The D-Day dodgers : the Canadians in Italy, 1943-1945

Summary: When troops of the First Canadian Infantry Division waded ashore in southern Sicily inJuly 1943, it marked the first time- aside from the few bloody hours on the beach of Dieppe the previous August - that Canadian soldiers had gone into combat in Europe since the start of the war, nearly four years before. There they were to stay for the next twenty months, fighting their way from Sicily, step by painful step up the boot of mainland Italy, against crack German troops, and over often torturous terrain, and enduring weather that alternately parched, froze, or flooded the battlefields. For the last eight to nine months of this difficult campaign, th soldiers also had to reconcile themselves to the fact that, as they had endured hardship and loss, the eyes of the western world had shifted to northwestern Europe, where the D-Day invasion had opened a new front. There were even some, including, it is said, the controversial Lady Astor, who suggested that they were getting off lightly in the sunny vineyards of Italy. Their response was the bitterly wry humour of their popular wartime song "we Are the D-Day Dodgers". In this book, Daniel Dancocks has written a popular-history analysis of Canada's participation in the Italian campaign, taking the reader battle by battle, from landing to the final days. Drawing on established sources, personal research, and numerous interviews, he looks at the reasons why Canadian forces were committed in Italy and assesses their impact. He also creates a sweeping narrative that includes the experiences of the fighting men - from privates to generals.