Rum Ration

100 Years of the Royal Canadian Legion: Remembering the Dead, Serving the Living When Canadian soldiers returned home from the First World War, the cheering eventually stopped. But for thousands of veterans, the struggle to rebuild their lives was only beginning. In 2026, the Royal Canadian Legion celebrates its 100th anniversary. But how did a patchwork of veterans’ associations become one of Can...

What drives a young American barber to cross the border, enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and head overseas to fight a war his own country had not yet entered? In this episode of the Rum Ration Podcast, Rejoy and Colin follow the extraordinary story of Romeo Houle, a French-Canadian barber from New Bedford, Massachusetts who volunteered in Montreal in August 1914 because he “longed for...

Few fighter pilots have become legends quite like Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. In this episode of The Rum Ration Podcast, Rejoy and Colin look beyond the red triplane, the eighty victories, and the mythology to explore the methodical hunter, combat leader, wounded veteran, and propaganda icon behind the legend. They trace Richthofen’s journey from cavalry officer to Germany’s most famous...

In 1837, rebellion came to Vaudreuil—and suddenly the people on the other side weren’t foreign soldiers. They were neighbours. In this episode of the Rum Ration Podcast, Rejoy and Colin are joined by local historian Donald Simpson to explore the remarkable story of the Vaudreuil Loyal Volunteers. At their centre was John Augustus Mathison, a veteran of Trafalgar and the Napoleonic Wars who became...

In CE 9, three Roman legions marched into the forests of Germania—and disappeared. The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was more than a devastating military defeat: it was a masterclass in deception, intelligence failure, terrain, and the dangers of assuming conquered territory is truly under control. In this episode of The Rum Ration Podcast, Rejoy and Colin explore how Rome’s expansion east of the...

For more than three centuries, the rum ration was one of naval life’s most enduring traditions. In this episode of the Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin explore how rum went from a practical solution for life at sea to a cherished ritual known as “Up Spirits.” They trace its origins from Jamaica and Admiral Vernon’s infamous watered-down “grog” to the camaraderie, vocabulary, and shipboard culture that...

How did a country of just 11 million people become one of the world’s great wartime industrial powers? In this episode of the Rum Ration Podcast, Rejoy and Colin are joined by David Bensadoun, CEO of the ALDO Group and Honorary Colonel of The Royal Montreal Regiment, to explore the story of the Canadian Military Pattern truck. From Canada’s shaky industrial footing in 1939 to the “war of horsepowe...

On 19 August 1942, thousands of Canadian soldiers landed at Dieppe expecting a bold raid against occupied France. Instead, they found a killing ground. Poor intelligence, heavily fortified beaches, immobilized tanks and collapsing communications turned Operation Jubilee into one of Canada’s costliest days of the Second World War. In this episode of the Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin are joined by his...

Dunkirk is remembered as a miracle. St. Valery-en-Caux was the bitter sequel. In June 1940, the 51st Highland Division, fighting alongside French troops, was driven toward the Normandy coast as Rommel’s forces closed in. Their escape route through Le Havre collapsed, leaving thousands trapped in a small harbour town overlooked by cliffs, German artillery, machine guns, and armour. The Royal Navy m...

In August 1914, Russia’s Second Army marched into East Prussia expecting to help trap Germany’s outnumbered Eighth Army. Instead, it walked into one of the First World War’s most devastating encirclements. In this episode, Rejoy and Colin unpack the Battle of Tannenberg, where German railways, rapid concentration, intercepted Russian wireless messages, and bold command decisions collided with poor...

In 1942, with German U-boats ravaging Allied shipping in the North Atlantic, Britain faced a brutal problem: how to close the Mid-Atlantic Gap without enough steel to build more carriers. Enter Geoffrey Pyke, a brilliant and eccentric inventor with an idea so strange it almost worked—build a massive aircraft carrier out of ice. In this episode of The Rum Ration , Rejoy and Colin dive into Project...

On 1 July 1916, the British Army suffered the bloodiest day in its history as the Battle of the Somme opened beneath machine-gun fire, unbroken wire, and shattered expectations. Yet the Somme was more than one catastrophic morning. In this episode, Rejoy and Colin examine why the offensive was launched, how the crisis at Verdun reshaped Allied plans, and why citizen soldiers were asked to solve a...

