James McWilliams and R. James Steel are avid military historians. They have collaborated on two previous books on "World War I: The Suicide Battalion" (1978, 1990) and "Gas! The Battle for Ypres, 1915" (1989) - as well as a unit history - "The Battery" (1996). R. James Steel is also the author of "The Men Who Marched Away: Canada's Infantry in World War I, 1914-1918" (1989).