The Valour and the Horror by Merrily Weisbord, Merilyn Simonds Mohr (review)

298 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW thegrowing unemployment problem among unskilled immigrant groups arid thatthemostcommon 'crime'committed byinternedUkrainians wasdestitu. tion.However, what theBorden government should have done, especially whentheunemployed immigrants werecongregating in cities in theearly monthsof thewarandmunicipalities refused to extendreliefto them,is explained. Clearly, themenwereseenasa potential threatto society, allthe more sogiventhe wartimehysteria. And it madecruelsense - giventhe jobstheyhadperformed forresource industries andtherailways before the war - to put themto workin internment campsin isolatedpartsof the country. The Banffdiary(held bytheGlenbow Museum Archives) hasbeenrepruducedin itsentiretyandcovers theperiodfrom 11July 1015to 7 Augtin 1017, when mostof the interneeshad been paroled to fill wartime labour shortages. Althoughmanyof theentriesarerestricted to a fewsentences, the document gives a dear sense of thedismal livingandworkingconditions at the campand the uneasy relationship between the confused internees and inexperienced guards. The valueof the diaryis furtherenhanced bythe detailednotesby Kordanand Melnycky; theyprovidebackground informa. tion on camp developments, review the many escapes, examine Banffs attitudeto the internees, and describe the road-building and otherwork projects performed for thepark.The editors havealsoassembled a number of exceptional photographs ofwhatwas supposed tobea censored operation. In theShadow of theRockies providesan intimateportrait of internment operations duringthe FirstWorldWar.And,giventheimportance ofthese operations toBanff's builthistory, theCastle Mountain campshould notonly be plaqued by theHistoricSites andMonuments Board,but be included in the park'sinterpretiveprogram. w.A.W^ISER University ofSa•kaa:heuxzn The Valour and the Horror. MERRILY WEISBORD and MERILYN SIMONDS MOHR. Toronto: HarperCollins1991.Pp. 171.$29.95 'The ValourandtheHorror.'Television series directed by nRtAN MCKENNa. GalafilmInc.withtheCanadian Broadcasting Corporation and theNational Film Board Very,fewCanadian television series andassociated books haveproduced the furoregenerated by TheValour andtheHorror.Outraged veterans' groul• havedenounced thecnc,thescript writers, andtheauthors for denigrating Canada's wartimerole.In particular, thefilmson BomberCommand and Normandyhavebeenchallenged for theirtoneandaccuracy, anda Senate committee hasinvestigated the series and the book.A genuineCanadian controversy, tobe sure. KEVIEWS 299 Thefirstthing thatmust besaid isthatthefilms andespecially thebook a•rt dreadful.The secondisthat the Senateshouldbutt out and setto its real work - the elimination of theupperchamber of Parliament. The Senatehas nobusiness whatsoever investigating thisissue, anymorethanit did withits earlier inquiry intotheNFs's filmonBillyBishop. Thisisstilla democracy •ndeven theCBG/NFB have rights tofreedom ofspeech. Theaccuracy ofThe Valour and the Horror may bedoubtful, thepoint ofview slanted, buttheway todealwiththatisin the arenaof publicdebate. It issadto seeveterans, who fought to keeptheworldfree,tryingtobanaTVseries andbook. Inonesense, thescript writers andproducers deserve praise. Unlikemost producers ofTVseries witha historical bent,theytriedto makeuseof the best current research. LColJohnEnglish's finestudyof the Normandy cmnpaign isobviously omnipresent; sotooisrecentPhDworkon Bomber Command, andTerry Coppandw.J. McAndrew's workonbattleexhaustion. Butin my view the good researchfounderedon the rocksof tone and context. The TV serieswas deliberatelyintendedto evokean anti-war message whilepayingduehomage to theheroism of theordinarysoldiers and airmen. It didthisin thenowtraditional wayofheaping blameon the senior officers andpoliticians. HowcouldtheKinggovernment havesent troops to HongKong? WhywouldGuySimonds havesenttheBlackWatch atVerri•res Ridge? Whydidn'tSirArthurHarristellhisbomber crews they were killing civilians? Thosethreequeries express thepointofviewthatsets the blame ontheleaders. Fairenough, butthecontext isnowhere giventhe weight needed.To takeonlyoneexample:How in 1941couldthe King government haverefused to sendtroopsto HongKong,giventheConservative arguments forconscription? If menwereavailable in abundance, asthe government claimed andwas infacttrue,whatpossible reason couldtherebe forrefusing sucha request? For the Meighen-led Opposition, the only reasons would be a shortageof manpower,caused,of course,by the unwillingness of Qu6b&ois toenlist,King'spolitical cowardice, andhisantiBritish attitudes. Consider theimpact ofsuch charges onthewareffort. Add tothatthesimple factthatCanada hadnointelligence apparatus capable of forming anindependent assessment ofthepotential Japanese threat, andthe decision to send twobattalions toHongKongseems anentirely reasonable decision foraCanadian government inSeptember 1941, Context, astheysay, is everything, andcontext was whatthefilmlacked. Thebookin everyrespect isevenworse. Oneoftheauthors isthewifeof the co-producer; thequalifications oftheother arenowhere evident. Readers will realize theyarein serious trouble when in thefirstfewpages thedate Canada went towarisgiven incorrectly. Thereafter names, titles, ranks, and military organization arethoroughly mixed up.Bomber Harris isrepeatedly lZbelled an'airvice marshall' - withthespelling errorrepeated consistently. •00 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW The armedmerchant cruiser HMGS Pr/r•eRobert is calleda destroyer. The BHtish forces in HongKong, wearetold,wereorganized intotwobattalions of 10,000.All airmen in BomberCommandhad a batman.And on andcm. Neitherauthorknows anything aboutthewaror aboutthemilitary,andthe only sections of thisbookthat ring true are the quotedinterviews w•ah servicemen and nurses. Mohr, oneof thebook's co-authors, hassaidin thepress that theissue i• theshouting match overTheValour a•/the Horror hasbecome whowillbe allowed towritemilitaryhistory: 'a daqueofveterans andmilitaryhistoriam are demanding that historybe kept out of the handsof the untrained' (Toronto Star,2 May1992...