Archive CD Books - New title

[sandyford]

My favourite Christmas present.

The excellent Archive Books on CD – have just listed a new title, which is of personal interest for its coverage of 2nd Ypres.

The History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War - Col. A. F. Duguid.

At the moment it is on the Canadian Archive CD Books site.

The CD has reproduced the text, maps and appendices of the book.

Colonel Duguid was appointed Director of the Historical Section and in 1921 began the task of compiling a very thorough and detailed history referring to BEF and CEF contemporary documentation, war diaries, maps, memos etc. Duguid completed 2 volumes, covering from Aug. 1914 to September 1915, of what was intended to be a series.

Chris Wight, who loaned the books to the project, mentioned the books and maps in an earlier thread, on this forum and told me of the proposal to Archive these volumes to CD.

The reference maps, a.m. & p.m. compiled by Duguid using the timed, positional information in the relevant war diaries, messages and letters of the BEF and CEF and the mapping grids, are an excellent means of explaining and displaying complex unit movement information and artillery position.

I have posted a small section of the map for 26th April 1915 p.m. as an example.

Archive CD have scanned the maps at full size and excellent quality and they can be scrolled and zoomed. In addition there is a very useful feature, in a separate section where each of the maps has been reproduced in 4 sections, as jpegs, and each section can be printed out at A4, for research purposes.

The history can be searched on the CD and I searched immediately on Northumberland Fusiliers, Mouse Trap Farm etc. It is indexed and listed by chapter.

It seems that Col. Duguid and the Historical Section suffered critical staff movement and had tasks added to their remit, to the extent that the series was never completed and the project was eventually ended at the beginning of WW2. On the evidence of these 2 volumes, the termination of this project was a great opportunity lost and must have been a grave blow to Duguid.

Kate

[chris.wight]

Kate, now that you've had the Book CD for a while (and with the anniversary of 2nd Ypres fast approaching), how useful have you found the information compiled by Col. Duguid?

[larneman]

Click here ---->>>Another thread on scanned books

[sandyford]

I posted a reply to this earlier today but perhaps I didn't add it at the end.

The CD is excellent.

Although it is a Canadian History, it is equally useful for BEF regiments.

For instance the 6th Battalion N.F. are shown on the maps not only in their battle action movements but also in their position on the day prior to advance, when other regiments are in action. This is the case for the many regiments involved in 2nd Ypres.

These are not trench maps but are on the grid and use contour info. They are not just the sketch maps which accompany many 'Histories'.

Duguid's work is impressive because of the painstaking and accurate correlation with War Diary information.

I have printed out the relevant maps from the additional A4 jpeg facility, as I was hoping to walk the Wieltje/Mousetrap Farm/St. Julien route on April 26th 1.00 - 4.00 p.m. the 90th anniversary.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to be there on that date, but hope to go later in the year.

Kate

[chris.wight]

Thanks, Kate, I am glad to know it was helpful.

I regret the other planned volumes in Col. Duguid's C.E.F. War History were abandoned.