In 1943, General Harry Crerar penned a memorandum in which he noted that there was still much confusion as to “what constitutes an ‘Officer.’” His words reflected the army’s preoccupation with creating an ideal officer who would not only meet the immediate demands of war but also be able to conform to notions of social class and masculinity. Drawing on a wide range of sources and exploring the issue of leadership through new lenses, this book looks at how the army selected and trained its junior officers after 1939 to embody the new ideal. It finds that these young men – through the mentors they copied, the correspondence they left, even the songs they sang – practised a “temperate heroism” that distinguished them from the idealized, heroic visions of officership from the First World War. Fascinating and highly original, this book sheds new light on the challenges many junior officers faced during the Second World War – not only on the battlefield but from Canadians’ often conflicted views about social class and gender.
"In 1943, General Harry Crerar noted that there was still much confusion as to "what constitutes an 'officer.'" His words reflected the preoccupation of army officials to invent an ideal officer who would not only meet the demands of war but also conform to notions of social class and masculinity. Drawing on a wide range of sources and exploring the issue of leadership through new lenses, this book looks at how the army selected and trained its junior officers to embody the new ideal. It also sheds light on challenges these officers faced during the war--not only on the battlefield but from Canadians' often conflicted views about social class and gender."--
Drunken disorderliness. Cowardice in battle. Writing bad cheques. Vulgarity. Sexual indecency. Adultery. Following courts martial for such disgraceful behaviour, hundreds of Canadian officers lost their commissions during the First and Second World Wars. Scandalous Conduct investigates the changing definitions that shaped the quintessential honour crime known as “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.” The dishonour represented a direct challenge to the discredited officer’s prestige, livelihood, and sense of manhood. Drawing on fascinating court cases never before studied, Scandalous Conduct concludes that military honour was not a stable concept; instead it depended on social circumstances and disciplinary requirements.
Based on the rich fund of documents housed in the University of Toronto archives, Varsity's Soldiers offers the first full-length history of military training in Toronto.
In September 1939, Canada’s tiny army began its remarkable expansion into a wartime force of almost half a million soldiers. No army can function without a backbone of skilled non-commissioned officers (NCOs) – corporals, sergeants, and warrant officers – and the army needed to create one out of raw civilian material. Building the Army’s Backbone tells the story of how senior leadership created a corps of NCOs that helped the burgeoning force train, fight, and win. This innovative book uncovers the army’s two-track NCO-production system: locally organized training programs were run by units and formations, while centralized training and talent-distribution programs were overseen by the army. Meanwhile, to bring coherence to the two-track approach, the army circulated its best-trained NCOs between operational forces, the reinforcement pool, and the training system. The result was a corps of NCOs that collectively possessed the necessary skills in leadership, tactics, and instruction to help the army succeed in battle.
Jointly published by Plunkett Lake Press and Indiana University Press This study of the American-led campaign in Europe in World War II analyzes command decisions at both the strategic and tactical levels. All the complex ingredients of armies at war — the burdens of history, the impact of technology, the roles of personalities, the confusions of the battlefield — are presented based on extensive scholarship. Field Marshal Montgomery and Ike's lieutenants, Generals Omar N. Bradley, Jacob L. Devers, Courtney H. Hodges, George S. Patton, Jr., Alexander M. Patch, William H. Simpson, Leonard T. Gerow, J. Lawton Collins, and Matthew B. Ridgway, and others appear in the book. All major strategic and tactical decisions in the battles of the American offensive against Nazi Germany are covered, with descriptions of key terrain features and many personal insights drawn from various diaries. The book provides an assessment of the leadership and fighting capabilities of the Allied forces in the key European battles of World War II. “The publication of Eisenhower’s Lieutenants is an event of significance in American military writing... admirable... clearly the product of exhaustive, painstaking research.” — Drew Middleton, The New York Times “Eisenhower’s Lieutenants is an outstanding and highly recommended work. It offers the wealth of information, superb research and presentation, comprehensive treatment, and challenging reinterpretation one has come to expect from Weigley. It also points out once again that his reputation as one of our outstanding military historians is well deserved.” — Mark A. Stoler, Journal of American History “... outstanding book... highly professional study of command and operations in northwest Europe, 1944-45... the best account we have of the World War II campaigns from Normandy to the Elbe.” — Forrest C. Pogue, American Historical Review “The fullest account yet of the climactic campaign in northwestern Europe, from the planning of D-Day through the German surrender, with an interesting focus on the personalities involved in shaping the Allied forces, plans, and operations... precisely informative and broadly rewarding.” — Kirkus Reviews “... an excellent book.” — Calvin B. Peters, Journal of Political and Military Sociology “... by the dean of American military historians...” — Washington Post “I had thought I knew everything about World War II that I would ever want to know. I was wrong. Reading Eisenhower’s Lieutenants was a wonderfully enriching experience. I learned more than I ever would have thought possible. This will unquestionably become one of the great classics of American military history.” —Stephen E. Ambrose
Portraits of Battle brings together biography, battle accounts, and historiographical analysis to examine the lives of a cross-section of Canadians who served in the First World War. All Canadians are taught about Vimy Ridge, but that celebrated victory was just one battle among many to shape the country’s experience of the war. These portraits of the formerly faceless men and women honoured on war memorials provide a fresh and nuanced perspective on the complex legacy of the Great War in Canadian history.
For decades, the Canadian Armed Forces has used the work of foreign scholars and writers in its professional military education to try to understand the human dimension of warfare: why and how people are motivated to fight, and how they behave once they do fight. Yet the specific Canadian context, experience, and perspective are often lost in favour of appeals to universal truths. The first major Canadian study of combat motivation in almost forty years, Why We Fight redresses this imbalance by presenting some of the best new work on the subject. Bringing together top military practitioners and scholars to discuss some of the most controversial issues of modern warfare, Why We Fight examines the face of battle as experienced by Canadians. It explores sexual violence in war, professionalism, organizations, leadership, shared intent, motivation in extremis, and the toxicity of the "warrior" culture. Its chapters offer key insights on combat motivation theories, the modern operating environment, and the collective and individual identities of the men and women who fight for Canada. Many worry that technology is leading us towards a post-human age, particularly in war. Why We Fight affirms the centrality of the human being in warfare in Canada's past, present, and future.
The 1940 Ogdensburg Agreement entrenched a formal defence relationship between Canada and the United States. But was Canadian sovereignty upheld? Drawing on untapped archival material, Sovereignty and Command in Canada–US Continental Air Defence, 1940–57 documents the close and sometimes fractious relationship between the two countries. Richard Goette challenges prevailing perceptions that Canada’s defence relationship with the United States eroded Canadian sovereignty. He argues instead that a functional military transition from an air defence system based on cooperation to one based on integrated and centralized command and control under NORAD allowed Canada to retain command of its forces and thus protect Canadian sovereignty. Goette combines historical narrative with conceptual analysis of sovereignty, command and control systems, military professionalism, and civil-military relations. In the process, he provides essential insights into the Royal Canadian Air Force’s paradigm shift away from its Royal Air Force roots toward closer ties with the United States Air Force and the role of the nation’s armed forces in safeguarding its sovereignty.
When Great Britain and its dominions declared war on Germany in August 1914, they were faced with the formidable challenge of transforming masses of untrained citizen-soldiers at home and abroad into competent, coordinated fighting divisions. The Empire on the Western Front focuses on the development of two units, Britain’s 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division and the Canadian 4th Division, to show how the British Expeditionary Force rose to this challenge. By turning the spotlight on army formation and operations at the divisional level, Jackson calls into question existing accounts that emphasize the differences between the imperial and dominion armies.
