Administration Behind the Canadian Brigade, June 1951-July 1953
The Canadian administrative organization in the Far East
served three special purposes: it equipped and supplied this
country's troops mainly from Canadian and American sources; it
enabled all elements to keep their Canadian identity; and it
represented an appropriate contribution by Canada to the
Commonwealth administrative effort.
The 2nd PPCLI's Administrative Increment, whose role was to
continue while that battalion was the only Canadian unit in
Korea, consisted of some 80 all ranks, including RCASC, RCOC, pay
and records. Its headquarters was set up in Pusan, with the
Commonwealth advanced base. Detachments were located in the main
base (Kure, Japan), the forward maintenance area (later
permanently located in Seoul) and the Commonwealth Brigade's
area. When, early in June 1951, the Patricia's rejoined their
recently-arrived parent formation, the Administrative Increment
ceased to exist as such; its personnel were further absorbed into
the Commonwealth organization.
During its first three months in the theatre, the 25th
Canadian Brigade was maintained as well as employed as a brigade
group. Brigadier Rockingham exercised command over the
administrative units through his staff, which then included
deputy assistant directors of the various services. The two
major Canadian units in Japan - No. 2 Administrative Unit and No.
25 Reinforcement Group - were equally responsible to Brigade
Headquarters. But on the formation of the 1st Commonwealth
Division at the end of July, almost all other Canadian
administrative units either were reallocated to the divisional
services or to the Commonwealth line of communication and base
organization. At the same time the establishment of Brigade
Headquarters was modified so as to resemble more closely that of
a standard brigade. How did the brigade commander, who was still
responsible to the Canadian Government for the administrative
troops, continue to exercise control over them? An early measure
to this end was to organize those serving in integrated units
into all-Canadian accounting units whose commanders were
responsible to Brigade Headquarters. One example was "Canadian
Army Ordnance Elements 1st Commonwealth Division", under the
Canadian commander of the integrated Ordnance Field Park.
Another was "Canadian Section L of C and Base Troops BCFK",
commanded by Lieut.-Colonel L. R. Crue, an original member of the
Canadian Military Mission Far East (above, page 8).
At this point it must be mentioned that BCFK (British
Commonwealth Forces Korea), though the term was commonly applied
just to the base, properly embraced the Commonwealth component of
the U.N. military, naval and air forces in Korea and Japan and
also, until the Japanese Peace Treaty of April 1952 took effect,
the Commonwealth occupation forces in Japan. The office of
Commander-in-Chief, an Australian appointment, was held first by
Lieut.-General Sir Horace Robertson. Liaison between the
Commonwealth C-in-C and the U.N. Supreme Commander was provided
by a subordinate headquarters in Tokyo. Here, as elsewhere
throughout the base and L of C, elements of Colonel Crue's
command were soon to be found.
We have seen that Canadian administrative units now fell
into two categories: those which functioned as such, and
accounting units whose members served in a number of integrated
units. Thus in Japan there were four lieutenant-colonels'
commands* and in the divisional are several majors' commands, all
independently responsible in national respects to Brigade
Headquarters. Distance alone, without the brigade commander's
operational duties, would have made personal control impossible;
this imposed many extra demands on individual commanders whom he
detailed as co-ordinating officers, and on his own DAA&QMG. In
July 1952, to assist the commander and his staff in such matters,
a Colonel in Charge of Administration (Colonel W. J. Moogk) was
assigned to Brigade Headquarters. This appointment was changed
to "Commander Canadian Base Units Far East" in February 1953.
Colonel Moogk thus represented Brigadier Bogert and later
Brigadier Allard as commander of Canadian troops between Seoul
and Tokyo; and his headquarters in Kure was the main
administrative link between Brigade Headquarters, Headquarters
BCFK, the base itself and Army Headquarters in Ottawa.
- No. 2 Administrative Unit, No. 25 Reinforcement Group,
Canadian Section L of C and Base Troops and Canadian Section
British Commonwealth General Hospital.
Let us turn now to the divisional services, the major units
of which were as follows:
- No. 54 Canadian Transport Company (to April 1952)
- No. 23 Canadian Transport Company (April 1952 to March 1953)
- No. 56 Canadian Transport Company (from March 1953)
- No. 57 Company RASC
- No. 78 Company RASC-RNZASC (to October 1951)
- No. 10 Company RNZASC (from October 1951)
- No. 25 Canadian Field Ambulance (to April 1952)
- No. 37 Canadian Field Ambulance (April 1952 to April 1953)
- No. 38 Canadian Field Ambulance (from May 1953)
- No. 26 Field Ambulance RAMC
- No. 60 Indian Field Ambulance
- No. 25 Canadian Field Dressing Station
- No. 20 Canadian Field Dental Detachment (in January 1952, redesignated No. 25 Canadian Field Dental Unit) 1st Commonwealth Division Ordnance Field Park
- No. 10 Infantry Workshop REME
- No. 16 Infantry Workshop REME
- No 191 Canadian Infantry Workshop (to April 1953)
- No. 23 Canadian Infantry Workshop (from April 1953)
- 1st Commonwealth Division Provost Company.
