Archive for March, 2005

Everybody knows Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and many are aware he was responsible for the first manned aircraft flight in Canada when the Silver Dart lifted into the bone-chilling February air over the ice-covered Bras d’Or Lakes in 1909. But few realize he was also the force behind the world’s fastest boat, a futuristic-looking “winged watercraft” that set a speed record in 1919 that stood for more than [...]

When General Sir Douglas Haig finally called an end to the Somme offensive in December 1916, he claimed that the main objectives had been achieved. He had concluded that the pressure on the French army at Verdun had been “relieved,” the German army was held on the Western Front—allowing Russia time to recover—and the enemy’s forces in France had been “worn down” in a series of attritional battles. Most of this [...]

Canada owes an enormous debt to John Armistead Wilson. Indeed, there should be an airport named after him, for in many ways he invented the Royal Canadian Air Force and laid the foundation for the nation’s civil aviation administration. Prior to World War I, the Canadian government had studiously ignored aviation. Even during the war, Canada had left such matters to the British, permitting establishment of a training program here, but not forming any [...]

On July 31, 1918, the new four-masted schooner Dornfontein cleared Saint John harbour bound for South Africa with a load of lumber. Three days later, 10 kilometres south of Grand Manan Island, N.B., U-156 suddenly rose from the sea and brought the Dornfontein to a halt with two shots across her bow. While the schooner’s crew was hustled aboard the submarine, the [...]

When the first clash of warriors occurred back in human history, the problem of the inherent chaos of battle first reared its head. Carl von Clausewitz gave the phenomenon its most-oft used name in his classic work Vom Kriege (On War) written in the 1820s and ‘30s. He called it “the fog of war.” He explained it as the difficulty of knowing exactly what is happening during the clash of arms, at the various levels [...]

When Canada was gearing up for war in the early 1940s, joining the military was pretty easy—jog on the spot for two minutes, a quick dental exam, then grab your new kit and head for the training unit—waking up one morning as a farmer in Brandon, Man., or Belleville, Ont., and waking up the next morning as a soldier wasn’t uncommon. These days, joining the forces is not so quick or so easy. Now, only about [...]

“These are my last two babies,” says Rick Smith, foreman at Parks Canada’s Ya Ha Tinda Ranch, 75 kilometres west of Sundre, in Alberta’s foothills country. A biting December wind blows off Warden Mountain to the west as he strokes the muzzles of eight-month-old colts Quill and Quigley. It’s no coincidence both their names begin with Q. Entered in a dusty horse register kept in a 1918 cabin near the corral are the names [...]

Lieutenant-General Rick Hillier, an army officer from Newfoundland, is the Canadian Forces new chief of defence staff. Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed Hillier in early February to replace General Ray Hénault, who is leaving to take over the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s top military post in Brussels. Hillier has a great deal of high-level experience in military leadership. He was appointed chief of the army in May 2003 and last year he commanded the 36-country NATO International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan. In 2000 Hillier commanded the Multinational Division Southwest in Bosnia [...]

Somewhere off the coast of North America, in the cold grey swell of the Atlantic, HMCS Athabaskan’s radar operators have locked onto the target—an unidentified air threat, danger close, screaming low and fast toward the Canadian warship. “Target acquired. Tracking…tracking,” crackles over the intercom. The bridge is silent and all eyes are on Navy Captain Bruce Donaldson. He stares in the target’s direction, utterly calm. It is closing fast and he has [...]

Corporal Ron McLean is a few metres outside the meteorological shack when frost begins to form on his thin, brown moustache. Pausing to pull his blue toque down over his ears, McLean notices the light snow swirling across the gravel runway. A few days ago, the 45-year-old meteorological technician was at home in Trenton, Ont. Today, he’s trudging across a dark and frozen landscape that appears more lunar than earthly. McLean’s location is Canadian Forces Station [...]