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Christopher Vokes Quotes

Major General Christopher Vokes was a senior Canadian Army officer who fought in World War II. He commanded the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade during the Allied invasion of Sicily. Promoted to major-general, he led the 1st Canadian Infantry Division through several battles in the Italian campaign. This included fierce house-to-house fighting in the Battle of Ortona and the advance north to the Hitler Line. In 1944, he took over command of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and fought in the Battle of the Hochwald. During the latter stages of this battle he notably ordered his division to raze the German town of Friesoythe, bulldoze the remains and use the rubble to make good the cratered local roads. After the war, Vokes commanded the Canadian Army Occupation Force in Europe, before returning to Canada to undertake further command assignments. He retired in 1959 and died in 1985 at the age of 80. Wikipedia  

✵ 13. April 1904 – 27. March 1985
Christopher Vokes photo
Christopher Vokes: 16 quotes0 likes

Famous Christopher Vokes Quotes

“Perhaps if Hitler had had the wisdom to withdraw his troops and prepare for the defense of his own country, Germany, despite the loss of face this would entail in the losing of all Italy, then the course of the war, if not the outcome, would have been quite different.”

Christopher Vokes

Italy, p. 133
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“My recollection is that most of the crap coming out of the trial via the media had Meyer condemned even before the trial was over.”

Christopher Vokes

The Occupation, p. 205
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“I said, "Right. Now you and I are getting into an aircraft. We are going over to London. We are going to see "Murch" (Maj. General J. C. Murchie) and we are going to see Mr. Massey (Vincent Massey, Canadian High Commissioner) and tell them what this is all about."”

Christopher Vokes

The Occupation, p. 206
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“Some more of Monty's boys came up, soon after Malone had left but they, too, spent their time getting shelled by the ever-persistent Germans. Likewise, they departed, their minds expanded and their sphinctres contracted.”

Christopher Vokes

Italy, p. 141
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“I reckon that the Bailey Bridge and the bulldozer were the greatest advances in military engineering in the years between World War I and World War II.”

Christopher Vokes

My Service Before The War, p. 56
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“But as far as I am concerned, the computer is the worst damn instrument devised by man to screw up man-management.”

Christopher Vokes

England, p. 74
Vokes - My Story (1985)
Context: I looked for certain attributes in a soldier. I know the modern method is to put the attributes into a computer and see what comes out. But as far as I am concerned, the computer is the worst damn instrument devised by man to screw up man-management.

Christopher Vokes Quotes about the trip

“Generals do not always run wars the way they would like to, nor the troops under them.”

Christopher Vokes

Sicily, p. 109
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“Command is often not what you do but the way you do it.”

Christopher Vokes

Italy, p. 184
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“The meek are a hell of a long way from inheriting the earth.”

Christopher Vokes

Tag line, cover illustration of Vokes - My Story

“I wanted people who wouldn't become too worried about casualties. One always should be concerned about casualties, but the risk of incurring casualties can't be allowed to affect decisions, unless it's evident casualties will be prohibitively heavy. There may be no safe way to write this.”

Christopher Vokes

England, p. 76
Vokes - My Story (1985)

Christopher Vokes Quotes

“But now I salute you who follow me,
It is my time to stand at ease … content.”

Christopher Vokes

This I Believe, p. 232
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“I was not going to go to bed forever with his unwarranted death on my conscience.”

Christopher Vokes

The Occupation, p. 208
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“Among the mouldering bones there was the head of a flaxen haired girl. One side of her face was well preserved, almost mummified. She must have been a beauty. But the other side of her face was all bone and a horrifying sight, not the sort of thing one likes to think about after.”

Christopher Vokes

Italy, p. 164
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“The most important thing, my father told me, which I have never forgotten, and which I have often put unto practice was: If you get into a quarrel with anybody, hit him first. "If you hit first, the battle is half-won," my father always said "Don't let him hit first. You hit him first."
"What's more," he never forgot to say, too "Usually one blow is all you need."”

Christopher Vokes

I found this to be true.
Kingston, p. 8
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“In Ceylon I had a black nurse who wet - nursed me.
Years later I was told by my father that she said of me:"This boy plenty belly, big stick."”

Christopher Vokes

Kingston, p. 4
Vokes - My Story (1985)

“No one's reputation is quite what he himself perceives it ought to be.”

Christopher Vokes

Northwest Europe, p. 188
Vokes - My Story (1985)

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