H-Net reviews of books on Canadian military history

H-Net, the absolutely massive history network online is home to a massive amount of information of interest the historian and readers of history. One of H-Net's "discussion networks" is H-Canada which, not surprisingly, is dedicated to the study of Canadian history and studies. In addition to some of the ongoing discussions on H-Canada there are the book reviews, several of which are of books in Canadian military history, including:

John Griffith Armstrong, The Halifax Explosion and the Royal Canadian Navy: Inquiry and Intrigue;

Martin Auger, Prisoners on the Home Front: German POWs and "Enemy Aliens" in Southern Quebec, 1940-1946;

Stephen Brumwell, Paths of Glory: The Life and Death of General James Wolfe;

Douglas E. Delaney, The Soldiers' General: Bert Hoffmeister at War;

Paul Douglas Dickson, A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar;

Serge Marc Durflinger, Fighting from Home: The Second World War in Verdun, Quebec;

R.B. Fleming (Ed.), The Wartime Letters of Leslie and Cecil Frost, 1915-1919;

Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney, Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield;

Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci, and Mike Bechthold (Eds.), Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment;

Paul Jackson, One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military during World War II;

Richard O. Mayne, Betrayed: Scandal, Politics and Naval Leadership;

Cynthia Toman, An Officer and a Lady: Canadian Military Nursing and the Second World War;

Jonathan F. Vance, Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War; and

Michael Whitby (Ed.), Commanding Canadians: The Second World War Diaries of A.F.C. Layard.

Book review of Humphries' The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie

My latest book review is of Mark Osborne Humphries (ed.), The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie: Diaries, Letters, and Report to the Ministry, 1917-1933 (Waterloo, Ontario: LCMSDS Press of Wilfrid Laurier University, 2008). Thanks to Mark for sending me a review copy.

Everyone reading this review should know who Sir Arthur Currie was, although I’m not sure how well known his name is outside of Canada. Currie was, of course, the first Canadian to command the Canadian Corps during the First World War and, arguably, the best general this country has ever produced. Despite his accomplishments, and three book-length biographies, there still seems to be so much unknown about Currie, his character, his personality, and his life.

Enter Mark Osborne Humphries who, in this work, takes a different route, editing a large amount of documentation produced by Currie so that several aspects of his career can be presented. As Humphries writes:

Currie’s papers present a portrait of a complex individual, constantly changing and evolving. They provide insight not only into the inner workings of the Canadian Corps, but also the evolution of Canadian society and the memory of the Great War. Sir Arthur Currie emerges from his letters and diaries as a flawed personality and a sound battlefield commander. This is his story in his own words.

Humphries begins his introduction by writing that this “is not a biography of Sir Arthur William Currie”, the documents being presented with the intention of providing “a window into one of the most tumultuous periods in Canadian history and the life of one of Canada’s most important historical figures.” After discussing some of the historiography – popular and academic – about Currie, the author moves on to present a concise, yet very informative, biography of Currie.

Following the introduction, the remainder of the book is divided into three main parts: diary entries and correspondence from 1917 through 1919; the Interim Report on the Operations of the Canadian Corps during the Year 1918; and, finally, correspondence and personal papers from 1919 to 1933. Aside from the Interim Report – which was published – the documentation presented is taken from three archives: Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian War Museum, and the archives of McGill University. The material mostly originated in the Currie fonds of these institutions, however, the papers of some other notable Canadians were also researched, particularly those of Sir Robert Borden. Humphries is quite up front in admitting that there is very little of a strictly personal, or family nature to be found in the documentation presented. Any personal correspondence between Currie and his wife has not survived and there appears to be little else of a personal nature about Currie surviving in Canadian archives.

Approximately half of the documents presented in this volume are found in the first part – diary entries and correspondence for the period 1917 to 1919. My first thought was that it’s such a shame that this part begins only with May 1917, meaning most of Currie’s time as a brigade and divisional commander is simply not there. Humphries explained the gap earlier in the book, noting that Currie’s personal diary for 1915 and 1916 “is little more than a record of appointments and meetings”. Most of his correspondence for the early years has also not survived, and those letters still extant “offer little insight into the life of the brigade commander.”

That initial disappointment out of the way, the text begins with the category of “Corps Commander, May – December 1917” and provides some very interesting material. Diary entries detailing Currie’s activities and opinions of developments are interspersed with correspondence, typically Currie’s responses to letters received from individuals back home in Canada. A secret message from Sir George Perley, Canada’s overseas minister, to Prime Minister Borden in June 1917 details some of the deliberations going into the choice of the successor to General Byng as Canadian Corps commander. Although they touch on operational aspects of the Corps’ activities, Currie’s own words are already often directed at defending the Corps’ reputation and praising the “fighting qualities” of the Canadian soldier. Humphries also incorporates italicized contextual paragraphs in between some of the documentation so as to provide the bigger picture not specifically discussed.

The next section, “Corps Commander, 1918”, provides more of the same. Of particular note is Currie’s report to Sir Edward Kemp, Canada’s overseas minister, in February 1918 proposing that the divisions of the Canadian Corps not be reorganized as the British army was then undertaking. Currie’s defence of the current Canadian structure is well-defined, well-argued, and insightful as to his understanding of what it was that had allowed the corps to reach the state of efficiency it then enjoyed. Humphries also reprints Currie’s “Special Order” of 27 March 1918 continuing to urge the officers and men of the corps onward as an example of Currie’s inability to really connect with the troops. Despite his devotion to the members of the Canadian Corps – shown, for example, in a letter to Borden on 28 June where he pleads for Borden to spend more time with the troops – Currie simply never had the magnetism that would permit him to be loved by his men. The documents Humphries presents in this section appear to show Currie becoming more comfortable with his position and less concerned about detractors in England or Canada through most of the year. Currie was also clearly becoming more and more interested in protecting and promoting the reputation of the Canadian Corps as a fighting force, for example, railing against the “Canada in Flanders” series of books in a letter in October 1918. Not surprisingly, as the year ends much of his attention is increasingly focused on the repatriation of the Canadians overseas. The last few weeks of documentation also mark the reappearance of Currie’s struggle with his detractors, a fight which would not be “won” for another decade.

Repatriation and the reputation of the Canadian Corps and Currie remain at the core of the final section, “Corps Commander, January – August 1919”, the material here continuing to reveal Currie’s intention to win both of these battles. Increasingly, Currie sees every negative comment on the Canadian Corps as an attack against it and against himself, a belief that perhaps even reached the level of paranoia.

The second part of this book contains the Interim Report on the Operations of the Canadian Corps in the Year 1918, a document submitted to the Minister, Overseas Military Force of Canada, in 1919. Humphries writes that it was a “narrative account of the final year of the war. It is laudatory, but is demonstrative of Currie’s deep admiration for the men fighting under him.” I would also suggest that, in addition, it might have been an attempt by Currie to sustain or protect his reputation as the Corps commander. Humphries seems to agree, noting that Currie also “seemed to hope that the achievements of the Corps would protect him from revelations about the 1914 theft. With this in mind, Currie’s Report to the Ministry is a telling document, a study as much in the psychology of the Corps’ commander as it is a historical account of military operations.” Humphries does explain the document’s place in history and how such an attempt by Currie to explain the triumphs of the Canadian Corps wasn’t successful.

As history, the inclusion of the Interim Report is interesting but, not surprisingly, much of it has been overtaken by later research on the operations of the Canadian Corps. As psychology, which is likely a more important reason to include it in this book (as Humphries alludes to above), it is definitely revealing about Currie’s intent to trumpet the accomplishments of the corps. However, I’m not sure that it adds much to the overall book. The history is outdated and the psychology could be summed up in a few paragraphs – as Humphries did in his narrative. It’s quite possible that my opinion is tainted in that I was already familiar with the Interim Report in its full published version (with all of the mass of appendices attached), but I have no way of knowing how many other readers of Humphries’ book will also have had the opportunity to see the report before this.

The third part of this book returns to the format of the first, this time turning to correspondence and personal papers from 1919 to 1933. Within the section “Inspector General of Militia, August 1919 – April 1920”, Currie continues his struggle to maintain the reputation and memory of the Canadian Corps and also provides some interesting insight into the post-First World War struggle to integrate the Canadian Expeditionary Force units returned from overseas into the Militia units that never left Canada.

Protecting the Corps’ accomplishments from apathy and his own reputation from attack continues in the next section, “Principal of McGill University, April 1920 – November 1933”. It was early during these years that Currie seems to have been able to finally relax, to escape Ottawa, and to move ahead with his post-war life. Topics of discussion in the documents presented range from his work and circumstances to the reconstruction of the former battlefield areas of Europe to the fate of friends and colleagues he served with during the war. Increasingly, he also takes on the role of advocate for Canadian veterans in the face of what he feels is inadequate government support. Meanwhile, some of these documents discuss his disillusionment over politics, some context regarding the Port Hope libel trial, and his protests against the drafts of the British official history of the war.

