Latest issue of Legion Magazine

The May/June 2007 issue of Legion Magazine (www.legionmagazine.com) is out and contains several items of interest with respect to Canadian military history, including: David L. Bashow, "Defending Bomber Command"; Harry Bruce, "My Father's Museum" (on Ross Munro); Terry Copp, "Winning the Streets of Ortona"; Adam Day, "Historians Review the Bomber Command Display"; Hugh A. Halliday, "Flyboys on the Ground"; and Marc Milner, "Fattening the Fleet".

The New Brunswick Military Heritage Project

I was reminded, at the recent Laurier military history conference, of the existence of The New Brunswick Military Heritage Project. I remember running across this website previously in my online travels, but for some reason never got around to posting an entry about it. Well, here's my shot at rectifying that. This project, co-directed by Dr. Marc Milner and Brent Wilson, both academics at the University of New Brunswick, consists of publications, a website, and a database - all with the goal of encouraging the discovery and dissemination of New Brunswick's military history from the 18th Century to present. For example, as the pamphlet for the the project notes about the website, it "is a clearinghouse for information on New Brunswick military history: background material on the project, the database, supplementary information on the books we publish, hot links to other sites, past and upcoming lectures and special events (such as the clearing of the Red Head Battery site in Saint John), and in time, a chat room and e-publishing." The project also strongly encourages French-language input: "Malheureusement, en ce moment, le projet sur le patrimoine militaire du Nouveau-Brunswick n'est pas disponsible en français. Nous esperons que dans l'avenir proche toutes les informations seront disponible en français." All in all, a very interesting looking project, which has already accomplished a lot. I'd love to see other provincially-based projects similar to this started up.

Latest issue of the War of 1812 Magazine

The latest issue (No. 6, April 2007) of the War of 1812 Magazine is now online and includes many very interesting discussions of the subject, such as: "The Western Theatre in the War of 1812" by Sandy Antal; "The Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper Canada and Its Famous Medal" by Carl Benn; "The Duke of Wellington, the Peninsular War and the War of 1812 Part II: Reinforcements, Views of the War and Command in North America" by John Grodzinski; "Order of the Bath Stall Plates - An Underappreciated Napoleonic Collectable" bu Jay Medves; "Military Heritage of the War of 1812: an Update on the Infantry Regiments of the British Army", compiled by Donald E. Graves; "A Painting by George Jones, RA, of the Rescue of Captain John Wilson after the Battle of Chippawa" by John R. Grodzinski; as well as a few other items. Many thanks to the magazine's editor, John R. Grodzinski (grodzinski-j@rmc.ca), for the announcement of this latest issue.

Expansion of The Royal Canadian Regiment museum

The London Free Press reported on 13 May 2007 under the title "We must preserve our heritage" that the regimental museum of The Royal Canadian Regiment - located in Wolseley Barracks, in London, Ontario - has begun a campaign to expand its facilities. The "Building For The Future" campaign is attempting to raise $2.3 million in the next year or so and the Ontario provincial government has already granted $240,000 towards that goal. The proposed expansion would add approximately 6,000 square feet to the museum, providing additional display space, a new entrance and a "current campaigns" exhibit, the latter including material from the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.

Latest issue of the Canadian Military Journal

The latest issue of the Canadian Military Journal / Revue militaire canadienne (www.journal.forces.gc.ca) (vol.7, no.4, winter/hiver 2006/2007) has been out for some time, but I'm only now getting around to drafting a post about it. Like every other issue, this one has interesting Canadian military history content, including: "The Peaceable Kingdom? The National Myth of Canadian Peacekeeping and the Cold War" / "Un Royaume pacifique? Le Mythe canadien du maintien de la paix et la guerre froide" by Eric Wagner; "The Evolution of Canadian Civil-Military Cooperation" / "L'evolution de la coopération civilo-militaire au Canada" by Major Graham M. Longhurst; "Leonard Birchall and the Japanese Raid on Colombo" / "Leonard Birchall et le raid japonais sur Colombo" by Rob Stuart; "Henri Bourassa and Conscription: Traitor or Saviour?" / "Henri Bourassa et la conscription : traître ou sauveur?" by Doctor Béatrice Richard; "In Defence of 'Tommy' Burns" / "à la défense de << Tommy >> Burns" by Second Lieutenant Will Lofgren; as well as several military history book reviews.

