Through the Hitler Line

Memoirs of an Infantry Chaplain

Biography & Memoir, Historical
Cover of the book Through the Hitler Line by Laurence F. Wilmot, Wilfrid Laurier University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Laurence F. Wilmot ISBN: 9781554588220
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press Publication: October 22, 2009
Imprint: Wilfrid Laurier University Press Language: English
Author: Laurence F. Wilmot
ISBN: 9781554588220
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publication: October 22, 2009
Imprint: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Language: English

Laurence Wilmot’s Second World War memoir is a rare thing: a first-hand account of front-line battle by an army officer who is a resolute non-combatant. And it is paradoxes such as this that also make Wilmot’s book a unique and compelling document. Wilmot, as an Anglican chaplain, is a priest dressed as a warrior, a man of peace in battle fatigues. He is an incongruous figure in a theatre of war, always vigilant for opportunities to partake of silent meditation and prayer, never failing to lose sight of the larger moral issues of the war. His compassion is boundless, his sensitivity acute, and one senses his mounting emotional and spiritual enervation as the death toll of his fellow serving men steadily mounts. At the centre of the book is Wilmot’s witness of the murderous battle at the Arielli.

Wilmot’s compassion for the fighting men compels him to leave the safety of his ministry and join them at the front, at great personal risk. There, as an unarmed stretcher-bearer, he is kept busy transporting the wounded under enemy fire. In this crucible of battle we see the qualities that attest to Wilmot’s character and contribute to his memoir’s importance: an indefatigable devotion to his duty to save and comfort the wounded, and a resolve to resist despair in spite of the terrible carnage all around. In short, a singular triumph of the decency of one man in the midst of total war.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Laurence Wilmot’s Second World War memoir is a rare thing: a first-hand account of front-line battle by an army officer who is a resolute non-combatant. And it is paradoxes such as this that also make Wilmot’s book a unique and compelling document. Wilmot, as an Anglican chaplain, is a priest dressed as a warrior, a man of peace in battle fatigues. He is an incongruous figure in a theatre of war, always vigilant for opportunities to partake of silent meditation and prayer, never failing to lose sight of the larger moral issues of the war. His compassion is boundless, his sensitivity acute, and one senses his mounting emotional and spiritual enervation as the death toll of his fellow serving men steadily mounts. At the centre of the book is Wilmot’s witness of the murderous battle at the Arielli.

Wilmot’s compassion for the fighting men compels him to leave the safety of his ministry and join them at the front, at great personal risk. There, as an unarmed stretcher-bearer, he is kept busy transporting the wounded under enemy fire. In this crucible of battle we see the qualities that attest to Wilmot’s character and contribute to his memoir’s importance: an indefatigable devotion to his duty to save and comfort the wounded, and a resolve to resist despair in spite of the terrible carnage all around. In short, a singular triumph of the decency of one man in the midst of total war.

More books from Wilfrid Laurier University Press

Cover of the book The Wartime Letters of Leslie and Cecil Frost, 1915-1919 by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Modernity and Religion by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Troubling Tricksters by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Trans.Can.Lit: Resituating the Study of Canadian Literature by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book How Silent Were the Churches? by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Cabbagetown Diary by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book The Dialectic of Truth and Fiction in Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Indigenous Poetics in Canada by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Syria, Press Framing, and the Responsibility to Protect by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book The Curtain by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Blocking Public Participation by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Blast, Corrupt, Dismantle, Erase by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Children of the Outer Dark by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Broad Is the Way by Laurence F. Wilmot
Cover of the book Florence Nightingale: The Crimean War by Laurence F. Wilmot
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy