Cannon in Canada, Province by Province, Volume 9: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut

By Harold A. Skaarup

This is the ninth volume in the series on Cannon in Canada. It is an informative and detailed synopsis of the carefully preserved and restored guns and artillery on display in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery is represented by a long and distinguished line of gun

• Language: English
• Publisher: EA Media and Publishing
• Release date: Oct 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781957384122

Harold A. Skaarup

Major Hal Skaarup has served with the Canadian Forces for more than 40 years, starting with the 56th Field Squadron, RCE and completing his service as the G2 (Intelligence Officer) at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick in August 2011. He was a member of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, served three tours with the Skyhawks Parachute Demonstration Team, and worked in the Airborne Trials and Evaluation section. He served as an Intelligence Officer overseas in Germany and Colorado, and has been on operational deployments to Cyprus, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. He has been an instructor at the Tactics School at the Combat Training Centre in Gagetown and at the Intelligence Training Schools in Borden and Kingston. He earned a Master's degree in War Studies through the Royal Military College, and has authored a number of books on military history.

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Cannon in Canada, Province by Province,

Volume 9: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut

Cannon in Canada, Province by Province,

Volume 9: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut

Harold A. Skaarup

Ubique

EA Media & Publishing

Copyright © 2022 by Harold A. Skaarup

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Many significant elements of the use of artillery in Canadian military history have not yet been told. The information that is found within this collection of technical data, historical reports and military photos may not be complete or fully accurate. The story will continue to unfold as additional research turns up the missing data.

ISBN: 978-1-957384-13-9 (Paperback Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-957384-14-6 (Hardcover Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-957384-12-2 (E-book Edition)

Book Ordering Information

Phone Number: 929-334-4203 ext. 1000 or 347-349-4971

Email: [e-mail]

EA Media and Publishing

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Dedications

By each gun a loaded brand, in a bold determined hand¹

For my two grandfathers, Unteroffizier Frederick Christensen Skaarup and Sergeant Walter Ray Estabrooks, two gunners who fought on opposite sides of the line during the First World War, and for all those members of the Canadian Armed Forces whose primary task at home and abroad has been and is to keep us safe.

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Figure 1. Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery and Royal Canadian Horse Artillery badges.²

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Figure 2. The formation patches worn by RCA personnel attached to I Canadian Corps, II Canadian Corps, and the First Canadian Army in the Second World War.

A Tale of Two Gunners

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Figure 3. Sgt Walter Ray Estabrooks, 32nd Battery, 8th Army Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery and Unterofficier Frederick Christensen Skaarup, Westfälische Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 22 and Reserve Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 45 in the First World War.

As a soldier in the Canadian Army with service at home and overseas in Germany, Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colorado, and Afghanistan, I came to appreciate that no matter which side you are on, the weather and terrain tend to be the same, only the enemy is different. Political decisions, attitudes and current events had similar effects on the soldiers who came before us in much the same way as they do now, and often in many strange ways.

There are always two sides to a story, but because my grandfather Frederick Christensen Skaarup died before I knew him, I did not hear the stories from the other side He was living in the German occupied area of southern Denmark when the First World War came, and he was called up for active duty. Having been conscripted into the German Army in 1910, he served two years compulsory service as a gunner and bandsman (trumpeter), and then went into the reserve mobilization force.

He was recalled on mobilization, and therefore fought in the First World War in France and Belgium from day one in 1914 through to its conclusion on 11 November 1918. He was wounded several times and on three occasions was reported as killed in action. On 11 January 1918, he was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class for his service in France on 6 September 1917. In 1926, he immigrated to Canada with his family and settled in the farming community of New Denmark in the Northwest section of New Brunswick, near to the Saint John River.

My grandfather Walter Ray Estabrooks, from Carleton County, New Brunswick, was a Canadian gunner who also served in the First World War. Unlike many of his comrades, he survived and came home to establish his family near Hartland on the Saint John River. I had lots of opportunities to hear about his experiences during the Great War, when I was a boy chopping wood and haying with a team of horses on his farm. We usually came home during the summers to visit, while living away at the RCAF Stations where my father served. My Skaarup grandparents died before I got to know them, so I asked a lot of questions and was rewarded with many interesting stories.

I was curious to know whether my two grandparents had fought in the same area or been in the position where they might have been firing on each other during the war. Because of our family tradition in the field of music, Walter Estabrooks was able to tell me this incredible story about how he knew they had been in the same place at the same time on a battlefield in France.

