Generals Die in Bed (1930) is a war novel by Charles Yale Harrison based on his own experiences as a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. The novel follows the war experiences of an unnamed 18-year-old soldier, offering a pointed critique of militarization and the class system as causal elements in The Dehumanization of Common Soldiers. In addition, Harrison examines the mismatch between new technologies and old tactics in World War I (WWI) warfare and The Psychological Impact of Combat. Harrison also traces the growth of Disillusionment and Distrust of Leadership among the common soldiers.

This guide uses the 2007 Annick Press edition with an introduction by Robert Nielson.

Content Warning: The source material includes graphic descriptions of violence, death, and battlefield conditions.

Plot Summary

In the opening chapter of Generals Die in Bed, Canadian recruits gather in Montreal for a gala sendoff to the war. After parades and celebrations, the young soldiers board a train and begin their long journey to the Western Front in Europe. The unnamed narrator, himself one of the recruits, offers a first-person limited point of view for the story. On the train, the narrator begins to experience fear and loneliness, emotions that will be with him for the rest of the novel.

Once the recruits arrive in Europe, they find themselves living in trenches filled with mud and rats and under constant bombardment by the German forces. Periodically they must go out over the top of the trench and charge the German lines. Their living conditions are dreadful: In addition to rats and mud, the men experience cold temperatures and terrible food. Their captain is a cruel man who sadistically picks on Brown, one of the narrator’s friends.

The narrator reports that life at the Front follows a regular routine. The men spend about six days in reserve, six days in support, followed by six days in the front trenches before falling back to the rest area for five or six days. While in the rest area, however, the men do not have the opportunity to rest. Their days are filled with doing “fatigues”—that is, they must perform maintenance and repair work, and marching drills. They are plagued by lice and suffer constant itching.

The narrator and his fellow soldiers grow increasingly disillusioned and distrustful of their officers. As the fighting grows more and more intense, the men also grow anxious and fearful. They discover that Canadian troops are often moved to the front lines as shock-troops. Where others have failed, the Canadians succeed in breaking through German lines. Although they are proud of the Canadian accomplishments, they also know it puts them all at great risk.

After a series of alternating battles and rest periods, the narrator participates in a very dangerous raid. He and Broadbent are the only two members of his unit to survive. As a reward, the narrator receives leave to go to London. While there he attends a musical show that upsets him deeply, as it makes a joke of the soldiers and the war.

When he returns to the Front, the narrator boards a truck for Arras. The men do not get rations for almost three days, and when they get to Arras, they loot the town. Order is finally reestablished, and the men prepare for the Battle of Amiens. This battle marks a turning point in the war. During the battle, Broadbent is killed, and the narrator is wounded in the foot.

On a train bound for a French port, the narrator witnesses a German officer protest being boarded with the Canadian common soldiers. When he is moved to an officer car, the narrator once again witnesses the role class structure plays in the treatment of soldiers. Finally, at the port, as the narrator is wheeled on to the boat, an orderly tells him that the Llandovery Castle was carrying war materiel and that the officers placed the lives of wounded Canadians at risk by doing so. The narrator thinks about the unarmed German soldiers whom he helped to kill as they tried to surrender. The book ends as he is carried up the gangplank.