by Mark Zuehlke
BREN GUN: Standard light machine gun of Commonwealth forces. Fired .303 rifle ammunition held in thirty-round magazines. An excellent, although slow-firing weapon, it had a range of about five hundred yards and weighed twenty-two pounds.
BROWNING 9-MILLIMETRE AUTOMATIC: The standard pistol used by Canadian forces. Officers in the line rifle companies generally kept their pistols hidden or even threw them away to avoid being easily identified as officers by German snipers.
CBH: Cape Breton Highlanders.
CIB: Canadian Infantry Brigade.
CO: Any commanding officer, regardless of unit size.
COY: Company.
EDDIES: Loyal Edmonton Regiment.
FAUSTPATRONE: A hand-held, disposable German antitank rocket launcher that proved quite effective against Western Allied armour. The first model Faustpatrone 1 (Fist-Cartridge) fired a 5.5-pound projectile capable of penetrating armour 140 millimetres thick at a range of less than thirty yards. Soon Faustpatrone 2 appeared on the battlefield. This was heavier both in terms of physical weight and its punch against armour. The 6.39-pound charge fired by the new weapon could slice through armour 200 millimetres thick. The biggest flaw in both weapons was their effective range of only about one hundred feet, which brought the soldier employing it perilously close to the target and any infantry that might be screening it. However, the Faustpatrone was simpler to use, lighter, and more powerful than the PIAT or the American bazooka, both of which were more cumbersome, nondisposable weapons. The Faustpatrone was soon nicknamed Panzerfaust (Tank Fist) by the soldiers using them and later, even more powerful models were officially designated as such.
FORMING-UP POINT (FUP): A geographical point where a unit of any size gathers in preparation for an attack or other form of movement.
FORWARD AID POST (FAP): Most advanced aid post to which casualties could be withdrawn for treatment.
FORWARD OBSERVATION OFFICER (FOO): Artillery batteries had two officers, usually captains. During a battle, one officer remained with the guns to oversee their operation. The other, the foo, accompanied the infantry regiment that was being supported. He usually was part of a three-man team that included the foo, a radio signaller, and a Bren carrier driver. The foo was in charge of calling for artillery support and directing the fire towards enemy targets that were threatening or holding up the infantry.
GGHG: Governor General’s Horse Guards.
GLAMOUR BOYS: Nickname for 48th Highlanders of Canada.
GUNNER: The artillery regiment equivalent to a private.
HASTY P’S: Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment.
HE: High explosive.
HMG: Heavy machine gun.
HQ: Any form of headquarters.
JERRY: Common term for Germans. Also spelled Gerry. Canadians seldom if ever used the harsher term Kraut, which was favoured by American soldiers. Tedeschi, the Italian word for German, was also popular. As an alternative to Jerry, Canadians occasionally used Hun or Boche.
LEE ENFIELD RIFLE, NO. 4, MARK 1: Standard rifle of Commonwealth forces. The Mark 1 was made in Canada for Canadian personnel. It fired .303 ammunition contained in five-round clips. Effective range was nine hundred yards, but most accurate when fired at ranges under six hundred yards. A highly reliable, rugged weapon, and capable of being mounted with an eight-inch spike bayonet.
LMG: Light machine gun.
LOYAL EDDIES: Loyal Edmonton Regiment.
MG: Machine gun.
MO: Medical Officer.
MORTARS: The Canadians had three weights of mortars: two-inch, three-inch, and 4.2-inch. The latter was a heavy mortar and operated by the Saskatoon Light Infantry in support of the infantry regiments. The three-inch was operated by a mortar platoon attached to each battalion, while two-inch mortars were carried directly into battle by a section attached to each company. A mortar lobs a bomb on what is usually a high trajectory towards a target. The bombs can be high-explosive, shrapnel, or phosphorous (smoke). Range and firepower varied according to the size of the gun. The bigger the mortar, the greater its range and firepower. The three-inch could engage targets as close as 125 yards and as far away as 2,800 yards. Its bomb weighed ten pounds. The 4.2-inch fired bombs of twenty pounds and had a much greater range. The small two-inch put out only a 2.5-pound bomb, but was extremely useful for laying smoke screens.
NBH: 8th Princess Louise New Brunswick Hussars.
NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer. All warrant officers, sergeants, and corporals are considered non-commissioned officers. NCOS provide the leadership backbone of infantry platoons and armoured troops.
