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History Canada

Canada's Mechanized Infantry

The Evolution of a Combat Arm, 1920–2012

by (author) Peter Kasurak

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
Feb 2020
Category
Canada, Post-Confederation (1867-)
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780774862752
    Publish Date
    Feb 2020
    List Price
    $32.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780774862721
    Publish Date
    Feb 2020
    List Price
    $89.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780774862738
    Publish Date
    Aug 2020
    List Price
    $32.95

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Description

Canada’s Mechanized Infantry explores the largely ignored development of the infantry in the Canadian Army after the First World War. Although many modern studies of technology and war focus on tanks and armour, soldiers from the Second World War onward have discovered that success really depends on a combination of infantry, armour, and artillery to form combat teams. Peter Kasurak demonstrates how the army implemented successful infantry vehicles and doctrine to ultimately further its military goals during the Second World War. In the postwar period, however, progress was slowed by a top-down culture and an unwillingness to abandon conventional thinking on the primacy of foot infantry and regimental organization. This insightful book is the first to examine the challenges that have confronted the Canadian Army in transforming its infantry from First World War foot soldiers into a twenty-first-century combat force integrating soldiers, vehicles, weapons, and electronics.

About the author

Peter Kasurak retired in 2007 after leading the defence and national security sections of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. He holds a PhD in military and diplomatic history from Duke University and teaches part-time at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

Peter Kasurak's profile page

Editorial Reviews

… a book about what the Canadian Army wants to be and how it has gone about trying to achieve this vision.

Robert C. Engen, Canadian Military History.