History Post-confederation (1867-)
The History of Canada Series: War in the St. Lawrence
The Forgotten U-boat Battles On Canada's Shores
- Publisher
- Penguin Group Canada
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2012
- Category
- Post-Confederation (1867-)
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780670067879
- Publish Date
- Apr 2012
- List Price
- $34
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780143167808
- Publish Date
- Apr 2013
- List Price
- $20
Add it to your shelf
Where to buy it
Description
From 1942 to 1944, fifteen German submarines destroyed or severely damaged twenty-seven ships, including three Canadian warships, a U.S. Army troop transport, and the Newfoundland ferry Caribou . More than 250 lives were lost. It was the only battle of the twentieth century to take place within Canada’s boundaries, and the only battle to be fought almost exclusively by Canadian forces under Canadian, rather than alliance, high command. And for more than forty years the battle was characterized as a Canadian defeat.
But was it a defeat? Drawing on new material from wartime records—including ultra-top-secret Allied decryptions of German naval radio communications, Roger Sarty shows that Canada mounted a successful defence with far fewer resources and in the face of much greater challenges than previously known. He draws vivid pictures of the intense combat on Canada’s shores and the interplay of the St. Lawrence battle with war politics in Ottawa, Washington, and London. At the same time, he weaves a second story: how researchers reassembled the scattered war records in Canada, Britain, the United States, and Germany, and brought the long-forgotten battle to life for new generations of Canadians and international audiences.
About the author
Roger Sarty, history professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, was in previous careers senior historian at the Department of National Defence and deputy director at the Canadian War Museum. His other books on the Canadian Army in the Maritimes include Saint John Fortifications (2003, with Doug Knight) and Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney Cape Breton and the Atlantic Wars (2012, with Brian Tennyson)./p>
Other titles by
A War Guest in Canada
Catastrophe
Stories and Lessons from the Halifax Explosion
Loyal Gunners
3rd Field Artillery Regiment (The Loyal Company) and the History of New Brunswick's Artillery, 1893-2012
Saint John Fortifications, 1630-1956
Guardian of the Gulf
Sydney, Cape Breton, and the Atlantic Wars
Guardian of the Gulf
Sydney, Cape Breton, and the Atlantic Wars
Tin-Pots and Pirate Ships
Canadian Naval Forces and German Sea Raiders 1880-1918