pyeknu
Chief petty officer
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Post by pyeknu on Jul 24, 2019 15:32:47 GMT
The second part of the introduction to the post-war Canadian Army Reserve Force...
CORPS, DIVISIONS, DISTRICTS AND BRIGADES
Prior to the Shift, the whole of Canada was divided into six zones of operations for the six regional Joint Task Forces controlled by Canadian Joint Operations Command in Ottawa that would take command and control of all regular and reserve military forces in times of emergency (North, Pacific, West, Centre, East and Atlantic). Three of those JTFs were controlled by army generals (West, Centre and East), who were also the commanders of three of the regional divisions covering most of the provinces (JTF West by the Third Canadian Division, JTF Centre by the Fourth Canadian Division and JTF East by le Deuxième Division du Canada). That basic structure would remain in place after the Shift, but would be transformed by the massive increase unleashed on the Canadian Forces as a whole and the Army in particular to give the commander of CJOC and the regional commanders much greater options when it came to ensuring such emergencies were dealt with smartly and promptly.
As stated before, after the Shift, all of Canada would be divided into three regional zones that would act as the main Army command formations as follows:
I Canadian Corps - British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon and the Northwest Territories
II Canadian Corps - Ontario and Nunavut
IIIe Corps Canadien - Québec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador
Commander I Canadian Corps would be commander Joint Task Force West, while commander II Canadian Corps would command Joint Task Force Centre and commandant IIIe Corps Canadien would command Joint Task Force East. British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces would be still covered by Joint Task Forces Pacific and Atlantic (commanded by the flag officers commanding Maritime Forces Pacific and Atlantic) respectively while Joint Task Force North would be its own command and led by a Royal Canadian Air Force lieutenant general from Yellowknife, with the rear admiral serving as flag officer commanding Maritime Forces North in CFB Nanisivik being his deputy.
Thus, all Army formations in the country, Regular Force and Militia alike, would respond to the corps commanders through various chains of command.
It should be noted that when it comes to actual boundaries dividing the corps' areas of responsibility, they would be seen as fluid both in the Regular Force and the Militia. For example, the Ontario districts of Kenora, Rainy River and Thunder Bay in the northwest end of the province was seen as part of the territory of Third Canadian Division/JTF(W) before the Shift. After the Shift, those districts would be administratively under the oversight of II Canadian Corps even if units based in the area would operationally respond to the commander of I Canadian Corps. Even more so, as noted in a previous article, 8e Groupe-Brigade Légère du Canada is mostly based in southwest Québec at BFC Montréal's Saint-Hubert garrison and BFC Saint-Jean even if it is operationally under II Canadian Corps' control.
Naturally, the kinks in the overall command and control mechanisms concerning these regions of the nation would be worked out between the corps' headquarters staffs.
Falling under the control of each corps would be division-level staffs. The post-war regional divisions would return, but to allow the wartime formations to be perpetuated, they would be given a sector of the country as their own to control. With the exception of First Canadian Division (which would remain the effective full-time rapid response Army formation command hub for CJOC, ready to be the first deployed to any major hotspot beyond the Dominion's borders), all the field divisions would be given sectors of responsibility that would, for the most part, match the areas used by the pre-Shift Militia brigade groups and the Cold War-era districts. The divisions would have operational command and control of their perpetuating post-war brigade group (save for 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group) as well as whatever new Militia brigades will be raised to take command and control of the expanded regiments and battalions noted on in the previous article.
The one change in this would be Saskatchewan. Before the Shift, the province was covered by 38 Canadian Brigade Group, which also controlled the Militia units in Manitoba and northwest Ontario. After the Shift, the Red Lily Province would be given its own controlling district to match up to the post-war 6 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group at Dundurn; the district would then fall under the effective control of Sixth Canadian Division post-war. This would reflect that before the end of the Cold War, Saskatchewan had been its own Militia district (originally designated as Military District No. 12). Because of this, a new Twelfth Canadian Division would be stood up in Halifax to cover the pre-Shift territory of 36 Canadian Brigade Group (Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island). Of course, the pre-Shift regional divisions would remain where they had been sited, though their administrative territories would be considerably shrunk down. Also, as with the regional corps, the divisions' administrative boundaries will be seen as fluid in some places due to the need of standardizing the local brigade groups that would be raised after the Shift.
Thus, we get this:
I Canadian Corps
38 CBG (Saskatchewan only) - Sixth Canadian Division
38 CBG (Manitoba and northwest Ontario) - Seventh Canadian Division
39 CBG (British Columbia and the Yukon) - Eleventh Canadian Division
41 CBG (Alberta) - Third Canadian Division
II Canadian Corps
31 CBG (southwest Ontario) - Tenth Canadian Division
32 CBG (south-central Ontario) - Fourth Canadian Division
33 CBG (southeast and northern Ontario) - Ninth Canadian Division
IIIe Corps Canadien
34e GBC (western Québec) - Huitième Division du Canada (Eighth Canadian Division)
35e GBC (eastern Québec) - Deuxième Division du Canada (Second Canadian Division)
36 CBG (Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) - Twelfth Canadian Division
37 CBG (New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador) - Fifth Canadian Division/Cinqième Division du Canada
All units not directly assigned to corps command groups would wear divisional formation patches on their uniforms (the left upper arm on the service dress, the right bicep on the combat uniform). To signify where it was being raised, Twelfth Canadian Division - who would be nicknamed the "Acadia Boatmen" due to many of the wartime soldiers soon to join it being former fishermen - would take a formation patch that would be a mix of Nova Scotia medium blue and Prince Edward Island red and gold, getting a very nice terracotta shade like this:
With this, each regional division would have one regular force brigade group to command and between two to four reserve brigade groups under its control.
Finally, the individual brigade groups would be standardized as having a minimum of seven combat units. The demonstration of how four units of the same type could be controlled by one commander as seen in the airmobile and airborne brigade groups in Seventh and Eighth Canadian Divisions during the war saw the post-war Militia brigade groups sized in either motorized infantry brigades of four infantry battalions and one armoured regiment or armoured car brigades of four armoured regiments and one infantry battalion. Three exceptions would be made, though. One of Twelfth Canadian Division's brigade groups would be an armoured motorized force of two armoured regiments and three infantry battalions, one of Fifth Canadian Division's brigade groups would be air assault infantry covering a vast area of Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador and Eleventh Canadian Division's brigade covering the northern part of British Columbia would be a mountain infantry force with no armoured element attached. Naturally, there would be artillery, engineers, signals and support forces attached to each brigade group to make them complete formations on paper while at least a quarter of the listed personnel would be either in the Active or Primary Reserve, thus allowing each Militia formation to contribute either one armoured regiment or one infantry battalion battle group to form together in case of major emergencies (i.e. the second major step in mobilization for a general war).
Since the number of wartime brigades actually ended up including all the reserve brigade group numbers (which did cause confusion at Army headquarters), the post-war Militia brigade groups would have numbers starting from 51 to ensure no confusion in the near future. Hence, we have this:
Deuxième Division du Canada (BFC Valcartier, QC)
5e Groupe-Brigade Méchanisé du Canada (Valcartier, QC)
64e Groupe-Brigade du Canada (Ville de Québec, QC)
65e Groupe-Brigade du Canada (Sherbrooke, QC)
Brigade d'Artillerie de la 2e Division du Canada (Farnham PQ)
Third Canadian Division (CFB Edmonton, AB)
1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (Edmonton, AB)
78 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group (Calgary, AB)
79 Canadian Brigade Group (Edmonton, AB)
3 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Prince Albert SK)
Fourth Canadian Division (CFB Toronto, ON)
10 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (Kingston, ON)
55 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group (Toronto, ON)
56 Canadian Brigade Group (Mississauga, ON)
57 Canadian Brigade Group (Oshawa, ON)
4 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Oakville, ON)
Fifth Canadian Division (CFB Gagetown, NB)
3 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (Gagetown, NB)
69 Canadian Brigade Group (Airmobile) (Saint John's, NF)
70 Canadian Brigade Group (Moncton, NB)
5 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Fredericton NB)
Sixth Canadian Division (CFB Dundurn, SK)
6 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group (Dundurn, SK)
71 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group (Regina, SK)
72 Canadian Brigade Group (Moose Jaw, SK)
6 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Yorkton, SK)
Seventh Canadian Division (CFB Shilo, MB)
7 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) (Shilo, MB)
73 Canadian Brigade Group (Winnipeg, MB)
74 Canadian Brigade Group (Brandon, MB)
7 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Sudbury, ON)
Huitième Division du Canada (BFC Montréal, QC)
8e Groupe-Brigade Légère du Canada (Longueuil, QC)
9e Groupe-Brigade Blindée du Canada (Farnham, QC)
61e Groupe-Brigade Blindée du Canada (Gatineau, QC)
62 Canadian Brigade Group (Montréal, QC)
63e Groupe-Brigade du Canada (Laval, QC)
Brigade d'Artillerie de la 8e Division du Canada (Terrebonne QC)
Ninth Canadian Division (BFC Farnham, QC)
2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (Petawawa ON)
58 Canadian Brigade Group (Kingston, ON)
59 Canadian Brigade Group (Ottawa, ON)
60 Canadian Brigade Group (Sault Sainte Marie, ON)
9 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Oshawa, ON)
Tenth Canadian Division (CFB Toronto Det Hamilton, ON)
4 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group (Borden, ON)
51 Canadian Brigade Group (Windsor, ON)
52 Canadian Brigade Group (London, ON)
53 Canadian Brigade Group (Kitchener, ON)
54 Canadian Brigade Group (Hamilton, ON)
10 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Guelph, ON)
Eleventh Canadian Division (CFB Chilliwack, BC)
11 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (Chilliwack, BC)
75 Canadian Brigade Group (Vancouver, BC)
76 Canadian Brigade Group (Victoria, BC)
77 Canadian Brigade Group (Alpine) (Prince George, BC)
11 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Lethbridge, AB)
Twelfth Canadian Division (CFB Halifax Det Debert, NS)
12 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) (Aldershot, NS)
66 Canadian Brigade Group (Halifax, NS)
67 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group (Charlottetown, PEI)
12 Canadian Division Artillery Brigade (Sydney, NS)
Of course, the above list doesn't include the number of engineer, signal and support service formations and units that will be formed. They will be explained eventually in future notes.
And finally, one note about foreign natives joining the Canadian Army...
CANADA'S FOREIGN LEGIONS
As noted with both 10 CMBG and 11 CMBG, after the Shift, two brand new infantry units were formed from up-time American and British expats joined by down-time Americans and British volunteers, being soon constituted as new regiments in the Canadian Army. They were not the only such "foreign legion" units that would rise in the Army in the months after the shift back in time. Up-time Irish and down-town Irish Americans expanded the Irish Regiment of Canada to three active battalions while the Irish Fusiliers of Canada (Vancouver Regiment) was reborn and had an active battalion survive to become part of 11 CMBG. In addition, large groups of up-time foreigners and down-time volunteers who were in the United States at the time of the Shift would effectively adopt existing units or help reform old units as their own "foreign legion" troops; for example, up-time Francophones saw the reformation of units such as les Chaussers Canadiens and le Régiment de Châteauguay formed for service overseas. These units will be expanded on in detail in future notes.
Next: Time to meet the post-war 51 Canadian Brigade Group, the guardians of the southwest frontier of Ontario...
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pyeknu
Chief petty officer
Seeking a fresh start here
Posts: 191
Likes: 309
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Post by pyeknu on Jul 25, 2019 17:35:09 GMT
Now, the first of the Canadian Army's post-war Militia brigades...