My only complaint about this section is its length. Despite covering fourteen years, it’s less than half as long as the 1917 to 1919 documentation, which is somewhat disappointing. I do not believe, however, that this is in any way Humphries’ fault. The fact that 1919 to 1933 are peacetime years, as opposed to the wartime years of 1917 to 1919 (and the massive amount of document production that entailed), the fact that Currie did not keep a post-war diary, and the lack of personal correspondence doesn’t give the editor in this case much to work with.

In the end, there were a few typographical mistakes and misspellings in this volume that might have been caught in the penultimate draft, but certainly not enough that they truly detract from the overall benefits of the book.

All in all, I found this to be a fascinating work. Despite three biographies and several articles, I think there's still so much about Sir Arthur Currie we don't know. This book goes a long way toward adding more to the picture of the man - both positive and negative. Like the Canadian Corps he commanded, Currie was complicated, and Mark Osborne Humphries has provided further insight into the intricacies of his character and accomplishments.

Book review of Craig B. Cameron's Born Lucky: RSM Harry Fox, MBE: One D-Day Dodger's Story

This review, my latest of a recent (in this case, relatively recent) Vanwell Publishing Limited release, is of Craig B. Cameron's Born Lucky: RSM Harry Fox, MBE: One D-Day Dodger's Story (Vanwell, 2005). This book - recorded as a memoir by Harry Fox and rewritten for publication by Craig Cameron - consists mostly of stories of Fox's service during the Second World War spread out over a timeline of Fox's wartime military career.

Harry Fox was a member of the pre-war The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada in Toronto and deployed overseas with that regiment, ultimately serving as regimental sergeant-major of the unit in the United Kingdom. He was then transferred as regimental sergeant-major of The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, seeing combat in Italy and North-West Europe from 1944 through to the end of the war. Although his fighting career was solely with the Hasty P's, it is clear from the memoirs that Fox's heart lay with the Queen's Own, whom he served with again following the war.

Possibly the greatest aspect of this book - there are, after all, many memoirs from serving Canadian soldiers out there (and there should be) - is that Fox was regimental sergeant-major (the senior non-commissioned rank) of infantry units during the training years in the UK and in combat. That makes his "take" on the war a little different than most and goes a long way toward presenting the view of the fighting from the man typically responsible for supplying ammunition, evacuating casualties, enforcing discipline and generally providing a sounding board for officers and men of all ranks. In that sense, this is not really a book about combat operations - although they are discussed - as Fox was not typically at the forefront of regimental attacks. That was not his job, although that's not to say he didn't face his share of dangers. He did, and willingly recounts his close calls throughout the text.

The book, first and foremost, contains a multitude of snippets about army life - information well known to the troops at the time, but often less-discussed sixty years later. What are puttees and why did the soldiers wear them? What was with all the inoculations? How does one interpret an individual soldier's disciplinary record? What are the different kinds of infantry patrols? What was the proper way to use a flare pistol? How exactly were the troops fed and what was a compo ration anyway? What was German barbed wire really like?

Fox and Cameron recount interesting stories such as the work of the Queen's Own on "overseas" duty in Newfoundland in 1940 and amphibious landing craft training in the UK in 1943. The latter subject lead to the following story:

We were at Inverary, on the west coast of Scotland, in the fall of 1943, to do advanced amphibious-landing training for the upcoming invasion of France. One concern was how to keep the vehicles afloat once they hit the water. The answer was to make them waterproof, and a paste-like substance was invented for this purpose. The men in the Mad Four (Carrier) Platoon applied it to a jeep and once they had finished, it needed to be tested. Rifleman Harry Baxter volunteered for the trial and drove the jeep into the water. Marvel of marvels, it worked! But once again, inspiration went ahead of practicality in Mad Four: someone had forgotten to take the tide into consideration (they were definitely not Maritimers). It was going outy, and Harry and the jeep were being taken out to sea. Fortunately there was a small Royal Navy vessel nearby, and some of the sailors spotted Harry in the water in his jeep. What a sight that must have been!

Stories on numerous other subjects - many of them readily laced with a soldier's sense of humour - find their way into the book, including several discussions on the duties of a wartime regimental sergeant-major; the difficulties, frustrations and triumphs of casualty evacuation; dealing with the deaths of soldiers; opinions of Zombies, the lack of reinforcements and life on the forgotten front; and the Thompson versus Sten gun debate.

This is not an operational history of the Hasty P's at war in 1944-45. There are certainly discussions of some battles, some in detail, but Fox's role did not place him front and centre in most of the fighting. Any reader looking to get a clearer grasp of what the Canadian infantry was up to in terms of operations in the Italian campaign would best start with an overview of the campaign such as Daniel Dancock's The D-Day Dodgers. On the other hand, books like Born Lucky put the meat on the flesh, as it were, providing the human element to the operational story, telling us how Canadian officers and men lived (and died) in the nightmare that was the Italian campaign.

In terms of less than desirable aspects of the book, they are certainly few. Sometimes the book seems scattered, but it is a collection of stories after all, the central thread being Fox himself. The handdrawn maps are helpful, but don't always provide enough information in my view to assist in the geographical placement of the stories.

These, however, are very minor points and certainly don't distract from the overall presentation of the book. Born Lucky is an interesting and educational collection of tales from a wartime Canadian soldier in a less-than-typical role in the fighting. I highly recommend it.

Book review of Hoffmeister biography

Geoffrey Hayes, Department of History, University of Waterloo, has written a very interesting review of Douglas E. Delaney's The Soldiers' General: Bert Hoffmeister at War (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005) on the H-Canada discussion network.

Book Review of Eric McGeer's Words of Valediction and Remembrance

This review, my latest of a recent Vanwell Publishing Limited release, is of Eric McGeer's Words of Valediction and Remembrance: Canadian Epitaphs of the Second World War (Vanwell, 2008). When I first thought about writing this review I wasn't at all sure what to say about this book. I'm still not. An interesting subject. Well-researched. Organized in a difficult fashion.

Eric McGeer, a history and Latin teacher in Toronto, Ontario, has most definitely put his heart into this book, and it shows. This is, above all else, a labour of love and a definite tribute to the possibilities of material history - a form of public history still underutilized in Canada, particularly in the study of Canadian military history.

Words of Valediction and Remembrance deals with the text found on Canadian military headstones of the Second World War - in particular the bottom few lines where family were given room by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to record their own statements of fact, emotion, and memory. A visit by the author to Normandy in 1998 led to his reading these epitaphs:

It struck me that in their abundance and diversity these individual expressions of sorrow and consolation, touching, heartfelt, and permanent, spoke more poignantly than any memorial for the burden of loss borne by thousands of parents, wives, and children for the rest of their lives.

McGeer explains that the intention of the book is to provide the reader with "a meaningful testimonial to the efforts and sacrifice of an earlier generation". Not only does it reflect the losses suffered by the individual themselves, but also those of the family left behind. To do this the author has gathered as many examples as possible - although not too many in his opinion - from cemeteries well-known and obscure throughout the various Canadian theatres of the Second World War.

Most of the chapters in the book revolve around a particular theme. He begins by discussing Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in France as an introduction to the subject and its general place in the Canadian wartime experience. It is here that the reader gets some of the details about the typical headstone - the types of information contained, the order of information, and the fact that up to sixty-six characters were permitted for "a personal inscription" - the epitaph. Throughout the chapter, and every subsequent chapter, are examples of epitaphs supporting particular areas of discussion. Some are formulaic, others heartfelt, others absolutely distraught (for the family and the reader).

McGeer then moves on to Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery in France - from "up" to "down" emotionally - and the haunting memory which the wartime operation still leaves and which the cemetery can only reinforce. Then comes Calais Canadian War Cemetery in France as the centrepiece of a discussion on the influence of the epitaphs and memory of the First World War on the Second World War inscriptions. If nothing else, and there is much else to digest in the chapter, it is - as the author points out - a reminder that for the soldiers and families the losses of the First and Second World Wars were only a matter of a few years apart.

Holten Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands provides the core for the discussion of the connections of wartime epitaphs with themes brought forward throughout Western civilization from the time of antiquity. The losses suffered by the members of the Royal Canadian Air Force are introduced by Hanover War Cemetery, in Germany, a reminder that although First World War Canadian headstones are (statistically) almost entirely army-related, in the Second World War the air force shared the staggering losses suffered by the army. Here, and elsewhere throughout the war graves system, the badge of the Royal Canadian Air Force lies alongside airmen from throughout the Commonwealth.

Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium provides the scene for a discussion of professions of loyalty - to Canada, to the empire, to each other - as a theme of epitaphs. Next comes a chapter simply listing epitaphs in chronological order, an attempt "to replicate a visit to any given war cemetery."

