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Contributions pertaining to the gaming hobby, historical oddities, and other items of unusual interest from Da Boyz at the Barn and others.

IV Princess Louise Dragoon Guards

 PRO ARIS ET FOCIS

BATTLE HONORS

South Africa, 1900.

First World War: Mount Sorrel.

Second World War

Sicily, 1943: Adrano, Troina Valley.

Italy, 1943 – 1945: Landing at Reggio, Motta Montecorvino, Liri Valley, Hitler Line, Melfa Crossing, Gothic Line, Tomba di Pesaro, Casale, Sant' Angelo in Salute, Capture of Ravenna, Naviglio Canal.

     North-West Europe, 1945.

LINEAGE

The IV Prince Louise Dragoon Guards trace their lineage to 27 May 1872 when The Ottawa Volunteer Militia Troop of Cavalry were raised in Ottawa. It was re-designated The Dragoon Guards on 15 November 1878, The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards on 3 Jan 1879 (having provided escort for Princess Louise and her husband, the Marquis of Lorne, upon the latter’s arrival in Canada as Governor-General), the 5th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards on 1 February 1903, and then the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards on 15 March 1920. Amalgamated with the 4th Hussars of Canada on 15 December 1936, they created The IV Princess Louise Dragoon Guards. They were re-designated the 4th (Reserve) Reconnaissance Battalion, (IV Princess Louise Dragoon Guards) on 1 April 1941, then 4th (Reserve) Reconnaissance Battalion, (Princess Louise Dragoon Guards) on 8 June 1942, the 4th Armored Car Regiment, (IV Princess Louise Dragoon Guards) on 19 June 1947. On 4 February 1949, they were re-designated to the IV Princess Louise Dragoon Guards (4th Armored Car Regiment). The present designation, IV Princess Louise Dragoon Guards (RCAC), was authorized on 19 May 1958.

ACTIONS IN WW2

The regiment was assigned to the 1st Canadian Division for employment as a divisional reconnaissance battalion, absorbing the existing reconnaissance squadrons in the UK (formed from various infantry units of 1st Canadian Division) but would belong to the Canadian Armored Corps (CAC).

Unit Serial and Arm of Service Sign 1942-1944

"A" Squadron landed at Pachino, Sicily on July 13, 1943, as part of the follow-up formations participating in Operation Husky. It was assigned as part of 1st Canadian Infantry Division and it was joined by the rest of the Regiment on August 27, 1943. Though all three squadrons were put ashore in Sicily, "A" Squadron was the only one fully equipped with "Fox" and "Otter" armored cars in time to participate in the fighting. Also, as noted in Report No. 136 of the Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, “the Squadron ‘borrowed’ some 0.5 Browning machine guns from 12 Canadian Tank Regiment (Three Rivers Regiment) and installed them on the carriers.”

Formation Sign, 1st Canadian Infantry Division

 

On September 4, 1943, "A" Squadron landed in Italy at Calabria and was joined by the remainder of the Regiment later that month as part of Operation Baytown. By the time 4th PLDG landed the regiment was operating largely at strength. All squadrons were equipped with both the light (Otter) and heavy (Fox) reconnaissance vehicles as well as the universal carriers required of a divisional scout element. All were relatively lightly armored in the interest of mobility and only the Fox was equipped with a .50-calibre machine gun. The Otter relied on a .303 Bren Gun for its defense.  The 4th PLDG immediately set to providing headquarters with information vital to the planning of 1st Canadian Infantry Division’s advance. 

The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, serving as scouts, investigated roadways and crossings and attempted to establish the location, and strength, of enemy units. Italy, with its mountainous terrain, antiquated roads, and shoddy maps, made aggressive patrol by armored vehicles imperative. When committed to battle, the armored car crew generally provided fire support for the assault element as it dismounted the carriers to fight as infantry. However, the regiment’s soldiers were often forced to dismount their armored cars upon encountering obstacles in the road and proceed on foot and often fought pitched battles with German rearguards and sappers.

Though casualties sustained by the reconnaissance squadrons were generally lower than those of the rifle companies, the job could be dangerous. Roaring down the dusty, winding roads, uncertain as to the whereabouts of the Germans, the squadrons lost men to a combination of enemy fire, demolitions, and mines. Interviewed by a reporter, Major Harold Parker wasted few words: "We keep going until the enemy shoots at us. Then we know he is there". Sadly, this would be all too true for Major Parker, who killed was when an anti-tank gun targeted his armored car.

The soldiers of the 4PLDG were often innovative in their tactics. One action probably provided the basis for the attack thru the railway tunnel in “Kelly’s Heroes”.  “A” Squadron of the 4PLDG had been patrolling toward Miglionico on September 19 when they found a blown bridge cutting the road that wound uphill from the valley of the Basento River towards Miglionico. The heights dominating this road concealed German positions and the regiment was unable to bypass this blocking position. The 4 PLDG grouped the 3 Assault troops (platoons) of the regiment under the command of Lt White. Lt White decided to utilize a railway tunnel of about 2 miles length to go under the German positions. The 4PLDG achieved complete surprise and, dismounting their cars and carriers and hurling grenades as they ran, the assault element swept the forward slope of a nearby hill where a large German force was in bivouac. The fury of the Princess Louise assault soon forced the Germans to retire. Enemy losses were estimated at 50.  A number of vehicles and some ammunition were also destroyed by Lt White and his men and five prisoners taken. Reinforced the next morning by a company of the Royal Canadian Regiment, 4 PLDG occupied Miglionico without further resistance.

4PLDG continued to act as the reconnaissance element for 1st Canadian Infantry Division as the campaign continued and provided significant support at Ortona, in the Liri Valley, and in breaking the Hitler Line at Pontecorvo. ( See Breaching the Hitler Line for an excellent article on the Canadians at Pontecorvo).

In one of the stranger re-organizations of WW2, the 4PLDG was re-assigned as an infantry battalion on July 13, 1944, re-designated as 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, and assigned to the newly raised 12th Canadian Infantry Brigade of 5th Canadian (Armored) Division. The decision was the result of 8th Army commander’s noting that the 5th Armored Division was hampered by a shortage of infantry personnel and that the existing brigade, the 11th, was increasingly unable to meet the demands made of it. Having spent the winter of 1943 serving as dismounted infantry and often fighting largely as such, the regiment was an obvious choice for a transfer to the infantry corps. Though its members, officers and men alike would be hostile to the new role (See Unhappy Soldiers for an interview with a former Trooper on the reaction of 4PLDG), they would distinguish themselves all the same.  However, the 4th PLDG retained the black beret of the Canadian Armoured Corps and referred to its sub-units as "squadrons" instead of "companies"; the traditional infantry designation.

Unit Serial And Arm Of Service Flash As Infantry
1944-1945

With only a few weeks re-training as infantry, the Princess Louise were sent into battle for the first time without their armored cars, assigned the capture of Monte Peloso on September 1, 1944. Identified on Canadian Army maps as Point 253 and strongly held by the enemy, the feature was part of the German Gothic Line. Following a murderous enemy artillery barrage that lasted for half an hour and badly scattered the attacking squadrons, “C” Squadron pushed off for the objective at 13:10 with the remainder of the regiment close behind. Crossing a rutted farm field at the base of Mount Peloso, the Princess Louise ran headlong into German paratroops forming up for an attack on nearby Point 204. Tearing into the startled Fallschirmjäger (caught on the open ground as they assembled for their counterattack), the supporting Sherman tanks of the Canadian 2nd Armored Regiment (Lord Strathcona's Horse) raked them with 75mm cannon fire and hull mounted machine guns. Flushed from slit trenches on the forward slope by the closing tanks, the enemy infantrymen were shot down by the advancing Princess Louise. Fighting its way forward in the face of heavy sniper, machine gun, and mortar fire, the regiment cleared a number of houses partway up Point 253, supported by the Strathconas. Rumbling to within feet of the buildings, the 32-ton Shermans reduced them to rubble with high explosive rounds prior to the waiting “Plugs” (Princess Louise Guards) rushing in with rifle and bayonet. Though ultimately successful, 4th PLDG's first experience serving as dismounted infantry had not been without cost: 35 Princess Louise Dragoon Guards were killed taking Point 253 and another 94 wounded.

Formation Sign 5th Canadian Armoured Division

A message penned by 8th Army's commander, General Leese, congratulated the Princess Louise for their victory, made that much more remarkable based on the unit's very brief training as infantry, which broke the Gothic Line for 8th Army.

