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"Beyond The Band Of Brothers: The Us Military And The Myth That Women Can’T Fight (Book Review)" By Megan Mackenzie, Russell Isinger

Canadian Military History

Review of Beyond the Band of Brothers: The US Military and the Myth that Women Can’t Fight by Megan MacKenzie.

"The Vimy Trap: Or, How We Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Great War (Book Review)" By Ian Mckay And Jamie Swift, Geoffrey Hayes

Canadian Military History

Review of The Vimy Trap: Or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great War by Ian McKay and Jamie Swift.

"Moltke And His Generals: A Study In Leadership (Book Review)" By Quintin Barry, Dominic J. Caraccilo

Canadian Military History

Review of Moltke and His Generals: A Study in Leadership by Quintin Barry.

Conceiving And Executing Operation Gauntlet: The Canadian-Led Raid On Spitzbergen, 1941, Ryan Dean, P. Whitney Lackenbauer

Canadian Military History

In August and September 1941, Canadian Brigadier Arthur Potts led a successful but little known combined operation by a small task force of Canadian, British, and Norwegian troops in the Spitzbergen (Svalbard) archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. After extensive planning and political conversations between Allied civil and military authorities, the operation was re-scaled so that a small, mixed task force would destroy mining and communications infrastructure on this remote cluster of islands, repatriate Russian miners and their families to Russia, and evacuate Norwegian residents to Britain. While a modest non-combat mission, Operation Gauntlet represented Canada’s first expeditionary operation in the …

“The Necessary War: Canadians Fighting The Second World War 1939–1943, Volume One (Book Review)” By Tim Cook & “Fight To The Finish: Canadians In The Second World War 1944–1945, Volume Two (Book Review)” By Tim Cook, Matthew S. Wiseman

Canadian Military History

Review of The Necessary War: Canadians Fighting the Second World War 1939–1943, Volume One & Fight to the Finish: Canadians in the Second World War 1944–1945, Volume Two by Tim Cook.

“Combat Mission Kandahar: The Canadian Experience In Afghanistan (Book Review)” By T. Robert Fowler, Craig Leslie Mantle

Canadian Military History

Review of Combat Mission Kandahar: The Canadian Experience in Afghanistan by T. Robert Fowler

“A Small Price To Pay: Consumer Culture On The Canadian Home Front, 1939-1945 (Book Review)” By Graham Broad, Daniel German

Canadian Military History

Review of A Small Price to Pay: Consumer Culture on the Canadian Home Front, 1939-1945 by Graham Broad

The Liberation Of Groningen: The Diary Account Of Theo Polman, Greg Sennema

Canadian Military History

The city of Groningen in the Netherlands was liberated by the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division during the final month of the Second World War. While the battle was not significant to the outcome of the war, the combat was nonetheless significant for both the participants, as well as the citizens who lived through four days of fierce street fighting. Using his grandfather’s detailed diary, and with references to the War Diaries of some of the battalions involved, the author describes the experience of one family that huddled in their home through the battle, and their interactions with Canadian soldiers after …

“Our Artillery Would Smash It All Up:” Canadian Artillery During The Battle Of The Somme, September-November 1916, Brendan Hogan

Canadian Military History

The historiography of the First World War has produced no recent comprehensive study of the Canadian artillery, despite its importance on the battlefield. This article seeks to explain how Canadian artillery evolved on the Somme. The central conclusions of this article are that the Canadian artillery’s performance during the battle was mixed, and that a number of technological, tactical, and organizational changes, not all of them Canadian, in the Canadian Corps that we recognize from the artillery of 1917-1918 were developed during, or as a result of, the Somme.

“Under Fathoms Of Salt Water:” Canada’S Ammunition Dumping Program, 1944-1947, Alex Souchen

Canadian Military History

This article examines Canada’s ammunition dumping program in the mid-1940s and pays special attention to the practical and technical dilemmas that influenced policy making and implementation. A pressing logistical crisis followed the end of the Second World War as crowded armaments depots ran out of storage space for leftover ordnance. In July 1945 a major explosion at the Bedford Magazine in Halifax Harbour heightened public safety concerns and influenced future disposal policies. From a range of imperfect destruction methods, dumping emerged as one of the most efficient alternatives; whenever possible conventional and chemical munitions were submerged. Although the quantities sunk …

The Command And Control Of Canadian And American Maritime Air Power In The Northwest Atlantic, 1941-1943, Richard Goette

Canadian Military History

Operational, organizational, doctrinal, and cultural differences hampered effective command and control of Canadian and American maritime air power defending shipping against U-boats off the east coast during the Second World War. The American desire to implement US unity of command over both nations’ maritime air forces clashed with the Canadian preference for simple cooperation. Canadian airmen resisted several American attempts to impose unity of command until the operational situation in the Battle of the Atlantic revealed inefficiencies in coordination which necessitated all maritime air power in the Northwest Atlantic be centralized under Canadian operational control in the spring of 1943.

