Showing posts with label Canadian Army. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canadian Army. Show all posts

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Tuesday, December 28, 1943. Battle of the Bay of Biscay.


The Battle of the Bay of Biscay was fought between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine. Numerically outmatched, two British light cruisers fought a destroyer and a torpedo boat flotilla of the German Kriegsmarine, the British sank the T26, T25 and the destroyer Z27.  The German contingent included a combined eleven destroyers and torpedo boats and had been intended to escort the blockade runner Alsterufer, which had been sunk the day prior.

Mickey Rooney visited the USS Intrepid.


Mickey Rooney on board USS Intrepid (CV 11), December 28, 1943.


The Australian Army prevailed in the Battle of the Pimple in New Guinea.

The Soviet Union began the forcible relocation of 100,000 Kalmyk's to Siberia, having abolished the Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic the prior day, as punishment for a Soviet conception that they had supported the Germans. Survivors were allowed to return in 1957 and the region granted autonomy again in 1958.

The Kalmyk's are the only traditionally Buddhist ethnic group in Europe, having relocated originally from Northern China.

The Battle of Ortuna ended in a Canadian victory.

U.S. Army Air Force pilot Lt. Douglas McDow and aviation cadet Clarence A. Thompson disappeared on a training mission after taking off from Douglas, Arizona.  The wreckage of their plane, and their remains, were not located until 1974.

Navy dance, Oregon.

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Thursday, December 23, 1943. Moving toward railroad seizure.

The Great Hall of Union Station, Toronto, Canada, December 23, 1943.

Three out of five railroad unions rejected Franklin Roosevelt's offer of arbitration in their wage dispute.

Accordingly, President Roosevelt ordered Attorney General Francis Biddle to being the process of seizing the railroads effective December 30.

The Red Army prevailed in the Battle of the Dnieper.

The Canadian 1st Division seized most of Ortona.  Other 8th Army elements captured Arielli.

The HMS Worcester hit a mine in the North Sea and was rendered a loss.

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Monday, December 20 1943. A chivalric act.

Luftwaffe Oberleutnant Franz Stigler, a combat veteran with 22 kills o his record, , escorted the heavily damaged Ameircan B-17 Ye Old Pub out of German airspace rather than shoot it down.

Franz Stigler.

Stigler had shot down two B-17s prior to this incident, but in lining up to shoot down the heavily damaged plane he noticed that its tail gunner took no effort to shoot at him and in flying closer he could see through holes in the fuselage that the aircrew were attempting to save the lives of wounded crewmates.  His commanding officer, Gustav Rödel, had earlier told his squadron that "If I hear of one of you shooting a man in a parachute, I'll shoot you myself!" and Stigler determined that this would have amounted to the same thing.  He motioned to the pilot, Charles Brown, to fly towards Sweden, but Brown didn't comprehend and instead kept on to the United Kingdom, and Stigler in turn escorted it out of German airspace.

Pilot Charles "Charlie" Brown.

Stigler kept the act to himself, as he would have been court martialed for it.  Brown did report the incident to his superiors, who kept it secret.  Brown's superiors had threatened his men if they landed in a neutral country.

Brown and Stigler met after the war many years later and became friends.  They both died in 2008.  Stigler, who didn't tell anyone of the incident until Brown revealed it many years later, immigrated to Canada and entered the lumber industry in Vancouver.  Brown retired from the Air Force in 1965.

The SS reported on requirements for invading Switzerland, which demonstrates how the tyrannical become delusional as their fortunes decline.

Canadian armor in Ortuna.

The Battle of Ortona commenced in Italy with the 1st Canadian Division attacking positions held by the German 1st Parachute Division.  The battle would be hard fought, and compared to Stalingrad due to the urban conditions.  Less certain is the importance of the town, which has been debated and even at the time commented upon by the Germans.

Bolivian President Enrique Peñaranda was overthrown in a military coup led by Major Gualberto Villarroel just over two weeks after the country had entered World War Two, although the coup had nothing to do with that.  Villarroel himself fall by the sword in a 1946 revolution.

