Toronto's Fighting 75th in the Great War 1915-1919: A Prehistory of the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)
Foreword by His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales Hospital ships filled the harbour of Le Havre as the 75th Mississauga Battalion arrived on 13 August 1916. Those soldiers who survived would spend almost three years in a tiny corner of northeastern France and northwestern Belgium (Flanders), where many of their comrades still lie. And they would serve in many of the most horrific battles of that long, bloody conflict—Saint Eloi, the Somme, Arras, Vimy, Hill 70, Lens, Passchendaele, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, and Valenciennes. This book tells the story of the 75th Battalion (later the Toronto Scottish Regiment) and the five thousand men who formed it—most from Toronto—from all walks of life. They included professionals, university graduates, white- and blue-collar workers, labourers, and the unemployed, some illiterate. They left a comfortable existence in the prosperous, strongly pro-British provincial capital for life in the trenches of France and Flanders. Tommy Church, mayor of Toronto from 1915 to 1921, sought to include his city’s name in the unit’s name because of the many city officials and local residents who served in it. Three years later Church accepted the 75th’s now heavily emblazoned colours for safekeeping at City Hall from Lieutenant-Colonel Colin Harbottle, who returned with his bloodied but successful survivors. The author pulls no punches in recounting their labours, triumphs, and travails. Timothy J. Stewart undertook exhaustive research for this first-ever history of the 75th, drawing from archival sources (focusing on critical decisions by Brigadier Victor Oldum, General Officer Commanding 11th Brigade), diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, and interviews.
1147134692
Toronto's Fighting 75th in the Great War 1915-1919: A Prehistory of the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)
Foreword by His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales Hospital ships filled the harbour of Le Havre as the 75th Mississauga Battalion arrived on 13 August 1916. Those soldiers who survived would spend almost three years in a tiny corner of northeastern France and northwestern Belgium (Flanders), where many of their comrades still lie. And they would serve in many of the most horrific battles of that long, bloody conflict—Saint Eloi, the Somme, Arras, Vimy, Hill 70, Lens, Passchendaele, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, and Valenciennes. This book tells the story of the 75th Battalion (later the Toronto Scottish Regiment) and the five thousand men who formed it—most from Toronto—from all walks of life. They included professionals, university graduates, white- and blue-collar workers, labourers, and the unemployed, some illiterate. They left a comfortable existence in the prosperous, strongly pro-British provincial capital for life in the trenches of France and Flanders. Tommy Church, mayor of Toronto from 1915 to 1921, sought to include his city’s name in the unit’s name because of the many city officials and local residents who served in it. Three years later Church accepted the 75th’s now heavily emblazoned colours for safekeeping at City Hall from Lieutenant-Colonel Colin Harbottle, who returned with his bloodied but successful survivors. The author pulls no punches in recounting their labours, triumphs, and travails. Timothy J. Stewart undertook exhaustive research for this first-ever history of the 75th, drawing from archival sources (focusing on critical decisions by Brigadier Victor Oldum, General Officer Commanding 11th Brigade), diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, and interviews.
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Toronto's Fighting 75th in the Great War 1915-1919: A Prehistory of the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)

Toronto's Fighting 75th in the Great War 1915-1919: A Prehistory of the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)

by Timothy J. Stewart
Toronto's Fighting 75th in the Great War 1915-1919: A Prehistory of the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)

Toronto's Fighting 75th in the Great War 1915-1919: A Prehistory of the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)

