Thursday, October 11, 2018

WAR BOOK CLUB MINUTES: October 2nd, 2018


At the War Book Club meeting on September 4th, after Dwight Mercer’s review of Bill Stewart’s 2015 book on Sir Richard Turner VC, question arose from the members regarding what other Canadian Great War generals have not been properly researched and biographed? 

Dwight agreed to send the following question to a number of acquaintances who are Canadian Great War scholars.

QUESTION:  Who are the top 5 Canadian Great War generals who have not been properly researched and written about? 

Can each of you rank them in importance of receiving attention?

He received replies from Bill Stewart, Tim Cook and Andrew Godefroy:

Bill Stewart:

An interesting question but one that is fraught with definitional challenges. Does Canadian include generals regardless of nationality who served in the corps or is strictly restricted to native Canadians? Is it restricted to officers who have no studies done on them.  For instance, Loomis, Watson, and Macdonell have articles published on them but do not dive deep into their careers. A further challenge is that almost all the remaining officers have little to no archival information available or at least are known today. There may be more lurking out there but it would be hard to assemble a decent book on Watson or Burstall giving the paucity of information on them.

My list would be if we ignore the nationality of those who served in the Canadian military and those for who we have not even an article, but who were important to the development of the CEF. In no particular rank order:

-MG Willoughby Gwatkin who was the Chief of the General Staff of the Canadian Militia through the entire war period. Gwatkin was English. Almost nothing is known of what happened in Canada outside of Hughes’ antics
-MG Louis Lipsett 3rd CID- arguably one of the best of the division commanders that although English served with the corps almost to the end of the war. His relationship with Currie would be a fascinating topic to explore. My research on Second Arras shows him as an outstanding commander.
-MG Burstall 2 CID and GOCRA - Burstall commanded the 2nd CID for almost 18 months and prior to that the corps artillery but little is known of him. He was an important figure.
-MG EWB Morrison - GOCRA - an important figure at the formation of the artillery of the CEF which contributed to its excellence. Although often derided as not too bright it is clear from my research that the Canadian artillery improved significantly under Morrison far more than Burstall.
-BG Percy de B Radcliffe - BGGS of the Canadian Corps through the period of its greatest developments. The extent to which the learning organization that was the corps was due to him is unclear, but it was obviously highly regarded by the Canadians and the British as he moved to the position of DMO at the War Office in the spring of 1918. We know very little about him and his role in mentoring and developing Currie.

If Brits are excluded the list would contain:
- Burstall
- Morrison
-MG Fred Loomis - who ended up commanding the 3rd Division. Apparently not a particularly likeable person he was ambitious and Currie saw something in him that others might not have seen. He as a diary but it is not reflective and often quite dull.
-MG David Watson - a better political operative than a general. His division seemed  dropped in the soup more than other formations. His tight conservative connections and loans to Currie meant he was untouchable. He was arguably the weakest of the long-term division commanders but a full biography on him would expose the underside of the CEF and the role of politics especially in its first two years of the war.  He has a diary but it would thin gruel to base a book on.
-Batty Mac Macdonell - GOC 1st CID - the most colourful of Canadian generals. He seems at times almost unhinged but how much of that was a role he was playing and how much was it real is unclear to me. Still he created the strongest of the Canadian divisions and transitioned himself and the division to open warfare with aplomb. 

Tim Cook:

Great question and I think I would agree with all of Bill's suggestions.  I think Watson remains a mystery to me as to how he kept his job, but Currie was loyal to his generals, rarely firing them, and Watson had lent him some money to cover his debts. I believe there is someone working on Brutinel right now, so that might come out in a few years.  

Andrew Godefroy:

Many thanks for your note….From my perspective too, many of the CEF general officers still wait for a full and proper appreciation of their service in the Great War. It would be difficult to list just five, or choose an order of priority as any such list would carry the biases of the person assembling it.

Certainly, Turner was long overdue for a fair trial and I think Bill finally gave him that in his book ‘The Embattled General’. I know others would likely place the usual ramble of divisional and brigade commanders in their wish lists, but this I believe is due to the fact that the main interest and focus of most students of the CEF is on the fighting on the western front. Still, I’m not sure if I’d look to this sub-list first, as there are some interesting characters who held posts outside the Canadian Corps who would be worthy of study while advancing our general knowledge of the command and control of the CEF.

What has always concerned me is that very ‘definitive’ statements have been made about the command and control of the CEF and the Canadian Corps despite the fact that we in fact still know very little about the group of senior officers that led it. I think that until this situation is rectified, we will continue to publish factually erroneous history that might read well but in fact has little truth about it. Such is life.

Bill Stewart’s book on Sir Richard Turner is available thru RPL as an eBook:


Tim Cook’s latest book is “The Secret History of Soldiers: how Canadians survived the Great War”:


Andrew Godefroy’s 2010 book, “Great War Commands: historical perspectives on Canadian Army Leadership, 1914-1918,” is also available:

https://www.reginalibrary.ca/search/767366
  
Books discussed during the meeting:

The Battle of Arnhem: the deadliest airborne operation of World War II/Antony Beevor:


Morrison: the long-lost memoir of Canada’s artillery commander in the Great War/E.W.B. (Edward Whipple Bancroft) Morrison:


Operation Sea Lion: the failed Nazi invasion that turned the tide of war/Leo McKinstry:


The Oxford illustrated history of the Third Reich/Robert Gellately:



The War Hitler Won: the fall of Poland, September 1939/Nicholas Bethell:


Next meeting: Tuesday, November 6th at 7:00 pm.

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