51 CANADIAN BRIGADE GROUP
51 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters (51 CBG HQ)
Brigade Group Headquarters - South Cameron Boulevard Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
The Windsor Regiment (RCAC) (WINDSOR R)
Regiment Headquarters - Maj Frederick Albert Tilston VC Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
"A" Squadron
Support Squadron
"B" Squadron - Capt George Stirrett MC DCM Armoury, SARNIA, Ontario
"C" Squadron - Col Ernest Martin Ansell OBE MC VD Armoury, CHATHAM-KENT (CHATHAM), Ontario
"D" Squadron - Seacliff Drive Military Annex, LEAMINGTON, Ontario
55th Field Artillery Regiment (Saint Clair Foresters), RCA (55 FD REGT RCA)
Regiment Headquarters - South Cameron Boulevard Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
2/166 Battery
355 Headquarters and Services Battery
26 (Lambton) Battery - Capt George Stirrett MC DCM Armoury, SARNIA, Ontario
167 Battery - Col Ernest Martin Ansell OBE MC VD Armoury, CHATHAM-KENT (CHATHAM), Ontario
168 Battery - Seacliff Drive Military Annex, LEAMINGTON, Ontario
The Perth Regiment (PERTH R)
Battalion Headquarters - Waterloo Street Armoury, STRATFORD, Ontario
"A" Company
"E" Company (Weapons)
"F" Company (Support)
"B" Company - James Street South Military Annex, SAINT MARYS, Ontario
"C" Company - Rocher Road Military Annex, NORTH PERTH (LISTOWEL), Ontario
"D" Company - Pierson Street Military Annex, PERTH EAST (MILVERTON), Ontario
The Middlesex and Huron Regiment (M&HR)
Battalion Headquarters - Caradoc Street Armoury, STRATHROY-CARADOC, Ontario
"A" Company
"E" Company (Weapons)
"F" Company (Support)
"B" Company - Cambria Road Armoury, GODERICH, Ontario
"C" Company - Hyde Park Road Military Annex, MIDDLESEX CENTRE (ILDERTON), Ontario
"D" Company - Kerr Drive Armoury, NORTH HURON (WINGHAM), Ontario
The Lambton Regiment (LAMBTON R)
Battalion Headquarters - Capt George Stirrett MC DCM Armoury, SARNIA, Ontario
"A" Company
"E" Company (Weapons)
"F" Company (Support)
"B" Company - Oil Heritage Road Military Annex, PETROLIA, Ontario
"C" Company - West Street Military Annex, SAINT CLAIR (WILKESPORT), Ontario
"D" Company - Main Street Military Annex, LAMBTON SHORES (GRAND BEND), Ontario
The Essex and Kent Scottish (EK SCOTS)
Battalion Headquarters - LSgt Ellis Wellwood Sifton VC Armoury, ESSEX, Ontario
"B" Company
"E" Company (Weapons)
"F" Company (Support)
"A" Company - Maj Frederick Albert Tilston VC Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
"C" Company - Col Ernest Martin Ansell OBE MC VD Armoury, CHATHAM-KENT (CHATHAM), Ontario
"D" Company - Lowe Avenue Military Annex, CHATHAM-KENT (WALLACEBURG), Ontario
51 Combat Engineer Regiment (51 CER)
Regiment Headquarters - Col Ernest Martin Ansell OBE MC VD Armoury, CHATHAM-KENT (CHATHAM), Ontario
301 (Kent) Field Squadron
300 Administration Squadron
11 (Lambton) Field Squadron - Capt George Stirrett MC DCM Armoury, SARNIA, Ontario
26 (Essex) Field Squadron - Fairview Avenue Armoury, ESSEX, Ontario
34 (Windsor) Bridge Squadron - Maj Frederick Albert Tilston VC Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
302 (Middlesex) Support Squadron - Caradoc Street Armoury, STRATHROY-CARADOC, Ontario
303 (Huron and Perth) Combat Diver Squadron - Waterloo Street Armoury, STRATFORD, Ontario
751 Signal Squadron (751 SIG SQN)
Squadron Headquarters - South Cameron Boulevard Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
51 Service Battalion (51 SVC BN)
Battalion Headquarters - South Cameron Boulevard Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
510 Administration Company
515 General Service Company
511 Forward Service Company - Col Ernest Martin Ansell OBE MC VD Armoury, CHATHAM-KENT (CHATHAM), Ontario
512 Forward Service Company - Caradoc Street Armoury, STRATHROY-CARADOC, Ontario
513 Forward Service Company - Capt George Stirrett MC DCM Armoury, SARNIA, Ontario
514 Forward Service Company - Waterloo Street Armoury, STRATFORD, Ontario
Attached to the formation from other elements of the Canadian Forces:
120 "City of Chatham-Kent" (Treeswift) Tactical Helicopter Squadron (120 THS) (detached from 42 Canadian Air Group, Royal Canadian Air Force)
Squadron Headquarters - McCudden Air Station, Chatham-Kent Municipal Airport, CHATHAM-KENT (RALEIGH), Ontario
33 Field Ambulance (33 FD AMB) (detached from 2 Canadian Forces Health Services Group, Military Personnel Command)
Battalion Headquarters - South Cameron Boulevard Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
Ambulance Company
Surgical Company
Medical Support Company
Administration Company
51 Military Police Company (51 MP COY) (detached from 2 Military Police Regiment, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff Group)
Company Headquarters - Maj Frederick Albert Tilston VC Armoury, WINDSOR, Ontario
Formed from one small wing of the pre-Shift 31 Canadian Brigade Group with many wartime regiments and battalions joining it, 51 Canadian Brigade Group was appointed by the commander of Tenth Canadian Division to directly recruit from the following territory in Ontario: The County of Essex (including the City of Windsor), the County of Lambton, the County of Huron, the County of Perth (including the City of Stratford and the Town of Saint Marys), the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and the County of Middlesex (except the Municipality of Thames Centre and the City of London). Tasked as a motorized infantry brigade, 51 CBG had the primary operational task of preparing an infantry battalion battle group with accompanying armoured car squadron, field artillery battery and support personnel for the Active Reserves to assist the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency to watch over the five main crossings between Ontario and Michigan: The Blue Water Bridges (a twin span that connected King's Highway 402 to Interstates 94 and 69 before the Shift), the Saint Clair Tunnel (both original and new tunnels connecting the former Grand Trunk Railway between Sarnia and Port Huron), the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit (connecting King's Highway 3 to an interchange of Interstate 75 before the Shift), the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel (connecting old King's Highway 3B to Michigan Trunk Road 10) and the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel (connecting the local Canadian Pacific subdivision to the Michigan Central Railway between Windsor and Detroit); after some quick negotiations, the planned sixth crossing, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, was allowed to proceed ahead to connect King's Highway 401 to the Michigan trunk grid south of downtown Windsor and Detroit. And while the Detroit of the down-time age was a large industrial city, the effects of the last phases of the Great Migration from the southern states had increased tensions on both sides of the border, especially given the close proximity of African-Americans effectively segregated in "red lined" neighbourhoods in Detroit's southeast sectors and a very open and accepting, not to mention technologically advanced, Canadian city not a half-mile across the Detroit River.
And given that Windsor was the home of Chrysler's up-time main assembly plant in Canada...!
Racial tensions would be on the minds of Canadian Army planners when it came to distributing the Militia forces along the border with the United States after "round two" of World War Two came to an end. It was especially apparent when it came to the border shared between the Trillium Province and the Great Lake State, egged on by the aging Henry Ford (who had still done business with Nazi Germany past the start of the war) as well as Father Coughlin (based out of the National Shrine of the Little Flower in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak). Both the RCMP and the CBSA would be busy even after the end of hostilities processing thousands of American migrants who would stream across the Ambassador and Blue Water Bridges and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to seek better lives, effectively seeing the Motor City's growing Depression Era jazz scene (for example) literally transplant itself to Windsor's waterfront. Fortunately, more intelligent leaders in both Lansing and among Ford's competitors in Chrysler (whose founder Walter Chrysler had pushed his company to welcome the Canadian group into the overall fold with open arms before he died in the summer of 1940) and General Motors (whose president William Knudsen did the same for the Canadian wing of GM after the Shift, which gave the company access to advanced manufacturing and engineering safety techniques) quelled complaints about lost tax revenues from the leaders of Detroit and nearby cities thanks to the Great Migration into the "land of Canaan". With the Militia and the Naval Reserve at HMCS Hunter combining forces to speed-teach migrants on Canadian social life and giving them crash-courses of technology, other American companies with far better worldviews such as General Electric under Philip D. Reed (who was glad to arrange for safer and more efficient power distribution supplied by Hydro One of Ontario and Hydro Québec), the Radio Corporation of America under David Sarnoff (who had one of television's pioneer developers, Vladímir Koz'mích Zvorýkin, on staff) and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (who was being pushed by Frank Jewett and Bell Laboratories to start integrating modern wired and wireless communications technology for both military and civilian purposes into America) were just pleased to cash in on the action, making Windsor one of the main technological transfer hubs between the Dominion and the United States in the years following the Shift.
To help keep things secure and prepare just in case 4 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group needed mobilized forces from the Militia to deal with issues either in southwest Ontario or overseas, 51 CBG was given command of several hardened veteran regiments that had seen much action in "round two" of World War Two. The two pre-Shift combat units based in the Windsor area both were drawn into Fourth Canadian Division's 11 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group to fight through the Low Countries and Germany as part of I Canadian Corps; in this, the Windsor Regiment (RCAC) finally gained battle honours (which it had been denied in "round one" of the Second World War; the then-Essex Regiment served mostly on local duties, with an active unit being dispatched to England to be disbanded in the spring of 1944) and the Essex and Kent Scottish wound up adding to its considerable list of World War Two honours, all marked with a "(II)" to signify the difference in timelines. And while the stay-home elements of both regiments weren't asked to form new units, they did help in the restoration of the Perth Regiment to active service (as both are Highland regiments) as well as helped train drafts for both the reborn Lambton Regiment and the Middlesex and Huron Regiment; the Perths would serve in the ill-fated 20 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) in Seventh Division, losing over a company's worth of soldiers at the Battle of Elms while the Lambtons and the Mids and Hurons fared much better as part of 27 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) in Eighth Division, fighting in the Low Countries and Germany as the large "SWAT Team" under direct control of First Canadian Army.
Once demobilized and allowed to return home, the Windsor Regiment would return to its recently-built headquarters at the Maj Frederick Albert Tilston VC Armoury, located north of where the Howe Bridge's Canadian terminus would be located; the armour is named in honour of a member of the Essex Scottish Regiment from Toronto who won the Victoria Cross during "round one" of World War One near Uedem in Germany in 1945. The regiment was permitted to have four sabre squadrons of personnel in all elements of the Militia, with "A" and Support Squadrons based at the Tilston Armoury, "B" Squadron taking the place of the 1st Hussars' "C" Squadron at the Capt George Stirrett MC DCM Armoury in Sarnia, "C" Squadron moving into the Col Ernest Martin Ansell OBE MC VD Armoury in old Chatham and "D" Squadron moving into the newly-constructed Seacliff Drive Military Annex in downtown Leamington. The regiment would have a full sabre squadron's worth LAV I C2 Cougar armoured cars, though they would be one of the first regiments to get access to the newly-designed Chryster LAV IV Grizzly C17 armoured car, which was an 8x8 version of the venerable AVGP redesigned to fire an updated version of the Ordnance QF 17-pounder built by Rheinmetall, which had been fitted in LAV I Cougar C1s in the early part of "round two" of the Second World War, impressing tankers with its excellent performance but not being put into serial production due to stabilization issues in the main hull. In addition, a squadron of Leopard 2 main battle tanks were in storage at the RCEME School at CFB Borden to ensure the Windsors would remain up-to-date on main battle tank skills as well as being prepared to deploy on operations whenever such was considered necessary. The Windsors would form a bond of friendship with the 126th Infantry Regiment ("Second Michigan") of the Great Lakes State's national guard formation; in "round one", said regiment would convert to armour in the 1990s and had exercised with the Canadian regiment before and during the War on Terror. This would see a drive to have a separate 126th Cavalry Regiment formed in Lansing.
The Essex and Kent Scottish would also return back to its home counties after the war bloodied but having gained much experience in the field and with an aura of satisfaction among the veterans at having performed well as part of 11 CABG. Shifting to motorized infantry (which wasn't too much of a change since they had used LAV IIIs in Europe), the regiment would disperse across both Essex County and the city of Chatham-Kent to further increase their recruitment footprint. While "A" Company was maintain at the Tiltson Armoury in Windsor, battalion headquarters as well as "B", "E" and "F" Companies would actually shift to Essex and a new armoury on Fairview Avenue near downtown; this was done in response to new Army policy to ensure that only ONE major combat unit would be based per actual armoury (with detached sub-units based at "military annexes", smaller military arsenal structures designed to handle a maximum of 200 soldiers when mobilized). Said army was named in honour of LSgt Ellis Wellwood Sifton of Wallacetown, a soldier of the 18th Battalion (Western Ontario) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (perpetuated by the Essex and Kent Scottish) in the Great War who posthumously won the Victoria Cross at the battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917. To expand the footprint of the regiment in Chatham-Kent, a new military annex was raised at Wallaceburg to house "D" Company. "C" Company, of course, returned to its home at the Col Ernest Martin Ansell OBE MC VD Armoury in old Chatham itself; such a location was named in honour of an English-born native of Chatham who commanded the Kent Regiment (the pre-1954 element of the modern regiment then based in the county of the same name) and who also won the Military Cross in the Great War. The modern Essex and Kent would also form an alliance with the 2nd Michigan across the Detroit River, giving national guardsmen the chance to exercise with competent teachers in case something flares up in the Pacific.
