1 Carl Vincent, No Reason Why: The Canadian Hong Kong Tragedy, An Examination (Stittsville, Ontario: Canada’s Wings, 1981), 42–43.
2 Brereton Greenhous, “C” Force to Hong Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1945 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 15, 20.
3 Tony Atherton, “Channeling,” Ottawa Citizen, 12 January 1992, 37.
4 Blair Crawford, “Author defends honour of Canadian troops at the Battle of Hong Kong, 1941,” Ottawa Citizen, 10 November 2015.
5 J.L. Granatstein, Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), 201.
6 Library and Archives Canada (hereafter LAC), Royal Commission to Inquire into and Report upon the Organization, Authorization and Dispatch of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to the Crown Colony of Hong Kong fonds (hereafter Hong Kong Inquiry fonds), RG 33 120, volume 2, file “Exhibits 1–44”, exhibit 3 Record of Conversations on Important Subjects. LAC, H.D.G. Crerar fonds, MG30 E157, volume 1, file “958C.009 (D4) CGS Files 1940–1942–Letters of Congratulation on Appointment as Chief General Staff. Crerar Papers – Period Jul 40 to Oct 40”, letter from H.D.G. Crerar to Hume Wrong, 22 August 1940.
7 LAC, J.L. Ralston fonds, MG 27 III BII, volume 70, file “Hong Kong Inquiry, Memorandum”, 26 February 1942, 2.
8 LAC, Hong Kong Inquiry fonds, RG 33 120, volume 2, file “Exhibits 1–44”, exhibit 8 Note on telephone
conversation with Brigadier Letson, 1100 hours, 27 Sep 41.
9 LAC, William Lyon Mackenzie King fonds, MG26-J13, Diary (hereafter King Diary), 2 October 1941, pages 1–2.
10 LAC, Hong Kong Inquiry fonds, RG 33 120, volume 2, file “Exhibits 1–44”, exhibit 1 telegram from Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to Secretary of State for External Affairs, 19 September 1941, pages 1–2.
11 LAC, Privy Council Office fonds, RG 2 7C, volume 1, file “Documents of the Cabinet War Committee, Volume 1, 1939–1940”, telegram from The High Commissioner For Canada in Great Britain to Secretary of State for External Affairs Canada, 19 May 1940, page 1, microfilm reel C-4653.
12 LAC, Privy Council Office fonds, RG 2 7C, volume 1, file “Minutes of the Cabinet War Committee Volume 1 8 December 1939–15 July 1940”, memorandum re Meeting of Cabinet War Committee, 22 May 1940, page 2, microfilm reel C-4653.
13 Ibid., Memorandum re Meeting of Cabinet War Committee 14 June 1940, page 6, microfilm reel C-4653.
14 Ibid., Memorandum re Meeting of Cabinet War Committee 9 July 1940, page 3, microfilm reel C-4653.
15 C.P. Stacey, Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1955), 85.
16 Tim Cook, Warlords: Borden, Mackenzie King, and Canada’s World Wars (Toronto: Allen Lane, 2012), 250– 251.
17 LAC, Privy Council Office fonds, RG 2 7C, volume 2, file “Minutes of the Cabinet War Committee Volume 3 23 October 1940–26 December 1940”, minutes of War Committee of the Cabinet, 14 November 1940, page 7, microfilm reel C-4653.
18 LAC, Privy Council Office fonds, RG 2 7C, volume 3, file “Minutes of the Cabinet War Committee Volume 4 2 January 1941–27 March 1941”, minutes of War Committee of the Cabinet, 24 January 1941, page 4, microfilm reel C-4653.
19 LAC, King Diary, 23 August 1941, page 1.
20 Iain E. Johnston-White, The British Commonwealth and Victory in the Second World War (London: Palgrave MacMillian, 2017), 254.
