IT IS OVERWHELMINGLY the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers that remains imprinted on the national consciousness. During an April to May research trip for this book, I see repeated examples of how the Dutch continue to honour Canadians both as a community and personally. One day in Amsterdam I speak with a Dutch publisher, who recalls cycling as a teenager past what turned out to be a Canadian Commonwealth Cemetery. Turning in, she walked along the seemingly endless rows of headstones and read the names, ages, and birthplaces of all these young men. The realization that in giving their lives they had made it possible for her to enjoy freedom moved her to tears.
Bernard Diepman, the youth whose farm was used by the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders for an overnight stop during the fighting near Dalfsen, stands with me in front of Salvo Bridge and describes two days when the war swirled around his family. That was almost a lifetime ago, but he has carefully nurtured those memories and returned to the farms here many times to walk the ground and consider the way the small action—not really a battle—unfolded. Along with many others, Bernard immigrated to Canada. After the war, during the 1950s and early 1960s, the Dutch government actively encouraged its youth to leave in order to alleviate the nation’s continuing poverty by reducing its population. But he returns to Holland regularly and is always drawn back to this place and the memories of that time.
Not far away, on the southern outskirts of Zwolle, the few farms that made up Leesten have been replaced by a new, ultramodern subdivision still under construction. There are rows of tightly packed houses on streets where lawns have yet to be planted, and the back yards face streets still awaiting the arrival of builders. Most of the residents are young couples with small children. Few grew up anywhere near Leesten or have any knowledge of the day when 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade fought a stiff, small battle that left the farms ruined, the old windmill destroyed, and some Canadian dead. Yet at the suggestion of a resident who was born in the area, the people of this new community decided that each street would bear the name of one of the regiments that fought here or of a man who fell. “There was no disagreement,” a fellow standing on his doorstep explains. “It was the right thing to do.”
There are other Dutch towns, such as Woensdrecht, that have more Canadian-themed street names than Leesten has, but I am struck by the fact that this initiative is coming from young people today. In Canada, people of this age, facing the responsibility of recent parenthood, are among those least likely to give much thought to remembering our nation’s role in World War II and of their countrymen who fell.
Monuments commemorating Canada’s role in liberating specific communities in the Netherlands are common coin. Some are modest, often a restored Sherman tank or other army relic. Many others are statues adorned with regimental crests of units that fought in the vicinity. As part of its 50th Anniversary celebration of the war’s end, Groningen created Liberation Forest just outside the city. Here, thirteen thousand maple trees were initially planted. Since its inception in 1995, the number of trees has grown to about thirty thousand and more are planted during ceremonies each year. Most of the trees were purchased by local residents. They border a long path that winds through the countryside. At one end, a large stylized metal maple leaf stands in a pond. Before it is a monument that bears the crests of all the regiments involved in the city’s liberation. The entire site is tidy and well maintained. A man out walking his dog tells me that each year some of the trees die during the winter, but that they are planting more than enough to replace them, and that thousands of people come from the city to attend ceremonies held here. The path through the trees is also a popular walking and cycling route.
A poem written by a local resident, John Plëst, to mark the forest’s creation in 1995, is also on display. It describes the fierce battle in Groningen’s streets, and closes: “Thanks to the Canadians, a tough job done/ to commemorate them we dedicate a forest yet/ Maple leaves fell for us, lest we forget.”
Of course the Dutch don’t forget. I visit Holten Canadian War Cemetery where 1,355 Canadians soldiers lay at rest. Lieutenant General Guy Simonds personally selected the location because the surrounding forest reminded him of Ontario. It is a warm spring day, just two days after the Remembrance Day ceremonies. Before each headstone, a single yellow daffodil has been set on the ground and methodically centred. My friend Johan van Doorn explains that each flower was laid by a schoolchild who had researched the name of the soldier to learn about him and give this simple act of remembrance more personal resonance. This is done every year.
Looking out across the wide expanse of headstones, I am reminded that their number could easily have been three to four times as many had it not been for the secret negotiations that yielded a ceasefire at the Grebbe Line, averting a pitched battle to liberate the great cities of western Holland. There is no doubt that the Germans in Fortress Holland would have otherwise made good on the threat to inundate the region. Many thousands, perhaps millions, of Dutch would have drowned or succumbed to starvation and disease. Canadian casualties resulting from an attempt to win the cities and surrounding flooded countryside would have far exceeded the number suffered during the rest of the campaign in Holland and western Germany. The success of those negotiations proves that sometimes the pen truly is mightier than the sword.