Patient Experience And The Treatment Of Venereal Disease In Toronto’S Military Base Hospital During The First World War, Kandace Bogaert

Canadian Military History

During the First World War, the Canadian Espeditionary Force (cef) was infamous for having the highest rates of venereal infection among the Allies. Soldiers could be inspected at random, questioned about the source of their infection, and held in quarantine in hospital until cured. While medical officers published research on the prevalence and treatment of venereal disease, little has been written on the experiences of patients. This paper examines the experiences of venereal patients in Toronto’s Military Base Hospital in 1916. Soldiers’ correspondences reveal their perspectives, along with the ways in which the military’s management of venereal disease was laden …

Dropping Question Marks: War Art, Leadership, The Canadian Forces And Afghanistan, Gertrude Kearns

Canadian Military History

As a contemporary war artist, Gertrude Kearns presents interpretive challenges to the commemoration and contextualization of controversial aspects of Canadian military history, both from her personal perspective and in terms of the institutional responsibilities associated with meaningful public presentations of war art. In the context of her decade-long Afghan War senior leadership series, and with reference to earlier Somalian and Balkan works, in this article she discusses the appropriateness of her selected subject matter as well as her own responsibility as a war artist in dealing with everything from disturbing and regular subjects to mission concept. Kearns reviews accountability, her …

Constituent Parts: Recent Portraiture In Canadian Military Art, Lindsey V. Sharman

Canadian Military History

Not common within the art historical record of the Canadian Military, the work of a number of visual artists participating in the Canadian Forces Artists Program demonstrates a keen and growing interest in portraiture. In this article, the work of Gertrude Kearns, Mary Kavanagh, and Erin Riley will be highlighted to illustrate the recent trend. Their work is contrasted with one another as well as with portraiture created by Canada’s war artists in the First and Second World Wars to bring to light the tensions of representation inherent in military portraiture. It will be shown that shifting perceptions found in …

Material, Trace, Trauma: Notes On Some Recent Acquisitions At The Canadian War Museum And The Legacy Of The First World War, Christine Conley

Canadian Military History

Recent acquisitions at the Canadian War Museum are considered in relation to the radical innovations of soldier-artists who endured the somatic conditions of the First World War trenches, privileging materiality and psychic reality over visual perception. Barbara Steinman and Norman Takeuchi bring the past into the present through the indexical presence of black and white photographic fragments and the emotive presentation of lost objects as signifiers of the desires of the absent. Scott Waters and Mary Kavanagh evoke dread and the contingency of death through anamorphic distortion and blinding luminosity. Like the suggestive surfaces of the Museum itself, these works …

"The Embattled General: Sir Richard Turner And The First World War (Book Review)" By William F. Stewart, Brian Douglas Tennyson

Canadian Military History

Review of The Embattled General: Sir Richard Turner and the First World War by William F. Stewart

"Unmanned: Drone Warfare And Global Security (Book Review)" By Ann Rogers And John Hill, Rich Roy

Canadian Military History

Review of Unmanned: Drone Warfare and Global Security by Ann Rogers and John Hill

"Maestro Of Science: Omond Mckillop Solandt And Government Science In War And Hostile Peace, 1939-1956 (Book Review)" By Jason Sean Ridler, Russell Isinger

Canadian Military History

Review of Maestro of Science: Omond McKillop Solandt and Government Science in War and Hostile Peace, 1939-1956 Jason Sean Ridler

Affective Terrains: Art, War, And National Belonging, Susan Cahill

Canadian Military History

This paper examines how cultural representations affirm national belonging within the context of Canada’s involvement in the War on Terror. To do this, it takes as its central case study an exhibition of official war art, 11 Artists for 11/11 (2012), which was mounted on public display in celebration of Remembrance Day. This paper approaches the exhibition and the works included in it by addressing their representative and non-representative (or affective) qualities, in order to think through the ways in which visual narratives of military history participate in shaping sentimental attachments to Canadian identity and being Canadian.

“The Battle-Fortune Of Marshal Hindenburg Is Not Bound Up With The Possession Of A Hill”: The Germans And Vimy Ridge, April 1917, Holger Herwig

Canadian Military History

On 9 April 1917 four Canadian divisions and one British division of 170,000 men broke through the “Vimy Group” of German Sixth Army of some 40,000 men. By late afternoon, the Germans had been driven off the Ridge. That day, as Brigadier-General Alexander Ross famously put it, constituted “the birth of a nation.” Rivers on ink have been spilled in the Canadians’ actions that day, but little attention has been paid to “the other side of the hill.” Which German units defended the Ridge? What was the quality of their leadership? Why did the defence collapse so quickly? Why did …

