by Mark Zuehlke
9 “Report No. 58,” paras. 12–13.
10 Paul Douglas Dickson, A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G.Crerar (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007), 270.
1 LITTLE SHORT OF HELL
1 Michael Reynolds, Steel Inferno: i ss Panzer Corps in Normandy (New York: Dell, 1997), 23.
2 Kurt Meyer, Grenadier: The Story of Waffen ss General Kurt “Panzer” Meyer (Mechanicsburg, pa: Stackpole Books, 2005), 253–54.
3 Hubert Meyer, The History of 12. ss -Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend.” (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz, 1994), 134.
4 Howard Margolian, Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 187.
5 Reginald H. Roy, 1944: The Canadians in Normandy (Toronto: Macmillan, 1984), 47–48.
6 “Report No. 58, Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944, Part ii: Canadian Operations in July,” Historical Section (G.S.) Army Headquarters, DHH, DND, para. 27.
7 David O’Keefe, “Notes on Kenneth Gault Blackader,” Black Watch Regimental Museum and Archives.
8 “Report on Ops 3 Cdn Inf Div 1/31 Jul 44 : Windsor Appendix,” 235c3.013 (d10), vol. 10908, rg24, l ac, 1–2.
9 Will Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment (Fredericton: Brunswick Press, 1963), 273.
10 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 6 (Shelburne, on: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2922–23.
11 Vanguard: The Fort Garry Horse in the Second World War (Doetinchem, NL: Uitgevers-Maatschappij ‘C. Nisset, 1945), 31.
12 “Report No. 58,” para 32.
13 Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, 266.
14 Ibid., 269.
15 “Report No. 58,” para. 30.
16 Kurt Meyer, 255–56.
17 Hubert Meyer, 136.
18 Portugal, vol. 6, 3099 –3100.
19 Ibid., 2923.
20 Ibid., 2881.
21 Jean Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 5 (Shelburne, on: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2325.
22 Charles P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944– 1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 154.
23 Portugal, vol. 5, 1690.
24 R.M. Hickey, The Scarlet Dawn (Campbelltown, nb: Tribune, 1949), 219.
25 Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, 269.
26 Ibid., 270.
27 Hubert Meyer, 136.
28 Marc Milner, D-Day to Carpiquet: The North Shore Regiment and the Liberation of Europe (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2007), 100.
29 Stacey, 154.
30 Milner, 102.
31 Jacques Castonguay and Armand Ross, Le Régiment de la Chaudière (Lévis, qc : n.p., 1983), 271–72.
32 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 3.
33 Portugal, vol. 5, 2325.
34 Portugal, vol. 6, 2923–24.
35 Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 2.
36 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary, 3.
37 Portugal, vol. 6, 2924.
38 Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary, 2.
39 Vanguard, 32.
40 Portugal, vol. 6, 2924.
41 Stacey, 154.
42 Portugal, vol. 6, 2924.
43 Ibid., 3072.
44 Ibid., 3050 –51.
45 Vanguard, 33–38.
46 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary, 3.
47 Portugal, vol. 6, 2924.
48 Jean Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 2 (Shelburne, on: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 700 –01.
49 Roy Whitsed, Canadians: A Battalion at War (Mississauga, on: Burlington Books, 1996), 48 –49.
50 “Memorandum of Interview with Maj. S.M. Lett, 2ic, qor of c by Historical Officer, 15 Jul. 44,” 145.2q2011(d3), DHH, DND, 1.
51 Whitsed, 49 –50.
52 “Interview with Maj. Lett,” 1.
53 Whitsed, 50 –51.
54 “Interview with Maj. Lett,” 1–2.
55 “Report No. 58,” para. 35.
56 Stacey, 155.
57 Hickey, 219.
2 A MURDEROUS BEATING
1 “Report No. 50, The Campaign in North-West Europe—Information from German Sources, Part ii: Invasion and Battle of Normandy (6 Jun–22 Aug 44),” Historical Section (G.S.) Army Headquarters, DHH, DND, appendix A.
2 “Report No. 162, Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944, Part ii: Canadian Operations in July,” Canadian Military Headquarters, DHH, DND, para. 22.
3 Carlo D’Este, Decision in Normandy: The Unwritten Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign (London: Penguin, 1983), 327.
4 Hubert Meyer, The History of 12. ss -Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend.” (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz, 1994), 139.
5 Charles P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944– 1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 155.
