Six Canadian Sailors Make Headlines (4b)

LS Art Bradfield, Land Establishments and Ships Ahoy!

L - R: Al, Joe, Chuck, Doug, Art, Don, Joe, Jake; at HMS Northney III, UK 1942

Their first training camp re learning about landing crafts, and not their last.

Photo Credit - From the collection of Joe Spencer, 2nd from left.

Introduction:

By the end of WWII about 950 - 1,000 Canadians (members of RCNVR) had volunteered to join Combined Operations (British organization; some would say "on loan to the Royal Navy"), had trained at several training camps that lined the coasts of the United Kingdom*, and had travelled aboard various types of landing craft and several different stalwart ships.

[*Later, in the fall of 1943, a Combined Operations training camp was established in Canada - in Comox, British Columbia, and some of the above sailors (including my father, Doug) served there after two years of overseas duty.]

Art Bradfield and mates were soon training at HMS Quebec, Inveraray,

and HMS Dundonald, south of Irvine, and near Troon, Scotland, 1942 

"Some of the above sailors served... in Comox, B.C." (1944 - 45)

Comox base was known as Givenchy III beginning in Oct. 1943

Photo - Navy records of Doug Harrison, RCNVR, Comb. Ops

The 950 to 1,000 men eventually participated in a distinguished list of significant, sometimes tragic, chaotic raids and enormous operations that included (for some) their first action - the Dieppe Raid - and subsequently, the invasions of North Africa (Operation Torch, 1942), Sicily (Operation Husky, 1943), Italy (Operations Baytown at Reggio di Calabria; Operation Avalanche at Salerno, both 1943), and Normandy (Operation Neptune, 1944). 

Not all of the 1,000 men were present at any one time in those actions.

LS Art Bradfield and his mates in the top photograph, because they were part of the first draft of Canadian sailors to go overseas, came to the end of their first two-year stint with RCNVR/Combined Operations in December, 1943 and were given the opportunity to return to Canada on leave, and while there they considered their options for future service*. Some, including Art, stayed on the East Coast of Canada; some volunteered for service at the newly-formed Combined Operations training camp on Vancouver Island, on the West Coast of Canada. 

[*It is my understanding, many members of RCNVR/Combined Operations, having enlisted at a later date, e.g., in 1942 - 44, were on hand in Europe to participate in D-Day Normandy.]

Art Bradfield's experiences overseas mirrored that of some of his mates, in terms of where he trained and served, but after his oversea's service was completed (Nov. - Dec. 1943) he travelled in a unique and very interesting route, as his list of land establishments and ships, and 1944 news clip (introduced in the earlier post 'Headlines (4a)) will indicate.

Art's list of land establishments and ships (numbered 3 - 13) will

tell us a good deal about his travels during World War II

After some training re landing crafts (and carrying out other duties, e.g., standing guard, perhaps with a broom), Art returned to HMCS Niobe near or in Greenock, Scotland, in late March 1942 until getting shipped to HMS Quebec, Combined Operations No. 1 Training Camp near Inveraray, Scotland. 

H.M.S. Quebec - This is the camp in which the Canadians quickly got their feet wet related to training on landing crafts, with and without soldiers on board. Much had to be learned about various types of crafts (personnel, assault and mechanised landing crafts) and landing craft repairs and tides and kedge anchors, etc.

A29892. General view of HMS QUEBEC, Inveraray, from the North.

RN Photographer Lt. E.A. Zimmerman, Imperial War Museum.

More photographs related to training at HMS Quebec and HMS Dundonald (Irvine) can be found here.

A29897. Part of the training pool reserve at QUEBEC.

Photo - Lt. E.A. Zimmerman, Imperial War Museum.

More photographs related to training at HMS Quebec and be found here.

H.M.S. Dundonald* - A large training camp, found between Irvine and Troon, that allowed the Canadians to train aboard various landing crafts, including the Iris and Daffodil (listed #3 and #5 respectively; train ferries converted to transport landing crafts).

My father writes:

Soon after (i.e., some initial training at HMS Quebec), my group was sent up the Loch (Fyne) to Irvine and I shall always remember that town. We practiced running our ALC up the stern of the Iris and Daffodil, i.e., train ferries in peace time that carried whole trains across the channel between England and France. They were later to be used as ALC transports.

Their sterns were nearly completely open, but with waves and a stiff wind blowing it was difficult to hit the opening. We practiced and practiced, and once in, winches were used and helped get barges onto tracks. ("Dad, Well Done" page 15)

[*Dundonald is given the number 4 by Mr. Bradfield, as if it was the 4th vessel he had been associated with while overseas, but I have found no reference to to such a vessel. However, H.M.S. Dundonald was definitely a camp the Canadians would have been associated with, though the navy camp was called Auchengate, and there was an RAF Dundonald nearby as well, so it may have been hard for veterans to recollect all the the various camps and ships they were connected to or that were nearby their own.] 

H.M.S. Roseneath - A camp in NW Scotland that Art is associated with by a few short lines from my father's memoirs. The Canadian sailors went from place to place without much notice, to make use of various vessels when they came available. Little did they know they were preparing for their first action, i.e., the Dieppe raid of August 19, 1942. 

My father writes:

About Roseneath camp. It was where many chaps came down with impetigo and they were put on Gentian violet, the colour of an elderberry stain.