The U-850 was sunk by aircraft from the U.S. escort carrier Boque.

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Monday, August 16, 1943. The Bialystok Uprising

The Bialystok Ghetto uprising commenced when the SS surrounded the ghetto in that city to deport its residents. The Jewish underground of the Polish city revolted and fought back, resulting in a battle that lasted five days.

Bialystok smoldering.

There's a common myth, for some reason, that European Jews did not resist the Holocaust, often attributed to a lack of their being armed.  In fact, they did resist, sometimes causing the Germans significant casualties.

Taking a page from the American book, British forces made a small amphibious landing on Sicily's east coast, but it failed to cut off retreating Axis forces.  On the same day, US elements reached Messina.

The Red Army took Zhidra.

The Air Transport Command commenced ferrying Elanor Roosevelt on a tour of the Pacific Theatre.  The plane involved was a C-87, a cargo variant of the B-24.

Featured earlier, this Canadian soldier examined a Japanese machine gun on Kiska:




Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Sunday, August 15, 1943. Joint Operations.

U.S. and Canadian forces landed on Kiska and found it abandoned.

Canadian soldier looking down the sites of a Japanese light machine gun.

There were casualties.  Four American soldiers were killed by mines and 24 by friendly fire by troops operating in fog. The island was expected to be heavily defended and the Japanese withdrawal was a surprise.

Americans and New Zealanders landed on Vella Lavella in the Solomons.

U.S. troops on Vella Lavella.

The British took Taormina in Sicily. The U.S. conducted another amphibious landing on the northern Sicilian coast.

Karachev fail to the Red Army.

The Polish Uderzeniowe Bataliony Kadrowe raided Mittenheide.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Sunday, July 11, 1923. Allied Success, and Disaster, in Sicily. Massacres in Poland.

Patton, in a famous pose, on the ground in Gela, Sicily on this day in 1943.

The Allies captured the Sicilian port cities of Syracuse (Siracusa), Licata, Gela, Pachino, Avola, Noto, Pozzallo, Scoglitti, Ispica and Rosolini.

US Navy gunners opened up on US transport aircraft carrying paratroopers at Gela that evening, resulting in the deaths of over 300 of them in the worst friendly fire incident in the war to date.   The Luftwaffe had earlier attempted a nighttime raid on the ships much earlier in the day, making the gunners nervous.  The disaster commenced when a single ship's gunner opened up on passing C-47s and C-53s.

The USS Boise crossing the bow of the USS LSST-325 while firing on German armored forces near Gela,  July 11, 1943.

The Navy, however, also saved the day at Gela on this day by stopping an armored counterattack with ship to shore fire.  And Patton came ashore at the same city that day.  Both events are depicted in movies, with the first in The Big Red One, and the second in Patton.

Red Cross field director James P. Show would perform acts of heroism on this day which would result in the Silver Star.  His citation would read:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Mr. James P. Shaw a United States Civilian, for gallantry in action while serving as Field Director, American Red Cross, attached to the *** Infantry, in action on 11 July 1943, near Licata, Sicily. On that date, an enemy dive bomber scored a direct hit on a landing craft which had almost reached its position for debarkation. Mr. Shaw, who was already ashore, immediately left his position of comparative security, waded back into the rough water and assisted many men to safety. He continued to assist until the last man had been brought to shore and the wounded cared for. All of these acts were performed at the risk of his life because of attacking enemy airplanes, the explosion of ammunition on the damaged craft, and the turbulent and treacherous water. The gallantry of Mr. Shaw on this occasion is a distinct credit to himself and the American Red Cross.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the military arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist OUN-B branch, attacked 99 Polish settlements in Wołyń Province of Poland.  Attacks were carried out in what became known as the Vohynian Bloody Sunday on Kisielin, Poryck, Chrynów, Zabłoćce, and Krymn.  Attacks coincided with local attendance at Mass.

