Canadian Arctic Operations, 1941-2015

538 Pages·2017·20.58 MB·English

by  Whitney Lackenbauer

Canadian Arctic Operations, 1941-2015
Lessons Learned, Lost, and Relearned

Edited by Adam Lajeunesse and P. Whitney Lackenbauer
© The authors 2017

The Gregg Centre for the Study of War & Society
University of New Brunswick
P.O. Box 4400
Fredericton NB, E3B 5A3
http://www.unb.ca/fredericton/arts/centres/gregg/

All rights reserved. This ebook may not be reproduced without prior written
consent of the copyright holders.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN
PUBLICATION

Canadian Armed Forces Arctic Operations, 1941-2015: Lessons Learned, Lost,
and Relearned / Lajeunesse, Adam, and Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, editors

(The Gregg Centre for the Study of War & Society Book Series; no.1)
Issued in electronic and print formats.
ISBN: 978-0-9699847-1-9 (pdf)

1. Canada. Canadian Armed Forces—History—20th century. 2. Canada--
Military policy—History--20th century. 3. Canada--Defenses--History--20th
century. 4. Sovereignty—History. 5. Canada, Northern--Strategic aspects. 6.
Arctic regions--Strategic aspects. 7. Canada, Northern—History. I.
Lackenbauer, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, author, editor II. Lajeunesse, Adam,
author, editor. III. Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society, issuing
body IV. Title. V. Series: Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society Book
Series; no.1
Page design and typesetting by P. Whitney Lackenbauer
Cover design by Jennifer Arthur-Lackenbauer and Adam Lajeunesse
Distributed by the Gregg Centre for the Study of War & Society

Please consider the environment before printing this e-book
Canadian Armed Forces
Arctic Operations, 1941-2015
Lessons Learned, Lost, and Relearned

Edited by

Adam Lajeunesse
and
P. Whitney Lackenbauer

Lajeunesse and Lackenbauer
Table of Contents

Image Captions and Credits .......................................................................... iii
Acronyms ....................................................................................................... x
Introduction: Lessons Learned, Lost, and Relearned by Adam
Lajeunesse and P. Whitney Lackenbauer ......................................................... xv
Chapter One: “A Particularly Spectacular Piece of Demolition”: The
Canadian-Led Raid on Spitzbergen, 1941 by Ryan Dean and P.
Whitney Lackenbauer ...................................................................................... 1
Chapter Two: Lessons in Arctic Warfare: The Army Experience,
1945-55 by P.Whitney Lackenbauer, Peter Kikkert, and Kenneth C.
Eyre .............................................................................................................. 47
Chapter Three: Paper Tiger: The Mobile Striking Force and the
Chimera of Arctic Defence by Bernd Horn ................................................. 105
Chapter Four: Operation CANON by Headquarters, Prairie
Command ................................................................................................... 132
Chapter Five: On Frozen Wings and Waves: RCN Operations and
RCAF Maritime Air in the Arctic 1946-1950 by Richard Mayne. ............... 152
Chapter Six: The Labrador and the DEW Line .......................................... 184
Chapter Seven: Canada’s Northern Deployments, 1970-89:
Symbolism and Substance by Adam Lajeunesse ........................................... 196
Chapter Eight: Patrouille Nocturne by Captain Rick Michon ...................... 217
Chapter Nine: SAR HARTWELL by Alan Phillips ..................................... 228
Chapter Ten: Operation Morning Light by Major Bill Aikman .................... 245
Chapter Eleven: “This is no ‘Milk Run’”: Operation Boxtop, 1956-
2015 by Daniel Heidt and Richard Goette .................................................... 270
Chapter Twelve: The CAF Returns to the Arctic, 2000-2006 by
Adam Lajeunesse ......................................................................................... 307
Chapter Thirteen: The Arctic Response Company Groups: Presence
and Mass by Adam Lajeunesse...................................................................... 331
i
Canadian Armed Forces Arctic Operations

