{"title":"The Canadian Expeditionary Force","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"sharpening-the-blade-book-frank-rockland-9780991705061","title":"Sharpening the Blade","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1916 the Canadians' rough edges were being honed off.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst, in February, there is the tragic loss of the Parliament Buildings' Centre Block by a suspicious fire. Then, in May, Lieutenant-General Alderson's leaked memo damning the Ross Rifle ignites a political fire- storm. After the Canadian Corps' disaster at the St. Eloi craters, it doesn't take long for Major-General Sam Hughes to replace Alderson with Lieutenant-General Julian Byng. Within days, the Corps is struck by a devastating blow at Mount Sorrel. In October, Sir Robert Borden tires of crossing swords with his mercurial minister of Militia and Defence issues a do what you are told ultimatum A defiant Hughes quits.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the sharp end, Major Llewellyn and his men continue to learn the use of the hand grenade, the rifle, and the bayonet as they are grounded in the terrible carnage at St. Eloi, Mount Sorrel, and the maw of the Somme. Gunner Paul Ryan will have to live with the tragic mistake as his shells decimate his own countrymen. Matron Samantha Lonsdale continues to use all her skills to put back the pieces of men torn apart by devastating new weapons. In the fall, Lonsdale is sent to Russia, where she is soon plunged into the Russian Revolution.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy the year's end, they have been sharpened to a razor's edge.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49598843093265,"sku":"GOR011874504","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51011206807825,"sku":"NIN9780991705061","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52148766245137,"sku":"NLS9780991705061","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0991705068.jpg?v=1750820623"},{"product_id":"tempering-the-blade-book-frank-rockland-9780991705085","title":"Tempering the Blade","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy 1917, the Canadians have been honed to a sharp edge, but a brittle blade can break.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Russia, Matron Samantha Lonsdale finds herself in the middle of the Bolshevik revolution. She and her patients at the Anglo- Russian Hospital in Petrograd are caught in the crossfire as they dodge machine gun fire. When Russia is knocked out of the war, the hard choice is to leave her patients behind when she is evacuated to England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn France, infantry officer Lieutenant-Colonel Llewellyn and artillery officer Lieutenant Ryan need to harden their resolve. The Canadian Corps is ordered to capture the formidable Vimy Ridge. The French and the English have tried before, with devastating casualties. Now, it's the Canadian Corps' turn.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Canada, the 50th anniversary of Confederation is tempered by the Corps' horrendous losses. More is to come at Passchendaele. With more men needed at the sharp end, Prime Minister Borden calls for conscription in the middle of a vicious election campaign that threatens to tear the country apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the year comes to a close, the heat of battle has hardened and tempered the Canadians into a flexible steel blade.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51011044770065,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51011048079633,"sku":"NIN9780991705085","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52456392327441,"sku":"NLS9780991705085","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0991705084.jpg?v=1750852256"},{"product_id":"hammering-the-blade-book-frank-rockland-9780991705047","title":"Hammering the Blade","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Canadians are being hammered on two fronts.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn the home front, Sir Robert Borden's government is being rocked by scandals. First it was the soldiers' bad boots, then charges of graft and corruption in the militia department's contracts, followed by the shell crisis. With an election in the air and the opposition pounding his minister of Militia and Defence, Major-General Sam Hughes, Borden is fighting desperately to save his government.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn the western front, after six months of constant harsh training, the CEF finally enter the trenches in France. Infantry Captain Llewellyn struggles to keep his men alive as snipers take their toll, and the Ross rifle fails its first combat test. Nothing prepares him for the chlorine gas attack at Ypres. A frustrated Gunner Paul Ryan watches helplessly as his comrades-in-arms suffer. He can't help, since artillery shells are in short supply. As the battles rage, nursing sister Samantha Lonsdale is nearly overwhelmed as she cares for the sick, the wounded, and the dying.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the hammer blows fall, the blade is being tempered into cold steel.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51011131703569,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51011135078673,"sku":"NIN9780991705047","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52482344780049,"sku":"NLS9780991705047","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0991705041.jpg?v=1751299782"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/the-canadian-expeditionary-force-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}