Headquarters Royal Army Service Corps was integrated, the
commander being British and his second-in-command a Canadian.
The RCASC transport company normally handled ammunition for the
Division, and No. 57 Company RASC gasoline and lubricants. The
New Zealand unit served as supply company for all but Canadian
troops. American rations for Canadian units were delivered by
the Canadian transport company; and courses in preparing them
were later run at the 25th Brigade Cooking School (next to the
Brigade NCOs School, near Uijongbu).
Since May 1952 the office of Assistant Director of Medical
Services had been a Canadian appointment; the deputy assistant
director was British. The three field ambulances generally
worked with the brigades to which they had formerly been
attached. No. 25 Field Dressing Station eventually grew into a
200-bed hospital, with Canadian nursing sisters on its staff;
here and in a similar installation in Seoul (integrated, under
the control of BCFK) were treated many Commonwealth "minor sick
and wounded" who otherwise would have had to be evacuated to
Japan. Surgery was carried out by American and Norwegian mobile
units and by No. 25 Canadian Field Surgical Team. As in past
wars, the chief means of casualty evacuation were hand-carry and
road transport; though whenever possible helicopters of the 1st
Corps would pick up urgent cases. No. 38 Motor Ambulance Company
RCASC provided transport between field ambulances and more
rearward medical installations.
No. 25 Canadian Field Dental Unit was not of course the only
dental element in the Division, but it was the largest; and
detachments of it were located both at major Canadian units in
the field and at the Reinforcement Group in Japan. These
detachments provided comprehensive dental treatment for all
Canadian personnel and also took care of emergency cases of other
nationalities. The unit's headquarters assisted the 25th Brigade,
administratively, by sharing its camp site with the Canadian
field postal detachment and later with certain elements of
Brigade Headquarters. (In April 1953 "Rear Brigade" joined
"Main", and those subunits which could not conveniently be
absorbed into the one headquarters were assigned to other
locations.)
Headquarters Royal Army Ordnance Corps was British. The
Ordnance Field Park, as we have seen, was an integrated unit
under a Canadian commander, and consisted of an integrated
headquarters, an integrated general stores platoon, a British
platoon and a Canadian platoon. Other ordnance elements included
two British shower sections, two Canadian shower sections, a
British laundry and a Canadian laundry. Despite difficulties
arising from the cosmopolitan nature of the force, the lack of
Commonwealth corps or army ordnance troops in the theatre and the
length of the L of C, the divisional ordnance services maintained
a laudable standard of efficiency.
Both before and after the division was formed, the repair of
weapons and vehicles was carried out largely on a brigade-group
basis. All three major repair units, however, contributed men and
resources to two units not normally found in a division: a
telecommunications workshop and a recovery company. The
Second-in-Command of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineer
Services was specifically responsible for recovery and also,
being a Canadian, acted as adviser to the Canadian brigade
headquarters on the employment of RCEME personnel in the
Division.
The 1st Commonwealth Division Provost Company was made up of
sections from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and was
commanded by a Canadian officer. Its heaviest responsibility was
traffic control - speeding alone accounted for over half the
charges laid by the divisional police. Directly under the
authority of the commander of the 25th Brigade, although located
well behind the divisional area, was a Canadian detention
barracks. Australia, Britain and New Zealand also were
represented at this institution, both on the staff and among the
"guests".
Commonwealth welfare officers, located at the various
headquarters in Korea and Japan, co-operated with one another and
with their American counterparts to bring films, concerts,
canteen supplies and reading material to the troops, and to
provide sporting goods. Nevertheless, in the last analysis, the
success of the welfare programme depended on the energy with
which the units themselves set up recreational facilities and
used them. Every "B" Echelon included a unit theatre, canteen
and shower-bath; and so many men would be taken out of the line
each day in order that they might enjoy these amenities. There
was also a divisional rest centre near Inchon. But the "feature
attraction" of the recreational programme was a period of leave
in Tokyo, which in the case of British and Canadian troops
amounted to five full days.
In this short, general history it would not be practicable
to treat more fully the services just described, or to cover such
other administrative subjects as the pay, postal and champlain
services. The burden of all was greatly increased by the very
wide dispersion of units, the absence of paved roads and the
scarcity of roads of any kind, and by frequent rains and extremes
of temperature. Yet every administrative problem was met and
overcome with determination and resourcefulness, and where
necessary through co-operation among the forces of a number of
nations.
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