[Ed Storey]

Roger, glad to see that you have added to the post. I have been waiting to see who would write in with an answer to the Sexton/Priest question as I knew this was documented in 'Canada's Pride'; but apparently only the two of us own a copy of the book.

I read 'Stopping the Panzers' over the holiday season and I thought it was a good read. What I have noticed from this book is that as mainstream Canadian historians break out of the mould of writing about large scale military actions and delve more deeply into smaller unit actions; just how unfamiliar they are with the technology and materiel culture of the period. It is easy to dismiss technology or materiel culture as topics for the ‘enthusiast’ or ‘buff’; but this thread has pointed out the very valid question of asking why the British were using the Ram and the Canadians the Priest, yet this was not addressed at all in the book. I think any author familiar with either weapons system would have at least footnoted the answer in the book.

I looked through the selected bibliography and noted that not one technical manual or commercial publication was listed. Now perhaps these books were omitted as the list was too lengthy, but again for a book that relies quite a bit on technology and materiel culture I was disappointed that nothing was provided. Given the fact that throughout the book every German SP is called a `Wespe`, that the German Pz Kpfw IIIs and IVs are called Mk III and Mk IV and the No.4 Mk I* Lee Enfield is called a Mk IV Rifle, I think that perhaps more of the `enthusiast` or `buff`` publications should have been consulted.

I also kind of feel sorry for any reader who picks up this book but is not familiar with the technology. Again, mainstream historians do not seem to realize that if you mention a weapons system or a piece of equipment, that a brief note about the item and a photograph would be a great help to those less familiar with the item in understanding what exactly it is. From what I read in the newspaper, many Canadians have a difficult time identifying or naming our first Prime Minister; how many know what a Sherman tank or a Porpoise is?

I enjoyed the book and the thesis that it was based on, I just thought that more attention to the details was required.