A discussion of epitaphs specific to French-Canadians, with Gradara War Cemetery in Italy as the base, is next, the author's goal to show the themes - both common and different from other Canadians - found in French-Canadian inscriptions. Next comes Cassino War Cemetery in Italy as a similar discussion of Canadian ethnic minorities - epitaphs which come in a multitude of languages and alphabets and reflect common and some unique themes. Agira Canadian War Cemetery in Sicily likewise sets the stage for Jewish-Canadians and the epitaphs provided by their families.

Finally, McGeer returns to Normandy in the form of Bretteville-sur-Laize Cemetery, as he completes the loop and provides closure to the subject.

As I said at the very beginning of this review, I'm not sure what to say about this book. I think it is definitely a worthy and important subject. Yet, I'm not certain this was the best way to deal with it. Sometimes, I found there to be a conflict - as a reader - between my emotional reaction to the epitaphs and the analytical work which McGeer was trying to undertake. It's hard to read with your heart and your mind at the same time.

Sometimes, I was simply overwhelmed with the number of epitaphs quoted.

Most of all, however, I think had the hardest time with the organization of the book. In short, I'm not sure tying a theme to a particular cemetery worked all that well. It might, in my opinion, have been better to allow the themes to dominate, with the particular locations being less prominent. I realize that doing that would have defeated the purpose of encouraging notice of particular cemeteries in the first place. I don't have the answer. All I know is that this might be part of the difficulty in trying to marry up "commemoration" (emotional) with "memory studies" (analytical) - a combination which lays at the foundation of this book.

Regardless of this - and maybe I'm the only reader having a hard time taking it all in - McGeer writes that his "main purpose in writing this book has been to inspire Canadians travelling abroad to visit the war cemeteries where their forebears lie at rest and to look with renewed interest at the story that the monuments and epitaphs combine to tell."

Words of Valediction and Remembrance absolutely fulfils that purpose.

Latest issue of The International History Review

The latest issue (vol.29, no.4, December 2007) of The International History Review contains a couple of book reviews for publications in Canadian military history:

Robert B. Bryce, Canada and the Cost of World War II: The International Operations of Canada's Department of Finance, 1939-1947 (Montreal, 2005); and

Mélanie Morin-Pelletier, Briser les ailes de l'ange : Les infirmières militaires canadiennes (1914-1918) (Outremont, QC, 2006).

Book Review of Tim Cook’s At the Sharp End, volume 1

Nearly two months ago I wrote a post about Tim Cook’s latest book, At the Sharp End, volume 1: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1914-1916 (Viking Canada, 2007). I wrote at that time that I was expecting a review copy from the publisher and would read it and post a review. No review copy has materialized. However, I am an impatient man and I went out and purchased a copy of the book because I was so eager to read it. Having done so, and considering the hype which the book has received, I’m going to post a review anyway. Such is the “power” of having your own blog.

Upon its release earlier this fall, At the Sharp End was touted by the publisher as the “first comprehensive history of Canadians in the Great War in more than forty years”. If true, such a claim would make this the successor of Colonel GWL Nicholson’s official history, Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919, the one volume abridgement of the previously-dropped official history series, published by the Department of National Defence in 1964.

Considering the First World War to be viewed as more than just a military conflict, also marking “the birth of the modern” (p.2), presenting an incredible tragedy, and the genesis of rampant nationalism, Cook obviously sees this as a story which must be written. Canada’s role in the war was very costly and has, naturally, been the subject of countless other histories. Where Cook sees his as being different is that, in his opinion (p.3),

only a few studies have chronicled the full experience of combat in the Canadian Corps, and what it meant to those men who were forced to partake in the vicious, relentless, and mind-numbing arena of kill or be killed. This book offers a detailed history of the Canadians at the sharp end of battle, and their painful process of learning how first to survive on the battlefield, and then how to effectively wage war on the Western Front.

Within that context, the author especially attempts to deal with the “combat effectiveness of the Canadian Corps” – both the good and the bad – with a particular focus on the infantry, that arm of the corps which suffered the greatest number of casualties.

From the very start, the wide-range of primary documentation consulted in this book is impressive. Library and Archives Canada, the Imperial War Museum, the Canadian War Museum, numerous other museums, personal memoirs, articles, books, online repositories, websites – all make their way into the footnotes in what can only be described as a massive research undertaking. Cook has undoubtedly also been fortunate within his career, where being an employee of Library and Archives Canada and, later, the Canadian War Museum has allowed him the time (although with no more access than any of the rest of us) to dive deep into their respective First World War holdings.

Volume 1 of At the Sharp End constitutes forty chapters – mostly a chronological unfolding of the period from June 1914 to November 1916 (the end of the Battle of the Somme), but also interweaving chapters on specific subjects of note.

The book begins with an overview of the outbreak of the war and Canada’s initial response to it. It is also the reader’s introduction to Sam Hughes, the Minister of Militia of Defence, who Cook handles quite even-handedly, criticizing when necessary, but also noting his accomplishments. What is immediately apparent is Cook’s writing style has continued to improve and, truth be told, he has always been a strong writer. If I understand the genre properly, the style is excellent literary non-fiction – literate, engaging, solid.

A chapter on Camp Valcartier in 1914 recounts much that is familiar to long-time readers of Canadian military history. However, I imagine the target audience will find it new ground, with much to offer. That can be said of many parts of the book – this is, after all, a comprehensive, yet general, history of the Canadian Corps (when the two volumes are considered together). Cook’s decision to intersperse sections of text that provide important and specific information, in this chapter’s case the typical composition of a 1914 infantry battalion (from battalion to company to platoon to section), are an added touch to explaining the war to the average reader. It is also in this chapter that the author begins to incorporate what can only be described as a touch of “war and society” or the (now fairly old) “new military history” to the narrative, discussions of gossiping, alcohol, living conditions, etc.

After a chapter on the opening combat on the Western Front, the Canadian 1st Division arrives in England, and so does the narrative of the book. The next couple of chapters deal with the division’s acclimatization to the environment, the British Army, and the intricacies of training for combat.

In chapter seven the 1st Division arrives on the Western Front to begin its tour of duty within the British Expeditionary Force. Cook now embarks on numerous chapters incorporating the fighting of the 1st Division, then the 2nd, 3rd, and, finally, the 4th Division – together the Canadian Corps – in France and Flanders. In as much space as possible, he provides detailed battlefield and operational descriptions of battles, discussions of living conditions, morale issues, leadership, and dozens of other factors, all the while exploring the development of the Canadian Corps as a fighting formation.

You can almost hear him asking as you follow the text: “did they learn anything from this defeat?”, “...from this victory?”, “how did this development take the corps one step closer to being an elite formation?”, etc., etc. How well, or poorly, the Canadian Corps and the BEF in general, answered questions such as these form the core of Cook’s narrative. For example, at the end of the discussion of the Battle of Festubert, he writes (p.215): “The key to battlefield victory in the coming year would be the efficient training and marrying of artillery and infantry into a coherent mailed fist that smashed enemy strongpoints, allowing the infantry a fighting chance at crossing the killing ground, and then helping them hold captured ground against enemy counterattacks.” All in all, the experience of the Canadian Corps in 1915-16 – and presumably in the second volume to come – is presented as a learning curve.

Throughout this trip to the end of the Somme, Cook takes a few detours in chapters dedicated to specific topics which, although they might not fit within the overall chronology of the book, are commonplace in the life of a Canadian soldier during the war. Topics covered include battlefield medicine, trench life (I’d call it existence, more than life), daily routine (food, latrines, and cigarettes), death, No Man’s Land, snipers, trench raids, and rest and recreation.

Throughout the book the author – in my opinion – has a bit of a tendency to fall into the trap that many authors of First World War battlefield operations encounter either explicitly or implicitly. To be blunt, every unit, in every major attack, is completely destroyed. Don’t get me wrong, the casualties suffered by Canadian infantry units at the front were devastating. The numbers reflect that. Nonetheless, I’m not sure the case has been made for the wholesale, and repeated, absolute destruction of front-line formations. Cook deals with some of the numbers, but this book is not about the subject in particular, nor should it be. Until someone researches and writes a definitive view of the numerical/structural balance or imbalance of a Canadian front-line unit or units over the course of the war, I guess I will continue to be disinclined to accept the impression here and elsewhere concerning the devastation suffered.

I noted a couple of errors in the text. The author’s discussion of the 60th Battalion, CEF, (p.348) describes it as the Canadian Corps’ second serving French-Canadian battalion (after the 22nd) and that it was pulled from the line when French-speaking recruits could no longer keep up its numbers. The 60th Battalion “Victoria Rifles of Canada” was formed in Montreal in 1915 by the English-language 1st Regiment “Canadian Grenadier Guards”, the 3rd Regiment “Victoria Rifles of Canada”, the 55th Regiment, and the 58th “Westmount Rifles”. Although there were undoubtedly Francophone soldiers in the unit throughout its existence, it was an English-language unit broken up after the flow of English-language recruits from Montreal became insufficient to support the incredibly large number of English-speaking units from Montreal then serving in the Canadian Corps.

