By Harold Skaarup
Harold Skaarup is a retired Canadian Forces intelligence officer.
German V-2 Rocket, one that came to Canada
While researching the locations of surviving war trophies brought to
Canada in 1945, I spoke with retired Captain Farley M. Mowat about his
post war task of collecting German weapons and equipment that was of
interest to Canada. He was very detailed in his response.
When the war ended in Europe in May 1945, Captain Mowat was serving with
the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment in the Netherlands. He was
assigned to Intelligence duties, and eventually succeeded in locating,
identifying and collecting over 700 tons of German equipment, documents
and material which he then shipped from Antwerp back to Montreal.[1]
Captain Mowat ‘s five-man team gathered up major examples of German
armour, artillery, support weapons and equipment from a variety of
locations in Western Europe and he arranged for their transport back to
Canada on an American Liberty ship, the SS Blommersdyke. The majority of
this shipment was sent to the Canadian Armament Research and
Development Establishment (CARDE) based at Valcartier, Québec. After
examination, some of the kit was moved Camp Borden, Ontario, where a few
of the larger armour and artillery pieces remain on display, while a
number of other pieces were dispersed around the country.
The team collected a significant number of large scale weapons that made
it back to Canada which have since disappeared, including Panzer III
and Panzer IV tanks. A Sturmgeschütz III they recovered was used
(briefly) as a target on the ranges at CFB Petawawa, but was later
salvaged and is now on display in the Canadian War Museum (CWM) in its
heavily damaged state. The Wirbelwind self-propelled four-barrelled
Anti-Aircraft (SP AAA) gun system mounted on a Panzer IV chassis
currently displayed at the Base Borden Military Museum was included in
his list, but the Panther that was on display at CFB Borden (now
restored in the CWM) was not. The Panzer V came up from the USA in time
to be placed on display on Parliament hill on Victory in Europe (VE)
Day.
Other German equipment brought back by Captain Mowat’s Intelligence
Collection Team included one 8.8-cm FlaK 37 AA Gun, now on display in
the Canadian War Museum (CWM) in Ottawa, and one 8.8-cm PaK 43 AT Gun,
which is now on display on the grounds of the Royal Military College in
Kingston, Ontario. Other Canadian units managed to bring back
significant items as well, likely including an 8.8-cm PaK 43/41 AT Gun
on display at Lisle, Ontario, and a second 8.8-cm FlaK 37 now on display
on the grounds of the Royal Military College and a third on display at
CFB Petawawa.
A good number of German artillery pieces captured or collected by
Canadian military units overseas can be found on display at CFB Borden,
Ontario, CFB Shilo, Manitoba and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. A
few pieces may also be found at CFB Petawawa, Ontario, CFB Gagetown, New
Brunswick, and CFB Valcartier, Québec.
One of two Sturmgeschütz III tracked self-propelled tank hunters that
were on display at Shilo has recently been relocated to England, while
another went back to Germany. One of the most interesting items from
Captain Mowat’s SS Blommersdyke shipment that is presently being
restored in the CWM is a very rare Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg IV
piloted version of the V-1 cruise missile. In 1945 Captain Mowat visited
a firing range near Meppen, Germany, which had been used by the Krupp
arms manufacturer as an experimental gun establishment to test new guns,
shells and projectiles. “At least a hundred huge steel tubes were on
the firing line, many mounted on railroad carriages. One...was a 60-cm
siege howitzer...estimated to have weighed a hundred tons.” The
Intelligence Collection Team “took samples of everything”, including a
12-cm tank gun meant to arm the gigantic 90-ton German tank nick-named
the “Maus” (Mouse). The gun was brought back towed on a flatbed trailer
by a 60-cwt truck.[2]
The 1944 Molch (Newt) one-man submarine as well as two Enigma encryption
machines has also survived intact from the SS Blommersdyke shipment.
Not all of the Serial Numbers of the equipment found on Captain Mowat’s
list match items with a similar description found in the CWM, so there
are likely a number of other sources of origin for some of the items
listed here.
Captain Mowat knew he was not responsible for all of the German
equipment brought to Canada. He had apparently arranged for a “14 tanks
and self-propelled guns” including a “Royal” Tiger II a Panzer V Panther
and a range of Panzer tanks from the Mk II upwards most in running
condition. In his list of items intended for transport, he had “23
special purpose vehicles ranging from an amphibious Volkswagen to a
15-ton armoured half-track personnel carrier.” Artillery in the
collection included 40 types of artillery pieces ranging in size from
2-cm to 21-cm, and embracing an airborne recoilless gun, a “squeeze
barrel” anti-tank gun, infantry guns, anti-tank guns from 8.8-cm up to
12.8-cm, field guns, medium guns and heavy guns, all of which were in
firing condition. In his Progress Report to LCol Harrison, OC 1 Canadian
Historical Section, HQ First Canadian Army on 10 July 1945, he noted
that “Railroad guns up to 32-cm” were available but would “demand some
time to move”.[3]
By 22 July 1945, the team had added a 63-ton Jagdtiger tank in operating
condition to the collection as well as four 2-ton acoustic sea mines,
four 24-inch acoustic torpedoes, a 45-foot long 12-ton V-2 rocket and 18
truckloads of various Wehrmacht equipment. [4]
The King (Royal) Tiger and Panther tanks were to be loaded on tank
transporters and brought to the dock for loading on the SS Blommersdyke,
but the American flatbed crews brought them to another site and they
were subsequently transported to the USA. One of the significant items
he did manage to bring back was a V-2 rocket with a particularly
interesting story attached to it.