Latest issue of The Canadian Army Journal

The latest issue of The Canadian Army Journal / Le Journal de l'Armée du Canada (www.army.forces.gc.ca/caj) (volume 10, no.1, winter/hiver 2007) is out and, as usual, it contains items of interest to Canadian military history, including: "The Road to Hell Part 1: Canada in Vietnam, 1954-1973" / "Le chemin de l'enfer, 1re partie : le Canada au Vietnam, 1954-1973" by Lieutenant-Colonel Shane B. Schreiber and several book reviews of historical publications.

British First World War military personnel records online

As an historian with a particular interest - both at work and in my own projects - on Canada's participation in the First World War, I'm still elated at the fact that Library and Archives Canada has digitized many (unfortunately, not all) of the attestation or enlistment papers (one to two pages each) of the members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Can you imagine if LAC was able to digitize and post the entire personnel files for all the members of the CEF? I'm drooling at the sheer thought of it. But, for the moment, if you're lucky enough to be in Ottawa you can only sit down with the paper files to get the rest of the personnel information or, if you're not in Ottawa, you can only order photocopies.

However, it seems that the British may have broken the mold. Well, sort of. Computeractive, a British website, reported in late February on a joint venture between the Ancestry.co.uk website and The National Archives "to make service and pension records of soldiers who served in the British Army between 1914 and 1920 available online." This data has been mined from more than 8,000 microfilm reels held by The National Archives. Just like their Canadian counterparts, these personnel files provide information on the individual's occupation, physical characteristics, movements, postings, next of kin, etc. Officially, the records to be made available are part of WO 363 (British Army Service Records) and WO 364 (British Army Pension Records).

Unfortunately, the project will only ever be able to provide only part of the story. Although about five million soldiers from Great Britain fought during the war, German bombing in the Second World War seems to have destroyed 60 per cent of the service records from the First World War, and severely damaged many others. This project will be carried out in stages, beginning with pension documents for approximately 100,000 soldiers. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.

The records will be available for searching on the ancestry.co.uk website - either through a subscription or pay-per-view - for 10 Pounds per month or 80 Pounds per year.

The Canadian Great War Project

I'm just back from the 18th annual Military History Colloquium hosted by The Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies (www.canadianmilitaryhistory.com) at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. This was an excellent few days of papers delivered on a wide range of topics in Canadian military history, discussions amongst the attendees, and a dangerous (to the wallet) selection of books for sale. The 19th annual conference will held on 2-3 May 2008 at the University of Waterloo. More details to follow.

A while back I came across the Canadian Great War Project (www.canadiangreatwarproject.com), a website and project run by Marc Leroux. As the site notes:

"The Canadian Great War Project is intended to promote interest in Canada's participation in World War 1, commonly referred to as the Great War, to research the Canadians who participated in the Great War 1914-1919 or other nationalities who served in the CEF. The content is primarily database driven to facilitate searches for information. The site is, and will continue to be, a work in progress; there are currently over 73,000 entries of individual soldiers, and has become a collaborative effort among those interested in researching Canada and the Great War."

The options on the site are pretty straightforward and include "feedback", "searches", "war diaries", "Canada in the war", "books and media", "statistics", "from the front", "memorials", "rolls and awards", "images", links and more. At present, the site contains more than 6,500 war diary entries, 380 transcripted letters and newspaper articles, 530 images and 380 book and media descriptions. All in all, a very interesting and commendable project.

