Taking Vimy Ridge

Here we have a porthole from the Lusitania, among other items about its sinking. A German u-boat sunk the passenger liner, outraging the Allies, as well as the Americans, who had yet to enter the war. 

Here we see a model of a section of the trenches. Buttons can be pressed to show lights at specific sections of the lines, like a sniper's nest for instance.

From there, the visitor can walk right into a recreated trench.

Here we have some of the weapons of the trenches, for close fighting, in case the other fellow decided to cross no-man's land. For four years, there was little difference in the actual width of the space between the lines on the Western Front, with one side pushing the other, and then getting pushed back, all while conditions in the trenches led to their own problems.

Military planners in the Allied headquarters hoped that an attack at the Somme would break the stalemate. It would only lead to more death, and more futility.

Another large canvas. The Battle Of Courcelette is a painting by Louis Alexander Weirter, depicting a Canadian victory during the Somme.

Canadians would be assigned to take Vimy Ridge. Captured early in the war by the Germans, the ridge commanded the area around Pas-de-Calais. The British and French had tried repeatedly to take it back. Canadians, who were establishing a record as shock troopers, and who didn't fight with the same tactics as their European counterparts, were given the job. They trained for months while the artillery went to work firing on German positions, using tools like this three dimensional map.

A video display combines footage with an animated map showing the movement of military forces on the battlefield during the battle. The work and the training paid off. Over the course of four days in April 1917, the Canadians drove the Germans off the ridge and won a fierce battle. They did what was impossible, but did it anyway.