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First Steps: Intelligence Analysis In Canada During The Second World War, Alan Barnes

Canadian Military History

At the outset of the Second World War decision-makers in Ottawa were entirely dependent on the United Kingdom for finished intelligence on foreign military and political developments. During six years of war the intelligence work carried out in Canada expanded in several areas, and included a growing capacity to carry out intelligence analysis in several fields. An analytic group was established to exploit the mass of detailed information collected by the postal censorship programme. The Department of External Affairs created a small unit that drew on signals intercepts and other sources to assess political issues for senior officials. In the …

Why Did First Canadian Army Not Get The Acclaim Of The Canadian Corps?, J.L. Granatstein

Canadian Military History

Canada’s soldiers in the Second World War did not receive the same acclaim from historians as the Canadian Corps in the Great War. Some of the blame for this rests on official historian C.P. Stacey, but some also rests on the loss of leadership material to the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force and on General Harry Crerar who was less of a commander than Sir Arthur Currie. But much also lies with historians who did not look beyond the Normandy fighting to the superb performance of the Canadians in the last nine months of the war.

Review Of "Churchill And Fisher: Titans At The Admiralty" By Barry Gough, James Walton

Canadian Military History

Review of "Churchill and Fisher: Titans at the Admiralty" by Barry Gough.

Review Of "Bombing The City: Civilian Accounts Of The Air War In Britain And Japan, 1939-1945" By Aaron William Moore, Jean-Michel Turcotte

Canadian Military History

Review of "Bombing the City: Civilian Accounts of the Air War in Britain and Japan, 1939-1945" by Aaron William Moore.

Review Of "The Long Shadows: A Global Environmental History Of The Second World War" By Simo Laakkonen, Richard P. Tucker, And Timo Vuorisalo, Eds., Alex Souchen

Canadian Military History

Review of "The Long Shadows: A Global Environmental History of the Second World War" by Simo Laakkonen, Richard P. Tucker, and Timo Vuorisalo, eds.

Review Of "Global Views On Military Stress And Resilience" By Allister Macintyre, Daniel Lagacé-Roy And Douglas R. Lindsay, Eds., Saralla Chettiar

Canadian Military History

Review of "Global Views on Military Stress and Resilience" by Allister MacIntyre, Daniel Lagacé-Roy and Douglas R. Lindsay, eds.

Nervous System Architecture: Staff College Graduates And The Formation Of Regular, Territorial Force, New Army, And Dominion Divisions, 1914-1916, Brendan Hogan

Canadian Military History

The historiography of the First World War lacks an assessment of the role that trained staff officers had during the expansion of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) between 1914 and 1918. This article aims to determine what role staff college graduates played in the early expansion of the BEF. The central conclusion of this article is that staff-trained officers were critical in the expansion of the BEF during the war. They occupied all the key command and staff appointments in the British regular army, the Territorial Force, New Army, and Dominion divisions, both when those formations were formed and when …

One Of The Finest Sources Of Recruits: The Canadian Cadet Movement During The Second World War, Kevin Woodger

Canadian Military History

This article examines the history of the Sea, Army, and Air Cadet programs during the Second World War. The movement expanded rapidly during the war, with the assistance of the Canadian forces, which became more directly involved with the equipping, training, and administration of their respective cadet branches. Cadet training became increasingly sophisticated in an effort to provide cadets with the rudiments of modern military training in order to speed their transition into the armed forces when they reached enlistment age. The movement’s leaders viewed their primary role as providing pre-trained recruits to meet the needs of the military, and …

Constructing And Deconstructing 'Victory, 1918' At The Canadian War Museum, Tim Cook, Marie-Louise Deruaz

Canadian Military History

This article explores the history behind the creation of the Canadian War Museum’s exhibition, Victory, 1918: The Last Hundred Days. The exhibition presented the story of the Canadian Corps during the Hundred Days campaign of the First World War and the Canadian contributions to Allied victory. What follows is a glimpse into the challenges of exhibition development. Together, artifacts, personal stories, films, works of art, immersive spaces, reconstructions and colourized historical photographs created an engaging visitor experience while communicating key concepts about the Hundred Days.

Cet article explore l’histoire de la création de l’exposition Victoire 1918: Les cent derniers …

Bridging The Gap: Canadian Engineer Operations At Canal Du Nord–Bourlon Wood, 1918, Brian Pascas

Canadian Military History

During the last hundred days of the Great War, the Allied armies swept eastward past the Hindenburg Line with hammer-blow offensive warfare. Performing their work under intense machine gun and shell fire, engineers erected bridges and constructed roads, allowing infantry and artillery units to pursue the retreating enemy. These combat engineers played a vital role in battle tactics and logistical services of open warfare. Their versatile formations contributed to the Canadian Corps’ rapid victories, which included the successful Canal du Nord crossing leading to the capture of Bourlon Wood in September 1918.

