The War Diaries of General David Watson

The War Diaries of General David Watson PDF Author: Geoffrey Jackson
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 177112508X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
The 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 War Diaries of General David Watson

The War Diaries of General David Watson PDF Author: Geoffrey Jackson
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 177112508X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
The 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

American Airpower Comes Of Age—General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold’s World War II Diaries Vol. II [Illustrated Edition]

American Airpower Comes Of Age—General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold’s World War II Diaries Vol. II [Illustrated Edition] PDF Author: Gen. Henry H. “Hap.” Arnold
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786251523
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 927

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Book Description
Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 180 maps, plans, and photos. Gen Henry H. “Hap.” Arnold, US Army Air Forces (AAF) Chief of Staff during World War II, maintained diaries for his several journeys to various meetings and conferences throughout the conflict. Volume 1 introduces Hap Arnold, the setting for five of his journeys, the diaries he kept, and evaluations of those journeys and their consequences. General Arnold’s travels brought him into strategy meetings and personal conversations with virtually all leaders of Allied forces as well as many AAF troops around the world. He recorded his impressions, feelings, and expectations in his diaries. Maj Gen John W. Huston, USAF, retired, has captured the essence of Henry H. Hap Arnold—the man, the officer, the AAF chief, and his mission. Volume 2 encompasses General Arnold’s final seven journeys and the diaries he kept therein.

The Empire on the Western Front

The Empire on the Western Front PDF Author: Geoffrey Jackson
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774860170
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
When 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.

Vimy Ridge

Vimy Ridge PDF Author: Geoffrey Hayes
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 1554586976
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
On the morning of April 9, 1917, troops of the Canadian Corps under General Julian Byng attacked the formidable German defences of Vimy Ridge. Since then, generations of Canadians have shared a deep emotional attachment to the battle, inspired partly by the spectacular memorial on the battlefield. Although the event is considered central in Canadian military history, most people know very little about what happened during that memorable Easter in northern France. Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment draws on the work of a new generation of scholars who explore the battle from three perspectives. The first assesses the Canadian Corps within the wider context of the Western Front in 1917. The second explores Canadian leadership, training, and preparations and details the story of each of the four Canadian divisions. The final section concentrates on the commemoration of Vimy Ridge, both for contemporaries and later generations of Canadians. This long-overdue collection, based on original research, replaces mythology with new perspectives, new details, and a new understanding of the men who fought and died for the remarkable achievement that was the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Co-published with the Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies

Morland – Great War Corps Commander

Morland – Great War Corps Commander PDF Author: Bill Thompson
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784622788
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
The British officer class in 1914 benefited from the discipline instilled by public schools. Thomas Morland was one such officer. Born in Canada, he was orphaned at the age of five. He became a widower with two daughters at a young age. In October 1914 he went to France to command the 5th Division, then south of Ypres. Morland served on the Somme and Messines & Third Ypres, and in 1918 he commanded a corps during the victorious 100 Days campaign. Morland’s diaries record the above events and his comments thereon, every day for four years, beginning at the Battle of La Bassee, near Ypres. He was parachuted in while the battle was raging and held the shaken division together during the second half of October. A modest man, he was surprised by his promotion to lieutenant-general in 1915. Morland led X Corps at the beginning of the Somme campaign in July 1916 but was replaced by General Gough, his army chief, who thought Morland was not sufficiently decisive. During 1917 he took part in the successful Battle of Messines on 7 June, a ‘Red Letter’ day, and the attrition of the Third Battle of Ypres from July to November. Morland ended the war in pursuit of the retreating Germans, in November 1918. A sense of realism permeates his diary, with comments like 'The war has simply become a process of attrition' in 1915 and 'We cannot expect men to advance to attack in mud up to the waist!' in 1917. During his time away from home, he wrote regularly to his daughters, in whom he confided his hopes and fears. His love for them shines through the pages, reflecting the man behind the uniform. Morland – Great War Corps Commander is the first book to publish the papers of an officer of his rank. With many original accounts of major battles, this is a book that will appeal to military history enthusiasts everywhere.