The massacre campaign was part of a OUN-B effort, which is sometimes called the Volyn (Wołyń) Tragedy, to clear Poles from the territory east of the Bug River, and dated back to the difficulties that existed in drawing a border between Poland, Ukraine and Belarus following World War One.  The OUN itself was split into OUN-B and OUN-M.  The OUN itself dated back to 1929 when it formed and absorbed other Ukrainian independence movements.  It was a right wing organization which picked up elements of fascism early on, and the Nazism later.  OUN-M was named for one of the OUN's founders, Andriy Melnyk, who declared Ukraine independent after the German invasion of the country during World War Two. OUN-B, named for Stepan Bandera, was much more radical and indeed the two organizations fought each other.  OUN-B came to dominate.

A far right organization in general, and in the case of OUN-B radically so, the organization picked up much of the extreme far right attitudes of the day, including being racist, deeply nationalist, and anti-clerical (indeed Melnyk's personal conservatism and Catholicism made Melnyk at odds with the views of his own organization).  OUN-B principally attacked Poles during the war and was allied to the Germans until the Germans began to collapse, at which time it eschewed its fascist ideology and took on a pro-democracy one.  The UPA would fight against the Soviets and Poles after the conclusion of the Second World War.

The genocidal effort against the Poles was bizarre in a way in that not only was it horrifically violent, but it ultimately served the interests of the Soviet Union in creating an ethnic line of demarcation which was west of the Bug.  While the majority of victims were Poles, some Ukrainian civilians who opposed the actions or who were not of the same brand of nationalist as the UPA.  Several hundred Jews, Russians, Czech and Georgians who were part of Polish families or who sheltered Poles were murdered.  Total Polish victim numbers are hard to determine, but they were ultimately between 50,000 to 100,000, mostly killed during July and August 1943.

Melnyk would escape to the West after the war and died in Luxembourg at age 73, in 1964.  Bandera was assassinated by the KGB in Munich in 1959.  He was 50 years old.

Monday, July 10, 2023

Saturday, July 10, 1943. Seaborne landings on Sicily. Battle at Enogai.

Early morning view on July 10, 1943.  U.S. Navy photograph.

The main landing force started disembarking in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.


Weather conditions were poor, featuring high winds, which served to cause the Axis forces, under Italian command, to assume that landings could not be conducted, which would be the first of two such bad assumptions on the same basis Axis forces would make in Europe during the war in regard to an amphibious landings.  Landings commenced at 02:45 on 26 beaches spread out over a distnace of a stunning 105 miles, making the landings the largest of World War Two in terms of both the sizeof the landing zone and the number of Allied divisions landed on D-Day.  The landing Allied troops, consisting of British, Canadian and American soldiers, generally encountered weak resistance, althought there were some Italian exceptions.

51st Highland Division unloading stores from tank landing craft on Operation Husky D-Day

By any rational measure, the massive operation meant that the Western Allies had returned to the European continent after having been pushed out of Greece in June 1941.  The operation also demonstrated the ability of the Western Allies to conduct very large-scale amphibious and airborne operations, although imperfectly.

The battle would also bring into increased prominence, and not always in a good way, the names of a vareity of Allied commanders who would dominate the news from the ETO for the remainder of the war.


Husky was under the overall command of Gen. Eisenhower, but operational command of hte invasion force was under British command.  Often lost to American understanding, at this stage of the war the British Commonwealth forces in Europe were larger and more experienced than American ones. 

The two-day Battle of Enogai took place on New Guinea between US Marines and Japanese solders. A Marine Corps victory would result on the second day, which featured Marines turning captured Japanese automatic weapons on Japanese forces, something that was somewhat unusual for US forces to do.

Dead Japanese machine gun crew at Enogai.

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Friday, June 28, 1923. Turkey's first election, Hi Power patent, Osage Murders in Oklahoma, Klan in Glenrock, Bert Cole accident.

Turkey's first general election was held, which chose secondary electors who then would choose the Grand National Assembly.  Only the Republican People's Party was allowed to exist, but the number of candidates was unlimited.

John Browning, the legendary and massively influential firearms designer, many of whose designs are still in use, unabated in their utility and not regarded as old, filed for his patent application for the Hi Power.  He would die before it was granted in 1927.

