Review of J.L. Granatstein, The Generals: The Canadian Army\u27s Senior Commanders in the Second World War. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 1993

Drolet, Gil

English

Scholars Commons

Canadian Military History
Volume 3 | Issue 2 Article 23
1-23-2012
The Generals: The Canadian Army’s Senior
Commanders in the Second World War by J.L.
Granatstein [Review]
Gil Drolet
Le College militaire royal de Saint-Jean
This Feature is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military
History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation
Drolet, Gil (1994) "The Generals: The Canadian Army’s Senior Commanders in the Second World War by J.L. Granatstein [Review],"
Canadian Military History: Vol. 3 : Iss. 2 , Article 23.
Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol3/iss2/23
and instruments. Many wounded 
soldiers, such as the stoical 
Shadrack Byfield submitted quietly 
to losing an arm by amputation, 
and, in one of the many interesting 
snippets that pepper this book, 
we are told that Byfield, a weaver 
by trade, survived the amputation, 
had an artificial limb arranged for 
him, and pursued weaving in later 
years. We can marvel at the 
difficulties of the army surgeon, 
and as Dunlop put it correctly, 
"there is hardly on the face of the 
earth a less enviable situation 
than that of an Army Surgeon 
after a battle-worn out and 
fatigued in body and mind, 
surrounded by suffering, pain and 
misery, much of which he knows 
it is not in his power to heal or 
even to assuage. While battle lasts 
these all pass unnoticed, but they 
come before the medical man 
afterwards in all their sorrow and 
horror, stripped of all the excite-
ment of the 'heady fight.'" (p.175). 
Students of military history, 
and the War of 1812 in particular, 
will welcome the extensive 
bibliography of both primary and 
secondary works. The work 
contains numerous illustrations 
and boasts a serviceable index. 
The book is enriched by several 
good maps that help the armchair 
observer follow the campaign. A 
note on terminology and time aids 
the reader to follow the sequence 
of the battle, and to differentiate 
between British and American 
forces. Wisely, ancillary data has 
been relegated to four appendixes: 
Order of Battle and Strength, Left 
Division, United States Army; 
Order ofBattle and Strength, Right 
Division, British Army in Canada, 
25 July 1814; The Military Heritage 
of the Battle of Lundy's Lane: 
Honors, Awards, and Descendants 
of the Units of 1814; The Problem 
of the Guns (which army was in 
possession of the British guns at 
the end of the battle); and The 
Fate of the Battlefield, 1814-1992. 
In regards to the last of these, we 
learn, sadly (p.249) that little exists 
of the battlefield for the shaded 
lane of yesteryear is now a busy 
highway crowded with motels, 
eateries and souvenir shops. "You 
cansleep,"writesGravespoignantly, 
"in air-conditioned comfort near 
the same spot where the four-times 
wounded Jessup formed the 
Twenty-Fifth into a single rank to 
repel Drummond's last desperate 
attack ... "Nearby the Drummond 
Hill Cemetery tells a different tale, 
and in graves marked and 
unmarked lie British, Canadian 
and American bodies of this 
bloodiest of encounters on the 
Niagara. 
Barry Gough 
Wilfrid Laurier University 
* * * * * 
The Generals 
The Canadian Army's 
Senior Commanders in the 
Second World War 
J.L. Granatstein. The Generals: 
The Canadian Army's Senior 
Commanders in the Second World 
War. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing 
Co., 1993, 370 pages, $35.00. 
I n ending his review of Between Mutiny and Obedience (Times 
Literary Supplement, 13May 1994) 
makes an unfortunately valid 
point about much recent military 
historiography when he writes that 
the new sort of historian "can 
bear the gaze of fact only if it is 
veiled in a gauze of abstract ideas, 
woven from the busy looms of 
social science and political theory." 
He goes on to discuss whole 
wacademic lives being successfully 
lived between one archive 
and another, particularly 
between one conference and 
the next, spinning theories 
further and further detached 
from whatever it was that 
wentonatNeuvill-St. Vaast, 
Goose Green, Kuwait City 
... Reputations are won-
rarely lost-on the issue of 
Clausewitz's debt to Kant, 
or 'chaos theory and 
command'... Like the 
"eight-legged" essay of 
the Chinese mandarin 
examination, for which the 
highest marks were given 
to those candidates who 
most often alluded to the 
question without doing 
anything as indelicate as 
attempting an answer, 
military history ala mode 
is written through analogy, 
subtexts and alternative 
readings. 