NEBELWERFER: A launcher system that fired either fifteen-centimetre or twenty-one-centimetre rockets in a rapid, ten-second sequence. The most common launch carriage used in Italy resembled a two-wheeled artillery gun carriage, but was mounted with six tubes rather than a single gun. A Nebelwerfer crew could routinely load and fire a volley every ninety seconds, but to avoid injury from the significant exhaust backblast had to take shelter in a trench at least fifteen feet from the weapon before firing. Maximum Nebelwerfer range varied according to launcher size. The fifteen-centimetre Nebelwerfer 41 had a maximum range of 6,900 metres, while the twenty-one-centimetre Nebelwerfer 42 could reach out 7,850 metres. Known as “Moaning Minnies” because of the loud howling noise the rockets emanated during flight, Nebelwerfers were quite inaccurate. But when a stonk landed near or on target, casualties were almost inevitable because of the concentration of explosive and large chunks of shrapnel created when the rocket casing shattered.
OPS ORDERS: Operational orders.
ORDERS GROUP (O GROUP): A session at which the orders setting out the tactics to be used in a forthcoming action are given to participating commanders. Most actions entail multiple O Groups starting at the highest level and descending downward. A brigade planning an attack, for example, will have its first O Group called by the brigadier. He and brigade HQ staff will brief regimental commanders and the commanders of included supporting arms (artillery, heavy mortars, etc.). Regimental commanders then brief the company commanders, who in turn brief platoon commanders, who pass the information down to individual sections. What will start as a broad-stroke tactical plan at the brigade level will, by the time it hits platoon and section stages, become a set of intensely specific tasks that must be accomplished for the overall attack to succeed. A process of filtering out nonessential detail occurs all down the line until the section leader will have little idea of the purpose of the tasks his section must achieve.
PIAT: Projector Infantry Antitank. The hand-held antitank weapon of Commonwealth forces, weighing thirty-two pounds and firing a 2.5-pound hollow-charge explosive bomb. Difficult to load, prone to mechanical failure, and complicated to operate, the PIAT was an unpopular weapon. Effective against German tanks only if fired against the thinner side and rear armour plate, or against the tracks.
PIONEERS: Engineering personnel who were members of an infantry battalion’s pioneer company. Pioneers had a higher level of expertise with regard to handling explosive, laying charges, carrying out demolitions, and defusing enemy mines and booby traps than the average soldier.
PLOUGH JOCKEYS: Nickname for Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment.
PPCLI: Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
RAP: Regimental Aid Post. This first aid post was usually located near the forward regimental HQ.
RCA: Royal Canadian Artillery
RCE: Royal Canadian Engineers.
RCEME: Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
RCHA: Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (1st Field Regiment).
RCR: Royal Canadian Regiment.
RECCE: Abbreviation of reconnaissance. Recce units are reconnaissance units, such as the Royal Canadian Dragoons or Governor General’s Horse Guards.
REGIMENTS: As a Commonwealth force, the Canadian Army follows the British organizational model, of which the regimental formation is heart and soul. The armouries of each regiment are bas
ed in a distinct region and generally its members are locally recruited, ensuring an immediate bond. This bond is further enhanced by immersing recruits into an organization possessed of a distinguished history, unique traditions and symbols, and a familial culture in which loyalty to the regiment and one’s regimental comrades is expected.
In World War II, mobilized regiments provided the manpower from their ranks to form individual battalions of the divisional brigades. These brigades were also generally organized on broad geographical lines. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, for instance, was manned by regiments that hailed from British Columbia and Alberta. Technically, the regiment serves as the home of its personnel and a working contingent remains behind at its Canadian station (usually an armoury) to continue the intake of new recruits and otherwise maintain normal regimental routine while most of its strength is deployed overseas and serving as a battalion. The terminology can become complicated, however, since the Royal Canadian Regiment, for example, continues to use the designation of regiment when overseas rather than calling itself a battalion in its records. For this reason, the term regiment and battalion have been used synonymously throughout.
SAPPER: Explosive and engineering personnel in the Royal Canadian Engineers, equivalent to private in the infantry.