 

The 4PLDG was moved to North-West Europe on 26 February 1945, as part of 5th Canadian Armored Division. In an even stranger act of re-organization the Regiment was again converted to armor on 15 March 1945 and was re-designated as 4th Reconnaissance Regiment (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards) where they finished the war in Holland in a prisoner escort and constabulary role. In the course of the war, the troops of the 4 Princess Louise Dragoon Guards had earned, through their dedication and gallantry:

award of 2 Distinguished Service Orders (DSO),

award of an Order of the British Empire (OBE),

award of 3 Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE),

award of 6 Military Crosses (MC),

award of 9 Military Medals (MM),

award of a Commendation for Gallantry,

award of C-in-C’s Certificate for Gallantry,and

had 22 Mentions in Despatches.

Fielding the 4PLDG in FOW

The 4 Princess Louise Dragoon Guards presents the gamer options for fielding the Regiment as a Recce Squadron or an Infantry Company. The organization make-up from Festung Europa best fits the 4PLDG as a Recce Squadron, using the Otter LRC I in place of the Humber LRC III and the Fox Armored Car in place of the Humber IV Armored Car. While the Fox is not listed in the British Arsenal pages, it is essentially the Humber IV AC design armed with a 0.5” MG in place of the M5 37mm gun. Any Universal Carriers that are fielded should also be armed with a 0.5” MG at an additional 10 points cost per carrier.  While the 4PLDG were relatively untested as a Recce Squadron at the beginning of the Italian Campaign, they are probably best portrayed as Italian Veterans after Ortona.

Fielding them as a Rifle Company requires no modifications to the Company organization in Festung Europa as they were required to turn in their vehicles when they were converted to infantry. They are probably best fielded as Confident Veterans at this point given their long experience in dismounted combat while operating as a Recce Squadron.

 In one last organizational abnormality, in November 1943 the 4PLDG organized “D” Squadron as a horse-mounted squadron of the regiment commanded by Major Campbell. While this unit was unauthorized, it nonetheless gave excellent service in the mountainous Italian terrain until disbanded when the 4PLDG converted to infantry. “D” Squadron could be represented by a horse mounted Command Rifle and 2ic Rifle teams with 2 horse mounted recce platoons of a Command Rifle/MG team and 2 Recce Sections, each of 2 horse-mounted Rifle/MG teams. I’ve no idea of the points applicable to such horse-mounted units but the Weapons and Support platoons for this squadron would remain as normal.

Airfield --- Under the Sea

His Imperial Japanese Majesty's Sensuikan Toku (special submarines). Designed specifically to attack the Panama Canal.

 

Japan's Submersible I-400 Aircraft Carriers

 

In many ways HIJMS I-400 was decades ahead of her time. She was the world’s largest submarine with a length of 400-ft and a surface displacement of 3,530 tons. Above her main deck rose a 115-ft. long, 12-ft diameter, hangar housing three torpedo-bombers. These float planes were rolled out through a massive hydraulic door onto an 85-ft pneumatic catapult, where they were rigged for flight, fueled, armed, launched, and after landing alongside, lifted back aboard with a powerful hydraulic crane. The I-400 was equipped with a snorkel, radar, radar detectors, and capacious fuel tanks that gave her a range of 37,500 miles: one-and-a-half times around the world. She was armed with eight torpedo tubes, a 5.5-in 50-cal deck gun, a bridge 25mm antiaircraft gun, and three triple 25 mm A/A mounts atop her hangar.

 

The advent of guided missiles and atomic bombs transformed her from dinosaur to an overspecialized undersea menacing strategic threat. The I-400 was originally designed so that it could travel round-trip to anywhere in the world, and it was specificaly intended to destroy the U.S. controlled Panama Canal. A fleet of 18 boats was planned in 1942 and work on the first one was started in 1943 at the Kure, Hiroshima arsenal. Within a year the plan was scaled back to five boats and four (I-400, I-401, I-13 and I-14) were actually completed.

 

The I-400's had aircraft storage and catapult for three M6A1 Seiran (Storm from a Clear Sky) torpedo bombers. These specially designed float planes had a length of 35-ft, a wingspread of 40-ft, a range of 654 miles, and a munitions payload of 1800-lb. Additional fuel and bombs could be carried by jettisoning the floats on one-way missions where the pilots and planes were to be expended.. The sleek Seiran bombers, built by Aichi Kokuki at Nagoya, were stowed in the hangar compartment with floats detached and wings and tails folded. Actually with the stabilizers folded down, and the top of the vertical stabilizer folded over the overall profile of the aircraft was within the diameter of its propellor.