British in Oosterbeek  Left to right Pvt Ronald Philip Walker Pvt John Dugdale 10pin C.co 156 Para L.Cpt Noel Rosenberg 10 pin C.co 156 Para Pvt Alfred J Ward HQ Para Brgd. Driver for Hackett.  Dugdale carries a Hi Power.  Rosenberg might be.  The Canadian manufactured John Ingleiss Hi Powers were adopted for British and Canadian airborne, that introducing the design to British troops.

The design went on to widespread use, seeing military use with every country in the British Commonwealth or which was formerly part of the late British Empire, as well as World War Two use by China and, ironically, Nazi Germany.  Germany produced the pistol in occupied Belgian plants.  It saw very limited experimental use with the US in the 1960s.  I knew a Navy pilot, for instance, who was issued one.

Canadian troops training with Hi Power.

Regarded as obsolete, in recent years it has been phased out of British service, which commenced during World War Two with airborne troops, and most recently out of Canadian service.  Canada chose to take this step as its World War Two manufactured pistols no longer had a reliable parts source.  Ironically, just as they made their decision, a boom in manufacture of Hi Power pistols resumed, starting off a story in civilian, and perhaps military, markets much like that experienced by the M1911, which went through a similar story. The M1911 is, of course, also a Browning design.

Uruguayan marine with Hi Power.

The Hi Power is the pistol the U.S. should have adopted when it went to 9mm (and it shouldn't have gone to 9mm).  The pistol was so widely used that at one time US special forces of various types would carry it on certain missions because, if one was dropped, it was evidence of who had been there.

Osage oil millionaire George Bigheart summoned Pawhuska Oklahoma lawyer W. Watkins Vaughn to his hospital deathbed, where he was receiving treatment for poisoning.  Bigheart died the following day, and Vaughn was murdered on his way home, his body being found in Pershing, Oklahoma.

The Osage Indian Murders are the subject of the recently released movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is based on the 2017 book investigating the same.

The Glenrock Gazette reported on the recent KKK demonstration n that town.


The Glenrock Gazette, in its reporting, basically endorsed the racist organization as being one for law and order.

Bert Cole, famous local pilot, but one already known for a tragic airborne death in Evansville, died in an airplane accident himself.

From Reddit's 100 Years Ago sub, the inquiring photographer was out again.  I was surprised how uniform these answers were.


I would not have guessed that there would be uniform answers.  The fact that there is, speaks volumes of how women perceived their status at the time.

Indeed, in much of the US women had only recently received the vote, but it is true that they were highly restricted in what was regarded as appropriate work.  That wouldn't really start changing for another fifty years, although that's probably a topic for a separate entry.  Also clear here, however, social rules bothered some women.  The really fascinating thing here is that it seemed not to be something vaguely in the background, but something that caused a lot of women, all the women in this sample, to hold deep seated resentments.

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Monday, January 4, 1943. Stalin, Man of the Year.

Stalin appeared on the cover of Time Magazine as the 1942 Man of the Year.


Japanese Prime Minister, Gen. Hideki Tojo, ordered Japanese forces to withdraw from Guadalcanal.

A unit of the Jewish Fighting Organization launched an unsuccessful attack aimed at the Czestochowa Ghetto.  On the following day the Nazis, as a reprisal, killed 250 children and elderly, and shipped the remaining ghetto residents to concentration camps.

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was born in Rockville Centre, New York.

Friday, August 19, 2022

Wednesday, August 19, 2022. The Raid On Dieppe.

No. 4 Commando landing at Dieppe.

