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  • Merry Hell: The Story of the 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Regiment), Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919 by Robert N. Clements
  • Patrick Brennan
Robert N. Clements. Merry Hell: The Story of the 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Regiment), Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919. Ed. Brian Douglas Tennyson. University of Toronto Press. xxiv, 266. $45.00

Robert Clements, who enlisted in Nova Scotia’s 25th Battalion in 1915 and served in the unit until war’s end, first as an ordinary soldier and then as junior officer, completed Merry Hell in the 1970s. However, the manuscript lay all but hidden in the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia until discovered by historian Brian Douglas Tennyson, who recognized its value and edited it for publication. Clements’s apparent intention was that Merry Hell would be part personal reminiscence and part informal regimental history, but it is more successful in the former guise. While it doesn’t measure up to the best of either of these genres – The Journal of Private Fraser (edited by Reginald Roy) and Victor Wheeler’s The 50th Battalion in No-Man’s Land, respectively – it nonetheless makes a useful contribution to our understanding of the experiences of that generation of young Canadians who marched off to war 100 years ago.

The strength of the book lies in its candid insights into aspects of a Great War Canadian soldier’s life. Particularly valuable are several pages devoted to how “rankers” speedily weighed the merits of their officers, and a devastating critique of the Canadian Corps’ obsession with trench raiding from the perspective of the men who actually had to carry out the dangerous schemes. But Clements covered a lot more – everything from military cuisine to the merits of battalion bands, the difficulties of teaching clumsy soldiers (the “awkward squad”) to march properly, and the roots of the ill feeling between Australian and Canadian soldiers.

Tennyson argues that Clements “had lots of time to reflect on and contextualize his wartime experiences” and that “his goal clearly was to [End Page 298] tell the story, as he experienced it, but without any desire to glorify war or to shock his readers.” But while the published product is far from a good-time-was-had-by-all account, much of the story lacks candour, the inevitable result of the author’s undoubted decency as well as concerns for the feelings (and reputations) of surviving and deceased comrades. Unfortunately, in not “shocking his readers” Clements missed the opportunity to explore issues like the killing of prisoners, shell shock, the onset of war weariness, the impact of heavy casualties on unit morale, or the other historically important instances of nastiness in a trench soldier’s life. Clements was promoted from the ranks, which speaks to his leadership ability, but he failed to provide any insight into the fascinating dynamics of commanding and disciplining former equals. That said, there are certainly glimpses of the strains of combat, such as a superb description of what it was like to endure a creeping barrage, hugging the ground as 18-pounder shells screamed past at shoulder height, and a moving account of how the 25th’s talented baseball team was destroyed during the Battle of the Somme.

Tennyson’s introduction is very helpful in fleshing out Clements’ personal story and providing context for what follows. Most of his explanatory footnotes, which dot the text are informative, though there are several errors: the date of General Byng’s appointment as Corps commander is months off (footnote 40), and some of the interpretations, such as those in footnotes 36 and 37 explaining the roots of conscription, are far from complete or even misleading.

In the end, general readers will find more of interest in Merry Hell than will historians. While it certainly provides revelations on various subjects for the latter, they will be as disappointed over what is missing as pleased with what is found.

Patrick Brennan
Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary
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