Recommendations for Books on Canadian Experience in WWI

[cupper]

Looking for suggestions for books that cover the Canadian experience in WWI.

Currently reading Breakout from Juno and would like to go on to something in a similar vain related to Canada's involvement in the First World War. Seeing a lot of stories on CBC in the past few days and thought that it was a good time to refresh that part of the memory banks.

 

[dangerboy]

I recommend the books "Shock Troops" and "At the Sharp End" a two volume set by Tim Cook.  It details the soldiers fighting in the Great War, so does not talk about the Navy or Air Force.

 

[jollyjacktar]

There was a good oral history book that I had 30 years ago.  I can't seem to find it on Amazon unfortunately.  The title is "My Grandfather's War", and is completely Canadian in scope.  Sorry I cannot remember the author.  The cover was taken from a painting from the war as well, IIRC it was "The Second Battle of Ypres: painting by Richard Jack".  I also remember the author's fear was that in the not too far distant future there would be a headline that the "last veteran from the first world war dies in Lethbridge", and all the memories would be lost to time.  Anyhow, excellent book if you can find it.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

A good primer, though not of academic level, is "Marching to Armageddon. Canadians and the Great War 1914-1919" by Messrs. Desmond Morton and J.L. Granatstein.

For more popular: You can always read "Vimy" by Pierre Berton.

 

[OldSolduer]

Vimy by Pierre Berton

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Ghosts Have Warm Hands by Will Bird.

Hands down, the best first person narrative written about the war.

 

[Old Sweat]

Ghosts Have Warm Hands by Will Bird.

Hands down, the best first person narrative written about the war.

I second this recommendation and also Pierre Berton's Vimy as well as anything by Tim Cook. Doctor Cook's history of the use of gas, especially by the Canadian Corps, opens a whole new area of knowledge. Nicholson's official history of the CEF is still a useful read.

One should take the Lions led by Donkeys school of history with a grain of salt. Current scholarship is getting into the amount of innovation in the BEF, and it was not - contrary to what many Canadian historians claim - confined to the Canadian Corps. As a gunner I am impressed by the sophistication of the gunner world in virtually every field except radio communications, and that was beyond anybody's control. Having said that, in August 1917 a Canadian gunner observation post conducted the first shoot [fire mission] controlled by radio. 

 

[jollyjacktar]

Ghosts Have Warm Hands by Will Bird.

Hands down, the best first person narrative written about the war.

Excellent choice, enjoyed it immensely. 

On a side, Bill Bird, tangent.  I listened to an interview with the curator of the Army Museum at the Halifax Citadel today on the way home from work.  They have, on display, a 2000 year old Roman Gladius sword which was found by Bill Bird in 1918 in a field in Flanders.  He brought it home and it was eventually donated by his family to the museum.  They have it included in their collection on display not only because of the connection to Bill, but also to point out that these fields of Western Europe have been the site of conflict for at least several millennia.  Apparently its in fantastic condition and is the best known specimen of this kind.  That alone, makes me want to visit and I will make the time.

 

[cupper]

Thanks for the suggestion guys. Read Vimy many years back and enjoyed it a lot.

 

[BadgerTrapper]

Ghosts Have Warm Hands by Will Bird.

Hands down, the best first person narrative written about the war.

You beat me to it, excellent book. One of my favorites, unfortunately I lost my copy a few years ago. Another good read is "The Brave Battalion" by Mark Zuehlke about the Can Scots.

 

[observor 69]

Heard Gwynne Dyer being interviewed on CBC radio this morning.
Very interesting discussion on his new book "Canada in the Great Power Game 1914-2014."

http://www.amazon.ca/Canada-Great-Power-Game-1914-2014/dp/0307361683

As usual lots of  controversial statements made by Mr.Dyer.
Actually a lot of his comments were in line with Margaret Macmillan's  writings.
I have the book on hold at my library, 

 

[Kirkhill]

Daniel G. Dancocks

All of the works of Dancocks.  My copy of his Currie has been well used as has his take on Passchendale.

 

[Edward Campbell]

I suspect they're out of print but, hopefully, still available in libraries:

    To seize the victory: the Canadian Corps in World War I, by John Swettenham; and

    Vimy! by Herbert Fairlie Wood.

Not about the war, per se, but about the prelude and the postscript (and, therefore, the origins of World War II):

    Margaret Macmillan (an important Canadian historian) The War That Ended Peace and Paris 1919

 

[Rocky Mountains]

I recommend the books "Shock Troops" and "At the Sharp End" a two volume set by Tim Cook.  It details the soldiers fighting in the Great War, so does not talk about the Navy or Air Force.

I've read many but this 2 volume set is the best.

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

13 Years After (Also Will Bird) is a useful epilogue to Ghosts have Warm Hands

As a collector of WWI books I have read more than a few so they do tend to blend together but two narratives that stick out and not previously mentioned and that  are in print
I, That's Me by Peter Anderson, and Riding into War by James Robert Johnson.

There really was a war memoir literary industry post war world I but some of the best ones have taken years to get into print. A lot of the contemporary stuff can be found on-line digitally (although as images rather than e-books).


Off to Vimy in September, seems inappropriate to be looking forward to it but that is how I feel about it.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Thanks for the tip on Will Bird's other book.

 

[jollyjacktar]

My grandfather had a copy of "Bullets & Billets" by Bruce Bairnsfather.  It is available out there as a free ebook from the Gutenburg organization.  http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11232

Bainsfather was a Captain in the British Army and was a noted cartoonist.  His work was very popular and summed up the experiences of the common soldier in the trenches.  I loved looking at it when I was a youngster.

And also, there is a silent film out there called "The Better Ole" from 1926 starring the half brother of Charlie Chaplan in the role of "Old Bill", the war weary soldier from Bainsfather's cartoons.  It's on Warner Bros. DVD.

 

[blackberet17]

A bit of a slog, but covers everything:

1) Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War - CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914-1919

http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/docs/CEF_e.pdf

2) Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada, April 1915, by Nathan M. Greenfield

3) The Fighting Newfoundlander, by G.W.L. Nicholson

I've got more, but they're all in boxes right now...

 

[Old Sweat]

Here is a link to an indepth study of the British artillery in the war available on line along with a number of appendices that reprint various edicts on doctrine as it developed. An interesting point is the very close cooperation between the gunner world and the Royal Flying Corps. The original was published in hardcover as The Infantry Cannot Do With A Gun Less.

http://www.gutenberg-e.org/mas01/frames/fmas08.html

 

[Dog Walker]

Vimy by Pierre Berton

A newer book is “Vimy Ridge A Canadian Reassessment” edited by Geoffrey Hayes,  Andrew Iarocci and Mike Bechthold.

Other books I have are:

“Shock Army of the British Army the Canadian Corps in the last 100 Days if the Great War” by Shane B. Schreiber.

“Amiems Dawn of Victory” by James McWilliams and R. James Steel. This is a book written from a Canadian point of view.

“Welcome to Flanders Fields The First Canadian Battle of the Great War: Ypres, 1915” by Daniel Dancocks.

And for the gunners out there;
“The Gunners of Canada”  Vol. I by G.W.L. Nicholson