Commanding Canadians

Book excerpt: Commander A.F.C. Layard, RN, wrote almost daily in his diary, in bold, neat script, from the time he entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1913 until his retirement in 1947. The pivotal 1943-45 years of this edited volume offer an extraordinarily full and honest chronicle, revealing Layard’s preoccupations, both with the daily details and with the strain and responsibility of wartime command at sea. Enhanced by Michael Whitby’s explanatory essays, the diary is a highly personal piece of history that greatly enhances our understanding of the Canadian naval experience and the Atlantic war as a whole.