 

A trained team could rig a floatplane for launch with fuel and armament in as short a time as seven minutes. That same trained team could prepare all three planes, and have them in the air in under 45 minutes time. The planes were launched from a 120 foot catapult on the deck of the giant submarine.

 

 

 

 

Accommodations for a crew of 145 were designed into the capacious twin hulls, but on most occasions was much higher....somewhere in the 200+ range. The reason for the high number was to facilitate speedy submarine and aviation operations at sea. Even though the sub could surface, the trained crew could in fact could break out, assemble, fuel, arm, and catapult all three aircraft, more men was an “assurance” of that. Also the I-400's had great cruising range which enabled them to launch her three bombers within striking distance of targets as far from Japan as San Francisco, the Panama Canal, Washington, or New York. All of these missions were considered by the Tokyo Naval Strategists.

 

Below the hangar in the starboard twin hull was a special compartment equipped to conduct aircraft engine overhaul and test. An adjacent magazine stored four aircraft torpedoes, 15 bombs, and gun ammunition; more shells were stored topside in pressure-proof, ready-use lockers handy to the guns. Each of the two engine rooms housed a pair of 1900-hp diesels linked through Vulcan hydraulic couplings to drive the twin propeller shafts. A 1200-hp electric motor-generator on each shaft drew electricity from her storage batteries to drive her submerged. With a clean bottom this propulsion plant gave her a top speed of 18.7 knots on the surface and 6.5 knots below snorkel depth.

 

Meals for her oversize crew were prepared in a galley in the starboard hull, where large steam kettles turned out great quantities of rice. As in all long range submarines, a four month supply of food was stowed in every cranny, including a layer of crates laid out on deck which the crew walked on until they’d eaten their way through. Supernumeraries slept on the deck wherever they could find a nook, being used to a floor and tatami mat.

 

 

 

OPERATIONAL HISTORY

Several surviving Japanese submariners have described the hopes that accompanied the completion of the top secret boats in late 1944. As they became available the four giant submarines were assigned to a newly created SubRon One, a ten-bomber strike force.

 

For their first mission V. Adm. Jisaburo Ozawa, Vice Chief of the Navy General Staff, selected Operation PX, a top secret plan to use SubRon One’s ten aircraft to unleash bacteriological warfare on populous areas of the American west coast and Pacific Islands. Infected rats and insects would be dispersed to spread bubonic plague, cholera, dengue fever, typhus and other plagues. General Ishii’s infamous medical laboratory at Harbin, Manchuria, had developed the virulent germ warfare agents and confirmed their lethality by infecting helpless Chinese and Caucasian prisoners.

 

On 26 March 1945, this sinister mission was cancelled by Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff, who declared that, “Germ warfare against the United States would escalate to war against all humanity.” As an alternative the staff considered bombing San Francisco, Panama, Washington or New York, and decided to launch a surprise air strike against the Panama Canal’s Gatun Locks. Destroying these locks would empty Gatun Lake and block the passage of shipping for months.

 

For the 17,000 mile round trip to Panama each submarine needed 1600-tons of diesel fuel, which was unavailable at Jure. I-401 was therefore despatched to Dairen, Manchuria, to bring back the needed oil. On 12 April she grazed a B-29 laid mine off Hime Shima Lighthouse in the Inland Sea and had to return for repairs. In her place I-400 successfully carried out the undersea tanker mission.

 

 

 

By early June all four boats were fueled, armed, equipped with new snorkels, and disguised with false funnels. They sailed north through Tsushima Strait and the Sea of Japan to Nanao Bay on the west coast of Honshu near Takaoka. Training there was hampered by B-29 laid mines, American submarines penetrating their training areas, and shortages of aviation gasoline, material and aircraft, but SubRon One managed to launch a number of simulated air strikes on a full scale model of the Gatum Locks erected at Tayama Bay.

