I found this very interesting.

The flow id writing took me a whole to adapt, but I eased into it.

I always read wwII books so this was all new information to me.

This volume is a tribute to a fighting force that fought for their country 100 years ago in the trenches of France and Belgium during WWI. The authors have done an enormous amount of research in bringing out the deeds of valor done by men entering into the horrors of war and doing their duty. The men serving in the Canadian 46th Infantry battalion were mainly from the Midwest of Canada. The first wave of troops for this corps were young volunteers that saw the conflict in Europe as a means of having a unique adventure giving them something to tell to their grandchildren. The truth was something they never foresaw. The final tally of their service saw 91% of the officers and enlisted men as casualties; killed or wounded.
The authors used personal accounts by the combatants obtained from their families to tell the story. The words of the soldiers were not fancy oratory but simple descriptions of the horrors they faced day to day. The book does not set out to be antiwar, but becomes so in the telling. The German army facing them in the trenches are not evil but other men that were forced to enter combat and kill or be killed. One soldier's statement is about a German soldier leaving his trench to bring water to several wounded Canadian soldiers caught in a shell hole. Another telling incident is when a young German soldier is captured and while being brought back to Canadian lines cries and won't leave his captor who becomes the source of his survival.
The 46th went through many of the major battles of the war and the authors have non-technical descriptions of these events and action in the clashes. The group was in action on the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, the breaking through of the Hindenburg line, and Ypres; names probably not familiar to most readers but are the bloodiest battles of the War to end all wars. The ending is an interesting and welcome feature by the authors. They took the trouble to investigate and write about many of the soldiers later lives and what they did after the war ended. A good book to read and enter into the reality of another time and place that our great grandparents were familiar with.