Shoestring Soldiers:
1st Canadian Division at War, 1914–1915
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by Andrew Iarocci
University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2008
384 pp., illus., $31.50 hardcover
The Second Battle of Ypres is a key moment in the history of Canada and the First World War. Facing chlorine gas and insurmountable odds, the First Canadian Division held back a major German offensive only months after arriving at the front. Using the best information available, Shoestring Soldiers is a careful account of this often confusing and contradictory battle.
Far from being unprepared “green” troops, the backbone of experienced militia and South African veterans within the First Division paid dividends at St. Julien and Ypres, Andrew Iarocci argues. Shoestring Soldiers should spark a new discussion of this important battle that claimed more than six thousand Canadian casualties in a matter of days.
— Beverley Tallon (Read bio)
Beverley Tallon is a freelance writer and the former Assistant Editor for Canada's History.