Canadian's service men in england

Hi doe's anyone know where in england the canadian's were based how long they stayed for.

 

Try this link

1st Canadian Infantry Division - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

thank you but it dosn't say where im looking for the wiltshire area but thank you anyway.

 

RCAF men were mostly based in Lincolnshire, I don't know about Infantry.

 

In the first years of the war most of the troopships went into the Clyde, but as time passed an increasing number ended their voyages at Liverpool. In all, almost two-thirds docked on the Clyde (mostly at Greenock and Gourock, but some in Glasgow itself), while one-third went to Liverpool; the few remaining ships were divided between Avonmouth and Southampton. Small drafts travelling in other ships arrived at a wide variety of ports, including London, Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Leith, Belfast, Oban, Barry (South Wales), and Methil (Firth of Forth).[SIZE=-1]19[/SIZE]
Since ship sailings and shipping routes were subject to frequent and sudden changes, Canadian Military Headquarters, London, was often uncertain until almost the last minute of the exact places and times of arrival. The actual movement of the troops from port to billeting area was a British responsibility, but Movement Control, C.M.H.Q., maintained liaison with the War Office and sent an officer to the port of entry whenever a Canadian troopship arrived.[SIZE=-1]20[/SIZE] Most Canadian troops arriving in Britain went first to the Aldershot area, where the main Canadian base installations gradually developed. Over a period of more than five years the Canadian Army built up in the south of England a large and complicated structure, which was the basis of its operations in Europe. The overall growth of the overseas force is shown by the table on page 191.[SIZE=-1]21[/SIZE] It will be readily seen that the organization and control of these large numbers of troops presented formidable problems.

HyperWar: Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific [Chapter 6]



And thank you for the Salute

 

Skipper, I think you meant Yorkshire?

http://www.6grouprcaf.com/

 

I Found This

History of Canadian's stationed in UK
As with the 1st and 2nd the 3rd moved on to Aldershot on arrival. Further units followed and on the 7th November 1940 a major change took place. When the Military Forces of Canada were designated “The Canadian Army”. When you drive into Aldershot the signs say “Home of the British Army” but for the next few years it would have been more true to call it, ”Home of the Canadian Army”. Some 330,000 Canadians passed through Aldershot, doing there training before taking up the defence of the UK while most of the British soldiers were away. From the autumn of 1941 to early 1944 the defence of the UK and particularly the Sussex coast was largely in the hands of the 1st Canadian Army.
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions and other formations spent many months in Sussex. ​

History of Canadians in UK




The 1st Canadian Infantry Division arrived in Aldershot in December 1939 and January 1940, moving into barracks left empty since the British 1st and 2nd Divisions departed for France the previous September. It was a particularly bitter winter, the barrack blocks had little heating and the Canadians, though used to the cold, were not acclimatised to the damp British climate and they suffered much sickness. Few recall their sojourn in Aldershot that winter with pleasure.
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/canadian-army-aldershot.htm​

 

I heard that for very soldier arrested during the war, every other one wus a Canuck 'cept when a deffo op wus happening...............they all reported back then,,,,,,,,those Canucks? Nasty ruff boyz........... .............. I blame the parents.............

 

Hilts I can confirm and link source for your statement. LOL Yes Canadians in both wars I can assure you have carried a reputation of Nasty Ruff Boys. It could be the Beer, Or The British who are to blame? Pay was restricted, food was poor both in quantity and quality and, worst of all, there is ample evidence that Aldershot shopkeepers and pub owners were only too willing to take advantage of the Canadians unfamiliarity with the unique British currency.

But inevitably tensions arose and led to outbursts of indiscipline, culminating in the Aldershot riots of 4-5 July 1945 when Canadian soldiers smashed over two hundred shop windows in Aldershot town centre.

On 4 July, a rumour began that three Canadian soldiers were in custody in Aldershot Police station. A crowd of about five hundred Canadian soldiers marched towards the station along Union Street, Wellington Street and Victoria Road, smashing windows all the way. On arriving at the police station the mob was calmed by a senior Canadian officer who allowed them to see for themselves that there were no Canadians in the cells. They then returned to barracks quietly.

The following night a crowd gathered in Prince's Garden and marched on Union Street, smashing those windows missed the night before. This time the violence took an ugly turn. Shopkeepers trying to protect their premises were threatened with physical violence and at one point a gun was drawn. Stones and bricks were thrown at passing cars. Canadian Military Police reacted forcefully, at one point replacing their truncheons with bottles.

