History
On 1
September 1939, the Calgary Highlanders were ordered to mobilize for the
Second World War. The regiment trained in Calgary until the summer of
1940 when it departed for CFB Shilo, Manitoba. The Calgary Highlanders,
CASF (Canadian Active Service Force) joined the Second Canadian Division
there, and the 2nd Battalion was raised in Calgary for part time
service.
In September
1940, the 1st Battalion arrived in England.
During the
Dieppe Raid of August 1942, the mortar platoon commanded by Lt. FJ
Reynolds was attached to the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade but stayed
offshore during the raid. Sergeants Lyster and Pittaway were decorated
with a Mention in Despatches for their part in shooting down two German
aircraft during the raid, and one officer of the regiment was killed
while ashore with a brigade headquarters.
The Calgary
Highlanders pioneered battle drill for the Canadian Army, which was a
realistic system of training infantry for the hardships of modern war.
They themselves learned battle drill from the British 47th Division.
On 6 July
1944, one month after the Normandy landings, the regiment landed in
France. In Operation Spring, the Calgary Highlanders were part of the
Battle of Verrières Ridge, along with the
Black Watch, in which the regiment
took heavy casualties. The unit saw extensive action in Normandy,
marched through Dieppe with the 2nd Division in September 1944 as
liberators, then moved on to the fighting for the Channel Ports. By the
end of September the regiment was in Belgium and forced a crossing of
the Albert Canal, northeast of Antwerp.
The regiment
saw extensive fighting in the Netherlands in October 1944, opening the
way to South Beveland, and then west to the Walcheren Island Causeway
where the brigade fought an extended battle beginning on Hallowe'en
night.
From November
to February 1945 the regiment wintered in the Nijmegen Salient, then was
back in action in the Rhineland fighting, clearing the last approaches
to the River Rhine itself. Fighting resumed on the far bank in March,
and city fighting in Doetinchem and Groningen followed. The regiment
ended the war on VE Day on German soil.
The Victory
Campaign had cost The Calgary Highlanders over 400 men killed, from a
war establishment of just over 800 men. Several times that many were
wounded in action.
(Source
and
©:
wikepedia.org)
Relevant
Websites
www.calgagyhighlanders.com
Canadian Army Calgary Highlanders Website
Casualties of the Calgary
Highlanders, buried
in the Netherlands.
