Selected Bibliography and a Note on Sources

The fullest account of the 8th New Brunswick Hussars from its origins through to the Cold War remains Douglas How’s The 8th Hussars: A History of the Regiment (Sussex, NB: Maritime Publishing, 1964). How’s service as war correspondent in Italy, his research on Hussar foundations in the Sussex area, and his postwar interviews with returning veterans are woven into an extraordinary story of a New Brunswick institution. In 1973, the regiment followed up How’s work and published A Pictorial History of the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s), edited by E.D. Crook and J.K. Marteinson. In addition, two well-known members of the regiment published small memoirs of their wartime experience. Copies of H.R.S. “Tim” Ellis’s This Hussar Remembers are available through the Regimental Kit Shop. Copies of Hunter Dunn’s 2005 self-published Memoirs of a World War II Armoured Officer are tougher to find. Those interested in Canadian tank and armoured units can find more in The Royal Canadian Armoured Corps: An Illustrated History, by John Marteinson and Michael R. McNorgan (Toronto: Robin Bass, 2000). The best book on Canada’s campaigns in the Mediterranean Theatre remains G.W.L. Nicholson’s The Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War, vol. 2, The Canadians in Italy, 1943-45 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956). William McAndrew’s Canadians and the Italian Campaign 1943 to 1945 (Montreal: Art Global, 1996) is a more readily available work. Unfortunately, the story of the 8th Hussars specifically or of Allied armour more generally does not feature prominently in these broad accounts. Indeed, the story of how Canadian and other Allied soldiers solved the problem of Italy’s unforgiving terrain to accomplish their strategic diversion mission has yet to be fully told.

All quotations featured in this book come from Douglas How’s regimental history, Hunter Dunn’s memoir, or from personal accounts written by Tim Ellis and others for the unit’s newsletter Sabertache. A few also come from a lengthy interview with Ellis conducted by the author in 2009.