Tools of the Trade
Equipping the Canadian Army
by Clive M. Law
Service Publications
S
u m m a r y
|
Title, Description,
Publisher, Media and Price |
Tools of the Trade: Equipping the
Canadian Army; edited by Doug Knight with additional material by Clive
M. Law; Service Publications, PO Box 33071, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2C
3Y9 http://www.servicepub.com
; 128 pp., 2005; price CDN $29.95
(ISBN 1-894581-23-7) |
Review Type: |
FirstRead |
Advantages: |
Sums up the entire Canadian military
equipment used during WWII in one neat volume; should be a standard for
museum guide books |
Disadvantages: |
Photos and drawings of little use to
modelers; some errors and goofs in text and photo identification |
Recommendation: |
Highly Recommended to all Canadian
military fans and WWII buffs |
Reviewed by
Cookie Sewell
HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron.com
One of the uglier sides of empire has been the general treatment that the
Commonwealth nations, especially Canada and Australia, received at the hands of
Britain in regard to the operations of their native contingents during WWI and
WWII. Many Canadians and Australians to this day will not forget (and in some
cases forgive) Britain for the senseless loss of life among their troops during
the First World War in places such as Vimy Ridge and Gallipoli, or the loss of
more in the Second World War at Dieppe and Crete.
This
book highlights the measures taken during WWII by Britain to provide equipment
to its Commonwealth brethren and how poorly they were really served by the
"Mother Country." In 1940, Canada, like its US neighbor, began to gear up for
full-scale war. Canada at that time enjoyed many of the same advantages as the
US, namely being located too far from most enemy or prospective enemy nations to
suffer damage to their infrastructure, most importantly industry. Canada had
many factories which were either satellites of US companies or affiliated with
them, most notably Ford and Chevrolet/GM Canada.
When Canada began to gear up, they also immediately began to mobilize and send
troops to England to defend against the Germans. But their first unit, the 1st
Canadian Infantry Division, arrived in the UK short of most material and found
that the British Army was also woefully short, and did not have anything to
share. Many WWI weapons were dug out of mothballs, such as the SMLE Mark III and
Ross rifles. Even then it was difficult to get supplies to the troops.
The worst problem appeared to be the arcane method of allocation set up by
Britain. Even after the US and UK signed the Lend-Lease agreements, the UK had
final say on allocation of weapons and equipment, and picked which units were
equipped and in what order. One problem appears to have been a British
Purchasing Commission problem that today would be called NIH – "not invented
here" as they were iffy as to the ability of the US and Canada to build
equipment to British standards.
Things were at times nearly comical in a "Keystone Kops" vein. The Canadian 1st
Infantry Division was rushed to France in early June 1940, only to be turned
around and sent back to England during Dunkirk but minus all of the heavy
weapons and kit they had painfully managed to accumulate. They also found
themselves low on the priority list for replacement items; as a point of fact,
even though they had been stripped out by Dunkirk and were missing everything
larger than small arms. the newly-arrived Canadian 2nd Infantry Division (which
supplied the troops used at Dieppe in 1942) got higher priority for supply.
Things were always problematical. One fly in the ointment was the fact that the
Canadian CMHQ wanted its troops to be at least partially fitted out with
Canadian-produced material, which became difficult with the British setting the
allocation priorities for supply. There were literally cases of hundreds of Ford
and Chevrolet CMP trucks coming in to the UK – only to go to either British
units or the Middle East and the Canadian units being stuck with whatever prewar
vehicles they could scrounge up, such as the Beaverette armored reconnaissance
car.
In the end the Canadians fielded five full divisions (1st, 2nd and 3rd Infantry
Divisions and the 4th and 5th Armoured Divisions) plus corps troops and other
separate formations. Their equipment was generally British pattern with a few
Canadian touches – mostly the superior Ford and Chevrolet trucks from Canada as
well as the best Commonwealth-produced SP gun of the war, the Sexton, which
combined the chassis of the Canadian Ram cruiser tank with the 25-pounder.
This book is a handy book of what the Canadians did get to use in the Second
World War, and from how and where it was obtained. The text is very readable,
and most of the information is quite useful.
Modelers will be disappointed as there is little for them, however, as most
items are only covered in passing and there are no plans or colors discussed.
I have heard from other reviewers that there are some errors in the text
regarding numbers of items such as Crusader tanks, I do not have good sources to
check this out. There is at least one glaring error in photograph
identification: on page 33 is a weapon identified as a Vickers "K" type machine
gun; it is not, as it is a stripped down American Lewis gun like those used in
WWI aircraft mounts without the cooling fins or barrel jacket.
Overall, those are quibbles, as the amount of information presented is large and
the coverage is very good. The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa could do worse than
to offer this book as a guide to WWII Canadian forces, as it would be hard to
beat.
Highly Recommended.
Thanks to Clive Law of Service Publications for the review
copy.
Review Copyright © 2005 by Cookie
Sewell
Page Created 25 April, 2005
Last updated 25 April, 2005
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