As I walk down one long row of headstones after another, pausing before each to note the name, age, unit of service, hometown, and often touching sentiment added by family, the story of a country at war is revealed. Some of these soldiers were terribly young, others were already husbands and fathers. They came from the cities and small towns of a nation just beginning a transformation from agrarianism to industrialization—a transition completed while they were away and at war. Those that survived returned to a country forever changed by the conflict. And they brought to Canada even greater change. Most buried the painful memories of the war deep within themselves and turned to building better lives for their families. They had gone overseas while the nation was still being rocked by the Great Depression. In the army, they had learned to take care of each other, for therein lay the only path that might ensure survival. At home, they helped create a country where programs existed to provide basic security for all. They had, after all, fought not just for the freedom of subjugated peoples to live a decent life, but equally for every Canadian.
APPENDIX A:
PRINCIPAL POLITICIANS, COMMANDERS, AND UNITS IN THE LIBERATION CAMPAIGN
(ONLY THOSE MENTIONED IN TEXT)
AMERICAN
President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), Gen.
Dwight G. Eisenhower
SHAEF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith
Twelfth U.S. Army Group, Gen. Omar Bradley
Third Army, Gen. George S. Patton
Ninth Army, Lt. Gen. William H. Simpson
BRITISH
Prime Minister, Winston Churchill
Chief of Imperial General Staff, Gen. Sir Alexander Brooke
Twenty-First Army Group, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery
Twenty-First Army Group Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Francis “Freddie”
de Guingand
Second Army, Gen. Miles Dempsey
XXX Corps, Gen. Brian Horrocks
51st Highland Division, Maj. Gen. Thomas Rennie (KIA Mar. 24,
1945)
Netherlands District, Maj. Gen. Sandy Galloway
CANADIAN
Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King
First Army, Gen. Harry Crerar
First Army Chief of Staff, Brig. C.C. “Church” Mann
I Corps, Lt. Gen. Charles Foulkes
II Corps, Lt. Gen. Guy Simonds
II Corps, Commander Corps Royal Artillery, Brig. Stanley Todd
1st Division, Maj. Gen. Harry Foster
2nd Division, Maj. Gen. Bruce Matthews
3rd Division, Maj. Gen. R.H. “Holly” Keefler
&n
bsp; 4th Division, Maj. Gen. Chris Vokes
5th Division, Maj. Gen. Bert Hoffmeister
1st Armoured Brigade, Brig. Bill Murphy
2nd Brigade, Brig. Pat Bogert
4th Armoured Brigade, Brig. Robert Moncel
4th Brigade, Brig. Fred Cabeldu
5th Armoured Brigade, Brig. Ian Cumberland
5th Brigade, Brig. W.J. “Bill” Megill
6th Brigade, Brig. Jean Allard
7th Brigade, Brig. Graeme Gibson
8th Brigade, Brig. J.A. “Jim” Roberts
9th Brigade, Brig. J.M. “Rocky” Rockingham
10th Brigade, Brig. Jim Jefferson
11th Brigade, Brig. Ian Johnston
DUTCH
Government-in-Exile:
Head of State, Queen Wilhelmina
Prime Minister, Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy
Commander, Dutch Armed Forces, Prince Bernhard
Member of the College van Vertrouwensmannen (committee within
the Netherlands representing Dutch government-in-exile), Jacob van
der Gaag (aka Richard)
Occupation Government:
Director of Food, Dr. S.L. Louwes
Secretary-General of the Departments of Agriculture and Fisheries,
and Commerce, Industry and Shipping, Dr. H.M. “Max” Hirschfeld
Resistance:
Commander of the Nederlandse Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten (NBS )
(Dutch Forces of the Interior), Col. Henri Koot
GERMAN
Netherlands Governor, Reichkommissar Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Netherlands Höherer SS und Polizeiführer Hans Albin Rauter
Commander-in-Chief West, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring
Supreme Commander, Wehrmacht in the Netherlands, Gen. der
Flieger Friedrich Christiansen to Apr. 7, then Generaloberst
Johannes Blaskowitz
Army Group H, Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz to Apr. 7
Twenty-Fifth Army, Christiansen to Apr. 7, then Blaskowitz
Twenty-Fifth Army Chief of Staff, Generalleutnant Paul Reichelt
First Fallschirmjäger Army, Gen. der Fallschirmtruppen Alfred
Schlemm until Mar. 28, then Gen. der Infanterie Günther
Blumentritt
II Fallschirmjäger Corps, Gen. der Flieger Eugen Meindl
LXXXVI Corps, Gen. der Infanterie Erich von Straube
XLVII Panzer Corps, Gen. der Panzertruppen Heinrich Freiherr von
Lüttwitz
6th Fallschirmjäger Division, Generalleutnant Hermann Plocher
APPENDIX B:
THE CANADIAN ARMY IN THE LIBERATION CAMPAIGN
(COMBAT UNITS ONLY)
FIRST CANADIAN ARMY TROOPS
Royal Montreal Regiment
1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment
1st Army Group, Royal Canadian Artillery:
11th Field Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
2nd Medium Regiment
5th Medium Regiment
2nd Army Group, Royal Canadian Artillery:
19th Field Regiment
3rd Medium Regiment
4th Medium Regiment
7th Medium Regiment
2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (Mobile)
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers:
10th Field Park Company
5th Field Company
20th Field Company
23rd Field Company
I CANADIAN CORPS TROOPS
1st Armoured Car Regiment (Royal Canadian Dragoons)
7th Anti-Tank Regiment
1st Survey Regiment
1st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
(Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment)
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers:
9th Field Park Company
12th Field Company
13th Field Company
14th Field Company
II CANADIAN CORPS TROOPS
18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons)
6th Anti-Tank Regiment
2nd Survey Regiment
6th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers:
8th Field Park Company
29th Field Company
30th Field Company
31st Field Company
1ST CANADIAN INFANTRY DIVISION
4th Reconnaissance Regiment (Princess Louise Dragoon Guards)
Saskatoon Light Infantry (MG)
The Royal Canadian Artillery:
1st Field Regiment (Royal Canadian Horse Artillery)
2nd Field Regiment
3rd Field Regiment
1st Anti-Tank Regiment
2nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers:
1st Field Company
3rd Field Company
4th Field Company
2nd Field Park Company
1st Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Royal Canadian Regiment (Permanent Force)
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
48th Highlanders of Canada Regiment
2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment
(Permanent Force)
Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Regiment
Loyal Edmonton Regiment
3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Royal 22e Regiment (Permanent Force)
Carleton and York Regiment
West Nova Scotia Regiment
2ND CANADIAN INFANTRY DIVISION
8th Reconnaissance Regiment (14th Canadian Hussars)
Toronto Scottish Regiment (MG)
The Royal Canadian Artillery:
4th Field Regiment
5th Field Regiment
6th Field Regiment
2nd Anti-Tank Regiment
3rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers:
1st Field Park Company
2nd Field Company
7th Field Company
11th Field Company
4th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Royal Regiment of Canada
Royal Hamilton Light Infantry
Essex Scottish Regiment
5th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
Le Régiment de Maisonneuve
Calgary Highlanders
6th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
South Saskatchewan Regiment
3RD CANADIAN INFANTRY DIVISION
7th Reconnaissance Regiment (17th Duke Of York’s
Royal Canadian Hussars)
Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (MG Battalion)
The Royal Canadian Artillery:
12th Field Regiment
13th Field Regiment
14th Field Regiment
3rd Anti-Tank Regiment
4th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers:
3rd Field Park Company
6th Field Company
16th Field Company
18th Field Company
7th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Royal Winnipeg Rifles
Regina Rifle Regiment
1st Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment
8th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada
Le Régiment de la Chaudière
North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment
9th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
Highland Light Infantry of Canada
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
North Nova Scotia Highlanders
4TH CANADIAN ARMOURED DIVISION
29th Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment
(South Alberta Regiment)
10th Canadian Independent MG Company
(New Brunswick Rangers
)
Lake Superior Regiment (Motor)
Royal Canadian Artillery:
15th Field Regiment
23rd Field Regiment (Self-Propelled)
5th Anti-Tank Regiment
4th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Royal Canadian Corps of Engineers:
6th Field Park Squadron
8th Field Squadron
9th Field Squadron
4th Canadian Armoured Brigade:
21st Armoured Regiment (Governor General’s Foot Guards)
22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards)
23rd Armoured Regiment (British Columbia Regiment)
10th Canadian Armoured Brigade:
Lincoln and Welland Regiment
Algonquin Regiment
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada
5TH CANADIAN ARMOURED DIVISION
3rd Canadian Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment
(Governor General’s Horse Guards)
11th Independent Machine Gun Company
(Princess Louise Fusiliers)
Westminster Regiment (Motor)
The Royal Canadian Artillery:
17th Field Regiment
8th Field Regiment (Self-Propelled)
4th Anti-Tank Regiment
5th Light Anti-Tank Regiment