What makes someone a soldier: the name on the muster roll, or the hardship they endured beside their comrades? In Episode 54 of The Rum Ration Podcast, Rejoy and Colin explore the remarkable stories of women who disguised themselves as men to serve as soldiers, sailors, surgeons, and cavalry troopers in worlds officially closed to them. Using Canadian-born Sarah Emma Edmonds—who served in the Amer...

In 1943, the Allies faced a problem: everyone knew Sicily was the obvious next target. To make Operation Husky succeed, British intelligence needed the Germans to believe the real invasion would strike somewhere else. Their solution was audacious, macabre, and almost absurd: take the body of Glyndwr Michael, create a fictional Royal Marine officer named Major William Martin, attach forged invasion...

Rejoy and Colin tackle one of the darkest questions in modern warfare in our latest episode of The Rum Ration Podcast: Can bombing civilians actually break a nation's will to fight? Beginning with Colin’s visit to the haunting ruins of Hamburg’s St. Nikolai Memorial and Rejoy’s experiences living in post-war Germany, this episode traces the evolution of strategic bombing from the Zeppelin raid...

In March 1919, long after the guns had fallen silent on the Western Front, nearly 20,000 Canadian soldiers found themselves trapped in another kind of battlefield: Kinmel Park, a bleak repatriation camp in North Wales. In this episode of The Rum Ration Podcast , Colin and Rejoy unpack the forgotten and deeply troubling story of the Kinmel Park Riots, where frustration, poor leadership, broken prom...

At 4:20 a.m. on August 8, 1918, the silence east of Amiens shattered. No warning bombardment. No days of shellfire. Just fog, fire, tanks, and thousands of Allied soldiers moving forward behind one of the most carefully coordinated assaults of the First World War. In this milestone 50th episode of The Rum Ration Podcast , hosts Rejoy Chatterjee and Colin Robinson dive into the opening day of the B...

In this episode of The Rum Ration, hosts Colin Robinson and Rejoy Chatterjee tackle one of the most controversial, brilliant, infuriating, and undeniably influential figures in Canadian military history: Sir Sam Hughes. Teacher, newspaper editor, politician, militia fanatic, and unapologetic brawler, Hughes helped build the Canadian Expeditionary Force at breakneck speed in 1914, turning the wilde...

On the latest episode of The Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin tackle one of military history’s most irresistible “what ifs”: what if Erwin Rommel had direct control of the German Panzer reserves on D-Day? Rather than drifting into fantasy, they ground the discussion in the hard realities of June 6, 1944: a fractured German command system, delayed decision-making, Allied air superiority, and the brutal...

In this episode of The Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin explore one of the darkest and least understood chapters of Canada’s First World War: the 25 Canadian soldiers executed by their own side, “shot at dawn.” Through the story of Private Fortunat Auger of The Royal Montreal Regiment, we examine the brutal logic of military discipline in trench warfare and the impossible strain placed on ordinary volu...

On this episode of The Rum Ration , Rejoy and Colin take listeners into the life and legend of Billy Bishop, Canada’s most famous and most controversial First World War air ace. Beginning with his dramatic final patrol over the Western Front on 19 June 1918, the episode explores both the astonishing exploits that made Bishop a national hero and the lingering questions that still surround his recor...

On this episode of The Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin take on one of the most revered and sobering subjects in British and Commonwealth military history: the Victoria Cross. Beginning with the astonishing story of Charles Upham, the only combat soldier to receive both a Victoria Cross and Bar in the same war, they explore what the VC is, why it was revolutionary, and why it still carries such weight....

In this episode of The Rum Ration, Colin and Rejoy explore the little-known story of the Canadian Berlin Battalion, a composite unit created to represent Canada in the Allied victory celebrations in Berlin in July 1945. Joined by historian Steven Bright, they unpack why this symbolic battalion mattered, how it was assembled from units across the Canadian Army, and what its presence said about Cana...

In this episode of The Rum Ration, Colin and Rejoy explore the story behind one of Canada’s most iconic wartime rifles: the Lee-Enfield No. 4. Joined by military industry researcher William Patterson, they look beyond the weapon itself to the vast Canadian supply chain that made it possible. From the rifle’s early roots in James Paris Lee’s design work to the industrial demands of the Second World...

In April 1951, the Korean War’s front lurches again as the Chinese Spring Offensive surges south and a South Korean division collapses, cracking the line. Suddenly, the narrow Kapyong Valley becomes the gate on the road toward Seoul. Two Commonwealth battalions are ordered to block it: the Australians of 3 RAR on Hill 504, and the Canadians of 2 PPCLI on Hill 677. When the Australians withdraw und...