One of the most famous, and controversial, Allied operations of the Second World War occurred on this day when a largely Canadian force was committed to a British operation that's been termed a "raid", but which was on such a huge scale, that that term is debatable.  Operation Jubilee, or the Raid on Dieppe.  It was the bloodiest day of the war for the Canadian Army.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-291-1205-14 / Koll / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5476892

The Canadian Second Infantry Division, together with British Commando units featuring a small group of American Rangers, and French commandos, supported with Canadian armor, landed at 04:50 on this morning at the French resort town, with Allied forces landing on six beaches.   By the end of the day, 68% of the Canadian force was lost, either being killed, wounded or captured.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-362-2211-12 / Jörgensen / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5411278

The raid was somewhat ill-conceived in that it was on such a large-scale, and designed to test very large scale raids and to also send a signal to the Soviets that the Allies did actually intend to invade France at some point.  It made use of Canadian troops, as the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division had been assigned to protective duties in the United Kingdom and was available. The raid had been scheduled to occur somewhat earlier, and some equipment issued to the Canadians had been recovered, with the same type of equipment then hastily reissued, but with new examples that had to be rapidly reworked for functioning by Canadian troops.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, whom history has not treated well, played a planning role in the operation.  Bernard Law Montgomery got the blame later for some of the operations failures, but he had already been assigned to the 8th Army and cannot really be blamed.

The Germans were already wary of the possibility of British raids, and became aware that the British were interested in Dieppe by French double agents.  At the time, British intelligence was having trouble of this type.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-291-1229-12 / Meyer; Wiltberger / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5476900

Some of the raid went well.  No. 4 Commando, for example, to which the American Rangers were attached, landed and conducted their operations very well and withdrew as planned prior to 0800.  The Canadian landings, however, were generally a disaster, and ultimately they experienced heavy losses.  Trouble was experienced landing the supporting tanks, and the Luftwaffe turned out in force, with a major air battle between the Luftwaffe and the RAF/RCAF being the result.  The withdrawal commenced at 0940 and was complete by 1400, but was conducted under heavy fire.  The Germans captured the operation plan for the battle, which, when analyzed, was regarded by the Germans as basically inept.

The battle is regarded as a major disaster, but dissenting voices, which I basically am here, have taken the position that it was an expensive day in school for the Allies.  The British in particular gleaned major lessons about conducting landings that they would employ in Operation Overlord two years later, including the significance of landing tanks.  As a result, the British were particularly well-equipped with special tanks for the landings at Normandy.   The Allies also realized a need for temporary harbors, which would become a major focus for Overlord.

The Germans learned lessons as well, but were overall pleased with how well their forces had done in the defense, and not without reason.  One of the major factors in the German success, however, had been the presence of the Luftwaffe, which, in spite of being obvious, would be ignored by the Germans by 1944 as raids over Germany by strategic bombers took up their air assets.  

As minor side notes, the 50 American Rangers were assigned to Lord Lovat's No. 4 Commando, one of the most eccentric units of the war. This was to give them combat experience, but it was a fortunate assignment, as this part of the raid went well.  Additionally, Sarah Sundin notes that RAF Mustang I's were in the battle and gained their first areal victory on this day.

German treatment of Canadian prisoners would leading to lasting animosity between some Canadian soldiers in regard to the German army, leading some units to be very reluctant to take German prisoners in later actions.

The Japanese landed another 900 men on Guadalcanal.

The Red Army launched the Sinyavino Offensive in an effort to relieve Leningrad.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Replacing old weapons where they don't need to be, and making a choice for a new one that's long overdue. Part 3

And here's our final installment of this overlong and probably boring series we started in April.


Canada is working on replacing its military handgun, and has run into a glitch.

Tribunal ruling causes pistol reboot

As readers of that article will learn, Canadian servicemen who have been waiting;

for their vintage nine-millimetre Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistols to be replaced will have to wait a while longer. 

M'eh.

Now, how can I say that when I just approved of the replacement of the less vintage M16/M4 in the U.S. Army, sort of, and the much less vintage M249?

Well, because the Hi-Power isn't really going to be replaced by anything that needs to replace it.

The Hi-Power was a pistol that John Browning was working on at the time of his death in November 1926.  Browning never really finished designing his automatic pistols even though various version of them had been in production by that time for over 25 years, and one of them, the Colt M1911, was a hugely successful military pistol already.  In spite of that, a perfectionist, he kept working on the design and was doing so at the time of his death.

