April 9th 2007 is the ninetieth anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge - a major Allied victory in the First World War and the single greatest military achievement in Canadian history. The victory was instrumental in ushering in the age of modern warfare. It also symbolised Canada’s ‘coming of age’, as the country made the transition from British Dominion to independent nation.

The success at Vimy was the product of a bold and imaginative strategy. The British Commander and his Canadian General devised a new approach to the planning and execution of the battle, which was fought brilliantly on the ground, in the air and under the ground. It was a battle in three dimensions and each was crucial to its success.

This programme allows the viewer unprecedented access to the battlefield, including its maze of underground tunnels, one of which is opened up and explored for the first time since the war.

We follow the fortunes of three soldiers from the same small Canadian town. Each of these men fought in a different dimension of the battle - one in the air, one on the ground, and the last in the battlefield tunnels. Using active exploration, computer-gaming style CGI animation, and personal letters, we shed new light on the technical and emotional elements of the conflict.

We also join a skilled team of archaeologists as they excavate the battlefield. As found objects are subject to analysis, each one is allowed to tell its own unique story; revealing the untold personal experiences of Canadian ground troops and their enemies.

Next, we take to the air with a twenty first century Canadian Snowbirds pilot in a replica plane. Spotting and taking photographs was a crucial activity for guiding the fire against the German positions. Aerial photographs from these balloons and planes assisted the Canadian Corps counter-batteries in destroying an incredible eighty three percent of German guns prior to the attack. To explore this achievement, the programme employs the same photography and spotting techniques used at Vimy to guide military firepower at a Canadian forces artillery range in Shiloh Manitoba.

We go underground with Allied miners, into the labyrinth of crumbling tunnels and caverns that survives to this day beneath the battlefield. The maze of tunnels and caverns carved out of the chalk beds is one of the most remarkable engineering feats of the war. In preparation for the battle, miner-soldiers dug miles of tunnels. In addition to planting mines, the tunnels created an underground city - 'subways' that were used as an invisible path to the front keeping thousands of troops safe and allowing them to move in secrecy to mass for the opening of the attack without coming under shellfire.