O/S Art Bradfield, of Bradfield Monuments in Simcoe (Ontario), went to Dieppe in pajamas - under his uniform - the only man to go to Dieppe in pajamas, and he got out of bed in Roseneath to do it. (Page 38, "DAD, WELL DONE")

Art is on the far right, back row. Not in pajamas, I would say.

Please note the caption above: "A celebration (was held) at Brighton on 

their own instead of the LSI (landing ship, infantry) Duke of Wellington."

Photo as found in St. Nazaire to Singapore, Volume 1

H.M.T.S. Ettrick - In the late spring or early summer of 1942, after training time at H.M.S. Dundonald, Art returned to H.M.S. Quebec near Inveraray, and recalls - according to his list of land establishments and ships - the Ettrick, a ship parked off the shore of Inveraray. Upon that ship the Canadians developed their climbing muscles.

Training ship Ettrick, with Inveraray in background. The Canadians'

first action, unknown to them, would be the Dieppe raid, August, 1942

Photo credit - combinedops.com

My father writes that the sailors "clambered up scrambling nets (seen in photo, astern of the exterior stairway) and Jacob's ladders and became very proficient because we learned to use just our hands.... Her freeboard was high, i.e., the distance between the water line and hand rails, and we got so it took about three seconds to drop 25 - 30 feet on scrambling nets." (page 13, "Dad, Well Done." )

H.M.S. Ennerdale - After training at H.M.S. Quebec, the Canadian sailors were shipped to the southern coast of England in preparation for Operation Rutter (first - and cancelled - attempt re Dieppe raid) and Operation Jubilee, the actual Dieppe raid. They travelled aboard the H.M.S. Ennerdale, which may have been a converted oil tanker. Records and photographs already presented confirm that Art Bradfield participated in and fortunately survived the raid. 

H.M.S. Duke of Wellington - This ship is mentioned in the caption accompanying a photo of the "A Dieppe Eightsome" (second photo above), so Mr. Bradfield likely recalls the ship as the one carrying his landing craft across the English Channel to its drop off zone. It was seen by my father as it left for Dieppe on August 19th: "I wasn't there (to depart for Dieppe) because I was on leave but came back early (because, though I didn't know where, I knew there was a raid coming) and was in position to see the Duke of Wellington carrying barges, my oppo and other buddies to Dieppe and certain death for the soldiers." (page 20, "Dad, Well Done") 

H.M.S. Louisburg - I am going to suggest that Art mixed up the order for this next entry on his list of ships, etc. I have found no information re an H.M.S. Louisburg connected to the Dieppe raid but have discovered the following few lines at a fairly reliable source re an H.M.C.S. Louisburg. I believe Mr. Bradfield may have connected with the ship during Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, in November, 1942, a few months after the Dieppe raid:

In September 1942 Louisburg was sent to the United Kingdom as part of the Canadian contribution to Operation Torch. On 9 December 1942 she was rammed by HMS Bideford while anchored at Derry. She spent five weeks in repair yards at Belfast recovering from the damage. Upon her return to service, she was assigned to escort Torch-related convoys. Wikipedia

Summary re remaining ship on Mr. Bradfield's list:

Four last ships, and two last camps/bases

H.M.S. Glengyle - Because Mr. Bradfield very likely took part - along with many other Canadians In Combined Operations - in Operation Torch (invasion of North Africa, Nov. 1942) and Operation Husky (invasion of Sicily, July 1943), he may have had travelled on a few ocean-going voyages on the H.M.S. Glengyle. 

The following is found re that ship online:

She returned to the Mediterranean in November, where she was used to transport US troops for the Operation Torch landings, and was also involved in the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. Wikipedia

These ships are likely the last two vessels Mr. Bradfield travelled upon in the Mediterranean theatre of war in 1943 (i.e., to travel from Sicily to North Africa, then to Gibraltar, and then to England) before returning to H.M.C.S. Niobe in Scotland, before returning to Canada on leave.

H.M.C.S. Gatineau - We read that Mr. Bradfield served aboard the Gatineau, related to convoy duty, after his two years of service in Europe. Perhaps after being aboard the corvette H.M.C.S. Louisburg (mentioned earlier), he had wanted to try his hand at another type of service in something a bit bigger, and unrelated to landing crafts.

"North Atlantic convoys in the destroyer HMCS Gatineau" 

Photo from a news clipping presented in earlier post

H.M.C.S. Avalon - This Canadian Navy base in Newfoundland not only put Art to work as a rigger, but served as a launch pad for a very interesting side career as a poet and actor.

I place a high value on Mr. Bradfield's handwritten list of ships he travelled or served aboard, and Navy or Combined Ops training bases he was attached to in some way. My father's own records (below) only reveal land establishments, and does not include some camps the sailors visited for a few days on their way from e.g., an invasion, to their next training camp.

The dates are very helpful. "Copra" was a mystery for awhile.

(Combined Operations Payments, Records and Accounts)

So, to have the names of some of the ships, and associated duties that sailors were sometimes given while aboard, provides a worthwhile educational opportunity.

More information about another Canadian sailor who made headlines will follow.

Please link to Articles: Six Canadian Sailors Make Headlines (4a) for more information about Art Bradfield (RCNVR, Combined Operations).

Unattributed Photos GH