Joining both the Windsors and the Essexes in "Motor City Canada" was a reformed light air defence regiment that had been constituted after "round one" of World War Two in 1946, serving only until 1954 (after a transfer to Midland in Simcoe County in 1949) before it was amalgamated with the-then 45th Anti-Tank Regiment and restored to infantry as the Grey and Simcoe Foresters. After the Shift, the 55th Light Artillery Regiment, RCA was stood up at the Tiltson Armoury, composed of three batteries recruited from Essex County and the city of Chatham-Kent and one battery recruited from Lambton County; the regiment would serve as the air assault gunner force of Eight Canadian Division's 27 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) alongside two of the reformed regiments that would join 51 CBG post-war. The regiment would return to Canada after hostilities ended and take up new quarters on South Cameron Boulevard overlooking the Canadian National Railway's Van De Water Yard south of downtown Windsor. Based there along with regiment headquarters and the regiment's service battery would be 166 Battery, which was "ennobled" to serve with the 81e (Richelieu) Régiment d'Artillerie Légère, ARC at BFC Saint-Jean; naturally, the Militia battery was designated "2/166 Battery" as a result. This was one of the old 55th Regiment's three air defence batteries, formed in Windsor in 1946 and serving there for three years before shifting to Midland and serving five more years before reduction to nil strength. The regiment's other "original" batteries would take up quarters in old Chatham and Leamington; 167 Battery was founded in Windsor before shifting to Parry Sound three years later while 168 Battery went to Huntsville from the Motor City in 1949, both elements serving there until reduction to nil strength when the 55th and 45th Regiments were combined to form the modern Foresters. As for the senior battery of the regiment, 26 Battery was originally constituted in 1920 as part of the old 4th Brigade, but wouldn't be made operational until the 1936 Militia reforms freed up personnel from the just-disbanded Lambton Regiment to fill its ranks. Said battery sent an active force overseas in "round one" of World War Two, then would be made an air defence battery in 1946, serving as such before converting to field artillery in 1954; the battery would serve with the 31st Field Regiment through its renaming to the 7th Field Regiment (not to be confused with the 7th Toronto Regiment) in 1960 until reduction to nil strength in 1965. The battery was reformed after the Shift and assigned to the 55th Regiment for service overseas, returning to Sarnia to take up quarters alongside its namesake infantry regiment at the Capt George Stirrett MC DCM Armoury; it would be allowed to retain its honour title to mark the affiliation. Once back in Canada, the 55th Regiment would convert to field artillery, maintaining its QF 17-pounder light field guns built by Vickers in the United Kingdom for use in the field until new-build M777s could be produced by Rheinmetall; two batteries' worth of howitzers (4 guns) would be on permanent use with the regiment. The regiment would form an alliance with the Grey and Simcoe Foresters; it would adopt the sub-title "Saint Clair Foresters" to mark such a bond.
Re-raised in Stratford after several decades on the Supplementary Order of Battle, the Perth Regiment would become the senior infantry unit of 51 CBG once it was restored to peacetime status and return to its namesake county. Founded in 1866 as the county battalion of infantry, the regiment would perpetuate the 110th Battalion (Perth) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War One; said battalion would be broken up for reinforcements once in Europe. The regiment would do sterling service as part of the Mighty Maroon Machine in "round one" of World War Two up the Italian peninsula and the last phases of the war in Germany and the Netherlands from 1943-45. The regiment would be temporarily amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry of Canada from Kitchener from 1954-57 as a way to cut costs, but was separated again...only to be one of the first regiments to be reduced to nil strength in 1965; its place would eventually be taken by "T" Company of the Royal Canadian Regiment's Militia wing after 1970. After the Shift, "T" Company trained up new drafts to reform the Perths, who were then assigned to 20 CBG(L), surviving the war with nearly a quarter of its strength lost at Elms; this would prompt the Perths to adopt the red distinction cloth lining behind the hat badge that had been used by those units who also lost a considerable amount of its members in past conflicts. Once back home, the regiment would return to Stratford, dispersing its companies across its namesake county to ensure enrolment would remain high and the Perths would never again be sent back to the Supplementary Order of Battle. Battalion headquarters, "A", "E" and "F" Companies would reside at the armouries on Waterloo Street. "B" Company would move into a military annex at Saint Marys in the south end of the county, while "C" Company would base itself at Listowel in North Perth and "D" Company would be based at Milverton in Perth East.
Stood up thanks to drafts trained by the 1st Hussars' and the Royal Canadians' stay-home wings would be 51 CBG's other two infantry battalions. First among them was the Middlesex and Huron Regiment. Said unit was formed in 1866 as two separate infantry battalions in their like-named counties, rising to become the Middlesex Light Infantry and the Huron Regiment respectively until the 1936 Militia reforms saw the two become one single regiment; the two regiments would raise the 135th (Middlesex) Battalion and the 161st (Huron) Battalion for service overseas in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War (both battalions would be broken up for reinforcements once in England). The post-1936 Mids and Hurons would recruit from its home counties and serve there until 1946, when the regiment was completely disbanded, not even being perpetuated by any successor unit. The post-Shift version of the Mids and Hurons would be stood up at Strathroy, the unit being trained to serve as air assault light infantry to serve with 26 CBG(L) as part of Eighth Division in the Low Countries and Germany during "phase two" of World War Two. Once peace was obtained, the regiment would return to Canada and allowed to remain on strength, converting to motorized infantry along the way. With headquarters at a new armouries built in old Strathroy (now part of Strathroy-Caradoc), the regiment would do as the Essex and Kent Scottish did and base two rifle companies in each county it was authorized to operate in. Middlesex County (save for London and Thames Centre) would be covered by "A" Company in Strathroy-Caradoc and "C" Company in Ilderton, the main part of Middlesex Centre north and west of the Forest City. "B" Company would take up quarters at Goderich and "D" Company would be housed in Wingham in North Huron. Given that the regiment hadn't been on the Order of Battle since 1946, its original seniority would have been lost, seeing the Mids and Hurons ranked equal with post-Shift regiments such as the American Legion. However, thanks to the concept of "marrying up" - where post-Shift regiments would gain the seniority of the unit that helped establish it as the new units were formed originally as detached companies/squadrons of the parent unit - the Mids and Hurons found themselves second in rank among 51 CBG's units following the Perths (which had always been on the Order of Battle even if not manned). While that would cause some resentment among the old hands in the Essexes, the Mids and Hurons would strive to maintain the spit and polish even the Militia wing of Canada's senior line infantry regiment always demonstrated.
Formed in very much the same way as the new generation of the Mids and Hurons would be the new incarnation of the Lambton Regiment, which would join the other unit as part of 26 CBG(L) for the campaigns in the Low Countries and Germany. Yet another county infantry battalion formed in 1866, the regiment would help raise the 70th and 149th Battalion (Lambtons) for service in the Great War, both battalions being used as manning pools for reinforcements once in Europe. The regiment would be a victim of the 1936 Militia reforms, being struck off strength near the end of that year, with personnel shifting to the artillery (as seen above) and the engineers. The main element of the Royal Canadian Engineers formed from the Lambtons, the 11th Field Company, would serve as part of 1st Field Engineer Regiment until reduction to nil strength in 1965. The Lambton Regiment would be reformed after the Shift from drafts trained by "C" Squadron of the 1st Hussars at Sarnia before deploying with its brigade to join the Yogi Bears of the Eighth Canadian Division for duty in Europe. Because of this, the original seniority date of 14 September 1866 was lost; the new seniority date recognized for the Lambtons would be set as 31 March 1872, the same day the 1st Regiment of Cavalry was formed in Saint Thomas to eventually evolve into the 1st Hussars. Of course, that didn't bother the former tankers who switched to line infantry to reform Lambton County's home regiment; the Lambtons and the Hussars would become allied regiments and the former unit would wear a black patch behind their ram's head hat badge to mark the affiliation. The regiment's veterans would return home and adopt well to being motorized infantry once reduced to peacetime status; for the old tankers still with the Lambtons, it was seen as returning home after many harrowing rappel attacks off CH-146 Griffon helicopters. Battalion headquarters as well as "A", "E" and "F" Companies would take up quarters at the Capt George Stirrett MC DCM Armoury; this place was named after a native of Forest while serving as part of the 1st Hussars' Great War incarnation. Ironically, Capt Stirrett was a friend of the famous Great War ace A/M William Avery Bishop (they trained together in the Hussars before the war); Stirrett even helped confirm information that would see Bishop win his Victoria Cross in 1917. While the Hussars wouldn't have a squadron anymore in Sarnia ("B" Squadron of the Windsors were there now), the two regiments would remain close even if they worked in separate brigades. As for the detached companies, "B" Company took up residence in Petrolia, "C" Company moved into Wilkinsport in the municipality of Saint Clair while "D" Company got its new home in the Grand Bend part of Lambton Shores. Outside the Essexes, the Lambtons would be the busiest battalion in 51 CBG, helping keep watch over the crossings at Sarnia whenever called up by the RCMP and CBSA.
The brigade group's combat engineers was a brand-new post-Shift unit formed by volunteers who had been trained by 31 Combat Engineer Regiment at Saint Thomas. The unit was designated 11 Engineer Support Regiment; it would take up the old number of a field engineer unit formed in London in 1920, serving throughout until reduction to nil strength in 1965. The post-Shift regiment would be the support element of the Seventh Canadian Division during the middle and latter phases of "round two" of the Second World War; some members would be lost at Elms alongside the battalions of 20 CBG(L), earning 11 ESR the right to wear red memorial cloth behind their hat badges. Once the post-war needs of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers was determined, the regiment was converted to combat engineers and assigned to 51 CBG, being appropriately renumbered; memorial cloth worn on their blue berets would remain. The post-war establishment of the new 51 Combat Engineer Regiment was set to six squadrons: Three field squadrons, a general support squadron, a bridge building squadron and a combat diver unit. The post-war regiment would adopt the numbers of three pre-Shift squadrons of the RCE. 11 Squadron was formed in 1936 in Sarnia from personnel of the disbanded Lambton Regiment and remain on strength until reduction to nil strength in 1965. 26 Squadron was formed in "round one" of World War Two, serving with the Sixth Canadian Division on home defence duties; it would be relocated to Windsor and reduced to nil strength in 1954. And 34 Squadron served in "round one" of that conflict as a pontoon bridge unit in First Canadian Division; the unit would be reconstituted as a bridge troop in Windsor and serve until reduction to nil strength in 1954. These three squadrons would join four post-Shift units numbered in the 300 series (for new engineer support units at the division, corps and army level); 300 Squadron was 11 ESR's headquarters and support team, 301 Squadron was the units explosives ordnance disposal force and 302 Squadron served as the general support element of the regiment. All field squadrons of 51 CER would take up regional titles to mark its new home territory. With headquarters in old Chatham, the regiment had squadrons deployed in Windsor, Essex, Sarnia, Strathroy and Goderich.
The formation's signal squadron was formed in London from personnel trained by 31 Signal Regiment's locally-based squadron to serve as the telecommunications unit of 11 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group in Fourth Canadian Division, where it would serve in the Low Countries and Germany as part of I Canadian Corps. After the war, the squadron was retained on strength with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and renamed 751 Signal Squadron; this would start the trend to see the reserve independent squadrons of the corps assigned to Militia support take up the 700-series numbers used by communications squadrons from Unification to past the end of the Cold War. 751 Squadron would be permitted to perpetuate 3 Squadron of the 1st Canadian Division Signal Regiment set up post-World War Two "round one" in 1946, serving straight through until disbandment in 1954 (the perpetuation was carried through by that regiment's 1 Squadron in Hamilton, which would evolve eventually into the pre-Shift 31 Signal Regiment). The squadron would take up quarters at the South Cameron Boulevard Armoury alongside brigade group headquarters.
