Dileas: A History of the 48th Highlanders of Canada 1929–1956

This is the story of a typical Canadian fighting battalion at war. Its name was the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders of Canada. Its nickname was “The Glamour Boys”. In the opening chapters, Kim Beattie describes the Regiment’s parentage, and early background, from which springs the new war battalion. In the last he describes the happy ending. The meat is in the middle. Here he tells how men are brought together from many walks of life, looking on each other with intolerance and suspicion. He describes how their civilian thinking and ways are slowly shed as they are trained for their task in besieged Britain. How they are indoctrinated to the battlefield in the campaign in Sicily. How they are finally transformed in the crucible of Ortona into a confident fighting battalion of infantry. And finally, how they served their country at war.