Pursuit to Valenciennes 1918
The Fate of Soldiers at the Point of Capture
BRIAN PASCAS
Abstract: This article tracks the Canadian Corps’ pursuit of the retreating German army in the last weeks of the First World War. As French hamlets, villages and towns were liberated, the war-weary troops—nursing grudges after almost four years of war—encountered civilians who had endured poor and sometimes brutal treatment under the yoke of the cruel invader. During the Battle of Valenciennes hundreds of German soldiers were killed; the vast majority perished under immense artillery barrages. But a number who survived the onslaught of shells and bullets succumbed to Canadians’ rifles while or after surrendering. Motives are identified that drove frontline soldiers to kill surrendering opponents on the battlefield. This article contends that one strong motive for killing surrendering soldiers in the heat of battle was revenge for the untold civilian suffering in previously enemy-occupied territory.
Crossing the Grebbe Line
Canada’s Faustian Bargain to Save Civilians in the Western Netherlands, April-May 1945
NATHAN DYCK
Abstract: Beginning at the military-political level and ending at the regimental level, this paper will explore the growth of Canadian responsibility within a failing Allied relief framework throughout the Dutch Hunger Winter 1944-1945. Beginning in early April 1945, I Canadian Corps experienced a growing responsibility to secure an independently negotiated and effective ceasefire on the Grebbe Line to enable transport of food prior to broader German surrender. Under the name of Operation Faust, I Corps utilised targeted medical and food relief practices to address gaps in Allied relief capacity, following what Canadian Military Headquarters (CMHQ) referred to as a “hastily improvised” planning process. The objective of this article is to explore how an unheralded Canada exerted such great humanitarian influence while acting independently of the broader Allied command framework.
Op LOBE and the Evacuation of Canadian Personnel from Libya, 2014
An Interview with Major (Retired) Doug Henderson
ANDREW BURTCH
Abstract: In the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising in Libya and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s intervention that overturned Muammar Gaddafi’s government amid fears of reprisals against civilians, Canada and other countries re-established a diplomatic presence. The region was still unstable with many competing militias in a tentative truce following Gaddafi’s downfall. Canada’s embassy required a military presence to secure the compound and the safety of Canadian VIPs. In July 2014, the men and women of Operation LOBE were forced to evacuate from Libya amid a diplomatic exodus during a resurgence of civil war. This piece, based largely on a Canadian War Museum oral history interview with Op LOBE’s Roto 6 Task Force Commander Major Doug Henderson, revisits the mission’s purpose, its deployment, the challenges faced in country and the successful evacuation of Canadian personnel to Tunisia in the summer of 2014.
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of From Rinks to Regiments: Hockey Hall-of-Famers and the Great War by Alan Livingstone
PETER L. BELMONTE
Review of The Battle of the Peaks and Long Stop Hill: Tunisia, April-May 1943 by Ian Mitchell
TOBIAS CLARK
Review of Dying to Learn: Wartime Lessons from the Western Front by Michael A. Hunzeker
TIM COOK
Review of Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace: The Rise, Demise and Revival of Arms Control by Michael Krepon
PAUL ESAU
Review of Always Ready: A History of the Royal Regiment of Canada by Donald E. Graves with Captain (ret’d) Mihail Murgoci
ROGER SARTY
Review of The Empire on the Western Front: The British 62nd and Canadian 4th Divisions in Battle by Geoffrey Jackson
BRADLEY SHOEBOTTOM
Review of The Secret History of RDX: The Super-Explosive that Helped Win World War II by Colin F. Baxter
ALEX SOUCHEN
Since its launch in 1992, Canadian Military History has become one of the premier journals in its field. CMH is a peer-reviewed academic journal published bi-annually by the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada with editorial and financial support from theCanadian War Museum. Its purpose is to foster research, teaching and public discussion of historical and contemporary military and strategic issues.