A Portrait Of Raymond Brutinel As A Young Man (Part Ii): The Future Canadian Corps Machine Gun Commander As A Business Entrepreneur In The Canadian West, 1908–1914, Cameron Pulsifer

Canadian Military History

The following carries on from an article on Brutinel’s prewar life in Edmonton, Alberta that appeared in the previous issue of Canadian Military History. That account dealt with his arrival in Edmonton from France, the reasons for his immigration, and his adaptation to life in the newly-created Alberta capital. This included an initial involvement with the Edmonton French community, his editorship of the French language Le Courrier de l’Ouest, and his eventual breaking away from these pursuits into a career of business entrepreneurship. The following is specifically concerned with this latter phase of his career, in which, at the height …

Where Was Canada? The Canadian Military Contribution To The British Commonwealth Second World War Campaign In North Africa, Andrew Stewart

Canadian Military History

The campaign fought by predominantly British Commonwealth forces in North Africa during the Second World War, in many respects, represented a final example of imperial solidarity and unity. Whilst the United States participated during the final stages prior to the surrender of Axis forces in May 1943, it was Britain and its Empire that provided most of the resources and manpower and contested most of the battles. Canada, however, played only a relatively minor part and this paper seeks to examine the associated decision-making process that took place in London and Ottawa and discuss the tensions that arose.

“Get Tough Stay Tough: Shaping The Canadian Corps, 1914-1918 (Book Review)” By Kenneth Radley, Brian Douglas Tennyson

Canadian Military History

Review of Get Tough Stay Tough: Shaping the Canadian Corps, 1914-1918 by Kenneth Radley

“The Shadow Of Torture: Debating Us Transgressions In Military Interventions, 1899-2008 (Book Review)” By Katrin Dauenhauer & “America In The Philippines, 1899-1902. The First Torture Scandal (Book Review)” By Christopher J. Einolf, Frank Schumacher

Canadian Military History

Review of Torpedo: Inventing the Military-Industrial Complex in the United States and Great Britain by Katherine C. Epstein

Review of The Shadow of Torture: Debating US Transgressions in Military Interventions, 1899-2008 by Katrin Dauenhauer

“Torpedo: Inventing The Military-Industrial Complex In The United States And Great Britain (Book Review)” By Katherine C. Epstein, Russell Isinger

Canadian Military History

Review of Torpedo: Inventing the Military-Industrial Complex in the United States and Great Britain by Katherine C. Epstein

“War In The Modern World, 1990-2014 (Book Review)” By Jeremy Black, Quentin Holbert

Canadian Military History

Review of War in the Modern World, 1990-2014 by Jeremy Black

“Privateering: Patriots And Profits In The War Of 1812 (Book Review)” By Faye M. Kert, Gordon Bannerman

Canadian Military History

Review of Privateering: Patriots and Profits in the War of 1812 by Faye M. Kert

Developing Deadly Skies, John Maker

Canadian Military History

The Canadian War Museum’s exhibition Deadly Skies – Air War, 1914-1918 examines the first air war from the perspective of nine international participants representing Canada, the United States, France, Great Britain, and Germany. Eschewing the romantic mythology of First World War aviation that focuses on the achievements of individual fighter pilots, the exhibition examines four key aspects of the air war: training, observation, bombing, and aerial combat. Adopting an interpretive approach that appeals to intergenerational audiences and that highlights personal experience in the war, the exhibition is presented as a series of life-sized graphic novels, supplemented with key artifacts, photos, …

“Absolutely Incapable Of ‘Carrying On:’” Shell Shock, Suicide, And The Death Of Lieutenant Colonel Sam Sharpe, Matthew Barrett

Canadian Military History

This article examines Canadian social and medical responses to nervous breakdown and suicide in the First World War through the case study of Lieutenant Colonel Sam Sharpe, a Member of Parliament and commander of the 116th Battalion. An historical analysis of Sharpe’s experiences and reaction to war trauma provides wider insights into how shell shock and military suicide represented a potential threat to prewar masculine ideals. Medical and political interpretations of Sharpe’s breakdown initially aimed to preserve social stability and validate the war’s moral justifications but contradictory understandings of shell shock ultimately made for a complicated and unstable process of …

A Portrait Of Raymond Brutinel As A Young Man (Part I): The Future Machine Gun Commander In Edmonton, Alberta, 1905-1914, Cameron Pulsifer

Canadian Military History

Raymond Brutinel remains one of the Canadian Corps’ most intriguing and little understood senior officers. A fair amount has been written about his service with the Canadian Corps, which generally portrays him as a significant commander and military innovator. But his life before he joined the Canadian military largely remains a mystery, which Brutinel himself did little to clear up. He had emigrated from France to Edmonton, Alberta in 1905 and lived there until the outbreak of war. Yet little is known in detail about this formative period of his life. Based largely upon Edmonton-based sources, the following aims to …