# AND NO BIRDS SANG (Book Review)



## Danjanou (4 Sep 2003)

Farley Mowat is one of Canada’s most well known authors. For over half a century his autobiographical tales and adventures have thrilled and educated more than one generation of readers. An ecologist and nature lover long before such things became fashionable he has travelled over much of the globe and thoughtfully chose to record his voyages and experiences and thus allow us the reader to share his journeys. 

With And No Birds Sang he once takes us on a journey, but this time of a highly different nature. We travel into the deepest reaches of his soul, and at a time when it and he was most troubled. This book is his personal account of his service during the Second World War. 

Mowat earlier penned The Regiment, the official history of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment Infantry Regiment he served with World War. It is a well-written work, more readable in many respects than many official histories of other units. 

In it though he barely glossed over his own contributions. He served initially as an intelligence officer, then a rifle platoon commander, and then once more as an intelligence officer during the Italian campaign. With this work he rectifies that omission. 

In 1939 Mowat like many of his generation was an idealistic young man eager to join the war effort and do his part. What comes across is a man who is part patriotic and wants to do his “bit” for King and Country, but also more of a restless person who sees the war as some sort of adventure. With the naivety of youth Mowat and his contemporaries treat it as some sort of boyish lark, and fail to recognize that war is a messy business and that men, including possibly themselves may be injured or killed. initially. 

Much of the early parts of the book deal with his frustration at the delays in first joining the army and then getting posted overseas to join his unit in England. To Mowat the worse fear is that the war will be over before he gets a chance to join in. 

Even during the first actions, the invasion of Sicily this boyish sense of adventure carries over. It is only when his men start becoming casualties, the men he’s trained with and grown to know, that one starts to see a change in the young Mowat. 

Throughout the book we are treated to some typical Mowat adventures and exploits. All presented with the wry Mowat sense of humour. During training in England he is sent off on a Forward Air Controllers course. Later on exercise he is given a squadron of Spitfires to “play with” calling in air strikes on the “enemy.” When he spots a collection of staff cars he gleefully calls in a an air strike on what he presumes is a collection of “brass hats.” Only later does he discover that he has just ordered an attack on the King of England who was visiting the training exercise. The brass hats, Mowat notes were not amused. 

During the invasion of Sicily, Mowat is the lead landing craft for his unit. Due to a navigation error they land miles away from the rest of the invasion force. The first day of the invasion they wander around the Sicilian countryside fighting their own little private war, searching for both an elusive enemy and their own army. 

In the early stages of the Italian campaign Mowat and another soldier are sent out ahead of the advancing Canadian troops on a motorcycle to scout the area. They accidentally run into an entire Italian Division encamped in the mountains. Rather than surrender they bluff the10,000 odd Italians into surrendering to them. Then Mowat unofficially drafts all the Italians trucks and their drivers into the Canadian Army so his can unit can ride rather than walk. 

By the time the First Canadian Division finds involved in the bloody battles of the Moro River and Ortona in the winter of 1943 that the change is complete. Gone is the idealistic adventurous young man who cheerfully joined up in 1939 to do his part and maybe have some fun. In his place is a weary cynical and very fearful survivor who has watched too many of his friends fall around him. 

It is here that the book ends, rather suddenly and inconclusively with a shell shocked and tired Mowat evacuated from the muddy battlefield that has claimed so many friends, all characters we’ve been introduced to in the book. Mowat briefly states that after this battle he was promoted and transferred to a staff job at Brigade Headquarters. The rest of the war he suggests for him passed without significant incident. This is why he states he has chosen to end his memoirs at this point. 

This sudden inconclusive ending though almost seems to suggest that the character/narrator has himself become a fatal casualty. In many cases that is true. Mowat would survive the war and some minor physical wounds aside, come out unscathed. Some integral part of him tough died on that battlefield, part of his soul. 

Growing up like so many others I read many of Mowat’s books. Through the pages I was transported to far off lands and was allowed to join in on many of his trips and adventures. Just this once I wish that he had not had to make this journey.


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