A ceremony in northern France Sunday marked the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and provided some young Canadians with a history lesson they could never get in school.

One student was selected from each province and territory to help commemorate the First World War battle in which nearly 4,000 Canadian soldiers died.

The battle became known as a nation builder for Canada, and proved to be a turning point in the war.

Vimy Ridge Memorial

Germany's hold on the ridge had frustrated the Allied armies for 2 1/2 years, in part because of a series of trenches and tunnels built into the hill. But heavy shelling had begun to wear down the enemy ahead of the final offensive.

The Canadians faced mud, snow and sleet as they captured the ridge on April 9, 1917.

During Sunday's ceremony, the 13 students laid a wreath at the foot of the Canadian National Vimy Ridge Memorial honouring the 67,000 Canadians who died in the First World War.

The 30-metre-high limestone monument includes the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who were lost in combat in France during the First World War, and who have no known graves.

On their cross-Atlantic history lesson, the students and their guides from the Department of Veterans Affairs spent the past week touring Canadian cemeteries, memorials and former battlegrounds in Belgium and France to learn about their country's contribution to both world wars.