Canadian Military History in Perspective

Almost from the moment the camera was invented, men sought to take it aloft. The first aerial photograph—taken from a balloon over Paris—was made in 1858. Armies investigated the new technology, and in 1883 Captain Henry Esdale, Royal Engineers, photographed the Halifax Citadel from an unmanned balloon tethered 1,450 feet above the site—the first aerial photograph taken in Canada.

The limitations of balloons as camera platforms were evident. If tethered they overlooked a limited area. If set free they traversed an unpredictable track. The development of the airplane solved the problem by allowing the camera to roam or follow a […]

Contrary to what some historians suggest, the Royal Canadian Navy’s ambitious plans in late 1940 for a navy built around fleet-class destroyers and cruisers were not out of sync with developments in the war. In fact, even as the Canadian naval staff planned to acquire cruisers and modern fleet-class destroyers, the German pocket battleship Scheer attacked Allied convoys just east of the Grand Banks.

In November, in one of the dramatic moments of the war at sea, Scheer sank the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay while attacking convoy HX 84. By December, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper was trolling the […]

When Lieutenant-General E.L.M. “Tommy” Burns took command of 1st Canadian Corps in March 1944 he was briefed on plans for the forthcoming offensive in Italy’s Liri Valley by the commander of 8th Army, General Oliver Leese. Two options were considered. If British 13 Corps broke the Gustav and Hitler Lines, the Canadians would pass through using Highway 6, the main road to Rome. If 13 Corps was stopped short, Burns would be responsible for the Hitler Line and the subsequent breakout across the Melfa River to Ceprano and Frosinone. Major-General Chris Vokes’ 1st Infantry Division would attack […]

When General Harold Alexander issued orders for the spring offensive in Italy he instructed Gen. Mark Clark’s 5th Army to attack in the mountainous coastal sector, employing 2nd U.S. Corps and the French Expeditionary Corps.

These forces were to advance north to the Anzio bridgehead–south […]

Historian Owen Cooke identified three levels at which a country interferes militarily in another nation’s conflicts. The first involves military advisers and technical experts who support one side in a civil war. Next come units of foreign “volunteers” operating […]

By the summer of 1940 the Atlantic littoral of Europe was in the hands of the dominant land power of the age, and its army was poised to invade the British Isles. With access to the range and bases on the North Atlantic, Germany had […]

One of the great shortcomings of the German navy in World War I was that it lacked operating bases on the open Atlantic. The German army fixed that problem in 1940 in a matter of weeks. Bases in Norway became available in the spring, and by […]

This is the first in a series of articles focusing on the Canadian role in the battle for Rome, May 11 to June 5, 1944. The 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade, veterans of Sicily, the Moro River and Ortona, were […]

Recent events in Afghanistan have acquainted Canadians with the expression “friendly fire.” The term–denoting deadly fire from what should be a friendly source–may be relatively new, yet cases of mistaken […]

Italy, Normandy’s ‘Long Right Flank’, was the theme of University of New Brunswick historian Lee Windsor’s keynote address to the 18th Annual Military History Conference at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. Dr. Windsor, a passionate and […]