Citadel Hill digs deeper WW I trench to laud 'Hometown Heroes'

An expanded interactive exhibit at Halifax's Citadel Hill invitesvisitors to step down into Canada's First World War history.

A series of trenches have been set up on the hill that represents what Canadian trenches would have looked like on the Western Front in 1916, on the eve of the Battle of the Somme.

Part of a trench went on display last year, but now Parks Canada is opening the full exhibit,which features a 91-metre trench in the moat around Citadel Hill.

Citadel Hill is considereda National Historic Site. It's strategic hilltop location offers a wide view of Halifax harbour, making it an ideal place to build a fort to protect the City of Halifax.

During the First World War, the star-shaped stone fortress served as a soldier barracks and command centre for the defence of Halifax harbour. During the Second World War, it was used as a temporary barracks for soldiers heading overseas.

Hometown Heroes

The exhibit is part of a larger, national program called Hometown Heroes, which will feature personal stories from Canadians involved in or affected by the First and Second World War.

Hal Thompson, visitor experience officer with Parks Canada, told CBC's Information Morning that findingtrenches lined with wood, sandbags and chickenwiremight surprise visitors expecting amuddy ditch.

Retaining walls instead of 'muddy holes'

But Thompsonsaid the exhibit shows trenches as they were supposed to look and did look when they were taken care of.

"This is pretty typical of Canadian and British trenches. Soldiers didn't really like to sit in muddy holes, so they would line the entire thing with, basically, retaining walls," he said.

Trenches to last

The exhibit opensthis weekend and will nearly be open longer than the war itself, closing in 2018. It will change over the years to reflect advances in trench architecture.

"The war was interesting,"Thompson said. "We went from really the Victorian era in 1914 to the modern world in 1918,in terms of military technology."