A piece of Canadian military history lies just half an hour down the road from Moncton at Hopewell Cape.
Today is the 100th anniversary since the Battle of Vimy Ridge, where Canadian soldiers took a heavily fortified German position in World War 1.
President of the Albert County Historical Society Stuart Liptay says because of detailed war diaries, they know this gun was captured on day 1, between 11:45 and noon.
“The last 50 yards, they charged at point blank range with these guns firing muzzle blasts at them, and they captured the guns whole just by a cheer and the sheer audacity of it,” says Liptay. “In the war diaries, they state that two days later on April 11th, the guns were turned on the enemy and they fired back several thousand rounds.”
Liptay says in order to raise funds after the war, the government auctioned off war trophies in Victory Loan Campaigns.
Approximately 8,700 Albert County residents raised more than $6.2 million dollars in today’s money ($347,600 at the time) and were able to get this cannon.
This cannon they chose was misidentified in records as being captured by the 26th Battalion, however, decades after being installed at Hopewell Cape, the cannon was determined to have been captured by the 27th Battalion from Winnipeg.
