Tip of the Spear: An Intimate Account of 1 Canadian Parachute Battalion, 1942-1945: A Pictorial History PDF
Preview Tip of the Spear: An Intimate Account of 1 Canadian Parachute Battalion, 1942-1945: A Pictorial History
TIP OF THE SPEAR This page intentionally left blank T IP OF T HE S P E AR An Intimate Account of 1 Canadian Parachute Battalion, 1942-1945 A Pictorial History Lieutenant-Colonel Bernd Horn and Michel Wyczynski THE DUNDURN GROUP TORONTO • OXFORD Copyright © Bernd Horn and Michel Wyczynski, 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys- tem, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency. Copy-editor: Irene Karasavidis Designer: Jennifer Scott Printer: University of Toronto Press National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Horn, Bernd, 1959- Tip of the spear: an intimate account of 1 Canadian Parachute Battalion, 1942-1945: a pictorial history Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-55002-388-8 1. Canada. Canadian Army. Canadian Parachute Battalion, 1" — History. 2. World War, 1939-1945 — Regimental histories — Canada. I. Wyczynski, Michel, 1953- II. Title. D792.C2H67 2002 940.54'1271 C2002-901092-6 1 2 3 45 06 05 04 03 02 Canada THE CANADA COUNCIL LE CONSEII.DES ARTS ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL FOR TI IE ARTS DU CANADA CONSEIL DES ARTS DE L'ONTAftIO SINCE 195" DEPUIS 1957 We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program. Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions. J. Kirk Howard, President Printed and bound in Canada.$ Printed on recycled paper. www.dundurn.com Dundurn Press Dundurn Press Dundurn Press 8 Market Street 73 Lime Walk 2250 Military Road Suite 200 Headington, Oxford, Tonawanda NY Toronto, Ontario, Canada England U.S.A. 14150 M5E 1M6 0X3 7AD This page intentionally left blank T A B LE OF C O N T E N TS Author's Preface 9 Foreword 11 Battalion Commander's Introduction (Lieutenant-Colonel Fraser Eadie) 13 An Overview History 15 PART I - BEGINNINGS 57 PART II - BUILDING A NATIONAL AIRBORNE CAPABILITY 119 PART III - THE BRITISH EXPERIENCE 165 PART IV - THE BATTALION AT WAR 265 PART V - OCCUPATION AND THE END OF THE CRUSADE 289 PART VI - POSTSCRIPT 303 Glossary 305 Bibliography 311 This page intentionally left blank A U T H O R S' P R E F A CE When Germany unleashed its offensive in Western Europe on 10 May 1940, it caught the world by surprise in many differ- ent ways. Specifically, the speed, efficiency and operational boldness of the new German doctrine shocked the Allies who were completely unprepared. Quite simply, Blitzkrieg introduced the West to an entirely new concept of war, one which was altogether different from that experienced twenty years prior. A key component of Blitzkrieg, and one that astonished both the public and the military at large because of their feats of daring and martial prowess, was the German Fallschirmjager. These intrepid troops very quickly became the epitome of the modern combat soldier. They introduced the third element, namely vertical envelopment. These German paratroop- ers were young, fit and audacious. They entered battle by way of parachute and were perceived as invincible. Europe was gripped by a sense of fear and paranoia. Fallschirmjager were seen everywhere! Even the inimical British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in that foreboding summer of 1940, feared an imminent German invasion spearheaded by 30,000 Fallschirmjdger. Simply put, paratroopers became the embodiment of modern war, the embodiment of offensive action and indomitable spirit. Not surprisingly, airborne forces soon became perceived by military commanders, as well as the public, as an integral part of a modern army. Although slow off the mark, by 1943, Britain and the United States developed air- borne forces of unprecedented scale. Canada was no different despite its hesitant start. It too developed airborne forces. Its effort, namely 1 Canadian Parachute Battalion, is the subject of this work. This book is a companion to Paratroopers versus the Reich: I Canadian Parachute Battalion at War, 1942—1945. Whereas the latter forms the scholarly examination of the Battalion, this book pro- vides an intimate portrait in photographs of the unit's human side. Its title, Tip of the Spear, is derived from the first Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel G.EP. Bradbrooke's explanation in 1942, that the unit was the "tip of the spear," and that its purpose was "to go in first, to penetrate behind enemy lines and to fight in isolated positions."
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