Upon his death, FN employee Dieudonné Saive took the design up and completed work on the handgun, which is frankly extremely similar to the M1911, in 1935.  People can argue which is better and never reach upon a conclusion.  At any rate, the gun went into immediate military use at the time, and in one of the strange ironies of the Second World War, it was used by both sides. The Germans, who used a lot of pistols, kept them under production in Belgium. The Allies were already producing them in Canada for Chinese contacts and took over those.  It became the handgun used by Commonwealth paratroopers, although M1911s also were. After the war, it became the standard handgun of Commonwealth countries, in the same fashion that the FAL became their standard battle rifle.

They are still used by Australia and Canada, among others.  Canadian ones were manufactured by the Canadian John Inglis plant.

Who?

The John Inglis Company.


Okay, you've probably never heard of Inglis, unless you are a history student.  John Inglis and Company was a Canaidan manufacturing company that started firearms manufacturing just before World War Two, when the Commonwealth forces were rearming.  It started off with Bren Guns and ended up making 60% of them for the Commonwealth forces.  They also made Hi Power pistols for Commonwealth forces.

And then after World War Two, they stopped and went into appliances.  In 1987 they were acquired by  Whirlpool.

Canada's adopted the Hi Power pistol as its sidearm after the war, or sort of during the war, ultimately replacing a vareity of other things. They've apparently (although I somewhat question this) been using Hi Powers made during World War Two ever since.

If that sounds fantastical, keep in mind that there are still M1911s in use in the U.S. military, albeit rebuilt more than once, that were built during World War Two.  Moreover, in 2020 a Browning M2HB .50 machinegun went into Anniston for refurbishing that had been built in 1933.

These things can last.

Which is actually a good argument for keeping them.

Canada wants to replace theirs.

Why?

Well, that's what armies do.

Okay, in fairness, they're old.  And most of the nations that did use them no longer do. But that's more than a little bit because that's what armies do.

But not all.

Australian soldier firing a Hi Power.  Australia still uses them as well.

It has something to do with handguns.

In most armies, handguns play a marginal role. There are some exceptions.  In the U.S. Army handguns are sort of a big deal, which reflects their historical role in the U.S. Army, which is unique. But in most armies they aren't used a lot.

Given that, the fact of the matter is that they last a very long time and their actual role, while marginal, can be filled by about any modern handgun that's a good one.

And by modern handgun, we mean a handgun that came after 1910, more or less.  

Semiautomatic handguns were perfected by John Browning at that point in time, and absolutely any of the good semiautomatic handguns made after that fit the bill.  The bigger question, really, is cartridge.

Every theoretical development in handguns that has come after World War Two has been marginal at best.  Making the bodies out of synthetics?  M'eh. For really long-lasting handguns, the jury is still out on that. Striker fired?  Yep, that's a good feature. . . albeit one that's been around since before 1910, but it's not such a big deal in a military handgun that it really actually matters.

Optical sights?

Military handguns are used so little, by most who carry them, that this would actually be a detriment.  For special operators, sure. But their needs are unique, and they've always had unique supply chains.  And most automatic pistols can be retrofitted for this anyhow.

So is there no argument for replacing them?

Well, maybe. But a person sure shouldn't leap to that conclusion.

The linked in article provides one reason:

This is even though Hi-Power parts are no longer available – production of the 1930s design ended in 2017. When Colt Canada, the government’s Strategic Source and Centre of Excellence for Small Arms, receives a batch for repairs, it generally cannibalizes nearly a third to salvage the rest.

The problem with that argument is that its wrong.

It was right at one time, but no longer is.  As an erudite commenter on the article noted:

“This is even though Hi-Power parts are no longer available – production of the 1930s design ended in 2017.”

FWIW, Hi-Powers are back in production. FN has resumed production of them, and the US Springfield Armory company has commenced production of them. Not that this should govern the choice, but its an error in the article.

Reply
  • Editor

    Thank you for the correction.