I met your grandfather Skaarup about 1937 or 1938. The next winter Mrs. (Anne) Skaarup came down and I exchanged words with them quite often while threshing. There were no combines then. We often listened to Frederick playing the trumpet on the veranda in the evenings. We discussed the war many times. While serving on the guns in France on 5 February 1918, I had charge of a team getting some lumber salvaged from an old blown-up school. We heard a German band playing the boys rotating out of the line to go on leave in Lens just across no-man’s land from Liévin where we were. We checked the dates and your grandfather said that he may have been playing in that band

I have seen troops coming out of the line tired and dirty after a big push and make their first halt for a little rest. Sometimes a band would be waiting for them. Marching when not weary and with a good band will give some folks a tremendous thrill. But can you imagine a depleted unit coming out of the line from a hard position, tired, dirty, muddy, and lousy, stumbling along just after dark, a few minutes’ halt just out of maximum gun range. Orders are given, Fall in…Quick March Imagine that a band has been waiting for them and what it would feel like as it begins playing The British Grenadiers The men would hunch their equipment up higher on their backs and their shoulders would straighten up. They would all have fallen in line four abreast without an order. No need for left-right. The muddy boots would seem to lighten up, and darned if the feet don’t seem to get the beat of the music. They are old hands and would soon be disappearing into the night

About those Whiz-bangs, he said, a Whiz-Bang was an artillery shell fired by the Germans. It traveled with great speed and was fired by a fast action gun. There was not much time to duck as one just heard Whiz. Bang! A Woolly Bear was another type of shell that was used for demolition, and when it burst on impact, it made a big hole and left a tremendous cloud of black smoke. They were slower than a Whiz-Bang and could be ducked by a man with a sixth sense.³

I know my brothers Dale and Chris and I listened raptly as he told his stories, and I have the privilege to retell some of them here. This guidebook is intended to honour our military heritage, because it needs to be remembered and preserved for all of those who have served and continue to serve in the Canadian Forces on our behalf.

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Figure 4. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397896) German First World War 7.7-cm Feldkanone 96 neuer Art (7.7-cm FK 96 n.A.) captured by Canadians near Amiens, France, Aug 1918. This is the gun that was known as the Whiz Bang.

Photos and Illustrations

The cover photo is a 155-mm M109 Self-propelled Howitzer, (Serial No. 34813), 1968, AC: MD, ECC: 119204 HUI C: 1941, SAUI C: 1941, VMO No. DLE21343, VMO Date: 10 Jun 2005. It stands in Churchill Park, South of the Officer’s Mess, Edmonton Garrison, 3 Canadian Division Support Base Edmonton.

The photos, diagrams and illustrations in this book were primarily taken by the author, along with many by Anthony Sewards, Clive Prothero-Brooks, Maxwell Toms, Terry Honour and others taken by associates who assisted in the compilation of this record and credited as noted.

This book covers the incredible collection artillery preserved in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The record is followed with a brief history of the use of artillery in Canada, and in service with the Canadian Forces, from before Confederation to the present day. It begins with the introduction of various early cannon in what was initially New France, then British North America, and after 1867, Canada.

The cannon in use in the earliest days of European conflict in North America were smoothbore muzzle-loading guns (SBML), generally made of cast iron, and a few cast in bronze. There has been a lengthy evolution in the making of cannon, and in time it led to the development of Rifled Breech-loading (RBL) guns. This in turn led to the production of Muzzleloading Rifles (MLR) from the late 19th century. In time, the march of progress led to the development of Breech Loading (BL) guns, Quick Firing (QF) guns, and large howitzers. A good number of variants of these guns are on currently on display in Alberta.

The cannon and guns of the early 20th century that saw service with Canadian gunners include Maxim (pom-pom) heavy machine-guns, 13-pounder and 18-pounder Field Guns, 4.5-inch and 60-pounder howitzers, 6, 8 and 9.2-inch howitzers and a variety of trench mortars. Brief technical details, photos and history are included here, along with illustrations of the wide variety major weapon systems that can be seen in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

The guns used by the RCA in the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, the Cold War and in present-day service are also recorded in detail. Photos of the guns as they are presently found are included in chronological sequence. A detailed list with the maker, serial numbers and location is included to provide useful information on where to find and view the cannon preserved in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

A list of artillery abbreviations is included in a separate annex. It is this author’s hope that you find the information here useful and that you take the time to visit and view these important instruments of Canada’s military history.

Foreword

My congratulations and sincere thanks to Major (Retired) Harold (Hal) Skaarup for documenting this wonderful account of the guns and Gunners of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This volume is a great companion to his other works on cannon throughout Canada. There is no one better able to tell this story than Hal, and he has done so brilliantly.

