The Cinderella Campaign: First Canadian Army and the Battles for the Channel Ports

by Mark Zuehlke

They thought of themselves as the "Cinderella Army," and international correspondents agreed. This was because First Canadian Army had been relegated to the left flank of the Allied advance toward Germany from the Normandy beaches and given the tough, thankless task of opening the Channel ports from Le Havre to Ostend in Belgium. Then suddenly in early September 1944, securing these ports became an Allied priority, as this would allow Field Marshal Montgomery to drive to the Rhine with Operation Market Garden and win the war before Christmas.

Given only scant access to the Allied supply chain, the Canadians and their British partners in I Corps tackled the task assigned. Just getting to the ports proved a terrific undertaking fought against brutal German resistance. And once there, they faced fortresses that had been prepared for years to defeat an attack. "Lost outposts," the Allies called them, but the Germans within were not going to give up easily. And so over the month of September, the Canadians set about fighting for control of each port, scrambling for supplies while under constant military pressure to get those ports open now. For Canada this was the Cinderella Campaign, the battle for the Channel ports. For those who fought it, the sacrifice of comrades dead and wounded would never be forgotten.

Genres: History, Canada, World War II, Military Fiction

512 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2017

About the author

On January 1, 1981, Mark Zuehlke walked away from a journalism career to pursue magazine and book writing fulltime. He has never looked back. In 1992, Mark published his first book—Magazine Writing From the Boonies (co-authored with Louise Donnelly)—and now concentrates almost exclusively on writing of books.

Fascinated by Canada’s military heritage, Mark first set to writing about the role Canadians played in World War II after discussing the Battle of Ortona with several veterans in a Royal Canadian Legion following a Remembrance Day Ceremony in Kelowna, B.C. Discovering no book had been written on this pivotal battle, Mark decided to fill that gap. Ortona: Canada’s Epic World War II Battle was the result. The book’s success encouraged him to develop The Canadian Battle Series, which documents the Canadian World War II experience and has resulted in his being declared by Jack Granatstein as the nation’s leading popular military historian.

Mark is also an award winning mystery writer, whose popular Elias McCann series has garnered much critical praise. Set in storm-swept west coast Vancouver Island village of Tofino, the series follows the investigations of reluctant community coroner Elias McCann. Hands Like Clouds, the debut title in this series, won the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for the 2000 Best First Novel and the third instalment, Sweep Lotus, was nominated for the 2004 Arthur Ellis Best Novel.

When not writing, this Victoria, British Columbia resident can often be found tinkering around the Fernwood heritage house he shares with partner and fellow writer Frances Backhouse. He enjoys hiking, backpacking, cycling, kayaking, travelling, and cooking.

Reviews

[Mark Adkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cinderella Campaign tells the history of the First Canadian Army and its mission to clear the channel ports in September 1944. After the successful D-Day landing the Allies pushed forwarded into Normandy and were able to push the Germans back. Unfortunately to continue to fight the Germans and advance inland required a lot of supplies and the Normandy dock was not able to sustain the advance. To rectify the problem the other ports along the channel cost had to be opened. This task was given to the First Canadian Army.

The author Mark Zuehike took what is sometimes just a footnote or a paragraph in most history books and researched and fleshed out the information into an informative book on a relatively forgotten portion on World War Two.

Like the other books in the Canadian Battle Series the author goes into the background for the campaign, in this case the rivalry between British and American Generals (and Canadian Generals) and using first hand accounts explains the battles that occurred during the campaign.

If you are a fan of military history in particular Canadian Military history then this book is highly recommended. Oh, if you are wondering where the title "Cinderella Campaign" came from it is from the classic fairly tale. The Canadian soldiers thought of themselves like Cinderella, overworked and unappreciated while America and Britain were the two step-sisters getting all the glory and good tasks.

[IanW · Rating 4 out of 5]

The twelfth book of the Canadian Battle series by Mark Zuehlke. If you want the big picture on First Canadian army’s WW2 Channel ports liberation campaign in France along with all the details of the assaults in liberating the ports and major gun batteries that used to shell Dover across the Channel this is well worth your time. While there are numerous books on everything the Americans and Brits did in the war, Zuehlke to the best of my knowledge, is the only author to take on the challenge of writing extensively about the Canadian army in WW2. All his works on the subject are well researched and easy to follow (with numerous battle maps) even if you have no military experience. He Provides the reader with insight into what challenges the Canadian brass had to deal with in dealing with Field Marshal Montgomery and in the next instance we learn how a corporal earned a medal! His books are a fine tribute to the Canadian army that acquitted itself so well and was well regarded by liberated civilians and generally all that fought alongside and against them.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another great volume in Zuehlke's Canadian Battle series (#12) on the Canadian Army's actions in Europe in WW2. It focuses on the capture of the English Channel ports of Dunkirk, Calais, Cap Gris Nez and Calais (actually mostly a British action), as well as the move from closing the Falaise Gap to the Seine at Rouen. These battles were a "sideshow" to Monty's push to the Rhine, that included the disastrous Op Market Garden, but he Canadians fought bravely (as always), and generally smartly. So many Germans realized that they had been left behind and encircled that surrenders were rampant. As with all of Zuehlke's books in this series, I found it very useful to scan the maps at the front as .jpg's, crop the scan, and print them out, so one is not constantly flipping to match units and places to the text.

[T. Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written book in which Mark Zuehlke has used a myriad of sources to clearly and fully explain the story of the liberation of the channel ports.

[Tim Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark is the best writer I have read in a long time that captures our Canadian WW2 experience in amazing detail, right down to unit actions. His whole series is a must read for all Canadians.