Canadian Army Officer Discipline and Martial Justice, 1944–45

Presented by Matthew Barrett, Canadian War Museum.

Of all the stories from Normandy during the hard fighting of summer 1944 few were stranger than the experience of Lieutenant Reginald Woods of the Lake Superior Regiment. After his platoon came under German attack on 17 August, Woods vanished. When he suddenly re-emerged two months later claiming amnesia Canadian military authorities needed to grapple with assumptions about combat leadership, mental responsibility and criminal culpability. Using an illustrated, graphic history approach, Matthew Barrett explores Woods’ medical diagnosis and eventual court martial to highlight the challenges of uncovering what happened and piercing through the fog of war. Using Woods’ fascinating story as a case study, this talk examines the topic of officer discipline more broadly to study the legal, medical, and administrative responses to perceived misconduct and failure on the battlefield.

Hosted by the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and in partnership with the Canadian Battlefields Foundation and the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society, the Juno Beach Centre Association is pleased to announce the Maple Leaf Route Webinar Series. Every two weeks from May to September, we will be following Canadian and British Commonwealth soldiers as they landed on D-Day in June 1944 and fought their way inland at the Battle of Normandy.

Registration is FREE and required for all webinars. For more information or to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3516190387595/WN_wGlQEfXOR0CX6VjX_0dLJg

Wednesday, 11 August 2021 @ 19:00 EDT