A Finale For The War Museum

Coming out of the ramp leading out of Lebreton Gallery, one wall is often used to display a given work of art for awhile. At the moment it is a set of four canvases depicting a single scene. I photographed from right to left. The Roads Of France was painted by C.R.W Nevinson in 1917, and each portion paints a single aspect of the approach to the front lines.

Here it is as a whole.

Across from them stands a recent addition to the Museum's collection, one with a lot of history. Canadian soldiers ended the First World War at Mons, Belgium. In August 1919, two 18 pounder field guns were presented to the citizens of Mons in friendship. It was said that this one was the last Canadian artillery gun to fire before the armistice. As a centennial tribute to the end of the war, Belgium gave this one back to the War Museum. I hope you've found this visit to the War Museum enlightening.

Warfare Found On The Canvas

I start out today with two final images from Lebreton Gallery.

The ramp that leads back up to the main entrance of the museum features large canvases of war art. This is The Taking Of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday 1917, a 1919 painting by Richard Jack, showing the Canadian battle of the First World War.

Here we have two angles on one painting. Canada's Grand Armada 1914 is a 1919 painting by Frederick Challener, depicting the First Contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force sailing for Europe in the fall of that first year of the war.

World War Two brought a different kind of art, done by the pilots or their ground crews: nose cone art put onto fighters and bombers.

Battlefields Of Ypres is a 1920 painting by David Young Cameron, depicting the shattered battlefield near the Belgian city.

And this is No Man's Land, by Maurice Cullen, done around 1920. I will be concluding this series tomorrow.

Armoured Cavalry And A Fighter

The vehicles and equipment in Lebreton Gallery is lined up thematically, with tanks of various countries side by side.

On Remembrance Day chairs are set up in here for viewing of the national services, or choral performances.

One of the necessities of any moving army: meals. This is a mobile canteen dating to the Second World War.

The Canadian fighter jet is one of the items that had to be moved into the building before construction was completed. It dominates the gallery.

This tank, a Valentine, looks rough. The Soviet army used the British designed and Canadian built tanks during the Second World War. This one broke through ice in the Ukraine and spent a few decades underwater. Now it's here.

A Long Forgotten Weather Station

More from LeBreton Gallery today.

This is the staff car of Field Marshal Harold Alexander, whose command was in North Africa and Italy. After the war he ended up serving as Canada's governor general.

Two larger vehicles are here.

A model of a ship, the Nipigon, is on display too. For comparison, the actual ship was about as long as the Museum is wide.

Here we have another of my favourite artifacts in the Museum, the weather station codenamed Kurt. During the Second World War the German navy installed this at the north end of Labrador, painting the bins to look like a Canadian station. It transmitted data for a short time, then ceased, and faded from memory for forty years until a German researcher came across information on it in war records. The fact that it was out there for so many years and went unnoticed is marvelous.

Regeneration Hall And The Gallery

Here are more views of the Vimy Ridge Memorial plaster casts, which have such power when you see them up close.

Unveiling Vimy Ridge Monument is a 1937 painting by Georges Scott.

One last view back.

From here we step out into Lebreton Gallery, filled with a multitude of vehicles and equipment from numerous countries and eras. They include this one man submarine, the Molch class German sub developed during the Second World War.

The equipment in here includes tanks, infantry carriers, artillery, or support vehicles. More from here tomorrow.