21 LAC, King Diary, 20 May 1941, page 2.
22 Galen Perras, “Stepping Stones on a Road to Nowhere? The United States, Canada, and the Aleutian Island Campaign, 1942–1943” (PhD diss., University of Waterloo, 1995), 61.
23 Galen Roger Perras, “‘Future Plays Will Depend On How The Next One Works’: Franklin Roosevelt and the Canadian Legation Discussions of January 1938,” Journal of Military and Strategic Studies 8, no. 4 (2006): 27–28.
24 Ibid., 29.
25 C.P. Stacey, Canada and the Age of Conflict Volume 2: 1921–1948 The Mackenzie King Era (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981), 226.
26 James Eayrs, In Defence of Canada: Appeasement and Rearmament (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965), 183.
27 C.P. Stacey, Arms, Men and Governments: The War Policies of Canada 1939–1945 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1970), 98.
28 Ibid., 333.
29 Ibid., 338–341.
30 Ibid., 341.
31 Desmond Morton, A Short History of Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2001), 234.
32 LAC, Ralston fonds, MG 27 III BII, volume 49, file “Japan, Canadian Information & Policy General 1940–1942”, telegram from Secretary of State for External Affairs to Secretary of State Dominion Affairs, 23 July 1941, page 1.
33 Ibid., telegram From Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to Secretary of State for External Affairs, 2 August 1941, page 1.
34 LAC, King fonds, MG26-J5, volume 93, file “Speeches outside Parliament” speech The Lord Mayor’s Luncheon in Honour of the Prime Minister of Canada, 4 September 1941, page 9, microfilm reel H-3064.
35 Ibid., page 12.
36 LAC, King Diary, 3 September 1941, pages 1–2.
37 Ibid., 3 September, pages 1.
38 Ibid., 4 September, pages 4.
39 Ibid., 5 September, 4
40 Ibid., 12 September. Daniel Todman, Britain’s War: Into Battle, 1937–1941 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 682. Winston Churchill, The Second World War: The Grand Alliance (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951), 516.
41 LAC, King fonds, MG26-J5, volume 91, file “Speeches in Parliament” speech Canada and the War, 17 September 1941, pages 3, 8-12, microfilm reel H-3062Ibid., 12.
42 LAC, King Diary, 17 September 1941, page 2.
43 Ibid., 18 September 1941, page 1.
44 Ibid., 18 September 1941, 2.
45 Bell, “The ‘Singapore Strategy,’” 627
46 Stacey, Arms, Men and Governments, 139.
47 Ibid., 80.
48 John Ferris, “‘Consistent with an Intention’: The Far East Combined Bureau and the Outbreak of the Pacific War, 1940–41,” Intelligence and National Security 27, no. 1 (2012): 7
49 Stacey, Arms, Men and Governments, 155.
50 LAC, Ralston fonds, MG 27 III BII, volume 49, file “Japan, Canadian Information & Policy General 1940–1942”, telegram From Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to Secretary of State External Affairs, 28 July 1941, page 1.
51 Ibid., telegram From Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to Secretary of State for External Affairs, 12 September 1941.
52 Timothy Wilford, Canada’s Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011), 51.
53 LAC, DND fonds, RG 24, volume 3913, file “N.S.5. 1037–5–3 volume 1”, Comments on Developments in the Far East, 15 September 1941, page 1.
54 Ibid., 27 September 1941 Comments on Developments in the Far East, 2.
55 Antony Best, Britain, Japan and Pearl Harbor: Avoiding War in East Asia, 1936–1941 (London: Routledge, 1995), 192.
56 LAC, DND fonds, RG 24, volume 3913, file “War Service – European War, 1939 Reports on Situation in the Far East” telegram from Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to Secretary of State for External Affairs, 30 November 1941, page 1.
57 Ferris, “Consistent with an Intention,” 22–24.
58 J.L. Granatstein, The Generals: The Canadian Army’s Senior Commanders in the Second World War (Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 1993), 83.