Most of our military historians 
are free of Keegan's charges and 
this includes Jack Granatstein, 
even if he is an "academic." In the 
volume I have been asked to 
review, a "collective biography" of 
Canada's Second World War 
military leadership, the former 
Sandhurst lecturer, Keegan, 
would have considerable difficulty 
finding support for his thesis. 
It must be assumed that the 
general reader with no more than 
a passing interest in his country's 
history, military or other, may 
still believe naively (and in spite of 
the twisted efforts of manipula-
tive media people with revisionist 
axes to grind) that the men who 
led the men in '39-'45 wore the 
mantle of heroic leadership with 
appropriate modesty grounded in 
the firm conviction of the rightness 
of the cause coupled with the 
ability to lead with both 
inspiration and competence. 
119 
1
Drolet: The Generals [Review]
Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 1994
Granatstein, near the very begin-
ning. reminds his readers by 
quoting Churchill that it "isn't only 
the good boys who help to win wars; 
it is the sneaks and stinkers as well." 
At the close of the opening 
paragraph to his "Conclusion," 
Granatstein states ". . . no one 
should attempt to hide the brutal 
fact that Canadian soldiers 
probably died from the effects 
of interwar neglect on their 
commanders and staffs." The word 
"probably" is much too tentative. 
Moreover, the prewar neglect 
combined with wartime pettiness, 
ambition, incompetence, and 
intransigence sealed the fate of 
many more whose only choice was 
to obey. What precedes should 
not be construed as a blanket 
condemnation by Granatstein or 
this reviewer of Canada's generals. 
There were, because they were 
human, sneaks and stinkers 
among them and their presence 
resulted in delaying, if not 
preventing victory. But, mercifully, 
there were others whose natural 
leadership qualities gained for 
them the respect both of the men 
they commanded and of the 
enemies they faced. Unfortunately 
none of these reached the pinnacle 
of the army's hierarchy. And lest 
we all be accused of national 
breast-beating, it should be home 
in mind that very few of any of the 
combatant nations were blessed 
with the likes of a Slim, a Juin, an 
O'Connor (before his capture) or a 
Manstein. 
Unlike some of his colleagues, 
Granatstein is never mean-spirited 
nor is he even disdainful of his 
subjects although some, by their 
actions, were beneath anyone's 
contempt. He tries to avoid gossip 
and generally succeeds. Since his 
is a socio-political approach to 
leadership, his almost total 
avoidance of operations leads him 
to certain conclusions as to the 
120 
efficacy of field commanders that 
are open to serious challenge. 
Objectivity, that ever elusive goal 
of all historians, is as attainable 
in Granatstein's mind as it can 
possibly be and he strives for it at 
all times. 
His highly effective use of 
source materials and his sharp 
eye for the human element allow 
him to expose the sometimes 
comic, sometimes tragic dimensions 
in the lives ofhis characters. When 
Andy McNaughton, the brilliant, 
anachronistic champion of the 
Canadian soldier, learns of his 
dismissal, he says to his compan-
ion, "I hope there won't be a mutiny 
in the army." In fact, there was 
"scarcely a ripple." True pathos. 
Granatstein's eye for the relevant 
also helps. In his discussion of the 
ups and downs of"Tommy" Bums' 
career, we see the man as three 
dimensional. We are also privy to 
his brilliance although this would 
never suffice either to obtain or 
maintain the loyalty and devotion 
of his subordinates in the field, 
especially the outstanding 
militiaman, Hoffmeister or the 
gruff, hard-nosed Vokes. But it is 
difficult to imagine a more precise 
assessment of the ideal soldier 
than this Burns definition: " ... 
a primitive, honest fellow, 
uncomplicated by elaborate 
thought-machinery or superfluous 
ideas. He makes a simple and 
reliable tool which ... will not get 
out of order at critical moments or 
commence to function erratically." 
The egghead Burns shot 
himself in the foot once too often 
because of severe personality 
problems and these, along with 
his sexual escapades and other 
indiscretions, proved his undo-
ing. Granatstein alludes to these 
without dwelling on them in any 
sensational fashion. He also refers 
to Vokes as a womanizer and 
Keller's sexual peccadilloes. But 
when it comes to Guy Simonds, 
perhaps because of a blind spot 
caused by enthusiastic admiration, 
the author makes no mention of 
Simonds' affair with Mona 
Anderson nor the nastiness of his 
divorce from "K" Lockhart and his 
subsequent marriage to Dorothy. 
This is not a plea for titillation but 
for equal treatment. 
