Tom Wood's work depicts sailors in the corvette HMCS Drumheller pouring over a map of the Allied advance into France in August 1944.

The crew of Drumheller would have taken a particular interest in these events. Their ship was one of 19 Canadian corvettes to support the D-Day landings in Normandy, escorting ships across the English Channel and patrolling off the invasion areas. Mines and submarines made these duties hazardous; on 21 August, German submarine U-480 torpedoed the corvette HMCS Alberni, which sank quickly with the loss of 59 crew.

Amateur Strategists in the Channel
Painted by Tom Wood in 1944
Beaverbrook Collection of War Art
CWM 19710261-4837