Courage, Sacrifice and Betrayal: The Story of the Victoria Rifles of Canada - 60th Battalion in the First World War

by Richard R. Pyves

Courage, Sacrifice and Betrayal provides a detailed account of the day-to-day operations of the 60th Battalion and the lives of its many soldiers. The 60th is one of only 50 battalions to actually fight as a unit as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I.
It was the 60th Battalion that captured, on day two of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, the villages of Vimy and Petit Vimy. Engagements at Vimy Ridge, Sanctuary Wood, the Somme, and Regina trenches are set against the backdrop of the broader Canadian, British, and French combat operations against the Germans and their allies. Author Richard Pyves skillfully brings readers into “the moment of war” through many long-forgotten personal accounts and letters included in the book.
Rich in historical fact, Courage, Sacrifice and Betrayal provides an intimate portrayal of life in the trenches and reveals the destructive emotional impact of war.

320 pages, Hardcover

Published March 1, 2018

About the author

Rick Pyves is a published author, avid historian and genealogist who grew up in Montreal, Quebec. Rick is a graduate of Concordia (Sir George Williams) University and McGill University and holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing.
Prior to embarking on a new career in writing, Rick held a senior management position with a major financial services company as SVP Marketing responsible for both marketing and public relations. After leaving his most recent management position, Rick decided to devote his energies and time to writing, with a particular interest in historical non-fiction with a direct linkage to his family.

Reviews

[Gwen Tuinman · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 'Courage, Sacrifice and Betrayal: The Story of the Victoria Rifles of Canada, 60th Battalion, in the First World War", Richard R. Pyves brings WW1 to life as experienced by the people who served. He immerses us in the first-person experiences of officers and soldiers through their correspondence with wives, friends and family. It’s all at once fascinating and heartbreaking to read on-the-ground accounts of endurance in the trenches, of individual battles, and of encounters with deadly new technologies introduced to their fields of combat. Pyves provides the names and regiment numbers for each of the 60th’s enlistees, plus detailed maps and explanations of battles in which they were engaged. As a visual person, I appreciated the supplement of photographs, maps, graphs and tables. For anyone wishing to read a book that reaches beyond a solely clinical dispensing of facts, I highly recommend this book.