When Your Number's up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War

by Desmond Morton

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Book cover for When Your Number's up

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Regardless of ancestry, background or status, almost every Canadian had a relative in the First World War. Yet very few of us realize what it was like or what exactly the Canadians were asked to do for country and king. How were these men trained? What was it like tin the trenches? Why did the early disasters of 1915 and 1916 end in the victories of 1918? How did soldiers find the courage to face death and terrible wounds? When your Number's Up is unique in that it deals directly with the lives of these soldiers; it is an upclose, personal view of a very terrible war.

The book begins with the "Old Originals" of 1914, describes recruiting, training, battle tactics, even the fate of Canadian prisoners of war. It tells of men who had very little understanding of what they had to face: brutal conditions, disease, mustard gas, trench warfare, and years away from home. Desmond Morton gets behind the battles and the generals and the politicians to give us fresh insight into the people who really make history.


  • ISBN10 0394222881
  • ISBN13 9780394222882
  • Publish Date 27 September 1993
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Random House USA Inc
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 32
  • Language English