Cook’s use of particular material from Private John McNab’s diary in the chapter of the Battle of Courcelette (15 September 1916) (p.456) also appears out of place as the events he is describing took place during the 38th Battalion’s attack at Desire Trench on 18 November 1916.

Finally, although I found the maps to be excellent and very useful, sometimes I found their placement in the book to be, well, strange and not where I think the author would have wished them placed to be of the most use for the reader.

However, such minor points from a picky reviewer should not detract from the fact that Tim Cook has researched, felt the passion for, and written a fantastic book on the experience of the Canadian Corps up to the end of 1916. Does it replace Nicholson as the comprehensive history of the corps? Perhaps, although to be honest, I think that would be comparing apples and oranges, each book having different goals, appearing in different eras historiographically, and being produced under different constraints. Without a doubt, At the Sharp End, volume 1, will become – and deserves to be – at home on a lot of Canadian bookshelves as the overall history of (much of) the Canadian contribution to the First World War.

Charles Yale Harrison's "Generals Die in Bed"

American publisher Annick Press (www.annickpress.com) recently reissued Charles Yale Harrison's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Yale_Harrison) novel Generals Die in Bed, originally published in 1928. I re-read it recently having first read a previous edition a decade or so ago. It's still a very interesting read. The novel was a bestseller when originally published, although many in Canada reportedly were upset with some of the activities described. Harrison, an American but also a former member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, always maintained he was trying to write about what really happened during the war, but in a fictional setting. His anti-war sentiments, and overwhelming sense of futility of what he experienced, certainly do appear clearly in the narrative. That said, should anyone who's spent any serious time studying the First World War really be surprised by this? I don't think so. I can certainly understand those, like a very public Sir Arthur Currie, who were offended by the novel when it was first published. At the same time, I don't find the novel to be that controversial. Now, whether that's just my personal sense of what to expect from such a story or whether it's a reflection of growing up in a much later generation with two world wars behind it, I don't know. Anyway, it's an interesting novel from someone who the war obviously affected very deeply.

Book review of George A. Reid's Speed's War

My latest book review is of George A. Reid's Speed's War: A Canadian Soldier's Memoir of World War II (Royston, BC, 2007). My thanks to Margaret Cadwaladr at Madrona Books & Publishing in Royston, British Columbia, for sending me a review copy.

Speed's War (the author's nickname was Speed) is George Reid's memoirs of his service during the Second World War as a member of The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. Essentially, this book can be broken down into two parts: (1) his service with the regiment, especially the fighting in Sicily and Italy, and (2) his time as a prisoner of war. The balance of the book is definitely slanted towards the latter period, which is all the better in the sense that there are several memoirs of Canadian soldiers serving in the Italian campaign, but not that many devoted to life as a prisoner of war (unlike the plethora of such publications coming out of the First World War).

The author provides a humble preface to this book, text which lays out the intent and limitations of the narrative that follows:

"I don't mean to try to make a hero of myself in this short narrative of my experiences while in Sicily, Italy and eight POW camps. Many men did much more and gave much more. A lot would not have the thrill of coming home to family and friends, and seeing the changes in the hometown and country and the world that they fought and died for. This is not a thriller or a tall tale. This is a record of my own experiences during World War II. I recorded these memories several years after the end of the war and reconstructed dialogue as accurately as possible. Although some names and details are hazy, I recall the events vividly."

Reid begins his memoirs with three chapters on his military service - enlistment, training, and operations. He quickly displays a simple, down-to-earth style in his writing and is willing to voice his opinion of his experiences, for example, admitting that he had initially tried to join the Royal Canadian Navy, only to end up in the Canadian Army instead. Reid provides some very interesting observations concerning the climate, living conditions, and enemy in the Italian campaign. At one point in the campaign in Sicily he writes:

"The smell of burnt bodies or just dead bodies, you never forget. Even if the towns or villages weren't bombed or shelled, you could smell them long before you saw them. At first it was the urine. We blamed the donkeys. Later it was the stench of dead and bloated bodies along with the urine from the animals. To this day, when I watch fighting on the television in areas of unrest in the world, the smells come back to me."

Such passages go a long way to helping place the reader at the scene and provide an appreciation for some of the little things which a military veteran can never quite let go of, even sixty years after the fact. He also displays an ability, legitimately, to "name drop", describing his encounters with Smokey Smith, long before Smith went on to fame as a recipient of the Victoria Cross.

The next eight chapters deal with Reid's capture by the German Army in October 1943, his incarceration as a prisoner of war, and his eventual escape from captivity in April 1945. Again, much of this deals with his struggle with living conditions - food, clothing, and his health (in particular, recurring bouts of malaria contracted in Italy). These chapters provide him further opportunities to pass on his opinions of his fellow Canadians, but more often of other nationalities encountered along his travels - Germans, British, Australians, Russians, and Americans - guards, civilian supervisors, fellow prisoners, and fighting troops. However, the most interesting aspect of these chapters is the view inside camp life for at least one Canadian prisoner of war. All kinds of stories are resurrected - everything from officer/men relations to intriguing food combinations to the work routine to the awarding of the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal.

On occasion the text lacks names and dates which would make the going easier, but Reid began the book by noting that memory fades. The reader was warned. The major downside of this work, however, is its length. It's short - ringing it at 95 pages - and would probably be deemed a novella if it were fiction. That said, this is probably all the author wanted - or was willing - to say about his experiences. If he, or an editor, were to flush it out any further it would have undoubtedly detracted from what was written. And that would have been unfortunate, as this is a very readable and quite interesting book from a proud Canadian veteran with some distinctive stories to tell.

I'm not sure how widely available this book is to purchase, but Madrona Books can be contacted by phone at (250) 897-3256, by fax at (250) 897-3286, or by e-mail at cadwaladr@shaw.ca.

Book review of T.F.J. Leversedge's Canadian Combat and Support Aircraft: A Military Compendium

This review, my latest of a recent Vanwell Publishing Limited release, is for T.F.J. Leversedge's Canadian Combat and Support Aircraft: A Military Compendium (Vanwell, 2007). There's no point in pulling any punches here, I think this has to be considered the reference tool for anyone interested in knowing what aircraft Canadian military personnel have flown over the past century. Nearly 300 aircraft are covered in this compendium - fighters, transport aircraft, bombers, trainers, helicopters, gliders, floatplanes, unmanned vehicles, etc., etc. These aircraft are broken down into four main categories of use in the Canadian context: aircraft on strength of the Canadian Forces or its predecessors; Canadian Forces' aircraft ordered, but not yet in service; non-Canadian Forces aircraft flown by Canadians during training, testing, or other military missions; and, non-Canadian aircraft flown by Canadians in operations or combat missions with foreign air forces.

Leversedge begins the book with a brief, yet interesting, history of "the military air services of Canada". This introduces the reader to the beginnings of military aviation in Canada in 1909, the comic existence of the Canadian Aviation Corps in 1914-15, before turning to the work of the Royal Flying Corps in Canada in 1917-18. The late-war creation of the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service and the first Canadian Air Force (1918-20) round out the early coverage of the subject. The author then turns to the creation of the second Canadian Air Force (1920-23) and its transformation and operations as the Royal Canadian Air Force (1924-68). As part of the latter subject, Leversedge covers the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the Home War Establishment, the air force overseas, and "Tiger Force" in the Pacific. The rise of the functional commands in the 1950s and No. 1 Air Division in Europe are also discussed, as is aviation in the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Army. Finally, he writes about the air force as it has existed since Unification in 1968, up to and including Canada's recent air activities in Afghanistan.

The first reference section - on aircraft on strength with the Canadian Forces - is, by far, the largest and covers and incredibly wide array of aircraft. Some of these were "one-offs", single aircraft purchased for one reason or another, while others were employed in the thousands. In the 1920s and 1930s the Royal Canadian Air Force flew a dozen Armstrong Whitworth Siskins, a state of the art fighter design at the time of their purchase. The Avro Anson, a two-engined trainer, was integral to Second World War training, and the air force flew more than 4,400 of them - the largest number of a single aircraft type ever operated by the Canadian military. Some aircraft in this category - such as the Avro Lancaster, the North American Mitchell, and the North American Mustang - represent post-Second World War usage of aircraft on the strength of the Royal Canadian Air Force often only thought of being used overseas during the war. Others, like the mail-carrying version of the Boeing Flying Fortress flown by No. 168 Squadron, fulfilled roles unfamiliar to many of us. The Canadair Silver Star stands out as the aircraft with the longest flying record in the Canadian military - fifty-two years between 1953 and 2005 when the last aircraft was retired. Perhaps in a few years this record may be surpassed by the Lockheed Hercules (1960-) or the Sikorsky Sea King (1961-). Many of these aircraft - particularly the floatplanes and trainers - are quite unfamiliar and to have images and text on these is very informative.