The Canadian Experience of the Great War

The Canadian Experience of the Great War PDF Author: Brian Douglas Tennyson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0810886790
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 595

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Book Description
Although the United States did not enter the First World War until April 1917, Canada enlisted the moment Great Britain engaged in the conflict in August 1914. The Canadian contribution was great, as more than 600,000 men and women served in the war effort--400,000 of them overseas--out of a population of 8 million. More than 150,000 were wounded and nearly 67,000 gave their lives. The war was a pivotal turning point in the history of the modern world, and its mindless slaughter shattered a generation and destroyed seemingly secure values. The literature that the First World War generated, and continues to generate so many years later, is enormous and addresses a multitude of cultural and social matters in the history of Canada and the war itself. Although many scholars have brilliantly analyzed the literature of the war, little has been done to catalog the writings of ordinary participants: men and women who served in the war and wrote about it but are not included among well-known poets, novelists, and memoirists. Indeed, we don't even know how many titles these people published, nor do we know how many more titles were added later by relatives who considered the recollections or collected letters worthy of publication. Brian Douglas Tennyson's The Canadian Experience of the Great War: A Guide to Memoirs is the first attempt to identify all of the published accounts of First World War experiences by Canadian veterans.

Portraits of Battle

Portraits of Battle PDF Author: Peter Farrugia
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 077486494X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
All Canadians are taught about Vimy Ridge. But that celebrated victory was just one battle among many to shape the country’s experience of the First World War. Portraits of Battle brings together biography, battle accounts, and historiographical analysis to examine the lives of a cross-section of Canadians who served in the war. Contributors to this thoughtful collection consider the range of Canadians touched by war – soldiers and their loved ones, deserters, nurses, Indigenous people, those injured in body or mind – raising fundamental questions about the nature of conflict and memory. These portraits of the formerly faceless men and women honoured on war memorials fill in what is often missing from accounts of the Great War. In the process, they provide a more nuanced perspective on the complex legacy of that war in Canadian history.

Canadian Battlefields of the Second World War

Canadian Battlefields of the Second World War PDF Author: Terry Copp
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
ISBN: 9781926804170
Category : Canada
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
"A guidebook detailing the Canadian role in the 1944 Normandy Campaign during the Second World War as well as the 1942 Canadian raid on Dieppe. The book seeks to teach the history of these campaigns, while providing up to date information on how to visit and navigate these sites of Canada's national heritage."--

General Inventory: Manuscripts

General Inventory: Manuscripts PDF Author: Public Archives of Canada
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Canada
Languages : en
Pages : 534

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Book Description


Sam Hughes

Sam Hughes PDF Author: Ronald Haycock
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 0889207860
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
This book is based on the public career of a highly controversial Canadian, Sam Hughes 1885–1916. He is one of the most colourful, even bizarre, figures in Canadian history. Though he died in 1921, his name can still conjure up controversy and not a little misunderstanding. His long career—in so many respects the quintessential story of a poor backwoods Ontario farm boy who made good by his own efforts—continues to exert a fascination that few other Canadian political figures could duplicate. Even though there has never been a major scholarly study of Sam Hughes, historians and other writers have developed definite opinions about him, and they are held nearly as vigorously as those of his contemporaries. These vary from insisting that Hughes was mentally unbalanced to proclaiming him a genius. Hughes’ defenders have rarely been professional historians. Neither side have not produced an extensive or definitive literature on Hughes in proportion to other figures of a similar public stature. Whatever side the studies have taken, the assessments are still incomplete because they have not examined the entirety of Sam Hughes’ public life. To a large extent these limitations have allowed the folk image of him to persist. But Hughes had fibre and substance beyond this. Since historical figures must be explained in terms of their environment, this study tries to redress the previous imbalances by examining Hughes’ public career. It is the only way his historical significance can be explained and reasonable judgments made.