Joining The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery at 16, I went West by train to Shilo Manitoba at 18. There I began learning about the rich history of the Royal Regiment, and how that history is woven into the history of Canada. I served the guns for 37 years in an active role and another eight in honorary positions, including Colonel Commandant where I visited every Gunner unit (and many an armoury, legion and monument) in the West.

One of my greatest experiences in the RCA was command of the 1st Airborne Battery, RCA in Edmonton. We were the parachute battery of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, and our cannon were 105 mm L5 Pack Howitzers and 81 mm mortars. We Airborne Gunners trained in Wainwright, Suffield, Dundurn, Kananaskis, Cornwallis Island and throughout the West, including Alaska. Our guns and mortars were deployed by parachute from the Hercules transport aircraft, helicopters, trucks, snowmobiles, and man packed. Our Gunners of the 1970s were every bit as agile, adept, professional and adventurous as our predecessors in early Canada and World Wars One and Two.

As I read Hal’s book I am reminded that the Gunners played a major role in the North-West Rebellion of the 1880’s at Fish Creek, Batoche, Cut Knife Hill and elsewhere with their horse-drawn 9 pounder field guns. Gunners of D Battery formed a major part of the Yukon Field Force in the 1890s. In both World Wars artillery batteries and regiments, and thousands of Gunners were mobilized in towns and cities across the West – Lethbridge, Regina, Prince Albert, and so on. Their stories are so aptly recounted in this volume, and their legacy lives on in the museums and monuments throughout the West and North of Canada, and Everywhere wither right and glory lead!

UBIQUE 

Brigadier-General (Retired) Ernest Beno, OMM, CD

Former Colonel Commandant The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery

Acknowledgements

I would imagine that many of you who are reading this book are likely familiar with the standard routine of military training exercises and the rigours of being in the field in all seasons and all weather, not to mention the conditions found on overseas deployment these days. Whether or not you have experienced it, I am sure you can well imagine what it is like to train and work in the heat, the dust and the mosquitoes in summer, the wind, the rain, and the mud in the spring and fall, the snow, and the cold in the winter and of course the routine day-to-day challenges of combat exercises in the training areas operated by the Canadian Forces, both at home and overseas.

For most of us who served in the Canadian Army, this has included 2 Canadian Division Support Base (2 CDSB) Valcartier, 3 CDSB Edmonton, 4 CDSB Petawawa, 5 CDSB Gagetown, Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Bagotville, CFB Borden, CFB Cold Lake, CFB Comox, CFB Esquimalt, CFB Gander, CFB Goose Bay, CFB Greenwood, CFB Halifax, CFB Kingston, CFB Moose Jaw, CFB North Bay, CFB Shilo, CFB Suffield, CFB Trenton, CFB Winnipeg, Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert, CFS Leitrim and Canadian Forces Support Unit (CFSU) Colorado Springs, CFSU Europe and Canadian Forces Support Group (CFSG) Ottawa-Gatineau.

The initial reference work colleagues, friends and I assembled, to detail all the cannon preserved in Canada, was titled: Shelldrake - Canadian Artillery Museums and Gun Monuments, (iUniverse.com, Bloomington, Indiana, 2012). Shortly after the book’s publication, it became apparent that there were new finds as we came to call them – cannon we had missed in the compilation of the initial list. Many people came forward to tell us about a cannon in their community that often on display as part of their local cenotaph or war memorial. Often, the stories of how and when these cannon came to be there had been lost to time and memory. One of the aims of these records to make people aware of exactly that kind of information, and by doing so, help others to save our military history.

There are bound to be more cannon and guns that have been missed in these records. For this reason, we will continue to scour the countryside to find, document, photograph, identify and record all of them. The aim of these guidebooks is to assist the interested explorer and historian to find them and to help save our military heritage.

If you have discovered a cannon not recorded here, please contact me via e-mail at [e-mail] and I will add your information to my website at www.silverhawkauthor.com.

The data concerning all cannon preserved in Canada is divided into sub-sections by province, town, and memorial. I volunteer as a docent/guide and researcher at the New Brunswick Military History Museum, 5 CDSB Gagetown in Oromocto, and serve on the Board of Directors for the Fredericton Region Museum in Fredericton, New Brunswick. This book is designed to be an aide-memoire, to aid in answering basic questions on where to find the numerous cannon preserved in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

I have had a lot of help from interested colleagues in the hunt for cannon across Canada. For this collection focused on the cannon preserved Western Canada, there are a great many I would like to acknowledge and thank.

