The quote below is from the book “Shock Army of the British Army” by Shane Schreiber. While it concerns General Haig in the First World War, I think that the same may apply to Montgomery in the Second.
“More important from Haig's perspective, Canadian manpower was less of a political liability to him than British. Put bluntly, Canadian casualties did not represent the same political threat to Haig's future as commander of the BEF as did British casualties, because Haig answered to British voters through David Lloyd-George, and not to Canadian voters through Robert Borden. In the stark terms of political capital, Canadian lives were, for Haig, cheaper than British lives. The reality was that with each British casualty, domestic political pressure mounted in Britain for Haig's removal.”
George Blackburn in his book “The Guns of Normandy” points out that in Normandy, the Canadians suffered a 22% casualty rate, compared to an 11% rate for the Americans and 8.5% for the British. Some Canadian veterans have expressed the feeling that while the Americans and British got all of the glory, the Canadians got all of the dirty jobs.
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30-04-05, 04:20
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