Question of the Hour

[exspy]

JBoyd,

You've got the 'what'.  During Op Gamescan the CAR (or parts of it, that's part of 'why') was designated Task Force III.  It was the Gamescan reaction force and located at CMR in St Jean.

Colonel Lessard was the Commander of the CAR but wasn't the CO of 4 Commando.

Just the 'why' (as in why was there a 4 Commando) and the 'who' (as in who comprised it) remain.

Dan.

 

[JBoyd]

1RCR, 2RCR, 3RCR, 408 THS, 2CMBG?

Something on the lines of 16000 troops were involved

 

[exspy]

Everyone,

With 48 hours and no further activity on this question it's time to provide the full answer.  The CAR was deployed to Quebec during Op Gamescan, the CF contribution to the 1976 Montreal Olympics.  At the time CAR had only two commandoes, the airborne battery, the airborne field squadron, a support unit and the headquarters and signal squadron.  For the deployment 1er Commando was opcon'd to 3 R22eR in Montreal who were tasked with protecting the Olympic participants while they were traveling on site.  3 R22eR was a part of Task Force 1 under Brig-Gen Rene Gutknecht.

The remainder of the regiment was designated Task Force 3 and was tasked as the Commander's Reserve.  They were located at CMR in St Jean.  Because the regiment was short half of its infantry, the battery and the field squadron (together with 2 Commando's reconnaissance platoon) were combined to form another infantry unit, 4 Commando, in May.  The commanding officer of the battery, Major DB Walton, was appointed CO of 4 Commando.  In the middle of the Olympics in late July a change of command saw Major EB Beno take over.  After the end of the games the 'commando' was disbanded and the units involved returned to their regular duties.

I got the details on 4 Commando from two sources.  One was Sentinel magazine's special Olympic issue (1977/1) and the second is a book called 'Fragments of 1 Airborne Battery (RCA) The Canadian Airborne Regiment' which was a history of the battery published shortly after its disbandment in 1977.

OK, time for the next question.  I think the candidates for it are either Shec, Old Medic or JBoyd.  Who's got the question?

Dan.

 

[JBoyd]

Well asking a direct question would give away the answer so..


Who is this Canadian, and what major part of history did he play.


Bonus: What rank did he hold at the time.

 

[geo]

Hmmm

Lt Robert Hampton Gray, VC, DSC, RCNVR

 

[Koenigsegg]

Arthur Roy Brown.  World War 1 ace.
Is believed to have shot down the Red Baron, rank at the time was Captain, no?

 

[exspy]

Koenigsegg,

You bugger!  Just as I was about to post!

QUOTE:
Captain Arthur Roy Brown DSC and bar RNAS (23 December 1893 – 9 March 1944) was a Canadian World War I flying ace. The Royal Air Force officially credited Brown with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron", although later research has shown that Brown could not have fired the bullet that caused the death of Von Richthofen.
UNQUOTE.

The pride of Carleton Place, Ontario.  The photo shows Brown in RAF uniform after the merger of the RNAS and the RFC.

Dan.

PS:  It does look like the Australians shot von Richtofen down after all.... Damn!

 

[Koenigsegg]

Darn those Australians and taking all our glory!  ;D

My turn for a question?
Because of my lack of imagination...

Which pilot was the younger of the pair who formed (it was a partnership) the very short lived company that flew passengers and freight between Toronto and Muskoka using 3 surplus planes?

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

just a guess without looking anything up

William Barker VC ?

 

[Koenigsegg]

Yes indeedly.  You are correctamundo.

I didn't really have a question to ask, so that came out.

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

Don't worry I don't really have one right now either
What was the real purpose of the voyage of the St. Roch in 1940-42?

 

[larry Strong]

"....To demonstrated Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic during the difficult wartime years, and extended Canadian control over its vast northern territories...."

http://www.hnsa.org/ships/stroch.htm

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

Partly true, but I was looking for the more covert aspect of the trip
Hint: It is related tangentially to beer

 

[JBoyd]

A government plan to occupy and defend Greenland, due to the cryolite mine on the island

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

And we have a winner.
Ironically enough, by the time the St. Roch got to Halifax, the Americans were in the war and assumed the responsibility for defending Greenland.

 

[JBoyd]

K my turn... hmm

Weiße Rose is attributed to two things during WWII, what are these two things.

Also for one of them, explain the misrepresentation, and the relation to Coventry

 

[geo]

The White Rose...

A group on Munich university students professed non-violent resistance - better known for it's anonymous leaflet campaign between June 1942 and February 1943.  It called for active opposition to Adolf Hitler's regime.  The six core members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo, convicted and executed by beheading in 1943.

The text of their sixth leaflet was smuggled out of Germany and into England after their death.  In July 1943 copies of it were dropped over Germany by Allied planes.

 

[JBoyd]

The White Rose...

A group on Munich university students professed non-violent resistance - better known for it's anonymous leaflet campaign between June 1942 and February 1943.  It called for active opposition to Adolf Hitler's regime.  The six core members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo, convicted and executed by beheading in 1943.

The text of their sixth leaflet was smuggled out of Germany and into England after their death.  In July 1943 copies of it were dropped over Germany by Allied planes.

Thats One attributation, however there is another. 

 

[geo]

I figured the 6th leaflet was the 2nd and misrepresentation............guess not

 

[JBoyd]

I figured the 6th leaflet was the 2nd and misrepresentation............guess not

no the misreprensentation is of the second part of the question (which is not related to the first part which you answered sucessfully)