6 Vanguard: The Fort Garry Horse in the Second World War (Doetinchem, nl: Uitgevers-Maatschappij ‘C. Nisset, 1945), 33.
7 Stan Medland, “Confrontation in Normandy: The 3rd Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment on D-Day” Canadian Military History, vol. 3, no. 1 (1994), 55.
8 Richard M. Ross, The History of the 1st Battalion Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa ( mg ) (n.p., n.d.), 50.
9 Will Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment (Fredericton: Brunswick Press, 1963), 282.
10 Roy Whitsed, Canadians: A Battalion at War (Mississauga, on: Burlington Books, 1996), 65–66.
11 Marc Milner, D-Day to Carpiquet: The North Shore Regiment and the Liberation of Europe (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2007), 107–09.
12 Hubert Meyer, 139.
13 North Shore (New Brunswick) War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 2.
14 Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, 286 –88.
15 North Shore War Diary, 3.
16 Ross, 50.
17 Milner, 112.
18 Ross, 50.
19 History of the 3rd Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery: October 1st 1940–May 8th 1945 (n.p., 1945), 36.
20 Ross, 50.
21 Hubert Meyer, 139.
22 Milner, 113–14.
23 “Report No. 50,” para. 137.
24 Jacques Castonguay and Armand Ross, Le Régiment de la Chaudière (Lévis, qc : n.p., 1983), 272.
25 Jean Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 4 (Shelburne, ON: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 1747–48.
26 Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, 273.
27 Ibid., 285–86.
28 Ibid., 293–94.
29 Queen’s Own Rifles War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 2.
30 “Report on Ops 3 Cdn Inf Div 1/31 Jul 44 : Windsor Appendix,” 235c3.013 (D10), vol. 10908, RG24, LAC, 4.
31 Stacey, 157.
32 David A. Wilson, “The Canadian Role in Operation ‘Charnwood,’ 8 July 1944 : A Case Study in Tank/Infantry Doctrine and Practice,” Canadian Military History, vol. 8, no. 3 (1999), 12–13.
33 Stacey, 157.
34 Wilson, 13.
35 Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Panzers in Normandy: General Hans Eberbach and the German Defense of France, 1944 (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2009), 67–68.
36 “Report No. 50,” para. 137.
37 Mitcham, 67.
38 Kurt Meyer, Grenadier: The Story of Waffen ss General Kurt “Panzer” Meyer (Mechanicsburg, pa: Stackpole Books, 2005), 260.
39 L.F. Ellis, The Battle of Normandy, vol. 1 of Victory in the West (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1962), 311.
40 G.W.L. Nicholson, The Gunners of Canada, vol. 2 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972), 288.
41 “Report No. 58,” para. 52.
42 Stacey, 157–58.
43 “Report No. 162,” para. 46.
44 Robin Neillands, The Battle of Normandy, 1944 (London: Cassell, 2002), 205–06.
45 “Report No. 162,” para. 46.
46 Paul Douglas Dickson, A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G.Crerar (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2007), 273.
47 Terry Copp, Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 112.
48 Dickson, 274.
49 Ibid., 274.
3 HOPELESS SITUATION
1 Bomber Command, Campaign Diary, July 1944, July 7, 1944, www.raf.mod.uk/bomber-command/Jul44.html (accessed October 5, 2010).
2 Harvey Bailey, interview by Tom Torrie, August 19, 1987, UVICSC.
3 J. Duncan Lorimer, interview by Cameron Falconer, March 6, 1983, UVICSC.
4 “Report 162, Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944, Part II: Canadian Operations in July,” Canadian Military Headquarters DHH, DND, para. 48.
5 Bomber Command, Campaign Diary.
6 “Report 162,” para. 39.
7 Damage and Civilian Casualties: Battle for Caen, www.servinghistory.com/topics/Battle_for_Caen::sub::Damage_And_Civilian_Casualties (accessed October 5, 2010).
8 Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Panzers in Normandy: General Hans Eberbach and the German Defense of France, 1944 (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2009), 68 –69.
9 Charles P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 158.
10 Hubert Meyer, The History of 12. ss -Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend.” (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz, 1994), 143.
11 Michael Reynolds, Steel Inferno: i ss Panzer Corps in Normandy (New York: Dell, 1997), 188.
12 Kurt Meyer, Grenadier: The Story of Waffen ss General Kurt “Panzer” Meyer (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005), 259.
13 Reynolds, 187–89.
14 Kurt Meyer, 259.
15 Reginald H. Roy, 1944: The Canadians in Normandy (Toronto: Macmillan, 1984), 53.
16 Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 7.