Joining 751 Squadron there would be the formation's combat service support and health services support forces. 51 Service Battalion was stood up after the Shift from personnel drawn from both the Windsor-based and London-based companies of the pre-Shift 31 Service Battalion. The unit would serve as 11 Service Battalion (Forward Support) once it was fully mustered at Camp Meaford, then dispatched to serve with I Canadian Corps Artillery Brigade in France, the Low Countries and Germany. On repatriation, the battalion would be allowed to return to Windsor and granted the right to perpetuate the pre-2010 service battalion that helped form 31 Service Battalion that year, plus all 21 (Windsor) Service Battalion's predecessor pre-Unification units; of course, the unit was appropriately renumbered. Said unit would dispatch forward service companies to Chatham, Sarnia, Strathroy and Stratford to serve as second-line logistics/maintenance providers to people based there and the local military annexes. And 33 Field Ambulance was formed in Hamilton from drafts prepared by the pre-Shift 23 Field Ambulance in the Steel City; it was intended to serve with the 11th Canadian Division Health Services Regiment but never got the chance to deploy overseas; the battalion would retain its number and perpetuate 14 Medical Company (formed after "round one" of World War Two in 1946 and disbanded in 1965) of the old Army Medical Corps.
51 Military Police Company was first formed after the Shift as 10 Military Police Platoon, part of 4th Canadian Division Military Police Company; the unit would draw personnel from the pre-Shift 31 Platoon of 2 Military Police Regiment. After expanding to company size post-war, 51 MP Company would take up quarters at the Tiltson Armoury (which doubles as a police training centre for local law enforcement) and granted the right to perpetuate the pre-Unification 6 Provost Company along with other CFMP units in Tenth Canadian Division's area of responsibility.
Assigned as the Air Force's tactical helicopter element to the brigade group would be 120 Squadron. The unit was formed at London International Airport (a former RCAF station in "round one") and assigned to 24 Wing supporting the ill-fated 20 CBG(L) in Seventh Division. After the war, the squadron was made part of the newly-constituted 4 Canadian Air Division in administrative charge of the Air Force Reserves, then would be adopted by the city of Chatham-Kent as its honorary unit; Windsor and Sarnia adopted 417 and 414 Squadrons respectively in "round one" of the Second World War. 120 Squadron would take up as its mascot the treeswift, cousins to the family of hummingbirds who became mascots to many other 100-series helicopter squadrons, then move into new quarters at the Chatham-Kent Municipal Airport in old Raleigh Township off Charing Cross Road (Chatham-Kent Route 10) just west of the town of Blenheim. The reserve air station set up there would be named in honour of both Maj James "Mac" McCudden and his younger brother 2Lt John "Jack" McCudden, both Great War air aces from Chatham in County Kent who flew for the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force until their deaths in 1918; the city of Chatham-Kent became twin cities with the Medway town east of London after the Shift and the brothers' family was pleased to allow 120 Squadron to adopt their family name for their new base in Canada.
Next: Canada's version of the London Brigade is formed in the Forest City! HOW many battalions did the Royal Canadian Regiment ultimately raise...?!
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pyeknu
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Post by pyeknu on Jul 26, 2019 2:14:16 GMT
The map displaying the locations of all parts of 51 Canadian Brigade Group.  |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jul 26, 2019 6:50:08 GMT
The map displaying the locations of all parts of 51 Canadian Brigade Group. A cool map pyeknu. |
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pyeknu
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Post by pyeknu on Jul 26, 2019 11:48:18 GMT
Thanks. Fortunately, I was able to locate an Ontario highway map to help out here.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jul 26, 2019 18:58:34 GMT
Thanks. Fortunately, I was able to locate an Ontario highway map to help out here. Well you did a great job, expanding the already great Orbats you have made so far. |
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Jul 27, 2019 9:36:43 GMT
I must say, this is quite the boatload of ORBATs that have been created and compiled. Though I can't quite fathom how you were able to do all of that, I appreciate the work that went into them. And it's fair to say that people from throughout the forum feel similarly.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jul 27, 2019 9:40:04 GMT
I must say, this is quite the boatload of ORBATs that have been created and compiled. Though I can't quite fathom how you were able to do all of that, I appreciate the work that went into them. And it's fair to say that people from throughout the forum feel similarly. Second that, keep them coming pyeknu, these orbats together with redrobin65 TL make a interesting read. |
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Zyobot
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Post by Zyobot on Jul 27, 2019 9:55:53 GMT
I must say, this is quite the boatload of ORBATs that have been created and compiled. Though I can't quite fathom how you were able to do all of that, I appreciate the work that went into them. And it's fair to say that people from throughout the forum feel similarly. Second that, keep them coming pyeknu , these orbats together with redrobin65 TL make a interesting read. Agreed. That doesn't mean that I know how to create and compile such ORBATs myself aside from the obvious basics of lots of research and writing, but agreed nonetheless. |
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pyeknu
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Post by pyeknu on Jul 27, 2019 15:57:12 GMT
And here we go with Canada's version of the London Brigades for the Forest City and its environs...
52 CANADIAN BRIGADE GROUP
52 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters (52 CBG HQ)
Brigade Group Headquarters - Wolseley Barracks, LONDON, Ontario
1st Hussars (1 H)/1. Pułk Husarii (1. PH)
Regiment Headquarters/Siedziba Pułku - Highbury Barracks/Koszary Highbury, LONDON, Ontario
"A" Squadron/Eskadra "A"
"B" Squadron/Eskadra "B"
Support Squadron/Eskadra Wsparcia
"C" Squadron/Eskadra "C" - Hyde Park Road Military Annex/Aneks Wojskowy Przy Drodze Hyde Park, MIDDLESEX CENTRE (ILDERTON), Ontario
"D" Squadron/Eskadra "D" - Caradoc Street Armoury/Zbrojownia na Ulicy Caradoc, STRATHROY-CARADOC, Ontario
77th (Middlesex) Field Artillery Regiment, RCA (77 FD REGT)
Regiment Headquarters - White Oak Road Armoury, LONDON, Ontario
2/12 Battery
55 Battery
377 Headquarters and Services Battery
48 Battery - Confederation Line Military Annex, WARWICK (WATFORD), Ontario
63 Battery - Caradoc Street Armoury, STRATHROY-CARADOC, Ontario
The Oxford Rifles (OXFORD RIF)/Das Oxford Gewehrregiment (OXFORD GR)
Battalion Headquarters/Bataillon-Hauptquartier - Dundas Street Armoury/Waffenkammer in der Dundasstraße, WOODSTOCK, Ontario
"A" Company/Gewehrkompanie "A"
"E" Company (Weapons)/Feldwaffenkompanie "E"
"F" Company (Support)/Kampfdienstkompanie "F"
"B" Company/Gewehrkompanie "B" - Pemberton Street Military Annex/Nebengebäude der Pembertonstraße, INGERSOLL, Ontario
"C" Company/Gewehrkompanie "C" - Cedar Street Military Annex/Nebengebäude der Cedarstraße, TILLSONBURG, Ontario
"D" Company/Gewehrkompanie "D" - Avery's Lane Military Annex/Nebengebäude der Averysspur, NORWICH, Ontario
The Canadian Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) (CAN FUS)/Kanadyjskie Fizylierki (Pułk Miasta Londynu) (KAN FIZ)
Battalion Headquarters/Siedziba Batalionu - Highbury Barracks/Koszary Highbury, LONDON, Ontario
"A" Company/Kompania Fizylierów "A"
"C" Company/Kompania Fizylierów "C"
"E" Company (Weapons)/Kompania Wspierająca Walkę "E"
"F" Company (Support)/Kompania Wsparcia Technicznego "F"
"B" Company/Kompania Fizylierów "B" - White Oak Road Armoury/Zbrojownia na Drodze White Oak, LONDON, Ontario
"D" Company/Kompania Fizylierów "D" - Richmond Street Armoury/Zbrojownia na Ulicy Richmond, LONDON, Ontario
4th Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (4 RCR)
Battalion Headquarters - Wolesley Barracks, LONDON, Ontario
"S" Company
"V" Company
"W" Company (Weapons)
"X" Company (Support)
"T" Company - Dundas Street Armoury, WOODSTOCK, Ontario
"U" Company - White Oak Road Armoury, LONDON, Ontario
2nd Battalion, The American Legion (212th Infantry Regiment) (2-212 IR)
Battalion Headquarters - Richmond Street Armoury, LONDON, Ontario
Company "G"
Company "H"
Company "L" (Weapons)
Company "M" (Support)
Company "I" - Nissouri Road Military Annex, THAMES CENTRE (THORNDALE), Ontario
Company "K" - Southdale Road Armoury, LONDON, Ontario
52 Combat Engineer Regiment (The Elgins) (52 CER)
Regiment Headquarters - Southdale Road Armoury, LONDON, Ontario
7 Armoured Squadron
274 Mine Clearance Squadron
275 Support Squadron
278 Administration Squadron
271 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron - Elm Street Military Annex, AYLMER, Ontario
272 Field Squadron - James Street South Military Annex, SAINT MARYS, Ontario
273 Field Squadron - Dundas Street Armoury, WOODSTOCK, Ontario
752 Signal Squadron (752 SIG SQN)
Squadron Headquarters - Wolesley Barracks, LONDON, Ontario
52 Service Battalion (52 SVC BN)
Battalion Headquarters - Wolesley Barracks, LONDON, Ontario
Transport Company
Supply Company
Maintenance Company
Administration Company
521 Forward Service Company - Dundas Street Armoury, WOODSTOCK, Ontario
Attached to the formation from other elements of the Canadian Forces:
127 "Town of Tillsonburg" (Spinetail) Tactical Helicopter Squadron (127 THS) (detached from 42 Canadian Air Group, Royal Canadian Air Force)
Squadron Headquarters - Williams Air Station, Tillsonburg Regional Airport, SOUTHWEST OXFORD, Ontario
27 Field Ambulance (27 FD AMB) (detached from 2 Canadian Forces Health Services Group, Military Personnel Command)
Battalion Headquarters - Highbury Barracks, LONDON, Ontario
Ambulance Company
Surgical Company
Medical Support Company
Administration Company
52 Military Police Company (52 MP COY) (detached from 2 Military Police Regiment, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff Group)
Company Headquarters - Wolesley Barracks, LONDON, Ontario
The effectively direct inheritor of the pre-Shift 31 Canadian Brigade Group - right down even to the red flint arrowhead badge worn as a formation patch on the uniforms; the number on the badge was changed, of course - the post-war 52 Canadian Brigade Group would effectively become the Dominion's rough equivalent to the various London Brigades formed in the United Kingdom. However, since Ontario's version of London isn't a national or even provincial capital, the comparison to such storied formations as the Forty-Seventh (1/2nd London) Division from the Great War often fell flat to British ears. Still, given that the Militia element of Canada's premier line infantry regiment was part of 52 CBG put in a lot of pride in the formation as a whole...since, save for the armoured, artillery and support units, personnel serving in the formation had worn the Imperial Cipher of Queen Victoria as their cap badge at one time or another during the hectic days and months after the Shift.
The fourth battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment wasn't given any field tasking in Europe during "round two" of the Second World War. Primarily used to serve as the personnel training and reinforcement unit for the regiment's three active battalions in First Canadian Mechanized Division, the Royal Canadians' militia wing in London was converted into one of the main infantry educational units in the country outside the regular establishments such as the Infantry School at CFB Gagetown or the various regional division training centres at CFB Wainwright, CFB Det Meaford and BFC Valcartier. Even more so, given the growing demands for more units and more formations to support the First Canadian Army in its drive to defeat the Nazis effectively saw whole new BATTALIONS raised by the Royal Canadians at Wolseley Barracks, which would have gone forth and really enhanced the regiment's overall reputation...if the senior leaders at Army Headquarters in Ottawa didn't issue a stark order:
NO infantry regiment in the Canadian Army could possess more than FOUR battalions, Regular Force or Militia!
Because of that, it was decided to allow the fourth battalion's ancestral organizations to return to the Order of Battle.
The first to be restored to full standing was the Oxford Rifles.
