THE CANADIAN SOLDIER: COMBAT MOTIVATION IN THE CANADIAN ARMY, 1943-1945 by Robert Charles Engen A thesis submitted to the Department of History In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (June, 2014) Copyright ©Robert Charles Engen, 2014 Abstract This thesis is a study of the combat motivation and morale of infantrymen in the Canadian Army during the Second World War. Using battle experience questionnaires, censorship reports, statistical analyses, operational research, and other contemporary sources, this study offers a “big- picture” look at the human dimensions of warfare as experienced by Canadian infantrymen during the Italian and Northwest Europe campaigns of 1943 to 1945. The myths and realities of who the Canadian soldiers were provides the background, as does an exploration of their training and organization. Each core chapter explores one segment of the Canadian campaigns in Europe: the Sicilian and Italian campaign of 1943, the Italian campaign of 1944-45, the Normandy campaign of the summer of 1944, and the Northwest Europe campaign of 1944-45. Each of these chapters analyzes the force structure, behaviour in battle, morale, cohesion, and motivation of Canadian infantrymen during that particular segment of the campaign, setting them in comparison with one another to demonstrate continuities and change based upon shifting conditions, ground, and circumstances. In doing so, this thesis offers an original interpretation of Canadian combat motivation in the Second World War. Due to high infantry casualty rates, influxes of new reinforcements, and organizational turmoil, Canadian soldiers in many campaigns frequently fought as “strangers-in-arms” alongside unfamiliar faces. In spite of being strangers, however, the Canadians maintained remarkably high levels of cohesion, morale, and effectiveness (despite setbacks and periods of malaise) throughout the fighting. These successes can be attributed to the phenomenon of “swift trust” cohesion, the preservation of NCO leadership even in the face of heavy casualties, and effective training. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank to my committee members for the generous donation of their time and expertise in helping to improve this manuscript and complete the long process of my doctoral degree: Dr. Lee Windsor, Dr. Douglas Delaney, Dr. Ian McKay, and Dr. Lisa Dufraimont. I also need to single out the unfailing support, counsel, and eye for detail of my supervisor at Queen’s University, Dr. Allan English, without whom neither my last major project nor this one would have come to light. Shen-wei Mark Lim of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology was invaluable in helping me build the databases that form much of the evidence for this thesis. Data on courts- martial for sexual assault were provided by Dr. Claire Cookson-Hills, based upon research originally done for Dr. Jonathan Fennell. Dr. Feriel Kissoon carried out a reconnaissance-in-force at TNA on my behalf after my initial trip left gaps in my research. My students in History 476 (“Canada at War”) and History 121 (“Intellectual Origins of the Western World”) have armed me with inspiration and confidence. Dr. Kyla Madden and the folks at McGill-Queen’s University Press deserve my gratitude. And Yvonne Place, the Queen’s history graduate assistant, was with me every step of the way through this process. The research for this thesis was made possible through doctoral fellowships awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, as well as the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. There is a list as long as my arm of friends and family who have contributed love, support, and assistance to me over the years. You know who you are. Thank you to everyone. None of this would have been possible had a brilliant, peculiar woman not sat down next to me in class one day ten years ago and ended up staying there in perpetuity. Thank you, Dr. Claire Cookson-Hills. I love you. Robert Engen 25 June 2014 iii Statement of Originality I hereby certify that all of the work described within this thesis is the original work of the author. Any published (or unpublished) ideas and/or techniques from the work of others are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. Robert Charles Engen June, 2014 iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... iii Statement of Originality .................................................................................................................. iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Myths and Realities of the Canadian Army .................................................................. 40 Chapter 3 Building the Canadian Infantry ..................................................................................... 73 Chapter 4 The Canadians in Sicily and Italy, 1943 ...................................................................... 119 Chapter 5 The Canadians in Italy, 1944-1945 ............................................................................. 178 Chapter 6 The Canadians in Normandy, 1944 ............................................................................. 235 Chapter 7 The Canadians in Northwest Europe, 1944-1945........................................................ 290 Chapter 8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 345 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 363 Appendix A PULHEMS .............................................................................................................. 378 Appendix B Directorate of Personnel Selection’s Mean “M” Score for Population ................... 381 Appendix C Canadian Army Infantry Organization .................................................................... 382 Appendix D Discipline and Offence Statistics ............................................................................ 386 Appendix E Comparative Casualty Data ..................................................................................... 390 Appendix F Factors Involved in Raising and Lowering Morale.................................................. 392 v List of Figures Figure 4-1: “Original veterans” in 1st Division, Italy 1943 .......................................................... 128 Figure 4-2: Casualties at Ortona .................................................................................................. 173 Figure 5-1: Cumulative infantry casualties, Italy 1944-45 .......................................................... 211 Figure 5-2: "Original veterans" in 1st Division, Italy 1944-45 ..................................................... 217 Figure 5-3: Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment casualty rates ............................................. 223 Figure 6-1: Cumulative infantry casualties, Normandy 1944 ...................................................... 273 Figure 6-2: "Original veterans" in 3rd Division, Normandy 1944 ................................................ 278 Figure 7-1: Data from censorship reports - First Canadian Army, 1944-45 ................................ 310 Figure 7-2: Data from censorship reports - Far East service, 1944-45 ........................................ 313 Figure 7-3: Data from censorship reports - Conditions of Billets and Food, 1944-45 ................ 316 Figure 7-4: Data from censorship reports - Mail Service, 1944-45 ............................................. 317 Figure 7-5: Infantry casualties, Northwest Europe 1944-45 ........................................................ 328 Figure 7-6: Cumulative infantry casualties, Normandy and Northwest Europe 1944-45 ........... 329 vi Chapter 1 Introduction This project is an outgrowth of Canadians Under Fire: Infantry Effectiveness in the Second World War, 1943-1945, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2009. Canadians Under Fire was my Master’s thesis at Queen’s University. The thesis and the monograph used archival evidence, particularly battle experience questionnaires filled out by Canadian officers, to speak to a historiographical point: that most infantrymen during the Second World War did not fire their weapons, the thesis of American writer S.L.A. Marshall which was accepted at face value for sixty years.1 My conclusion from Canadians Under Fire – which I continue to stand by – is that the Canadian experience contradicts Marshall’s thesis, and that subsequent works of military history and psychology which attempt to universalize Marshall’s findings into a norm of human combat behaviour are working from faulty assumptions.2 For all of the success Canadians Under Fire has achieved in confronting this long-standing historiographical question, as a short monograph it ultimately raised as many questions as it answered. Canadian infantry during the Second World War were generally making full and