The Embattled General: Sir Richard Turner and the First World War by William F. Stewart (reviewed by Dwight Mercer).

The Embattled General: Sir Richard Turner and the First World War

William F. Stewart (October 2015)   McGill-Queen’s University Press    ISBN 10: 0773546251 / ISBN 13: 9780773546257

While not as packed with information as the Bill Steward’s excellent Somme book ⁽¹⁾ I found his first book on Sir Richard Turner VC was a more enjoyable read; especially the last one-third – perhaps it was the consolidation of all the presented research material and logical assumptions being woven from threads of thought into a discernable a logical and balanced conclusion.  An oft-forgotten Canadian-born Great War general with very few quality biographical works has finally received a quality re-examination.  An important fundamental book which bridges the gap between Sir Sam Hughes and the final quality fighting force the Canadian Expeditionary Force became during the second half of its existence on the Western Front.

The dissection and deduction of information coupled with logical inferences, the comparisons with and between Currie was delicate, measured, logical and convincing.  The chaos in recruiting and training under Sir Sam Hughes and his political cronies was quickly corrected by the military-experienced but business orientated General Turner.

One begins to perhaps understand the politics of power in the post-war period where the front-line generals were able to consolidate their place in history; whereas the necessary background administrative efforts were less glamourous and less inviting to documentation and publication.  The “point of the spear” requires a strong logistical and administrative base – something that Turner was able to expedite in short order.

In the publisher’s summary, this Bill Steward effort is “Based on exhaustive research from over 1,200 volumes of material, including many previously untouched sources, The Embattled General provides a balanced and just re-evaluation of Turner, identifying his merits as well as his flaws.”  Bill Stewart is skilled in the source material research and then in presenting the facts-based findings into a surgically detached and coherent document.

As a testament, I have the Stewart material on my bookshelf next to the Dr. Tim Cook material.  The quality of research and writing is on the same level.  Strongly recommended for a student of the Canadian Corps in the Great War.

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[1] Canadians at the Somme - The Neglected Campaign (2017)

eBook available thru Regina Public Library 

RUSI Speaker's Series Event - Sept. 13 at TGIT

 

HMCS Regina (FFH 334). Source Wikipedia

Commander Jacob French, Commanding Officer of HMCS Regina will be in Regina on Sept. 13^th and will be at the Regina Senior Ranks’ Mess to give a talk about HMCS Regina’s upcoming deployment in January 2019.

   This Speaker’s Series event is scheduled for 1700 hrs (5:00 p.m.) on Sept. 13, so please make every effort to get to the Mess early.

   This event will appeal to anyone interested in Canada’s Navy and its overseas operations. This is great opportunity to bring a friend to a TGIT (Thank Goodness It's Thursday).

 The Regina Senior Ranks' Mess is located in the Regina Armoury at 1600 Elphinstone Street.

First War Book Club meeting of Fall 2018, Tuesday, September 4th, 7 pm.

The first War Book Club meeting of the 2018-2019 season will take
place next Tuesday evening, September 4th, in the Board Room (yes, the
Board Room!) at the Central Library, 2nd floor, beginning at 7 pm.
Topic: The best war/military history book you read over the summer.
Hope to see you and get some good book recommendations.
Cheers, Warren

Allies of a Kind: Canadian Army -- US Army relations and the Korean War, 1950-1953/Allan R Millett

The monograph mentioned above provides an interesting look at U.S./Canadian relations (or lack thereof) during the Korean War; several WBC members have shared “Allies of a Kind” via email:

https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/AlliesOfAKindMillettBook.pdf

From the Introduction by Colonel Thomas E. Hanson, Director, US Army Combat Studies Institute:

American Soldiers take for granted the close personal relations we have developed with our Canadian comrades during more than a decade of side-by-side service in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other areas around the world. Canadians serve in responsible positions inside a number of US formations, and the reverse is also true. Therefore, it may surprise some in both armies to read Allan Millett’s less-than-rosy narrative of our two nations’ first attempt at interoperability. US Army Command and General Staff College Press is pleased to publish this short study not because we seek to focus on past mistakes, but because it helps to identify some of the issues to consider as the US Army focuses ever more energy on its regional alignment of forces. Today no less than in 1950, planners must understand and account for national differences when the goal is interoperability. With little justification, US commanders in Korea at the operational level often paid scant notice to the national strategies and aspirations of the United Nations Command member states. At best, this led to frosty relations and poor coordinaion; at worst, it resulted in a casual disregard for casualties among non-US formations in pursuit of tactical goals only tangentially related

to strategic requirements.