Two hundred shops had been attacked and £15,000 worth of damage done, but there had been no looting and only £20 had been stolen. Exactly one hundred Canadian soldiers were charged and five were sentenced to jail by Courts Martial. The attitude of the average Canadian soldier to the riots was one of disgust.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/canadian-army-aldershot.htm

 

Hilts,

On behalf of my father a Canadian Serviceman - a very honourable man - who was mobilized in August 1939 and who was in England from spring 1941 until he landed in France in July 1944 with the 2nd Canadian Division - I do take offense at your crack. An old newspaper article, but one which your post emulates so well what to what the British writer referred http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3575633/The-country-the-world-forgot-again.html

I will concede that like all armies, regardless of nationality, the men in them represent a cross section of society and whenever young people are in new situations away from home and normal constraints overly exuberant behaviour will occur when the opportunity allows - particularly when they are bored and frustrated. Generalities about any group are certain to be insulting to most members of it.

Perhaps it would be more useful to assist the original poster with the actual information that was requested!!

It's 3 1/2 hours since I first responded and I'm still miffed....

 

Some information on troops stationed in Wiltshire - also includes American as I saw you were looking for that on another thread.

http://www.drumbeat.org.uk/salisburyplain_history.htm
The outbreak of war in 1939 brought an end to the building of permanent barracks on the Plain but the vast increase in the size of the Army led to an outcrop of hutted camps over the whole area. Men poured on to the Plain in their thousands for training before embarking for the jungles of Burma and the deserts of North Africa.
In the preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe, the Plain was one of the most vital training areas. General Dwight Eisenhower described it as “the best training ground in the United Kingdom” and to it brought the American II Corps under General Mark Clark in the summer of 1942. One who was here at the time has described the garrisons as being like the United Nations, so many were the different nationalities assembled here for the attack on Festung Europa. Having perfected their trade on the Plain, they went forth to practise it on the Normandy Beaches, before Caen and the Falaise Gap, in the Ardennes, over the Rhine and across the North German Plain.

Larkhill was the site for much training of British and Canadian Artillery Regiments.

http://www.englandspastforeveryone.org.uk/resources/assets/C/Chapter_7___Codford_at_War_4469.pdf
Codford Wiltshire

“World War II
Although little survives of the military structures today, in September 1945 the majority of the Second World War camp sites were still largely intact (see Figure A). The RAF photograph shows the buildings and Nissen huts of both A and B Camps in great detail. These camps housed American servicemen as did the Cherry Orchard Camp to the immediate north of the High Street. A substantial tank repair and vehicle depot site can be seen at Bury Mead at the junction of New Road and Green Lane and the former NZ Military Hospital site in the Punch Bowl was adapted for use as a firing range by the Americans.


The remains of a row of wheeled vehicle repair workshops operated by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers constitute one of the few structures from the Second World War to survive into the 21st century (see Figure B). Situated to the south of New Road, they are clearly visible in the aerial photograph. Matthew Bristow” …

“When war returned in 1939 Codford was again chosen as a military garrison for many regiments from the British armed and forces who were joined in 1943 by servicemen from the American Third Armoured Brigade. Camps were built close to or alongside the sites of their First World War predecessors, north of St Peter’s and near St Mary’s church, and Hindon Lane, which links Codford and Stockton, was requisitioned by the military.”…

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Salisbury_Plain

As military use of the plain increased, new camps and barracks were constructed, including those at Larkhill
Larkhill (Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It is a short distance west of Durrington village proper and 1 mile north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about ten miles north of Salisbury.) Bulford (Bulford Bulford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, close to Salisbury Plain. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,698..) Tidworth
(Tidworth Tidworth is a town in south-east Wiltshire, England with a growing civilian population. Situated at the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain, it is approximately 10 miles west of Andover, 12 miles south of Marlborough, 24 miles south of Swindon, 15 miles north by north-east of Salisbury and 6 miles east...) and Warminster (Warminster Warminster is a town in western Wiltshire, England, by-passed by the A36, and near Frome and Westbury. It has a population of about 17,000. The town's name is believed to be derived from the name 'Were-minster'. The River Were runs through the town and can be seen running through the middle…). Several installations have been built and since removed, including a railway line and aerodrome that were constructed next to Stonehenge

In 1943 the village of Imber (Imber Imber is an uninhabited village in Wiltshire, situated in the middle of England's Salisbury Plain). Imber's inhabitants were evicted in 1943 to provide training grounds for the military.was evacuated to allow training for Operation Overlord to be conducted. The village has remained closed ever since.