17 Roy, 1944, 53.
18 “Report on Ops 3 Cdn Inf Div 1/31 Jul 44 : Charnwood Appendix,” 235C3.013 (D10), vol. 10908, RG24, LAC, 2.
19 G.W.L. Nicholson, The Gunners of Canada, vol. 2 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972), 289.
20 T.J. Bell, Into Action with the 12th Field (Utrecht: J. van Boekhoven, 1945), 64.
21 12th Field Regiment, RCA War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 2–3.
22 Bell, 59.
23 Kurt Meyer, 259 –60.
24 “27 CDN ARMD REGT (SHER FUS) C AC : OP ‘Charnwood,’ The Fall of Caen–8/9 Jul 44,” 17 Jul 44, 141.4A27013 (D2), DHH, DND, 11.
25 1st Battalion, The Highland Light Infantry of Canada: 1940–1945 (Galt, ON: Highland Light Infantry of Canada Assoc., 1951), 28.
26 Ibid., 28.
27 “27 CDN ARMD REGT,” 11.
28 David A. Wilson, “The Canadian Role in Operation ‘Charnwood,’ 8 July 1944 : A Case Study in Tank/Infantry Doctrine and Practice,” Canadian Military History, vol. 8, no. 3 (1999), 15.
29 Jean Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 5 (Shelburne, ON: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2380 –81.
30 J. Allan Snowie, Bloody Buron: the Battle of Buron, Normandy 08 July 1944 (Erin, ON: Boston Mills Press, 1984), 65.
31 “27 CDN ARMD REGT,” 11.
32 Snowie, 65.
33 Portugal, vol. 5, 2401.
34 Ibid., 2386 –87.
35 “Memorandum of Interview with Lt-Col F.M. Griffiths, at H.Q. C.R.U. on 24 May 46, concerning attack on Buron by H.L.I. of C. on 8 Jul 44,” 145.2H2011(D3), DHH, DND, 1.
36 Portugal, vol. 5, 2401–02.
37 Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 7–8.
38 Walter G. Pavey, An Historical Account of the 7th Canadian Reconnaissance Regiment in the World War, 1939–1945 (Gardenvale, QC : Harpell’s Press, 1948), 47–48.
39 “27 CDN ARMD REGT,” 13–14.
40 William Boss, Up the Glens: Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, 1783–1994, 2nd ed. (Cornwall, ON: Old Book Store, 1995), 108.
41 Jean Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 3 (Shelburne, ON: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 1320.
42 “27 CDN ARMD REGT,” 14.
43 Ibid.
44 Stormont, Dundas War Diary, 8.
45 Wilson, 18.
46 “27 CDN ARMD REGT,” 12.
47 Portugal, vol. 5, 2379 –82.
48 Ibid., 2391.
49 1st Battalion, 30.
50 Portugal, vol. 5, 2402.
51 Snowie, 72–73.
52 Portugal, vol. 5, 2384.
53 1st Battalion, 30.
54 “Report No. 162,” para. 54.
55 “Memorandum of Interview with Maj. F.A. Sparks, Comd, HQ Coy HLI of C by Historical Offr, 12 Jul 44 : Lessons learned in the battle of Buron 8 Jul 44,” 145.2H2011(D1), DHH, DND, 1.
56 “Report No. 162,” para. 54.
57 Wilson, 15.
58 “Interview with Maj. Sparks,” 1.
59 “Interview with Lt-Col Griffiths,” 1.
60 “Report No. 162,” para. 56.
61 Stacey, 161.
62 “27 CDN ARMD REGT,” 12.
4 DAY OF REVENGE
1 Charles P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 161.
2 “Report on Ops 3 Cdn Inf Div 1/31 Jul 44 : Charnwood Appendix,” 235C3.013 (D10), vol. 10908, RG24, LAC, 3.
3 “Report No. 50, The Campaign in North-West Europe—Information from German Sources, Part II: Invasion and Battle of Normandy (6 Jun–22 Aug 44),” Historical Section (G.S.) Army Headquarters, DHH, DND, para. 142.
4 “Report No. 50,” paras. 142–44.
5 “Memorandum of Interview with Lt-Col F.M. Griffiths, at H.Q. C.R.U. on 24 May 46, concerning attack on Buron by H.L.I. of C. on 8 Jul 44,” 145.2H2011(D3), DHH, DND, 2.
