The Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War was a three volume set of books, based on the wartime work of the Historical Section of the General Staff.
The Canadian Army had a dedicated set of officers in the Second World War who studied and recorded various facets of wartime history for posterity.
During the war, Colonel Charles Perry Stacey headed the overseas effort of chronicling the history of the army, and produced a large number of reports.
In a preliminary work of this sort documentation seemed unnecessary, though I noted in the preface that in many cases "the sources of quotations and statements made are identified in the text."
Nevertheless, I think, the book has not worn too badly, and while the person who wants a precise account of the Canadian army in the Second World War should read the three-volume history which we produced later, the old Summary still affords a fairly satisfactory bird's-eye view of the struggle and the achievement.
In Stacey's words: ...at least no one can take away from us the fact that we did publish a comprehensive short history of the Canadian army's part in the affair just three years after the last shot in Europe.
As it was, I felt, rightly or wrongly, that, while we had a number of excellent researchers in our postwar team, only Gerry Nicholson and I were equal to the task of writing a volume for publication.
The title was evocative of the contents; a history of the Canadian Army's organization and training in Canada, in Britain, and in the Pacific was given in simple prose, well researched and balanced.