander Ross, who commanded the 28th Battalion at Vimy, said when a huge memorial was unveiled on the battleground in 1936.
"It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade."
The victory triggered Canadian pride in the courage of its soldiers and defined a sense of nationhood in the former British colony.
A Canadian soldier killed at Vimy Ridge was buried with full military honors on Saturday.
The body of Private Herbert Peterson was discovered in 2003 and identified through DNA testing. He was buried in La Chaudiere cemetery in the shadow of the ridge near Arras at a ceremony attended by relatives.
The delegation due to attend yesterday's ceremony was to hold a minute's silence and the Last Post -- the bugle call performed at military funerals -- was to be played.
The day's events was also to include a parade of flaming torches.
Hundreds of high school students wearing replica World War I tunics stitched with the name of a soldier who fought in the conflict were also expected to attend the dedication of the newly restored memorial.
Some 7,000 Canadians were expected to attend the event.
More than 600,000 Canadians fought in World War I (1914-1918) and some 66,000 died. Only two Canadian veterans of the conflict are still alive.
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial with its twin pylons towering 30m above a sprawling stone platform represents the solidarity of France and Canada, adorned with carved statues symbolizing peace, sacrifice and mourning.
Designed by Canadian architect Walter Seymour Allward, it took 11 years to build.
It was not dedicated to military conquest and glory but recalled the legions who sacrificed their lives -- a sentiment not previously expressed in war memorials.
Ottawa recently spent C$20 million (US$17.4 million) to restore it for this occasion.
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