August 12, 1944 (19th Parliament, 5th Session)

Mr. DUPUIS:

The Canadian people have
one corps, the second Canadian corps, on the western front. On the western front the United States have four armies and the French have one army. That is the picture of the western front. According to the population of the British isles, which is 47 million, on the basis of one-half there should be twenty-two divisions of men in the army, excluding the air force and the navy. To divide that number again we would have eleven divisions in Asia and eleven in Europe.
I think we can safely conclude that our manpower behind the front line is quite strong to-day," and it is much stronger when we consider the strength of the United States. Continental United States has a population of 132 million. Dividing that by two gives sixty-six divisions which should make up the armed forces of the United States. We have been told, I suppose because of their fear of the enemy, that the United States expect to have [DOT] seventy divisions on the western front in the near future, but to-day there are only four United States armies in the front line. It means that behind the line there is the potential man-power of the armed forces of our allies, which I am sure should relieve a little bit the anxiety which has been purposely created in order to stir up prejudice in this country. What are the facts about the infantry strength of the allied nations?