The Royal School of Artillery (Royal School of Artillery The Royal School of Artillery is the principal training establishment for artillery warfare in the British Army. It is located at Larkhill, on the south edge of Salisbury Plain in the UK....) is based at Larkhill, and live firing is conducted on the plain for approximately 340 days of each year. Military personnel from the UK and around the world spend some 600,000 man days on the plain every year

 

I know from my research that a Canadian Medical unit was briefly based in Shirehampton Park, Shirehampton is in the NW area of Bristol. It was quite multi-national for a time with the Canadians billeted in the park, a British Searchlight Company next to them and an American Docks Company across the road on the local golf course. I believe this was in 1943/44 and the Canadian & American units disappeared after D-day

Hope this is useful
regards Steve

 

From The Half-Million: The Canadians in Britain, 1939-1946 by C.P. Stacey (Official Canadian Military Historian during the War) and Barbara M. Wilson, some of the places listed:

Preface, "One unit stationed near Sourth Merstham was the 9th Field Ambulance, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps."
p3, "By the end of February 1940 there were over 23, 000 Canadian soldiers in Britain, most of them concentrated in an area centring on Aldersot, some thirty miles southwest of London."
p5,"summer of 1940.....sudden German invasion of Denmark and Norway. A campaign had to be improvised in Norway, and the War Office asked McNaughton for help...Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and the Edmonton Regiment, were selected and moved to and embarkation port in Scotland....cancelled... and the Patricias and the Edmontons cambe back to Aldershot."
p14, 1941 "The 2nd Division had moved into the barracks in the Aldershot area formerly occupied by the 1st."
p14, "For a time in the summer of 1941 the 2nd Canadian Division exchanged positions with a British division that had been defending part of the Sussex Cost; then in the autumn the Canadian Corps as a whole relinquished the job of GHQ Reserve and moved into Sussex."
p25 photo caption, "Canadian Spritfires over England: aircraft of No 403 (Wolf) Squadron, RCAF, based at Kenley, south of London, 1943. (PAC/DND, PA 115117)
p26, "At the beginning of 1943 No 6 (RCAF) Bomber Group of the RAF Bomber Command came into existence....It's final strength was fourteen squadrons. Its headquarters was at Allerton Hall, west of York, and its bases were scattered across the North Ridign of Yorkshire and the southern edge of Durham."
p27 photo caption, "Twin-engined Wellington bombers of No 405 Squadron, RCAF, the first Canadian bomber squadron overseas, being 'bombed up' at Pocklington, Yorkshire, in 1941. (RCAF, PL 4501)"
p30, "After April 1942 the system was changed; a Western Local Escort Force based at Halifax took the convoys as far as a meeting point east of St. John's, and then the Mid-Ocean Escort Force, increasingly, composed of RCN escort groups, took up the taks for the whole voyage to Londonderry in Northern Ireland, a port with which Canadians became familiar."
p31, "It was found necessary, however, to maintain a manning and pay depot in Britain which finally was established at Greenock under the name HMCS Niobe; and a growing establishment in London maintained liaison, including technical liaison, with the British Admiralty."
p37, "The move of the Canadian Forces to the Northampton area late in May....."
p37, "The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment found itself in the village of Finedon,...during its brief sojourn there 'a love of England which became a part of almost every man took root.' "
p37, "A month later, after the aborted expedition to France with the 'Second BEF,' the stay of Canadian Force in the Oxford areas was not so pleasant as the one around Nothampton."
p42 photo caption "On guard against tip-and-run raiders, a 40-millimetre Bofors anti-aircraft gun has the Grand Hotel, Brighton, for a background, March 1943. (A.M. Stirton, PAC/DND, PA 154973)
p44, "On 21 September and attack on the Hawker aricraft factory in Weybridge, Surrey, left and unexploded 500-pound bomb lying outside one of the buildings. 'A' Company of No 1 Pioneer Battalion, Royal Canadian Engineers, was working nearby, repairing a plant damaged in an earlier attack....."
p44, "A Canadian unit was involved here, for in March 1941 the Canadian Transit Depot, staffed by the Lorne Scots, was moved to Liverpool to be near a principal port of landing and departure. The Scots at the Seaforth Barracks were in the midst of the big week in May...."
p45, "...the Corps of Canadian Fire Fighters,.....was divided into four contingents stationed in southern ports that were probable German targets: Plymouth, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Briston..."
p46, "No 6 Canadian Provost Company, stationed in London..."
p46, "....officers of the 2nd Field Regiment RCA, stationed at nearby Addington..."
p48, "...In the village of Bletchingly, in Surrey, east of Reigate, the 1st Canadian Divisional Signals moved into winter quarters on 23 September 1940..."
p50, "Some Canadians were stationed in Scotland. The first men of the Canadian Forestry Corps ...arrived there late in 190, and by 1942 thirty compnaies.....were cutting in the Scottish forests..."
p50, "...a civilian Newfoundland Overseas Forestgry Unit also served in Scotland."
p51 photo caption "Men of the Royal Montreal Regiment help an English farmer's daughter bring in the hay in September 1942. (DHist, DND, 912-6)
p52, "The 4th Medium Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, landed in England on 19 August 1942 and went into billets at Bookham, Surrey."
p52, "...1942...the Royal 22e Regiment, the 'Vandoos.' In Sussex that winter it got mixed reviews from the inhabitants....Since Arundel and Littlehampton are only some foru miles apart....."
p53 illustration caption "The Dorkign and District Hospital, Surrey, profited by this band concert given by the West Nova Scotia Regiment in August 1940. (PAC, RG 234, vol. 15, 285)
p54 photo caption "At a New Year's paty given by No 1 Canadian Army Service Corps Reinforcement Unit, Farnborough, Hampshire, 31 December 1942 (DHist, DND, 1023-29)
p55 photo caption "Two soldiers at the Canadian Records Office, Acton, London, confer on the next stage of toy-making for English children, November 1943. (DHist, DND, 26242)

