Military History Commons^™

Dieppe Revisited: A Documentary Investigation By John P. Campbell [Review], Hugh G. Henry

Canadian Military History

Review of John P. Campbell, Dieppe Revisited: A Documentary Investigation. London: Frank Cass, 1993.

Regimental History: The State Of The Art, Paul Dickson

Canadian Military History

Review of David Bercuson, Battalion of Heroes: The Calgary Highlanders in World War II. Calgary: The Calgary Highlanders Regimental Fund Association, 1994 and Alex Morrison and Ted Slaney, The Breed of Manly Men: The History of the Cape Breton Highlanders. Sydney, Cape Breton: The Cape Breton Highlanders Association and the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, 1994.

The Role And Work Of Bomber Command: A Note By Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris For The Prime Minister And Cabinet, 28 June 1942, Arthur Harris

Canadian Military History

Editor’s Note: Few senior Allied Commanders have been criticized as strongly as Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris. And even those critics who recognize the vital contribution Harris and the Bomber Command made to the defeat of Nazi Germany are disturbed by the tone of Harris’ letters to Churchill and Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal. Harris never wavered in his conviction that Germany could be defeated by strategic bombing with ground roops assigned to a secondary role. This view underlay his arguments for assigning priority to strategic bombing. In pursuing the case Harris mixed careful argument and clear logic with …

Leesten, 50 Years Later, Henk Dykman

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

Two Days Of My Six Year War: 9–10 July 1944, J. Robert Cameron

Canadian Military History

Early in July I was called back to Battery H.Q. and briefed on Operation “Charnwood,” after which I went back to the troop and told the sergeants who in turn gave the information to the crews so that everyone knew what was intended and could carry on should he end up as senior man. The gist of the briefing was that an attack was to start by the English on our left at 0700 hours and would proceed south through Buron, Gruchy and Authie just north of Carpiquet airport by mid-morning, after which the Canadian 9th Brigade on the left …

Canada And The Pacific War, Majorie Wong

Canadian Military History

The war in Asia and the Pacific did not end in as tidy a fashion as it had in Europe. Official surrenders of the Japanese extended from 28 August to the end of September 1945. Several theatres had been created by Allied political and military leaders with Canadians involved in all of them.

“Backdoor To War”: A Canadian Infantryman At Hochwald And Xanten, February–March 1945, Hugh Mcvicar

Canadian Military History

Hugh McVicar was born in 1914 in Guelph, Ontario and graduated from Parkdale Collegiate in Toronto in late 1933. After a year at Toronto Normal School and work at a variety of occupations he joined Swift Canadian Company as a salesman. Married, with a young child and approaching 30 years of age, joining the army was “the farthest thing from his mind.” He was called up under the National Reserves Mobilization Act (NRMA) in March 1944 and immediately agreed to accept general service, meaning service overseas.

As a bookkeeper he was assigned to the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps but …

Some Personal Recollections Of Army Operations Research On Radar In World War Ii, George Lindsey

Canadian Military History

Operational Research had its origin at the beginning of the Second World War, and made important early contributions to many aspects of the Air Defence of Great Britain, an activity of monumental significance in the war. Air defence depended for its success on the development of a command, control, communication and information system on a scale that had never been approached before. It also depended on other types of technology, such as high performance aircraft, air-to-air weapons and anti-aircraft artillery, and, most critically, on the new science of radar. All of these offered opportunities for applications of operational research, as …

Whiz Bangs And Whoolly Bears: Walter Estabrooks And The Great War, Compiled From His Diary And Letters, Hal A. Skaarup

Canadian Military History

The Order of Battle for the Canadian Corps during World War One included the 32nd Field Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery (CFA), in the 8th Army Brigade. One memorable gunner who served in that unit was Sergeant Walter Ray Estabrooks. He enlisted in the spring of 1916 with the 65th Depot Battery at Woodstock, New Brunswick. Here, on the 9th of April, he was issued a uniform and service number 335805. Walter Estabrooks would go on to become part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) and participated in what came to be known as “The Great War.” This extraordinary …

Paved With Good Intentions: Hmcs Uganda, The Pacific War, And The Volunteer Issue, Bill Rawling

Canadian Military History

Admirals and politicians alike must have winced at the headlines: “PACIFIC SERVICE PROTEST” was splashed across the Daily Sketch; “PACIFIC? NOT US!” proclaimed the Evening News, in one of the worst public relations disasters the Royal Canadian Navy faced during the Second World War. As the two newspapers—among many others—explained, the crew of one of Canada’s two cruisers, HMCS Uganda, while on operations in the Pacific theatre, refused to volunteer for further service when requested, forcing the ship to return to port. There were, however, no accusations of cowardice or disloyalty, either explicit or implied; rather, the …

Merry Hearts Make Light Days: The War Of 1812 Journal Of Lieutenant John Le Couteur, 104th Foot Edited By Donald E. Graves [Review], Wesley B. Turner

Canadian Military History

Review of Donald Graves (ed.), Merry Hearts Make Light Days: The War of 1812 Journal of Lieutenant John Le Conteur, 104th Foot.

Legacy Of Courage: Calgary’S Own 137th Battalion By Fred Bagley And Dr. H.D. Duncan [Review], R. Bruce Mcintyre

Canadian Military History

Review of Fred Bagley & Dr. Harvey Daniel Duncan, A Legacy of Courage: Calgary's Own 137th Overseas Battalion, CEF. Calgary: Pulp Street Books, 1994.