MA Theses and PhD Dissertations - Part 4

As previously, Renald Fortier, Curator of Aviation History at the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa, has again kindly sent me a long list of Canadian military history MA theses and PhD dissertations for my ongoing list. Again, many thanks Renald and sorry for the delay in posting these! The material is as follows:

Berg, Glen, "Scrambling for Dollars: Resource Allocation and the Politics of Canadian Fighter Aircraft Procurement, 1943-1983", MA thesis, Royal Military College of Canada, 1994;

Blazanovic, Nick N., "The Rebirth of North American Air Defence", MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1994;

Bristman, Barry, "In the Strategic Interests of Canada: Canadian Arms Sales to Israel and Other Middle East States, 1949-1956", MA thesis, University of Calgary, 1992;

Cafferky, Michael Shawn, "Towards the Balanced Fleet: A History of the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service, 1943-1945", MA thesis, University of Victoria, 1990;

Davison, Janet Frances, "We shall remember: Canadian Indians and World War II", MA thesis, Trent University, 1993;

Endicott, Valerie, "Woman's place (was) everywhere: A Study of Women who Worked in Aircraft Production in Toronto during the Second World War", MA thesis, University of Toronto, 1991;

English, Allan Douglas, "The cream of the crop: A Study of Selection, Training, and Policies governing Lack of Moral Fibre in Aircrew of the Royal Canadian Air Force, 1939-1945", Doctoral dissertation, Queen's University, 1994;

Gingrich, S.K., "Defence Production Sharing and Canada and the United States, 1957-1967", MA thesis, University of Victoria, 1991;

Hards, Danielle, "We are the girls behind the boys behind the guns: Military Women and the Canadian Forces", MA thesis, Carleton University, 1994;

Machabée, Ghislaine, "Vie et mort du Livre blanc sur la défense de 1987: autopsie d'une politique", MSc thèse, Université de Montréal, 1992;

Marmura, Stephen, "Covering Desert Storm: Canadian Media Commentary and the War in the Gulf", MA thesis, University of Guelph, 1993;

Van Meenen, Mary Ann, "The Canadian Intervention in Siberia, 1918-1919", MA thesis, Dalhousie University, 1990;

Nuttall, Leslie, "Canadianization and the No. 6 Bomber Group R.C.A.F.", Doctoral dissertation, University of Calgary, 1990;

Quinn, Robert James, "This is our battle, too!: Canadian Servicewomen and the Second World War", MA thesis, Dalhousie University, 1994; and

Robitaille, Éric, "Militaires et Inuit dans l'Est de l'Artique canadien, 1942-1965", MA thèse, Université Laval, 1987.

Latest from University of Toronto Press

The Fall/Winter 2007 catalogue from University of Toronto Press is out, and contains the following new item of interest:

Paul Douglas Dickson, a strategic analyst and military historian with the Centre for Operational Research and Analysis, Department of National Defence, has published A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar. As the catalogue notes:

General H.D.G. 'Harry' Crerar (1888-1965) was involved in or directly responsible for many of the defining moments of Canadian military history in the twentieth century. In the First World War, Crerar was nearly killed at the second battle of Ypres, was a gunner who helped to secure victory at Vimy Ridge, and was a senior staff officer during the pivotal battles of the last Hundred Days. During the Second World War, he occupied and and often defined the Canadian army's senior staff and operational appointments, including his tenure as commander of First Canadian Army through the northwest European campaign.
Despite his pivotal role in shaping the Canadian army, however, General Crerar has been long overlooked as a subject of biography. In A Thoroughly Canadian General, Paul Dickson examines the man and his controversial place in Canadian military history, arguing that Crerar was a nationalist who saw the army as an instrument to promote Canadian identity and civic responsibility. From his days as a student at the Royal Military College in Kingston, to his role as primary architect of First Canaidan Army, the career of H.D.G. Crerar is thoroughly examined with a view to considering and reinforcing his place in the history of Canada and its armed forces.