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jeffnoakes.bsky.social
Jeff Noakes
@jeffnoakes.bsky.social
320 followers 290 following 88 posts
Historian, among other things. Posts are my own, unless otherwise stated.
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jeffnoakes.bsky.social
80 years ago #OTD (1 Nov 45), this German Molch submarine, now at the Canadian War Museum, left Antwerp aboard the Montreal-bound Dutch freighter Blommersdijk. Also aboard were Farley Mowat, who commanded the 1st Canadian War Museum Collection Team, and Roy Weatherdon, one of its members.
(1/3)
Colour image of a three-quarter view of a black-hulled miniature submarine, pointing towards the viewer. A small conning tower and periscope are visible towards its rear, on the right. A silver bomb-shaped variable depth sonar is in the right background. A horizontal red cylinder near centre is the pulse-jet engine of a piloted V-1 cruise missile.
November 1, 2025 at 4:16 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
For those who might be interested, I'll be moderating a webinar on Canada and Iceland during the world wars on 12 November. It examines the cooperation and collaborations undertaken between Iceland and Canada during both conflicts. Free registration here: www.eventbrite.ca/e/canada-and...
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Canada and Iceland in WW1 and WW2
The webinar will shed light on the cooperation and collaborations undertaken between Iceland & Canada during World War I and World War II
www.eventbrite.ca
October 31, 2025 at 1:19 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
I'm devastated by today's news. Tim has been a colleague and friend for nearly 20 years. It's a profound loss for his family, friends, and colleagues, and for everyone else whose lives he's touched through his research, publications, mentorship, and many contributions to the Canadian War Museum.
Tim Cook, chief historian at Canadian War Museum, dies at 54 | CBC News
Tim Cook, the chief historian at the Canadian War Museum and the country’s “pre-eminent military historian,” has died, the museum announced Sunday.
www.cbc.ca
October 27, 2025 at 1:12 AM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
#OTD 82 years ago (22 October 1943): German sub U-537 arrived at Martin Bay in northern Nunatsiavut/Labrador, & installed automated weather station WFL-26, aka "Kurt". It functioned for a short time before it stopped transmitting. Recovered in 1981, it's now at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Black and white photograph showing the silhouette of a submarine (U-537) in a bay. Snow covered hills are in the background. Source: George Metcalf Archival Collection, Canadian War Museum 20030149-001_2 Black and white photograph showing the after deck of U-537 as seen from the conning tower. An officer is in the foreground. In the background, sailors stand on the deck with two inflatable rubber boats. Source: George Metcalf Archival Collection, Canadian War Museum 20030149-001_3 Retouched black and white photograph showing Kurt after installation. Dark-coloured vertical metal cylinders, a tall antenna, and a shorter pole with weather-measuring instruments are visible against a snow-covered background. Source: George Metcalf Archival Collection, Canadian War Museum 20030149-001_5 Colour photograph of the restored Kurt weather station at the Canadian War Museum, showing a series of vertical dark metal cylinders with irregular white painted markings. One cylinder is painted grey. The station's antenna is just left of centre. Other artifacts and parts of the museum are in the background.
October 22, 2025 at 10:25 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
On around this day in 1950 US and/or Republic of Korea forces located Soviet torpedoes near the airfield at Wŏnsan, North Korea. This is possibly one; it was captured in the area, after which it ultimately came to the Canadian War Museum. Find out more here: tnm.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/de...
The torpedo on display in the Canadian War Museum courtyard at 330 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, July 1998. Colour photograph shows the torpedo with a red warhead (left) and silver metal body, lying horizontally on a series of stands. Various booths and a stone wall with windows are visible in the background. Credit: Canadian War Museum, CWM2023-0015-0001-N
October 20, 2025 at 2:13 AM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
104 years ago yesterday, 17 October 1921: second race of the elimination trials to select Nova Scotia's contender for the International Fishermen's Trophy. Photos taken by C.H.J. Snider aboard the victorious #Bluenose during the race, Archives of Ontario F1194-4
View of sailors on the slanting deck of a schooner, facing away from the viewer. Rigging is visible beyond them. Upper caption: Scenes in Race that settled Nova Scotia Championship, Oct. 17, 1921. Lower caption: "Ready About!" - Passing the balloon-sheet. View of men in dark clothes and caps sitting on a hatch. A mast and a boom are behind them, along with sailors on the deck in the background. Caption: "Happy on the hatch."
October 18, 2025 at 11:04 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
Why yes, I am editing an article and trying without success to comment on a footnote.
(If memory serves, back in the days of Clippy it was possible to do this.)
Image of Clippy, the former Microsoft desktop assistant, who took the form of a paperclip with eyes, against a backdrop of a yellow piece of paper. Speech bubble says "It looks like you're trying to comment on a footnote." Yes and no options are available.
September 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