Review Of "Life And Death In Captivity: The Abuse Of Prisoners During War" By Geoffrey P.R. Wallace, Jean-Michel Turcotte

Canadian Military History

Review of Life and Death in Captivity: The Abuse of Prisoners during War by Geoffrey P.R. Wallace.

Review Of "Canadians On The Somme, 1916: The Neglected Campaign" By William F. Stewart, Brian Douglas Tennyson

Canadian Military History

Review of Canadians on the Somme, 1916: The Neglected Campaign by William F. Stewart.

Review Of "Forgotten Under A Tropical Sun: War Stories By American Veterans In The Philippines, 1898-1913" By Joseph P. Mccallus, Frank Schumacher

Canadian Military History

Review of Forgotten Under A Tropical Sun: War Stories by American Veterans in the Philippines, 1898-1913 by Joseph P. McCallus.

Review Of "'By, With, Through': A Sof Global Engagement Strategy" By Emily Spencer, Ed., Emah Saviour Peter

Canadian Military History

Review of “By, With, Through”: A SOF Global Engagement Strategy by Emily Spencer, ed.

Review Of "Thunder In The Skies: A Canadian Gunner In The Great War" By Derek Grout, Kyle Pritchard

Canadian Military History

Review of Thunder in the Skies: A Canadian Gunner in the Great War by Derek Grout.

Review Of "The Fear Of Invasion: Strategy, Politics, And British War Planning, 1880-1914" By David G. Morgan-Owen, Alexander Maavara

Canadian Military History

Review of The Fear of Invasion: Strategy, Politics, and British War Planning, 1880-1914 by David G. Morgan-Owen.

Review Of "Backs To The Wall: The Battle Of Sainte-Foy And The Conquest Of Canada" By D. Peter Macleod, Steven Bright

Canadian Military History

Review of Backs to the Wall: The Battle of Sainte-Foy and the Conquest of Canada by D. Peter MacLeod.

Review Of "Empire Of Guns: The Violent Making Of The Industrial Revolution" By Priya Satia, Gordon Bannerman

Canadian Military History

Review of Empire of Guns: The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution by Priya Satia.

Stepping In New Directions: The Canadian Army’S Observer Program In The Asia-Pacific Region, 1944-45, Andrew L. Brown

Canadian Military History

In early 1944, and in anticipation of a government decision to commit ground forces to the war against Japan, the Canadian army launched a program that sent officers to the Asia-Pacific region to observe Allied operations. The observer program was well underway when, in November 1944, the Canadian government ordered the army to prepare a division to serve under American command in the Pacific theatre. The observer program helped the army deal with two significant challenges: learning how to fight a largely unfamiliar enemy in a tropical environment, and learning how to operate as part of an American force.

German Prisoners Of War In Canada, 1940–1946: An Autobiography-Based Essay, Franz-Karl Stanzel

Canadian Military History

The four years I spent in British and Canadian POW Camps offered ample time to study English Literature. This experience in particular had a decisive effect on my later career as university teacher of English literature. It also helped me to become one of the first Anglicists at German and Austrian universities, who included Canadian literature in his syllabus and a founder member of the German Association for Canadian Studies. In this essay based on my war-autobiography, I describe the experience of German POWs in Canada. I was captured in 1942 when serving as third officer of the watch on …

Art In The Trenches: Unofficial Art Of The First World War, Tim Clarke

Canadian Military History

Abstract: Scholarship in recent decades focusing on soldier experiences of the First World War have largely ignored soldier-produced artworks as access points into the experience of modern warfare. Though there has been work on official war artists and post-war artworks of soldiers turned artists, artwork produced during service in a non-official capacity has only featured in art history, where the artwork and artists feature as subjects, rather than as sources for understanding their experiences that contextualize their work. This paper makes a historiographical case for exploring this source-base, while also analyzing several selected works from unofficial First World War artists.

