Celebrants reflect an air of joyous optimism on New Year’s Eve 1945.

A Happy New Year 1945

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

While Allied troops fought hunger, bitter cold and advancing German forces in the forests of Belgium, a Movietone News reel appeared in North American theatres declaring the new year of 1945 “V-Year…the year of final victory.”

Indeed, things were looking up. U.S., British and Canadian forces had pulled off history’s largest seaborne invasion in June 1944, taken back France by Aug. 30, and liberated the Scheldt, securing access to the critical port of Antwerp, by November.

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Military historian David Borys specialized in studying the Canadian war experience and hosts the “Curious Canadian History” podcast. [David Borys]

Punching Above Our Weight: David Borys on the Canadian military’s evolution

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

David Borys, a Canadian military historian and faculty member at Vancouver’s Langara College, has released a new book entitled Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867. The tome charts the evolution of the Canadian armed forces from the country’s first post-Confederation conflicts to the world wars and beyond. Renowned historian J.L. Granatstein called the book “quick paced, well-researched, and well-illustrated.”

Borys spoke to Legion Magazine about writing it.

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