The Veterans Guard of Canada — Old soldiers volunteer to serve again
In the aftermath of the First World War — the 1914-1918 “War to End all Wars — the victorious Allied Forces (Great Britain, France, the United States, and Russia) peered through rose-coloured glasses, basking in their victory against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire). The war had been so terrible — an estimated 17 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives — that it seemed impossible to most people that nations would ever again make war against other nations.xxx
By the 1930s, the previously formidable armies of the Allied Forces, especially those of the British Commonwealth and the United States, had been reduced to little more than token militias. Their state-of-the-art ships, bombers, fighters, firearms, and radios first became obsolescent, and then obsolete. Their Governments discouraged or even halted research and development of new weaponry, tactics, and strategies. Career officers and enlisted men lost hope for promotions and better pay. That was before Adolf Hitler and Germany’s Nazi Party, the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), came to power in 1933 and secretly began to develop a formidable military force, the Wehrmacht, consisting of the army (Heer), the navy (Kriegsmarine), and the air force (Luftwaffe). On September 1, 1939, Hitler triggered the Second World War when he ordered German forces to occupy neighbouring Poland.
On September 1,1939, following Germany’s bloodless occupations of Austria and the Sudetenland of northwestern Czechoslovakia, Hitler turned his guns, literally, on Poland.
Despite the confidence among the leaders of the Allied Forces that war had become obsolete, one group of former Canadian soldiers were under no illusions that they themselves would never again have to don military uniforms. As veterans of the First World War (1914-1918) and the Boer War in South Africa (1899–1902), now in their 40s and 50s, knew the knew all there was to know about the bloody chaos of the battlefield, about dead and dying soldiers, and about the terrible mathematics of close combat: Kill, or be killed.
They also knew that they had no choice but to take up arms again in the name of Democracy. Their leaders were not so sure.They who were among the first volunteers to step forward in the effort to thwart Hitler’s desires.
With the signing of the Treaty of Versaille (which forced Germany to its knees so
So great was the Allies’ belief in a peaceful future that they allowed themselves to reject the idea of large standing armies, so
It’s almost become It’s not fair to say that the leaders of the nations that would face Hitler’s forces were unaware of his plans for domination of Europe, if not the entire world. Both Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt were well aware of the potential for catastrophe if Hitler (and Mussolini in Italy, and Tojo in Japan) were not stopped through military action. Americans, however, felt safe behind walls comprising the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and their fervid isolationism.
It was a different story in the British Commonwealth. Once Great Britain declared war against Germany, other Commonwealth nations, notably Canada and Australia, followed suit. Within days of the declarations of war against Germany, thousands of young men and women enlisted in the military, and thousands of others were conscripted, but most of those men and women would never see combat, and many would never even be close to the fighting. That’s because armies require more than guns and bullets and soldiers who know how to use them. Here are some lists of the “war matériel” that the armies of the Second World War couldn’t fight without:
Those armies need field rations, canteens, uniforms, belts, sunglasses, lubricants, bunker oil, gloves, bandaids, tourniquets, mittens, socks, boots, helmets, toilet paper, toilets, razor blades, glasses, tents, locks, keys, targets, syringes, battle dressings, whole blood, lumber, coal, kerosene, high-octane aviation fuel (avgas), blankets, pillows, shovels, condoms, picks, saws, hammers, sledgehammers, air compressors, jackhammers, paper, ink, typewriters, boxes, cardboard, rags, brooms, soap, mops, buckets, stretchers, bombs, rockets, flares, depth charges, grenades, lathes, boot laces, shoe polish, headsets, microphones, radios, binoculars, bayonets, knives, vaccines, antibiotics, gasoline, snowshoes, garbage cans, scalpels, wrenches, screw drivers, nuts, bolts, screws, washers, acetylene and oxygen tanks, stoves, cutlery, dishes, pots, pans, detergents, toothpaste, paint, and money.
They needed bombers, fighters, transports, torpedo bombers and torpedoes, tanks, trucks, ambulances, automobiles, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, field artillery pieces, artillery shells, weather balloons, shooting ranges, combat vessels, passenger liners, trains, tankers, amphibious assault vessels, hospital ships, tugboats, blimps,
Most of all, the armies that defeated Hitler needed manpower: surgeons, ophthalmologists, medics, nurses, chaplains, foresters, miners, grocers, machinists, heavy equipment operators, clerks, military police, psychologists, surveyors, mathematicians, typists, cryptanalysts, carpenters, optometrists, sonar operators, torpedo-men, bombardiers, observers, riflemen, quartermasters, surgeons, psychiatrists, teachers, historians, drivers, divers, gunners, sappers, engineers, pilots, navigators, radio operators, radio repairmen, radar technicians, accountants, dieticians, cooks, dishwashers, sentries, and guards.
It’s safe to say that without those young men and women, Hitler would have had no problem bringing about a new world order (although perhaps “disorder”) would be a better word. Eventually, though, it became necessary for both Canada and Australia to conscript soldiers. And that created a problem: There weren’t enough soldiers available for the mundane jobs that every army requires.
Responsibility pertaining to the “administration, treatment and security of prisoners of war and internees” belonged to the Department of National Defence Directoratye of Internment Operations — later re-named the Directorate of Prisoners of War. Military District 4 headquarters in Montreal was in charge of all internment amps located in Quiebec. In each amp, the Veterans Guard of Canada (VGC) had complete jurisdiction over camp personnel. The VGC had been established on 24 May 140, as a special corps of First World War veterans to be used for guard duties wherever needed. The aim was to exploit the veterans’ military experience for the benefit of the home front. The unit’s task was to guard interment camps, cable stations, oil refineries, bridges, canals, ammunition depots, factories and many other such sites. Although the age limit for enlistment was fixed at forty-nine, a number of older men were accepted, including some veterans of the South African War, which freed up the younger military personnel for overseas service. The VGC replaced the Canadian Provost Corps as the predominant guards o internment camps. By 1945, the VGC numbers 15,000 men who served in Canada, British Guiana, Newfoundland, the West Indies, and the United Kingdom. In southern Quebec, most of the VGC personnel were unemployed French Canadian veterans.
It took the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian naval base at Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941 to awaken Americans to action. But a unique group of men in Canada, They were called the Veterans Guard of Canada.
(Subhead)
(Text) (Footnote link if needed)[^1]
(img) xxx.jpg ds(drop shadow if needed) (Cutline)xxx.
(Text)
(break)
(Text)
(end indicator)!stars
(Footnote)[^1]: XXX