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.

Latest issue of Legion Magazine

The November/December 2007 issue of Legion Magazine (www.legionmagazine.com) has been published and contains the following items with respect to Canadian military history: Sharron Arksey, "One Family's Tree"; Terry Copp, "Breaking the Gustav Line"; Adam Day, "Operation Medusa: The Battle for Panjwai, Part 2, Death in a Fire Free Zone"; Hugh A. Halliday, "Lost to Friendly Fire"; Tom MacGregor, "Hall of Valour aims to tell Heroes' Stories"; and Marc Milner, "First Blood in the Atlantic", as well as a handful of book reviews from J.L. Granatstein.

Upcoming military history in museums lecture

Dr. Steve Muhlberger, history professor at Nipissing University (and a former prof of mine at Trent University nearly twenty years ago - I'm feeling kinda old all of a sudden), has posted notice for an upcoming lecture on his blog "Muhlberger's Early History", the information courtesy of Dr. Robin Gendron. On Thursday, 22 November, Dr. Dean Oliver, chief historian at the Canadian War Museum, will present "Bloodless Wars? Military History in Museums" at Nipissing history department's annual keynote address. Steve notes that Dean "...will be speaking about the challenges involved in presenting history and historical research at public institutions, a particularly germane topic given the controversy at the museum this past summer about its portrayal of the strategic bombing campaign against German during the Second World War." Admission to the talk is free, is open to the public, and will take place at 6.30 p.m. in room H106.

Latest issue of The Canadian Army Journal

Volume 10 Number 3 (Fall 2007) of The Canadian Army Journal / Le Journal de l'Armée du Canada is out and contains some material of particular interest to students of Canadian military history, including:

Major Andrew B. Godefroy, "The Canadian Army Journal, 1947-2007" / « Le Journal de l'Armée du Canada 1947-2007 »;

Major George Jager, "Sinews of Steel: Canadian Railway Troops on the Western Front, 1914-1918" / « Des routes d'acier : la contribution des troupes ferroviaires canadiennes sur le front ouest, 1914-1918 »;

as well as several book reviews.

Upcoming presentation by Paul Dickson on General Crerar

Paul Dickson, with the Centre for Operational Research and Analysis, Department of National Defence, author of A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar (discussed here on 10 October) will be speaking about "General H.D.G. Crerar and an Army for Strategic Effect" on Thursday, 22 November, at 1900 hours, at the Laurier Military Centre, 232 King Street, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. For more information, visit www.canadianmilitaryhistory.com or contact Mike Bechthold at (519) 884-0710 ext 4594 or mbechthold@wlu.ca.

A couple of Canadian military history articles

Just references to a couple of articles in Canadian military history I stumbled across:

John MacFarlane, « La longue marche de l'Afrique du Sud : en mémoire des Canadiens français qui ont participé à la première intervention militaire du Canada au XXe siècle », Mens : Revue d'histoire intellectuelle de l'Amérique française, vol.vii, no.2;

Timothy C. Winegard, "The Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force, 1919-1919, and the Complications of Coalition Warfare", Journal of Slavic Military Studies, vol.20 (April-June 2007): 283-328.

Canadians and their military history

Yesterday, The Globe and Mail reported on the latest survey on Canadian history undertaken by the Dominion Institute. The news wasn't good, the article noting the "report found that little has changed since 1997, the last time the survey was conducted - prompting the organization to call on provinces to organize a national citizenship exam that would be a requirement for high-school graduation." Ironically, even though the level of general Canadian history knowledge dropped, the level of knowledge of Canadian military history seems to have risen somewhat, although I'd argue the results still aren't anything to write home about.

Index to The Northern Mariner, vols.9-10

Here's more of the index of The Northern Mariner (with links to the full text where possible) as compiled by the parent organization Canadian Nautical Research Society:

R.H. Caldwell, "The VE Day Riots in Halifax, 7-8 May 1945" (vol.10, no.1, pp.3-20);

Elizabeth B. Elliot-Meisel, "Arctic Focus: The Royal Canadian Navy in Arctic Waters, 1946-1949" (vol.9, no.2, pp.23-39);

Richard Gimblett, "'Too Many Chiefs and Not Enough Seamen': The Lower-Deck Complement of a Postwar Canadian Navy Destroyer - The Case of HMCS Crescent, March 1949" (vol.9, no.3, pp.1-22);

Richard Oliver Mayne, "A Covert Naval Investigation: Overseas Officers, John J. Connolly, and the Equipment Crisis of 1943" (vol.10, no.1, pp.37-52);

James McCrostie, "'Women and Seamen Don't Mix': VD in Canada's Merchant Navy, 1942-1945" (vol.9, no.4, pp.1-12);

Bill Rawling, "Only 'A Foolish Escapade by Young Ratings?': Case Studies of Mutiny in the Wartime Royal Canadian Navy" (vol.10, no.2, pp.59-70);

Joseph Scanlon, "Source of Threat and Source of Assistance: The Maritime Aspect of the 1917 Halifax Explosion" (vol.10, no.4, pp.39-50);

David Syrett, "The Battle for Convoy HG-75, 22-29 October 1941" (vol.9, no.1, pp.41-51); and

David Syrett, "On the Threshold of Victory: Communications Intelligence and the Battle for Convoy HX-228, 7-12 March 1943" (vol.10, no.3, pp.49-55).