 

 

 

 

While the submersible carriers were perfecting their tactics to cripple the Panama Canal, the position of the Japanese Navy was steadily deteriorating. Before the submarines could set sail for Panama, more than 3,000 Allied warships and transports had reached the Pacific for Operation Olympic, the forthcoming invasion of Japan. This growing threat forced Tokyo strategists to reconsider the attack on distant Panama, which now appeared a questionable diversion. The  I subs were ordered to abandon their carefully rehearsed canal strike and instead attack American Naval forces at Ulithi Atoll.

 

In response to the new orders I-13 proceeded on 4 July, to the Ominato Naval Base on the northern tip of Honshu. There she loaded two crated Nakajima C6N2 Ayagumo (Colored Cloud) long range reconnaissance aircraft, then sailed into the Pacific through Tsugaru Strait bound for Japan’s island stronghold of Truk. After repairing a hot propeller bearing, I-14 followed on 14 July. On the 23rd, I-400 and I-401 departed Ominato on separate tracks far to the east for a rendezvous at sea southeast of Ulithi in three weeks.

 

Suddenly, on 15 August, Emperor Hirohito broadcast direct from the Imperial Palace his dramatic decree ending hostilities. The I-boats crews were thunderstruck; their combat careers ended just as they reached the attack rendezvous. After a council of war meet, the shattered ComSubRon One reluctantly carried out Tokyo’s orders to cease hostilities, hoist a black flag, and return on the surface to home port. The captains of the I-boats were ordered to jettison all documents and munitions, fire all torpedoes, and catapult all aircraft into the sea.

 

When I-401 surrendered to an American destroyer, the U.S. crew was astounded at its size. The commander of the submarine fleet, Captain Ariizumi, apparently decided on suicide rather than surrender to the Americans. He requested that his body be wrapped in the Japanese flag and buried at sea and shot himself. His body was never presented as proof of his death.

 

The U.S. Navy boarded and recovered 24 submarines including the four I-400 subs, taking them to Sasebo Bay to study them. While there, they received a message that the Soviets were sending an inspection team to examine the submarines. To keep the technology out of the hands of the Soviets, Operation Road’s End was instituted. Most of the submarines were taken to a position designated as Point Deep Six, about 40 miles west from Nagasaki and off the island of Goto-Retto, were packed with charges of C-2 explosive and destroyed. They are today at a depth of 200 meters.

 

Four remaining submarines (I-400, I-401, I-201 and I-203 which achieved speeds double those of American submarines), were sailed to Hawaii by U.S. Navy technicians for further inspection. Upon completion of the inspections, the submarines were scuttled in the waters off Kalaeloa near Oahu in Hawaii by torpedoes from American submarine USS Cabezon on May 31, 1946. The reason for the scuttling is apparently that Russian scientists were again demanding access to the submarines. The wreckage of I-401 was re-discovered by the Pisces deep-sea submarines of the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory in March 2005 at a depth of 820 meters.

 

From Gunny Phil Gibbons, the Creighton Abrams warrior rules

Lt Col. Creighton Abrams

Warrior Rules for Flames of War (FOW) V2

   

LTC Creighton Abrams - 1944

 

LTC Creighton Abrams Characteristics

  • Abrams is a warrior with a higher command team rating as Fearless Trained
  • Abrams is mounted on his M4 (76) Sherman Tank “Thunderbolt”
  • Normal tank movement applies: 12” road, 12” CC, 8” Rough
  • Abrams can join any US Tank Company for 50 pts.

 LTC Creighton Abrams Special Rules

  • Uncanny Eye: Abrams had the uncanny knack of spotting trouble early. Any platoon within 6 inches of LTC Abrams' tank may use the recon disengage rule when engaged by enemy forces.
  • Battalion Top Gun: Abrams' gunner, Sgt John Gatusky, was considered the battalion's "Top Gun" with an unerring eye for hitting even the most difficult targets. He was considered an expert at using the new gyro-stabilizer, considered by some as inefficient and too hard to use.

       - When engaging enemy with the 76mm main gun, any misses are re-rolled.

       - If using the gyro-stabilizer while on the move, the normal +1 penalty to hit is not used.

  • Follow me: Abrams and his fearless tank crew seem to live charmed lives. Add 1 to all die rolls for armor saves.
  • Hero KIA: If Abrams' tank is "killed", LTC Abrams may survive using the Warrior Tank team casualties rule (p. 78) and subtracting 1 from the die roll. Only LTC Abrams may mount a new tank. His crew is considered to be KIA with the vehicle.

 

 

 

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