Marc Milner’s Chapter, “No Ambush, No Defeat: The Advance of the Vanguard of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 7 June 1944” in Canada and the Second World War: Essays in Honour of Terry Copp rewrites the history of 9 Brigade on D-Day+1. The defeat of 9 Brigade has always been used a prime example of the flawed nature of Allied leadership and combat capability and proof of the superior fighting skill of German forces. Milner challenges this assessment, arguing “the vanguard of 9 Brigade fought an enemy at least three times its size to a standstill, and did so largely without the crucial component of Anglo-Canadian doctrine: artillery support…in the process 9 Brigade met and defeated a portion of the panzer forces that the 3rd Canadian Division had been tasked with destroying. So maybe 9 Brigade did all right on D+1 after all.”
In the copy-editing process Villons Les Buisson and Les Buisson were confused as a single place. This change was missed by the editors and the author in the final proofing. In the digital age, we can fortunately right that wrong by offering Milner’s chapter as a free .pdf download.
For those who haven’t purchased the book, this acts as a fantastic teaser and hopefully it inspires you to purchase the 21 chapter collection.