Formed as the modern regional municipality's home infantry battalion in 1863, the Rifles would be based out of Woodstock with detached companies scattered across Oxford County; it would achieve regimental status in 1900. The regiment would raise two battalions for service overseas in the Great War, the 71st Battalion and the 168th Battalion (Oxfords) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force; like other such units, the infantrymen directly representing the Rifles would not be allowed to fight as units but as individual replacement drafts for the front line troops of the Canadian Corps on the Western Front. The Rifles would survive the 1936 Militia reforms without being altered and would provide an active battalion for service in "round one" of World War Two; said unit would serve on home defence until it was sent to Britain only to be broken up for reinforcements in January of 1945. The regiment would continue to endure until 1954, when it was merged with the Canadian Fusiliers of neighbouring Middlesex County and made the London and Oxford Fusiliers...which was also designated the third battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment. The combined unit would be titled as the "3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (London and Oxford Fusiliers)" in 1958, where it would remain as such until the 1970 cuts in the Canadian Forces. In that time, the Royal Canadians got a third regular battalion thanks to the Canadian Guards being reduced to nil strength, thus seeing the Militia element re-titled as the fourth battalion. By this time, the Militia presence in Oxford County had been gone for five years; what would eventually be known as "T" Company had been shifted to Stratford in 1965 to serve in place of the effectively-disbanded Perth Regiment, reduced to nil strength that year. By 1990, not even the suffix title was used with the fourth battalion, effectively wiping out any visual or verbal signs of any local connection to the county of Middlesex and the regional municipality of Oxford County.
When 27 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) of the Eighth Canadian Division (Airmobile) was stood up at Wolseley Barracks, three of the infantry regiments contributing to it were units that hadn't been seen on the Order of Battle since the 1936 Militia reforms in two cases (the Lambton Regiment and the Bruce Regiment) and just after "round one" of the Second World War (the Middlesex and Huron Regiment). Since four fighting battalions were supposed to bring 27 CBG(L) to full operational strength, a fresh force was trained in London and nearby armouries to join up. Of course, the name of the unit was up in the air at first. While some people had been tempted to call it the "London and Oxford Fusiliers" without any sort of bond to the Royal Canadians, the needs of the Ninth Canadian Division (Armoured) to have an infantry battalion to serve in 37 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group would see a second unit trained at Wolseley to serve overseas. Since there were two battalions now, it was decided to revise the pre-1954 names, with the Oxford Rifles joining 27 CBG(L) while the Canadian Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) would join 37 CABG.
During this time, a considerable draft of up-time Germans who had been in Canada when the Shift happened had moved to effectively "adopt" several Militia regiments as their own "foreign legion brigade"; this was allowed by the commanders of the Canadian Army to prompt the considerable number of visitors and permanent residents who had been swept back in time with the rest of the Dominion from 2018 to 1939 a chance to serve and put down the monsters who had prompted the "last true good war" as some "round one" veterans and many historians called it. The Rifles would be one of the units in the Deutsch-Kanadische Legion ("German Canadian Legion"), which allowed a lot of former Bundeswehr soldiers to put on a uniform and help put down the monsters that were dragging their homeland into total ruin. Because of this, the regiment received the German title "Das Oxford Gewehrregiment" and would be permitted some of the same special dispensation other "foreign legion" troops would get; the hat badge for Germans was changed to have the scroll under the beaver read OXFORD GwrR in lieu of OXFORD RIFLES to mark such an adoption. German became the second operational language of the unit and the rank titles for non-commissioned members were changed to match that used in the Budeswehr; naturally, the rank insignia would remain as standard for the Canadian Army as a whole:
Chief Warrant Officer - Oberstabsfeldwebel ("leading staff field usher")
Master Warrant Officer - Stabsfeldwebel ("staff field usher")
Warrant Officer - Hauptfeldwebel ("principal field usher")
Sergeant - Feldwebel ("field usher") *
Master Corporal - Stabsgefreiterschütze ("staff exempted rifleman") *
Corporal - Hauptgefreiterschütze ("principal exempted rifleman")
Rifleman (Trained) - Obergefreiterschütze ("leading exempted rifleman")
Rifleman (Basic) - Gefreiterschütze ("exempted rifleman")
Rifleman (Recruit) - Schütze ("rifleman")
* Note that those who have the appointment of Stabsgefreiterschütze (master corporal is not a legal rank in the Canadian Forces) or the rank of Feldwebel who are forced to fill a rôle that would be normally demanded of a higher rank (i.e. an acting section sergeant or acting platoon warrant), they would be seen as "frocked" and given the appointment titles Oberstabsgefreiterschütze ("leading staff exempted rifleman") and Oberfeldwebel ("leading field usher") respectively.
The new incarnation of the Oxford Rifles would serve well in the Low Countries and Germany, returning home with a small cache of battle honours and a reputation of being one of the more capable field units sent to Europe. Naturally, the Ontario government was happy to loan German-born veterans financial grants to acquire new homes in Oxford County to settle down. Post-war, the regiment was based at a new armoury on Dundas Street east of downtown Woodstock, where "A", "E" and "F" Companies were based. Three military annexes for the Rifles were set up at Ingersoll (for "B" Company), Tillsonburg ("C" Company) and the urban part of Norwich ("D" Company). The Rifles would be tasked immediately after the war to provide an Active Reserve rifle company battle group to the small occupation force left behind in Germany by First Canadian Army; joining them would be the other regiments seen as members of the Deutsch-Kanadische Legion (who will be introduced in future notes). Also, drafts of the Rifles were seen as prime candidates to be brought up in the Mobilized Reserve to serve alongside the regular troops of the Queen's Own Rifles.
"Justin, when on Earth did His Majesty order the reformation of the King's German Legion in Canada of all places?!"
- Comment by the Right Honourable Sir Winston S. Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to the Right Honourable Justin P.J. Trudeau, Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada, at No. 10 Downing Street in London after reports of the successes of German-Canadian units in First Canadian Army were relayed to the former, made sometime in the summer of 1941.
Like those from Germany, natives of Poland caught up in the Shift flocked to the Forces to take up arms and save their homeland from the immediate danger of the Nazis and the lurking issue of the Soviets, whose takeover of the eastern half of the Second Republic would serve as a source of considerable contention post-war. Also like their up-time neighbours across the Oder and Neisse Rivers, Polish expats were more than happy to join forces with local Polish-Canadians to adopt a brigade's worth of regiments to act as their own "foreign legion"; in that, they were joined by many escapees from down-time Poland who had fled to Britain and America after the start of the Second World War and saw serving the Dominion as a much better opportunity to see their land liberated. One of the regiments that was made the cavalry element of the new Bezpłatna Polsko-Kanadyjska Brygada ("Free Polish-Canadian Brigade") was an already-active Militia regiment, the 1st Hussars (or the "1. Pułk Husarii" as the unit came to be known in Polish). The traditional local cavalry regiment of southwest Ontario, first formed in 1872, the Hussars seemed a perfect symbolic fit for the natives of Poland to join in the war against the Nazis; the Husaria that once served as the elite shock cavalry of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries were a strong legend among Poles as a whole and the down-time cavalry of the Second Republic had actually performed well in places during the invasion of 1939 despite being eventually overwhelmed by the tactics of Blitzkrieg.
As time went on and more Poles joined the regiment to eventually serve as one of the tank battalions assigned to Fourth Canadian Division's 11 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group in the Low Countries and Germany, a modification of the hat badge was allowed by the Canadian Heraldic Authority: The bucking horse leaping out of the coronet at the top of the badge was changed to a Pegasus to symbolize the Husaria as a whole; also, Polish language version of the crest were issued, with the silver spelled-out FIRST changed to the Polish PIERWSZY and the scroll reading HUSSARS changed to read HUSARII. Also, while the Polish two-finger salute wasn't adopted by those who joined the Hussars (as such could be confused for the Boy Scout salute), rank titles adopted from the Polish Army came to be used (with modifications):
Chief Warrant Officer - Starszy Chorąży ("senior ensign") *
Master Warrant Officer - Chorąży ("ensign")
Warrant Officer - Młodszy Chorąży ("junior ensign")
Sergeant - Sierżant ("sergeant")
Master Corporal - Starszy Plutonowy ("senior platoon leader")
Corporal - Plutonowy ("platoon leader")
Trooper (all levels) - Husari ("hussar")
* When one at this rank was appointed regimental sergeant major, the rank title was read Starszy Chorąży Sztabowy ("senior ensign-major").
Much to the inner relief of leaders of the Canadian Army when the largely-Polish Hussars hit the field in the Low Countries and later broke into Germany itself while part of 11 CABG, the Nazis in their path didn't suffer incidents from the Hussars that might have required the Militiary Police to take a closer look as to what was going on. Even when the regiment got into Germany and it came to be known among enemy leaders that a large number of up-time Poles were wearing CADPAT uniforms did such incidents NOT occur, which demonstrated a lot of discipline by the natives of the second real victim of Nazi aggression after Czechloslovakia. Naturally, after the war ended, the Hussars were asked to form a Mobilized Reserve tank squadron to remain with the occupation force left behind by First Canadian Army while the rest of the regiment was repatriated to Canada. Once back home, the Hussars found themselves occupying new quarters at the Highbury Barracks, a freshly-built set of drill halls constructed off Highbury Avenue North east of downtown London on whose land had been used since "round one" of World War Two as an ordnance depot and had been part of post-Unification CFB/ASU London until it was abandoned in 2006 and left to fallow. The new barracks would house the regiment's headquarters as well as "A", "B" and Support Squadrons; it would also house a language/technical school run by civilian supporters of the Bezpłatna Polsko-Kanadyjska Brygada for new Polish migrants to the Dominion to help them better integrate into the country as a whole. "C" Squadron of the regiment, which had been based in Sarnia before the Shift, was moved to Ilderton to take up quarters alongside "C" Company of the Middlesex and Huron Regiment while "D" Squadron would be co-located with the headquarters elements of the Mids and Hurons at the armoury in Stratford-Caradoc. As with the Windsor Regiment, the 1st Hussars were allowed to keep their LAV I Cougar C2s in anticipation of getting hold of freshly built LAV IV Grizzly C17 being built by Chrysler Canada at their Windsor plant; a squadron of Leopard 2s is on standby for the regiment to use in training exercises at CFB Borden to allow the Hussars to keep up their tank skills.
Also joining the Hussars at Highbury would be the second reformed ancestral unit of the Royal Canadian Regiment's militia wing. Formed originally in 1866 as a local battalion of infantry for London itself, the Canadian Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) would be made a proper regiment in 1900, some years before it would help send drafts of personnel to fight in the Great War. The Fusiliers itself would be declared as having perpetuated not just the 33rd and 142nd Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (two units drafted in London for eventual breakup for reinforcements to serve in the Canadian Corps in Europe)...but also the First Battalion (Ontario Regiment) of the CEF, the literal "right of the line" of the original First Canadian Division and the Canadian Corps as a whole in that war! Of course, the wartime Ontario Regiment had been actually formed from drafts from multiple regiments in the province in 1914, but when the time came to determine that unit's perpetuation, it fell to the Canadian Fusiliers in the end. After that sterling service, the regiment would later become a dedicated machine gun unit in the Militia reforms of 1936, then would go through "round one" of the Second World War on home defence duties as part of the Sixth Canadian Division. Once the Fusiliers were amalgamated with the Oxford Rifles in 1954, the writing was on the wall and the unit would eventually fade into history as its honours and traditions were subsumed into the history of the Royal Canadians.
Reformed after the Shift as the effective "sixth" battalion of the Royal Canadians to serve with the Ninth Canadian Division in Germany for the final phases of "round two" of World War Two, the Fusiliers would be another welcome edition to the Bezpłatna Polsko-Kanadyjska Brygada even as it and its sister regiments were serving in different formations from across the nation. It would be accorded the Polish language title "Kanadyjskie Fizylierki (Pułk Miasta Londynu)", though there wouldn't be any changes to the regiment's hat badge (which was of the same design as the Canadian Fusiliers' sister regiment, the Royal Fusiliers from London in England) save for the adding of a scroll under the lit grenade with the words CANADIAN FUSILIERS (in English) or KANADYJSKIE FIZYLIERKI (in Polish) to differentiate the Dominion's unit from its effective sister regiment in the United Kingdom. The same dispensations allowed to the other members of the BPKB were permitted to the Fusiliers, though the rank title for privates (which would be known as "Fusilier" in Canadian practice) would be addressed as Fizylier in Polish; unlike many of the bilingual English-French units such as the Canadian Guards, native Polish members of the Canadian Fusiliers and the 1st Hussars strove to learn and use English in the field even if they often slipped into their native tongue when not busy fighting for their lives to put down the enemy. Also to the relief of Army leaders in Ottawa, there were no incidents involving members of the active unit of the Fusiliers when they were deployed to Germany; this would see them retain a mobilized militia company of soldiers for occupation duties in Germany after the war ended. Once the war was over, the Canadian Fusiliers were permitted to return to London, occupying new quarters at Highbury alongside their fellow adopted Polish-Canadian regiment. The Fusiliers would base "A", "B", "E" and "F" Companies alongside battalion headquarters; "B" and "D" Companies were based in smaller armouries at the extreme ends of the Forest City on White Oak Road in the Long Oaks neighbourhood and at the corner of Richmond Street and Sunningdale Road in the northern part of London.