by Timothy J. Stewart

Hardcover

$65.99 
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Overview

Foreword by His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales Hospital ships filled the harbour of Le Havre as the 75th Mississauga Battalion arrived on 13 August 1916. Those soldiers who survived would spend almost three years in a tiny corner of northeastern France and northwestern Belgium (Flanders), where many of their comrades still lie. And they would serve in many of the most horrific battles of that long, bloody conflict—Saint Eloi, the Somme, Arras, Vimy, Hill 70, Lens, Passchendaele, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, and Valenciennes. This book tells the story of the 75th Battalion (later the Toronto Scottish Regiment) and the five thousand men who formed it—most from Toronto—from all walks of life. They included professionals, university graduates, white- and blue-collar workers, labourers, and the unemployed, some illiterate. They left a comfortable existence in the prosperous, strongly pro-British provincial capital for life in the trenches of France and Flanders. Tommy Church, mayor of Toronto from 1915 to 1921, sought to include his city’s name in the unit’s name because of the many city officials and local residents who served in it. Three years later Church accepted the 75th’s now heavily emblazoned colours for safekeeping at City Hall from Lieutenant-Colonel Colin Harbottle, who returned with his bloodied but successful survivors. The author pulls no punches in recounting their labours, triumphs, and travails. Timothy J. Stewart undertook exhaustive research for this first-ever history of the 75th, drawing from archival sources (focusing on critical decisions by Brigadier Victor Oldum, General Officer Commanding 11th Brigade), diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, and interviews.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781771121828
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publication date: 09/21/2017
Series: Canadian Unit, Formation, and Command Histories , #2
Pages: 552
Product dimensions: 7.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Timothy J. Stewart has been a teacher of high school history for over twenty-five years. He served fifteen years as an army piper in the Primary Reserve. Stewart is the co-author of Proud to Be Your Colonel-in-Chief (2003). His articles include “Canadian Pipers at War, 1914–1918,” in Canadian Military History, and “A Padre at Amiens 1918” and “Canadians in Siberia, 1918–19,” for the Garrison (army newspaper in Ontario).

Table of Contents

List of Maps x

List of Award Abbreviations xi

Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales, Colonel-in-Chief xiii

Preface xv

Acknowledgements xxi

Introduction The Road Through Vimy 1

Part I Toronto and Mississauga Horsemen (1904-1914)

Chapter 1 Toronto and Mississauga Horsemen (1901-1914) 9

Chapter 2 Canada Prepares for War (July-September 1914) 31

Chapter 3 Samuel Beckett Organizes the 75th (August 1914-July 1915) 45

Part II Beckett's Fighting 75th (August 1915-March 1917)

Chapter 4 Shaping Soldiers in Niagara and Toronto (August 1915-March 1916) 57

Chapter 5 Bramshott and the New 4th Division (April-August 1916) 73

Chapter 6 St-Éloi: Getting Bloodied (Mid-August-Mid-October 1916) 89

Chapter 7 The Somme: Regina and Desire Trenches (Mid-October-November 1916) 105

Chapter 8 Vimy: The Battle in the Snow (December 1916-April 1917) 127

Part III Harbottle's Shock Troops (May 1917-November 1918)

Chapter 9 La Coulotte, Lens, and Passchendaele (May-December 1917) 173

Chapter 10 From Vimy to Arras (January-July 1918) 217

Chapter 11 Amiens: The 75th and Le Quesnel (August 1918) 253

Chapter 12 Smashing Hindenburg: Dury Ridge, Canal du Nord, Bourlon Wood, Cambral (September 1918) 285

Chapter 13 The Final Push: Valenciennes (October-November 1918) 321

Part IV Harbottle's Men Carry On (December 1918-September 1939)

Chapter 14 The Long Goodbye (December 1918-June 1919) 337

Chapter 15 From 75th to Toronto Scottish (July 1919-September 1939) 353

Appendices

A 75th Infantry Battalion: Final Orders 381

B Regimental Lineage, 1901-1936 384

C Great War Battle Honours 386

D Honour Roll, 1915-1921 387

E Awards and Decorations, 1916-1919 396

F Captain Bellenden S. Hutcheson, VC MC 410

G Citations for the Award of the Distinguished Service Order 412

H Citations for the Award of the Military Cross 415

I Citations for the Award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal 423

J Recommendations for the Award of the Military Medal 427

K Military Offences in 11th Brigade, August 1916 to 30 April 1917 449

L Courts-Martial Record, August 1916 to 30 April 1917 451

M Commanding Officers, 1915-1939 452

N Regimental Sergeants-Major, 1915-1939 456

O Regimental Choruses of the 9th Mississauga Horse and the 75th (Mississauga) Battalion 458

Notes 463

Index 497

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