I completely forgot to enter the Canadian military history content of the latest issue of The Canadian Army Journal / Le Journal de l'Armée du Canada (volume 9, number 1, Spring 2006) when it was issued a few weeks back. Better late than never. The relevant articles and pieces includes Robert L. Boyer's "A Part of our Heritage - Canada and the United Nations Emergency Force: 1956-1967" / "Un élément de notre patrimoine : le Canada et la Force d'urgence des Nations Unies : 1956-1967"; Patrick H. Brennan's "Good Men For a Hard Job: Infantry Battalion Commanders in the Canadian Expeditionary Force" / "Des bons hommes pour une dure tâche : les commandants des bataillons d'infanterie du Corps expéditionnaire canadien"; Terry Copp's "Canadian Operational Art: The Seige of Boulogne and Calais" / "Art opérationnel canadien : le siège de Boulogne et de Calais"; and, Karen Johnstone's "Soldier Remembers Canada's Deployment to Vietnam in 1973" / "Un militaire se souvient : la présence du Canada au Vietnam en 1973"; as well as a handful of book reviews.
The latest issue of the Canadian Military Journal / Revue militaire canadienne (vol.7, no.2, summer / été 2006) has been published. Purely historical material includes an article by Major-General Daniel Gosselin, "Canada's Participation in the Wars of the Early 20th Century: Planting the Seeds of Military Autonomy and National Command" / "La participation du Canada aux guerres du début du xxe siècle : semer les graines de l'autonomie militaire et du commandement national" and Major Michel Boire, "Le Marquis de Montcalm and the Battle for Québec, September 1759: A Re-Assessment" / "Le Marquis de Montcalm et la bataille de Québec, septembre 1759 : une réévaluation" as well as book reviews on Lance Goddard's Canada and the Liberation of the Netherlands, May 1945 and W.P. Kerr's Port Royal Habitation: The Story of the French and Mi'kmaq at Port-Royal 1604-1613.
"New Directions in First World War Studies" - the International Society for First World War Studies has issued a call for papers for its fourth conference, to be held in Washington, DC, 18 to 20 October 2007. With the support of Georgetown University and the German Historical Institute, this conference is intended to continue, and the release puts it, "the tradition of bringing together current researchers from both the graduate student and established academic scholarly levels. We invite papers from students and scholars who are working on new paradigms or approaches to understanding the social, cultural, or military history of the war. The purpose of the conference is to facilitate a comparative study of the Great War." Applicants are asked to submit a two-page abstract of their proposed paper and a copy of their CV to Jennifer Keene at keene@chapman.edu or Mike Neiberg at michael.neiberg@usm.edu by 1 February 2007 (those accepted will be expected to submit a paper of up to 8,000 words by 1 June 2007). The society's own website provides information on the first three conference.
The history department of the United States Naval Academy has issued a call for proposals for papers to be presented at the 2007 Naval History Symposium. This will take place at the USNA in Annapolis, Maryland, from 20 to 22 September 2007. The organizers welcome proposals dealing with "any aspect of naval and maritime history", with each proposal including an abstract up to 250 words and a one-page curriculum vitae. Proposals for panels are also welcome. The deadline for submissions is 19 January 2007 and can be mailed to Dr. Maochun Yu, History Department (12C), The United States Naval Academy, 107 Maryland Avenue, Annapolis, Maryland, 21402-5044, or sent electronically to yu@usna.edu. The final program is expected to be ready in March 2007 with final versions of papers due by 1 August. The symposium also has a website.
There's not much point in having your own blog if you're not able to plug your own accomplishments. I have an article (the cover article, in fact) in the latest issue (Summer 2006) of the Maritime Engineering Journal: Canada's Naval Technical Forum (published by the Department of National Defence). "One-stop Shopping - Replenishment at Sea and the Royal Canadian Navy, 1945 to 1961" gives a brief introduction to the subject and is a condensed version of a paper I presented last fall. That paper arose out of research I'd done for an historical narrative produced for the official history project on the post-war RCN currently underway at the Directorate of History and Heritage.
Dr. John Clearwater, noted historian of Canada's nuclear (in particular, military nuclear) history, has sent me a message with respect to an upcoming project of his. His latest book will be published next spring by Hancock House Publishers in British Columbia under the title Broken Arrow #1. In John's own words, the book will be "an easily accessible review, with lots of photographs, of the worlds first lost atomic bomb accident. Using declassified documents; never-before seen photographs; and original testimony, the book shows what happened to the Mk4 atomic bomb lost over the coast of British Columbia in February 1950. Also included are transcripts of the search and rescue operations and the 2003 expedition to recover artifacts."
I've yet to include a rundown on any issue of Legion Magazine, despite the fact that there are always military historical items within its pages. The latest issue (September/October 2006) contains the following material of interest: Arthur Bishop's "Canada and the Victoria Cross, Part 17 of 18: The Airmen of '44" (Mynarski, Hornell and Bazalgette); Marc Milner's "Building a Scrappy Little Navy" (navy, part 17); Terry Copp's "The Advance to the Moro" (army, part 66); and Hugh A. Halliday's "The Battle of Britain" (air force, part 17).
The Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University and the history department at the University of Waterloo will hold their first talk of their 2007 Military History Speakers' Series on Wednesday, 20 September. Dr. Stephen Hart, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK, will speak on "The Battles for Tilly-la-Campagne: Normandy 1944", in particular the Canadian and British attempts to capture that village in July and August 1944. The talk will begin at 7.00 p.m. in the U of W's Centre for Environmental and Information Technology, Room 1015. Anyone looking for further information can contact Mike Bechthold (mbechthold@wlu.ca) or Geoff Hayes (ghayes@uwaterloo.ca).
The four issues constituting volume XV of The Northern Mariner from the Canadian Nautical Research Society for 2005 contained many articles on naval history, but only one specifically on Canadian naval (military) history. This was Pat D.C. Barnhouse's, "Trials and Tribulations: An Examination of the Decision to Terminate the FHE 400 Hydrofoil Project" in issue no.4.
Amongst the long list of forthcoming, new and older publication of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax is Shawn Cafferky's Uncharted Waters: A History of the Canadian Helicopter-Carrying Destroyer. As the CFPS's brochure notes: "Canadian naval aviation during the Second World War and early post-war period has, for the most part, been ignored in the material about Canadian military history. This is especially true in the case of the development and adoption of ship-borne helicopters. This book is an examination of the Canadian origins of rotary-wing aircraft and the development of the helicopter-carrying destroyer escort. It was a long and painful process but in the end the navy was able to convince both the government and the air force of the merits of helicopters for anti-submarine warfare, the navy's raison d'être in the post-war era. The navy was also able to overcome the huge challenges of landing rotary-wing aircraft on the deck of a ship at sea. These processes have not been adequately examined in the existing literature and this study seeks to correct that omission."
I found out that the Royal Canadian Military Institute is also having Richard Gimblett and Angus Brown speak on their book, In the Footsteps of the Canadian Corps 1914-1918. This will take place on Wednesday, 13 September, as part of the RCMI's "Speakers' Dinner and Book Launch". Timings are 6.30 p.m. for 7.30 p.m. in business dress and the cost is $49. The RSVP is close at hand (I only heard about this today) - on Monday the 11th - and tickets can be reserved by calling Susan Cook at (416) 597-0286 extension 111.
The Canadian War Museum's "Book Club", advertising an opportunity to meet "authors of the latest books on military history, and discuss their works in an intimate setting." The two sessions upcoming are Angus Brown and Richard Gimblett on 26 October speaking on their book In the Footsteps of the Canadian Corps and Laura Brandon on 23 November speaking on her book Art or Memorial? The Forgotten History of Canada's War Art. Cost is $10.00 or $5.00 for museum members.
The 2006/07 programme for the Ottawa Historical Association lists one presentation perhaps of interest to readers of this blog. On 9 November Emile Spencer, a graduate of the Royal Military College, will speak on "Lipstick and High Heels: The Second World War and the Feminization of Women in Chatelaine". This talk will take place in the Library and Archives Canada building, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa.
Major announcements!
First, I'm extremely glad to be able to announce that Michel Litalien, a fellow military historian, colleague at the Department of National Defence, and friend, has agreed to join me in writing this blog. This is a great - and very significant - addition to what this blog can offer. Michel has a great amount of knowledge about Canadian military history, especially concerning (but not restricted to) what's going on en français in the field. I have always wanted to have English and French-language content on this blog but, to be totally honest, my French is not (yet) what it should be, and this has been a difficult proposition for me to get my head around. Michel's entrance onto this forum helps me tremendously and will provide a much-needed French-language presence on the site. What this means, in a practical sense, is that individual blog entries will be in English or in French, depending on who's writing a particular entry. We have neither the means nor the desire to translate English entries into French or vice-versa. Despite my own personal deficiencies, I entirely agree that practitioners in the field of Canadian military history should be as bilingual as possible.
Tied to this change is my second announcement. Look at the title box above, and you'll see that this blog is now titled "The Cannon's Mouth / Par la Bouche de nos Canons" (the sub-title statement is being translated and will change shortly). Many of you may remember the now-defunct newsletter of the same name(s) produced by the Canadian Military History Group / Groupe pour l'histoire militaire canadienne. In my first entry on this blog, I noted the possible similarities between what I wanted to accomplish here and what was done in that publication. I've recently received the permission I felt necessary to resurrect the title(s). I've also purchased the domain names www.cannonsmouth.ca and www.bouchedenoscanons.ca and have set them up to automatically forward to this blog (cmhistorians.blogspot.com). What that means is there are three web addresses where this blog can be reached, although future advertising and promotion of the site will take the form of the two new, more obvious and, admittedly, better sounding domains.
John MacFarlane, an official historian with the Directorate of History and Heritage, Department of National Defence, has sent me a message with some information on his latest doings. His primary work project is a joint project with Charles Rheaume, another DHH official historian, on the Canadian military involvement in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from 1954 to 1973. John's work also includes assisting with the administration of the Canadian Forces Artist Program, the current official war art program. In his spare time John is working on a book-length biography of Paul Triquet, VC.
