At the outset of the Second World War Canadians wanted to avoid the horrors encountered on the western front in 1914-18, one of the most significant of which was "shell shock." Most medical personnel preferred not to assign to combat those who showed neurotic symptoms during training, but this approach was challenged by the Canadian Psychological Association and by the new Personnel Selection Directorate established in 1941. Personnel Selection claimed to be able to distinguish, before training, between those suited and those unsuited to combat duty. However, when Canadian troops went into battle in Italy, the preparatory work seemed to have had little impact. Canadian losses due to "battle exhaustion" were no less than those of other allied forces. Front-line treatment allowed about half of these to return to their units, but eventually a very large number of soldiers were assigned to non-combat roles because it was judged they could no longer function effectively in battle. Similar problems were encountered in Normandy, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. Copp and McAndrew are critical of military commanders who thought strict discipline coupled with high morale from good training and success in battle would keep battle exhaustion in check, and of officers in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps who tried to impose theoretical solutions that did not fit the circumstances. The authors show how some doctors, using energy and common sense, contributed to the evolution of contemporary psychiatric ideas about the realities of large-scale psychological casualties.

Battle Exhaustion: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Canadian Army, 1939-1945

History

Copp, Terry

McAndrew, Bill

Americas

McGill-Queen's University Press

This book describes the course of events in Normandy using official documents and published sources, as well as personal memoirs and recollections of Canadian soldiers, sailors, and airmen who fought in this difficult and vitally significant campaign. 100 photos and maps.

Normandy 1944: The Canadian Summer

Vanwell

Normandie 1944 l'Ete Canadien

Art Global

Describes the Canadian's European war during the final eight months. First Canadian Army's role was to guard the Allied flank during the rapid advance from Normandy across France to Belgium and Holland. While not as glamorous as other phases of pursuit, the tasks of the Canadians were as brutally punishing as any. By the Spring of 1945, much of Holland had been liberated. All the while Canadian sailors fought bitter campaigns to clear European waters of German submarines and surface vessels.

Liberation: The Canadians in Europe

Military

Vanwell Publishing Ltd.

Using first person accounts the author paints a compelling portrait of the nearly 93,000 Canadians who served in this campaign, more than a quarter of whom became casualties. These men and women faced inhospitable terrain, disease and a skilled enemy in a theater, which was largely overshadowed by D-Day. The battles fought by Canadian units fill their regimental colors with battle honors serving in this almost forgotten campaign that they derisively labeled "The Spaghetti League." With their bravery and perseverance, these D-Day Dodgers accomplished all that was asked of them, and wrote an honorable page in Canada's military history.

Canadians and the Italian Campaign: 1943-1945

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Books by McAndrew, Bill