Dad's Navy Days, 1941 - 1945
By G. A. Harrison
Photo credit - Doug Harrison (front, third from left)
Introduction: I will be making a presentation in November, 2016 regarding my father's WW2 service with the RCNVR and Combined Operations organization, including information about raids and invasions at Dieppe, North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Some of the following posts will link to books, stories and photographs already displayed on the '1000 Men, 1000 Stories' website.
MY DAD'S NAVY DAYS
Part 3 - Halifax Training is Tough, Combined Operations Even Tougher
When Canada entered the Second World War in September, 1939 tall headlines appeared in newspapers across the nation. Canada's entry into the Combined Operations - the organization that eventually planned and paved the way for numerous significant raids and pivotal invasions, including Dieppe and D-Day Normandy - was ever so humble. A piece of paper with a request for volunteers was tacked onto a bulletin board at HMCS Stadacona, Halifax in late 1941 and a few fellows 'got to talking' in the dining hall about what that might entail.
Welcome to HMCS Stadacona, 2725 Gottingen St. at CFB Halifax
Photo credit - G. Harrison
Al Kirby, a young recruit from Woodstock, Ontario (in Oxford County) recalls seeing the bulletin:
My father, Doug Harrison, a young recruit from Norwich, Ontario (also in Oxford County; 16 miles south of Kirby's home in Woodstock) recalls the dining hall discussion about the bulletin:
One day we heard a mess deck buzz or rumour that the navy was looking for volunteers for special duties overseas, with nine days leave thrown in. Many from the Effingham Division, including myself, once again volunteered. (Will I ever quit volunteering?) The buzz turned out to be true and we came home on leave....
A third young recruit, Lloyd Evans from Ottawa, recalls Canada's entry into Combined Ops as well in his memoirs:
At the end of the (Halifax) training period the Navy asked for volunteers for a secret mission overseas. Most of our division volunteered along with several navy motor mechanics and two leading PT instructors....
The young volunteers only fully learned what they had signed on for once they were stationed overseas, and that took place only after their nine days of enticing leave, a wintry Halifax-style blizzard, bailing out the first ship assigned to take them to Scotland, then a long wait for a replacement ship.
Inauspicious beginnings, I would say, for Canadian volunteers who would soon prove to be reliable eyewitnesses to some of the chaos and carnage of World War II in Europe.
Inauspicious beginnings, I would say, for Canadian volunteers who would soon prove to be reliable eyewitnesses to some of the chaos and carnage of World War II in Europe.
Important WW2 history books recall the topic of Canada's entry into the war through the door of Combined Operations in various ways and we will examine a few here. The Combined Operations organization was not a guarded secret during WW2 but it might seem so as one looks for information about its birth, growth and accomplishments.
Published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1961
In The Watery Maze we read of the humble early beginnings of Combined Operations and how it gradually grew - chiefly from 1940 to 1945 - to be the planning force behind significant offensive raids (e.g., at Lofoten Islands, St. Nazaire, Dieppe), the subsequent, historic invasions onto North African, Sicilian, and Italian shores (1942 and 1943), and ultimately D-Day Normandy, June 1944. We read of its three commanders (Keyes, Mountbatten and Laycock, "all famous fighting men"), their struggles and successes, and how the organization could not have grown to be a dominant force without the support of its allies, like the United States and Canada, who supplied "indispensable" landing crafts, landing ships and crews for the duration of amphibious or maritime operations.
On page 93 we read the following first mention of Canada's participation in the Combined Operations organization:
Obviously two of the most urgent problems (related to "the ultimate invasion of the Continent") were the provision of landing ships and craft, and the crews to man them.... as an illustration of the magnitude of the crew problem, the Joint Planners, in the very month of Mountbatten's Appointment (October 1941) had persuaded the Chiefs of Staff that our requirements in LCTs alone (Landing Craft, Tank) for the eventual invasion would be 2,250 - a figure to daunt almost anybody.
And where were the crews to come from? Canada made an offer, which was gratefully accepted, of 50 officers and 300 ratings, but this was a drop in the bucket.... And there was no wild rush to join Combined Ops: it was regarded as rather a backwater."
Apparently, Canada's entry into Combined Ops was not only inauspicious, it lacked glamor as well. That being said, many years after the war ended, Canadian members of landing ship and landing craft crews began to tell and write their stories, record their history for themselves, family members and the general public, and their eyewitness accounts in many cases are detailed, thorough, stirring and timely.
One Canadian member of RCNVR and Combined Operations, Clayton Marks of London, Ontario, sat down at his kitchen table in the early 1990s and produced a book entitled Combined Operations, which stands today as a fine description of the C.O. organization, its use of various landing craft in numerous raids and invasions, and the part played by several hundred Canadians, veterans' own stories included. The brief introduction to the book follows:
This record contains some of the accounts and experiences of Royal Canadian Navy Personnel who served in Combined Operations during World War II. The growth of Combined Operations was considerable, from a small unit in 1941 to the utmost by D-Day, 1944. Here are stories and data from the Officers and ratings who served in this Organization. Whether these operations failed or succeeded has not been taken into account, but are presented as they happened.
