Best Selling Books by Mark Zuehlke

On June 6, 1944 the greatest armada in history stood off Normandy and the largest amphibious invasion ever began as 107,000 men aboard 6,000 ships pressed toward the coast. Among this number were 18,000 Canadians, who were to land on a five-mile long stretch of rocky ledges fronted by a wide expanse of sand. Code named Juno Beach. Here, sheltered inside concrete bunkers and deep trenches, hundreds of German soldiers waited to strike the first assault wave with some ninety 88-millimetre guns, fifty mortars, and four hundred machineguns. A four-foot-high sea wall ran across the breadth of the beach and extending from it into the surf itself were ranks of tangled barbed wire, tank and vessel obstacles, and a maze of mines. Of the five Allied forces landing that day, they were scheduled to be the last to reach the sand. Juno was also the most exposed beach, their day’s objectives eleven miles inland were farther away than any others, and the opposition awaiting them was believed greater than that facing any other force. At battle''s end one out of every six Canadians in the invasion force was either dead or wounded. Yet their grip on Juno Beach was firm.

In the tradition of Margaret MacMillan’s Paris 1919 comes a new consideration of Canada’s most famous war and the Treaty of Ghent that unsatisfactorily concluded it, from one of this country’s premier military historians. In the Canadian imagination, the War of 1812 looms large. It was a war in which British and Indian troops prevailed in almost all of the battles, in which the Americans were unable to hold any of the land they fought for, in which a young woman named Laura Secord raced over the Niagara peninsula to warn of American plans for attack (though how she knew has never been discovered), and in which Canadian troops burned down the White House. Competing American claims insist to this day that, in fact, it was they who were triumphant. But where does the truth lie? Somewhere in the middle, as is revealed in this major new reconsideration from one of Canada’s master historians. Drawing on never-before-seen archival material, Zuehlke paints a vibrant picture of the war’s major battles, vividly re-creating life in the trenches, the horrifying day-to-day manoeuvring on land and sea, and the dramatic negotiations in the Flemish city of Ghent that brought the war to an unsatisfactory end for both sides. By focusing on the fraught dispute in which British and American diplomats quarrelled as much amongst themselves as with their adversaries, Zuehlke conjures the compromises and backroom deals that yielded conventions resonating in relations between the United States and Canada to this very day.

Together in one convenient ebook, three of Mark Zuehlke''s epics of Canadian soldiers in World War II take us from the dramatic events of D-Day (June 6, 1944) to the days following, and the final push. Juno Beach, Holding Juno and Breakout from Juno focus on the Normandy Invasion and its aftermath. Juno Beach dramatically unfolds as 18,000 Canadian soldiers storm the five-mile-long stretch of Juno Beach. At battle''s end one out of every six Canadians in the invasion force was either dead or wounded. The Canadians were the only Allied troop to meet their objectives. Holding Juno chronicles the crucial six days following the successful invasion. The ensuing battle was to prove bloodier than D-Day itself. The Canadians made it possible for the slow advance toward Germany and an Allied victory. Breakout from Juno takes us to the next battle a month later. On July 4, 1944, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division won the village of Carpiquet but not the adjacent airfield. The 3rd Division, 2nd Infantry and 4th Armoured Divisions -- along with a Polish division and several British divisions came together as the First Canadian Army. This is their story.

As June 6, 1944 passed into history, the Allied battle to hold onto the French soil won on D-Day began. Six miles inland from Juno Beach, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division had advanced, at great cost in lives, farther than any other Allied division. But for all the horror endured on June 6, every soldier digging in on this front line knew worse was yet to come, for the Allied toehold on the Normandy coast was extremely tenuous, and out in the darkness beyond no man''s land the fury of the 12th SS (Hitlerjugend) Panzer Division was massing, intent on throwing the invaders back into the sea. For six days, the outcome hung in the balance as the Canadians and fanatical Hitler Youth engaged in a close-quarters battle neither side could afford to lose. Renowned military historian Mark Zuehlke follows up his best-selling Juno Beach with a dramatic retelling of this all-or-nothing battle that decided the fate of the Normandy invasion.

On July 10, 1943, two great Allied armadas of over 2,000 ships readied to invade Sicily. This was Operation Husky, the first step toward winning a toehold in fascist-occupied Europe. Among the invaders were 20,000 Canadian troops serving in the First Canadian Infantry Division and First Canadian Tank Brigade — in their first combat experience. Over the next 28 days, the Allied troops carved a path through the rugged land, despite fierce German opposition. Drawing on firsthand accounts of veterans and official military records, Operation Husky offers a gripping, meticulous account of this seminal operation and the young men who fought, died, and survived it.

