Baptism Of Fire

by Nathan M. Greenfield

The Second Battle of Ypres was, by any definition, a brutal event in a brutal war. The already terrible conditions of trench warfare, punctuated by the unimaginable horror of shell fire that turned men into “pink mist,” became even worse when the Germans introduced chlorine gas. But despite the terror, the battle marked a key moment in the formation of Canadian identity and pride. After the Germans’ initial gas attack opened a 12-kilometre-long hole in Allied lines, it was the heroic 1st Canadian Division—men who had been in the trenches for just over a week -- who rushed to fill the gap and block the enemy advance. Drawing on never-before-published material, Nathan M. Greenfield, author of The Battle of the St. Lawrence , presents a gripping new account of the Second Battle of Ypres. Here are the voices of the soldiers themselves -- both Canadian and German -- reaching across more than 90 years with a stunning immediacy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War I, Military Fiction, War

480 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2007

About the author

NATHAN M. GREENFIELD, PhD, is the Canadian correspondent for The Times Educational Supplement and is a contributor to Maclean’s, Canadian Geographic and The Times Literary Supplement. He is the author of The Damned, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction; Baptism of Fire, which was a finalist for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction; and the widely praised The Battle of the St. Lawrence. Greenfield lives in Ottawa.

Reviews

[Andrew Hawkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baptism of Fire is a very serviceable account of Canada's involvement in the 2nd Battle of Ypres. Often cited as Canada's first real engagement in the war (notwithstanding the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry). Historian Ian Daniels referred to the battle as the moment when the war transitioned from a Great Adventure to a Great Crusade. Greenfield's account of the battle largely follows this interpretation, but his depth of research and attention to the minutiae of battle makes this book valuable.

The best part of the book is Greenfield's attention to the experiences of individuals. He uses a vast array of letters, diaries, memoirs, and interviews to supplant official accounts of the battle. Most interestingly, he also incorporates the perspectives of German soldiers who stormed the Canadian lines. In using personal accounts, Greenfield is relatively critical of patently untrue details, or narratives that seem particularly self-serving, even if his work is not as rigorous as an academic account of the battle.

Although Greenfield's focus on the individual's experience was admirable, the way in which he did it was needlessly wordy and repetitive at times. This broke up the writing in ways that made the overall narrative suffer. If you read this book, you will notice the extremely frequent use of section breaks within chapters. Some sections were as short as a single paragraph. Greenfield's attempt to include any and all information about a given moment, rather than just the absolutely essential pieces, required a breakup of flow that made the events of 2nd Ypres hard to follow at times. Although this critique might seem unfair (how can you praise the focus on individuals and then argue that it breaks up the narrative), my issue is not with Greenfield's focus, it is with his execution of that focus. The style of writing used was extremely choppy, jumped forwards and backwards in time, and included details that could have been relegated to the footnotes.

Ultimately, however, narrative issues aside, this book is a good account of the 2nd Ypres. It is unique in its focus on individuals, and in the limited geographic and temporal scope. Because of its focus just on the events of 2nd Ypres, it is a much richer retelling than you would get in a broader account of Canada during the Great War. Greenfield accurately captures many aspects of military culture and Canada's place in the British Empire. His account of trench warfare brings the horrible realities of battle to life, without depicting the loss of life as a senseless slaughter for no purpose. Greenfield does a good job ensuring that information only uncovered with the benefit of hindsight does not colour his critiques of the numerous mistakes and miscommunications that abounded at the staff officer level during the battle. He also explicitly pushes back against the notion that in 1915, men overseas held a perspective on the war that was only borne out of postwar disillusionment.

[Don Thompson]

This is a must read for Canadian History fans. It was especially interesting for me as I had 2 members of my family who served and were gassed at Ypes. I was told as a kid in High School that WW1 forg us. That we may have been given the right to govern in 1867 but WW 1 gave us our national identity and defined Canada.
Greenfield captures this and gives us a view into the time and people. A book that we should have all Canadian High School kids read.

[Alfred Keep · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was well written. A lot of effort went into researching incidents and other facts.