Canadians Under Fire: Infantry Effectiveness in the Second World War

256 Pages·2009·1.374 MB·English

by  Robert Engen

CANADIANS UNDER FIRE
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C A N A D I A N S
U N D E R F I R E
Infantry Effectiveness in the Second World War
R O B E R T E N G E N
Mc G I L L - Q U E E N ’S U N I V E R S I TY P R E S S
Montreal & Kingston • London • Ithaca
©McGill-Queen’sUniversityPress2009
isbn978-0-7735-3626-5
Legaldepositfourthquarter2009
BibliothèquenationaleduQuébec
PrintedinCanadaonacid-freepaperthatis100%ancientforestfree(100%post-consumerrecycled),
processedchlorinefree.
ThisbookhasbeenpublishedwiththehelpofagrantfromtheCanadianFederationfortheHumanities
andSocialSciences,throughtheAidtoScholarlyPublicationsProgramme,usingfundsprovidedbythe
SocialSciencesandHumanitiesResearchCouncilofCanada.Fundinghasalsobeenprovidedbythe
CanadianDefenceAcademyoftheDepartmentofNationalDefence.
McGill-Queen’sUniversityPressacknowledgesthesupportoftheCanadaCouncilfortheArtsforour
publishingprogram.WealsoacknowledgethefinancialsupportoftheGovernmentofCanadathrough
theBookPublishingIndustryDevelopmentProgram(bpidp)forourpublishingactivities.
LibraryandArchivesCanadaCataloguinginPublication
Engen,RobertC.(RobertCharles)
Canadiansunderfire:infantryeffectivenessintheSecondWorldWar/RobertC.Engen.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-7735-3626-5
1.Canada.CanadianArmy–Infantry–Operationalreadiness.2.Canada.CanadianArmy–History–
WorldWar,1939–1945.3.Marshall,S.L.A.(SamuelLymanAtwood),1900–1977.I.Title.
d768.15.e5452009 940.540971 c2009-903662-2
ThisbookwasdesignedandtypesetbystudiooneononeinGaramond11/14
Formypartner,Claire.
…inperpetuity.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments | ix
Introduction | 3
ONE HistoryAgainstFire | 11
TWO TheBattleExperienceQuestionnaires | 28
THREE TheOfficerRespondents | 49
FOUR TheCombined-ArmsTeam | 72
FIVE CanadianInfantryEffectiveness | 103
Conclusion | 144
AppendixA:SampleQuestionnaires | 150
AppendixB:SelectedQuestionnaireStatistics | 166
AppendixC:ListofOfficerRespondents | 186
Notes | 195
Bibliography | 229
Index | 241
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing Canadians Under Fire, my first book, has been a challenging,
sobering, and delightful experience, and has been made possible by the
assistanceofanumberofindividualstowhomIoweagreatdeal.
This book has its origins as a graduate thesis at Queen’s University,
Kingston,andIowethankstoallthemembersofmydefencecommittee:
DrJeffreyMcNairn,DrJeffreyBrison,DrRandallWakelam,andDrAlan
Okros.Their suggestions for improvement and revision of the text were
vitalinrewritingitasamanuscript.MysupervisoratQueen’s,DrAllan
English, deserves all the credit and gratitude in the world, as it was his
encouragementandinsistenceuponthemeritofthisprojectthatinitially
gavemetheimpetustoseekpublicationandhaskeptmeworkingtoward
thisgoaleversince.IalsoneedtothanktwoofmyfellowPhDcandidates
atQueen’s,HowardCoombsandMatthewTrudgen,for,respectively,orig-
inally informing me about the existence of the battle experience ques-
tionnairecollection,andforhospitalityduringmymanytripstoOttawa.
My good friend Shen-wei MarkLim alsodid a masterfuljob oftabulat-
ing my research into an incredibly convenient spreadsheet, something I
knowIcouldnothavedonemyself.TheHistoryDepartmentatQueen’s
Universityhasprovidedawelcomingandintellectuallystimulatingenvi-
ronmentformyresearchfromthebeginning.And,mostimportantly,my
partner,ClaireCookson-Hills,hasbeenbothaninspirationandatireless
editor,reader,andcommentatoronmywork.