Captain Mowat had spoken with the leader of the Dutch resistance in his
area, Colonel Tyc Michaels, who informed him of the location of the
Rheintochter Anti-Aircraft missile factory, which had been bombed out.
During the investigation of the contents of the factory, his team
collected some documentation and a few missile parts that made it back
to Canada. He also learned of a trainload of ten V-2 rockets which were
sitting on railway cars in a railway siding hidden in Germany. “The
missile was located off the right of way on the north south line running
along the Weser River west of Nienburg, Germany. It was the only one of
about ten that had not been shot up or burnt by air attack. As the V-2
at the time of ‘procurement’ was forbidden by 21 Army Group to Canadians
this piece had an interesting several months hiding in woods and being
disguised as everything from a privy to a submarine, to keep it from the
prying eyes of the British High Command.”[5]
Just before the order forbidding the acquisition of any rocket material
was sent down, Capt Mowat had dispatched Lieutenant R. Mike Donovan, a
Canadian Intelligence Corps Officer, to see if he could acquire one of
these V-2s from the British who occupied the sector.[6] Lieutenant
Donovan set out from the team’s home base at Meppen in the Netherlands
and over a three day period drove to a railway siding “somewhere near
Hamburg” where ran into a British detachment guarding a number of
railway flatcars each carrying a V-2 rocket. The British were not keen
on parting with such important war material to “colonials” and wouldn’t
let him get near the site. After an initial recce of the scene, he noted
through his binoculars that “an access roadway ran alongside the rail
spur and that the last V-2 in the train was partly concealed in a pine
woods through which the trail meandered to join a secondary road not far
beyond.” Lieutenant Donovan drove back to Ouderkerk and joined by
Lieutenant Jim Hood set off again with a 12-ton 16-wheel Mack breakdown
lorry with a tow-hook, made a brief detour to Bremerhaven where they
liberated a German one-man mini-submarine trailer and then drove to a
forest within two miles of the V-2 rail-car site, where Lieutenant Hood
hid with the rig and himself. They were also bearing a “30-litre
demijohn of DeKuyper’s gin.”
Lieutenant Donovan drove on in a jeep and presented himself again at the
guard post. He offered to share his gin, and while pretending to get
loaded himself, proceeded to get the British Infantry guard group drunk.
Just before dusk, he told his drinking partners he had to relieve
himself, and went back to his jeep where he used a small Number 38 radio
set to tell Lieutenant Hood the coast was clear. Lieutenant Hood and
his work crew quietly as possible eased the Mack and its trailer up
close to the railcar with the chosen rocket. There in the dark, the
Canadian soldiers stealthily managed to break the chains and “rolled it
off the flatcar and down a bunch of timber skids on the trailer”.[7]
(This could not have been an easy task in the dark, as the rocket is the
size of a modern day SCUD missile similar to those the author examined
near Policharki, in Afghanistan).
While Lieutenant Hood was crawling cautiously away with the
black-painted V-2 rocket prize, Lieutenant Donovan was leading the
British guards in a singing session. When he felt the coast was clear,
Mike disengaged himself, but left the still well-filled demijohn with
his British choir. He caught up with his crew on the highway and sped
ahead of them, stopping at each checkpoint along the way to warn the
barrier guards that a bomb disposal crew was coming through with
unexploded ordnance, and as a result and he and his crew barrelled back
the way they came and delivered the rocket to Ouderkerk in Holland.”
