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#4546970 - 12/03/20 02:31 PM OT excellent book about VIMY  
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Robert_Wiggins Offline
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I read this book over 40 years ago and just recently decided to give it a re-read. The book "VIMY" was written by Canadian author Pierre Berton in 1986 and republished in 2019 by Random House.

It's a great read with much detail about the tactics employed and many vigniettes about actual characters rhat played significant roles in the prelude to the battle.

If you haven't yet read it, I recommend it.

My hunch is that it is already in Lou's library!

Best Regards

Last edited by Robert_Wiggins; 12/03/20 02:33 PM.

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#4547017 - 12/03/20 11:58 PM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Randomizer Offline
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Far more complete and comprehensive is Tim Cook's Vimy: The Battle and the Legend. Burton's Vimy is certainly very readable but is also dated and superficial in many respects at least in my opinion although still worthy of a look.

-C

#4547028 - 12/04/20 01:38 AM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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77_Scout Offline
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It's a good read and I have a copy sitting on my bookshelf. The battle is rather a big deal for us Canadians, eh.

#4547039 - 12/04/20 03:46 AM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Robert_Wiggins Offline
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VIMY was a coming of age, so to speak.
That aside, it was the development and indoctrination of many new tactical battle techniques.


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#4547086 - 12/04/20 12:41 PM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Robert, while I do not have a copy of Burton's work in my own library, I have read it, (quite some time ago now), and found it very informative.

Randomizer, I for one have not read Cook's work and may have to do so and see how the two compare.

77_Scout, to Vimy being a "big deal", in particular for you Canadians, of that there is no doubt.

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#4547108 - 12/04/20 04:07 PM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Must try to get Cook's book.


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#4547304 - 12/05/20 09:38 PM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Cook also wrote At the Sharp End and Shock Troops, a two-volume history about the Canadian Corps (the first being 1914-1916 and the second 1917-1918). Not about Vimy specifically, but if you're looking for info about the war from a Canadian perspective, they're well worth picking up.

#4547410 - 12/06/20 08:14 PM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Randomizer, I for one have not read Cook's work and may have to do so and see how the two compare

I would submit that the two books are not really comparable as they are aimed at different audiences. Pierre Burton was an eloquent and talented broadcaster and he wrote Vimy for a very general audience. Burton's passion for the subject and Canada as a whole comes through loud and clear throughout the book and his narrative use of first-person accounts is certainly compelling. Should you consume only one book on the Battle of Vimy Ridge, Burton's work is probably not the best unless your goal is merely reading an entertaining overview.

Tim Cook is a professional military historian, for a time Historian-in-Residence at the Canadian War Museum (he may still be). His two volume set on the Canadian Corps in WW1 (At the Sharpe End and Shock Troops) should be an essential read for anybody interested in the topic.A warning though, he includes warts and all and there are definite warts in the Vimy story that Burton omitted. Two other Tim Cook Great War titles worthy of a look are; No Place to Run, about gas warfare and the Canadian Corps and The Madman and the Butcher about LGen Sir Sam Hughes versus LGen Sir Arthur Currie respectively, and their political and professional collaboration, falling out and the ugly political conflict, which poisoned Canadian Army politics throughout the 1920's.

Prof. Cook might not have Burton's wonderful narrative style but he is very readable for even the most casual military history buff.

-C

#4547425 - 12/06/20 11:06 PM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Robert_Wiggins Offline
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Randomizer thanks for your insight.


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#4547479 - 12/07/20 12:37 PM Re: OT excellent book about VIMY [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Randomizer, after your excellent analysis I am now compelled to read some of Cook's works, as if I didn't have enough to read already. reading

Seriously though, as Robert said, thanks for your insight.

.


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