An argument could be made 
for a lapse in authorial objectivity 
in the case of the section on 
Simonds. Earlier, Granatstein's 
fair-mindedness prevented him 
from judging Crerar as harshly as 
he perhaps should have been, 
given the evidence of his paranoia 
and hunger for power. But in the 
chapterdealingwithSimonds, the 
latter's attachment to the cruel. 
arrogant and egotistical 
Montgomery makes him out to be 
a chip off the old Monty block. 
This also seems to fit into the 
obsequious colonial's mould 
vis-a-vis the imperial master. 
Earlier, Granatstein did not fail to 
make the point of British 
arrogance concerning the 
Canadians especially on the part 
of Oliver Leese and in the 
treatment accorded Burns, Crerar 
and, earlier, McNaughton. But in 
the Simonds section, Granatstein 
even uses the same chapter 
heading ("Master of the Battlefield") 
2
Canadian Military History, Vol. 3 [1994], Iss. 2, Art. 23
http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol3/iss2/23
as Nigel Hamilton used for the 
title of the second volume of his 
Montgomery biography. 
Simonds, according to 
Granatstein, was "the best soldier 
Canada has produced in the 
Second World War." Suchastrong 
categorical statement has been 
assailed in some quarters among 
Canadian historians. The general 
consensus seems to be that 
although that may be true, it also 
left much to be desired. There is 
no mention of Simonds' role in the 
closing stages of the war in the 
Rhineland. In fighting that was 
reminiscent of Flanders, the 
two-pronged attack was delayed 
until the start of February so that 
armoured mobility was lost in 
the mud while air support was 
reduced by cloud and poor 
visibility. Startling mistakes were 
made by usually reliable 
commanders. Some contend that 
Simonds allowed his rivalry with the 
popular Horrocks to lead him into 
murderous and needless fighting. 
The point is moot to this day. 
My allotted space does not 
allow me to do justice to this very 
worthwhile book. There are lapses 
as has been pointed out. Some 
generals receive treatment that is 
cursory at best (Foulkes, Kitching, 
Worthington) while others whose 
careers were spectacular and 
successful (Holly Keefler) leave the 
reader like Oliver Twist asking for 
"More please, sir!" 
The section of the political 
generals, particularly Maurice 
Pope, are thought-provoking and 
disturbingly prophetic. Pope's 
remarkable loyalty and clear-
headedness deserve to be better 
known. This dovetails nicely into 
Granatstein's candid and well-
balanced treatment of the 
absence of French-Canadian 
generals. His interpretation of Ken 
Stuart's role in this situation is 
debatable as was his involvement in 
the manpower shortage crisis. It is 
revealing to read Crerar's opinion 
of General La Fleche as being 
"entirely unmoral ... very dangerous 
. . . an utter egomaniac." In the 
light of what has been revealed 
about Crerar himself, this is a 
clear case of "the pot calling the 
kettle black." 
Granatstein concludes that 
Canada's "share of victory owed 
more to the common soldiers than 
to the generals." Nevertheless, 
victory could not have been 
achieved without the generals who 
because of their "psychological 
colonial status" were "condemned 
to practise deference to their 
betters and control in the 
presence of subordinates." 
Specialists may and will quibble 
with Granatstein on some or many 
points but most will be satisfied, 
even impressed, generally. 
Gil Drolet 
* * * * * 
When Your 
Number's Up 
The Canadian Soldier in 
the First World War 
Desmond Morton. When Your 
Number's Up: The Canadian 
Soldier in the First World War, 
(Toronto: Random House, 1993) 
354 pages, $32.50. 
W hile the exploits of the Canadian Expeditionary 
Force at Vimy Ridge, St. Julien 
and elsewhere along the Western 
Front have been documented 
thoroughly, the individuals who 
made up the ranks of the CEF 
have not been considered in any 
great depth. With this intent in 
mind Desmond Morton has 
writtenhislatestbook, When Your 
Number's Up, which examines 
these Canadian soldiers and "the 
factors that shaped their lives and 
hastened their deaths." [p.vii] . 
The study is informed by an 
impressive array of existing 
scholarship on the First World 
War, much of it Morton's own 
work. In addition, the author has 
examined a wide variety of primary 
material, including diaries, letters 
and correspondence of Canadian 
soldiers. He is thus able to capture, 
in an anecdotal fashion, the 
experiences ofthese men, thereby 
providing a uniquely personal 
perspective on Canada's role in 
the conflict. 
