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saw a number of men from both the District Depot and the Basic Training Centre and from these personally selected the necessary number to complete his establishment. In this way 40 men from the District Depot and 23 men from the Basic Training Centre-all of whom were volunteers-were added to the strength of the Winnipeg Grenadiers.
Before examining in detail the qualifications and training of the men added, one further general comment should be made. It was decided that the Winnipeg Grenadiers should be brought up to the required strength by volunteers from mid-western Canada, through Military District No. 10. This decision appears reasonable in view of the fact that this regiment had originally been mobilized in this district. The primary responsibility for the additions to the strength rested on the Adjutant-General's Department and its execution was committed to Colonel Hennessy, the Director of Organization. Brigadier Riley (the officer commanding Military District No. 10) took steps to provide the necessary number of volunteers for the consideration and acceptance of Colonel Sutcliffe (the officer commanding the Winnipeg Grenadiers). In all such steps Brigadier Riley conferred with and obtained the approval of Colonel Hennessy, who relied, and properly relied, upon the decision of the local officers as to the acceptance or rejection of available volunteers. In fact, Colonel Hennessy, as Director of Organization, approved all steps taken to obtain additions to the strength of the Winnipeg Grenadiers; the District provided the necessary number of volunteers; and either Colonel Sutcliffe, or his second-in-command, Major Trist, personally interviewed every man who came from the District Depot and the Basic Training Centre. The men from the Advanced Training Centre at Dundern were accepted on the report from that centre that they were all fully trained. The men from Advanced Training Centre No. 15 at Winnipeg were accepted on the recommendation of Colonel Graham, who was in command of that centre and was, therefore, in the best position to know of their qualifications.
A number of senior officers gave evidence as to the great value of the personal selection of men by a competent commanding officer. Lieutenant- General McNaughton said in evidence:-
If I were the Commanding Officer and had had the chance to select the men and know them individually-see that they were all right-I would not have worried very much whether they had completed the basic training or not, because character is the thing we lay most stress on, and, if they were people who were suitable in my judgment to incorporate in the battalion, I would have been perfectly satisfied to have had them
I would
not have worried from the point of view of military efficiency one iota, because, if they are the right type of men, even on the voyage over I would have completed their individual training.
These opinions were confirmed by both General Crerar and General Stuart · and are, of course, of the greatest weight in considering the fitness of these additions to the strength of the Winnipeg Grenadiers.
With regard to the 189 men from Advanced Training Centre No. 15, while they had been at the Training Centre for periods ranging from two weeks to over a year, and while 42 of them had been in the active army for less than sixteenth weeks, the Commandant of the Training Centre, Colonel Graham, says they had all fired their courses at the ranges with rifles, light machine guns, anti-aircraft rifles and anti-aircraft guns.
With regard to the 42 men mentioned above, all with one exception (a man who enlisted on August 1, 1941), had had military experience, either with a militia regiment, a unit of the permanent forces, or in a Basic or Advanced Training Centre prior to enlistment in the active army. As illustrations the following may be noted: One man who enlisted on July 16, 1941 had served with the Royal Irish Constabulary and for two years with the Seaforth High- landers; one who enlisted on July 17, 1941, had had one year with the Dragoons;
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one who enlisted July 24, 1941, had also had one year with the Dragoons; one who enlisted on July 16, 1941 had had six years in the Gloucester Regiment; one who enlisted on July 10, 1941 had had nine years in a militia regiment; one ho enlisted on August 28, 1941 had previously been at a Basic Training entre for nine weeks; one who enlisted August 28, 1941 had had two months previous service at a Basic Training Centre; one who enlisted on the same day had previously had twelve weeks at a Basic and an Advanced Training Centre. Of these 42 men, the lastest enlistments were three men who enlisted respectively on September 5 and 11. One of these had previously been with the Forestry Corps as a fitter; one had been with the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps, and one had been in the Forestry Corps and had had ten weeks at a Basic Training Centre.
In the period immediately prior to October, 1941, the Advanced Training Centre No. 15, from which these men came, had, for training purposes, an adequate supply of rifles, bayonets, light machine guns, anti-tank rifles, Tommy- guns and dummy grenades. This Centre, in common with other Training Centres and units in Canada, was at that time without 2" and 3" mortars for training purposes.
Thirty men were added to the Winnipeg Grenadiers from the Advanced (Machine Gun) Training Centre at Dundern, Sask. All these men had com- pleted their advanced training and twelve of them were trained specialists. In some respects this group were trained beyond the standard laid down in the syllabi for training centres, as they had received instruction in field engineer- ing and pistol training that was not prescribed in the syllabi.
Forty men were transferred to the Winnipeg Grenadiers from No. 10 District Depot at Winnipeg. It will be recalled that these men were obtained after it appeared that further additions would be required than had been originally anticipated at the time the unit was selected for service in Hong Kong. Permission was accordingly obtained from headquarters in Ottawa to seek volunteers at the district depot. The district depot receives all men when they are recruited and also men who are being transferred from one unit to another. It was described as a "manning pool" for the district. At the time that volunteers for the Winnipeg Grenadiers were being sought, there were 23 men at the district depot who had been left behind by the 18th Reconnaissance Battalion when that unit left the district. These men had had considerable training with their unit, but had been left behind because they were thought not suitable for the specialized work of a reconnaissance battalion. The time served by the men from the 18th Reconnaissance Battalion was as follows: One had served four weeks; one, five weeks; one, six weeks; three, twelve weeks; four, thirteen weeks; one fourteen weeks; one, fifteen weeks; eight for sixteen weeks; one for eighteen weeks; one for nineteen weeks, and one for twenty weeks. Of the remaining seventeen men from the District Depot, one had already served twenty-four weeks at a Machine Gun Training Centre before being attached to the Depot; in the same way one had served twenty weeks at a Basic Training Centre; one had served five weeks in a Basic Training Centre and prior to that had been in a Reserve Battalion from August 13, 1940 to the date of his enlistment on April 10, 1941; one had had two periods of thirty days and eight weeks at Basic Training Centres; one had had eight weeks in a militia regiment; one had trained with the Grenadiers themselves for one year from September 18, 1939; one had had thirty days at a Basic Training Centre; one had had the same experience, followed by eight weeks in a Divisional Supply unit; one had sixteen weeks with a militia regiment; one had had eight weeks with a Divisional Supply unit; one had had eight weeks at a Basic Training Centre; one had had six months with a militia regiment; one had been in a Reserve Signallers Battalion for thirty-seven weeks; one had formerly been with the battalion for thirty weeks, having returned from the West Indies in April, 1941. Of the remaining three men, one had
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