Munnings And The Canadians, Tim Cook, Anna England

Canadian Military History

Abstract : Sir Alfred Munnings painted the Canadian Cavalry Brigade and the Canadian Forestry Corps as part of the Canadian War Memorials Fund during the First World War. In the first half of 1918, Munnings, England’s most renowned equine artist, depicted the Canadians in sketches and on canvas, and he eventually produced over 40 works of art. This article will explore Munnings’s interactions with the Canadian cavalrymen and lumberjacks in uniform, while providing additional insight into his works of art that are held at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

Sommaire: Sir Alfred Munnings a réalisé les oeuvres consacrées à …

Clay-Kickers Of Flanders Fields: Canadian Tunnellers At Messines Ridge 1916-1917, Brian Pascas

Canadian Military History

This article explores the Canadian tunnelling companies’ military mining organisation and accomplishments in underground galleries during the Great War. This comprehensive study explains the crucial role played by the Canadian engineers, in conjunction with British and Australian engineers, in the successful detonation of nineteen deep mines at Messines Ridge, Belgium on 7 June 1917. The tunnellers’ perseverance and skill were evident that morning when they slammed home plungers and threw switches igniting the largest planned explosion up to that time. However, daily hardships and dangers of underground warfare from the claustrophobic environment to the stress from the eavesdropping enemy led …

"Two Years Below The Horn: Operation Tabarin, Field Science, And Antarctic Sovereignty, 1944–1946 (Book Review)" By Andrew Taylor, Edited By Daniel Heidt And P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Matthew S. Wiseman

Canadian Military History

Review of Two Years Below the Horn: Operation Tabarin, Field Science, and Antarctic Sovereignty, 1944–1946 by Andrew Taylor, edited by Daniel Heidt and P. Whitney Lackenbauer.

"Vimy: The Battle And The Legend (Book Review)" By Tim Cook, Katrina J. Pasierbek

Canadian Military History

Review of Vimy: The Battle and the Legend by Tim Cook.

'Whatsoever A Man Soweth:' Sex Education About Venereal Disease, Racial Health, And Social Hygiene During The First World War, Brent Brenyo

Canadian Military History

In 1917, the British War Office released a film directed by Joseph Best titled Whatsoever a Man Soweth. The 38-minute silent film used intertitles to convey dialogue, and the film’s narrative, which focuses on three Canadian soldiers on leave in London, England, was intended to provide sex education for soldiers. This paper examines how the film reflected and constructed a wartime reality through cultural representations, as increased attention was paid to the threat of venereal disease and its impact on racial health and the British Empire during the First World War. Ultimately, this sex education film provided soldiers with …

“The Most Vivifying Influence:” Operation Delta In Preparing The Canadian Corps For The Hundred Days, William F. Stewart

Canadian Military History

Preparation and training for Operation Delta in May and June 1918 provided the Canadian Corps with vital experience for the types of operations conducted during the Hundred Days. Delta was a proposed attack on the southern portion of the Lys salient formed by the German April offensive in Flanders. The operation represented a clear break with the operational concepts employed in 1917 prior to Cambrai. It was a difference between seeing a play diagrammed on a blackboard and actually running it in conditions just short of combat. Having a concrete plan to prepare schemes against was an invaluable element in …

The Forgotten Campaign: Newfoundland At Gallipoli, Tim Cook, Mark Osborne Humphries

Canadian Military History

Gallipoli has no place in the collective memory of most Canadians and even among Newfoundlanders, Gallipoli has not garnered as much attention as the ill-fated attack at Beaumont Hamel. Although largely forgotten, Newfoundland’s expedition to Gallipoli was an important moment in the island’s history, one that helped shape the wartime identity of Newfoundlanders. Like other British Dominions, Newfoundland was linked to the Empire’s world-wide war experience and shared in aspects of that collective imperial identity, although that identity was refracted through a local lens shaped by the island’s unique history. Gallipoli was a brutal baptism of fire which challenged and …

Samuel Holland: From Gunner And Sapper To Surveyor-General 1755-1764, Frederick J. Thorpe

Canadian Military History

The British Army engaged, in 1755, the young Dutch officer, Samuel Holland (whose patron was already the Third Duke of Richmond), to serve in North America as an artillery and engineering subaltern. Following many months’ service directly under the field commander, Holland became deeply involved in the siege of Louisbourg (1758) as the engineering assistant to James Wolfe. The latter warmly commended Holland to Richmond for his superior efficiency and his bravery under constantly heavy enemy fire. After the siege, Holland drew an accurate plan of the fortified port, illustrating the steps of the siege-attack and defence. He became busy …

"Stopping The Panzers: The Untold Story Of D-Day (Book Review)" By Marc Milner, Brad St. Croix

Canadian Military History

Review of Stopping the Panzers: The Untold Story of D-Day by Marc Milner