The next category are those aircraft ordered by Canadian Forces, but not yet in service. First on this list is the Boeing C-17 Globemaster, the first of which has just arrived in Canada for work-up training. Other aircraft in this category are updated versions of existing (Lockheed Martin Hercules) or previously-employed (Boeing Chinook) aircraft in use by the Canadian Forces.

This third category are non-Canadian Forces aircraft flown by Canadians during training, testing, or other military missions. This includes a wide range of circumstances, from the Avro Arrow tested by the Canadian military, to numerous fixed-wing and rotary-wing trainers, to the experimental Silver Dart which began it all in 1909.

The final category Leversedge discusses are non-Canadian Forces' aircraft flown by Canadians in operations or combat missions with foreign air forces. This covers familiar aircraft not on the strength of the Royal Canadian Air Force or Canadian Forces (for example, NATO's Boeing E-3 Sentry) as well as several aircraft flown by Canadians while on exchange with the United States Air Force or Royal Air Force, for example the British Aerospace Tornado, Grumman Hellcat, and the Vought Corsair.

Leversedge finishes the book with entries on a couple of airships flown in Canada as well as a section on missiles and remotely piloted vehicles, including the well-known Boeing Bomarc and the not-so-well-known SAGEM Sperwer unmanned aerial vehicle recently used in operations over Afghanistan.

Overall, this is an excellent reference tool, a book that will stay front and centre on my bookshelf for use many years into the future.

Book Review Supplement from Canadian Military History

The folks at the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies have published Issue 19 (Spring 2007) of the Canadian Military History Book Review Supplement. This is a wealth of book reviews on a wide range of recent publications in Canadian military history (and some non-Canadian titles), including:

E.P.S. Allen, The 116th Battalion in France, 1914-18 (Ottawa, 2005);

Sandy Antal and Kevin R. Shackleton, Duty Nobly Done: The Official History of The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment (Windsor, ON, 2006);

David L. Bashow, No Prouder Place: Canadians and the Bomber Command Experience (St. Catharines, ON, 2005);

John Boileau, Half-Hearted Enemies: Nova Scotia, New England and the War of 1812 (Halifax, 2005);

John Boileau, Valiant Hearts: Atlantic Canada and the Victoria Cross (Halifax, 2005);

Craig B. Cameron (ed.), Born Lucky: RSM Harry Fox, MBE, One D-Day Dodger's Story (St. Catharines, ON, 2005);

Gary Campbell, The Road to Canada: The Grand Communications Route from Saint John to Quebec (Fredericton, 2005);

Bruce Cane (ed.), It Made You Think of Home: The Haunting Journal of Deward Barnes, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1916-1919 (Toronto, 2004);

Clifford J. Cate and Charles J. Cate, Notes: A Soldier's Memoir of World War I (Victoria, 2005);

Geraldine Chase and Bill Beswetherick, Gananoque Remembers: A Tribute to the Men Who Gave their Lives for Freedom (Gananoque, ON, 2005);

Albert P. Clark, 33 Months as a POW in Stalag Luft III: A World War II Airman Tells His Story (Golden, CO, 2005);

David R. Facey-Crowther (ed.), Lieutenant Owen William Steele of the Newfoundland Regiment: Diary and Letters (Montreal, 2002);

Cynthia J. Faryon, Unsung Heroes of the Royal Canadian Air Force: Incredible Tales of Courage and Daring during World War II (Canmore, AB, 2003);

Gordon S. Glen, A Memoriam to the Life of James Alpheus Glen, D.S.C. and Bar, Croix de Guerre avec Palme, Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Air Force, Canadian Air Force (Saskatoon, 2004);

Gordon S. Glen, A Memoriam to the Life of David Kenneth Glen, 2nd Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles, (B.C. Horse), Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force, Royal Naval Air Service and RAF (Saskatoon, 2004);

J.L. Granatstein, Hell's Corner: An Illustrated History of Canada's Great War, 1914-1918 (Vancouver, 2004);

Adrian Hayes, Pegahmagabow: Legendary Warrior, Forgotten Hero (Huntsville, ON, 2003);

Blake Heathcote, A Soldier's View: The Personal Photographs of Canadians at War, 1939-1945 (Toronto, 2005);

Gerald F. Holm and Anthony P. Buchner (eds.), A Place of Honour: Manitoba's War Dead Commemorated in its Geography (Winnipeg, n.d.);

John McKendrick Hughes, The Unwanted: Great War Letters from the Field (Edmonton, 2005);

Walter W. Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice: The Story of a Jewish Refugee from Nazi Germany Imprisoned in Britain and Canada during World War II (Montreal, 2005);

James Robert Johnston, Riding into War: The Memoir of a Horse Transport Driver, 1916-1919 (Fredericton, 2004);

Kenneth H. Joyce, Snow Plough and the Jupiter Deception: The Story of the 1st Special Service Force and the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion, 1942-1945 (St. Catharines, ON, 2006);

Wilfred Brenton Kerr, Arms and The Maple Leaf: The Memoir of Wilfred Kerr, Canadian Field Artillery, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1918 (Ottawa, 2005);

Wilfred Brenton Kerr, Shrieks and Crashes: The Memoir of Wilfred B. Kerr, Canadian Field Artillery, 1917 (Ottawa, 2005);

Frederick Luibby, Horses Don't Fly: A Memoir of World War I (New York, 2006);

Aidan MacCarthy, A Doctor's War (Cork, Ireland, 2005);

David Mackenzie (ed.), Canada and the First World War: Essays in Honour of Robert Craig Brown (Toronto, 2005);

Alan Mann, "No Return Ticket": Wallaceburg's War Casualties and Selected War Memories (Wallaceburg, ON, 2002);

Susan Mann, Margaret Macdonald: Imperial Daughter (Montreal, 2005);

Dan McCaffery, Dad's War: The Story of a Courageous Canadian Youth Who Flew with Bomber Command (Toronto, 2004);

G.B. McKean, Scouting Thrills: The Memoir of a Scout Officer in the Great War (Ottawa, 2003);

Desmond Morton, Fight or Pay: Soldiers' Families in the Great War (Vancouver, 2004);

Desmond Morton, Billet pour le front : Histoire sociale des volontairs canadiens (1914-1919), Outremont, QC, 2005);

Francis Patey, Veterans of the North (St. John's, 2003);

J.P. Pollock (ed.), Letters from Angus, 1915-1916 (Victoria, 2005);

Kenneth Radley, We Lead, Others Follow: First Canadian Division, 1914-1918 (St. Catharines, ON, 2006);

Wayne Ralph, Aces, Warriors and Wingmen: Firsthand Accounts of Canada's Fighter Pilots in the Second World War (Toronto, 2005);

Robert Rutherdale, Hometown Horizons: Local Responses to Canada's Great War (Vancouver, 2004);

Shane B. Schreiber, Shock Army of the British Empire: The Canadian Army in the Last 100 Days of the Great War (St. Catharines, ON, 2004);

Norm Shannon, From Baddeck to the Yalu: Stories of Canada's Airmen at War (Ottawa, 2005);

Donald D. Tansley, Growing Up and Going to War, 1925-1945 (Waterloon, ON, 2005);

Milly Walsh and John Callan (eds.), We're Not Dead Yet: The First World War Diary of Private Bert Cooke (St. Catharines, ON, 2006);

Jeffery Williams, Far from Home: A Memoir of a 20th Century Soldier (Calgary, 2003); and

Katherine Wilson-Simmie, Lights Out!: The Memoirs of Nursing Sister Kate Wilson, Canadian Army Medical Corps, 1915-1917 (Ottawa, 2004).

Book review of Anthony L. Stachiw and Andrew Tattersall's CF104 Starfighter (In Canadian Service: Aircraft #4)

In this, my third review of a recent Vanwell Publishing Limited release, the subject matter and book format are a little different than in my first two reviews. This time around, the book is Anthony L. Stachiw and Andrew Tattersall's CF104 Starfighter (In Canadian Service: Aircraft #4) (Vanwell, 2007).

From the very beginning of this 150-page, extremely well-illustrated book, it is clear that this project was a labour of love for the author, Anthony Stachiw, as well as the illustrator, Andrew Tattersall. Stachiw in an aviation industry veteran and former commercial pilot whose has had an active interest in military and civil aviation his entire life. Tattersall is a technical designer, also with a lifelong interest in aviation. The amazing colour aircraft profile drawings were created by freelance artist Stephen Otvos.

