On Saturday, February 13, in Vancouver I was honoured to present a copy of Terrible Victory to Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende during a ceremony at the Billy Bishop Legion hall. The book was of particular interest to the prime minister because it details on page 400 the liberation of his hometown of Biezelinge on October 28, 1944. Born in 1956, he grew up hearing often of the day when soldiers of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry crossed the Beveland Canal and the advanced through heavy rain and shellfire across the mud-soaked fields to gain the village.

The event at the Billy Bishop Centre was held to enable the prime minister to present about 75 veterans with a special medallion issued by the Dutch government in recognition of their role in liberating the Netherlands 65 years ago.

Photo courtesy Kent Kallberg, Kallberg Studios

Prime Minister Balkenende examines presentation copy of Terrible Victory. Standing opposite on the other side of me is Dave Sinclair, Command President BC/Yukon Command of the Honour Legion.

 Agira Canadian War Cemetery

A group of Canadian citizens are organizing a commemorative trek that will retrace the route taken by 1st Canadian Infantry Division during its invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943. For more information about this tour and how to become involved as a participant or supporter, go to www.operationhusky2013.ca. I am serving as the historical consultant for the organizing committee and am looking forward to participating in the trek.

Number Four in the Elias McCann Series.

Title: TBA. Mystery: Still a secret. Publication date: TBA.

Forthcoming Canadian Battle Series Books:

The Summer of Fire: First Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign, July-August 1944.

D-Day and the Canadian winning of Juno Beach on June 6, 1944 was just the beginning of what was to prove the pivotal campaign of World War II-the Allied battle for Normandy. From the assault against Caen on July 4 to the closing of the Falaise Gap on August 21, First Canadian Army was at the centre of the desperate struggle to break the German grip on the hard won beachhead and begin the long march toward Germany. Proportionally Canadian casualties were higher than those suffered by either the Americans or British-18,444 of which 5,021 died--far in excess of losses incurred during any other World War II campaign. At Caen, Bourgebus Ridge, Verrieres, and Falaise young Canadians--most facing their baptism of fire--experienced the horror of combat and were indelibly marked by it. Drawing on veteran interviews, memoirs, and contemporary archival accounts, Summer of Fire dramatically tells their story.

Publication: Fall 2011 by Douglas & McIntyre.

Decision on the Rhine: First Canadian Army’s Rhineland Campaign, February 8–March 10, 1945

Winter 1945, the Allies are massed on the German border. Twenty miles to the east lies the last major natural barrier to their advance--the Rhine River. The ground between, a patchwork of dense forests separated by open farmland, is the Rhineland. "No assault in this war has been conducted under more appalling conditions of terrain than was that one," Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight G. Eisenhower declared at its end.

Spring breakup and deliberate German flooding of the low ground near the river has created a muddy morass. Waiting in the heavily fortified positions inside the forests whose name will soon be legendary--the Reichswald, Moyland, Hochwald--wait thousands of crack paratroopers under orders from Hitler to fight to the death rather than yield an inch of their Fatherland. For more than a month the battle rages and only the "enduring gallantry and determination" of the Canadian and British toops carries the day. Victory comes at a cruel price for First Canadian Army: 15,634 casualties, of which 5,304 are Canadian. On the other side of the ledger, almost 45,000 elite German troops are killed, taken prisoner, or critically wounded. With their loss, the war's end lies clearly in sight--making the Rhineland victory one of the war's most decisive.

Coming from Douglas & McIntyre, Fall 2012.