Lest we forget
Atrocity on the Atlantic : attack on a hospital ship during the Great War
Hendley, Nate, author
2024
"How a German submarine sank a Canadian military hospital ship during the First World War and sparked outrage. On the evening of June 27, 1918, the Llandovery Castle--an unarmed, clearly marked hospital ship used by the Canadian military--was torpedoed off the Irish Coast by U-Boat 86, a German submarine. Sinking hospital ships violated international law. To conceal his actions, the U-86 commander had the submarine deck guns fire on survivors. One lifeboat escaped with witnesses to the atrocity. Global outrage over the attack ensued. The sinking of the Llandovery Castle was adjudicated at the Leipzig War Crimes Trials, an attempt to establish justice after hostilities ceased. The Llandovery Castle case resulted in a historic legal precedent that guided subsequent war crime prosecutions, including the Nuremberg Trials. Atrocity on the Atlantic explores the Llandovery Castle sinking, the people impacted by the attack, and the reasons why this wartime atrocity was largely forgotten."-- Provided by publisher.
Battle of Britain : Canadian airmen in their finest hour
Barris, Ted.
2024
The gripping and heroic story of fighter pilots defending the skies over Britain from unprecedented Nazi attack. For 113 terrifying days in 1940, Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe, threw everything it had at Great Britain in hopes of early victory in World War II. The task of defending southern England from airborne attack fell to pilots in the Royal Air Force, supplemented in their darkest hour by more than 100 flyers from Canada. These Canadians, some from famous families, some straight off the farm, served in forty-seven different Battle of Britain squadrons. Now, for the first time, bestselling military historian Ted Barris's tells the riveting story of their crucial role in this do-or-die-battle: how they accounted for 130 German aircraft destroyed, another thirty probably destroyed and more than seventy damaged, with twenty pilots dying in action and twelve awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses. Battle of Britain: Canadian Airmen in their Finest Hour is a must for enthusiasts of military and aviation history.
Battle of the Atlantic : gauntlet to victory
Barris, Ted, author
2022
The years 2019 to 2025 mark the eightieth anniversary of the longest battle of the Second World War, the Battle of the Atlantic. For five and a half years, German surface warships and submarines attempted to destroy Allied trans-Atlantic convoys, most of which were escorted by Royal Canadian destroyers and corvettes, as well as aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force. While Canadians think of the Great War battle of Vimy Ridge as the country's coming of age, it was the Battle of the Atlantic that proved Canada's gauntlet to victory and a nation-building milestone.
The book of war letters : 100 years of private Canadian correspondence
2003
This anthology includes letters that date as far back as the Boer War (which began in 1899) and extend up to 2002, when Canadian peacekeepers served in Afghanistan. It contains some of the most powerful writing that Canadians - whether reassuring loved ones, recounting the bitter reality of battle, or describing the appalling conditions of combat - have ever committed to the page.
Building the army's backbone : Canadian non-commissioned officers in the Second World War
Brown, Andrew L. (Andrew Lawrence), 1968- author.
2022
In September 1939, the Canadian army, a tiny force of around 55,000 regulars and reservists, began a remarkable expansion. The book tells the story of how senior leadership created a corps of non-commissioned officers (NCOs) that helped the burgeoning force train, fight, and win. It uncovers the army's two-track NCO production system: locally organized training programs were run by units and formations, while centralized programs were overseen by the army. Ultimately, this two-pronged system produced a corps of NCOs that collectively possessed skills in leadership, tactics, and instruction to help the army succeed in battle.
Forgotten victory : First Canadian Army and the cruel winter of 1944-45
Zuehlke, Mark, author 1955-
2014
Lifesavers and body snatchers : medical care and the struggle for survival in the Great War
Cook, Tim, 1971- author
2022
Medical care in almost all armies was sophisticated and constantly evolving, with vastly more wounded soldiers saved than lost. But medical advances were not the only thing brought back from Europe. Tim Cook has spent over a decade investigating the history of Canadian medical doctors removing the body parts of slain Canadian soldiers and transporting their brains, lungs, bones, and other organs to the Royal College of Surgeons in London, England. This uncovered history is a shockingly revelation never told before and part of the hidden legacy of the medical war.
Through their eyes : a graphic history of Hill 70 and Canada's First World War
Barrett, Matthew (Matthew K.), author
2022
By the summer of 1917, Canadian troops had captured Vimy Ridge, but Allied offensives had stalled across many fronts of the Great War. To help break the stalemate of trench warfare, the Canadian Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Arthur Currie, was tasked with capturing Hill 70, a German stronghold near the French town of Lens. After securing the hill on 15 August, Canadian soldiers endured days of shelling, machine-gun fire, and poison gas as they repelled relentless enemy counterattacks. Through Their Eyes depicts this remarkable but costly victory in a unique way. With full-colour graphic artwork and detailed illustration, Matthew Barrett and Robert Engen picture the battle from different perspectives -- Currie's strategic view at high command, a junior officer's experience at the platoon level, and the vantage points of many lesser-known Canadian soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. This innovative graphic history invites readers to reimagine the First World War through the eyes of those who lived it and to think more deeply about how we visualize and remember the past. Combining outstanding original art and thought-provoking commentary, Through Their Eyes uncovers the fascinating stories behind this battle while creatively expanding the ways that history is shared and represented.
The volunteers : how Halifax women won the Second World War
Lowe, Lezlie, 1972- author
2022
"Halifax women won the Second World War -- but not in the ways you might have been told. We all know the stories of Canadian women during the war who trained as machinists, welders, and streetcar drivers to fill the shoes of men who answered the call. We know how women kept the home fires lit while their husbands, brothers, and fathers fought. This is not that story. 'The volunteers: how Halifax women won the Second World War' is the story of Halifax women who geared up in a flash to focus on the comfort, community connections, and mental health of Halifax's exploding population of sailors, soldiers, airmen, and merchant mariners. These women did a job no government could have organized or afforded. They did it without being asked. And they did it with no respite from their daily duties. The book examines the untold stories of the hardworking women whose unpaid and unacknowledged labour won the Second Wold War." --Back cover.
Where white horses gallop : a novel
MacNeil, Beatrice.
2007
A haunting tale of a war where emotional shrapnel riddles the spirit long after the guns a continent away have grown silent.