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GoodGuy -> RE: First Impression (9/4/2009 11:48:01 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Tejszd
You might want to do some research on the subject before using to many questions marks….
[].......The government of Canada also instructed the military to try to avoid losing French Canadian troops/units by assigning them duties within Canada (this included all non combat volunteers). Here is some background; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_Crisis_of_1944
Hi Tejszd,
I am not sure whether the particular wikipedia article's authors got their facts straight. Let me quote the part of the article that covers the background of the "crisis".
quote:
ORIGINAL: wikipedia
"While units such as the Royal 22e Régiment, Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, the Régiment de la Chaudière and the Régiment de Maisonneuve all had outstanding records during World War II, some feel that if they had been concentrated into the same brigade (as French-Canadians requested and as currently exists in the Canadian Armed Forces), it could have become a focus of pride for French-Canada, encouraging the war effort and political support in Quebec."
quote:
"These units were, however, distributed among the various English-speaking divisions of the Canadian Army overseas."
Well this happened due to the fact that certain tasks may require a certain mix of units (i.e. infantry line units, supported by MMG- or mortar units, etc.), so shuffling around units wasn't an abnormal thing, Allies and Germans did that likewise, maybe with the German Kampfgruppen being the most flexible (and often most strangely) medley array of units. The distribution happened due to requirements of the tasks, but the article makes it sound like the French Canadians had been torn apart on purpose.
The French Canadians in Northwest Europe actually served in the very same Brigade, namely the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade.
I do own an interesting book covering (and investigating) the myth (regarding a group of the 12th SS-Division "Hitlerjugend" - which did not receive the order to retreat - defending the école superiéure) that evolved around the pocket of Falaise ("The Canadians at Falaise", by Jean-Luc Leleu). The book mentions the French Canadian's share when the Canadians were ordered to clear the Falaise pocket.
There were several French Canadian units fighting in Europe. In Northwest Europe, at least 3 French Canadian Regiments,
namely
- "Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal" - Montreal, Quebec,
- "Le Regiment de Maisonneuve" - Montreal, Quebec,
- "Le Regiment de la Chaudière" (MMG unit)- Levis, Quebec,
had been assigned to the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade, along with the only English Canadian unit, "The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada", as part of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division.
It seems that most (if not all) of these French Canadian units were shipped to Normandy in early July (in time to join the British 2nd Army for the remaining tasks within Operation Overlord), participating in operations around Caen, and south of Caen in operation "Totalize" (8th - 13th of August) and "Tractable" (to take Falaise, 14th - 21st of August). In November "Le Regiment de Maisonneuve" suffered heavy casualties in the Netherlands, and was considered to be depleted, while the other Regiments had few casualties during the Normandy Campaign, it seems. All 3 Regiments were ordered to R+R and they rejoined operations around February.
Funny anecdote from wikipedia:
quote:
"Citizens in Normandy were surprised to find that soldiers of the Chaudière spoke a dialect of French very close to that spoken in Normandy, but were puzzled by the regiment's name. In French, "chaudière" is the word for a hot water heater. In Quebec, Chaudière is a common place name from which the name of the regiment was drawn."
My 2 cents.
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