Dr. Melanie Morin-Pelletier is the Historian, War and Society at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. She is the author of Briser les ailes de l’ange: Les infirmieres militaires canadiennes (1914-1918) and has published multiple articles on Canadian military nursing and on the impact of the war on the Canadian homefront. Since joining the Canadian War Museum in 2012, she has curated the major exhibitions: Fighting in Flanders. Gas. Mud. Memory(2014), and Vimy: Beyond the Battle (2017). Her current research interests focus on human experiences of the war, whether on the battlefield, in military hospitals or on the homefront.

French forces suffered 150,000 casualties throughout 1915 in attempts to take control of Vimy Ridge from the Germans. In March, 1916, the British army relieved the French, but were driven back.

Sir Arthur William Currie led all four Canadian divisions, the first time the Canadians had fought together, achieving a superb victory. By April 12 the entire ridge was under Allied control.