Research Catalog

Title

The war diaries of General David Watson / edited by Geoffrey Jackson.

Author

Watson, David, 1869-1922

Publication

• Waterloo, Ontario, Canada : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, [2021]
• ©2021

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Jackson, Geoffrey, 1979-

Description

xiii, 386 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"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."--

Subject

• Watson, David, 1869-1922 > Diaries
• Canada. Canadian Army. Canadian Expeditionary Force
• 1914-1918
• Generals > Canada > Diaries
• World War, 1914-1918 > Personal narratives, Canadian
• Generals
• Canada

Genre/Form

• Diary
• diaries.
• Diaries
• Personal narratives – Canadian
• Diaries.
• Journaux intimes.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-346) and index.

Additional Formats (note)

• Issued also in electronic format.

Contents

Pt. I Lieutenant-Colonel: 2nd Battalion September 1914 -- September 1915 -- ch. 1 Salisbury Plain, September 1914 -- January 1915 Salisbury Camp (25 September -- 18 October 1914) -- "A Sea of Mud" (19 October 1914 -- 29 January 1915) -- ch. 2 Into the Trenches, February -- March 1915 "Apprentices" in Armentieres (4 February -- 31 March 1915) -- ch. 3 Second Ypres, Festubert, Givenchy, April -- June 1915 Ypres Salient (1 -- 26 April 1915) -- Behind the Lines, Poperinge (27 April -- 12 May 1915) -- Festubert (15 -- 31 May 19151 -- Essars (1 -- 9 June 1915) -- Givenchy (10 -- 18 June 1915) -- ch. 4 On Leave, June -- September 1915 Summer on Plug Street (22 June -- 26 August 1915) -- Changeover (27 August -- 15 September 1915) -- pt. II Brigadier-General: 5th Brigade September 1915 -- April 1916 -- ch. 5 Intrigue and the Front, September 1915 -- January 1916 -- ch. 6 Disaster at Saint-Eloi Craters, February -- April 1916 Build-up (3 February -- 26 March 1916) -- Saint-Eloi Craters (27 March -- 18 April 1916) -- pt. III Major-General: 4th Division April 1916 -- July 1919 -- ch. 7 Assembling the 4th Division, April -- August 1916 Putting It Together (19 April -- 11 August 1916] -- ch. 8 The Somme, August 1916 -- December 1916 With British II Corps at the Somme (12 August 1916 -- 13 September 1916) -- The 4th Division and the Battle of the Somme (14 September -- 9 October 1916) -- Trial by Fire (10 -- 20 October 1916) -- Final Push on the Somme (21 October -- 10 November 1916) -- Rebuilding and Refitting (11 November -- 1 December 1916) -- ch. 9 Preparations for Vimy, December 1916 -- March 1917 Zero + 2 Hours (4 December 1916 -- 20 February 1917) -- Planning Hill 145 (21 February -- 1 March 1917) -- Disaster at Hill 145 (2 March 1917) -- ch. 1 January 1916 -- ch. 6 Taking Vimy, March -- April 1917 Taking the Ridge (3 -- 29 March 1917) -- Hill 145 and Hill 120 (30 March -- 9 April 1917) -- Consolidation (10 -- 30 April 1917) -- ch. 11 Scarpe and Lens, May -- July 1917 -- ch. 12 Lens, July -- August 1917 Hill 70 and the Green Crassier (10 July -- 14 August 1917) -- Into Lens (15 -- 17 August 1917) -- Street Fighting (19 -- 21 August 19171 -- The Green Crassier (22 -- 28 August 1917) -- Leaving Lens (30 -- 31 August 1917) -- ch. 13 Passchendaele, September -- October 1917 -- Pas-de-Calais (1 September -- 12 October 1917) -- Taking Passchendaele (13 -- 25 October 1917) -- Attack on 26 October (26 -- 31 October 1917) -- ch. 14 Rebuilding, November 1917 -- January 1918 -- ch. 15 Shake, Rattle, and Roll, February -- May 1918 Fine-tuning an Elite Division (1 February -- 18 March 1918) -- Spring 1918 (21 March -- 31 May 1918) -- ch. 16. 1^anuary 1916 -- ch. 6 Bring in the Tanks and Planes, June-July 1918 Preparing for the Final Campaign (1 June -- 31 July 1918) -- ch. 17 The Hundred Days, August -- November 1918 Shock Army (1 -- 10 August 1918) -- The Battle of Amiens (11 -- 27 August 1918) -- Through the Hindenburg Line (28 August 1918) -- Planning and Attacking Mont Dury (29 August -- 26 September 1918) -- Canal du Nord and Bourlon Wood (27 September -- 2 October 1918] -- Pushing Through Cambraii (3 -- 16 October 1918) -- Approach to Valenciennes (17 -- 28 October 1918) -- Final Battle (28 October -- 1 November 1918) -- War's End (2 -- 11 November 1918) -- ch. 18 The Aftermath, November -- December 1918 A Service of Thanksgiving (12 November -- 31 December 1918) -- ch. 19 Waiting, January -- March 1919 Boxing in the Summer Palace (1 January -- 31 March 19191 -- ch. 20 Homeward Bound, April -- July 1919 Sad Goodbyes (7 April -- 1 July 1919) -- ch. 6 Order of Battle for Brigades and Divisions under Watson's Command -- Acronyms.

ISBN

• 1771125063
• 9781771125062

OCLC

• on1197568613
• 1197568613
• SCSB-13974402

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library