Corporal Preston Duncan Campbell
Who Were the Algonquin Regiment?
Uncle Preston's Service Records show that he was taken on strength with the Algonquin Regiment with effect from the 15th of September 1944. Preston was part of the second wave of reinforcements that were received into the Algonquins, the first wave having been brought in while the Battalion was still on the Southwest side of the Somme river in France.
The timing of Preston's joining of the regiment coincides with one of the most iconic, and tragic, battles the Alqonquins were to be involved with in the whole of the war.
It is worth looking back at where this Regiment had come from in order to understand the culture and the conditions that the new reinforcements were joining.
He Served With Who?
When I first read about Preston's wartime service, it made no sense to me. I had always imagined as a youth that Preston would naturally have served with one of the local Prince Edward Island units. So when I first read that he had instead served overseas with the Algonquins, it generated more questions for me than it had answered. Why was a farmboy from Milo, PEI serving in a battalion of miners and foresters from Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay, Ontario.?
As I delved more and more into the history of the battalion and Preston's own service history, the answers began to be revealed.
The realisation that Preston was, in fact, a conscript who then volunteered for active service, and even went so far as to transfer from Artillery to Infantry in an apparently calculated move to get into the action overseas, started to connect the dots for me. The infantry corps battalions that initially went to war had been raised from local area militia units. But as casualties mounted through the summer of 1944, reinforcements from the Active Service Forces, the 'A' men rather than the 'R' men (who were still only used for Home Defence at this point...more on this later) were gathered up and sent overseas to whatever units needed them most. This was the role of the handling units in England and on the continent - to supply fresh reinforcements at the right time to the units where they were most required.
In the late summer of 1944, the Algonquin Regiment, like the rest of the Canadian units that fought through the Normandy battles, desperately needed more men.
A Short History of the Algonquin Regiment
The Algonquin Regiment was a militia unit based in Northern Ontario that traced its history to militia companies formed in Sault Ste. Marie in 1864 in response to the American Civil War and the Fenian raids. Other companies would in time be established in Kenora and Sudbury following the Red River Rebellion of Louis Riel in 1870. The Subury company eventually came to be known as the 97th Regiment - The Algonquin Rifles on 1st of July (Dominion Day) 1900,
The 97th Regiment provided men to two battalions that fought in the Great War, the 15th and 159th (1st Algonquin) battalions of the C.E.F. These units went on to fight in some of the infamous battles on the Western Front, including Ypres, Cambrai and the Hindenberg Line.
During the inter-war years, The Algonquin Regiment, like most in Canada, struggled to stay alive amidst the financially stringent times and the political and social backlash against militarism that was held largely responsible for the slaughter of the Great War. After the Munich Crisis of 1938, however, the country prepared itself for what appeared to be another war on the horizon.
The Regiment was mobilised to active service on 22 July 1940 and initial concentration was conducted in North Bay before the Battalion then embarked for Camp Borden, arriving on the 7th of September, 1940. But overcrowding as a result of the mass mobilisation going on around the country meant that Borden was full to capacity. After only a month there, the Algonquins left on the 9th of September and arrived the next day at Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay).
The Algonquins enjoyed a good life in Port Arthur, playing in the local hockey league and mixing with the locals, but it wasn't getting them ready for war. In June of 1941, they left Port Arthur for Shilo, Manitoba where there was more space and ability to train for the type of mechanised warfare that had been introduced by Blitzkrieg. Hot and dry in the summer, and freezing cold in the winter, the Algonquins were not fond of Shilo, but as one officer noted, "...it was a better regiment that marched out of there than had marched in in June. "
Canals, Harbours and Airports
By November, the Algonquins were relocating again, this time to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where they would now have an operational role of protection of the Niagara and Welland canals. Again, however, this was short-lived and on 2nd February of 1942 the Regiment embarked in trains bound for Newfoundland via Halifax. On the 7th of February, the regiment arrived at St. John's harbour aboard the Lady Nelson. A second flight of the Battalion leaving Halifax aboard the same ship had an encounter with a German U-boat during the crossing, but fortunately survived and arrived in St. John's on the 15th of February.
After a brief stint conducting protection around the vital infrastructure in the St. John's area, including Torbay airport and Cape Spear at the entrance to St. John's harbour, the Algonquins moved north to the region of Botwood, where they would remain for most of the next year. There was a persistent fear that U-boats would try to use the many bays and inlets of Newfoundland's coasts to resupply and land espionage and sabotage parties ashore and Home Defence troops were employed to deter such activity. After nearly 12 months fulfilling this role, the Algonquins learned in January 1943 that they were being sent overseas in preparation for the planned re-invasion of the continent.
