I finished reading Ian Hay's The Battle of Flanders today and one thing I pulled from it that I've never heard of before, is he mentions a IV Corps that never quite reached France in its entirety. It mentions 1st Canadian Division being part of the Corps and I know they made it to France. Does anyone have any further information on Divisions, Brigades and Battalions that made up the Corps and if they reached France or not etc etc. Cheers Andy
Blaxland states that IV Corps was to consist of 43rd, 45th, and the 1st Canadian Divisions. Neither of the two British Divisions seem to have arrived.
22MB pdf of Cdn Official History Vol I - p263 onwards. Not sure the Canadians arrived, either, but haven't really read it.
The Canadians had a very quick in and out but they did land. There have been discussions on MLU about whether CMP trucks were abandoned. It troubles them !
1st Cdn bde group landed. I named one of their casualties here, http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-cemeteries-war-memorial-research/8875-british-troops-normandy-june-1940-a.html I'm sure somewhere I posted which Canadian units did land in France, I can't find it now.
Chapter IX Alarums & Excusions. On side menu for those who don't want to click through each page. I know I mentioned them bringing back their 25 Pdrs, maybe it was on wwii.ca which is down at the moment.
Both the 43rd & 45th Divisions were in Southern Command at the time, and the 43rd (Wessex) was the deployment rota for the BEF, with the 45th following on. The latter was still not fully upto establishment when the idea of deployment was floated. Just in case you dont know the whole of the official BEF history is online here:- HyperWar: The War in France and Flanders, 1939-1940 (UK--History of the Second World War) Regards Andy H
Cheers all, Andy I have an original copy of Ellis's book and had a quick look via the index for IV Corps tonight with no luck. Now I now the other two div's I'll have another butchers hook. Cheers all. ps I take it there wasn't a V Corps?
I know I mentioned them bringing back their 25 Pdrs, maybe it was on wwii.ca which is down at the moment. from a post of mine on wwii.ca forum. As far as I'm aware these are the front-line units that went to France in June 1940. 1st Canadian Brigade Group. Royal Canadian Regiment Hastings and Prince Edward Island Regiment 48th Highlanders of Canada 1st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. (The CO of the RCHA objected to orders to ditch his guns. After a row and some wrangling they returned to UK with twenty-four 25 Pdrs) Info from The Fight for the Channel ports by Michael Glover. page 227 says they evacuated 15th June from Brest. page 212 says ...six men were mislaid and four of them subsequently escaped from internment.
Looking in Alan Philson's excellent work on the BEF in Vol.5 it states Canadian casualties in France as 7 wounded, 1 PoW and 1 died of injury which will be that Sergeant you found Owen in Canadian Signals. His figures are from the final revision in 1950.
Link to thread about the Canadian casualty doesnt work so I'll post his details here. CWGC - Casualty Details HUTT, DONALD GEORGE Rank:Sergeant Service No:C/3084 Date of Death:13/06/1940 Age:34 Regiment/Service:Royal Canadian Corps of Signals 1st Canadian Div. Sigs. Grave ReferenceGrave 18. CemeteryLESNEVEN COMMUNAL CEMETERY Additional Information: Son of Myron Willett Hutt and Thressa Weagant Hutt, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; husband of Marion Rankin Hutt, of Ottawa.
'The Regiment', a history of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (the Hasty Ps), written by Farley Mowat (a - now - well known writer and an officer in the regiment at the time) tells me that the regiment took a full complement of brand new CMP trucks, just arrived from Canada, to France and they were all immobilised and left behind - more than 50 trucks. Chris
Andy, Did you find the answers you wanted over the past 10 years? The BEF in May 1940 was only a smallish part of the BEF the British intended to field. Gort was already in the process of restructuring the force when the Germans attacked. Had the waited another couple of months, the BEF would have looked pretty different. The plan for end June to mid July was for Gort's GHQ to step up to army group level and two new army level commands to be created. Each army consisting initially of 2 corps each of 3 infantry divisions. As the BEF grew, more corps and more army commands would be created. How exactly IV Corps would look depended on whether Gort decided to shuffle his divisions or just allocate the new arrivals to it. He already had 10 infantry divisions in France (including the detached 51st but not including the 3 on labour duties) thus all he needed was two more to fill the new corps. The next three infantry divisions to land were to be the 49th, 52nd and the 43rd. By the end of July, l think, Gort was planning to have 13 British infantry divisions in France: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 42nd, 43rd, 44th, 48th, 49th, 50th (motor), 51st and 52nd. The 1st Canadian Division were originally presumed to be part of the IV Corps but that changed when it was decided to create a Canadian Corps. So, the plan was for 1st Canadian Division to replace 5th Infantry as GHQ reserve with the latter becoming part of IV Corps subject to the caveat l mentionned above. Once the 2nd Canadian Division arrived, the Canadian Corps would command them both. The next 2-3 divisions due over would form V Corps, the following 3 VI Corps and so on. I don't know the order of equipping and training after 43rd Infantry, but the next in line would come from 53rd, 54th, 55th Motor and 56th Motor. Although how they decided to use the motor divisions could alter the pattern a bit.