In it we also read about the early activities of the fledgling organization and the origins of Canada's role in C.O. For example, Clayton Marks describes some of Britain's early offensive measures to keep German forces on edge, i.e., small commando parties would descend at night on German-held ports, take prisoners, gain information and "do what damage they could". By late 1941 these early efforts worked more smoothly as seamen and soldiers used well-practiced landing techniques together.
Marks writes:
This nucleus was at first entirely British; but it soon began to absorb a few of the first Canadians trained in England. In late 1941 and early 1942, the Canadian contribution to Combined Operations was increased to fifty Officers and three hundred Ratings, who had volunteered for a specially hazardous duty with the Royal Navy.
He adds that the first two drafts left Halifax "on the "Queen of Bermuda" in November of 1941" and after the ship ran aground (the inauspicious start) at Chebucto Head, new sailing orders had to be made. Two more drafts followed in February, 1942 and more three months later. And so began the slow build up of Canadians at Combined Ops training bases in England and Scotland and their participation in significant raids and invasions during WW2.
The Queen of Bermuda met its match upon leaving Halifax, 1941
I have found three stories, written by Canadian Combined Ops.' veterans, that tell the tale of the grounding of the Queen of Bermuda off Chebucto Head (a few miles out of Halifax) during a wintry Atlantic blizzard, and eventual trip to Scotland upon the Dutch liner Volendam.
The three stories can be found together at the following link - Story: Canada's Early Days in Combined Ops
For more information about the origin of Combined Operations and Canada's role in it, please click on the heading 'origin of Combined Operations' in the right hand margin.
Part 4 of Presentation: Dad's Navy Days soon to follow.
A well, please link to Presentation: My Dad's Navy Days 3 (1)
On page 93 we read the following first mention of Canada's participation in the Combined Operations organization:
Obviously two of the most urgent problems (related to "the ultimate invasion of the Continent") were the provision of landing ships and craft, and the crews to man them.... as an illustration of the magnitude of the crew problem, the Joint Planners, in the very month of Mountbatten's Appointment (October 1941) had persuaded the Chiefs of Staff that our requirements in LCTs alone (Landing Craft, Tank) for the eventual invasion would be 2,250 - a figure to daunt almost anybody.
And where were the crews to come from? Canada made an offer, which was gratefully accepted, of 50 officers and 300 ratings, but this was a drop in the bucket.... And there was no wild rush to join Combined Ops: it was regarded as rather a backwater."
Apparently, Canada's entry into Combined Ops was not only inauspicious, it lacked glamor as well. That being said, many years after the war ended, Canadian members of landing ship and landing craft crews began to tell and write their stories, record their history for themselves, family members and the general public, and their eyewitness accounts in many cases are detailed, thorough, stirring and timely.
Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, London Ontario
One Canadian member of RCNVR and Combined Operations, Clayton Marks of London, Ontario, sat down at his kitchen table in the early 1990s and produced a book entitled Combined Operations, which stands today as a fine description of the C.O. organization, its use of various landing craft in numerous raids and invasions, and the part played by several hundred Canadians, veterans' own stories included. The brief introduction to the book follows:
This record contains some of the accounts and experiences of Royal Canadian Navy Personnel who served in Combined Operations during World War II. The growth of Combined Operations was considerable, from a small unit in 1941 to the utmost by D-Day, 1944. Here are stories and data from the Officers and ratings who served in this Organization. Whether these operations failed or succeeded has not been taken into account, but are presented as they happened.
In it we also read about the early activities of the fledgling organization and the origins of Canada's role in C.O. For example, Clayton Marks describes some of Britain's early offensive measures to keep German forces on edge, i.e., small commando parties would descend at night on German-held ports, take prisoners, gain information and "do what damage they could". By late 1941 these early efforts worked more smoothly as seamen and soldiers used well-practiced landing techniques together.
Marks writes:
This nucleus was at first entirely British; but it soon began to absorb a few of the first Canadians trained in England. In late 1941 and early 1942, the Canadian contribution to Combined Operations was increased to fifty Officers and three hundred Ratings, who had volunteered for a specially hazardous duty with the Royal Navy.
He adds that the first two drafts left Halifax "on the "Queen of Bermuda" in November of 1941" and after the ship ran aground (the inauspicious start) at Chebucto Head, new sailing orders had to be made. Two more drafts followed in February, 1942 and more three months later. And so began the slow build up of Canadians at Combined Ops training bases in England and Scotland and their participation in significant raids and invasions during WW2.
I have found three stories, written by Canadian Combined Ops.' veterans, that tell the tale of the grounding of the Queen of Bermuda off Chebucto Head (a few miles out of Halifax) during a wintry Atlantic blizzard, and eventual trip to Scotland upon the Dutch liner Volendam.
Chebucto Head is north of the green X (and south of Halifax)
Photo credit - Connected in Motion
The three stories can be found together at the following link - Story: Canada's Early Days in Combined Ops
For more information about the origin of Combined Operations and Canada's role in it, please click on the heading 'origin of Combined Operations' in the right hand margin.
Part 4 of Presentation: Dad's Navy Days soon to follow.
A well, please link to Presentation: My Dad's Navy Days 3 (1)
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