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1 April 1924 The Royal Canadian Air Force is created. 2 April 1885 Cree warriors, led by war chief Wandering Spirit, kill nine settlers at Frog Lake in what was then the District of Saskatchewan. 3 April 1969 The government announces it is withdrawing half... -
For nearly 70 years, Private John Willoughby lay where he fell on March 30, 1918, in Moreuil Wood near Amiens, France, a victim of machine-gun fire or sabre or bayonet. Or maybe all three. Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew led 75 Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) in one of... -
For thousands of years, men on horseback were an essential part of warfare. Mounted soldiers—cavalry—were scouts, reserves or attack forces, used when speed, shock action or long distances were involved. The cavalry was a proven and necessary component of most armies. The face of warfare... -
It does not require hindsight to criticize Montgomery’s strategy in September 1944. As Allied supply lines stretched farther and farther from the Normandy beaches, the problem of supplying the advancing troops was rapidly becoming unmanageable. With the French rail system still in chaos from bombing,... -
On Dec. 24, 1993, Sérgio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations Protection Force’s director of political affairs in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, summoned his new military aide, Canadian Major John Russell, to his office. “John, we’re going to break the siege,” the diplomat declared. “I want you to... -
1 March 1945 Major Frederick Tilston leads an attack on the Hochwald Forest in Germany. Seriously wounded in an enemy counterattack, he refuses medical aid and defends his company’s position until his troops are secure. His actions earn him the Victoria Cross. 2 March 1815 Sir George Prévost, Governor-in-Chief of British North America, is relieved of his office and recalled...
Military History
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Trench life
The Great War took more than 600,000 Canadians from all parts of the country and put them in uniform. The transition from civilian to soldier was not easy, and everyone had to learn much about military procedures and culture—uniforms, ranks, insignia, rations, weaponry, terminology—and, most important, adjust to the presence of aggression, violence and...