6 Will R. Bird, No Retreating Footsteps: The Story of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders (Hantsport, NS: Lancelot Press, 1983), 122.
7 “Interview with Lt-Col Griffiths,” 2.
8 “Report No. 58, Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944, Part II: Canadian Operations in July,” Historical Section (G.S.) Army Headquarters, DHH, DND, para. 62.
9 North Nova Scotia Highlanders War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 5.
10 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 125.
11 “27 CDN ARMD REGT (SHER FUS) C AC : OP ‘Charnwood,’ The Fall of Caen—8/9 Jul 44,” 17 Jul 44, 141.4A27013 (D2), DHH, DND, 19.
12 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 125–29.
13 North Nova Scotia War Diary, 5.
14 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 129 –31.
15 North Nova Scotia War Diary, 5.
16 Jean Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 3 (Shelburne, ON: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 1378.
17 William Boss, Up the Glens: Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, 1783–1994, 2nd ed. (Cornwall, ON: Old Book Store, 1995), 108.
18 “Report No. 58,” para. 64.
19 North Nova Scotia War Diary, 5–6.
20 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 131.
21 Kurt Meyer, Grenadier: The Story of Waffen ss General Kurt “Panzer” Meyer (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005), 264–65.
22 Stewart A.G. Mein, Up the Johns! The Story of the Royal Regina Rifles (North Battleford, SK: Turner-Warwick, 1992), 116.
23 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 6 (Shelburne, ON: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 925.
24 Gordon Brown and Terry Copp, Look to Your Front … Regina Rifles: A Regiment at Wa
r, 1944–45 (Waterloo, ON: Laurier Centre Military Strategic Disarmament Studies, 2001), 96.
25 Portugal, vol. 3, 925.
26 Reginald H. Roy, Ready for the Fray: The History of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s), 1920 to 1955 (Vancouver: Evergreen Press, 1958), 255–57.
27 Geoffrey Corry, interview by Tom Torrie, August 12, 1987, UVICSC.
28 Roy, Ready for the Fray, 258.
29 “Report on Ops 3 Cdn Inf Div 1/31 Jul 44 : Charnwood Appendix,” 235C3.013 (D10), vol. 10908, RG24, LAC, 3.
30 Brown and Copp, 97.
31 The Regina Rifles in ww ii, “War Diaries, Intelligence Logs,” 1st Battalion, Regina Rifle Regiment, July 1944, www.reginarifles.ca/ (accessed April 18, 2011), 15.
32 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 2 (Shelburne, ON: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 926 –27.
33 Michael R. McNorgan, The Gallant Hussar: A History of the 1st Hussars Regiment (Aylmer, ON: 1st Hussars Cavalry Fund, 2004), 161.
34 1st Hussars War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 2.
35 Portugal, vol. 2, 927.
36 12th Field Regiment War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 4.
5 A TERRIBLE DREAM
1 ‘A’ Company–Cussy, 1 Bn, Canadian Scottish Regiment, Personal Accounts of Battle Cdn Scottish Jun 44–May 45,” 145.2C4009 (D11), DHH, DND, 1.
2 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the rcaf —A Record for Canada, vol. 4 (Shelburne, ON: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2047.
3 J. Duncan Lorimer, interview by Cameron Falconer, March 6, 1983, UVICSC.
4 Reginald H. Roy, Ready for the Fray: The History of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s), 1920 to 1955 (Vancouver: Evergreen Press, 1958), 259.
5 Portugal, vol. 4, 2048.
6 “A Company—Cussy,” 1.
7 Portugal, vol. 4, 2048.
8 Lorimer interview.
9 “A Company—Cussy,” 1.
10 Lorimer interview.
11 Canadian Army Overseas Honours and Awards Citation Details, DHH, DND, www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/gal/cao-aco/details-eng.asp?firstname=George&lastname=Kawiuk&rec=id345 (accessed October 19, 2010).
12 “A Company–Cussy,” 1.
13 Gordon Brown, “The Capture of the Abbaye D’Ardenne by the Regina Rifles, 8 July 1944,” Canadian Military History, vol. 4, no. 1 (1995), 92.
14 Regina Rifle Regiment War Diary, July 1944, RG24, LAC, 4.
15 Canadian Army Overseas Honours and Awards Citation Details, DHH, DND, www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/gal/cao-aco/details-eng.asp?firstname=JohnClealand&lastname=Treleaven&rec=id3783 (accessed October 20, 2010).