War Books

LETTERS IN CANADA, 1955 353 psalm is then dealt with section by section. The text and its translation are carefully explained and the thought of the passage elucidated. Judicious use has been made of the results of recent critical work on the Psalms. This has enabled the commentators, among other things, to give a clearer account of the original connection of many of the psalms with the liturgy and the worship of the ancient Hebrew community . Concern for such critical matters, however, has not been permitted to obscure the principal interest in the religious thought and experience of the psalmists. The exegesis tends slightly to emphasize the psalI)lS as reflecting the experience of the individual rather than that of the cultic community. Professor McCullough's general introduction which deals with such matters as the text and compilation of the Psalter, the classification of the Psalms, the character of Hebrew poetry, the religion of the Psalms and their use in Jewish and Christian worship is a masterpiece of compression and clarity. Dr. Sclater's exposition is all that one would expect from his excellent preaching and his fine literary style. VITI. WAR BOOKS Hugh Maclean W. K. Hancock, editor of the United Kingdom War Histories: Civil Services, concludes a recent description of problems facing modern war historians with the remark that "there is no substitute .for [the historian 's] own experience, judgment, and flair-nor for the fanatical hard work demanded of him...." The calibre of Colonel C. P. Stacey's Sil' Years of War (Queen's Printer, xiv, 629 pp., illus., $3.50) guarantees that Canada is well served on these counts by its army historian. This volume is the first of four recording the history of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Volumes II and ITI will be concerned with the Army in Italy and in northwest Europe; a final book will discuss Canadian military policy. The present account deals with the Army in Canada, Britain, and the Pacific. Its range necessarily involved troublesome problems of form and order, for while organizational matters were perhaps of primary importance, operations at Dieppe and Hong Kong required extended and incisive treatment. Delicate questions of command in Canada and Britain demanded attention too. But Colonel Stacey has ordered these various materials with a sure touch; and, within the larger picture, he describes the movement of a peaceful 354 WAR BOOKS nation from innocent sloth, in spite of trials of all sorts, to the major commitments of spring, 1943. In that sense his book admirably prepares for the drama of later volumes. This steady gathering of war power proceeds behind the dissonances inevitably accompanying the first efforts of "an unmilitary community" to arm itself, as ",ell as the often unmelodic jars of brass hats and "black coats." Canada's military machine in 1935 was completely equipped only with harness. A sharp divergence of opinion over Army estimates for 1937-8, between Army and Cabinet, was not (it seems) reproduced after 1939, but an "underlying rivalry between National Defence Headquarters and Canadian Military Headquarters" made difficulties until 1944; and minor problems, especially at first, were numerous. Private charity relieved the boot shortage of one infantry regiment; "Canadian Field Force" became, at the last moment, "Canadian Active Service Force," making obsolete $65,000 worth of mobilization forms; a Quebec regiment construed Recruiting Memorandum No. 1 ("men without dependents are preferable") to mean that only bachelors should be enlisted. And so .on. Still, the nucleus of Britain's defence in late 1940 was Canadian; and the Army steadily moved toward two-corps status and a staff competent to direct Rhineland operations in the spring of 1945. . Three personalities and two events stand out. The author presents previously unpublished material to throw light on General McNaughton 's role during Dunkirk, and on Colonel Ralston's control of relations between Ottawa and London staffs, while tracing General Crerar's progress towards corps and army leadership. Not much is said about McNaughton 's relinquishment of command or the plebiscite of April, 1942; the text suggests that later volumes will consider these subjects in more detail. Dieppe and Hong Kong are discussed at length, and the accounts...