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History World War Ii

Building the Army’s Backbone

Canadian Non-Commissioned Officers in the Second World War

by (author) Andrew L. Brown

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2021
Category
World War II, Post-Confederation (1867-), European Theater, Land Forces, Canada
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780774866965
    Publish Date
    Dec 2021
    List Price
    $89.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780774866996
    Publish Date
    Dec 2021
    List Price
    $34.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780774866972
    Publish Date
    Aug 2022
    List Price
    $34.95

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Description

In September 1939, Canada’s tiny army began its remarkable expansion into a wartime force of almost half a million soldiers. No army can function without a backbone of skilled non-commissioned officers (NCOs) – corporals, sergeants, and warrant officers – and the army needed to create one out of raw civilian material. Building the Army’s Backbone tells the story of how senior leadership created a corps of NCOs that helped the burgeoning force train, fight, and win. This innovative book uncovers the army’s two-track NCO-production system: locally organized training programs were run by units and formations, while centralized training and talent-distribution programs were overseen by the army. Meanwhile, to bring coherence to the two-track approach, the army circulated its best-trained NCOs between operational forces, the reinforcement pool, and the training system. The result was a corps of NCOs that collectively possessed the necessary skills in leadership, tactics, and instruction to help the army succeed in battle.

About the author

Contributor Notes

Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew L. Brown is an assistant professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada. With over three decades of service in the army, he has served in a variety of positions at home and on operations abroad. His research focuses on army manpower issues in the first half of the twentieth century, especially in the Second World War.

Editorial Reviews

"Overall, [Brown] presents a narrative of NCO development that is contextualised within the Canadian Army’s wider wartime activities. It is a thoroughly valuable contribution to the historiography"

Canadian Military History

"Andrew Brown…has credibly produced a historiographic masterpiece…It is a significant read for every NCO, military leaders, instructors, and historians, and anyone who wants to know how key conditions were set for Canadian military success in the Second World War."

The Journal of Military History

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