I'll join others in sharing this wonderful story. In the early 1980s, listening to Tom Lehrer at a family friend's house was part of my introduction to Cold War culture in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result, it's also partly to blame for some of my historical interests and research. So long, Tom.
July 29, 2025 at 3:15 AM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
#OTD 80 years ago (18-19 July 1945): Bedford Magazine explosion destroyed much of site, killing 1. Parts of Halifax were evacuated amid fears of larger explosions. Albert Cloutier's watercolour view from Dartmouth shows 1st blast. Canadian War Museum 19710261-1757. #CanadianHistory #NavalHistory
A watercolour painting showing person in foreground with wharf and boats to the left. Hill in middle distance in right. In the background, a large mushroom cloud rises up into the sky, with a dark cloud at the top. Inscription bottom right: "Halifax Explosion - 18 July. The first blast 6:37 PM. Cloutier, Dartmouth." Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, Canadian War Museum 19710261-1757.
July 18, 2025 at 11:11 AM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
1/11: A thread: photos of Canadian war artist Alex Colville, spotted during research. #MilHist #History #ArtHistory #WarArt #CdnHist. Library and Archives Canada, Army Album 88 of 110, page 78; Colville also appears elsewhere, (page 14), as do other artists: central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?ap...
Group of four black and white photographs (2 over 2) showing Canadian military personnel in uniforms in a wooded location, looking at artwork held by artist Alex Colville. Library and Archives Canada, Army Numerical photos 47963-47966, North West Europe, Album 88 of 110, page 78
July 5, 2025 at 3:07 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
For those who have ever wondered what part of the contents of Second World War emergency rations in Royal Canadian Navy lifeboats and life rafts looked like. These were in the larger grey metal boxes, along with tins of water and packages of biscuits. #NavalHistory #CanadianHistory
Colour photograph of a gold-coloured tin on the left and an opened tin with contents of biscuits and tablets on the right. Label on tin reads: "FOOD CONTAINER" CONTENTS 12 BISCUIT RATION 2 CHOCOLATE RATION 12 MILK CHOCOLATE TABLET RATION. THIS IS CONCENTRATED FOOD & SHOULD BE EATEN SLOWLY. PROCESSED BY W. CLARK LIMITED MONTREAL, CANADA R.C.N.- G.S.W. 45 Label on contents reads: Ration Biscuits Processed by HARRISON BROTHERS LIMITED, Montreal
May 29, 2025 at 11:33 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
At the 35th Canadian Military History Colloquium, with @normagraham.bsky.social talking about “From Varsity to Wismar: 1 Can Para and the Race to the Baltic”. #milhist #cdnhist #CanadianHistory #sww #ww2 #wwii
Colour photograph of @normagraham.bsky.social at left and a screen with a presentation at right, against a green wall.
May 9, 2025 at 7:35 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
In Waterloo, @wilfridlaurieruni.bsky.social, for the 35th Canadian Military History Colloquium, talking about one of the all-too-frequent hospital ship and train returns of Canadians from overseas during the Second War. More info studyofcanada.ca/events/confe... #milhist #History #CanadianHistory
Black and white photograph looking down on people carrying a wounded person off the hospital ship Lady Nelson on a stretcher at middle left. At top, a row of people leaning on a railing look down at the scene. Source: Ingenium Archives, CN Images of Canada Collection, X-17122, http://collection.ingeniumcanada.org/en/id/X-17122/
May 9, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by Jeff Noakes
therundowntvo.bsky.social
"Canada is fundamentally transformed by the Second World War," says Tim Cook (Canadian War Museum) author of "The Good Allies." At 8/11pm with Margaret MacMillan, author of "War," and @jeffnoakes.bsky.social, author of "Forged in Fire," and @spaikin.bsky.social #veday80
May 8, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Jeff Noakes
therundowntvo.bsky.social
"A third world war would be catastrophic in a way that even the first two world wars weren't." On the 80th anniversary of VE Day, @spaikin.bsky.social speaks with historians Margaret MacMillan, and the Canadian War Museum's Tim Cook and @jeffnoakes.bsky.social on learning from the past.
May 8, 2025 at 5:11 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
Foundation Pilot, Georges Island, and Siem Confucius with Atlantic Cedar and Atlantic Ash in the distance, Kjipuktuk/Halifax, 12 March 2025.
Colour photograph of a yellow and white pilot boat in left foreground on blue water. Green and brown island in middle distance, with white lighthouse on the middle right. Rectangular white ship in right distance.
March 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Jeff Noakes
postwarhist.bsky.social
Pleased to see my new piece, "Together Apart: Commonwealth Korean War Dead" has now been published online with the International History Review! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Together Apart: Commonwealth Korean War Dead
The Korean War forced new, at times improvised, arrangements upon the units contributing to the United Nations defence of South Korea. The rapid deployment of Commonwealth units, paired with early ...
www.tandfonline.com
February 21, 2025 at 2:25 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
A post of mine published today as part of Library and Archives Canada Blog's Black Porter Perspectives series, using a photograph of porter Jean-Napoléon Maurice and Private Clarence Towne as an entry to archival resources (1/5):

