I am trying to confirm some movement dates for the Regina Rifles in 1940 in Canada. In particular, I would like to know the dates of movement from Camp Dundurn in Saskatchewan to Camp Debert in Nova Scotia. The regimental history, Up the Johns, has the date of movement from Camp Dundurn as 23 September 1940. This seems in conflict with the war diary of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade, which has the date of arrival at Camp Debert as 3 October 1940. This represents a move of ten days, which is well above the norm for that period. If anyone has a copy of the original regimental history: Luxton, Capt. Eric. 1st Battalion, The Regina Rifle Regiment, 1939-46. Commercial Printers Ltd., c. 1946 that would be most helpful and may be able to clear up the dates. Any other sources would also be helpful.
Luxton is silent on departure and only mentions 'end of September' for arrival at Debert. Brown/Copp only say Sept 1940 for the move, with one personal account mentioning 'We reached Debert, NS in September' I have a couple of capsule histories around, I'll do some digging to see if they provide any more.
Kevin: Interesting. Those two accounts make me doubt the War Diary of 7th Brigade. Since the brigade was not created until 5 Oct, that is a possibility. I appreciate you looking further. David
Not so fast I guess. Scrounged from Pt II Orders at some point: 3 officers and 50 ORs (advance party) proceed from Dundurn Military Camp to Debert Military Camp, arriving at 1630 hrs 1 Oct 40 34 officers and 803 ORs (main party) proceed from Dundurn Military Camp to Debert Military Camp, arriving at 0830 hrs 3 Oct 40 1 officer and 27 ORs (rear party - 21 plus 5 strength increase plus 1 AWL plus 1 from Dundurn Camp Mil Hosp) proceed from Dundurn Military Camp to Debert Military Camp, arriving at 1440 hrs 19 Oct 40 Info for moves to Dundurn and Debert detail arrivals only.
Kevin: Thanks for taking the time to dig this out. Sources are strange with veteran's accounts the least reliable due to the passage of time, followed by regimental histories a little better, and war diaries the most reliable. I can look at the time it took other units to make this move and extrapolate back, at least until I get my hands on the war diaries. David
Here is an example of the length of a move by train from Camp Dundurn, Saskatchewan to Camp Debert, Nova Scotia. It was done by the Irish Fusiliers of Canada (Vancouver Regiment) between November 3rd and 7th, 1944. This may provide some credence to the fact that the Regina Rifle Regiment left Dundurn at the end of September 1940, since five days back from October 3rd, 1940 would place the departure date at September 29th, 1940. Unfortunately it could be a day either way depending on the time of departure.
I did not capture a date for the Pt II Orders info, implying it was undated (I'm usually pretty good documenting sources), though I can't be certain. It definitely came from Pt II Orders research prior to their embarkation for the UK (so Jun 40 to Aug 41). No luck with the two sketch histories I have or two memoirs, so no additional help with departure date. One memoir mentions a 4 day journey, arriving at the end of September. He was RQMS so probably in the advance party. See no hints of any delays, only brief stops to stretch legs and apparently, rustle up some liquour.
That makes some sense. Four days seems more reasonable than five. Possibility the end of September mentioned above since the end of September may be litteraly September 30th.
David, Currently doing some pers file research on the RRRs and have seen multiple files with: Left Dundern with unit on change of station 29 Sept 40 Arrived Debert with unit 3 Oct 40
Thanks so much for this information. It clears up one more detail that I have been trying to nail down. It also fits in with the four day move time as noted with the Irish Fusiliers above. David
I finally got the Regina Rifle Regiment war diary for 1940. It confirms the move from 29 September 1940 to 3 October 1940 from Dundurn to Debert.