On discovering the V-2 outside his window the next morning Captain Mowat
had the rocket moved into a large storage hangar. In order to keep the
collected war prize concealed, Captain Mowat had carpenters build a
small wooden conning tower, which they installed on top of the rocket,
boarded over the fins and installed a wooden propeller. Once the mock
tower and propeller were in place, the team proceeded to paint the
complete V-2 rocket in navy blue. Curious inquirers were told that the
device was an experimental submarine. In this form, the V-2 was kept
hidden until it could be loaded on the Liberty Transport Ship SS
Blommersdyke which eventually left port carrying over 700 tons of
collected German war prizes and steamed across the Atlantic to
Montreal.[8]
On arrival, Captain Mowat spoke with the Chief of General Staff (GGS),
Major-General Howard Graham, an officer he had served with in the
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, to explain in detail what they had
imported. Shortly afterwards, a Lieutenant-Colonel arrived from the
Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment (CARDE) based
at Valcartier, Québec, along with a work crew which hauled the V-2,
trailer and all, back to Valcartier. There, the V-2 was dismantled. As
the science team was examining the rocket they made the interesting, if
somewhat disconcerting discovery that the warhead was still filled with
its high explosive material. The liquid explosive compound inside the
rocket’s warhead had hardened and had to be removed by the scientists by
carefully drilling a hole in the nose cone and inserting a hose to wash
it out.
The V-2 was blueprinted and then disappeared from the story for a few
years. In 1950 it was placed on display on the grounds of the Canadian
National Exhibition in Toronto. After this, it disappeared again. There
is a very strong possibility that this V-2 is buried on the grounds of
the former RCAF Station Picton, Ontario. Locals in Picton who grew up
during the 1960s recall the V-2 and other old equipment being bulldozed
into the base landfill site. The hunt is on...
Submitted by Will Chabun
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Book review: Possums and Bird Dogs –Australian Army Aviation in Vietnam by Peter Nolan.
Review by Will Chabun
First, a few words about the two nouns in the first half of this book’s
title. Bird dogs, of course, are the light aircraft that western armies have
used since the Second World War to “spot“ for artillery and fighter aircraft.
“Possum’ was the radio call sign allocated to the Australian Army’s 161 Reconnaissance
Flight in 1965 after the Australian government decided to send an infantry
battalion, plus supporting elements, to Vietnam to support the Americans there.
161 RF consisted of two Bell Sioux helicopters (known as the OH-13 to our
American friends or the Bell 47 in civilian service) and a pair of Cessna 180
light aircraft that would not look out of place at any civilian airport in
North America.
The job of them and their pilots was to take a look at what was over the
horizon and to carry personnel, small bits of freight and to evacuate
casualties, sometimes under fire.
This book, written by an RAAF sergeant who served with the flight form
1967-68, goes into the 1,001 decisions that must be taken to put in place a unit’s
maintenance and supply system, to provide accommodations and meals for its
personnel, and then to keep them content and motivated.
The author also does a good job of sketching out how Australia --- Canada’s
closest Commonwealth sibling in population -- found itself fighting in Vietnam.
Australia head a real scare in 1942, when the war was brought to its
front porch by extremely rapid Japanese advances through the south Pacific. Britain, already heavily committed elsewhere,
had to shrug helplessly at Australia -- which them tied its security to that of
the United States. At that, there were Japanese air and naval raids on
Australia and a vicious six-month land campaign along the Kokoda Trail in the
island of New Guinea.
A decade later, Australia found itself heavily involved in war against
communist guerillas in Malaya. And after that was won, there was a new threat
from Indonesia, which looked to squeeze Malaysia out of existence and
potentially threaten Australia. The domino theory so beloved of American
strategists thus must have looked very, very real to Australian politicians and
senior civil servants around 1965. As a result, Australia agreed to send an
infantry battalion to Vietnam, where it initially operated as an arm of the US
Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade.
It was at this point that the 161 Reconnaissance Flight headed to
Vietnam. As the Australian task force grew to two and then three infantry battalions,
more and more army aviation resources were brought in.
Based on their experience in Malaya, the Australians saw a guerilla war
somewhat differently from American military leadership. The US approach under General
William Westmoreland was to seek a war of attrition, grinding down the Viet Cong
and North Vietnamese army by inflicting huge casualties. The Australian
approach was built around separating the insurgents from the local population,
which then would be given medical care, schools and economic development. The
American approach would not change until Westmoreland went home around 1968 and
General Creighton Abrams took over as American commander.
That is not to say that that lower-level Australian and American
servicemen did not get along. The Americans valued the Australians’
professionalism and the Australians could not get enough of the amazing American
supply system, which was shared freely with allies like the Australians. Over
and over in this book, there are stories of Americans giving the Australians
equipment on the strength of nothing more than a scribbled signature.
The Australian task force begin reducing its numbers and heading home in
1971. Through the narrative there is a feeling this were could go on for
decades and decades without a resolution. 161 Recce Flight lost three members,
all pilots. About 60,000 Australians served in the war;
521 were killed and more than 3,000 wounded.
As a postscript, one is moved to say that Australia takes defence great
deal more seriously than does Canada. On a smaller population base, Australia today
has considerably larger armed services with equipment like helicopter gunships
and fifth-generation jet fighters.
For further reading:
The Australia’s
Vietnam War website was created by the Military Operations Analysis Team
(MOAT) at the University of New South Wales (Canberra).
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