At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War on July 17, 1936, forty-two thousand Internationals, comprised of Canadians, Americans, and Spaniards, fought together on the side of the Republicans who were trying to throw back fascist dictator General Franco?s troops, which included countless German and Italian soldiers. By October 29, 1938 though, only two thousand Internationals were able to gather for a speech requesting them to withdraw. Despite all their efforts, Spain wanted to continue on its own, hoping the war would become a Spanish affair once again. Drawing on diaries and newly documented sources, Zuehlke offers a compelling account of the Canadian experience in Spain. It was not a popular war for Canada, with even the prime minister praising Hitler for his social and economic advances. Most world powers were aligning themselves with Italy and Germany, who supported Franco?s movement. Along with allied troops, some 1,500 Canadians joined together in a valiant but doomed cause. This is the story of these brave Canadians, who like all veterans of war, deserve to have their story told and their experiences related, so that they will not be forgotten.

With its trademark "you are there" style, Mark Zuehlke''s tenth Canadian Battle Series volume tells the story of the 1942 Dieppe raid. Nicknamed "The Poor Man''s Monte Carlo," Dieppe had no strategic importance, but with the Soviet Union thrown on the ropes by German invasion and America having just entered the war, Britain was under intense pressure to launch a major cross-Channel attack against France. Since 1939, Canadian troops had massed in Britain and trained for the inevitable day of the mass invasion of Europe that would finally occur in 1944. But the Canadian public and many politicians were impatient to see Canadian soldiers fight sooner. The first major rehearsal proved such a shambles the raid was pushed back to the end of July only to be cancelled by poor weather. Later, in a decision still shrouded in controversy, the operation was reborn. Dieppe however did not go smoothly. Drawing on rare archival documents and personal interviews, Mark Zuehlke examines how the raid came to be and why it went so tragically wrong. Ultimately, Tragedy at Dieppe honors the bravery and sacrifice of those who fought and died that fateful day on the beaches of Dieppe.

Ortona Street Fight is a riveting telling of what is considered one of the most epic battles that Canadian soldiers have ever fought. December 20, 1943. Two Canadian infantry battalions and a tank regiment stand poised on the outskirts of a small Italian port town. They expect to take Ortona quickly. But the German 1st Parachute Division has other ideas. For reasons unknown, Hitler has ordered Ortona held to the last man. Houses, churches and other buildings are dynamited, clogging the streets with rubble. Germans with machine guns lie in ambush. Snipers slip from one rooftop to another. The Canadians seem to have walked into a death trap. This is a battle fought at close range, often hand to hand. Casualties on both sides are heavy. In the end, raw courage and ingenuity save the Canadians. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for older teen readers and adults who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!

The eighth Canadian Battle Series volume is the little-told story of the tense final days of World War II, remembered in the Netherlands as “the sweetest of springs,” which saw the country’s liberation from German occupation. The Liberation Campaign, a series of fierce, desperate battles during the last three months of the war, was bittersweet. A nation’s freedom was won and the war concluded, but these final hostilities cost Canada 6,298 casualties, including 1,482 dead. With his trademark “you are there” style that draws upon official records, veteran memories, and a keen understanding of the combat experience, Mark Zuehlke brings to life this concluding chapter in the story of Canada in World War II. May 4, 2010, will mark the 65th anniversary of the Netherlands’ liberation.

Mark Zuehlke is an expert at narrating the history of life on the battlefield for the Canadian army during World War II. In Terrible Victory, he provides a soldiers-eye-view account of Canada''s bloody liberation of western Holland. Readers are there as soldiers fight in the muddy quagmire, enduring a battle that lasted three weeks and in which 6,000 soldiers perished. Terrible Victory is a powerful story of courage, survival, and skill.

From the Plains of Abraham to Vimy Ridge to peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, Canadian soldiers have long offered the greatest sacrifice with tremendous skill and courage. Now, fully updated and for the first time in paperback, the battlefields on which Canadian soldiers fought so valiantly have been mapped out in one stunning full-color volume. Mark Zuehlke, widely regarded as Canada’s pre-imminent Military Historian, adds historical background and insightful commentary to C. Stuart Daniel’s more than 80 intricately detailed maps of 400 years of Canada’s battlefields. The French and Indian Wars, the Battles of Ypres and Passchendaele, Dieppe, D-Day, Korea and Kosovo — Zuehlke and Daniel have painstakingly researched every battle in every war, on the ground, in the air, and at sea. More than 50 stunning photographs and illustrations of our soldiers at war complement this book’s vibrant battlefield maps and captivating prose.

Drawing on official records and veteran memories, Mark Zuehlke brings to life the Normandy Campaign.

Like an armor-toothed belt across Italy’s upper thigh, the Gothic Line was the most fortified and fiercely defended position the German army had yet thrown in the path of the Allied forces. On August 25, 1944, it fell to I Canadian Corps to spearhead the famed Eighth Army’s major offensive, intended to rip through it. The 1st Infantry and 5th Armored Divisions advanced into a killing ground covered by thousands of machine-gun, antitank gun positions, and pillboxes expertly sited behind minefields and dense thickets of barbed wire. Never had the Germans in Italy brought so much artillery to bear or deployed such a great number of tanks. For 28 days, the battle raged as the Allied troops slugged an ever deeper hole into the German defences. The Metauro River, the Foglia River, Point 204, Tomba Di Pesaro, Coriano Ridge, San Martino, and San Fortunato became place names seared into the memories of those who fought there. They fought in a dust-choked land under a searing sun which by battle''s end was reduced to a guagmire by rain. But they prevailed and on September 22 won the ground overlooking the Po River Valley, opening the way for the next phase of the Allied advance.