    Reply
    • Yeoman

      I actually learned since posting that there are now three, not two, companies making the Hi Power now. At least two of the three are making them in the US, including FN. I’m not sure about the third. Those used by the Canadian Army were originally made in Canada, but most of them are almost certainly FN made from Belgium, where production was once centered.

      Again, none of this suggests that the Canadian armed forces must stick with the Hi Power, but rather notes that replacement parts should be available, fwiw.

Indeed, Hi Power's have come roaring back into production.

Almost like the M1911 did when something similar happened with it. 

And that's worth noting.

Truth be known, the HI Power is an incredibly durable handgun, which its long service in multiple armies proves, and the advantages of its supposed successors is largely theoretical.  By going to a newer handgun, the Canadian Army achieves. . . nothing.

Well, nothing in a "this is way better sense".  Maybe some other advantage. . . although the experience of the U.S. Army would suggest not.  If the advantage is that they now have a source of spare parts, well, they do already.

Last Prior Edition:

Replacing old weapons where they don't need to be, and making a choice for a new one that's long overdue. Part 2


Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Monday, May 11, 1942. Canada commences conscription.

Today in World War II History—May 11, 1942: Troopship HMT Queen Mary embarks from New York, the first time any ship has carried more than 10,000 passengers (9880 troops, 875 crew).

On this day in 1942, Canada went to conscription, as noted on Sarah Sundin's blog.

It was never popular in Canada, and at first the Canadian government limited the deployment of conscripted troops to Canada, but that would change, necessarily, as the war moved on. 

Friday, February 11, 2022

Wednesday, February 11, 1942. The Channel Dash.

On this day in 1942 the Germans commenced the "Channel Dash" in an effort to run two battleships from the port of Brest to their home ports in Germany.  The battleships were the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, accompanied by the cruiser Prinz Eugen.  They'd been enduring bombing by the RAF in Brest.

The German effort commenced under the cover of night on February 11 and with radio jamming which precluded British agents from radioing about the ship's departure.  It was covered by the Luftwaffe, so the ensuing battle was an air and sea battle.

Both sides sustained damage and casualties in the effort, but the German objective was successful.  Given that the Germans did in fact run the channel, albeit partially at night, it was a bit of an embarrassment to the British.

According to Sarah Sundin's blog, there were riots in Montreal over conscription plans on this date.


I'm not aware of the 1942 riots, although I am of 1944 riots. At any rate, conscription had been in place since 1940, but at that time conscripted troops could not be required to serve overseas unless they so volunteered, resulting in an enduring Canadian controversy.  Troops who would not volunteer were termed "zombies" by those who resented it.  Resistance to conscription was particularly strong in Quebec, where Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis had called a snap election in 1939 to oppose the war only to lose his seat to Adelard Godbout, who had the support of the Federal government in the election.

French Canadian resistance to conscription has been an ongoing matter of controversy in Canada.  Simply put, the Québécois were largely disinterested in the war, although 20% of those who volunteered to fight overseas were in fact Québécois.  This makes for a complicated legacy in obvious ways.

US forces arrived to help defend the Dutch islands of Curacoa, Bonaire and Aruba with permission of the Dutch government in exile.

Also, according to Sundin, the US took over Dupont's supply of nylon, a critical war material used for a variety of things, including parachutes.

The documentary Our Russian Front was released on this date in 1942.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Friday December 19, 1941. Royal Navy Disasters, German Ground Reversals, Japanese Advances, Gardens and Censorship.

Italy achieved what was amounting to a rare naval victory when it attacked two Royal Navy battleships at Alexandria, Egypt, and disabled them, using three manned torpedoes, dispatched from a submarine.  The HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth were badly damaged in the bold attack, and the HMS Jervis, a destroyer, was as well.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Because of the way the HMS Queen Elizabeth settled, it had the illusion of remaining afloat, something that was maintained until she could be dry docked and repaired.

HMS Valiant.

The Valiant was a sister ship, both being of the Queen Elizabeth Class.  She'd be reassigned to the Pacific later in the war.   Both British battleships would return to action, but it would take more or less a year to accomplish.

