The Gunners of Canada: 1534-1919
Author: Gerald W. L. Nicholson
Publisher:
Published: 1967
Total Pages: 568
ISBN-13:
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A Thoroughly Canadian General
Author: Paul Douglas Dickson
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2007-01-01
Total Pages: 641
ISBN-13: 080200802X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKGeneral H.D.G. 'Harry' Crerar (1888-1965) was involved in or directly responsible for many of the defining moments of Canadian military history in the twentieth century. In the First World War, Crerar was nearly killed at the second battle of Ypres, was a gunner who helped to secure victory at Vimy Ridge, and was a senior staff officer during the pivotal battles of the last Hundred Days. During the Second World War, he occupied and often defined the Canadian army's senior staff and operational appointments, including his tenure as commander of First Canadian Army through the northwest European campaign. Despite his pivotal role in shaping the Canadian army, however, General Crerar has been long overlooked as a subject of biography. In A Thoroughly Canadian General, Paul Douglas Dickson examines the man and his controversial place in Canadian military history, arguing that Crerar was a nationalist who saw the army as an instrument to promote Canadian identity and civic responsibility. From his days as a student at the Royal Military College in Kingston, to his role as primary architect of First Canadian Army, the career of General H.D.G. Crerar is thoroughly examined with a view to considering and reinforcing his place in the history of Canada and its armed forces.
Shoestring Soldiers
Author: Andrew Iarocci
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2008-09-26
Total Pages: 377
ISBN-13: 1442692790
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Great War was a pivotal experience for twentieth-century Canada. Shoestring Soldiers is the first scholarly study since 1938 to focus exclusively on Canada's initial overseas experience from late 1914 to the end of 1915. In this exciting new work, Andrew Iarocci challenges the dominant view that the 1st Canadian Division was poorly prepared for war in 1914, and less than effective during battles in 1915. He examines the first generations of men to serve overseas with the division: their training, leadership, morale, and combat operations from Salisbury Plain to the Ypres Salient, from the La Bassée Canal to Ploegsteert Wood. Iarocci contends that setbacks and high losses in battle were not so much the products of poor training and weak leadership as they were of inadequate material resources on the Western Front. Shoestring Soldiers incorporates a wealth of research material from official documents, soldiers' letters and diaries, and the battlefields themselves, surveyed extensively by the author. It marks an important contribution to the growing body of literature on Canada in the First World War.
The Torch We Throw: The Dundurn WWI Historical Library
Author: Brereton Greenhous
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2014-07-23
Total Pages: 1125
ISBN-13: 1459730305
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe giant conflagration of the First World War created the world we live in today, and its history is replete with stirring battles, mind-boggling strategies, and geopolitical manoeuvring. However, the real story was lived in the trenches of Europe and the lonely households of those left behind. The stories of this period are full of tragedy, anger, and loss but also inspirational courage. This special five-book bundle presents some of these stories, from brave Canadian contributions to the battlefields at Ypres and Amiens, to the specific untold story of Canada’s unheralded 58th Division, to an analysis of the myth and legend of air ace Billy Bishop, to the voice of one single soldier, Deward Barnes, told through his diary. These books provide new and enlightening perspectives on the war. Amiens Hell in Flanders Fields It Made you Think of Home The Making of Billy Bishop Second to None
The Empire on the Western Front
Author: Geoffrey Jackson
Publisher: UBC Press
Published: 2019-04-01
Total Pages: 349
ISBN-13: 0774860170
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhen Great Britain and its dominions declared war on Germany in August 1914, they were faced with the formidable challenge of transforming masses of untrained citizen-soldiers at home and abroad into competent, coordinated fighting divisions. The Empire on the Western Front focuses on the development of two units, Britain’s 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division and the Canadian 4th Division, to show how the British Expeditionary Force rose to this challenge. Examining their respective geneses and following them through to the end of the war, Geoffrey Jackson explores many aspects of the division-building process of these two units – from leadership and training to discipline and morale – and how (or whether) the process differed in Britain and Canada. The Empire on the Western Front examines army formation and operations at the divisional level and ultimately calls into question existing accounts that emphasize the differences between the imperial and dominion armies.
On the Way!
Author: Christopher R. Kilford
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Published: 2004
Total Pages: 210
ISBN-13: 1412031397
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOn the Way! is a military history of Lethbridge, Alberta during two world wars including the untold story of efforts to de-Nazify German prisoners held in Lethbridge and Canada during the Second World War.
The War Diaries of General David Watson
Author: Geoffrey Jackson
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
Published: 2021-11-11
Total Pages: 387
ISBN-13: 177112508X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe diary of David Watson, who rose through the officer ranks to command one of the four divisions in the Great War, is an exceptional document that details with candid insight the responsibilities of senior command and shows the talent required to rise through the CEF to divisional command. The only published diary of a Canadian who held this rank in the last two (critical) years of the war, it focuses on the evolution of military leadership and associated challenges that Watson (and his peers) faced during the Great War. It recounts how he navigated not only the military battlefield in France and Belgium but also the political battlefield of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and larger British Expeditionary Force. The divisional commanders played a central role in the Corps’ transformation into a first-rate professional army, a transformation that coincided with Watson’s tenure at the 4th Division. Major-General David Watson’s personal accounts offer valuable insights into the innermost workings of the Canadian Corps at various stages during the war and in particular its emergence as an elite fighting force and the pride of a nation
The Imperial Army Project
Author: Douglas E. Delaney
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2018-01-25
Total Pages: 368
ISBN-13: 0191009652
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHow did British authorities manage to secure the commitment of large dominion and Indian armies that could plan, fight, shoot, communicate, and sustain themselves, in concert with the British Army and with each other, during the era of the two world wars? What did the British want from the dominion and Indian armies and how did they go about trying to get it? Douglas E Delaney seeks to answer these questions to understand whether the imperial army project was successful. Answering these questions requires a long-term perspective — one that begins with efforts to fix the armies of the British Empire in the aftermath of their desultory performance in South Africa (1899-1903) and follows through to the high point of imperial military cooperation during the Second World War. Based on multi-archival research conducted in six different countries, on four continents, Delaney argues that the military compatibility of the British Empire armies was the product of a deliberate and enduring imperial army project, one that aimed at standardizing and piecing together the armies of the empire, while, at the same time, accommodating the burgeoning autonomy of the dominions and even India. At its core, this book is really about how a military coalition worked.
Surgical Limits
Author: Shelley McKellar
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2003-01-01
Total Pages: 366
ISBN-13: 9780802037398
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA biography of the life of Gordon Murray.
The Diary of an Artillery Officer
Author: Arthur Hardie Bick
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2011-06-24
Total Pages: 223
ISBN-13: 1459700406
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn the First World War the Canadian Field Artillery led the way in artillery technology and tactics by coordinating the intelligence reports from ground observation teams. The Diary of an Artillery Officer covers the work of the 1st Divisional Artillery in 1918 when it spearheaded the attacks on various European battlefields.
