Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Christopher Vokes
Summary
Major General Christopher Vokes (13 April 1904 – 27 March 1985) 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 ordered his division to raze the German town of Friesoythe. The division subsequently destroyed around 85–90% of the town and used 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.
Born in the town of Armagh, Ireland, on 13 April 1904, Vokes was the son of a British officer, Major Frederick Patrick Vokes, and Elizabeth Vokes. They came to Canada in 1910 and Vokes's father served as the engineering officer at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). The family lived in the Married Quarters at Ridout Row, RMC.
Christopher Vokes's brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Vokes, took a leading part in the assault on Dieppe in August 1942. In early 1944 he was sent to Italy as commanding officer of the 9th Armoured Regiment (The British Columbia Dragoons). On 31 August 1944 he was seriously wounded in action and died in a field hospital on 4 September.
From 1921 to 1925 Vokes attended the Royal Military College of Canada and was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Engineers. He then attended McGill University from 1926 to 1927 where he received a Bachelor of Science degree and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society. From 1934 to 1935 he attended Staff College, Camberley in England.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.