SHERMAN TANK: The standard tank used by Canadian forces was the Sherman m-4a2, usually called the m-4. It weighed just under thirty-five tons. The Sherman had a five-man crew, consisting of commander, gunner, loader, driver, and assistant driver. Its main armament was a 75-millimetre gun. Fixed into the front of the tank was also a .30-calibre machine gun and a .50-calibre machine gun could quickly be mounted on top of the turret for use as an anti-aircraft weapon. The Sherman had a top speed of about twenty-nine miles per hour and a maximum range without refuelling of 150 miles. Although the Sherman would undergo only slight modifications over the course of the war, it was generally considered inferior to most German tanks in terms of both firepower and armour. It also had a higher profile, which made it harder to get into a hull-down (protected) stance than German tanks.
SLI: Saskatoon Light Infantry Regiment. The more official, but less commonly used, abbreviation was Sask LI.
SPG: Self-Propelled Gun. A standard artillery piece mounted on a tracked body. Lacking a turret, it could only fire directly at targets by wheeling the entire vehicle to face it. They also had no overhead cover to protect the crew and so were more vulnerable than tanks. The Allies generally used SPGs as mobile artillery that operated close to, but behind, the front lines. In many cases, the tank-deficient Germans attempted to deploy SPGs in a tank role, but their open-top design and inability to turn quickly to face a new threat left them highly vulnerable to both tank and infantry attack.
START POINT (SP): Also called the Start Line (SL) or Jumping-off Point, the spot where a unit of any size forms up immediately before going into an attack.
TANK DESTROYER (M10): By sacrificing some of the armour protection provided by the standard Sherman M4, the western Allies were able to field heavier guns that were mobile and could be used in an antitank role. The standard model used by Canadian forces in Italy fitted an American three-inch high-velocity gun in an open-top revolving turret onto the chassis of a Sherman M4.
THOMPSON SUBMACHINE GUN: Fondly referred to as the Tommy Gun by those who carried it, the Thompson was a .45-calibre submachine gun. The favoured submachine gun of Canadian forces and the only American weapon they respected, the Thompson could fit either a box or drum-shaped magazine. The use of .45-calibre ammunition gave the gun tremendous stopping power.
TROOPER: The armoured corps equivalent to a private. Trooper harks back to the armour’s cavalry heritage.
TWENTY-FIVE POUNDER: The workhorse artillery gun of Commonwealth forces. Incredibly durable and reliable, the 25-pounder was manned by a crew of six. It was generally used as a howitzer—firing high-explosive shells at a high angle—but could also fire armour-piercing shot at flat trajectories. Effective range of 12,500 yards. Weighed four tons.
TYPE 36 GRENADE: Standard grenade of Commonwealth forces. Its metal case was ribbed, leading to its being called the “pineapple.” Each of the eighty ribs broke into a separate shrapnel piece upon exploding. This type of grenade was usually thrown overhand in a lobbing manner.
VAN DOOS: Semi-official nickname for Royal 22e Regiment. Derived from vingt-deux.
VICKERS .303 MACHINE GUN, MARK 1: Remarkably, the medium machine gun that the Canadians used throughout World War II was essentially the same gun Canadian forces had used in World War I. With a simple gas-assisted recoil system, the gun was water-cooled and fired belts of .303 ammunition. Its accurate range was 1,100 yards, but it could fling bursts much farther. At full automatic, the Vickers put out bursts of ten to twenty rounds. Rate of fire varied from 60 rounds a minute to 250 rounds, depending on whether the gunner was using slow or rapid fire. The Vickers weighed in at forty pounds. It had amazing endurance, seldom failing to operate in even the most adverse conditions.
Although an adequate weapon, the Vickers was outclassed in performance by its German counterpart. The MG42 was rated the best gun of its type in the world for years after the war. Introduced in 1942, it had an impressive firing rate of 1,200 rounds a minute. The MG42 had another advantage over the Vickers. It was actually a light machine gun, weighing only 25.35 pounds. When fired using a bipod, the gun had a light-machine gun range of about 600 yards. On a tripod, the range more than doubled and the weapon proved effective as an anti-aircraft gun.
WEST NOVAS: West Nova Scotia Regiment.
NOTES
1: SOJOURN IN FLORENCE
1 Strome Galloway, interview by author, 6 May 2000, Ottawa.
2 G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy: 1943–1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 484.
3 Ibid.
4 Galloway interview.
5 Reginald Roy, The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, 1919–1965 (Vancouver: Evergreen Press, 1969), 323.
