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Biography & Autobiography Military

The War Diaries of General David Watson

by (author) Geoffrey Jackson

Publisher
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Initial publish date
Nov 2021
Category
Military, World War I, Diaries & Journals
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781771125062
    Publish Date
    Nov 2021
    List Price
    $89.99
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781771125086
    Publish Date
    Nov 2021
    List Price
    $27.99

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Description

The diary of David Watson, who rose through the officer ranks to command one of the four divisions in the Great War, is an exceptional document that details with candid insight the responsibilities of senior command and shows the talent required to rise through the CEF to divisional command.
The only published diary of a Canadian who held this rank in the last two (critical) years of the war, it focuses on the evolution of military leadership and associated challenges that Watson (and his peers) faced during the Great War. It recounts how he navigated not only the military battlefield in France and Belgium but also the political battlefield of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and larger British Expeditionary Force. The divisional commanders played a central role in the Corps’ transformation into a first-rate professional army, a transformation that coincided with Watson’s tenure at the 4th Division.
Major-General David Watson’s personal accounts offer valuable insights into the innermost workings of the Canadian Corps at various stages during the war and in particular its emergence as an elite fighting force and the pride of a nation

About the author

Geoffrey Jackson holds a PhD from the University of Calgary and teaches courses in military and Canadian history and strategic studies at Mount Royal University. He recently published the monograph The Empire on the Western Front

 

Geoffrey Jackson's profile page