Posted by Michael A. Dorosh from Canada on April 04, 2021 at 12:30:09:
In Reply to: Re: The Second World War was won by Militia soldiers posted by djpearson on April 02, 2021 at 04:12:07:
Obviously, the majority of soldiers in the three wars you mention were civilians at the outset of hostilities. But their officers and NCOs would have been a mix of regulars and militiamen. Had Canada not had a Militia, the quality of her forces in any of those conflicts would have been much lower, in my opinion, though that is certainly debatable.
Simonds was the best general we had in WWII, and he was a prewar regular, as was Crerar. Hoffmeister is usually held up as an example of a militia officer who made it. But you can also look at ELM Burns as an example of a not very good general officer (at least not a good divisional or corps commander), he too was a prewar regular.
In the final analysis, the Canadian Army in WWII was lucky to have several years of training before getting into the fight, and by then the militia, PF and civilian status of its troops had largely been washed away, or at least it didn't count for much in action. Not like the British Army, where at El Alamein a prewar cavalry officer refused support from an artillery battery, loftily declaring "We only accept support from the Royal HORSE Artillery."