The Valour and the Horror

"No one appeared to be a greater advocate of isolationism than the man who was prime minister for most of the interwar period, William Lyon Mackenzie King. King first came to power in 1921, at a time when Canadians were bitterly divided over issues that had been raised during the war, or because of it. King saw himself as a man with a sacred mission to reunite Canadians, to do all in his power to ensure that the fissures that had opened during the First World War never opened again. He refused to allow Canada's young and idealistic diplomats to be active on the world stage. If Canada led a diplomatic crusade against fascism, he reasoned, it might be called upon to participate in a military crusade, as well. When that happened, the danger of conscription and national division would rise once again.

"Although there were a few secret meetings with the American military during the late 1930s, there would be no joint planning with Britain for a possible war, no mobilisation of Canadian resources for the military, no Canadian resources made available for others to build weapons, no commitments. King played down the importance, or the danger, of Hitler, and was a strong supporter of the British and French policy of appeasing the dictators....

"In fact, at the height of the Munich crisis, the cabinet secretly decided that it had no option but to declare war on Germany if Britain did...

"When Hitler ignored a British and French ultimatum to withdraw from Poland, those two countries declared war on Germany on 3 September. Canada's tiny armed forced had already been put on alert, as had the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The first stages of the mobilisation of the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions had already been launched as Parliament gathered in Ottawa on 7 September to debate Canada's declaration of war. That declaration was made on 10 September 1939."

(Bercuson 1995: 4-5)

When war broke out, King's Minister for National Defense, was Colonel James Layton Ralston, a decorated battalion commander in the Great War, and supporter of conscription. Ralston found himself at loggerheads with King's cabinet war committee who rejected the idea of splitting up the Canadian Army so that the infantry could see action. Under Ralston from December, 1941 on, was the Chief-of-General Staff (CGS), Lt-General Kenneth Stuart. He, too, was a WWI veteran, anxious to see soldiers enter the fray; but, King interpreted the problem as too many Canadian soldiers posted overseas, who should be back in Canada, at work. He finally agreed to allow a Canadian division to be separated from the First Army, and posted to the Mediterranean theatre where they might be involved in light fighting with low casualties. This, King felt, would placate everyone without causing losses that only conscription could replace. He petitioned a reluctant British War Office, and begged them to accept a Canadian infantry division and tank brigade.

The army Chief-of-Command was Andy McNaughton one of whose corps commanders, Lt-General Crerar replaced him in 1943.

Canada didn't join the fighting overseas until August 1942, and then lost the better part of two brigades at Dieppe in 12 hours of fighting.

"At that point the government was under fire for the inactivity of the Canadian army overseas; by the end of 1942 the army and anglophone Canadians were indignant that the 'Johnny come lately' Americans were in action in North Africa while the Canadians lolled in England, waiting for an invasion that could not be launched until 1944. Morale suffered in the army overseas....

"After six weeks of heavy casualties in the Second and Third Infantry Divisions in Normandy and in the First Infantry and the Fifth Armoured in Italy, the equivocal policy of the Mackenzie King government began to disintegrate when the pool of infantrymen almost dried up... Nevertheless, King defended limited conscription... until the final months of the war when conscripts who had not volunteered to go overseas, called Zombies, were sent to Europe.

The Price of Command:106

Censorship

At the front right behind the generals were the country's best reporters, but they were sworn into the army, and their dispatches censored.After the war some admitted they were cheerleaders for a cause, not journalists at all.

Valour and Horror, Second World War, Canadian history, World War II, W.W.II