Some Bad Press Back Home About 27CIB 1951-53

Baor(27CIB) surfers,
Installment No. 33 Some Bad Press Back Home About the 27CIB, 1951-53
While the 27CIB was fulfilling its NATO mission in Germany it came under the scrutiny of the media back home particularly the eastern press in Ottawa and Montreal. A series of articles were published in the Ottawa Citizen by Bill Bos, one of its correspondents. The Citizen had dispatched Bos to cover the Korean war but he was assigned as well to spend 14 days in Germany to report on the 27th Bde. One of the articles which I have selected for comment appeared on 13 April 1953 in the Evening Citizen with the following headline, ''Army Plans Redesignation of Battalions''. The article for the most part dealt with the composition of the three infantry battalions comprising the Brigade. Readers may recall from my previous installments in the Baor forum that 15 regiments were recruited with great care from the reserve or militia regiments across Canada; they were to be the brightest and best and noted for their historic significance. In the selection great care had also been taken in regard to their geographic locations to insure that all provinces were represented. This plan dubbed 'Operation Panda' was the brainchild of the highly respected Minister of National Defence, The Honourable Brooke Claxton, in the cabinet of the St. Laurent Government in Ottawa. The plan was designed to address the serious manpower shortage in the military which arose owing to Canada's commitments in the Korean War and the NATO mission in Germany.

End of Part A
More to follow
BobR

Part B to Some Bad Press Back Home for the 27CIB
Correspondent Bos zeroed in on the administrative issues which had arisen for the battalion and company commanders in the Bde. The problem was that there was a shortage of well trained officers and senior NCO's within each distinct regimental company. It was a problem of initiating cross over promotions and replacements within the battalions in a timely way. For example a problem arose with the Victoria Rifles of Canada from Montreal, a francophone regiment; it could not find francophone officers and Sr NCO's for promotion from the other 14 regiments and nor could it transfer personnel to other units because of language limitations. Another example was in the Highland battalion where it became a costly kit problem to promote personnel from the five different Highland Regiments in the battalion or from the other Rifle and Infantry battalions. Moreover, they could not get personnel from outside the 27th Brigade in Germany. Much of Bos's research was drawn from an interview which he had with Lt. Col John M. Delamere, the Commander of the Rifle Battalion.

Lt Col John M. Delamere, M.B.E., E.D.
More to follow in Part C
BobR

Baor(27CIB)surfers,
Part C to Some Bad Press Back Home in Canada for the 27CIB\
Col Delamere got sidetracked and into a lengthy rant about the erosion and loss of the historic roots of the reserve units because instead of using regimental names like the Regina Rifles or Winnipeg Rifles, the companies were being referred to as 'A' Coy or 'B' Coy etc. Furthermore, he went on to deplore the loss of connection between the regiments and their parent home units back in Canada and he was particularly upset that the home units were being equally neglectful about these duties. He concluded his rant by naming the QOR's and the RHLI regiments in his Battalion as being the only two which were making a sincere effort to maintain these relations. Col Delamere sucked up so much time with his rant that Bos never got a chance to pursue some of the more niggling and pressing issues such as the strained relations of the Brigade with the authorities and the populace of Hannover. To be critical about the article it would have to be said that Bos was not very fair about concluding the piece with a rebuttal statement from Brigadier Pangman which he limited to two lines as follows: ''There is no problem from the point of view of making the thing function.'' LOL
Brigadier Pangman had replaced Brigadier Geoffrey Walsh on 22 Dec 1952.

Brigadier J.E.C. Pangman, D.S.O., E.D.

Baor(27CIB)surfers
Part D to Some Bad Press Back Home in Canada about the 27CIB, 1951-53
Previous articles written by Bos for the Evening Citizen dealt with the some times tenuous relationship between the Canadians and the arrogant and haughty people in Hannover. Major Jack Donoghue, Officer Commanding No. 27 Canadian Public Relations Unit, utilized his considerable charm and well thought out analyses by selectively and cautiously alluding to some of these annoyances and grievances and in doing so he cleverly and subtely emerged as the apologist for the Canadians troops. He observed that the arrival of Canadian troops in Germany in 1951 was the first occasion that Canadian troops were sent abroad in peacetime to contribute to the defence of the Germans and their fatherland. And pursuing this theme further he went on to explain that differences in language , culture, and customs can result in misunderstanding and resentments between the local population and troops. It was a masterful stroke to disarm the German press. And gathering confidence he pointed out that in Germany, for example, trees are almost considered sacred but not so in Canada where cutting down trees and shooting wild game is an accepted and time honored practice.
At this point I will digress briefly to relate a recent story which seems to indicate that we Canadians after 60 years have retained some of our frontier culture from an earlier era. This week a nursing aide at the nursing home where I am a volunteer visitor for residents showed me a shocking picture of a hunt where she was a participant. Yes, she's a hunter, owns her own powerful .25 cal rifle with a five round mag and one up the spout along with a scope, and camo outfit. She hunts with her husband and son and has personally taken down deer and moose. The picture below shows the results of a hunt done earlier in nearby Morris Township about 75 miles north of London, Ontario. The quarry shown in the picture are the ubiquitous coyotes which are becoming a nuisance to farmers who no longer erect fences to protect their livestock. Bounties are paid in some townships. I should tell you that I am not a hunter and would not want to shoot wild game. Sorry for the digression.

To conclude this lengthy account it should be pointed out that the Western press was not nearly so critical as the following report from the Winnipeg Leader indicates," Canuk's Public Relations Praised. Canadian troops with the help of NATO and the German people themselves are doing a 'superlative' job of public relations in Europe."
However, Major General Guy Simonds took another view.

Major General Guy Simonds
CC, CB, CBE, DSO, CD
He summed up his views on the Brigade's acceptance by the Hannoverians as follows: ''The Brigade was not comfortable in Hannover which had a mix of extreme leftist and extreme right-wing politics.''
It should also be pointed out that General Simonds moved the Brigade to Soest as soon as he could as the population there interacted with well with Canadians.

Interesting reading, thanks Bob.

I should add that as an Army brat in BAOR, we constantly had pitched battles with local german youths.

Jim,
Further to what you said, I read somewhere that Canadian troops got snowballed by school kids when they drove past schools. Very indicative about what the parents were saying at home. LOL
BobR

Bob,

We always got snowballed even here in Canada. What little kid in the winter can resist tossing a snow ball at an army vehicle. The best reason for Cdn. troops to be liked was we were only a Bde strength unit (Actualy considered equal to a light Division by BAOR) so our bad side was only Bde strength. Where as the UK, Americans and others of Div/Army size had a bigger badder side. Also in my experience the Canadians and Brits melded into the local communities much better than the Yanks and some other NATO countries. The Yanks tend to take their country where ever they go.

Amen to that hardration
BobR