This book is a reference tool, with a substantial amount of historical context thrown in to round out the story of the CF104. It covers, to my mind, every conceivable aspect of the history, design, general operational use and technical details of the aircraft - everything from paint schemes to the original "downward firing ejector seat system" of the American-built F-104s.

The first chapter deals with the American background, specifically the design, production and use of the Lockheed F-104 from the early 1950s through the late 1970s. The numerous variants and changes in operational usage and status are clearly set within the context of what could only be described as a troubled and perhaps disappointing career in the United States Air Force. Nevertheless, Stachiw is able to justify that the nearly 2,600 Starfighters produced made it "one of the most important Western postwar military aircraft" (p.22).

The CF104 Starfighter is introduced in the second chapter as part of the overall ability of the Americans to expand the production of the F-104 to allied markets. By the late 1950s the Canadian government was forced to look for a replacement aircraft for the F-86 Sabres and CF100 Canucks serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons on North Atlantic Treaty Organization duties in western Europe. Stachiw's coverage of the type of aircraft produced in Canada, the impact on the Canadian aviation industry, testing, training of pilots, deployment and operations in Europe until the 1980s make this a very interesting discussion. He also discusses the aircraft's perhaps unenviable safety record (the "Widowmaker" moniker), given that more than 100 Starfighters were in major accidents in the air and on the ground, with nearly forty fatalities suffered. Finally, he provides serial number, acquisition and "destiny" data on the overall CF104 fleet.

The third chapter, titled "Aircraft Description and Drawings", is, not surprisingly, where the book gets really technically-minded. This portion provides great detail on the specifications of CF104s, combining data, images and drawings.

The fourth chapter takes the structural or organizational look, and provides brief lineages and operational histories on the divisions, wings, squadrons, training units, and establishments involved in operational flying, training of pilots, or testing the CF104 during its time in the Royal Canadian Air Force / Air Command. This chapter also provides illustrations of the badges of these units and formations, some of them rarely seen outside of unpublished documentation.

A different sort of technical matter is the subject of the fifth chapter, specifically colour schemes and markings for the CF104. Likely of particular interest to the aircraft modeller, this information is also well placed in the context of the CF104's operations within the Canadian military. Of special note is the explanation of some of the unique or eccentric paint schemes ("Tiger", "Checkerboard", etc.) used on the aircraft at various times.

The sixth chapter deals with the armament and weapons configurations used for the CF104 while in Canadian service. This information and historical context leads directly into the seventh, and final, chapter, dealing briefly with the CF104 in the context of aircraft modelling.

All in all, this is a very interesting and extremely detailed examination of the CF104 Starfighter. It would seem that this type of book is intended primarily either for the aircraft modeller or the specific aircraft buff, but it certainly does not fail to uphold the historical side of the aircraft's career as well. In a format where historical context could easily slip beneath the wings of technical detail, Stachiw and Tattersall deliver a very useful story of this part of Canada's material heritage.

A quiet day

I was on leave today, so I didn't pursue the historian's craft for too many hours. I did finish reading John Ellis' Eye-Deep in Hell: Trench Warfare in World War I (Baltimore, 1976). This was an interesting read. A bit-dated perhaps, it has been partly surpassed by the extensive research undertaken by Richard Holmes for his incredible book Tommy. One thing I liked particularly about Ellis' research is that, although he focused primarily on British troops (including those from the Empire), he also used examples from the French and German armies, a tact which makes the book a little more universal.

I've been meaning also to mention a new publication now in the works. Ron Jack is in the process of resurrecting his former print journal, Canadian Military Biography, in an entirely online format. As Ron writes:

Military biography is a challenging and rewarding subject. You understand that fact and it has brought you to this page. Most of the work underway across the country involves the lives of Canadians who served in the two World Wars, but in fact we have a much richer military heritage which spans several centuries. Indeed one of the most intensely trained and motivated Canadian expeditionary forces ever assembled is now serving in Afghanistan. Our proudest Regimental and Corps traditions are very much alive.

CANADIAN MILITARY BIOGRAPHY is an e-magazine scheduled to appear quarterly. We will strive to bring you stories of Canadians who served in all eras, including those who served as Soldiers of Fortune or perhaps as influential advisors to foreign armies and navies. You may expect that most of the lengthier articles will chronicle those who served in the C.E.F. in the Great War, or with our massive volunteer force in World War Two. With your help we will strive to achieve some editorial and content balance - with interesting material showcasing all of the armed services and all of the wars Canadians experienced. Obvious examples would be Canadians who served in Israel's wars or the thousands who volunteered for Vietnam. The field of study is vast, and our interest is boundless.

The first issue is expected to be published online in June 2007.

Book review of Wood's We move only forward

This is the second review I’ve completed of a recent Vanwell Publishing Limited book on Canadian military history. This time around, the book is James A. Wood’s We move only forward: Canada, the United States and the First Special Service Force 1942-1944 (Vanwell, 2006).

Some might argue that Canadian-American military cooperation has never been as close as it is now, particularly in the naval task forces of the past fifteen years in the Arabian Gulf or in the United Nations and NATO missions in Afghanistan since 2001. In some ways, that may be true. However, one unit formed during the Second World War – the First Special Service Force – was, as James Wood puts it “largely without parallel and stands today as an anomaly in US-Canadian military cooperation. Prior to this, Canadian soldiers had never served in such close association with the United States Army, and throughout and after the long Cold War, continuing military cooperation between Canada and the United States has resulted in no similar examples of such near-complete integration” (p.10).

In brief, the First Special Service Force (FSSF) was formed by officers and men from both Canada and the United States as a “North American” military unit “in which soldiers from the two armies served together without regard for nationality” (p.10). Initially formed in 1942 for a mission in Norway which was ultimately cancelled, the FSSF was reorganized, reequipped and retrained for a more sustained combat role, a role which it undertook in Italy and southern France in 1943 and 1944, before its disbandment in December 1944. Between 1942 and 1944 about 1,500 Canadian soldiers served in the force, 155 being killed in the fighting in Italy and France.

It is the intention of James A. Wood to retell “the history of the First Special Service Force from a Canadian perspective, focusing in particular on the issues surrounding the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion, the official designation given to the Canadian element of the FSSF” (p.11). The author, currently a doctoral candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University, has reworked his master’s thesis (“The Canadian Army and the First Special Service Force, 1942-1944”, University of New Brunswick, 2003) into this published version.

Wood contends that the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion was really an administrative entity, mostly created for the purposes of differences in pay and discipline. Canadian and American soldiers were scattered throughout the FSSF, using the same weapons, wearing the same (American) uniforms, and serving under the same officers. As a result, the Canadian battalion was a “paper unit” (p.11). However, it was also an entity which “became the subject of a disproportionate amount of high-level consideration” (p.11) at military headquarters in Ottawa, London, Washington and in the field in Italy. As Wood notes: “Were it possible to gauge the success of a paper unit by the volume of letters, official reports and telegrams it generated, the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion would have to be judged a resounding success” (p.11).

This is not really an operational history of the FSSF, although operations are definitely discussed. It is also not a book of individual stories on the members of the FSSF. It is, to be honest, an administrative history of the Canadian component of the FSSF. Wood notes that while the Force was successful operationally “their achievements in the field were often set against a background of frustrating miscommunication and bureaucratic tangles in Ottawa, Washington and overseas” (p.15). He wants to explore how the “bi-national composition” of the unit made its existence more difficult, may have led ultimately to its disbandment, and why such an “experiment” had not been repeated since.

The first chapter, “The Talented Mr Pyke”, deals with the background to the formation of the FSSF as a whole. This includes discussion of the efforts of a very eccentric British civilian official, and his relations with the American military and the Canadian Army. Originally designated “Operation PLOUGH”, the idea for the FSSF evolved from a plan to create winter warfare capable commando detachments which could used in snow-covered areas of Nazi-occupied Europe. Even though the initial plan to use the force collapsed, Canadian interest in the force – as a combined American-Canadian military formation – remained strong, and the creation of the FSSF proceeded.

By chapter two, “Being Special in Helena, Montana”, the FSSF had been authorized, and was now getting down to the business of being formed. Administrative questions quickly arose. Would Canadian troops have to be released from the Canadian Army to serve in the American Army? Was the FSSF to be a joint American-Canadian unit or really just an American one? Compromises were found to these and other questions, resulting in all soldiers swearing allegiance to their officers, not to either country. Canadian troops would also receive their pay and pensions from Canada, their lodgings, rations and equipment from the United States.

The structure of the FSSF was determined, officers were assigned, weapons and unarmed combat training initiated. Canadian soldiers seemed to be settling in well to the training and the location, one officer noting: “The relationship between Canadian and American personnel is most satisfactory” (p.40). At the same time, some administrative complaints were arising, such as the fact that Canadian soldiers were being paid much less than their American counterparts.