Chapter Fourteen: Survivability, Sustainability, and Maneuverability:
Implementing DoD Arctic Strategy at the Tactical and Operational
Levels by Captain Nathan Fry ..................................................................... 353
Chapter Fifteen: Finding Ihuma: Inuit Leadership Norms and
Canadian Ranger Operations by Peter Kikkert, with Doug Stern .................. 370
Chapter Sixteen: Search and Rescue in the Arctic by LCol Dany
Poitras ........................................................................................................ 387
Chapter Seventeen: Planning Operation Nanook 2014: Lessons
Learned from a Joint Task Force (North) Perspective by LCol Deanna
Manson ...................................................................................................... 426
Conclusion: There is No Glide Path in the Arctic: Operational
Lessons Learned by Adam Lajeunesse and P. Whitney Lackenbauer ............... 443
Selected Bibliography ................................................................................. 454
Contributors .............................................................................................. 471

ii
Lajeunesse and Lackenbauer
Image Captions and Credits

Page
xvii Operation Nunalivut 2009. Department of National Defence (DND)
photo ISX2009-0048
xxxi Operation NANOOK 2009. DND photo RE2009-0034-0011
5 Map of Spitzbergen (from Stacey Six Years)
10 England practice landings. Canadian Army
14 Force 111 sketch map of coal workings at Barentsburg. National
Archives (United Kingdom), WO 106-2986.
19 Russians await evacuation on the jetty at Barentsburg. Canadian Army
22 Royal Canadian Engineers burning the coal pile at Barentsburg.
Canadian Army
27 Brigadier-General A.E. Potts and Norwegian evacuees on the return
voyage to Britain. Canadian Army
50 Map of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Bio-Zones from Robert Bone, The
Canadian North: Issues and Challenges, 4th ed. (Oxford University
Press, 2012), 3.
55 Exercise Lemming. Arctic Institute of North American (AINA) photo
z69e0062
57 Exercise Lemming. AINA photo z69e0021
59 Map of Exercise Musk Ox. Canadian Army map, reproduced from C.S.
Beals and D.A. Shenstone, Science, History and Hudson Bay, vol.2
(Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1968), p.917.
60 Exercise Musk Ox. AINA photo z57e0002
63 Exercise Musk Ox. AINA photo z58e0043
70 Canadian Ranger TooToo from Churchill, Manitoba relays
information to army personnel in a Penguin during during Exercise
Bulldog II in 1954. DND photo PC-7066
74 Exercise Musk Ox. AINA photo z57e0004
78 Exercise Lemming. AINA photo z69e0085
85 Exercise Lemming. AINA photo z69e0094
87 Exercise Musk Ox. AINA photo z22e0015
iii
Canadian Armed Forces Arctic Operations