Morton begins his study by 
assessing the nation's response to 
the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, 
noting that for most Canadians, 
war seemed "a remote, romantic 
adventure." He illustrates the 
unbridled fervour which charac-
terized the first weeks of the war 
in Canada, culminating with the 
departure of the First Contingent 
of the CEF in early October. As 
recruiting continued, however, it 
gradually became apparent that 
Canadian enthusiasm for military 
service had its limits. Sam 
Hughes' Department of Militia was 
soon forced to resort to increasingly 
imaginative recruiting schemes. 
By the fall of 1915, Morton 
suggests, somewhat charitably, 
"Anyone with a bright idea and 
access to the Minister" could 
organize a battalion for overseas 
service. [p.57] Judging by the 
turmoil thatensuedinmanyparts 
of the country, it would seem that 
"bright" ideas were not always 
a necessity. 
Despite spirited recruiting 
efforts, Morton maintains that by 
late 1916 the well of volunteers 
had largely run dry. He discusses 
the unrest that accompanied 
conscription, noting that while 
121 
3
Drolet: The Generals [Review]
Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 1994

\u3cem\u3eThe Generals: The Canadian Army’s Senior Commanders in the Second World War\u3c/em\u3e by J.L. Granatstein [Review]

Wilfrid Laurier University

Canadian Military HistoryVolume 3 | Issue 2 Article 231-23-2012The Generals: The Canadian Army’s SeniorCommanders in the Second World War by J.L.Granatstein [Review]Gil DroletLe College militaire royal de Saint-JeanThis Feature is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian MilitaryHistory by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationDrolet, Gil (1994) "The Generals: The Canadian Army’s Senior Commanders in the Second World War by J.L. Granatstein [Review],"Canadian Military History: Vol. 3 : Iss. 2 , Article 23.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol3/iss2/23and instruments. Many wounded soldiers, such as the stoical Shadrack Byfield submitted quietly to losing an arm by amputation, and, in one of the many interesting snippets that pepper this book, we are told that Byfield, a weaver by trade, survived the amputation, had an artificial limb arranged for him, and pursued weaving in later years. We can marvel at the difficulties of the army surgeon, and as Dunlop put it correctly, "there is hardly on the face of the earth a less enviable situation than that of an Army Surgeon after a battle-worn out and fatigued in body and mind, surrounded by suffering, pain and misery, much of which he knows it is not in his power to heal or even to assuage. While battle lasts these all pass unnoticed, but they come before the medical man afterwards in all their sorrow and horror, stripped of all the excite-ment of the 'heady fight.'" (p.175). Students of military history, and the War of 1812 in particular, will welcome the extensive bibliography of both primary and secondary works. The work contains numerous illustrations and boasts a serviceable index. The book is enriched by several good maps that help the armchair observer follow the campaign. A note on terminology and time aids the reader to follow the sequence of the battle, and to differentiate between British and American forces. Wisely, ancillary data has been relegated to four appendixes: Order of Battle and Strength, Left Division, United States Army; Order ofBattle and Strength, Right Division, British Army in Canada, 25 July 1814; The Military Heritage of the Battle of Lundy's Lane: Honors, Awards, and Descendants of the Units of 1814; The Problem of the Guns (which army was in possession of the British guns at the end of the battle); and The Fate of the Battlefield, 1814-1992. In regards to the last of these, we learn, sadly (p.249) that little exists of the battlefield for the shaded lane of yesteryear is now a busy highway crowded with motels, eateries and souvenir shops. "You cansleep,"writesGravespoignantly, "in air-conditioned comfort near the same spot where the four-times wounded Jessup formed the Twenty-Fifth into a single rank to repel Drummond's last desperate attack ... "Nearby the Drummond Hill Cemetery tells a different tale, and in graves marked and unmarked lie British, Canadian and American bodies of this bloodiest of encounters on the Niagara. Barry Gough Wilfrid Laurier University * * * * * The Generals The Canadian Army's Senior Commanders in the Second World War J.L. Granatstein. The Generals: The Canadian Army's Senior Commanders in the Second World War. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co., 1993, 370 pages, $35.00. I n ending his review of Between Mutiny and Obedience (Times Literary Supplement, 13May 1994) makes an unfortunately valid point about much recent military historiography when he writes that the new sort of historian "can bear the gaze of fact only if it is veiled in a gauze of abstract ideas, woven from the busy looms of social science and political theory." He goes on to discuss whole wacademic lives being successfully lived between one archive and another, particularly between one conference and the next, spinning theories further and further detached from whatever it was that wentonatNeuvill-St. Vaast, Goose Green, Kuwait City ... Reputations are won-rarely lost-on the issue of Clausewitz's debt to Kant, or 'chaos theory and command'... Like