# 6th Field Regiment



## Ellenshar (20 Jan 2005)

I am trying to find out what a "Gunner" is - my uncle was a Gunner in the 2nd Infantry Division, 6th Field Regiment of the Royal Canadian Artillery.  He was killed in Normandy in July 1944.  Growing up I was always told that he was a "bombardier", but now my research shows he may have been a Gunner, and I am not exactly sure what that is.  Any help?


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## pbi (20 Jan 2005)

The term "gunner" has two commonly accepted meanings in our Army (and indeed most Commonwealth armies). Capitalized (Gunner) it is an informal way of referring to somebody who is a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who are often collectively referred to as "The Gunners".

The second common use of "gunner", and the more official one, is the term used in place of  the generic rank of "Private" in the Artillery. (Many Commonwealth Regiments and branches have their own designation for the rank of Private: Rifleman, Fusilier, Trooper, Gunner, Signaller, Craftsman, Technician, Piper, etc.)  "Bombardier" is used in the Artillery place of the generic rank of "Corporal".

Cheers.


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## Ellenshar (20 Jan 2005)

Thanks - next question - my uncle was 22 when he was killed - I assume that is too young to be a Corporal.  Is there a certain type of weapon a Gunner would have used back then (I assume he was on the field and not on an airplane as I always thought)?  There is very little information about the 6th Field Regiment of the RCA and I am wondering why that would be.


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## Danjanou (20 Jan 2005)

A good place to start your research might be here

http://www.artillery.net/english/engstart.htm

During wartime 22 would not necessarily be too old to make Cpl/Bdr.

This is the site for the Commonwealth War Graves Commision. With his name, unit and year of death you may be able to locate information on where he was buried. It would also list his rank at time of death.

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx


Good luck


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## ShannonSM (4 Oct 2012)

I would like to find out more about what happened to 6th Field Regiment one they went into Theatre ie France in August 1944.  Any direction would be useful.
In particular I'd like to find out about 13th Field Battery.  My grandfather Sgt P. L. Partridge RCA was there and his military record doesn't illustrate anything more than being in the field.
Interestingly he was a Cree Indian from The Pas, MB.  I'd like to learn more about the volunteer indian soldiers in the conflict and in the UK.
Please feel free to contact me.


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## Old Sweat (4 Oct 2012)

ShannonSM said:
			
		

> I would like to find out more about what happened to 6th Field Regiment one they went into Theatre ie France in August 1944.  Any direction would be useful.
> In particular I'd like to find out about 13th Field Battery.  My grandfather Sgt P. L. Partridge RCA was there and his military record doesn't illustrate anything more than being in the field.
> Interestingly he was a Cree Indian from The Pas, MB.  I'd like to learn more about the volunteer indian soldiers in the conflict and in the UK.
> Please feel free to contact me.



Here is the link to the RCA Museum in CFB Shilo, MB. The staff there should be able to help you start your search.

http://www.rcamuseum.com/English/eng_home.htm


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## fraserdw (14 Oct 2012)

Shannon 

DND publishes a free book on our people's  (I'm non-status MiqMaq) contribution to keeping Canadians free.  Send me a PM and I will try to get you a PDF copy.


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## FJAG (15 Oct 2012)

I drafted this post once before but it seemed to disappear into the ether.

Let me give you a little background. 

Over the last century and a half, the Canadian artillery has often been reorganized with many name changes. Regimental names and numbers change the most while most gun batteries can trace their linage.

Starting with 6th Field Regiment RCA I can tell you that they were part of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division which was part of II Canadian Corps The 2nd Division landed in Normandy as part of the follow on landing which occurred in the first week in July. There's a pretty good Wikipedia page about 2 Div.

2 Div had three infantry brigades numbered 4, 5 and 6. Also three artillery regiments also numbered 4, 5 and 6 so its a good bet that the 6th Fd RCA supported 6 Inf Bde. 

I'm not sure of what equipment they had but most probably it was the towed 25 pounder.

There is currently a 6th Field Regiment in Levi PQ but 13th Battery is not a part of it.

13th Field Battery had a long and distinguished history. It was formed on 13 Oct 1871 in Portage La Prairie MB in direct response to the Fenian crisis. The battery moved to Winnipeg and became known as the Number 13 "Winnipeg" Field Battery and participated in the North West Rebellion of 1885. (as an aside, 13th Battery was formed exactly one week before the formation of the two first regular army batteries A and B of the RCHA were formed)

Regt orders from 1900 identify it as the 13th "Winnipeg" Field Battery and in 1907 as the 13th "Winnipeg" Battery.