Since the Canadian Fusiliers had effectively "married up" when they had bonded with the Oxford Rifles in 1954 to become the Royal Canadians' third battalion, the Forest City's infantry unit would be placed right after the Rifles in the Order of Precedence.
Falling in behind the Fusiliers on the Order of Precedence would be the fourth battalion of the Royal Canadians. As noted before, the battalion effectively sat out the war as the auxiliary reinforcement and training division for the regiment's three active battalions in 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, where it would remain until war's end; knowledge of future world events and the sudden changes the Shift provoked on the world as a whole allowed planners in Ottawa to dispense with the idea of full field divisions to be used in home defence rôles when the only real threat would come from far right elements of the down-time United States, easily controlled by RCMP and CSBA authorities on both sides of the border. And while the battalion itself wouldn't be awarded specific battle honours, it would be granted the service honour THE SECOND WORLD WAR (II) 1940-41 to mark its participation in the whole war effort; the battalion would also receive the Chief of the Defence Staff Commendation for the sterling work the unit had undertaken in training so many people of so many different backgrounds to take to the field in "round two" of the war against the Nazis. As the conflict was winding down, the post-war fourth battalion of the Royal Canadians would be shifted around to better recruit from both Middlesex and Oxford Counties in the future. Retaining its traditional home at Wolseley Barracks near downtown London (which had been the core of CFB London before the end of the Cold War and was always seen as the traditional home of the Royal Canadian Regiment), the battalion would base "S", "V", "W" and "X" Companies there; with the 1st Hussars sent off to the Highbury Barracks, the room was there to house two active rifle companies of the unit. "T" Company, which had been for decades in Stratford before the Shift, was shifted back to its pre-Unification home in Woodstock, falling in alongside the headquarters element of the Oxford Rifles. And "U" Company would move into White Oak Armoury at the southern end of London itself. The post-war mission of the Royal Canadians' militia wing would be to serve as a source of personnel for mobilized duty with the active battalions of the regiment, atop serving as the primary training support force for the Tenth Canadian Division as a whole; many of the teachers who would spend summers at Camp Meaford to instruct Militia personnel would be drafted directly from the experienced infantrymen from Wolseley Barracks.
While the communities of foreigners who were caught up in the Shift were happy to adopt specific regiments of the Canadian Army as their own "foreign legion" forces, only two groups of expats went all the way to form whole brand-new regiments to serve the Crown. Of them, the one regiment that would have an impact on 51 CBG post-war would be the American Legion (212th Infantry Regiment), whose second battalion would partially occupy Wolesley Barracks before they were transported to Camp Meaford to form up with the rest of the Eleventh Canadian Division for eventual deployment overseas as part of III Canadian Corps. The war's end before the three battalions of the effectively-reborn 212th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force from the Great War could get to Europe to do some good work, but the willingness both up-time and down-time Americans had shown to put on uniforms and serve in the Canadian Army was something that deserved to be honoured and it would be when the Legion was welcomed as the junior-most ranking regiment of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps, falling in behind the British expat-formed Vikings of Canada from metropolitan Vancouver. To the delight of all those who had put in hard work to see the new regiment rise at Wolesley Barracks (with the help of the Royal Canadians), it was decided that one active battalion of the Legion would be kept on strength; that unit would be based out of Pitman Barracks at CFB Kingston and become part of 10 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group as noted before. The two remaining battalions of the Legion would be allowed to base themselves out of Ontario, with the second battalion taking up newly-constructed quarters at the Richmond Street Armoury in London's north end; this would be marked as the Legion's Militia home station.
As noted before, the regiment would be allowed certain dispensations when it came to rank titles and other changes that would allow former personnel of the up-time United States armed forces to fit in better with the Canadian Armed Forces. Among them was the continuous use of company letters in the whole regiment, with the second battalion receiving companies G-M; as noted before, the letter "J" is never used by an American infantry regiment. Much to the amusement of members of the Canadian Heraldic Authority, fans of the Harry Potter novel series got involved in the proposed design for the Legion's hat badge, effectively copying the badge of the fictional Magical Congress of the United States of America of all things; they would change the phoenix to a golden-white one to signify purity and rebirth, the wings displayed swept up to hold the Royal Crown over the head. The shield born by the beast would have the blazon of the Arms of His Majesty The King in Right of the Dominion of Canada on its chest, that atop a white-trimmed blue annulus bearing fifty five-point stars to mark the number of states of the Union at the time of the Shift; the whole would be placed on a wreath of thirteen maple leaves (marking the provinces and territories of the Dominion) and be given a scroll at the foundation under the phoenix bearing the motto INTER AMICI ÆTERNUM ("Eternally Among Friends"). And while the Legion wouldn't earn any proper battle honours in "round two" of the Second World War, it would be given its predecessor CEF battalion's theatre honour THE GREAT WAR 1916 as well as the service honour THE SECOND WORLD WAR (II) 1941 to mark the modern regiment's mobilization and preparation to engage the Nazis. Once things had settled down, the second battalion of the Legion would dispatch Company "I" to the Thorndale part of the municipality of Thames Centre to the east of London; Company "K" would move into a new armoury on Southdale Road West in the Forest City's Talbot neighbourhood.
The primary unit basing themselves at Southdale Road would be the brigade group's combat engineer force. 52 Combat Engineer Regiment would be constituted shortly after the Shift as 27 Combat Engineer Regiment, the air assault sappers of 27 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) in Eighth Canadian Division. The regiment would take to war the active element of 7 Field Engineer Squadron, which had been one of the two combat units of the pre-Shift 31 Combat Engineer Regiment (The Elgins) based out of Saint Thomas and Waterloo. With the reformation of the Elgin Regiment (RCAC) as a unit of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps once more, the two squadrons of 31 CER were effectively allowed to mobilize active units for service overseas, with 7 Squadron joining 27 CER and 48 Squadron in Kitchener effectively remaining with the mobilized 31 CER to become part of the wartime 31 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Tenth Canadian Division. Joining 7 Squadron to bring 27 CER to strength would be a slew of new units in the 270-series range of engineer squadron numbers. When overseas in Europe, 27 CER would dedicate two squadrons to explosive ordnance disposal that would be quite busy once the regiment got into Germany proper and had to confront the presence of booby traps left behind by the SS and the Hitler Youth to stymie the advance of the Allies; one of those squadrons, 274 Field Squadron, would become an expert in the removal of land mines. Once the war was over and 27 CER was allotted to become 52 CER, both the explosive ordnance disposal forces of 271 Squadron and the mine clearers of 274 squadron were permitted to maintain their specialist work. Beyond basing four squadrons at Southdale Road Armoury, the regiment would dispatch the EOD forces of 271 Squadron to be based at Aylmer near the academy of the Ontario Provincial Police; the sappers there would assist police trainees with issues such as detection of booby traps and the like. Two more field squadrons would be based beyond the regiment's headquarters in London; 272 Field Squadron would be based alongside "B" Company of the Perth Regiment in Saint Marys while 273 Field Squadron would be based at Woodstock alongside the headquarters forces of the Oxford Rifles. The regiment would be permitted to retain the subtitle "The Elgins" to mark its affiliation to the tank regiment that was now moving to restore itself as Elgin County's resident Militia unit; 52 CER would be seen as the unofficial third regiment of the Elgins, as the wartime 31 CER (which would become 53 Combat Engineer Regiment and be based at Waterloo) would be seen as the "second regiment". In addition, post-war, 7 Field Squadron would convert to armoured car engineering, driving the LAV IV Husky C32, a new variant of the LAV III based off the up-time M1132 Engineer Squad Vehicle variant of the Stryker wheeled armoured fighting vehicle used by the United States Army; 52 CER's main Active Militia tasking is to prepare a troop of armoured sappers trained to drive and use a variation of the Leopard 2 C2 based on the up-time Pionierpanzer 3 Kodiak armoured engineer vehicle (built for the Swiss, Dutch and Swedish armies) for emergency situations; the vehicles would be based out of the RCEME School at CFB Borden when required.
The brigade group's force of gunners would coalesce around the 77th (Middlesex) Field Artillery Regiment, RCA; the regiment would become the primary tenants of the White Oak Road Armoury in the south-central part of the Forest City. The regiment's number is totally brand-new, but the unit would be seen as the continuation of the old 7th Field Artillery Regiment; this was done to prevent confusion with the 7th Toronto Regiment in Ontario's capital city. The 77th Regiment can trace its ancestry back to "round one" of the Second World War, when the 31st (Reserve) Brigade Group of the Royal Canadian Artillery was authorized to be formed in 1942 to serve as a training depot for gunners heading overseas. The field brigade would become a field regiment post-war, remaining at London until being shifted to Sarnia in 1960, being re-numbered the 7th Field Regiment along the way. Said regiment would be placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle five years later in the first round of massive cuts in the Canadian Army leading into Unification of the Forces; this was probably done to also prevent confusion with the 7th Toronto Regiment along the way. The regiment would be reformed and re-manned after the Shift and renumbered to allow only ONE series of artillery regiment numbers to be used in the Militia element of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery; reformed with the new field unit would be 12, 48, 55 and 63 Field Batteries as well as the newly-formed 377 Headquarters and Service Battery. The regiment would serve as the armoured gunner force of 37 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group in Ninth Canadian Division for the last phases of "round two" of the Second World War in Germany proper before returning back to Canada. It would be one of the first units in the Royal Regiment to make use of the Canadian-built copy of the up-time British Army's Gun Equipment 155 millimetre L131 (more popularly known as the AS-90); the Canadian system was designated the Rheinmetall/General Motors Canada 155 millimetre Self-Propelled Gun C131, which mated the L131 hull design to the M777 field howitzer to save weight and ease development and production costs. The system worked well, which would see a battery of C131s stored at CFB Borden post-war for the use of the 77th Regiment; the unit would be given the Active and Primary Militia tasking to provide a battery of gunners for any emergency. For normal training, British-built Ordnance QF 17-pounder field guns were kept at the armoury on White Oak Road. Two batteries would be detached from the regiment and based elsewhere. 48 Battery would be based at a military annex set up in the Watford part of Warwick in Lambton County; this was the battery's traditional home and a new training hall would be erected on Confederation Line connecting Sarnia with Strathroy. And 63 Battery would return to its traditional home in Strathroy itself, based alongside units of both 51 CBG and 52 CBG at the armoury on Caradoc Street. The regiment would be one of the Militia units in the Royal Regiment to have an "ennobled" element; 12 Battery of London would have a Regular Force counterpart parading with the 31st General Support Artillery Regiment based out of the Picton detachment of CFB Kingston as the unit's multiple-launch rocket battery.
The majority of the support forces assigned to the brigade group would take up residence at Wolseley Barracks, which would be expanded somewhat and absorbed (along with Highbury Barracks) to become a new "Garrison London" and an administrative detachment of CFB Toronto. 752 Signal Squadron was formed to serve as the headquarters communications force of 27 CBG(L) from drafts trained by the old 31 Signal Regiment's local detachment; the squadron is seen as perpetuating 2 Squadron of the post-World War Two "round one" 1st Canadian Division Signal Regiment, which would become 9 Signal Squadron in 1954 and be reduced to nil strength in 1970. 52 Service Battalion would also have served with the Eighth Canadian Division as 27 CBG(L)'s front line logistics/maintenance force; the battalion would be the direct descendant of the Cold War-era 22 (London) Service Battalion and all the units amalgamated into it at Unification. After returning to Canada, the battalion would dispatch a forward service company to Woodstock to provide logistical/maintenance support to the units and sub-units based in Oxford County. 27 Field Ambulance served with the 8th Canadian Division Health Services Regiment and was formed by the London wing of the pre-Shift 23 Field Ambulance in Hamilton; the battalion would be also seen as perpetuating the old 15 Field Ambulance formed after "round one" of World War Two, which was re-formed as a medical company in 1954 and then amalgamated with 22 Service Battalion in 1965, being disbanded five years later; the battalion itself would be based out of Highbury Barracks. And 52 Military Police Company was first stood up as 27 MP Platoon in Eighth Canadian Division from personnel trained by the pre-Shift 31 MP Platoon; unlike the other support forces of 52 CBG.