109 Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) paratroopers drop from a C-119
Boxcar for a winter exercise in the early 1950s. Canadian Airborne
Forces Museum (CAFM)
114 No. 9 Platoon, from The RCR practicing advancing in extended line
in the Arctic in the early 1950s. Library and Archives Canada (LAC),
PA-204970
116 Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) pathfinders
preparing the Drop Zone (DZ) for the main drop at Northway,
Alaska during Exercise Sweetbriar, 23 February 1950. Plastow, LAC
PA 204977
119 Aircraft warming up in Fort Churchill, 1950. The Royal Canadian
Regiment Museum & Archives (RCR MA)
121 RCR soldiers at Fort Churchill in 1950. The RCR MA
123 RCR soldiers at Fort Churchill in 1950. The RCR MA
125 End of an era. RCR paratroopers make a ramp jump as part of a
Defence of Canada Force (DCF) exercise, 1967. CAFM
134 Left to right: Flying Officer R.C. Race, Captain Guy D’Artois, and
Captain R. Willoughby. DND, Directorate of History and Heritage
(DHH) file 181.003 D2261
136 “The precipitous cliff behind the mission. This picture was taken from
the mission itself.” DHH file 181.003 D2261
138 Sergeant H.C. Cook (left) and Sergeant W.W. Judd (right). DHH file
181.003 D2261
140 “Starting the aircraft engine with a rope at Coral Harbour.” DHH file
181.003 D2261
146 “Iceberg and Eskimo—on attempt to reach Arctic Bay by boat from
Moffet Inlet.” DHH file 181.003 D2261
149 Operation Canon group photo. Back row (left to right): Flying Officer
(FO) R.C. Race; FO C.C. McMillan; Flight Lieutenant A.B.
Morabite; Corporal L. Hawkins; Sergeant (Sgt) K. Swinford. Front
row (left to right): “Rebecca” with the Turners’ youngest child; Mrs.
Turner and elder child; FO K.O. Moore; Sgt H.C. Cook; Sgt W.W.
Judd; Captain G. D’Artois. DHH file 181.003 D2261
iv
Lajeunesse and Lackenbauer
151 “Putting the patient aboard the aircraft at Coral Harbour.” DHH file
181.003 D2261
158 The carrier Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) Magnificent and
Tribal class destroyers HMCS Nootka and Haida with the barren
landscape of the Canadian North in the backdrop. The fact that the
RCN was willing to send their newest and most prized asset into these
waters in 1948 was a powerful symbol of its willingness to exert
Canadian sovereignty in the region. DND photo
161 A RCAF Lancaster in postwar Search and Rescue configuration. War
weary aircraft such as this one were pressed back into service to meet
the Air Force's immediate SAR and maritime air requirements in the
late 1940s and early 1950s. DND photo
162 HMCS Magnificent with her Sea Fury fighters on deck during
NORTHERN CRUISE 1948. DND photo
164 The RCN's Sea Fury was the mainstay of HMCS Magnificent's fighter
capability. According to the RCAF, the fact that "Maggie's" Sea Fury
aircraft were only once able to intercept the Lancaster that was
attached to NORTHERN CRUISE was evidence that the navy had a
problem when it came to protecting naval task forces in the Arctic
from air threats. DND photo
166 H2S radar set. DND photo
169 HMCS Magnificent and her escorts at sea during Operation Northern
Cruise 1948. DND photo
171 Sailors, presumably from HMCS Swansea, get a graphic illustration of
the remoteness of the North as well as clear sense of where they are in
the world. DND photo
172 A briefing map showing HMCS Swansea's route into Canada's "far
distant waters." DND photo
174 Personnel from HMCS Swansea show the value of raising the RCN's
presence with local communities in the North during its 1949
deployment. DND photo
185 The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line System. Reprinted in
Matthew Farish, “Frontier Engineering”
187 HMCS Labrador. AINA photo z74e0001
190 HMCS Labrador breaks a path through sea ice. AINA photo z76e0000
v
Canadian Armed Forces Arctic Operations

194 HMCS Labrador amidst the ice. AINA photo z74e0000
201 HMCS Assiniboine lines up with HMCS Preserver as the destroyer
takes on fuel off the coast of Greenland, 1971. DND photo
208 A Tracker aircraft overflies the USCGC Polar Sea during its Northwest
Passage transit in 1985. DND photo
219 Exercise Patrouille Nocture, 1972. DND photo
221 A tent group sets up camp during Exercise Patrouille Nocture. DND
photo
223 A soldier dressed for the cold, Patrouille Nocture. DND photo
225 Cartoon: “Lies! All lies! You notice that everything from down south is
frozen solid!” Sentinel (April 1972), 57.
226 Cartoon: “You realize, of course, that you are violating the zoning by-
laws.” Sentinel (April 1972), 57.
231 Captain Fred Siminoski in Edmonton’s Rescue Coordination Centre
(RCC) during SAR Hartwell. DND photo
237 A 440 Squadron Twin Otter. Painting by Hélène Girard (Croft)
241 The Advanced Search Headquarters in Yellowknife during SAR
Hartwell. DND photo
243 Captain Keith Gathercoie studies a schematic of the Hartwell search.
DND photo
247 The flight path of Kosmos 954. US Government (public domain)
253 Cover of the Canadian Forces magazine Sentinel (1978/2). DND
258 Collecting the pieces, Operation Morning Light. DND photo
266 Operation Morning Light team members, dressed in specially designed
arctic clothing, begin the painstaking process of searching the area
with hand-held radiation detectors. Federal Government of the United
States - Operation Morning Light Fact Sheet, DOE/NV1198. US
Government (public domain)
273 Corporal Hodder of the Mobile Air Movements Section (MAMS) on
a box during Operation Boxtop, 2005. (DND photo WG2005-0363-
07a, courtesy of the RCAF Association)
275 BOXTOP briefing map for navigators. Major Nathalie Frigon
vi