In the Shadow of the Kaiser
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IN The Shadow Of The Kaiser: The Capture, In the Shadow of the Kaiser: The Captured Newfoundland Men of Monchy-Le-Preux is a gripping historical account that shines a long-overdue light on the forgotten fate of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment’s prisoners of war during one of the Great War’s most brutal episodes.
On April 14, 1917, amid the snow-swept chaos of the Battle of Arras, the Newfoundlanders, fighting alongside the 1st Essex Regiment, advanced from the freshly seized village of Monchy-le-Preux toward Infantry Hill. What began as a bold push quickly turned catastrophic: withering German machine-gun fire, ferocious counterattacks, and swift encirclement overwhelmed the forward companies, claiming heavy tolls in killed, wounded, and captured.
This book turns its focus to those captured men, drawing on personal stories, letters, diaries, and records to vividly recount their harrowing journey into German captivity. Under the looming shadow of the Kaiser and the German Empire, they endured the grim realities of POW life: harsh internment in camps, deprivation, forced labour, illness, and the ever-present threat of death.
Blending battlefield heroism with the stark human cost of captivity, the narrative powerfully contrasts extraordinary courage in the face of overwhelming fire with the quiet endurance required to survive behind enemy lines. A poignant tribute to Newfoundland’s sons, it ensures their stories of valour, suffering, and survival are not lost to history.
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