I'll continue at a later date.... Hope this is helpful to some.

 

p56, photo caption "The Canadian Bomber Group gives a party for the children of an orphan's home in Hull, November 1943...."
p 57, photo caption "Nursing sisters of No 14 Canadian General Hospital, Farnham, Surrey, distribute apples to evacuee children, Christmas, 1941. (DHist, DND, 5345)"
p58, "....came from the radio school at Cranwell..."
p66, "A Canadian soldier who found himself attached to No 400 (formerly No 110) Squadron RCAF at Odiham, an old station, wrote...."
p70, "A sergeant, evidently anxious to encourage his family in Canada, writes from 'Markham' (presumabley Marham, a Bomber Command station in Norfolk),...."
p70, "...Canadaina sergeant's letter....writes from the village of Wyton, near Huntingdon, the site of another bomber station. One of his friends, ....being buried in Wyton..."
p.96,"The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment in Aldershot recorded in January 1940..."
p.96, "...an urgent rquest from No 1 Squadron RCAF, then resting at Prestwick after their distinguished share in the Battle of Britain...:
p.115, photo caption, "....plays for patients at No 6 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Cranleigh Surrey in December 1943..."
p142, "....CWAC in Britian. They were employed chiefly at Canadian Military Headquarters in London and at the Reinforcement Units in the Aldershot area."
p142, "...The Women's Division of the RCAF....worked at the RCAF overseas headquarters in London, at the headquarters of the RCAF Bomber Group, and at Linton and other RCAF stations."
p142, "The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service also served in Britain...they were chiefly in Londson, Greenock, and Londonderry."

 

Excellent information Mckrusk....Are you aware of any Canadians in the Bordon or Headley areas of Hampshire?

 

There was a Canadian Army unit based at the village of Rolvenden in Kent, there is a deep water concrete tank still visible amonst the undergrowth shaped as a landing craft where they would practice driving through after sealing their engines prior to the D Day landings, they were mostly camped in Merrington Park on the edge of the village and in adjoining woods, i would much appreciate any information about what unit this was or any links where i could find more info, Thanks.

 

Haven't read most of the thread yet...but I was down in Bordon garrison 2 weeks ago and Canadians were everywhere there in ww2.

 

My Dad's regiment was stationed there.....Aug 42 till they departed for France in July 44. But here is a list where the South Alberta Regiment was stationed in England.

 

Cameron Highlanders of Canada landed Gourock, Scotland December 1940 in time for Christmas dinner. They quartered in Delville barracks, Aldershot, early 41. Spring 41 they quartered in Newhaven, on the coast in Sussex. They remained there except for a brief move elsewhere until spring 1942. Late Spring 42 they were on the Isle of Whight undergoing rigorous training for the Dieppe raid.
more to follow.

 

1st Battalion Camerons of Ottawa (Machine Gunners) left Halifax Harbour 30th June 1940 & disembarked Reykjavik 7th July with 'Z' Brigade. They sailed for UK end of April 1941. Landing at Greenock Scotland they left immediately for England arriving Great Bookham Surrey. Arriving in England they came under command of Canadian Corps HQ., but 2 months later they were made Machine gun battalion to the 3rd Div. From August 1941 they frequented such places as; Bulford camp on Salisbury plain, and 2 spells at Aldershot. Early 1942 they were at Limpsfield Chart, Surrey with moves to Paxhill Park, near Haywards Heath carrying out manouvres on the South Downs. They were also at Winston Hopuse Steyning and Slinfold near Horsham, Bournemouth and Hursley near Winchester.