The formation's attached tactical helicopter unit, 127 Squadron, was first formed at London International Airport after the Shift to serve as part of 41 Wing, the tactical aviation force directly attached to 27 CBG(L) in Eighth Canadian Division. The squadron would return to southwest Ontario after the war ended and be based at the Tillsonburg Regional Airport northwest of its namesake town in the township of Southwest Oxford. The squadron would be adopted by the town of Tillsonburg and would take the Madagascan spinetail as its mascot. The unit would take up direct quarters at Williams Air Station, which is named in tribute to Capt Thomas Frederic Williams of nearby Ingersoll, who flew for the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in the Great War, coming out with 14 victories at the end of the conflict.
Next: The Militia of Waterloo Region, Wellington County, Oxford County and Brant County...hey! Wait a minute! Didn't we do Oxford already?!
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pyeknu
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Post by pyeknu on Jul 28, 2019 14:53:43 GMT
And the ORBAT map for 52 Canadian Brigade Group is done!  |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jul 28, 2019 15:50:34 GMT
And the ORBAT map for 52 Canadian Brigade Group is done! Another fine map pyeknu. |
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pyeknu
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Post by pyeknu on Jul 29, 2019 23:46:19 GMT
The third of Tenth Canadian Division's peacetime Militia brigade groups as we enter BlackBerry country...!
53 CANADIAN BRIGADE GROUP
53 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters (53 CBG HQ)
Brigade Group Headquarters - Memorial Auditorium Park Barracks, KITCHENER, Ontario
9th Grey's Horse (9 GH)
Regiment Headquarters - Durham Road Armoury, WEST GREY (DURHAM), Ontario
"A" Squadron
Support Squadron
"B" Squadron - Sgt Tommy Holmes VC Memorial Armoury, OWEN SOUND, Ontario
"C" Squadron - Dundas Street Armoury, WOODSTOCK, Ontario
"D" Squadron - Pemberton Street Military Annex, INGERSOLL, Ontario
56th Field Artillery Regiment (Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles of Canada), RCA (56 FD REGT RCA)
Regiment Headquarters - Sgt William Merrifield VC Armoury, BRANTFORD, Ontario
54 Battery
356 Headquarters and Services Battery
169 Battery - Curtis Avenue Military Annex, BRANT COUNTY (PARIS), Ontario
221 Battery - Thorburn Street Military Annex, HALDIMAND COUNTY (CAYUGA), Ontario
222 Battery - Ramsey Drive Military Annex, HALDIMAND COUNTY (DUNNVILLE), Ontario
The Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada (RHFC)/Der Königliche Hochland-Füsiliere von Kanada (KHFK)
Battalion Headquarters/Bataillon-Hauptquartier - Ainslie Street South Armoury/Waffenkammer in der Süd-Ainsliestraße, CAMBRIDGE, Ontario
"A" Company/Füsilierenkompanie "A"
"C" Company/Füsilierenkompanie "C"
"E" Company (Weapons)/Feldwaffenkompanie "E"
"F" Company (Support)/Kampfdienstkompanie "F"
"B" Company/Füsilierenkompanie "B" - Memorial Auditorium Park Barracks/Gedenkhalleparkkaserne, KITCHENER, Ontario
"D" Company/Füsilierenkompanie "D" - Westmount Road Armoury/Waffenkammer in der Westmountstraße, WATERLOO, Ontario
1st Battalion, The Wellington Regiment (1 WR)
Battalion Headquarters - London Road Armoury, WELLINGTON NORTH (MOUNT FOREST), Ontario
"A" Company
"E" Company (Weapons)
"F" Company (Support)
"B" Company - Durham Road Armoury, WEST GREY (DURHAM), Ontario
"C" Company - Main Street West Military Annex, SHELBURNE, Ontario
"D" Company - Barnswallow Drive Military Annex, WOOLWICH (ELMIRA), Ontario
2nd Battalion, The Wellington Regiment (2 WR)
Battalion Headquarters - McQueen Boulevard Armoury, CENTRAL WELLINGTON (FERGUS), Ontario
"A" Company
"E" Company (Weapons)
"F" Company (Support)
"B" Company - Wyndam Street Armoury, GUELPH, Ontario
"C" Company - 8 Line Military Annex, ERIN, Ontario
"D" Company - Telfer Glen Street Military Annex, PUSLINCH (MORRISTON), Ontario
The Bruce Regiment (BRUCE R)
Battalion Headquarters - Grenville Street Armoury, SAUGEEN SHORES (SOUTHAMPTON), Ontario
"A" Company
"E" Company (Weapons)
"F" Company (Support)
"B" Company - Broadway Street Military Annex, KINCARDINE, Ontario
"C" Company - West River Road Military Annex, BROCKTON (WALKERTON), Ontario
"D" Company - Berford Street Military Annex, SOUTH BRUCE PENINSULA (WIARTON), Ontario
53 Combat Engineer Regiment (The Elgins) (53 CER)
Regiment Headquarters - Westmount Road Armoury, WATERLOO, Ontario
277 Technical Engineer Squadron
279 Support Squadron
270 Administration Squadron
48 Field Squadron - Memorial Auditorium Park Barracks, KITCHENER, Ontario
57 Horizontal Engineer Squadron - Heritage Drive Military Annex, WILMOT (NEW HAMBURG), Ontario
276 Field Squadron - Barnswallow Drive Military Annex, WOOLWICH (ELMIRA), Ontario
753 Signal Squadron (753 SIG SQN)
Squadron Headquarters - Memorial Auditorium Park Barracks, KITCHENER, Ontario
53 Service Battalion (53 SVC BN)
Battalion Headquarters - Memorial Auditorium Park Barracks, KITCHENER, Ontario
Logistics Company
Workshop Company
Administration Company
532 Forward Support Company - McQueen Boulevard Armoury, CENTRAL WELLINGTON (FERGUS), Ontario
534 Forward Support Company - Grenville Street Armoury, SAUGEEN SHORES (SOUTHAMPTON), Ontario
535 General Support Company - Sgt William Merrifield VC Armoury, BRANTFORD, Ontario
Attached to the formation from other elements of the Canadian Forces:
131 "Town of Hannover" (Swiftlet) Tactical Helicopter Squadron (131 THS) (detached from 42 Canadian Air Group, Royal Canadian Air Force)
Squadron Headquarters - Bishop Air Station, Saugeen Municipal Airport, BROCKTON, Ontario
31 Field Ambulance (31 FD AMB) (detached from 2 Canadian Forces Health Services Group, Military Personnel Command)
Battalion Headquarters - Memorial Auditorium Park Barracks, KITCHENER, Ontario
Ambulance Company
Surgical Company
Medical Support Company
Administration Company
53 Military Police Company (53 MP COY) (detached from 2 Military Police Regiment, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff Group)
Company Headquarters - Memorial Auditorium Park Barracks, KITCHENER, Ontario
In effect, a brigade group in name only given its dispersed units, 53 Canadian Brigade Group covers a vast swath of territory by itself: The Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Wellington County (including the City of Guelph), Bruce County, parts of Grey and Dufferin Counties, the city of Brantford, the municipalities of Brant and Haldimand Counties and it shares the Regional Municipality of Oxford County with 52 Canadian Brigade Group. Because of that, it was initially intended to have this force serve as an airmobile/air assault team to give Tenth Canadian Division a greater level of flexibility to its work helping secure southwestern Ontario. Such was scrapped when it was decided that with the availability of 8e Groupe-Brigade Légère du Canada - which had an infantry battalion and a combat engineer regiment based in the Niagara Region - that 53 CBG would serve as a standard light armoured vehicle force with Cougar C2 armoured cars (to be replaced by the new Grizzly C17s when they were built and commissioned) for its armoured force. However, even if there would be an assigned engineer support regiment to Tenth Division as a whole, 53 CBG's combat engineer unit was given a special tasking to produce a squadron of technical engineers; since it was quartered close to the base of Canada's famous BlackBerry computing firm, it only made sense that a mixed team of personnel from the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers and the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals would work together to provide computing and other technical support for long-term field engineer projects in II Canadian Corps' area of responsibility.
The only units that were active in 53 CBG's post-war area of responsibility pre-Shift was the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada in Waterloo Region, the 56th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA in Brantford, the 11th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA in Guelph and 48 Field Squadron of 31 Combat Engineer Regiment (The Elgins) in Waterloo itself. It was from the rear staff of all four units that a considerable force of personnel - augmented by up-time German, Austrian, German-Canadian and Austrian-Canadian recruits added to down time German-Americans and Austrian-Americans who didn't care for the Nazis - was trained for deployment overseas in several waves. It was from that massive force that the post-war 53 CBG would be forged, with a mixture of veterans of multiple forms of field service along with well-trained troops who didn't get the chance to deploy overseas but would choose to remain in the Militia post-war to keep their units up to relative effective strength.
The chief unit of this force would be the Royal Highland Fusiliers. Adopted by the Deutsch-Kanadische Legion along with its sister unit in neighbouring Oxford County, the Fusiliers would come up to full strength immediately, then be made air assault infantry to serve as part of the ill-fated 20 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) in Seventh Canadian Division; unlike two of its sister battalions, the Fusiliers would weather the Battle of Emst with minimal casualties, then serve through the Low Countries and Germany in good fashion until the end of the war. Unfortunately, because it was a unit manned with "traitors" in the eyes of the Nazis - the Fusiliers had been given the German title "Der Königliche Hochland-Füsiliere von Kanada" - the unit was often singled out by roving bands of both the Waffen SS and the Allgemeine SS (sometimes augmented by the forces of the Hitler Youth and even the League of German Maidens in a weird replay of the "Werewolf" plot that had been threatened by the Nazis in the last months of "round one" of the Second World War) to see it either destroyed or to have personnel captured to gain as much information about the future as possible. This saw the Fusiliers engage in some nasty battles in the last phases of the war, which cost some casualties but also reared the ugly head of potential war crime charges being levied against members of the regiment. While the personnel of the Fusiliers had behaved beyond reproach throughout the war, the military policemen of the wartime 7th Canadian Division Military Police Company would often send people into the field to keep an eye on things.
Post-war, the regiment would be granted the same types of dispensations as other units of the DKL in Ontario and elsewhere. German would become the second tactical language of the unit and the rank structure of non-commissioned members would be given German titles as noted before with the Oxford Rifles. However, because the Waterloo Region unit was ceremonially a regiment of fusiliers, the rank titles for junior non-commissioned members went this way:
Master Corporal - Stabsgefreiterfüsilier ("staff exempted fusilier") *
Corporal - Hauptgefreiterfüsilier ("principal exempted fusilier")
Rifleman (Trained) - Obergefreiterfüsilier ("leading exempted fusilier")
Rifleman (Basic) - Gefreiterfüsilier ("exempted fusilier")
Rifleman (Recruit) - Füsilier ("fusilier")
* Again, if a master corporal in the Fusiliers was placed in a position such as being made acting sergeant, s/he would be seen as being "frocked" and be given the German rank title Oberstabsgefreiterfüsilier ("leading staff exempted fusilier").
The regiment would be asked to keep a mobilized company to serve with the occupation force First Canadian Army would leave behind in Germany post-war while the rest of the regiment would return to quarters. Post-war, the regiment would base "A", "C", "E" and "F" Companies in Cambridge, "B" Company at Kitchener and "D" Company at a brand new armoury on Westmount Road to the west of downtown Waterloo.
The other roughly fully-sized unit in the future catchment area of 53 CBG was the 56th Field Artillery Regiment (Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles of Canada), RCA out of Brantford. Pre-Shift, the unit had three active batteries, with two of them based in the urban area of Simcoe in Norfolk County and in Saint Catharines. After the Shift and with the call to general mobilization, the regiment shed both 10 and 69 Batteries to the 29th Field Regiment and the 25th General Support Regiment (Norfolk Rifles) respectively. With only 54 Battery in Brantford remaining, the regiment was authorized to reactivate 169 Battery as well as form two brand-new post-Shift field units, 221 and 222 Batteries; the majority of personnel were recruited from Brantford, the city of Brant County and the city of Haldimand County. The regiment was tasked to provide fire support to 11 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group of the Fourth Canadian Division, which it did splendidly well. To the surprise of many, the regiment's vehicle and weapons technicians got hold of discarded Ordnance QF 17-pounder 76.2 millimetre anti-tank cannon-equipped LAV I Cougar C3s from tank regiments of both Second and Fourth Canadian Divisions whose commanders wanted to make use of the more stable Cougar C2 design with its 76 millimetre L23A1 rifled cannon, then had the vehicles modified to be the rough equivalent of the M7 Priest self-propelled howitzer variant of the M4 Sherman from "round one" of the Second World War; while the 17-pounder was a lighter weapon than what was used by equivalent units of the Royal Artillery, improvements by Rheinmetall Canada would make the cannons more efficient in accuracy and range. Post-war, the regiment was permitted to retain its modified Cougar C3s (re-designated the LAV I Cougar C4) until such time as both Rheinmetall Canada and Chrysler Canada would produce a new version that would be equivalent to the LAV IV Grizzly C17; the proposed model type would be named the "LAV IV Trebuchet C55" and would mate the upgraded LAV III chassis to the M777 field howitzer. In addition, two batteries' worth of C131 self-propelled howitzers would be in storage at the RCEME School at CFB Borden for the regiment to use on field exercises.