thediscoverblog.com/2025/02/18/b...

#BlackHistoryMonth #CdnHist
Black and white photograph of a porter (on the right, with white jacket and dark cap) leaning over to light the cigarette of a patient lying in the bed on the left. Image source: Library and Archives Canada, e011871941.
February 18, 2025 at 10:39 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
An article on the complex history of a Soviet torpedo at the Canadian War Museum, including its connections to the Korean War and early Cold War mine warfare, for the Canadian Nautical Research Society’s journal Northern Mariner: #NavalHistory #CdnHist (1/6): tnm.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/de...
The torpedo on display in the Canadian War Museum courtyard at 330 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, July 1998. Colour photograph shows the torpedo with a red warhead (left) and silver metal body, lying horizontally on a series of stands. Various booths and a stone wall with windows are visible in the background. Credit: Canadian War Museum, CWM2023-0015-0001-N
January 24, 2025 at 8:49 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
Ferry CRAIG BLAKE and Georges Island, Halifax/Kjipuktuk, 31 December 2024.

A Happy New Year to all celebrating tonight (or who are already celebrating in 2025, depending on time zones), and best wishes for the year to come.
Colour photograph of grey misty sky over grey and silver water. Ferry CRAIG BLAKE at left, and Georges Island on the right.
January 1, 2025 at 12:09 AM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
I believe this counts as officially out of the office for the holidays.
Colour photograph of a person in dark clothes with a backpack and hiking poles. A dog with a coat on a leash is in the foreground. Snow-covered trees are in the background, which has a view over other mountains and a sunset in the sky. (On Cascade Mountain, in the Adirondacks.)
December 23, 2024 at 2:31 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
So, this is what happens when a large number of people are allowed to pick and choose the Quality Street that they prefer at a bulk food store. A pattern may be emerging.
Colour photograph of the bottom of a bin of formerly mixed Quality Street. Most of the remaining items are in yellow wrappers. Most of those are the toffee coins that the customers at this store would appear not to like. This presumes a relatively random distribution of types to begin with, of course.
December 21, 2024 at 2:18 AM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
Just out, in time for weekend or holiday reading: article written with colleague Marie-Louise Deruaz about a recent-ish project - "Little Ship, Big Screen: Animating the Battle of the Atlantic at the Canadian War Museum":

scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol33/is...

#NavalHistory #CdnHist #MaritimeHistory
Colour computer-generated image of a Canadian corvette (small warship) at night on a calm sea, moving from left to right towards the viewer. There is a bow wave and wake in the water, and light-coloured smoke emerging from the ship's smokestack.
December 19, 2024 at 9:40 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
Since today’s International Mountain Day, here’s Mount Lawrence Grassi, seen while on the way from Ha Ling Peak to Miner’s Peak, just under a month ago. (Historian connection: this was a day hike after a conference in Calgary, squeezed in before the flight home.)
Colour photograph of a mountain peak, with partial snow in the foreground and on the peak itself. The sun is just right of centre in a partly cloudy sky. The photograph does not effectively depict the wind.
December 11, 2024 at 9:20 PM
jeffnoakes.bsky.social
For those who might be interested, here’s colleague Grant Vogl and me talking about one of the better-known artifacts at the Canadian War Museum:
How did Hitler’s car end up in Ottawa? | This is Ottawa | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen
If you round a corner at the Canadian War Museum, you’ll come across an imposing black armoured car. It belonged to none other than Adolf Hitler. How on earth did one of Hitler’s cars end up in Ottawa...
www.cbc.ca
December 11, 2024 at 5:08 PM