Despite the cancellation of its initial campaign, the FSSF, as outlined in chapter 3, “Finding a Mission in 1943” continued “maintaining its emphasis on skiing, mountain climbing, and living in cold climates, albeit with increasing amounts of time spent on battle drill and weapons use” (p.56). The truth was, the Force’s role was now uncertain. Nevertheless, leadership attempted to maintain its early training while initiating training to help meet an expected transition of the FSSF to “an assault infantry role”.

It was during this period that the first major Canadian administrative problem arose, a problem which Wood places at the top of the list throughout the existence of the FSSF. During the initial training period personnel losses due to injury or soldiers simply failing the course were reducing the Canadian presence in the FSSF. This brought up the issue of reinforcements. The American commanding officer of the Force still saw it being used in a single major operation and, therefore, refused to allow Canadian reinforcements at this point. The difficulty with this decision was that if the FSSF was altered to fill a more permanent, assault infantry role, there would be no mechanism in place to provide Canadian reinforcements. This issue formed part of the background at the FSSF set off to participate in the Kiska landings in August 1943.

By chapter 4, “A ‘Special’ Reinforcements Crisis”, the reinforcement problem for the Canadian portion of the FSSF had become a “crisis”. The FSSF had arrived in Italy in November 1943, and began combat operations the following month. The Canadians alone lost twenty-seven soldiers killed, eighty-six wounded and forty-one losses due to fatigue by the end of the year. As Wood writes: “Although some of the exhaustion cases were already beginning to recover and many of the wounded could be expected back eventually, it became painfully obvious that without reinforcements the Force would not survive many similar missions” (p.87).

By late January 1944 the situation regarding Canadian troop strength had deteriorated further, with nearly half of the original Canadian element dead or wounded. Meanwhile, the Americans had begun to provided reinforcements for their portion of the FSSF. This decision – a definite reversal in the American policy – “exasperated” the leadership of the Canadian Army.

Further examination into the Canadian position on the FSSF led to consideration of pulling the Canadians out entirely and using them as reinforcements for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Wood notes: “After spending an entire year in training, the Force was, arguably, being squandered by the US Fifth Army – employed as ‘glorified infantry’ with ‘all the special training going by the boards, except possibly mountain climbing’” (p.96).

The Canadian decision to approach the Americans and suggest the withdrawal of the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion came too late. Predicated on the FSSF not being involved in active operations, the request to pull the Canadians out was no longer feasible as the entire Force was now on its way to join the defence of the Anzio bridgehead.

The FSSF spent February to May 1944 in the Anzio bridgehead. As chapter 5, “Punch-Drunk: The Anzio Bridgehead”, describes, this type of combat only reinforced the Canadian perception that the Force was not fighting the type of war for which it had originally been designed, equipped and trained. Forced into a corner, Canadian Military Headquarters authorized reinforcements for the Canadian element in the FSSF in March 1944, bringing in personnel from reinforcement pools in Italy. Chapter 6, “Reorganization Under Fire”, describes this process and how the FSSF increasingly came to resemble an American Ranger type unit, fighting convention infantry operations in the bridgehead, during the breakout, and in the advance into Rome.

As described in chapter 7, “Disbandment in Southern France”, by June 1944 even the American officer commanding the FSSF was requesting it be reorganized as a normal infantry regiment. He seems “to have finally given up hope that the Force might be employed in a role similar to the one for which it had originally been organized and trained” (p.160). Nonetheless, in August 1944 the FSSF was landed in Southern France as part of Operation DRAGOON. Earlier that month, Canadian military authorities made it clear there would be no more Canadian reinforcements for its portion of the FSSF. Requirements in Italy and North West Europe were making infantry reinforcements a scarce commodity, and none were going to be provided for the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion. The Americans, meanwhile, had thought the matter over, and General Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, ordered the FSSF to be disbanded. That action was carried out on December 5, 1944.

Wood concludes:

From the Winter Line to the Mussolini Canal, Artena and Rome, the Force had established an enviable combat record – and did so despite the many difficulties encountered along the way. The problems had been of an administrative nature, particularly in regard to planning and communication, between the nations involved. They should not, and have not, overshadowed the achievement of the Canadian and American soldiers who carried on in the field regardless of the events at headquarters. (p.185)

This is an interesting work on the administrative/political/structural side of the story of the Canadian contribution to the First Special Service Force. The author’s claims to structural difficulties undermining the FSSF seem quite strong, and provide an interesting take on the subject.

Book review of Radley's First Canadian Division

Vanwell Publishing Limited, in St. Catharines, Ontario, has agreed to take on The Cannon’s Mouth (in the practical sense, me) as a reviewer of its publications in Canadian military history. Vanwell is a respected name in Canadian military history publishing and I look forward to this opportunity. These reviews are my honest opinions of the books I’ve been sent. In terms of length they’re probably a little longer than those that would appear in a printed journal and in terms of my writing style, well this isn’t The Journal of X and Y, it’s my blog. Now that I've got that out of the way, the first review I’ve completed is of Kenneth Radley’s We Lead, Others Follow: First Canadian Division 1914-1918 (Vanwell, 2006).

Right out of the gate, in the first paragraph of the preface to his book, Kenneth Radley makes an interesting observation. None of the four Canadian infantry divisions (ignoring the moribund 5th Division) that served in the Canadian Corps during the First World War have been the subject of particular historical study. Radley intends to redress that situation, in part, with this study of the 1st Canadian Division, a reworking of his doctoral dissertation in the same subject matter.

A former officer with the 1st Battalion, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, (the regular force battalion) and a graduate of the University of Manitoba (B.A.) and Carleton University (M.A. and Ph.D.), Radley actually served with the 1st Division – the post-Second World War incarnation – during his career. His affection for the “Old Red Patch”, as it had long been nicknamed, is apparent. Or, as he puts it (p.20):

“An infanteer comes to see his battalion as family and home, and should he, God forbid, be sent to another battalion, even of the same regiment, his new unit would be alien at first. He may also extend feelings of kinship to his brigade, and his division may also be a family, albeit a very large one. What is important is the sense of belonging, which is essential for success in war. The subject of this book is one particular family, 1st Division, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).”

The 1st Division is also especially significant to Radley because it was the first – the first Canadian division to be formed, the first to sail overseas, the first to train in Britain, the first to make it to the continent, the first to fight, etc., etc. “In fact,” he adds (pp.xii-xiii), “1st Division was the first nonregular division to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), beating the first Imperial Territorial Division (the 46th) to France by two weeks and the first New Army Division (the 9th Scottish) by three months.”

Not only was the 1st Division the initial Canadian contribution of that size to the war, it also became an effective and well-thought of component of the British forces in France and Flanders. How did it achieve that status? That is the crux of Radley’s narrative (p.21): “The central idea of this book is that 1st Division became a good division. What made it a good one, that is to say what took it from raw militia to a good, professional fighting formation, was competent command and control, thorough staff work and sound training.”

Let’s be clear here. Radley’s book is not a history of the 1st Canadian Division “looking out”, i.e. the story of its accomplishments, the heroics of its personnel, its trials and tribulations.

Instead, this is a history of the 1st Division “looking in” at a certain level, stating matter-of-factly what was accomplished, but focusing on how the division accomplished what it did and gained the reputation it had by the end of the war. This goal, what Radley calls (p.21) “a sizeable and complex matter” is, indeed, that. As a result, this book is not what the reader might expect when picking it up off the shelf. But, it’s also not the end of Radley’s planned work on the division (p.21): “To try to add the story of the ordinary soldier’s life would far exceed the space available within a reasonably sized book. Consequently, a subsequent companion volume will focus on the ordinary soldier and the junior officer, the two being those most at risk in war.”

Dealing with a subject such as this – the internal workings of a military formation and how they came to be reflected in the formation’s accomplishments – is not a simple matter. Deciding how to deal with the results of one’s research is a difficult decision. Radley wrote (p.25):

“Reflection suggested a combination [of chronology and analysis]. The story will begin with a chronological account of command and control, staff work and training from Valcartier to Salisbury Plains and then to Flanders to that point at which Old Red Patch first took charge of a sector of the Front. This provides a start line for analysis. The book concludes with an accounting of how the division stood in mid-1918 in comparison to its state in April 1915. In between, one element at a time will be discussed, taking care to relate each to the record of selected battles or actions [1915-18].”

The book is broken down into ten chapters. The first deals with the beginnings of the division, the second the contemporary underpinnings of an infantry division. Then follow six chapters on three subjects: command, staff, and training. The ninth chapter deals with how it all came together, and chapter ten is a summation and conclusion. There are also appendices concerning abbreviations, formations, battles and engagements, an order of battle, a Victoria Cross roll of honour, commanders, and senior staff appointments.

