by Edith Cody-Rice
Tim Cook’s newly published book,The Good Allies, joins his many excellent accounts of Canada at war, principally concerning the first and second world wars but extending to the South African war. Excluding The Good Allies, he has tallied up an astounding 17 books on the subject, adding immeasurably to Canadian’s understanding of this country’s military history. In this, his latest, He focuses on the extensive cooperation between the American and Canadian governments and military in the conduct of World War II.
As is so often the case with Tim Cook’s books, he takes a close look at particular aspects of World War II with detail seldom found elsewhere. In many histories of that war, Canada’s contribution Is overlooked or minimized when in fact, Canada made a very significant contribution in troops, manufactured military goods and essential raw materials. The accounting should make us proud. It also commited to training the pilots of other allied combatants. Roosevelt called Canada, the aerodrome of the democracy.
In this book, we learn of the complicated relationship among McKenzie King, then prime minister of Canada, Franklin Roosevelt, president of the United States and Winston Churchill, wartime prime minister of Britain. Britain initially depended upon Canada to smooth relations with the United States in a concerted effort to bring the US into the war, but once the relationship was established, King, and consequently Canada, were ignored in Churchill’s effort to construct a close personal relationship with Roosevelt without any interference from third parties. King was acutely humiliated when the British prime minister and the American President met in Argentia Newfoundland, right off the Canadian coast (Newfoundland was not yet a province of Canada) without inviting or even informing him. Despite complaining bitterly to Britain about being shunted aside, he continued to actively support Britain although he was never included in grand strategic planning. King’s overriding concern was to retain Canada’s hard won sovereignty. In his calculation if Britain were defeated Canada’s only option would be to assimilate into the United States. It was in Canada’s self interest to support Britain while fending off the English tendency to try to treat Canada as a colony that should and would do its bidding. King refused, for example, to send troops to fight in south east Asia to reclaim colonies for Britain after their loss to Japan.
On the southern border was the United States, which worried that Canada could not defend itself and wanted to assume control of the Canadian military, a move that the Canadian cabinet cannily, but with difficulty, fended off consistently throughout the war. Roosevelt was concerned that should Britain be defeated and both the French and British powerful navies fall into German hands, the American forces would be no match for this super weapon and America itself would risk capture by fascist enemies.
It was important to King to show the US that Canada could play its part in defending North America and a significant part of Canada’s war contribution was defending the North American coast line. While the Americans recognized the importance of protecting convoys to Britain, it neglected its own coast, where merchant ships were mercilessly destroyed by patrolling U-boats in what the Germans called the American Shooting Season. In 4 months of 1942, U-Boats destroyed 198 ships along the American east coast. Canada diverted scarce resources to protect ships along this strip to stop the carnage. Also in 1942, Germany frightened Canadians by sinking ships in the St. Lawrence River. The U-Boats reached as far inland as Rimouski where a single U-boat destroyed 13 ships. Bodies washing up on the shore led panicked Canadians in Quebec to understand that they were at risk.
The book is full of wonderful details delineating Canada’s contribution and its cooperation with the Americans to defeat the Axis powers. During the period of American neutrality, numerous subterfuges were employed to escape contravening American anti-war legislation. The Americans sold working tanks to Canada as scrap metal to evade the 1935 Neutrality Act which prohibited the provision of weapons to any combatant.
Good Allies brings home in a way I had not appreciated, the danger, the patriotism and the fear of defeat experienced on this side of the Atlantic, particularly for the first 2 years of the war as Germany and Japan scored conquest after conquest. The loss in lives and war supplies that ended at the bottom of the Atlantic was staggering throughout the war.
I recommend this book. At 551 pages it is a tome, but the text is double spaced so it is less daunting than it looks. Settle down on a wintry evening with a hot toddy and enjoy.
Published by Allan Lane, an imprint of Peguin Random House
551 pages
Tim Cook is appearing at the Almonte Library on Thursday November 7 at 6:30 pm. Registration is required. You can register here https://form.jotform.com/242835363355258
The Good Allies is available at Mill Street Books https://www.millstreetbooks.com/events or at the event.