Red Coats & Grey Jackets: The Battle Of Chippawa, 5 July 1814 By Donald E. Graves [Review], George Sheppard

Canadian Military History

Review of Donald E. Graves, Red Coats & Grey Jackets: The Battle of Chippawa, 5 July 1814. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1994.

The Battle Of The Generals: The Untold Story Of The Falaise Pocket By Martin Blumenson [Review], Paul Dickson

Canadian Military History

Review of Martin Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals: The Untold Story of the Falaise Pocket: The Campaign that Should have won World War II. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1993.

Fantassin: Pour Mon Pays, La Gloire Et… Des Prunes By Charly Forbes [Review], Gil Drolet

Canadian Military History

Review of Charly Forbes, Fantassin: pour mon pays, la gloire et… des prunes. Sillery: Les Editions du Septentrion, 1994.

Ike And Monty: Generals At War By Norman Gelb [Review], J.L. Granatstein

Canadian Military History

Review of Norman Gelb, Ike and Monty: Generals at War. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1994.

Tommy Atkins, We Never Knew Ye: Documenting The British Soldier In Canada, 1759–1871: Military Organization And The Archival Record, Timothy Dubé

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

Charles Comfort: Soldiering Artist 1943–1945, Mary Mackie

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

The Capture Of The Abbaye D’Ardenne By The Regina Rifles, 8 July 1944, Gordon Brown

Canadian Military History

The ancient Abbaye d’Ardenne is a monastery, several centuries old, surrounded by solid stone walls and having a number of out-buildings as part of the complex. It is located j u s t beyond the northern outskirts of the city of Caen in Normandy. Our attack was to take place on the 8th of July after heavy bombers dropped tons of bombs on the city of Caen on the evening of 7 July. We would have about 1,000 artillery guns to provide creeping barrages and heavy stonks on German positions and the support of about 20 tanks, if they succeeded …

How The War Ended, L.M. Sebert

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

The Dutch Underground In Barneveld—Occupation To Liberation, R. Currelly

Canadian Military History

This is an account of the activities of the Dutch Underground in the area of Barneveld as given to Captain R.T. Currelly, 1st Canadian Field Historical Section, by the District Commander of Barneveld and another official in the same area in May 1945.

The Rise And Fall Of Canadian Military Assistance In The Developing World, 1952–1971, Greg Donaghy

Canadian Military History

Since the end of the Second World War, military assistance has emerged as an important instrument of international diplomacy. Initially employed by the United States in Europe, Latin America and Asia for a variety of economic and political reasons in the mid-1940s, by the end of the decade American military assistance had been fashioned into a coherent program “whose principal goal was the containment of Communist expansion.” By the mid-1950s, both the Soviet Union and Communist China had responded with their own assistance programs designed to woo the developing states of Asia and Africa. As Britain and France dissolved their …

The Calgary Tanks At Dieppe, Hugh G. Henry

Canadian Military History

Since 1942 the Dieppe Raid has been the subject of much controversy and debate concerning its political and military background, aims, plans, execution and supposed “lessons learned.” Although historians have documented their arguments well, they have not examined accurately or in any detail the operations of The Calgary Regiment (Tank), 14 Canadian Army Tank Regiment (14 CATR), Canadian Armoured Corps. Some misunderstandings and myths concerning the tanks and men, their performance and conditions affecting their actions, must be dispelled. At this point it is worth noting that not only was 14 CATR the first Canadian armoured unit ever to go …

Hmcs Prince Robert: The Career Of An Armed Merchant Cruiser, C.R. Shelley

Canadian Military History

HMCS Prince Robert was one of three identical ships used as armed merchant cruisers (AMCs) by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the Second World War. On the eve of war, Canada had but six modern destroyers, with no prospect of additional ships for some time. To fill the desperate need for escorts, the Naval Service clutched at Prince Robert and her two sister liners as an expedient in a time of crisis; yet, by war’s end she would be one of the most sophisticated ships of the RCN. Much like the citizen sailors who mannered her, she signed up …

The Liberation Of Leesten, Henk Dykman

Canadian Military History

No abstract provided.

“Where Are Our Liberators?”: The Canadian Liberation Of West Brabant, 1944, Geoffrey Hayes

Canadian Military History

Canadian historians of the Second World War have long been interested in a strategic debate that has waged since 1944: should the Allies have exploited the success of the capture of Antwerp, then the largest port in Northwest Europe, by clearing its western approaches; or should they have sought to “leap” the German defenses along the Rhine, in the ill-fated Operation “Market Garden.”

All Canadian writers on the issue are agreed that the decision to go ahead with “Market Garden” held important consequences for the soldiers of First Canadian Army. As British and American forces turned northeast of Antwerp in …

The Cherry Beret By Ashton L. Kerr [Review], Markus C. Martin

Canadian Military History

Review of Colonel Ashton L. Kerr, MD, The Cherry Beret: Distant recollections of World War II as remembered by one of the first Canloan officers. Published privately.

Painting The Map Red: Canada And The South African War, 1899–1902 By Carmen Miller [Review], Sidney Allinson

Canadian Military History

Review of Carman Miller, Painting the Map Red: Canada and the South African War, 1899-1902. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993.

Achilles In Vietnam: Combat Trauma And The Undoing Of Character By Jonathan Shay [Review], James C. Lawless

Canadian Military History

Review of Jonathan Shay, MD, Ph.D., Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character. New York: Antheneum, 1994.

When Your Number’S Up: The Canadian Soldier In The First World War By Desmond Morton [Review], Nick Gardner

Canadian Military History

Review of Desmond Morton, When Your Number's Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War. Toronto: Random House, 1993.