Chapter one, “In the Beginning…”, deals with some of the background to the formation of the division and outlines the type of discussion the reader can expect in the rest of the book. As Radley puts it (p.49): “Understanding the language of Army life is very helpful, for without this, one can miss all sorts of important nuances. One has also to learn a unique culture, a significant part of which is organization. Organization may be mundane, but it cannot be ignored, for it is central to the waging of war and the first step to understanding command and control, the staff system and training.”

Chapter two, “Divisions: First the Fundamentals”, is exactly that and describes, as one contemporary observer noted, what should have been part of an infantry division at the time, not necessarily what was present in Valcartier in 1914. It also outlines the obstacles and difficulties to be overcome. For example, (then) Lieutenant-Colonel David Watson’s recollection of “the incredible organizational dance in England. On 1 November [1914] the division, conforming to British practice, went to four companies, back to eight three weeks later, to four again in December and within days back to eight before settling at four for good in January 1915.”

Chapters three and four, two parts to “At My Command”, deal with the complexities of command and control in the division, from the level of divisional officers, to those at brigade and battalion. If (p.127) “1st Division were to grow professionally and become more effective in unleashing the hurricanes of compressed violence known as combat”, officers at all levels had to learn their jobs inside and out in order to become competent, professional operational commanders. Only then, in hindsight, would the division improve in its capabilities from 1915 through 1917.

“A Staff to Serve the Line” is the subject of chapters five and six. What are staffs and who are staff officers anyway and what do they do? Radley covers the division’s staff system in great detail, looking at the characteristics of staffs, their organization, responsibilities, functions, and their working methods. Where did staff officers come from and what types of officers became staff officers? How did relations between staff and commanders, between staff, regimental officers and soldiers, and between Canadian and imperial staffs, affect operations and the efficient running of the division? Just one example of the subject matter in these chapters – an important one in Radley’s view, given the amount of attention he gives it – are orders, divisional orders, brigade orders, battalion orders for operations, administration, etc. How were they written, how clear was their intent, how were they interpreted at each level down the chain of command?

Chapters seven and eight turn to training, specifically “Policy and System” and “Content and Conduct”. As he writes (p.246): “The great virtue of training is that it provides the individual and collective self-confidence that makes a division or an Army effective.” It takes effective training to make an army actually an army, or a division in this case. What was the division’s training philosophy, policy, components, specific content, training standards and how was it all conducted? In the end, the chapters aim to (p.246): “track the soldier along the path from Base Depot, Corps Reinforcement Wing, division, brigade (or Brigade School or Depot) to unit – in short, from rear to “up forward”.”

The final chapter before the conclusion, chapter 9, is titled “And It All Came Together”. Here, Radley is referring to how “three years of fearful hard work” on command and control, staff work, and training “all came together” during the offensives of the Hundred Days beginning in August 1918. This chapter examines the contributions of the division and its performance during the battles for Amiens, the Drocourt-Quéant Line, Canal du Nord and Bourlon Wood and how the internal workings mentioned above played into this. For example, when discussing the operations orders for the August-September offensives, he writes (p.333):

“Minor SD [staff duties] is impeccable, a quality that always adds to the confidence of the recipients of an order. Finally, in examining the ladders formed by division Operation Orders, the brigade orders written from them and the 12 battalion orders written from brigade orders, one see continuity, relevance to the originating level of command, and above all, presence of the essentials. The sense of the whole, whether individual order, ladder or package, is easy to understand, which is commendable and critical because it is tired, even exhausted, distracted, or anxious men who must read and execute orders, usually under severe pressure of time and circumstances.”

Radley concludes that in three years (p.354) “the best efforts of every officer and man took the division from raw militia to a good, professional formation. By mid-1918, well-equipped, well-trained and well-motivated men, their material wants ensured by good staff work, were led by commanders who had become professional, capable of operating at a level far superior to that of the war’s earlier days.”

The shift that Radley employs from a primarily chronological approach (chapter one) to a primarily analytical approach (chapters two through eight) and back to chronology again (chapter nine) is a tough juggling act. I’m not sure it’s entirely successful. I found myself wishing he had stuck to one or the other throughout, although I definitely appreciate the dilemma he found himself in when trying to decide how to approach this topic. Perhaps this was the best compromise means of telling his story.

I found myself having more difficulty sometimes with his writing style. Radley often puts himself and his opinions explicitly in the text in the form of “colour commentary”, if you will. My problem with this style most likely reflects my own training as an historian in the sense that you leave yourself out of your text (even though I’m under no illusions about the possibility of true objectivity in history). Despite my occasional discomfort with his style, it most definitely shows a lot of passion, perhaps even obsession, with the subject matter, and I think that’s a good and welcome thing to find in any history text. I also have a sneaking suspicion that Radley was a staff officer during his career in the army. I know first hand the underappreciated nature of such a function in the Canadian (and probably any other) military.

Kenneth Radley has undertaken an absolutely incredible amount of archival and published research for this book. In addition to delving deep into the military record groups of Library and Archives Canada – researching a lot of material which I think many others have simply not investigated – he moved on to numerous personal papers of senior commanders and staff officers. He also researched numerous “manuals and instructions” (“pams” as the military would call them) as well as an impressive list of published books and articles. An historian might be reluctant to say that no stone was unturned in the research of the subject, but I think it’s quite possible that no stone was indeed left unturned.

The appendices that close out Radley’s text are also of interest. In addition to the types of material the reader would expect to find, the divisional order of battle is interesting. However, it is the lists of commanders (Canadian Corps, 1st Division, 1st Brigade, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Brigade), commanding officers of the twelve infantry battalions in the division, and senior corps and divisional staff officers, that shed light on what, in my opinion, this book really boils down to – behind the men in the trenches doing most of the fighting and dieing (and sometimes amongst them) were commanders, staff officers and trainers who likewise went from being amateurs to becoming professionals, learning the intricacies of their craft in the process, and playing their part in the Canadian victories of the First World War as part of the family that was the 1st Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Book reviews in The Globe and Mail

Lieutenant Steven Dieter, an officer with The Princess of Wales' Own Regiment in Kingston, Ontario, and a grad student in the War Studies Programme at The Royal Military College of Canada, published three book reviews on Canadian military history in last weekend's edition of Books in The Globe and Mail. Yes! Military history in the Globe's review of books. Steven reviewed Kenneth Radley's We Lead, Others Follow: The First Canadian Division, 1914-1918 (he writes: "Radley, a former military officer, begins with the mobilization of Canadian men in 1914 and follows through to the war's end, examining the pains and trials faced by that First Division. It was the mould from which Canada's remaining three divisions would be created. One key theme comes through: First Division wasn't just a unit; it was a family."); Tim Cook's Clio's Warriors: Canadian Historians and the Writing of the World Wars (he writes: Cook "writes of the challenges faced by Canada's military historians after both world wars"); and Colonel Bernd Horn's (ed), The Canadian Way of War: Serving the National Interest (he writes that Horn has "collected and edited a series of essays about how and why Canadians have served in the military - and how that has affected the development of our country").

McNorgan and Lock's "Black Beret"

Today I had a chance to finish reading Major (ret'd) Michael R. McNorgan and Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas A. Lock's Black Beret: A History of The Windsor Regiment (RCAC) 1936-2006. You might not have even been aware that a history of the Windsors was underway. I admit to having advance knowledge as Mike McNorgan is a friend and former co-worker of mine and I was fortunate to get ahold of the copy from work that Mike gave our library. This regimental history was privately published by The Windsor Regiment Association and I'm really not sure how it's being sold, but anyone interested could contact them through the association's website. Update: Mike McNorgan sent me an e-mail with details on how to purchase the book. You can send a cheque to the WR Association - Kit Shop, Major F.A. Tilston, VC Armoury, 4007 Sandwich Street, Windsor, ON, N9C 1C3. You can also e-mail the association directly at wr_assoc@canada.com. The cost of the book is Cdn$ 50.00, tax included, plus Cdn$ 15.00 for shipping and handling in Canada. Foreign sales are also possible - send the association an e-mail message.

That said, and my connection to Mike announced, I'd like to give a bit of a book review on this history. My first thought, and I'll admit this might not sound all that charitable, is how interesting would a regimental history be of a (honour bearing) regiment which has no battle honours? Mike and LCol Lock, fortunately, proved my initial thought wrong, for which I am mightily glad. After all, in my own work on The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, I duly noted that for most of the regiment's history, the officers and soldiers were involved in peacetime activities. It's just that wartime is easier to write (in my opinion) and, well, more intriguing and exciting to most readers. This history of the Windsors is an interesting mix of the regiment's wartime and peacetime roles. Operations, training, the ups and downs of militia life (for individuals and the regiment itself), the regimental family, and ties to the community all tie together to provide an interesting story. Almost as interesting as the narrative are the abundant number of appendices covering everything from prominent members to buttons and bows to short memoirs. The book is also well-illustrated and obviously the product of a regimental family willing and able to spend money to have the job done right.