Orders from 1918 identify that 13th Battery Canadian Field Artillery was brigaded with two other batteries into the 4th Brigade CFA. The 4th Brigade CFA went overseas during WWI as part of the 2nd Division.

Orders for 1935 show that 13th (Winnipeg) Field Battery was now part of 5th Field Brigade which was formed in Winnipeg in 1919. Presumably the 13th was assigned to the 5th immediately after the war.

Orders in 1939 were the same as 1935.

Orders in 1945 show 13th, 21st and 91st Field Batteries all as part of 6th Field Regiment. Again I presume that the reallocation happened in the early war years.

In the immediate post war years Winnipeg's 5th Bde was renamed the 39th Field Regiment (SP) --the SP stands for self propelled. Orders for 1956 show that 13th Field Battery (SP) was now part of the 39th. Again I presume that the reallocation from the 6th to the 39th happened immediately after the war in or about 1946.

In 1965 during a reorganization, 39th Field Regiment was disbanded and 13th Field Battery (which at that time was located in Virden MB) was transferred to the 26th Field Artillery Regiment which is headquartered in Brandon MB.

13th Field Battery subsequently moved to Winnipeg and then in 1970 back to Portage La Prairie where it continues as an active Militia unit to this day. 

With your grandfather's being from The Pas MB and joining a MB artillery battery seems to be quite in keeping with people volunteering to join local/regional units in those days.

I wanted to attach for your information a copy of the Standing Orders Volume II of the RCA. It sets out the heritage and lineages of Canadian Artillery units but unfortunately at 3 MB the file is too large for this Forum. If you wish to send me an email off line I'll send it to you.

Good luck on your further research


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## deedubsgee (4 Jun 2013)

Hi folks. I have a deep interest in the Winnipeg Field Battery, so I'm very happy to see this topic.  I see it's pretty old, though, so I'm not sure anyone will actually see this post. 

Just a couple points of clarification.  While the RCA Standing Orders state that 13th (Winnipeg) Field Battery was created in Portage, that’s a typo.  According to Militia General Order No. 22 it was created as:  “A Field Battery of Artillery at Winnipeg.  To be Captain: Captain and Adjutant William N. Kennedy, M.S., from 57th Battalion, and Winnipeg Rifle Company. To be 1st Lieutenant: William Morris, Gentleman, M.S.”

It did participate in the NW Rebellion.  Of note, an up and coming officer of the battery, Lt. George Young, was selected to be General Middleton’s Brigade Major (today that post might be called the Brigade G3). He was also asked to transport Louis Riel to Regina for trial after the latter was captured at the Battle of Batoche.
The 13th Battery that existed in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I was not the same as the 13th (Winnipeg) Field Battery. The Minister of Militia, Sam Hughes, disregarded all mobilization plans and decided that the CEF would be made up of almost exclusively new units created solely for the CEF. The existing units were used as manpower pools to fill these units. To this end, 13th (Winnipeg) Field Battery provided personnel, initially, for the 1st Battery, Canadian Field Artillery (CFA) as well as the 17th and 19th Batteries at a later time.  13th (Winnipeg) Field Battery never deployed to Europe.
Cheers!


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## Old Sweat (4 Jun 2013)

deedubsgee said:
			
		

> Just a couple points of clarification.  While the RCA Standing Orders state that 13th (Winnipeg) Field Battery was created in Portage, that’s a typo.  According to Militia General Order No. 22 it was created as:  “A Field Battery of Artillery at Winnipeg.  To be Captain: Captain and Adjutant William N. Kennedy, M.S., from 57th Battalion, and Winnipeg Rifle Company. To be 1st Lieutenant: William Morris, Gentleman, M.S.”
> 
> It did participate in the NW Rebellion.  Of note, an up and coming officer of the battery, Lt. George Young, was selected to be General Middleton’s Brigade Major (today that post might be called the Brigade G3). He was also asked to transport Louis Riel to Regina for trial after the latter was captured at the Battle of Batoche.



And for a bit more, Captain William Nassau Kennedy had come west as part of the 1870 Red River Expedition and stayed in the West. Part of one of the songs sung by the troops on the expedition went "If the girls of Manitoba are as kind as they are charming, The half of us will stop behind and settle down to farming." Many did. Kennedy was both the second mayor of Winnipeg and the founding commanding officer of the 90th Battalion, now the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.

During the NW Rebellion the 13th Battery and the 90th Battalion were the first units to take to the field. They were deployed forward to Qu'Appele by a series of trains beginning on 25 March (before the defeat of the NWMP at Duck Lake) by Major General Middleton, who had been sent to the west by the Canadian government at the first hint of trouble. It must have been a bit tense for the Winnipegers out on the prairie with rumours abounding and no hope of immediate reinforcement.


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