Tag Archives: Legion Magazine

The last of the U-boats is scuttled

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An item from the Legion Magazine.
Weekly Feature
Weekly Feature

Wilhelm Bauer (U-2540) is on display at the Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, Germany. In 1983, it was restored to its original Second World War configuration and is the only floating example of a Type XXI U-boat. [Wikimedia]

The last of the U-boats is scuttled

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

On Feb. 12, 1946, U-3514 was sunk off the coast of Northern Ireland in Operation Deadlight, meant to ensure elimination of the German submarine fleet after the war.

The sub was sunk at 10:04 a.m. by ship guns and depth charges, the last of 116 scuttled by the Royal Navy.

In anticipation of the end of the war in early May 1945, German U-boat captains began scuttling their own boats, preventing an estimated 200 from falling into the hands of the Allies. On May 4, the German Navy ordered all U-boats to go to ports in Norway. On May 8, there were 156 still afloat.

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On War: Exploring why and how we fight
The Briefing
The Briefing

Second World War veteran George Beardshaw is believed to be the last living British Home Child. [St. Joseph’s Health Care London]

A WW II rifleman remembers

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

George Beardshaw no longer recalls the dates, but he retains the memories. A proud 102-year-old Canadian veteran of the Second World War, he was born in Yorkshire, England, on Sept. 14, 1923. The story of how he came to serve Canada, however, isn’t a strictly happy one, having been one of some 100,000 adolescent Britons, mostly of orphaned or impoverished backgrounds, sent to the dominion between the 1860s and the 1940s as part of the Home Children scheme.

Many, including Beardshaw, endured considerable hardship in rural households. Some even experienced exploitation and abuse by their Canadian foster families.

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Email sent to: mkbarbour@gmail.com

Canvet Publications Ltd.
86 Aird Place |
Kanata, Ontario | K2L 0A1 | Canada |
1-844-602-5737 | 613-591-0116 | magazine@legion.ca

Canada’s connections to the F-35

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An item from the Legion Magazine.
Weekly Feature
Weekly Feature

F-35A, the variant Canada is purchasing, flys from Eielson, Alaska, to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in 2018. [Darin Russell/Lockheed Martin]

Canada’s connections to the F-35

STORY BY AARON KYLIE

“We are full steam ahead…focused on making sure we’ve got the infrastructure, the pilots, the training in place for the arrival of those F-35s,” Deputy Defence Minister Stefanie Beck told a House of Commons committee in early October 2025.

Despite more recent media speculation that Canada may abandon its $27.7 billion purchase of 88 of the fighter jets from U.S. defence company Lockheed Martin—seemingly sparked by mid-November discussions with Swedish government officials related to general military co-operation and the country’s Gripen aircraft built by Saab—details suggest the initial tranche of F-35s are still set to arrive as scheduled in 2028.

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Canada's Ultimate Story
The Briefing
The Briefing

Australian arimen attend a training school in Saskatchewan in 1942. [Australian War Memorial]

Historian Karl James on the Australian-Canadian wartime bond

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

“In Australia, just as in Canada,” explained Karl James, head of military history at the Australian War Memorial, “there has been much political and popular discussion surrounding the stability and reliability of our great and powerful allies. Many of the assumptions and defence assurances that the western Allies have taken for granted in the years since the Second World War are being tested.”

The author and editor cited the works of his Canadian colleagues, Marc Milner’sSecond Front (2025) and the late Tim Cook’s The Good Allies (2024), as prime examples of recent discourse on such topics, notably within the context of Canada’s relationship with the U.S. and U.K.

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Email sent to: mkbarbour@gmail.com

Canvet Publications Ltd.
86 Aird Place |
Kanata, Ontario | K2L 0A1 | Canada |
1-844-602-5737 | 613-591-0116 | magazine@legion.ca