Across the Pond
The Battalion left Newfoundland shortly after receiving their orders and by March were concentrating and req-equipping for overseas at Camp Debert, Nova Scotia. Final preparations, reinforcements, equipping and organisation were made and on the 10th of June, 1943, the Algonquins embarked the Empress of Scotland in Halifax. This ship would carry a total of 4500 troops from Halifax to England arriving at Liverpool on the 18th of June. Liverpool was not to be their final destination, however, and within a day they were on their way to their new home in Heathfield, Sussex, to the southeast of London.
Over the next year, the Algonquins would conduct varied levels of training employing lessons brought back from the Italian campaign, and eventually the Normandy campaign. The Algonquins had learned shortly after arriving in England that they were to form part of 10th Infantry Brigade, along with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. This brigade in turn would form part of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division along with 4th Armoured Brigade. They conducted a series of large scale exercises to train them how to fight as a brigade and as a division, and conducted specialised training including learning the particulars of beach landings, even though they were aware that 4th Division would not take place in the initial landings in Nomandy. It was during this period that they were joined by their new Brigade Commander, Brigadier Jefferson, and their Division Commander, Major-General George Kitching. Both men were recently returned from the fighting in Italy with 1st Canadian Division around Ortona.
Eventually, the day to leave England arrived. On the 20th of July, 1944 they embarked on three different ships in Woolford, at Marshalling area Camp 'T'. Because of enemy air activity, and the congestion of Allied shipping trying to get into the Normandy beachhead, it was another 5 days before the troops disembarked. The Algonquins and their sister Battalions of 4th Armoured Division did not arrive in Normandy until 25th of July, 1944 - 8 weeks after D-Day. Their mission was to exploit the gains already made and liberate France.
Normandy
The Algonquins finally stepped foot onto French soil at Courselles on the morning of the 25th of July, 1944 and spent the next three days within the beachhead area getting organised. This included multiple briefings on the current situation, as well as time for the company commanders and higher ranked officers to familiarise themselves with the area and the enemy dispositions. It was in these early days that they learned that the part of the front they would be occupying would line them up against the 1st SS Panzer Division (Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler) who were reputed to be the best German troops in the whole of Northwest Europe.
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First Action
The first mission for the Algonquins was to move into the area of the Reserve Brigade and watch and learn from their opposite numbers in that brigade who had been in Normandy for considerably longer. The first casualties suffered by the regiment took place within minutes of first arriving in their positions when a mortar attack landed in their areas. Tragically, there would be many more casualties in the coming weeks.
On the 30th of July, the Algonquins moved into the line at a village called Hubert Folie, replacing the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders who would then move into the rear areas to rest and reconstitute their personnel and equipment. After a week spent learning the 'battle noises' of the front, the regiment was back to the beachhead area and preparing for their first offensive action.
The Falaise Gap
Over the next two months, the Algonquins would participate in several important actions. The first major offensive they took part in was Operation TOTALIZE which aimed to break through the German defences between Caen and Falaise, where it was intended they would meet up with the US 3rd Army, who in late July had broken through the Germans further west near Avaranches. TOTALIZE would form the northern thrust of the huge envelopment and aimed to trap the German Divisions in this theatre.
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Operation TOTALIZE
TOTALIZE initially enjoyed territorial gains by the infantry brigades of II Canadian Corps, specifically 2 Canadian Division and 51st British Highland Division, but the gains were not able to be exploited by 4th Armoured Division in which the Algonquins were fighting. The Algonquins suffered heavily in this, their first offensive action. An entire company, 'C' company, was essentially wiped out after getting lost near Quesnay Wood. Many mistakes were made, and many lessons identified by the inexperienced battalions of 4th Armoured Division.
Operation TRACTABLE
Fighting continued sporadically until the 11th of August when the II Canadian Corps was able to reassemble and reorganise. A second attempt to capture the ground between Tilly-la-Campagne and Falaise, Operation TRACTABLE, commenced on the 14th and was largely successful by the 17th. Not wanting to lose momentum, however, all the Divisions fighting in this sector now pushed hard to close the Falaise Gap - the jaws of the trap. Fierce fighting against desperate German forces seeking to escape the trap took place up to the 22nd by which point approximately 150,000 Germans had been captured but many more had escaped than had been hoped. The Algonquins learned in these first few weeks that the German reputation for superb defensive fighting had been hard won, and they would continue to struggle to quickly defeat and overrun determined German rear-guards as they continued across France.
The Pursuit Across France
From Falaise to the Seine 23-27 August 1944
The Official History of the Canadian Army in Northwestern Europe states that "From the commencement of Operation "Totalize" (taken as 8 August). through 21 August, the last day of heavy fighting in the Gap, Canadian battle casualties in the theatre had numbered 1479 killed or died of wounds, 4023 wounded or injured and 177 taken prisoner". For the Algonquins part, they had lost 120 all ranks and had another 125 wounded from an original strength of some 800. They had been fighting with only 3 rifle companies instead of 4 since the 9th of August when 'C' company had been destroyed.
