Military History Commons^™

The Generals: The Canadian Army’S Senior Commanders In The Second World War By J.L. Granatstein [Review], Gil Drolet

Canadian Military History

Review of J.L. Granatstein, The Generals: The Canadian Army's Senior Commanders in the Second World War. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 1993.

The Battle Of Lundy’S Lane: On The Niagara In 1814 By Donald E. Graves [Review], Barry Gough

Canadian Military History

Review of Donald E. Graves, The Battle of Lundy's Lane: On the Niagara in 1814. Baltimore, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1993.

True Patriot: The Life Of Brooke Claxton, 1898–1960 By David Jay Bercuson [Review], David A. Lenarcic

Canadian Military History

Review of David Bercuson, True Patriot: The Life of Brooke Claxton, 1898-1960. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.

Best-Kept Secret: Canadian Intelligence In The Second World War By John Bryden [Review], David Stafford

Canadian Military History

Review of John Bryden, Best-Kept Secret: Canadian Secret Intelligence in the Second World War. Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1993.

The Walcheren Causeway Revisited, Guy De Merlis

Canadian Military History

On a secluded plot of land reclaimed from the sea, the grateful Dutch people of Zealand have erected a monument dedicated to the 135 soldiers of the Fifth Brigade, Second Canadian Infantry Division killed or wounded in the battle of the Walcheren causeway, October 31st to November 2nd, 1944.

The monument, unveiled by His Royal Highness Prince Bernard, of the Netherlands, on October 31st, 1987, in the presence of a handful of Canadian veterans, commemorates the sacrifice of the members of three regiments: The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, Le Régiment de Maisonneuve, both Montreal units, and the …

Eugene Colson And The Liberation Of The Port Of Antwerp, Shelagh Whitaker

Canadian Military History

In September 1944 a unique alliance of Canadian infantrymen with Belgian resistance fighters joined forces to liberate the port of Antwerp. It was the key, as many see it, to victory.

In September 1994, the Governor General of Canada honoured this collaboration and the one man responsible for the Belgian participation in it, Colonel Eugene Colson of Antwerp, with the Meritorious Service Medal. Rarely have such medals been given to non-Canadians.

Tommy Burns As A Military Leader: A Case Study Using Integrative Complexity, J.L. Granatstein

Canadian Military History

Lieutenant-General E.L.M. Burns is relatively well-known to Canadian military historians and to Canadians generally. A professional soldier born in 1897, Tommy Burns attended the Royal Military College, leaving before graduation to serve with the Canadian Corps in France and Flanders during the Great War. He saw much action, won the Military Cross, and decided to remain in the tiny Canadian Permanent Force after the Armistice. Burns rose with rapidity in the interwar years, his career helped by brilliant performance at the British Army Staff College, Quetta, and selection for the Imperial Defence College, London. He had powerful patrons, senior officers …

A Loss Of The Hmcs Clayoquot, Douglas M. Mclean

Canadian Military History

The torpedo struck without warning. HMCS Clayoquot was returning from an anti-submarine sweep in the approaches to Halifax harbour when its stern rose into the air, mangled by the detonation of a German T-5 acoustic homing torpedo. The men aboard felt two concussions, the second likely being depth charges stored on Clayoquot’s stern set off by the torpedo. Whatever the details, the explosions were devastating for the small Bangor class minesweeper. A grainy photograph of the doomed ship shows the stern blasted vertical, the ship listing to starboard. Clayoquot lasted barely ten minutes after being hit, just long enough …

A Conspiracy Of Silence? The Popular Press And The Strategic Bombing Campaign In Europe, Laurie Peloquin

Canadian Military History

The controversy surrounding the decision by Bomber Command to target German cities populated mainly with non-combatants rages even today. It has been said that these were decisions made in secret, so secret that not even the airmen who flew the missions knew what they were really striking. In his book Weapons and Hope, physicist Freeman Dyson states, “I was one of the very few people who knew what were the objectives of the campaign, how miserably we were failing to meet these objectives, and how expensive this was for us in money and lives,” and, “I felt deeply my …

Communications In The Canadian Corps, 1915–1918: Wartime Technological Progress Revisited, Bill Rawling

Canadian Military History

Warfare has, for millenia, been a rich source of myth and legend, and one of the main reasons many historians proclaim Herodotus to be the first to ply their trade is because, at least, he discounted divine intervention as the prime explanation for the ebb and flow of battle. Myths, however, persist to this day, one of the most popular in our industrialized culture being a common belief that technological development accelerates in wartime. In many cases this might be true; the First World War, for example, saw much innovation (this author hesitates to use the word “progress”) in the …

A Canadian’S Guide To The Battlefields Of Normandy By Terry Copp [Review], William Mcandrew

Canadian Military History

Review of Terry Copp, A Canadian's Guide to the Battlefields of Normandy. Waterloo, ON: Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, 1994.

The Suicide Battalion By James L. Mcwilliams And R. James Steel [Review], A.M.J. Hyatt

Canadian Military History

Review of James L. McWilliams and R. James Steel, The Suicide Battalion. St. Catharines, ON: Vanwell Publishing, 1993.