the "eight-legged" essay of the Chinese mandarin examination, for which the highest marks were given to those candidates who most often alluded to the question without doing anything as indelicate as attempting an answer, military history ala mode is written through analogy, subtexts and alternative readings. Most of our military historians are free of Keegan's charges and this includes Jack Granatstein, even if he is an "academic." In the volume I have been asked to review, a "collective biography" of Canada's Second World War military leadership, the former Sandhurst lecturer, Keegan, would have considerable difficulty finding support for his thesis. It must be assumed that the general reader with no more than a passing interest in his country's history, military or other, may still believe naively (and in spite of the twisted efforts of manipula-tive media people with revisionist axes to grind) that the men who led the men in '39-'45 wore the mantle of heroic leadership with appropriate modesty grounded in the firm conviction of the rightness of the cause coupled with the ability to lead with both inspiration and competence. 119 1Drolet: The Generals [Review]Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 1994Granatstein, near the very begin-ning. reminds his readers by quoting Churchill that it "isn't only the good boys who help to win wars; it is the sneaks and stinkers as well." At the close of the opening paragraph to his "Conclusion," Granatstein states ". . . no one should attempt to hide the brutal fact that Canadian soldiers probably died from the effects of interwar neglect on their commanders and staffs." The word "probably" is much too tentative. Moreover, the prewar neglect combined with wartime pettiness, ambition, incompetence, and intransigence sealed the fate of many more whose only choice was to obey. What precedes should not be construed as a blanket condemnation by Granatstein or this reviewer of Canada's generals. There were, because they were human, sneaks and stinkers among them and their presence resulted in delaying, if not preventing victory. But, mercifully, there were others whose natural leadership qualities gained for them the respect both of the men they commanded and of the enemies they faced. Unfortunately none of these reached the pinnacle of the army's hierarchy. And lest we all be accused of national breast-beating, it should be home in mind that very few of any of the combatant nations were blessed with the likes of a Slim, a Juin, an O'Connor (before his capture) or a Manstein. Unlike some of his colleagues, Granatstein is never mean-spirited nor is he even disdainful of his subjects although some, by their actions, were beneath anyone's contempt. He tries to avoid gossip and generally succeeds. Since his is a socio-political approach to leadership, his almost total avoidance of operations leads him to certain conclusions as to the 120 efficacy of field commanders that are open to serious challenge. Objectivity, that ever elusive goal of all historians, is as attainable in Granatstein's mind as it can possibly be and he strives for it at all times. His highly effective use of source materials and his sharp eye for the human element allow him to expose the sometimes comic, sometimes tragic dimensions in the lives ofhis characters. When Andy McNaughton, the brilliant, anachronistic champion of the Canadian soldier, learns of his dismissal, he says to his compan-ion, "I hope there won't be a mutiny in the army." In fact, there was "scarcely a ripple." True pathos. Granatstein's eye for the relevant also helps. In his discussion of the ups and downs of"Tommy" Bums' career, we see the man as three dimensional. We are also privy to his brilliance although this would never suffice either to obtain or maintain the loyalty and devotion of his subordinates in the field, especially the outstanding militiaman, Hoffmeister or the gruff, hard-nosed Vokes. But it is difficult to imagine a more precise assessment of the ideal soldier than this Burns definition: " ... a primitive, honest fellow, uncomplicated by elaborate thought-machinery or superfluous ideas. He makes a simple and reliable tool which ... will not get out of order at critical moments or commence to function erratically." The egghead Burns shot himself in the foot once too often because of severe personality problems and these, along with his sexual escapades and other indiscretions, proved his undo-ing. Granatstein alludes to these without dwelling on them in any sensational fashion. He also refers to Vokes as a womanizer and Keller's sexual peccadilloes. But when it comes to Guy Simonds, perhaps because of a blind spot caused by enthusiastic admiration, the author makes no mention of Simonds' affair with Mona Anderson nor the nastiness of his divorce from "K" Lockhart and his subsequent marriage to Dorothy. This is not a plea for titillation but for equal treatment. An argument could be made for a lapse in authorial objectivity in the case of the section on Simonds. Earlier, Granatstein's fair-mindedness prevented him from judging Crerar as harshly as he perhaps should have been, given the evidence of his paranoia and hunger for power. But in the chapterdealingwithSimonds, the latter's attachment to the cruel. arrogant and egotistical Montgomery makes him out to be a chip off the old Monty block. This also seems to fit into the obsequious