Latest issue of the Canadian Historical Review

Volume 88, No 3 (September 2007) of The Canadian Historical Review has been published. No articles on Canadian military history this time around, but there are book reviews of Tim Cook's Clio'sWarriors: Canadian Historians and the Writing of the World Wars; Brian Reid's No Holding Back: Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944; Michael Gabriel's Quebec during the American Invasion: The Journal of François Baby, Gabriel Taschereau, and Jenkin Williams; Bill Parenteau and Stephen Dutcher's (eds.) War on the Home Front: The Farm Diaries of Daniel MacMillan, 1914-1927; and Faye Kert's Trimming Yankees Sails: Pirates and Privateers of New Brunswick.

This issue's "Recent Publications Relating to Canada" (prepared by Michael D. Stevenson) includes the following of interest to Canadian military history:

Ted Barris, Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9-12, 1917 (Markham, ON, 2006);

John Blaxland, "Strategic Cousins: Canada, Australia and Their Use of Expeditionary Forces from the Boer War to the War on Terror", PhD dissertation, Royal Military College of Canada, 2004;

Stephen Brumwell, Paths of Glory: The Life and Death of General James Wolfe (Montreal, 2007);

David Campbell, "The Divisional Experience of the C.E.F.: A Social and Operational History of the 2nd Canadian Division, 1915-1918", PhD dissertation, University of Calgary, 2004;

Frances Jewel Dickson, The DEW Line Years: Voices from the Coldest Cold War (East Lawrencetown, 2007);

Tom Douglas, The Battle of Vimy Ridge: The Great Canadian Victory of World War I (Canmore, AB, 2007);

Daniel Galvin, "A Role of Canada in an African Crisis: Perceptions of the Congo Crisis and Motivations for Canadian Participation", MA thesis, University of Guelph, 2004;

Andrew Godefroy, "Defence and Discovery: Science, National Security, and the Origins of the Canadian Rocket and Space Program, 1945-1974", PhD dissertation, Royal Military College of Canada, 2004;

James Goodwin, Our Gallant Doctor: Surgeon-Lieutenant George Hendry and HMCS Ottawa (Toronto, 2007);

W. James MacDonald, Honour Roll: The Nova Scotia Overseas Highland Brigade (Sydney, 2007);

John Maker, "Battalion Leadership in the Essex Scottish Regiment and the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade during the Second World War", MA thesis, Wilfrid Laurier University, 2004;

Marc Milner, D-Day to Carpiquet: The North Shore Regiment and the Liberation of Europe (Fredericton, 2007);

John Nelson Rickard, "McNaughton's Dagger: The Raising, Training, and Employment of the Canadian Army, 1939-1943", PhD dissertation, University of New Brunswick, 2006;

Julie Root, "Canadian-American Relations and the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea, 1947 to 1948", MA thesis, University of New Brunswick, 2005;

Gordon E. Tolton, Prairie Warships: River Navigation in the Northwest Rebellion (Surrey, 2007); and

Richard Walker, "The Political Management of Army Leadership: The Evolution of Canadian Civil-Army Relations, 1898-1945", PhD dissertation, University of Western Ontario, 2004.

New books (October) at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada has released its new books lists for August and September 2007. The lists include the following items of interest (including some that have not yet been released for sale) with respect to Canadian military history:

Clayton E. Beattie, The Bulletproof Flag: Canadian Peacekeeping Forces and the War in Cyprus (Maxville, ON, 2007);

Serge Bernier, et.al., The Military History of Quebec City, 1608-2008 (Montreal, 2008);

-----, Québec, ville militaire, 1608-2008 (Montréal, 2008);

Jack Fitzgerald, The Jack Ford Story: Newfoundland's POW in Nagasaki (St. John's, NL, 2007);

Geoffrey Hayes, The Lincs: A History of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment at War, 2nd edition (Waterloo, ON, 2007);

J.W. Kennedy, From the War Diaries of Sgt. J.W. Kennedy, Second Canadian Division, 24th Battalion, Victoria Rifles of Canada, 1915-1919 (Portland, ON, 2007); and

B.D. Tennyson, Percy Wilmot: Cape Bretoner at War (Sydney, NS, 2007)