6 Farley Mowat, The Regiment. 2nd ed. (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1973), 198.
7 James Riley Stone, interview by William S. Thackray, 13 and 20 May; 3, 10, and 17 June 1980, University of Victoria, Special Collections.
8 G.R. Stevens, A City Goes to War (Brampton, ON: Charters, 1964), 303.
9 Stone interview.
10 Strome Galloway, A Regiment at War: The Story of the Royal Canadian Regiment, 1939–1945 (Royal Canadian Regiment, 1979), 150–51.
11 Strome Galloway, Bravely Into Battle: The Autobiography of a Canadian Soldier in World War Two (Toronto: Stoddart, 1988), 205.
12 Ibid.
13 Galloway, A Regiment at War, 151.
14 J.T.B. Quayle, In Action: A Personal Account of the Italian and Netherlands Campaigns of WW II (Abbotsford, BC: Blue Stone, 1997), 192–93.
15 Howard Mitchell, My War: With the Saskatoon Light Infantry (M.G.) 1939–1945 (n.p., n.d.), 100.
16 Quayle, 189–91.
17 Galloway, A Regiment at War, 151.
18 Roy, 324.
19 Quayle, 193.
20 Bill Worton, interview by author, 4 Oct. 2000, Vancouver.
2: A VERY HAPPY FAMILY
1 E.L.M. Burns, General Mud: Memoirs of Two World Wars (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1970), 162–63.
2 J.L. Granatstein, The Generals: The Canadian Army’s Senior Commanders in the Second World War (Toronto: Stoddart, 1993), 134.
3 Ibid., 135–36.
4 Burns, 163.
5 Ibid.
6 Crerar Papers, vol. 7, file 958c.0009 ((E157)), “Notes by Lt-Gen K. Stuart Regarding His Trip to Italy,” 21 July 1944, MG30, National Archives of Canada, 1–4.
7 Vokes Papers, Royal Military College of Canada Massey Library, n.p.
8 Ibid.
9 Crerar Papers, “Notes by Lt-Gen K. Stuart,” 4.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid., 4–5.
12 Ibid., 5–6.
13 Crerar Papers, vol. 7, file 958c.0009 ((E157)), “Oliver Leese L
etter to Ken Stuart,” 14 July 1944, MG30, National Archives of Canada, 1–2.
14 Granatstein, 138–39.
15 Ibid., 140.
16 E.L.M. Burns, “Canadian Operations in the Mediterranean Area, May–June 1944: Extracts from Memoranda (Series 23),” Department of National Defence, 14.
17 G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy: 1943–1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 479.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., 480.
20 Ibid., 465.
21 Ibid., 480–81.
22 E.L.M. Burns, Manpower in the Canadian Army, 1939–1945 (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1956), 175–76.
23 Vokes Papers, n.p.
24 Nicholson, 480.
25 H.M. Jackson, The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards: A History (Ottawa: The Regiment, 1952), 196–97.
26 Daniel Dancocks, The D-Day Dodgers: The Canadians in Italy, 1943–1945 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1991), 292.
27 Jackson, 197.
28 Dancocks, 293.
29 Gordon McGregor, interview by author, 3 Jan. 2001, Victoria, BC.
30 Vokes, n.p.
31 Bert Hoffmeister, interview by Greenhous and McAndrew transcript, Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, n.d., 90.
32 Brig. D.C. Spry, “Letter regarding 1 LAA Regt RCA, July 20 44,” 264C12.049 (D1), National Archives of Canada.
33 Fred Cederberg, The Long Road Home: The Autobiography of a Canadian Soldier in Italy in World War II (Toronto: Stoddart, 1985), 138.
34 Ibid., 141.
35 Ibid., 143.
36 Ibid., 143–44.
37 Ibid., 144.
38 Ibid., 144–47.
39 Col. C.P. Stacey, “Report No. 187 Historical Section Canadian Military Headquarters: Operations of 1 CDN Corps, 4 Jun 44 to 24 Sep 44—The Breaking of the Gothic Line and the Capture of Rimini,” Department of National Defence, n.d., 5.
40 Ibid., 6.
41 Nicholson, 484.
42 Vokes Papers, n.p.
3: INEVITABLE WRANGLES
1 Field Marshal Harold Alexander, “The Allied Armies in Italy,” National Archives of Canada, n.d., 3–4.