colonial's mould vis-a-vis the imperial master. Earlier, Granatstein did not fail to make the point of British arrogance concerning the Canadians especially on the part of Oliver Leese and in the treatment accorded Burns, Crerar and, earlier, McNaughton. But in the Simonds section, Granatstein even uses the same chapter heading ("Master of the Battlefield") 2Canadian Military History, Vol. 3 [1994], Iss. 2, Art. 23http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol3/iss2/23as Nigel Hamilton used for the title of the second volume of his Montgomery biography. Simonds, according to Granatstein, was "the best soldier Canada has produced in the Second World War." Suchastrong categorical statement has been assailed in some quarters among Canadian historians. The general consensus seems to be that although that may be true, it also left much to be desired. There is no mention of Simonds' role in the closing stages of the war in the Rhineland. In fighting that was reminiscent of Flanders, the two-pronged attack was delayed until the start of February so that armoured mobility was lost in the mud while air support was reduced by cloud and poor visibility. Startling mistakes were made by usually reliable commanders. Some contend that Simonds allowed his rivalry with the popular Horrocks to lead him into murderous and needless fighting. The point is moot to this day. My allotted space does not allow me to do justice to this very worthwhile book. There are lapses as has been pointed out. Some generals receive treatment that is cursory at best (Foulkes, Kitching, Worthington) while others whose careers were spectacular and successful (Holly Keefler) leave the reader like Oliver Twist asking for "More please, sir!" The section of the political generals, particularly Maurice Pope, are thought-provoking and disturbingly prophetic. Pope's remarkable loyalty and clear-headedness deserve to be better known. This dovetails nicely into Granatstein's candid and well-balanced treatment of the absence of French-Canadian generals. His interpretation of Ken Stuart's role in this situation is debatable as was his involvement in the manpower shortage crisis. It is revealing to read Crerar's opinion of General La Fleche as being "entirely unmoral ... very dangerous . . . an utter egomaniac." In the light of what has been revealed about Crerar himself, this is a clear case of "the pot calling the kettle black." Granatstein concludes that Canada's "share of victory owed more to the common soldiers than to the generals." Nevertheless, victory could not have been achieved without the generals who because of their "psychological colonial status" were "condemned to practise deference to their betters and control in the presence of subordinates." Specialists may and will quibble with Granatstein on some or many points but most will be satisfied, even impressed, generally. Gil Drolet * * * * * When Your Number's Up The Canadian Soldier in the First World War Desmond Morton. When Your Number's Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War, (Toronto: Random House, 1993) 354 pages, $32.50. W hile the exploits of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Vimy Ridge, St. Julien and elsewhere along the Western Front have been documented thoroughly, the individuals who made up the ranks of the CEF have not been considered in any great depth. With this intent in mind Desmond Morton has writtenhislatestbook, When Your Number's Up, which examines these Canadian soldiers and "the factors that shaped their lives and hastened their deaths." [p.vii] . The study is informed by an impressive array of existing scholarship on the First World War, much of it Morton's own work. In addition, the author has examined a wide variety of primary material, including diaries, letters and correspondence of Canadian soldiers. He is thus able to capture, in an anecdotal fashion, the experiences ofthese men, thereby providing a uniquely personal perspective on Canada's role in the conflict. Morton begins his study by assessing the nation's response to the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, noting that for most Canadians, war seemed "a remote, romantic adventure." He illustrates the unbridled fervour which charac-terized the first weeks of the war in Canada, culminating with the departure of the First Contingent of the CEF in early October. As recruiting continued, however, it gradually became apparent that Canadian enthusiasm for military service had its limits. Sam Hughes' Department of Militia was soon forced to resort to increasingly imaginative recruiting schemes. By the fall of 1915, Morton suggests, somewhat charitably, "Anyone with a bright idea and access to the Minister" could organize a battalion for overseas service. [p.57] Judging by the turmoil thatensuedinmanyparts of the country, it would seem that "bright" ideas were not always a necessity. Despite spirited recruiting efforts, Morton maintains that by late 1916 the well of volunteers had largely run dry. He discusses the unrest that accompanied conscription, noting that while 121 3Drolet: The Generals [Review]Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 1994

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\u3cem\u3eThe Generals: The Canadian Army’s Senior Commanders in the Second World War\u3c/em\u3e by J.L. Granatstein [Review]

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