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How did British authorities manage to secure the commitment of large dominion and Indian armies that could plan, fight, shoot, communicate, and sustain themselves, in concert with the British Army and with each other, during the era of the two world wars? What did the British want from the dominion and Indian armies and how did they go about trying to get it? Douglas E Delaney seeks to answer these questions to understand whether the imperial army project was successful. Answering these questions requires a long-term perspective - one that begins with efforts to fix the armies of the British Empire in the aftermath of their desultory performance in South Africa (1899-1903) and follows throug...
Corps Commanders explains how five very different Second World War British and Canadian generals fought their battles, and why they fought them in similar fashion.
By the end of the Second World War, Bert Hoffmeister had risen from Captain to Major-General and won more awards than any Canadian officer in the war. This native Vancouverite earned a reputation as a fearless commander on the battlefield - one who led from the front, one well loved by those he led. With an astute analytical eye, Delaney carefully dissects Hoffmeister's numerous battles to reveal how he managed and how he led, how he directed and how he inspired.
In the first and only examination of how the British Empire and Commonwealth sustained its soldiers before, during, and after both world wars, a cast of leading military historians explores how the empire mobilized manpower to recruit workers, care for veterans, and transform factory workers and farmers into riflemen. Raising armies is more than counting people, putting them in uniform, and assigning them to formations. It demands efficient measures for recruitment, registration, and assignment. It requires processes for transforming common people into soldiers and then producing officers, staffs, and commanders to lead them. It necessitates balancing the needs of the armed services with ind...
In August 1917, the Canadian Corps captured Hill 70, a vital piece of ground just north of the French industrial town of Lens. The Canadians suffered some 5,400 casualties and defeated three days of determined German counter attacks. This spectacularly successful but shockingly costly battle was as innovative as Vimy, yet only a handful of Canadians have heard of it or of subsequent attempts to capture Lens, which resulted in nearly 3,300 more casualties. In Capturing Hill 70, leading military historians mark the centenary of this triumph by dissecting different facets of the battle, from planning and the conduct of operations to long-term repercussions and commemoration. This richly illustrated and thought-provoking book reinstates Hill 70 to its rightful place among the pantheon of battles that helped forge the reputation of the famed Canadian Corps during the First World War, and it sheds new light on the key role played by Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, who fought his first major action as commander of the Canadian Corps.
Reshapes the discourse surrounding the nature of British global power in this crucial period of transformation in international politics.
It is unquestionable that the warfare of various post-Cold War 'coalitions-of-the-willing' has drawn much attention over recent years. However, we may also notice that associations of nations fighting, or preparing to fight, for common causes are no novelty. Multi-national co-operation in fields as costly and as fateful as war depends on considerations and caveats concerning political purpose, risks, mutual trust, national wealth and pride, compatibility of military forces and a glut of inta ...
The Second World War involved most of the countries of the world and left so many millions dead and maimed, disorganised and devastated through personal and communal loss. This book recovers some of South Africa’s soldiers’ experiences from the physical and mental debris of the war. Individuals are important; their lives – used as lenses – give us colour and texture, and their voices tell the stories of ordinary soldiers. Using their memoirs and diaries, the vitality of their endeavours is reasserted, their successes and failures, victories and indecencies are re-examined, and their magnanimity and the general triumph of the human spirit are celebrated.
The cancellation of the CF-105 Arrow in 1959 holds such a grip on the imagination of Canadians that earlier developments in defence procurement remain in the shadows. Randall Wakelam corrects this oversight – and offers fresh insight into the AVRO saga and contemporary procurement issues – by detailing the complexities Canada’s air force faced in buying fighter aircraft and by showing how the RCAF grew by leaps and bounds. Wakelam shows that cabinet members, chiefs of staff, and air marshals were forced to negotiate competing pressures to arm the air force, please allies, and save money. Their decisions resulted in the CF-100 Canuck and the F-86 Sabre, Canada’s front-line defensive aircraft in the coldest years of the Cold War. Although historians assume that the Arrow arrived on the heels of these successes, Wakelam reveals that neither the air force nor the government believed AVRO could manufacture even the CF-100 on budget.
In December 1941, Japan attacked multiple targets in the Far East and the Pacific, including Canadian battalions stationed in Hong Kong. The disaster suggested that the Allies were totally unprepared for war. This book dispels that assumption by offering the first in-depth account of Canadian intelligence gathering and strategic planning on the eve of the Pacific War. Canadians worked closely with their US and Allied counterparts to develop a picture of Japan’s intentions and a strategic plan to meet challenges in the Pacific. Although Canada wanted to avoid conflict with Japan until US participation was assured, policy makers anticipated action in the Pacific and made preparations for defence, which included the internment of Japanese Canadians. By highlighting Canada’s role as a Pacific power, Timothy Wilford sheds new light on events that led to the crisis in the Far East, as well as to the creation of the Grand Alliance.