The 56th Regiment would adopt some interesting changes to its dress and deportment once back in Canada. First was the return of the sub-title to the unit, which had been effectively dropped since the end of the Cold War; this marked the regiment's pre-1946 incarnation as the Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles of Canada, a creation of the 1936 Militia reforms that brought together two regiments representing Brant and Haldimand Counties that had first been formed all the way back in 1866. Because of this, the 56th Regiment was then seen as an honorary rifles unit; it would form bonds of affiliation with neighbouring like units such as the Norfolk Rifles and the Oxford Rifles. Thus, members of the regiment adopted the dark blue garrison cap as their headdress. In addition, they also adopted the faster marching pace of rifles regiments (their quick march was 140 paces per minute in lieu of the standard 120 paces in line infantry and other parts of the service) as well as gained a corps of bugles to go with the regimental band. To enhance its presence in its traditional catchment territory, the regiment based 169 Battery in the former town of Paris northwest of Brantford, 221 Battery in the former town of Cayuga and 222 Battery in the former town of Dunnville; this would see two field batteries in Brant County and two in Haldimand County. Because of its close proximity, the regiment would also become one of the sponsoring units for the local Royal Canadian Army Cadet corps at Canada's only military-theme private boy's school, Robert Land Academy, located in the southern part of the township of West Lincoln near the border with Haldimand County north of Dunnville; the academy, which had quite the international appeal before the Shift, would suffer from the loss of future students, but was quite the prime source of potential soldiers for the wartime army.
31 Combat Engineer Regiment (The Elgins) had been effectively formed in 1997 from the conversion of an infantry battalion-turned-armoured regiment whose pedigree went back to two years prior to Confederation with the founding of the 25th Elgin Battalion of Infantry in Saint Thomas near London. At the time of the Shift, the regiment had two field squadrons, 7 Squadron in Saint Thomas and 48 Squadron in Waterloo (it then occupying offices in an industrial mall close to the Conestoga Parkway). Once mobilization began, the regiment helped form both the wartime 27 Combat Engineer Regiment to serve with its like-numbered air assault brigade in Eighth Canadian Division for the middle and latter phases of "round two" of the Second World War; at the same time, a reborn Elgin Regiment (RCAC) would serve as one of the tank units in Fourth Canadian Division's 11 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group alongside the mobilized 56th Field Artillery Regiment. With 7 Field Squadron now serving in 27 CER, its sister squadron in Waterloo would become the core of a mobilized version of 31 CER to be deployed with its like-numbered brigade group in Tenth Canadian Division. Fortunately, the regiment didn't actually get overseas before the war ended, thus would stand down and be transformed into the peacetime 53 Combat Engineer Regiment; despite its distance from Elgin County, the unit would maintain its subtitle "The Elgins" and be effectively seen as the second field unit of that regiment.
Post-war, the regiment would be unique in having both a horizontal engineer squadron (which normally would be part of a division-level engineer support regiment) as well as a technical engineer squadron composed of a mixture of combat engineers, construction engineers and signal/information systems specialists from the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. This was because Waterloo (the regiment's headquarters zone) was the home of BlackBerry, which would become Canada's only major provider of civilian wireless communications and would sweep up the various Canadian assets of former companies like Nortel after the Shift to become the only telecommunications specialist group in the nation. Because of that, leaders in the Royal Canadian Engineers teamed with their counterparts in the Corps of Signals to create 277 Technical Engineer Squadron, a specialist unit that would serve as a field construction force that could erect linked and networked quarters for deployed troops overseas; many of its officers and personnel worked for BlackBerry in civilian life. Atop that, the regiment would also have 57 Horizontal Engineer Squadron based out of New Hamburg in the township of Wilmot west of Kitchener. This particular unit had served originally in the Militia at Mont-Saint-Hilaire in Québec from 1954-65 as part of the old 3rd Field Engineer Regiment; it was also the original name of the Regular Force field squadron that would evolve eventually into 2 Combat Engineer Regiment. Because of that, 57 Squadron was allocated to 31 CER's wartime incarnation; post-war, it was converted to a specialist combat squadron that mixed road engineers and other personnel who could help build a field camp in conjunction with 277 Squadron. Along with those squadrons, 53 CER would also have 48 Field Squadron based out of Kitchener, 276 Field Squadron in the Elmira part of the township of Woolwich north of Waterloo, plus 279 and 270 Squadrons co-located with 277 Squadron in the regiment's newly-constructed armoury on Westmount Road outside the urban part of Waterloo itself.
The Wellington Regiment was first formed in 1866 as its namesake county's local infantry force. It served straight until 1936, when the regiment was disbanded and its personnel dispersed to various artillery units; one of which was 99 Field Battery of the-then 21st Field Brigade that would also absorb personnel from the Wellingtons' sister unit in Brant County. Reformed after the Shift from volunteer drafts from both the 11th General Support Regiment and the 21st Missile Regiment, the Wellingtons were initially tasked to form one overseas battalion that would be part of the independent 41 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group which would serve as one of the two "quick response" formations directly controlled by the commander of the First Canadian Army. That battalion would serve splendidly throughout the Low Countries and Germany in the middle and latter phases of "round two" of the Second World War. Along the way, a second battalion of the Wellingtons was raised; both units would be effectively crewed by a mixture of up-time expats from many countries (which prevented the regiment from being adopted by a specific "foreign legion" brigade). The second battalion of the Wellingtons would have served in 33 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group as part of the Eleventh Canadian Division; fortunately, the war ended before that particular formation was dispatched overseas to fight in Europe. Once peace came, the Wellingtons would retain its two battalion structure, effectively dividing its home county in half for recruits. The first battalion would set up its home station at the newly-constructed London Road Armoury in the Mount Forest section of the township of Wellington North; it would have detached companies at Elmira in Woolwich (in Waterloo Region), Durham in West Grey (in Grey County) and Shelburne (in Dufferin County). The second battalion would base itself in the Fergus part of Wellington Centre at a new armoury on McQueen Boulevard; it would have detached companies in Guelph (alongside the headquarters of the 11th General Support Regiment, RCA), Erin and the Morriston part of Puslinch south of the Royal City.
The final infantry force in the formation would be the Bruce Regiment, raised from volunteers in its namesake county at the northern end of the Ontario Peninsula partially dividing Lake Huron from Georgian Bay. Raised as the local infantry battalion in 1866, the regiment would serve as the local Militia force until the 1936 Militia reforms, when it was disbanded and its personnel drawn into 97 and 98 Field Batteries of the 21st Field Brigade of the Royal Canadian Artillery; those units would continue to serve as such until the regiment was reduced to nil strength in 1970. After the Shift, that particular unit of gunners was brought back on line as the 21st Missile Artillery Regiment, RCA for service in I Canadian Corps' artillery force. Along the way, the need of an additional infantry battalion to serve in Eighth Canadian Division's 27 Canadian Brigade Group (Light) saw drafts trained by the 21st Regiment's rear staff assume the pre-1936 identity of two of its constituent batteries; the reborn Bruce Regiment would perform well in the Low Countries and Germany once it was prepared and dispatched overseas. Once the war ended, the regiment was allowed to return to its home county, with new headquarters set up in the Southampton section of the municipality of Saugeen Shores overlooking Lake Huron. The regiment would have detached companies in Kincardine, the Walkerton part of the township of Brockton and the Wiarton part of the township of South Bruce Peninsula. While converting to motorized infantry, the regiment would still maintain its air assault skills thanks to the basing of the brigade group's attached helicopter unit at the Saugeen Municipal Airport in Brockton. 131 Squadron was raised to serve as the tactical aviation asset of 31 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Tenth Canadian Division, thus wouldn't get the opportunity to serve overseas before "round two" of the Second World War ended. Said squadron would take up quarters at the newly-named Bishop Air Station; it was named, of course, after neighbouring Grey County's most-famous aviator, A/M William Avery Bishop of Owen Sound, who won the Victoria Cross in 1917 during the Great War. The squadron would be adopted by the nearby town of Hannover and would adopt the Mariana swiftlet from Guam as its mascot.
The brigade group's armoured force would be a regiment that hadn't been on the order of battle since before the 1936 Militia reforms. The original 9th (Grey's) Horse was first raised in 1908 at Woodstock as the 24th Regiment; its subtitle was obviously meant to honour the-then Governor General of Canada, Albert Grey the fourth Earl Grey (he who also presented professional Canadian football the famous Grey Cup). The regiment would recruit from Oxford County until after World War One, when it was shifted north to the area of Bruce, Huron and Grey counties; it was at this time that the regiment was designate the 9th (Grey's) Horse. There, it would remain until disbandment in early 1936, not even being given the chance to be perpetuated by units in other branches of service. Thus, when the new incarnation of the 9th Grey's Horse was authorized after the Shift, it became the second YOUNGEST unit of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps! Drawing in personnel trained by the stay-home elements of the 1st Hussars from London and the Elgin Regiment from Saint Thomas, the new 9th Grey's Horse was tasked as one of the tank units of 37 Canadian Armoured Brigade Group in the Ninth Canadian Division for the last phase of "round two" of the Second World War in Germany itself. Granted the chance to actually be a tank unit in lieu of a unit of armoured cars, the Greys would drive their Challenger 2 C2s well in mopping up what was left of the Wehrmacht in the division's path of advance. Once peace came, the regiment would be retained on strength (as with all the other wartime-formed infantry and armoured regiments), then permitted to return to Canada. Marking the shared history between the regiment's original and post-Great War areas of recruitment, the Greys were split into two task groups, with regiment headquarters being stood up at Durham in West Grey (where "A" and Support Squadrons were based), "B" Squadron based out of Owen Sound alongside the headquarters of the Grey and Simcoe Foresters, "C" Squadron in Woodstock and "D" Squadron in Ingersoll. The Greys would win the attention of the current Earl Grey, Albert's son Charles, who agreed to become the colonel-in-chief of the regiment.
All other elements of the formation would be veterans of the wartime 31 CMBG. 753 Signal Squadron was formed from the pre-Shift 38 Signal Regiment's Regina branch to serve in 31 CMBG in Tenth Canadian Division, but would not go overseas because of the war's end; it would be renumbered and take up new quarters at the expanded Kitchener Army, now called the "Memorial Auditorium Park Barracks". Also based there would be 53 Service Battalion (the wartime 31 Service Battalion which also perpetuates the pre-Shift 31 Service Battalion, it raised in Hamilton for service with 31 CMBG), 33 Field Ambulance (first raised in Hamilton from the pre-Shift 23 Field Ambulance to serve in the Eleventh Canadian Division) and 53 Military Police Company (first raised in Sault Sainte Marie to serve also in Eleventh Canadian Division). 53 Service Battalion would have two forward service companies based in Fergus and Southampton to service the regiments based in Wellington and Bruce Counties as well as a general service battalion based out of Brantford to support the brigade group's armoured and artillery forces. The battalion's troops in Kitchener would be split into a combined logistics company (with transport and supply forces) and a workshop company (with RCEME personnel) as well as its administration company.
Next: The Steel City Brigade, last of Tenth Canadian Division's field formations, with units spanning from Elgin County to Norfolk County to Hamilton itself!
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pyeknu
Chief petty officer
Seeking a fresh start here
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Post by pyeknu on Jul 30, 2019 16:30:46 GMT
And the map is done! lordroel , if you would kindly do the honours, SVP:  |
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lordroel
Administrator
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Post by lordroel on Jul 30, 2019 16:35:16 GMT
And the map is done! lordroel , if you would kindly do the honours, SVP: Another nice map pyeknu. |
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