Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

History General

Baptism Of Fire

The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada, April 1915

by (author) Nathan M. Greenfield

Publisher
HarperCollins Canada
Initial publish date
Sep 2010
Category
General
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781554689651
    Publish Date
    Sep 2010
    List Price
    $11.99

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

The Second Battle of Ypres was, by any definition, a brutal event in a brutal war. The already terrible conditions of trench warfare, punctuated by the unimaginable horror of shell fire that turned men into “pink mist,” became even worse when the Germans introduced chlorine gas. But despite the terror, the battle marked a key moment in the formation of Canadian identity and pride. After the Germans’ initial gas attack opened a 12-kilometre-long hole in Allied lines, it was the heroic 1st Canadian Division—men who had been in the trenches for just over a week -- who rushed to fill the gap and block the enemy advance.

Drawing on never-before-published material, Nathan M. Greenfield, author of The Battle of the St. Lawrence, presents a gripping new account of the Second Battle of Ypres. Here are the voices of the soldiers themselves -- both Canadian and German -- reaching across more than 90 years with a stunning immediacy.

About the author

NATHAN M. GREENFIELD, PhD, is the Canadian correspondent for The Times Educational Supplement and is a contributor to Maclean’s, Canadian Geographic and The Times Literary Supplement. He is the author of The Damned, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction; Baptism Of Fire, which was a finalist for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction; and the widely praised The Battle Of The St. Lawrence. Greenfield lives in Ottawa.

FACEBOOK: Nathan M. Greenfield Author
TWITTER: @HongKong Battle

Nathan M. Greenfield's profile page