OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN FORCES IN THE GREAT WAR
By Colonel A. Fortescue Duguid
Canada is late in' beginning to produce her official War history, but Colonel Duguid's first volume (Ottawa : Patenaude) shows that the work, when complete, will be all the more illuminating for the delay. His lucid narrative of the organisa- tion of the first contingent of 3r,000 volunteers, his account of their miserable winter on Salisbury Plain, and his minute description of Second Ypres, Festubert and Givenchy are alike excellent. The maps are numerous and first-rate, and there is a large supplementary volume of diplomatic corre- spondence, battle orders, and extracts from the French and German official histories which students will find invaluable. We know of no account of Second Ypres, begun by the German gas attack on the Algerians and saved from being a disaster by the steadiness of the Canadians to their right, that brings out so clearly the confusion prevailing through the fortnight of that battle. The Germans, fortunately, knew no better than our own Staff what was achially happening in the front lines and thus the Salient was saved, though at a terrible cost. The Canadians lost a fourth of their numbers but, as the author proudly notes, they gained a confidence that never left them. The chapters on Festubeit and Givenchy emphasise the folly of infantry attacks against strong positions with numerous machine-guns. One wonders again why the moral was never perceived by the generals.
Previous page
