The Regiment,(1955) by Farley Mowat
If you have any interest in learning a little about the war on the ground from a slightly different point of view, this is your book. Farley Mowat is one of Canada's most famous authors, This book is a unit history of one of the best combat units of WW II.
This is the story of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, of the 1st Canadian Infantry Div. this unit spent nearly 2 full years in Combat from Sicily to Italy to Holland, was part of the famous 8th Army (The Desert Rats) before being transfered to the 1st Canadian Army.
Far from being a dry read this book rings true, the men come across as real people. It is only what they had to endure that is unbelievable.
For a more personal read, try Mowat's "And No Birds Sang" the story of the authors experiences as a platoon comander and later Intelligence officer.

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Ain't no rocket scientists in the firehall

That sounds like a great book, do you know if it has been reprinted since it first came out?

By the way, welcome aboard

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Thanks for the welcome. The copy I have was printed in 89. But I think it has been reprinted since then, Mowat is a very popular author up here.

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Ain't no rocket scientists in the firehall

Always glad to see some new folks here, very glad to have you participate in our discussions.

Thank you for the info also, I will see if I can find a copy to read. I have always wanted to know more on our neighbors up North. [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Another fantastic book concerning the Canadians in Italy is titled " The D-Day Dodgers" written by Daniel Dancocks.1991. This is quite a large book but I was unable to put it down. Some of The reveiws are as follows:

"The D-Day Dodgers is a spirited tribute to the men and women who fought, suffered, and died in the ... campaign in Italy.Dan Dancocks did them well, and they deserve it."...Canadian Defence Quarterly

"The D-Day Dodgers is the most facinating of W.W.2 Canadian campaign histories" Legion Magazine

"Filled with enough anecdotes and solid narrative to keep military buffs occupied for some time" Books in Canada

Anyways you all get the idea. This book is quite large for a paper back with a total of 508 pages, also has quite a bibliograph which lists numerour other books that I won't even begin to go into.

I highly recomend this book to all who have an interest in the Canadian campaigns in Italy. It is not a dry bok at all.

I'd never heard of Farley Mowat until I read some back-posts on the Forum.

Found a very nice copy of Mowat's memoir of Italy 'And No Birds Sang' in the Charing Cross Road this morning for five pounds.

On a first 'flick-through' looks very interesting - looking forward to reading it through when i have time.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Thanks for reviving this thread Martin - it's given me some more Canadian sources for the Italian campaign.

There was a good Canadian documentary about WW2 some years ago which used some of Mowat's work - powerful stuff, I seem to remember.

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Paul Reed
Webmaster - Battlefields of WW2- http://www.ww2battlefields.info
D Day Ancestors: The British Army in Normandy - http://www.ddayancestors.com

Martin, Hope you enjoyed "And No Birds Sang" there is a sequel to it somewhere. Mowat is quite a well know author up here and is probably best know south of the border for "Never Cry Wolf" which Hollywood made into a movie, and "A Whale For The Killing" which was one of those intermenable Peter Strauss mini-series.

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Ain't no rocket scientists in the firehall

Hello, Smoke !
Mowat's book is still in my 'to read' pile. I sort of go through phases and I'm in a 'Nachtjagd/Bomber Command' phase just now. I'll soon get back to the land war and that's when I'll pick up Mowat.

This is where the Forums are great, though.. if you hadn't mentioned Mowat, I'd probably never had heard of him & wouldn't have bought the book.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson