Military Milestones Archives - Legion Magazine https://legionmagazine.com/category/canadian-military-history-in-perspective/military-milestones/ Wed, 08 Jan 2025 14:32:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://legionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-favicon-LM-32x32.jpg Military Milestones Archives - Legion Magazine https://legionmagazine.com/category/canadian-military-history-in-perspective/military-milestones/ 32 32 The 1775 Battle of Quebec https://legionmagazine.com/the-1775-battle-of-quebec/ https://legionmagazine.com/the-1775-battle-of-quebec/#respond Fri, 03 Jan 2025 20:24:38 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=94090 Sept. 13, 1759, was a renowned day for Quebec City, as its future was shaped by a British military victory at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. However, on Dec. 31, 1775, another Battle of Quebec occurred when Continental forces, embroiled in the American Revolutionary War, invaded Canada. The patriot movement was motivated by …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/the-1775-battle-of-quebec/feed/ 0 Christmas in Ortona https://legionmagazine.com/christmas-in-ortona/ https://legionmagazine.com/christmas-in-ortona/#respond Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:48:49 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=94039 Lieutenant Wilf Gildersleeve sat in the bombed-out Ortona church of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli. There, on Dec. 25, 1943, he tried to find Christmas cheer. The signals officer of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada knew that just outside, amid the ruins of an Italian town far from home, the bloodshed continued. The vicious urban battle …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/christmas-in-ortona/feed/ 0 Remembering John Osborn, V.C. https://legionmagazine.com/remembering-john-osborn-v-c/ https://legionmagazine.com/remembering-john-osborn-v-c/#respond Wed, 18 Dec 2024 18:47:02 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=93985 By Dec. 19, 1941, the Battle of Hong Kong had been raging for well over 10 days. The Canadians of ‘C’ Force, together with troops from the British Army, British Indian Army and the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, were still attempting to withstand a seemingly incessant tide of Japanese assaults. They would lose. That …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/remembering-john-osborn-v-c/feed/ 0 The WW II contributions of Newfoundland’s foresters https://legionmagazine.com/the-ww-ii-contributions-of-newfoundlands-foresters/ https://legionmagazine.com/the-ww-ii-contributions-of-newfoundlands-foresters/#respond Wed, 11 Dec 2024 18:21:22 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=93915 Just two months after the outbreak of the Second World War, despite having an abundance of woodlands, Britain found itself facing an acute timber shortage. The reason was simple: too few loggers to meet increased demand. A widespread absence of wooden frames to literally and figuratively prop up the nation’s coal-mining industry proved to be …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/the-ww-ii-contributions-of-newfoundlands-foresters/feed/ 0 Remembering Canadian veteran and “In Flanders Field” poet John McCrae https://legionmagazine.com/remembering-canadian-veteran-and-in-flanders-field-poet-john-mccrae/ https://legionmagazine.com/remembering-canadian-veteran-and-in-flanders-field-poet-john-mccrae/#respond Wed, 04 Dec 2024 18:07:03 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=93840 Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae’s views of conflict had changed. A veteran of the 1899-1902 Boer War, the Guelph, Ont., physician shipped out to South Africa with the imperialistic ideals of poet Rudyard Kipling in his head. “I shall not pray for peace in our time,” he once wrote to his mother, Janet Simpson Eckford McCrae. “One …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/remembering-canadian-veteran-and-in-flanders-field-poet-john-mccrae/feed/ 0 An un-Canadian welcome: The Scheldt opening ceremony of 1944 https://legionmagazine.com/an-un-canadian-welcome-the-scheldt-opening-ceremony-of-1944/ https://legionmagazine.com/an-un-canadian-welcome-the-scheldt-opening-ceremony-of-1944/#respond Wed, 27 Nov 2024 19:17:10 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=93735 On Nov. 28, 1944, dignitaries gathered at the docks of Antwerp. The ceremonial guests, attempting to ignore the foul weather, stared out toward the Scheldt estuary, where 18 inbound ships made their historic approach to the Belgian port. They were right to celebrate, even if the looming grey clouds above hadn’t gotten the memo, as …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/an-un-canadian-welcome-the-scheldt-opening-ceremony-of-1944/feed/ 0 Fighting the tide: The first Canadian Battle of Hill 355 https://legionmagazine.com/fighting-the-tide-the-first-canadian-battle-of-hill-355/ https://legionmagazine.com/fighting-the-tide-the-first-canadian-battle-of-hill-355/#respond Wed, 20 Nov 2024 18:50:05 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=93626 “No withdrawal. No platoons overrun. No panic.” These were the simple yet assertive instructions of Lieutenant-Colonel Jacques Dextraze, commander of 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment, as his men prepared for the looming Battle of Hill 355 Nov. 22-25, 1951, amid the Korean War. By that stage, indeed since that summer, international calls for peace negotiations …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/fighting-the-tide-the-first-canadian-battle-of-hill-355/feed/ 0 In his blood: The life and death of Norman Bethune https://legionmagazine.com/in-his-blood-the-life-and-death-of-norman-bethune/ https://legionmagazine.com/in-his-blood-the-life-and-death-of-norman-bethune/#respond Wed, 13 Nov 2024 19:26:12 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=93513 The hands of Norman Bethune, a Canadian thoracic surgeon born on March 4, 1890, had been saving lives long before he set foot in Spain or China. The Gravenhurst, Ont., native, whose grandfather had himself been a surgeon during the Crimean War, first volunteered for the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps in September 1914, serving …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/in-his-blood-the-life-and-death-of-norman-bethune/feed/ 0 Victoria Cross Trio of Leliefontein: A Boer War Story of Courage https://legionmagazine.com/victoria-cross-trio-of-leliefontein-a-boer-war-story-of-courage/ https://legionmagazine.com/victoria-cross-trio-of-leliefontein-a-boer-war-story-of-courage/#respond Wed, 06 Nov 2024 19:58:01 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=93455 Paardeberg had changed everything. Between Feb. 18 and 27, 1900, one of the most famous clashes of the Boer War resulted in a British Empire victory against the Boers, a victory that would not have been possible without the Canadian contribution in their baptism of fire. But the South African conflict was not yet over—far …

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]]> https://legionmagazine.com/victoria-cross-trio-of-leliefontein-a-boer-war-story-of-courage/feed/ 0 When Canada invaded Iceland: ‘Z’ Force and Operation Fork https://legionmagazine.com/when-canada-invaded-iceland-z-force-and-operation-fork/ https://legionmagazine.com/when-canada-invaded-iceland-z-force-and-operation-fork/#respond Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:45:54 +0000 https://legionmagazine.com/?p=93405 May 10, 1940, was a British day of infamy. In mainland Europe, Hitler’s forces had carried out a blitzkrieg whereby France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg would soon fall. Meanwhile, No. 10 Downing Street had a new occupant in Winston Churchill after his embattled predecessor Neville Chamberlain resigned. There was, however, a third—if largely since …

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