Canadian Prisoners Of War In The Great War, William H. Wiley

Canadian Military History

Review of Desmond Morton, Silent Battle: Canadian Prisoners of War In Germany, 1914-1919. Toronto: Lester Publications, 1992.

War Through The Ages, Robert Vogel

Canadian Military History

Review of John Keegan, A History of Warfare. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.

Intelligence Secrets, David Stafford

Canadian Military History

Review of James Rusbridger, Betrayal at Pearl Harbour: How Churchill Lured Roosevelt into World War II and Bradley Smith Eric Nave: The Ultra-Magic Deals and the Most Secret Special Relationship, 1940-1946

Canadian History Text Books And The Wars, J.L. Granatstein

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

Encounter Over Korea, Andy Mackenzie

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

A Worm’S Eye View: The 1/4 Koyli In Normandy, Lewis Keeble

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

A Canadian On Horseback: 9 July 1944 Memorialized In Bronze, Mary Mackie

Canadian Military History

Canadian and British troops liberated Caen after 33 days of the bloodiest battles of the Normandy campaign. A small but dramatic ceremony in the main square marked the historic first raising of the French flag. But a Canadian artillery officer on horseback made the moment symbolically Canadian too.

“There Must Be No Holes In Our Sweeping”: The 31st Canadian Minesweeping Flotilla On D-Day, Michael Whitby

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

Confrontation In Normandy: The 3rd Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment On D-Day, Stan Medland

Canadian Military History

On D-Day, the 6th of June 1944, the 3rd Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment R.C.A. landed in France on Juno Beach as part of the Third Canadian Infantry Division.

The regiment consisted of four batteries: the 4th from Peterborough, Ontario, the 52nd from Weymouth, Nova Scotia, the 94th from Quebec City and the 105th from St. George, New Brunswick, along with a headquarters from Toronto.

Originally trained as field artillery, the regiment had been converted to anti-tank. Each battery had two troops of four 6-pounders anti-tank guns and one of four M 10s, the latter being Sherman tanks with a 3-inch gun …

Tactical Air Power In Normandy: Some Thoughts On The Interdiction Plan, Robert Vogel

Canadian Military History

The Allied campaign in North-West Europe in 1944–45 ended with the capitulation of the German Army and must, therefore, be considered an eminently successful operation. In its initial phase, that is the assault on Normandy and the securing of a defensible lodgement area, it was undoubtedly one of the most dangerous and complicated operations of the war. Nevertheless it ended as the victory which marked the beginning of the end of the Third Reich. Like many other campaigns, however, it did not go exactly as planned and many have claimed that the Allied Armies were neither properly trained nor adequately …

The Defeat Of The 12th Ss: 7–10 June 1944, Oliver Haller

Canadian Military History

In the early hours of 6 June 1944, the first reports of a major Allied operation were transmitted to the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Panzer Division. In anticipation of the long-awaited Allied invasion of occupied France, a company was sent to investigate the Caen area. Though the young soldiers of the division were uncertain of what actually awaited them, the first acts in a conflict that would claim most of their lives were being performed. However, defeat was not on their minds during that hectic morning—the men of the 12th SS were fixed on driving the “little fish” back into the …

Churchill And The Historians, Robert Vogel

Canadian Military History

Review of Robert Blake & Roger Louis, eds., Churchill: A Major Reassessment of his Life in Peace and War. London: Oxford University Press, 1992; Tuvia Ben-Moshe, Churchill: Strategy and History. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1992; Richard Lamb, Churchill as War Leader: Right or Wrong? London: Bloomsbury, 1991; John Charmley, Churchill, The End of Glory: A Political Biography. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1992.

Canadian Infantry: Besting The Best, Gil Drolet

Canadian Military History

Review of Terry Copp, The Brigade: The Fifth Canadian Infantry Brigade, 1939-1945. Stoney Creek, ON: Fortress Publications, 1992.

Technology And The Great War, A.M.J. Hyatt

Canadian Military History

Review of Tim Travers, How the War Was Won: Command and Technology in the British Army on the Western Front, 1917-1918. London: Routledge

Wounded In Sicily, 12 July 1943, S.W. Thomson

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

Researching Guy Simonds, J.L. Granatstein

Canadian Military History

Review of Dominick Graham, The Price of Command: A Biography of General Guy Simonds. Toronto: Stoddart, 1993.

The Canadian Attack At Amiens, 8–11 August 1918, Dean Chappelle

Canadian Military History

By mid-1918, the character of the First World War had changed completely from the relatively static previous three years of battle. In March, the Germans had launched their desperate gamble to win the war in a single massive offensive and had been halted, at great cost to both sides, by June. On 18 July the French, aided by American forces, launched their highly successful counter-attack at Soissons and demonstrated that the German forces were far weaker t h a n the previous year. The opportunity was ripe to strike quickly and in force. This occurred at 4:20 a.m. on the …

Souvenirs De Guerre: Memories Of War, Harry Pope

Canadian Military History

Major Harry Pople is one of the few junior officers to have written a detailed account of his service as a platoon commander in Italy. Originally written for the journal of the Royal 22nd Regiment, La Citadelle, his memoirs are presented as a commentary on more official accounts.