Monty And The Canadian Army

General Bernard Law Montgomery, affectionately known as "Monty," exerted an influence on the Canadian Army more lasting than that of any other Second World War commander. In 1942 he assumed responsibility for the exercise and training of Canadian formations in England, and by the end of the war Canada’s field army was second to none in the practical exercise of combined arms. In Monty and the Canadian Army, John A. English analyses the way Montgomery’s operational influence continued to permeate the Canadian Army. For years, the Canadian Army remained a highly professional force largely because it was commanded at almost every lower level by "Monty men" steeped in the Montgomery method. The era of the Canadian Army headed by such men ceased with the integration and unification of Canada’s armed forces in 1964. The embrace of Montgomery by Canadian soldiers stands in marked contrast to largely negative perceptions held by Americans. Monty and the Canadian Army aims to correct such perceptions, which are mostly superficial and more often than not wrong, and addresses the anomaly of how this gifted general, one of the greatest field commanders of the Second World War, managed to win over other North American troops.

"General Bernard Law Montgomery, affectionately known as "Monty," exerted a more lasting military influence on the Canadian Army than any other Second World War commander. In 1942 he assumed responsibility for the exercise and training of Canadian formations in England, and by the end of the war Canada's field army was second to none in the practical exercise of combined arms. In Monty and the Canadian Army, John A. English analyses the way Montgomery's operational influence continued to permeate the Canadian Army. For years, the Canadian Army remained a highly professional force largely because it was commanded by "Monty men," found at almost every lower level of army command, who were steeped in the Montgomery method. The era of the Canadian Army headed by such men ceased with the integration and unification of Canada's armed forces in 1964. The embrace of Montgomery by Canadian soldiers stands in marked contrast to negative perceptions by Americans, only a few of whom have viewed him in a favourable light. Monty and the Canadian Army aims to correct such perceptions, which are mostly superficial and more often than not wrong, and addresses the anomaly of how this gifted general, one of the greatest field commanders of World War Two, managed to win over other North American troops."--

Is Canada really "a peaceable kingdom" with "an unmilitary people"? Desmond Morton says no. This is a country that has been shaped, divided, and transformed by war - there is no greater influence in Canadian history, recent or remote. Through the Cold War, the Gulf War, and after, Canadians had to make difficult decisions about defence and foreign policy, and these events have shaped the country, developing our industries, changing the role of women, realigning our political factions, and changing Canada's status in the world.

John Boileau and Dan Black tell the stories of some of the 30,000 underage youths -- some as young as fourteen -- who joined the Canadian Armed Forces in the Second World War. This is the companion volume to the authors'’ popular 2013 book Old Enough to Fight about boy soldiers in the First World War. Like their predecessors a generation before, these boys managed to enlist despite their youth. Most went on to face action overseas in what would become the deadliest military conflict in human history. They enlisted for a myriad of personal reasons -- ranging from the appeal of earning regular pay after the unemployment and poverty of the Depression to the desire to avenge the death of a brother or father killed overseas. Canada's boy soldiers, sailors and airmen saw themselves contributing to the war effort in a visible, meaningful way, even when that meant taking on very adult risks and dangers of combat. Meticulously researched and extensively illustrated with photographs, personal documents and specially commissioned maps, Too Young to Die provides a touching and fascinating perspective on the Canadian experience in the Second World War. Among the individuals whose stories are told: Ken Ewing, at age sixteen taken prisoner at Hong Kong and then a teenager in a Japanese prisoner of war campRalph Frayne, so determined to fight that he enlisted in the army, navy and Merchant Navy all before the age of seventeenRobert Boulanger, at age eighteen the youngest Canadian to die on the Dieppe beaches

Honest reappraisal of the Canadian experience in Normandy Special focus on the struggle to close the Falaise Gap Relies on archival records, including Bernard Montgomery's personal correspondence John A. English presents a detailed examination of the role of the Canadian Army in Normandy from the D-Day landings in June 1944 through the closing of the Falaise Gap in August.

An examination of Canadian-American military relations, from the Civil War to the Gulf War.

In The Fighting Canadians, David J. Bercuson tells Canadian history through the eyes, ears and colours of Canadian regiments. From the 17th century, when the “Good Regiment,” the Carignan-salières, fought the Mohawks at Courcelles, to the Newfoundland Regiment’s valiant but brutal stand at Beaumont-Hamel in the Battle of the Somme, from the Winnipeg Grenadiers’ engagement with the Japanese in the Battle of Hong Kong to the Princess Patricias’ trial by fire in the war in Afghanistan, Bercuson tells the story of brave men and women at war. The Fighting Canadians is a celebration of and a testament to the centuries-old tradition that lives on to this day, a venerable system that those now fighting in Afghanistan depend upon as they, too, face a terrible but necessary task.

Issued also in French under title: Les guerriers intrepides.