Despite the heavy allied losses, the closing of the Falaise Pocket had been a disaster for the Germans. Now they were in full retreat using small rearguards to heavily defend key strong points such as rivers and canals. The order came very quickly for the Canadians to keep moving after having only just completed the exhausting battle to close the Falaise pocket. As early as the evening of the 22nd the Regiment sent out 'B' company to act as an advance party to locate and secure river crossings; no time to sit still while the enemy was on the run. Field Marshall Montgomery, Commander of 21st Army Group which included all Canadian formations in NW France, was keen to move swiftly towards the port of Antwerp in the Netherlands in order to secure its access for the Allied army push into Germany.
By the 26th, 10th Infantry Brigade had reached the Seine River to the Northwest of Paris and on the morning of the 27th an opposed crossing of the river was successfully made and the town of Sotteville taken by the Algonquins. The high ground behind the town, known as Point 88, however was not taken until the following day holding up the overall advance of the Division. The regiment lost 5 killed and 22 wounded over these couple days getting across the Seine in the face of determined German defensive tactics.
East of the Seine - 28 August to 3rd September
The pursuit of the retreating German armies continued on the eastern side of the Seine and by the evening of the 2nd of September the battalion was in Abbeville on the south bank of the Somme River, a battleground the Algonquins of the First World War knew all too well.
G.L. Cassidy in his history of the Algonquin Regiment in WWII notes that the first reinforcements for the battalion arrived on this night (September 2nd, 1944), arriving from Canada by way of England, This date nearly corresponds with the date Preston departed England for France, and it appeared to suggest that Uncle Preston had joined his unit here at the Somme river. A closer study of his documents subsequently revealed, however , that this was not the case. About this time, Preston was leaving England, and would arrive in France on the same day the Algonquins fought their way across the Somme. On arrival into France on the 3rd of September, Preston reported into #2 Canadian Base Reinforcement Group and did not join the Algonquins until the 15th.
With most of the hard-fighting of France now behind them, the Regiment, like all units in the 1st Canadian Army at this point, were being cheered daily as they marched through liberated French towns and villages. G.L. Cassidy took the time to note in his book some of the hazards that came with these liberation parades.
"First, there are usually quite a large number of citizens involved, and each seems to have a bottle in his hand. Second, the variety of potables is extreme, to say the least. Third, in order to maintain convoy speed and still return the glass to the buxom wench or bewhiskered veteran who handed it to you, one must drink with some celerity. After one has consumed, in the short space of one block, at ten miles an hour, cider, sweet beer, cognac, benedictine and even (Lord help us!) calvados, one's thoughts are apt to become slightly muddled. In vain the stomach calls up to inquire what the hell is going on in the front office!"
Of course it was not all merriment and celebrations in France at this point. While the Germans were on the run, the pace being demanded by Eisenhower and Montogomery to get to Antwerp before the Germans could destroy it was putting real stress on the individuals on the ground, who were often slowed in their advance by having to find adequate crossing points over rivers that had had their bridges destroyed by the retreating Germans. Moreover, this was a time of vengeance for the newly liberated French: vengeance against their Nazi occupiers but also against their own French citizens who had aided the Germans in their task. The Nazi sympathisers in France were now treated with vehement hatred. Cassidy writes of observing men handcuffed and marched through the main streets of towns where the townspeople would beat them mercilessly. Women who had been known to have had relations with German occupying forces had their heads forcibly shaved and swastikas cut into the skin on their foreheads so their crimes would be forever known. It was a time of celebration but also retaliation. It was a time of joyous victory but also bitter vengeance.
From the Somme to Belgium - 3rd to 7th September
Now on the eastern side of the Somme River, II Canadian Corps pushed on toward Antwerp, swinging North-easterly and reaching St. Omer on the night of the 6th of September. It was lightly held, although the canal running through the town was used as a defensive barrier by the few Germans present. The Algonquins nonetheless got themselves across the canal using a degree of innovation, employing a floating barge as the means to bridge the canal. The night of the 6th was spent a bit further on at a town called Erkelsbrugge.
Cassidy notes that the next day (7th September) was a cold, windy rainy day and that they saw fewer civilians as a result. The battalion came under some heavy artillery fire, believed to have come from the port of Dunkirk, one of the Channel Ports that II Canadian Corps had been tasked with capturing and the site of the famous evacuation of British armies in 1940 when France initially fell to the Nazis. Later that night, the Algonquins and 4th Division left France and crossed into Belgium.