A dramatic account of the Canadian Forces attack on Juno Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, a battle that began the march toward victory in World War II.

As part of Operation Husky 2013, a group of Canadians walked this route to honour the memory of the nation’s soldiers who fought in Sicily seventy years earlier and whose sacrifice has been largely forgotten. Under a searing sun, with Mount Etna’s soaring heights always in the distance, a small contingent of marchers trekked each day along winding country roads for between 15 and 35 kilometres to reach the outskirts of a small town or village. Here they were joined by a pipe band, which led them to the skirl of bagpipes in a parade into the community’s heart to be met by hundreds of cheering and applauding Sicilians. Before each community’s war memorial a service of remembrance for both the Canadian and Sicilian war dead followed. Each day also brought the marchers closer to their final destination—Agira Canadian War Cemetery where 490 of the 562 Canadian soldiers who fell during the course of Operation Husky in 1943 are buried. On July 30—after twenty gruelling days—the marchers were joined here by almost a thousand Canadians and Italians. All joined to conduct a profoundly emotional ceremony of remembrance that ended with one person standing before each headstone and answering the roll call on that soldier’s behalf. Mark Zuehlke, author of the award-winning Canadian Battle Series, was one of the Operation Husky 2013 marchers. He uses this arduous and poignant task as a focal point for a contemplative look at the culture of remembrance and the experience of war.

The second instalment in military historian Mark Zuehlke’s compelling World War II tales of Canadians overcoming insurmountable odds in Italy. For the allied armies fighting their way up the Italian boot in early 1944, Rome was the prize that could only be won through one of the greatest offensives of the war. Following upon his book about the battle of Ortona, Mark Zuehlke returns to the Mediterranean theatre of World War II with this gripping tribute to the valiant Canadians who opened the way for the Allies to take Rome. The Liri Valley is testament to the bravery of these Canadians, like the badly wounded Captain Pierre Potvin, who survived more than thirty hours alone in the hell of no man’s land. This book, like the battle it records, will live long in readers’ memories.

From the Plains of Abraham to Vimy Ridge to peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, Canadian soldiers have long offered the greatest sacrifice with tremendous skill and courage. Now, fully updated and for the first time in paperback, the battlefields on which Canadian soldiers fought so valiantly have been mapped out in one stunning full-color volume. Mark Zuehlke, widely regarded as Canada’s pre-imminent Military Historian, adds historical background and insightful commentary to C. Stuart Daniel’s more than 80 intricately detailed maps of 400 years of Canada’s battlefields. The French and Indian Wars, the Battles of Ypres and Passchendaele, Dieppe, D-Day, Korea and Kosovo — Zuehlke and Daniel have painstakingly researched every battle in every war, on the ground, in the air, and at sea. More than 50 stunning photographs and illustrations of our soldiers at war complement this book’s vibrant battlefield maps and captivating prose.

The Canadians called it the Promised Land. In late September 1944, the Emilia-Romagna plain before I Canadian Corps stretched to the far horizon—a deceptively wide-open space where the tanks could run free. Throughout British Eighth Army, hopes ran high that once it entered the plain, the Germans could be driven from Italy. As soon as the advance began, however, the plain’s true nature was revealed: the land was criss-crossed by rivers, canals and drainage ditches over which all bridges had been demolished. With higher command urging haste, the Canadians entered a long and nightmarish series of battles to win crossings over each waterway, whose high banks provided the Germans with perfect defensive positions. Early fall rains caused rivers to spill their banks and transformed the countryside into the worst quagmire the soldiers had ever seen. More than five months of battle followed, with weeks of hard fighting required to advance from one river to the next. Each month, conditions only worsened, and the casualty rates rose appallingly. As their comrades fell one by one, most soldiers sought merely to survive. Doing that much required every measure of stamina, courage and fighting skill they possessed. The fifth and final Canadian Battle Series volume set in Italy, The River Battles tells the story of this campaign’s last and hardest months. In riveting detail and with his trademark “you-are-there” style, Mark Zuehlke shines a light on this forgotten chapter of Canada’s World War II experience.

An Excerpt From Brave Battalion. The company was completely bunched in front of the wire. Some men threw bombs toward the German trench while others tried to beat down the wooden stakes supporting the wire with their rifle buts and then trample it into the mud. The German grenades generally fell short as they were throwing uphill, but their rifle fire was "deadly accurate." Casualties mounted. Unless something were to be done quickly, Mackie realized that No. 4 Company would be wiped out. Suddenly Richardson turned to the sergeant. "Will I gie them wund?" he asked calmly. "Aye mon, gie ''em wind, " Mackie barked back. Coolly, the young smooth-faced solder marched back and forth in front of the wire, playing the pipes while a storm of fire swirled past him on either side. "The effect was instantaneous," reads his Victoria Cross commendation. "Inspired by his splendid example, the company rushed the wire with such fury and determination that the obstacle was overcome and the positions captured."