Cat No.: CA0206:
From the Rideau to the Rhine and Back, compiled by (Maj.) K. Weatherbe, published 1928.CA0206
The week by week account of the trials, tribulations, disappointments and glories of a group of Canadian engineers as they fought their way across Europe in support of the Canadian fighting machine. This is the story of the 6th. Field Company and Battalion, Canadian Engineers in the Great War.
From the first entry dated 26 December 1914 when the unit was being formed, until the 31 May 1919 when the unit was discharged, this story brings to life this company of engineers as they worked their way through times of idleness and times of intense activity as they did their work in Winter's chill and Summer's heat.
Major Weatherbe collected his materials into the form of a diary which brought the attendant problem that some entries have little to occupy them while others could fill a whole book by themselves. Yet he still manages to capture the essentials of the Company's activities, both at a battalion level, and at the level of the individual sappers, in a manner which moves along and carries the reader with it. One of the most distinguishing features of this book is that it recognizes the other ranks as individuals - a rarity at the time this book was written - so that they receive as much attention as the officers.
As well as the nicely balanced writing this 519 page book is deluged with illustrations and maps. Although some 60 are in collages, altogether there are over 120 photographs and line drawings. Some are quite spectacular, like the dawn shot of shells following their trajectories against a dark sky, while others are quite prosaic, like the sapper posing for his picture while standing up to his ankles in a drainage ditch. In addition to the pictures there are no less than 27 district and trench maps of the areas where the company operated, most are full page while a few are two page spreads. The maps contain plenty of detail for the expert as well as enough features to set the scene for those looking for background to their ancestors exploits.
The book is completed with a Nominal Roll of all those who served and was as accurate as the official records allowed.
The information in the original of this book was hard to access because it had only a minimal contents list and no index. We have provided bookmark entry points on a month by month basis and have made the whole book text searchable which, together, open this volume up to the researcher and to those needing a quick access to the facts.
We have placed a sampler of our reproduction of this book on our Downloads page so you can see what it looks like before you buy your copy.
This great book has been loaned to us by Marc Leroux. Marc has joined Chris Wight to undertake the mammoth task of making a biographical database of all the Canadians who took part in The Great War. This work will be underway for a long time, but the current data base contents have been made available and can be found at:
http://www.canadianGreatWarProject.com/ Please visit their site so they know their work is being appreciated.
You can also reach the Sampler by clicking on the following link Sampler
You can return to this page by closing the Sampler Page when you are ready to purchase.
No. of CDs is: 1 ; Format is: PDF ; Searchable?: YES;
FastFind: No; ISBN No.: 1-897338-81-3;