Very Good Book re Canadians in Combined Operations
It's Online, Downloadable - a Full Chapter of "Latest News"
"I could have bought this in hard cover a few years ago, but..."
Introduction:
When I first saw a hard cover copy at Attic Books in London, Ontario (a couple of years ago), I said to myself, "Ive already got a couple of good (used) books under my arm, so I'll get it another time." I regretted my decision a few times since, because, while reading or posting about the Dieppe Raid, I would recall a line about Canada's first casualty at approx. 0345hrs on August 19, 1942, in A Blue Water Navy and wanted the direct quote.
Well, now I have it, in an online, free, downloadable PDF version. [On the Government's home page, just click on "Continue to Publication." Then thank the Government of Canada, not me.] Published in 2007 in St. Catherines, Ontario, the book is of great length about the Canadian Navy - 665 pages - and is the second of two related texts.
[Click here for a look at the first volume of the series: No Higher Purpose, (click on the line 'Electronic document') by the same group of authors, i.e., Douglas, Sarty, Whitby, Caldwell, Johnston, and Rawling.]
Besides being "free, (and easily) downloadable," I was delighted to find a full chapter about the Canadians in Combined Operations (including my father) who served in Europe for two years from 1942 - 1943, including 'three months in the Mediterranean' related to Operations Husky (Sicily) and Baytown (Italy), 80 years ago this summer.
Dozens of recognizable names and references to seminal
Canadian books are a pleasure to see!!
Chapter 14 begins on page 107 of the text (or 111 when scrolling the left-hand margin thumbprints) and it didn't take long for me to feel at home. Familiar history is mentioned alongside new material that will expand the knowledge of any reader familiar already with some information about the role of Canadians in RCNVR and Combined Operations. A few excerpts are provided below 'for interest's sake':
As found on 'inside book cover, front'
Photo as found on page 106; from the collection of Library
and Archives Canada (LAC), Ottawa
Above, page 107. Below, the first Canadian draft volunteered in December, 1941,
most from Effingham Division, HMCS Stadacona, Halifax, Nova Scotia. (They were
shipped to HMCS NIOBE, near Greenock, Scotland, then to their first Comb. Ops
training camp at HMS Northney, Hayling Island, southern coast of England
Effingham Division, 1941. From the collection of Doug Harrison (X), front row
Email GH at gordh7700@gmail.com for complete list of names, row by row
"Almost to the man" the Effingham Division volunteered for Combined Operations, knowing it was re "dangerous duties overseas, on small craft, but with 9 days leave thrown in," says my father.
He adds the following re Northney in his Navy memoirs:
I had the misfortune to break the toe next to my big toe on my left foot. I went to sick bay and someone applied mercurochrome, told me to carry out my usual duties and sent me away. Running, guard duty, anything, I toughed it out and was told many months later by a Scottish doctor it had healed perfectly - and so it had.
early 1942, with “a rifle with no ammunition”
We were issued brooms for guard duty in some cases at Northney, sometimes a rifle with no ammunition, and they were expecting a German invasion. Rounds were made every night outside by officers to see if we were alert and we would holler like Hell, “Who goes there? Advance and be recognized.” When you hollered loud enough you woke everyone in camp, so sentry duty was not so lonesome for a few minutes.
There was no training here (i.e., aboard landing crafts at Northney), so, as the navy goes, we went back to Niobe on March 21, 1942. I recall just now we were welcomed to Niobe by Lord Hee Haw (a turncoat) from Germany via the wireless radio. ("Dad, Well Done, pages 11 - 12)
Though he later trained aboard landing crafts at HMS Quebec (Inveraray, Scotland) with his mates for their first operation - the Dieppe raid - he was on leave the day his landing craft and oppos set sail for the french coast from Newhaven, destination unknown to the ratings. He lost his first mates that day, including Robert Cavanaugh, sitting almost directly behind him in the above photo re Effingham Division. [Cavanaugh is second row from front, 2nd from left].
An excerpt from A Blue Water Navy goes on to say:
Above, page 111. Though Dad missed the raid, he did not escape particular
consequences. He suffered from depression and 'survivor guilt' later in life
Above, page 111. Authors of A Blue Water Navy were able to locate
excellent resources, e.g., Combined Operations, a compilation of Navy
veterans' stories by Clayton Marks, of London, Ontario.
Two sailors of the four mentioned (above) in Sub. Lt. Ramsay's letter, i.e., OS Owen, AB Spencer, AB Smart, Stoker Birkenes, can be spotted in the photo below, also taken at HMCS Stadacona, 1941.
Outside Wellington Barracks, aka Nelson's Barracks, 1941. Joe Spencer is
in back row, first on left. Vern Smart is in middle row, 4th from the left.
Photo from collection of Doug Harrison, not in photo.
Email GH at gordh7700@gmail.com for more information
Another excerpt from A Blue Water Navy mentions the name of Canada's first casualties related to the Dieppe raid:
The creators of A Blue Water Navy did well to locate the two-volume set of Canadian WWII veterans' stories compiled by Sub. Lt. David Lewis, put together well after the war, after Lewis had been inspired to do so by reading Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks. Many of Mr. Marks' entries are now entries on this website, with the permission of his surviving family members. (E.g., please link to an excellent 25-page account, broken into several sections, written by Al Kirby (RCNVR/Comb.Ops, Woodstock, Ontario) of his experiences re the Dieppe Raid).
Nicely, the authors of A Blue Water Navy give Kirby his due : )
St. Nazaire to Singapore Volume 1 (re early training, Dieppe, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and more)
St. Nazaire to Singapore Volume 2 (re Normandy, individual reports and more)
Photo as found on page113, A Blue Water Navy, LAC Ottawa
Another early excerpt from A Blue Water Navy mentions (partially) the inevitable 'Butcher's Bill':
'Prisoners of War' are tallied as well, with significant mention of one of the most-gifted writers among them, Sub. Lt. Robert McRae. (Please see pages 115 - 116, A Blue Water Navy). His prose has been oft-shared on "1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories," along with a lovely pencil sketch of McRae at the piano, while POW:
Photo of the sketch, as found on page 64, St. Nazaire to Singapore Vol. 1
I was certainly delighted to catch wind of A Blue Water Navy with the help of my younger son who did a bit of research re Canadians in Combined Ops prior to out trip to Sicily, re the 80th anniversary of the invasions of Sicily and Italy. More about the book as it relates to 'three months in the Mediterranean' will soon follow.
I will certainly try to connect to one or more of the authors, and try to provide them with a copy of the latest edition of Combined Operations by Londoner C. Marks. And I'll point out that Clayton's last name is not 'Markers' (!) as it appears in footnotes and bibliography.
Photo as found in Combined Operations by LS C. Marks
Unattributed Photos GH
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