According to Wikipedia, Allan R. Millett is a historian and a retired colonel in U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He is known for his works on the Korean War, but he has written on other military topics.

Dr. Millett served in the history department at Ohio State University for 37 years; his books include:

• with Peter Maslowski and William B. Feis. For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States from 1607 to 2012. Free Press, 2012. ISBN 1451623534
• The War for Korea, 1950-1951: They Came from the North. University Press of Kansas, 2010. ISBN 0700617094
• The War for Korea, 1945-1950: A House Burning. University Press of Kansas, 2005. ISBN 0700613935
• with Williamson Murray. A War To Be Won: Fighting the Second World War. Belknap Press, 2001. ISBN 0674006801
• with Williamson Murray. Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0521637600
• Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps. Free Press, 1991. Rev. and expanded ed. ISBN 0029215951
• Military Effectiveness: First World War. Unwin Hyman, 1988. ISBN 0044450532
• A Short History of the Vietnam War. Indiana U. Press, 1985. ISBN 0253352150
• The General: Robert L. Bullard & Officership In The U.S. Army, 1881-1925. Greenwood Press, 1975. ISBN 0837179572

RPL/SILS has the following titles by Dr, Millett:

D-Day/Jane Penrose (ed.); article: “Blood upon the risers.”

https://www.reginalibrary.ca/search/1619063

Drive North – U.S, Marines at the Punchbowl (eBook):

https://www.reginalibrary.ca/search/1781797

The War for Korea, 1945-1950: a house burning:

https://www.reginalibrary.ca/search/215913

Please feel free to share your comments on “Allies of a Kind,” below.

Canadians at the Somme -- The Neglected Campaign/William F. Stewart (2017), reviewed by Dwight Mercer

Canadians at the Somme - The Neglected Campaign
 William F. Stewart (2017)

A University of Western Ontario MBA, Stewart had a 30-year career as a senior executive in the Canadian high-tech industry, in marketing. He returned to university to pursue his avocation of researching and writing history. He received his PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2012 - under the supervision of Professor Gary Sheffield - and he is the author of numerous scholarly articles on the First World War related to the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). In 2015, his reconsideration of the reputation of the controversial Canadian general Sir Richard Turner was published as The Embattled General: Sir Richard Turner and the First World War by McGill-Queen's University Press. His research focus is on the tactical, operational and administrative developments in the CEF, as well as the CEF's senior command levels. He is also a recent member and contributor within the  of the CEF Study Group Discussion forum.

Was impressed after just reading the Introduction. Original research, indications of perhaps an earlier fan of Liddell Hart, statistics and performance management measurements/statistics (which can illuminate) and presented with a distilled clarity. The clarity of the text is a rare treat and is worthy of praise in itself - including such mundane items are clearly explaining the evolving Order of Battle of the Canadian units as they arrive in France and are then incorporated in the first the British Expeditionary Force and later the Canadian Expeditionary Force - the author understands his material.

In one paragraph (page 38) on Field Marshall Haig, the author articulates the character and weaknesses of the man - which then underscore his planning and operation of the Battle of the Somme.

First impressions remind me of Tim Cook's book No Place to Run - chocked full of new material and/or includes the integration of several sources to more fully support a position or thought. 

Again, first impressions are that this book will most likely to become a reference text for the serious reader of CEF Great War history. After the endless rehashing of The Somme by a litany of British authors, it may be a Canadian who best illuminates the battle and the Field Marshall. It is more a book to study than to casually read - but this is good after reading so many books which rehash previous text and opinions with perhaps the book cover being the most significant change.

This book is not for the neophyte reader of the Great War - one needs to study the text more than just a casual read. Of equal importance, the textbook includes a separate Map Book with 33 separate and detailed colour maps which have been carefully created with additional detail and commentary.  

Strong recommendation for the serious reader of the Great War but perhaps too heavy for the casual reader