Hell in Flanders Fields:
Canadians at the Second Battle of Ypres
.aspx)
Support Canada's History in other ways (more)
by George H. Cassar
Dundurn Press, Toronto, 2010
424 pp., illus., $36 hardcover
Hell in Flanders Fields is a newly updated version of George Cassar’s Beyond Courage, originally published in 1985. The book recounts the story of the 2nd Battle of Ypres, a pivotal moment in the First World War.
In an attempt to break the stalemate of trench warfare in April 1915, German forces deployed chlorine gas for the first time on the Western Front. While two French divisions virtually disappeared, the untested First Canadian Division was thrown into its first significant combat to fill the gap in the line.
Despite more than half of front line soldiers being killed or wounded, or going missing, the Canadians held their ground. The updated version of the book includes additional personal accounts, which are now more “trendy,” according to Cassar, as well as a wider selection of sources that are more readily available thanks to the Internet. Updating the maps would have been equally beneficial, but Cassar’s account is nonetheless extremely detailed and provides excellent insight into an otherwise confusing battle that was shrouded in poison gas.
— Joel Ralph (Read bio)
Joel Ralph is the director of programs for Canada's History Society.