59 LAC, Crerar fonds, MG30 E157, volume 1, file “‘C’ Force Canadian Army Feb 42-Jun 42 -- Hong Kong Enquiry. Papers and Questionnaires pertaining to Hong Kong Expedition, Questions Suggested by Mr. Drew K.C. and the Answers thereto by Lieutenant-General H.D.G. Crerar D.S.O.”, Question 1.
60 Paul Dickson, “Crerar and the Decision to Garrison Hong Kong,” Canadian Military History 3, no.1 (1994): 98– 99.
61 Paul Dickson, A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007), 157.
62 Ibid., 166.
63 Ibid., 146, 163.
64 LAC, Crerar fonds, MG30 E 157, volume 1, file “958C.009 (D12) CGS Files 1940–1941- Personal Correspondence Lt-Gen Crerar – Lt-Gen McNaughton. Period Aug 40 to Mar 41”, letter from H.D.G Crerar to
A.G.L. McNaughton, 8 August 1940, pages 1, 4.
65 Ibid., 19 May 1941 Letter to A.G.L. McNaughton, 3.
66 Ibid., 26 June 1941 Letter to A.G.L. McNaughton, 1–2.
67 Dickson, A Thoroughly Canadian General, 162.
68 LAC, Crerar fonds, MG30 E 157, volume 1 ,file “958C.009 (D12) CGS Files 1940–1941- Personal Correspondence Lt-Gen Crerar – Lt-Gen McNaughton. Period Aug 40 to Mar 41” letter from H.D.G. Crerar to
A.G.L. McNaughton, 11 August 1941, page 3.
69 LAC, King Diary, 10 September 1941, page 2.
70 LAC, Hong Kong Inquiry fonds, RG 33 120, volume 1, file “Volumes 1–2–3–4–5 pps. 1 to 474 Monday, March 2
to Friday, March 6, 1942”, page 272.
71 Galen Roger Perras, Franklin Roosevelt and the Origins of the Canadian-American Security Alliance, 1933–1945: Necessary, but Not Necessary Enough (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1998), 17.
72 Daniel Byers, “J.L. Ralston and the First World War: The Origins of a Life of Service,” Canadian Military History 22, no. 1 (2015): 3.
73 LAC, Ralston fonds, MG 27 III BII, Volume 18, file “‘C’ Miscellaneous 1945–46”, letter from J.L. Ralston to
H.D.G. Crerar, 4 August 1945, page 2.
74 LAC, Ralston fonds, MG 27 III BII, Volume 70, file “Hong Kong Inquiry Mr. Ralston’s notes on Personal Preliminary Enquiry”, memorandum Re Hong Kong, 26 February 1942, page 1.
75 LAC, Hong Kong Inquiry fonds, RG 33 120, volume 1, file “Volume 4 --- pp.297 to 398 Thursday March 9,
1942”, page 313.
76 LAC, Hong Kong Inquiry fonds, RG 33 120, volume 1, file “Volumes 1–2–3–4–5 pps. 1 to 474 Monday, March 2
to Friday, March 6, 1942”, page 272.
77 LAC, Ralston fonds, MG 27 III BII, Volume 70, file “Hong Kong Inquiry Mr. Ralston’s notes on personal preliminary Inquiry”, memorandum Re Hong Kong 26/2/1942, page 3.
78 Cook, Warlords, 201.
79 Tim Cook, The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering, and Remaking Canada’s Second World War (Toronto: Allen Lane, 2020), 220.
80 Cook, Warlords, 105.
81 James Eayrs, In Defence of Canada: From the Great War to the Great Depression (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964), 218.
82 Cook, Warlords, 219–220.
83 Johnston-White, The British Commonwealth and Victory in the Second World War, 107.
84 Cook, Warlords, 275.
85 LAC, King Diary, 4 November 1941, page 1.
86 LAC, King fonds, MG 26 J1, volume 312, file “Correspondence, 1941 (Massey to Mulock)”, letter from W.L.M. King to Vincent Massey, 27 September 1941, page 3, microfilm reel C-4866.
