No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Since the end of the Second World War, numerous British veterans of that conflict have made the decision to publish a memoir of their military experiences on the front-line. This thesis investigates the contribution of these sources to the historical record of warfare between 1939 and 1945. Contending that these documents reveal something unique and important about the ways in which former combatants participated in and interpreted battle, the thesis focuses on two core research questions. First, it explores what these narratives reveal about the experience and representation of combat, examining the interplay of the authors with the natural environments in which they operated, the machines with which they fought, the enemy they tried to kill, and the comrades with whom they served. Second, it inquires into the intention and function of these texts, assessing why and how they were created. In order to address these questions, this thesis draws on a wide pool of veteran memoirs, written by former front-line personnel from the RAF, Royal Navy and Army, and published since 1950. It also draws, where appropriate, on unpublished sources such as those to be found in the Archive of British Publishing and Printing at the University of Reading. Through these lines of inquiry, the thesis identifies the ways in which veterans lived, remembered, understood, and communicated their experiences of combat during the Second World War, and argues for the merit of the military memoir as a historical source.

Historians have established the framework of Canada’s general political, economic, and military participation in the Second World War, but there has been little research into the ways that the national war effort affected individuals or local communities. This dissertation explores the wartime experience of ordinary Winnipeggers through their responses to recruiting, the treatment of minorities, war finance publicity, participation in voluntary community service, and the adjustments made necessary by family separation. It questions the prevailing narrative of the war as a unifying national experience, focusing on issues like civilian morale and the relationship between citizens and the state. In some ways, the depth of the patriotic consensus was remarkable in a city that was far removed from any real enemy threat. The population was highly polyethnic, with strong class divisions and a vibrant tradition of political protest. Both factors meant a greater number of potential fault lines. But the large number of ethnic groups in Winnipeg and the Left’s relative lack of political power also meant that there was no dominant minority to seriously challenge the interpretation of the war expressed by the city’s charter group. Social cohesion was enhanced in Winnipeg despite the absence of real danger for a number of reasons: the connection of ethnic communities to occupied or threatened homelands, like Poland or the United Kingdom; the effectiveness of both official and unofficial information management, such as Victory Loan publicity; and the strong identification people maintained with family and friends in the armed forces, war industries, or state institutions. The war effort affected people as individuals and as members of families and the wider community. Its impact was at times unjust and destructive yet most hardships were ultimately accepted as necessary for the war’s successful prosecution. / February 2009

Historians have established the framework of Canada’s general political, economic, and military participation in the Second World War, but there has been little research into the ways that the national war effort affected individuals or local communities. This dissertation explores the wartime experience of ordinary Winnipeggers through their responses to recruiting, the treatment of minorities, war finance publicity, participation in voluntary community service, and the adjustments made necessary by family separation. It questions the prevailing narrative of the war as a unifying national experience, focusing on issues like civilian morale and the relationship between citizens and the state. In some ways, the depth of the patriotic consensus was remarkable in a city that was far removed from any real enemy threat. The population was highly polyethnic, with strong class divisions and a vibrant tradition of political protest. Both factors meant a greater number of potential fault lines. But the large number of ethnic groups in Winnipeg and the Left’s relative lack of political power also meant that there was no dominant minority to seriously challenge the interpretation of the war expressed by the city’s charter group. Social cohesion was enhanced in Winnipeg despite the absence of real danger for a number of reasons: the connection of ethnic communities to occupied or threatened homelands, like Poland or the United Kingdom; the effectiveness of both official and unofficial information management, such as Victory Loan publicity; and the strong identification people maintained with family and friends in the armed forces, war industries, or state institutions. The war effort affected people as individuals and as members of families and the wider community. Its impact was at times unjust and destructive yet most hardships were ultimately accepted as necessary for the war’s successful prosecution.

Historians have established the framework of Canada’s general political, economic, and military participation in the Second World War, but there has been little research into the ways that the national war effort affected individuals or local communities. This dissertation explores the wartime experience of ordinary Winnipeggers through their responses to recruiting, the treatment of minorities, war finance publicity, participation in voluntary community service, and the adjustments made necessary by family separation. It questions the prevailing narrative of the war as a unifying national experience, focusing on issues like civilian morale and the relationship between citizens and the state. In some ways, the depth of the patriotic consensus was remarkable in a city that was far removed from any real enemy threat. The population was highly polyethnic, with strong class divisions and a vibrant tradition of political protest. Both factors meant a greater number of potential fault lines. But the large number of ethnic groups in Winnipeg and the Left’s relative lack of political power also meant that there was no dominant minority to seriously challenge the interpretation of the war expressed by the city’s charter group. Social cohesion was enhanced in Winnipeg despite the absence of real danger for a number of reasons: the connection of ethnic communities to occupied or threatened homelands, like Poland or the United Kingdom; the effectiveness of both official and unofficial information management, such as Victory Loan publicity; and the strong identification people maintained with family and friends in the armed forces, war industries, or state institutions. The war effort affected people as individuals and as members of families and the wider community. Its impact was at times unjust and destructive yet most hardships were ultimately accepted as necessary for the war’s successful prosecution.

No description available.