Doug Knight has been a mentor and guide. His knowledge of Canada’s cannon, much of it presented in his book, Guns of the Regiment, (Service Publications, Ottawa, 2016), is my go-to reference. I am not a gunner, just an interested retired Army Officer and amateur historian. What I do have, is a good number of family members who have served as gunners, as well as an incredible collection of colleagues and friends with similar interests. They have provided me with invaluable help when it comes to identifying cannon and related artifacts. Each one of them has a generous willingness to find answers to interesting questions and to help make these records as accurate as possible.

Terry Honour and Maxwell J. Toms in Ottawa have been stellar in their support, and gloriously super aggressive in chasing down new finds. We share what we discover and in so doing, help to preserve our military history.

Anthony Sewards, our resident Royal Canadian Armour Corps (RCAC) Black hat and veteran of Afghanistan, has been my go to expert on historical background of armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) found in throughout Canada, and you will find many of his photos here.

As we began cross-referencing the data on the guns found in this but, our research work often resulted in a great many surprising and often wonderful new discoveries. These discoveries often led to finding and making new contacts with world-renowned subject-matter experts on cannon. Ruth Rhynas Brown, former curator with the Tower of London, provided the working title for these books, including this one, Cannon in Canada, Province by Province, Volume 9: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Her partner, Kay Smith, is a renowned expert on medieval cannon. My mother, Beatrice Skaarup, now age 92, has been extremely enthusiastic in acting as a spotter for me on what she calls gun hunts. She loves to explore and has assisted in the search for our forgotten military history.

Although most of the photos in this book have been taken by me, you will find many have been provided by my colleagues, as well as a number sourced from the Library and Archives Canada files. Should you choose to use them, please credit them as annotated.

Thank you to all who gave their support, time, assistance and expertise on the artillery and equipment listed here, your patience and assistance has been invaluable. The information presented here on the artillery preserved in Western Canada, is a small sample of the guns and cannon preserved in the rest of Canada – there is much more to follow.

During my service as an officer in the Canadian Forces, I was taught to use the combat arms radio call sign Sheldrake whenever the message traffic being relayed referred to artillery. This designation has been replaced with the call sign Golf. The tanks were called Ironsides, now Tango, hence the titles of the companion volumes to this series. For the interested reader, Acorn was my call sign as the Regimental Intelligence Officer of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, and later as the Brigade Intelligence Officer for 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade.

E Tenebris Lux and Ubique!

Introduction

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Figure 5. (Skaarup family Photos) The author’s son Sean Skaarup, 89th Field Battery, 3 Field Regiment, with a 105-mm C1 Howitzer 30 March 2006.

Throughout our military training at home and abroad and during preparations for operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Afghanistan, we have had to become familiar with how effective our own equipment was and what we were likely come up against in engagements with opposition forces. We often saw the damage that could be and often was inflicted by the wide variety of artillery ordnance we had to confront. These experiences brought home the very real need to ensure our troops were well-trained and familiar with equipment recognition, both for friend and foe. As a result, those of us serving in the Canadian Forces Intelligence Branch learned, and in turn, taught courses in weapons and vehicle recognition. These courses trained men and women in how to recognize the differences in gun bore evacuator placement, road wheel spacing on tracked self-propelled guns, camouflage patterns, and signature weapons and equipment which could be useful in identifying enemy units (and ensuring we did not target our own).

In spite of the value of artillery to the survivability of our servicemen and women, once the guns have served their purpose and outlived their useful serviceability, many have been disposed of as scrap. Only a few have been set aside for preservation in museums or for display as memorials. A few Artillery War Trophies from the First World War remain on display, in spite of the fact that many were recalled and scrapped in 1942. This was not done with malicious intent. It was necessary to supply vast quantities of metal to be used to aid Canada’s industry to support our servicemen and women in fighting the Second World War.

This handbook provides a simple checklist of where the surviving cannon of all ages and eras in Western Canada are now, and is illustrated with photographs of each of the major types mentioned for recognition purposes.

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Figure 6. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3209132) Gunners of the 2nd Medium Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA), loading a 5.5-inch Medium Gun, Netherlands, 2 April 1945.

The cannon and military equipment noted here are listed by location, calibre, name, maker, weight, serial number, royal cypher and other significant markings. A brief description of each gun’s service history during its use in Canada or by the Canadian military is included, along with how it came to be in the location where the gun currently stands. The book includes Naval