87 Patrick Brennan, Reporting the Nation’s Business: Press-Government Relations during the Liberal Years, 1935– 1957 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994), 57.
88 LAC, King fonds, MG 26 J1, volume 299, file “Correspondence 1941 (Abel to Avery)” telegram from Secretary of State for External Affairs Canada to The High Commissioner For Canada in Great Britain, 14 June 1941, page 1, microfilm reel C-4860.
89 Mark Bourrie, The Fog of War: Censorship of Canada’s Media in World War Two (Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 2011), 35.
90 Brian J. Young, “C. George McCullagh and the Leadership League,” The Canadian Historical Review 47, no.3 (1966): 207. J.W. Pickersgill, The Mackenzie King Record: 1939–1944 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1960), 33.
91 LAC, King Diary, 15 June 1940.
92 Pickersgill, The Mackenzie King Record, 175.
93 A brief summary of this event is provided in Stacey, Arms, Men and Governments, 101-102.
94 Cook, Warlords, 226. LAC, King Diary, 18 January 1940, 2.
95 LAC, King Diary, 9 December 1938.
96 LAC, King Diary, 17 January 1939.
97 LAC, King Diary, 22 May 1939.
98 LAC, King Diary, 3 October 1939, 3.
99 LAC, King Diary, 13 November 1939.
100 “War Problems Affecting Canada,” The Globe and Mail, 21 June 1941, 6.
101 R. Daniel Pellerin, “Sharpening the Sabre: Canadian Infantry Combat Training During the Second World War” (PhD diss., University of Ottawa, 2016), 133.
102 LAC, Crerar fonds, MG30 E157, file “958.009 (D333) General Crerar’s Personal Papers- Personal Correspondence – Vol II July 1941-November”, letter from H.D.G. Crerar to C.G. Power, 11 August 1941.
103 LAC, A.G.L. McNaughton fonds, MG 30 E II, volume 227, file “Personal Major-General H.D.G. Crerar Chief of the General Staff Canada CC7/Crerar/6”, letter from A.G.L. McNaughton to Minister of Defence, 27 June 1941, page 2.
104 LAC, George Drew fonds, MG 32 C3, “Provincial Political Career” series, volume 68, file “Number 614” letter from George Drew to R.B. Hanson, 9 July 1941, page 1–2, microfilm reel M-8987.
105 LAC, Drew fonds, MG 32 C3, “Provincial Political Career” series, volume 427, file “Number 28” letter from George Drew to W.L.M. King, 11 July 1942, page 18, microfilm reel M-9045.
106 “War Problems,” The Globe and Mail, 21 June 1941, 6.
107 “War Problems,” The Globe and Mail, 26 June 1941, 6.
108 Ibid. “War Problems,” The Globe and Mail, 18 July 1941, 6.
109 “War Problems,” The Globe and Mail, 2 July 1941, 6.
110 Cook, Warlords, 249.
111 “War Problems,” The Globe and Mail, 30 June 1941, 6.
112 “War Problems,” The Globe and Mail, 8 July 1941, 6.
113 LAC, King Diary, 18 August 1941, page 3.
114 LAC, King Diary, 25 September 1941, pages 1–2.
115 Stacey, Arms, Men and Governments, 150–151.
116 LAC, King Diary, 3 August 1941, page 5.
117 “King’s Reaction to Troops, Boos is a Broad Grin,” The Hamilton Spectator, 25 August 1941.
118 LAC, King Diary, 5 September 1941, page 6.
119 LAC, King Diary, 15 November 1941, page 5.
120 John David Meehan, The Dominion and the Rising Sun: Canada Encounters Japan, 1929–41 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004), 192.
121 C.P. Stacey, A Very Double Life: The Private World of Mackenzie King (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1977), 28.
122 F. R. Scott, Selected Poems (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1966), 61.
123 Vincent, No Reason Why, 35.