War through the Lens tells the story of the most daring filmmakers in the history of Canada's motion picture industry, the fifty cameramen who filmed Canadians in battle during World War Two. They belonged to the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit and often scooped their British and American allies with the first, and in many cases, the most memorable footage of the war's crucial battles in Europe. They produced a legacy of images which continue to shape the depiction of the war today. It is a story of courage, friendship, triumphs and tragedies. The cost of their work was high. Before the guns were stilled, nearly a third of them became casualties with the small unit suffering proportionally among the highest casualty rates in the Canadian Army.

This book explores their experience with unique first person accounts combined with rare and dramatic images of Canada at war. Documenting a front line and a behind the scenes view of the war, War Through the Lens provides both compelling personal stories and important insights into how the war was covered.

DAN CONLIN is Curator of Marine History at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, and an authority on Nova Scotia privateering.

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