R. James Steel

As the authors point out at the very beginning, the 46th Canadian Infantry Battalion (South Saskatchewan) was not the only battalion to be designated the “Suicide Battalion” in the Great War. Its losses in the war were heavy. Of the 5,374 men who served in the unit during the war, 1,433 died and 3,484 were wounded. Only 457 were unscathed. But there are units on both sides of the war that could claim similar statistics. Several groups of brothers served in the unit, and some families lost more than one son in it.

This is a very personal book for the authors. McWilliams is from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, home of the unit. Steel’s grandfather served in the unit.

The book is from Hurtig Publishers, founded by Mel Hurtig because he thought Canadians should have some Canadian history books in their bookstores instead of just American history books.

The British Empire went to war on August 4, 1914, and that meant Canada went to war, but it wasn’t until December 17, 1914 that the request went out to form the unit. It was from Sam Hughes, Canada’s controversial Minister of Defense, who sidestepped existing mobilization plans. Three groups of men left from Moose Jaw to go overseas in the next two weeks. Even local nurses went overseas.

But it wasn’t until December 21, 1914 that recruits were accepted for the unit, and training begin after Christmas. But their training was in makeshift circumstances. They slept on straw on the floor of an armory. Recruits had to provide their own meals. Physical training was marching about Moose Jaw and its environs. There were no uniforms. Rifle practice with “decrepit Ross” rifles. (The authors don’t mention that the notorious Ross rifle, dubbed by some the “suicide rifle” because of incidents of the rifle’s bolt being driven into the chest of the shooter on firing, was a sponsored by Hughes. It was actually a very accurate rifle and would come to be prized by Canadian snipers and hunters after the war, but it was not suited to trench warfare and the attendant dirt. The bolt accidents were because the lock lugs had to be carefully engaged, hard to do in the dirt and distractions of the trenches.)

Training for the unit would also be done in Regina, to the end of the unit’s existence, there would be a rival between the cities about who could claim the unit.

After further training at Camp Sewell in Manitoba, the unit was sent to England for more training. (Because of Hughes not informing British officials he was sending the unit there, it didn’t have any rations its first three days there.) They finally entered the trenches in August 1916, and they would serve on the Western Front seeing combat through November 1, 2016.

This is a fairly typical book of its sort. It draws from interviews with the unit’s members and an unpublished war diary of the unit. It’s a worm’s eye view of battle with several colorful characters. Of course, it was a unit of the British Empire, but two members had served other empires. One had served in the Russian Army. The other had been a soldier in the Imperial Army of Japan. Most, though, were farmers and shopkeepers. There was one college professor who would not survive the war.

In this type of history concentrating on personal experience, you don’t get a systematic description of tactics or the soldiers’ experience.
There are some striking stories: soldier’s taking time to take meat off horse’s killed by retreating Germans; a soldier realizing, after trying to light his pipe in a shell hole he’s sheltering in, that there is not any oxygen there; and a soldier cleverly lying his way out of a charge of drunkenness.
And, of course, we get a description of the actions of Hugh Cairns, winner of the Victoria Cross for his deeds at Valenciennes, the unit’s last battle.

This is a barebones book. There are no photos. The only maps are on the inner covers and mark the unit’s battles at Mount Sorrel, Ypres, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, Amiens, and Canal du Nord and the various actions of the Last Hundred Days.

Hill 70 is covered, but my relative is not mentioned which is not surprising. He was just another private who died without winning a medal.
There is an index and also an interesting appendix summarizing the fates of some of the men in the unit, both those who died and those lived on well after the war.

Obviously, this book is of limited interest. But, if you are interested in the Canadian Army during World War One or this particular unit, it’s worth reading.… (más)

This is a workable collection of anecdotes of one of the Canadian Expeditionary Force battalions during the First World War. The 46th Battalion was raised in the Moose Jaw area, but as is evident in the book, received drafts of soldiers from all over. It fought from summer 1916 to the end in November 1918, and suffered 91 percent casualties, however that is defined. This was not abnormal in a First World War infantry battalion, nor indeed in a Second World War infantry battalion. Even now, in Afghanistan, 10 percent or more casualties in six months is not unknown in a Canadian infantry battalion.
I wish that the author wove a detailed and tighter historical web to hold his book. Is is not all that clear, although he tries, what the strategic, operational and Canadian situations were that give context to what the 46th was doing. Appreciating that he wrote after most veterans had passed, I still wish that there was more context to the lives of the characters he uses - before, during, and after glimpses of these guys. Also, more detail of their personal life within the battalion. I am applying, perhaps unfairly, the standard set by Donald Graves in "The South Albertas," and this book is not quite there.
All that said, I recommend it as a read for those interested in the Canadian army of the First World War, the most competent, toughest, and least self-pitying force we've ever put overseas, and to (slightly) mis-quote Charles Percy Stacey, the greatest thing Canada ever did.… (más)