History Commons^™

"Zombie Army: The Canadian Army And Conscription In The Second World War (Book Review)" By Daniel Byers, Brian Bertosa

Canadian Military History

Review of Zombie Army: The Canadian Army and Conscription in the Second World War by Daniel Byers.

'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 …

Notes On Canadian Units And Formations Engaged: Battles Of The Somme, March-April 1918, Archer Fortescue Duguid

Canadian Military History

Although the Canadian Corps did not participate directly in the German Spring Offensives that began on 21 March 1918, detached Canadian cavalry, artillery, and motor machine gun units serving with British divisions played important roles at various points in the battles. In one of the better known instances, Canadian cavalry were instrumental in delaying a German drive on 30 March south of Amiens at Moreuil Wood where, in one of the most dramatic cavalry actions of the war, Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew led a mounted charge with sabres drawn. For that action, he was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

Le Corps …

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 …

In Search Of The Fisherman’S Path: Rethinking The American Assault On Queenston Heights, Guy St-Denis

Canadian Military History

Canadian historians of the War of 1812 tend to associate a fisherman’s path with the initial success achieved by the Americans at the Battle of Queenston Heights. Unobserved, they made their way to the top of the escarpment and forced Brock to evacuate the redan battery located just below the brow of the heights. Desperate to retake this commanding position, Brock launched the ill-fated charge which resulted in his untimely death. It is a standard interpretation. But as this study reveals, the Americans had no particular need of a fisherman’s path.

Coal: A Significant Factor In Germany’S Defeat In World War I, Joseph Zeller

Canadian Military History

More than a hundred years have passed since the outbreak of the World War I, but there are still fundamental gaps in our understanding of the conflict. It has been generally recognized that the British blockade of Germany played the central role in bringing about Germany’s surrender. The German economy, industry and military came to suffer as a result of domestic shortages of all kinds, but especially of coal. In the gridlock of devastation and military force that had developed by 1916 coal came to represent a most effective tool of British allied force that Germany could not counter and …

“Representing Canadian Interests In All Matters Relative To Canadian War Dead:” Lt. Col. J.A. Bailie And The Recovery, Concentration And Burial Of The “C” Force Casualties In Japan And Hong Kong, Mark Sweeney

Canadian Military History

Abstract : The processes and rituals of grieving, memorializing and remembering a nation’s war dead are well known, while the project of recovering, concentrating and preparing wartime casualties for burial is less clearly understood. The task of burying the Canadian war dead in the Pacific fell to one individual, former pow, Lt. Col. J.A. Bailie. This paper investigates Bailie’s experience that began with his pow journals and ended with the consecration of the Yokohama and Sai Wan Military Cemeteries in Japan and Hong Kong. Bailie’s efforts and the relationships he developed with Canada’s allies heralded successful results, despite meagre resources …

"The First World Oil War (Book Review)" By Timothy C. Winegard, Corbin Williamson

Canadian Military History

Review of The First World Oil War by Timothy C. Winegard

"Training Aces: Canada’S Air Training During The First World War (Book Review)" By Peter C. Conrad, Brian Douglas Tennyson

Canadian Military History

Review of Training Aces: Canada’s Air Training During the First World War by Peter C. Conrad.

"Sounding Thunder: The Stories Of Francis Pegahmagabow (Book Review)" By Brian D. Mcinnes, Eric Story

Canadian Military History

Review of Sounding Thunder: The Stories of Francis Pegahmagabow by Brian D. McInnes

"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

"Sister Soldiers Of The Great War: The Nurses Of The Canadian Army Medical Corps (Book Review)" By Cynthia Toman, Eliza Richardson

Canadian Military History

Review of Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps by Cynthia Toman.

"Resister: A Story Of Protest And Prison During The Vietnam War (Book Review)" By Bruce Dancis, Jeremy Maxwell

Canadian Military History

Review of Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War by Bruce Dancis

"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.

"Strangers In Arms: Combat Motivation In The Canadian Army, 1943-1945 (Book Review)" By Robert Engen, Russell W. Glenn

Canadian Military History

Review of Strangers in Arms: Combat Motivation in the Canadian Army, 1943-1945 by Robert Engen.

"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.

"Britain And The Bomb: Nuclear Diplomacy, 1964- 1970 (Book Review)" By David James Gill, Joseph A. Buscemi

Canadian Military History

Review of Britain and the Bomb: Nuclear Diplomacy, 1964- 1970 by David James Gill.

"Allied Power: Mobilizing Hydro-Electricity During Canada’S Second World War (Book Review)" By Matthew Evenden, Brian Bertosa

Canadian Military History

Review of Allied Power: Mobilizing Hydro-electricity during Canada’s Second World War by Matthew Evenden.

No Shortage Of Tanks!: The Canadian Army’S System For The Recovery, Repair And Replacement Of A And B Vehicles And Major Weapons Systems, Arthur Gullachsen

Canadian Military History

This article is an overview of the First Canadian Army in North West Europe’s ability to recover, repair and damaged, destroyed and broken down vehicles and weapons systems. This capability was a crucial factor in maintaining the overall combat power of the Canadian Army Overseas during operations in the last year of war. To support this argument the author examines Canadian wartime primary documents as well as multiple secondary sources.

An Incident In Pocheon: The Death Of Sapper Gilles Ducasse, Andrew Burtch

Canadian Military History

The Canadian War Museum supports developmental research. This article is a by-product of the author’s continuing research into Canadian casualty records of the Korean War. This research helps to create a better picture of the makeup of the Canadian Army Special Force in Korea. When completed, it will shed greater light on when, where, and under what circumstances the 516 Canadians who are listed in the Korean War Book of Remembrance died. The research consists of a full review of the service records of Canadian military personnel who died in Korea or in support of the war from 1950 to …

Death At Licourt Revisited, Cameron Pulsifer

Canadian Military History

New Information comes to light about the five fatalities that occurred in the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade on the River Somme on 25 March 1918, as discussed in an article published in 2002.

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.

“Crisis And Control: The Militarization Of Protest Policing (Book Review)” By Lesley J. Wood, Tyler Wentzell

Canadian Military History

Review of Crisis and Control: The Militarization of Protest Policing by Lesley J. Wood.

“Monty’S Functional Doctrine: Combined Arms Doctrine In British 21st Army Group In Northwest Europe, 1944-45 (Book Review)” By Charles Forrester., David Stubbs

Canadian Military History

Review of Monty’s Functional Doctrine: Combined Arms Doctrine in British 21st Army Group in Northwest Europe, 1944-45 by Charles Forrester.

“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

“Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’S Warriors Came Of Age To Defeat The German Army In World War I (Book Review)” By Mitchell Yockelson, John R. Heckman

Canadian Military History

Review of Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I by Mitchell Yockelson