Fire Plan: The Canadian Army’s Fire Support System in Normandy

Consigned initially to a decentralized and limited tactical role, the fire support organizations of British and Canadian armies experienced exponential growth during the initial stages of World War II. By D-Day, fire support had become a critical enabler of Anglo-Canadian combat operations and artillery units were numerous, networked, and efficient. Facilitating successful tactical manoeuvre was the goal of the fire support system. This article will explore the ‘ways’ and ‘means’ of that system – the people, procedures, resources, and organizations that combined to produce the devastating battle-winning fire support that contributed to tactical success

Outpost: The Dominion of Canada’s Colonial Garrison in Manitoba, 1870 to 1877

Military garrisons were a common requirement of empires, ancient or modern, in order to secure and maintain their imperial authority in colonies. Nineteenth century Canada was no different. When the Dominion of Canada annexed the North-Western interior of North America in 1870, it acquired a peripheral colony to be exploited by the economic, political, and cultural metropole of central Canada. Between 1870-1877, the Dominion maintained a garrison of Active Militia in what is now Winnipeg to pre-empt external aggression, bring order to the frontier, and conduct policing duties in the rough and tumble nascent Province of Manitoba

“A Calculated and Terrible Efficiency:” The Operation Veritable Fire Plan, February 1945

The First Canadian Army’s Operation Veritable, launched in early February 1945, aimed to drive the Germans from between the Maas and Rhine Rivers in order to establish the jumping off point for the Allied assault into the Rhineland. To support this attack, over a thousand guns were assembled from Canadian and British artilleries to smash and suppress the German defenders as the Anglo-Canadian manoeuvre forces advanced. Through innovation, guile and the use of new and more effective equipment, the gunners in support of First Canadian Army overcame challenging terrain and a weakened but nonetheless resolute enemy to enable the largest offensive operation of Canadian arms in the Second World War with what one Canadian Army historian referred to as a “calculated and terrible efficiency.

Outpost: The Dominion of Canada’s Colonial Garrison in Manitoba, 1870 to 1877

Military garrisons were a common requirement of empires, ancient or modern, in order to secure and maintain their imperial authority in colonies. Nineteenth century Canada was no different. When the Dominion of Canada annexed the North-Western interior of North America in 1870, it acquired a peripheral colony to be exploited by the economic, political, and cultural metropole of central Canada. Between 1870-1877, the Dominion maintained a garrison of Active Militia in what is now Winnipeg to pre-empt external aggression, bring order to the frontier, and conduct policing duties in the rough and tumble nascent Province of Manitoba

From Pediatric to Adult Brain Cancer: Exploring Histone H3 Mutations in Australian Brain Cancer Patients

Genetic histone variants have been implicated in cancer development and progression. Mutations affecting the histone 3 (H3) family, H3.1 (encoded by HIST1H3B and HIST1H3C) and H3.3 (encoded by H3F3A), are mainly associated with pediatric brain cancers. While considered poor prognostic brain cancer biomarkers in children, more recent studies have reported H3 alterations in adult brain cancer as well. Here, we established reliable droplet digital PCR based assays to detect three histone mutations (H3.3-K27M, H3.3-G34R, and H3.1-K27M) primarily linked to childhood brain cancer. We demonstrate the utility of our assays for sensitively detecting these mutations in cell-free DNA released from cultured diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) cells and in the cerebral spinal fluid of a pediatric patient with DIPG. We further screened tumor tissue DNA from 89 adult patients with glioma and 1 with diffuse hemispheric glioma from Southwestern Sydney, Australia, an ethnically diverse region, for these three mutations. No histone mutations were detected in adult glioma tissue, while H3.3-G34R presence was confirmed in the diffuse hemispheric glioma patient