All the Italian frogmen survived and were made Prisoners of War.

On the same day, the British HMS Neptune was sunk by mines off of Tripoli.  The HMS Aurora and HMS Penelope were damaged.  The following day, the HMS Kandahar was hit and had to be scuttled.

The bold and unconventional Italian attack, and the successful minefield laying, reversed the naval balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean in favor of the Axis.

It also somewhat cuts into the myth that there were no naval surface actions during the war.  In fact, there were a lot of them, and at this stage of the war the naval battle in the Mediterranean remained a heavily surface campaign.

Walter von Brauchitsch was relieved as Commander in Chief of the Germany Army.  Hitler replaced him with Hitler, a tipping point in the war for a variety of reasons.  With this, the German Army's bargain in which it supported the rise of the Nazis in exchange for Nazi support for the Army was essentially betrayed and shown to be worthless, as the Nazi co-opting of the Army was effectively complete.

Moreover, it showed an increasing strain in the German war effort as the dawn of realization that not only had Operation Barbarossa failed started, but it was obvious that the Soviets were not only not defeated, but they were beginning to reverse German fortunes for the first time in the war.  The obvious fear that Germany had overstretched herself and now the decline would become general was developing.

Von Brauchitsch was effectively retired by the act and never received another command.  He was imprisoned after the war on war crimes but died in a British military prison before he could be tried.

Hitler, who was already Commander in Chief of the Wehrmacht, would remain CiC of the Heer for the rest of the war.

The Indian 4th Division took Derna, Libya, where the Germans were also experiencing setbacks.  It was a victory, but the Germans had pulled out before they could be trapped and defeated there.

The Japanese invaded Davoa, in the Philippines.


Sgt Maj. John Osborn of the Winnipeg Grenadiers won a posthumous Victory Cross for falling on a Japanese hand grenade at the battle for Hong Kong, making him the first Canadian soldier to receive that award during World War Two.

His citation read:

At Hong Kong on the morning of 19th December 1941 a Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers to which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn belonged became divided during an attack on Mount Butler, a hill rising steeply above sea level. A part of the Company led by Company Sergeant-Major Osborn captured the hill at the point of the bayonet and held it for three hours when, owing to the superior numbers of the enemy and to fire from an unprotected flank, the position became untenable. Company Sergeant-Major Osborn and a small group covered the withdrawal and when their turn came to fall back, Osborn single-handed engaged the enemy while the remainder successfully rejoined the Company. Company Sergeant-Major Osborn had to run the gauntlet of heavy rifle and machine gun fire. With no consideration for his own safety he assisted and directed stragglers to the new Company position exposing himself to heavy enemy fire to cover their retirement. Whenever danger threatened he was there to encourage his men. 
During the afternoon the Company was cut off from the Battalion and completely surrounded by the enemy who were able to approach to within grenade throwing distance of the slight depression which the Company was holding. Several enemy grenades were thrown which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn picked up and threw back. The enemy threw a grenade which landed in a position where it was impossible to pick it up and return it in time. Shouting a warning to his comrades this gallant Warrant Officer threw himself on the grenade which exploded killing him instantly. His self-sacrifice undoubtedly saved the lives of many others. 
Company Sergeant-Major Osborn was an inspiring example to all throughout the defence which he assisted so magnificently in maintaining against an overwhelming enemy force for over eight and a half hours and in his death he displayed the highest quality of heroism and self-sacrifice.

Osborn was born in England, reflecting a Canada in which the English speaking population still had strong connections to the United Kingdom and in fact a fair number were English born.  He'd served in the Royal Navy during World War One.

US War Cabinet meeting, December 19, 1941.

The United States started the Office of Censorship.


It censored communications during the war coming into and out of the country.

The National Defense Garden Conference commenced to encourage growing your own.

Both of these last two items are from here:

Today in World War II History—December 19, 1941

Also on that site, you can read about Victory Gardens as well, here:

Victory Gardens in World War II

The endless series of nearly meaningless declarations of war continued, with Nicaragua declaring war on Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.