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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1942-07-09, Page 6TIE SJ AI'QRTH NEWS HURSDAY, JULY 9,.1942 said it when the navigator tapped me on the shoulder and said, `There's the.vexy thing you want on the port beam.'" "As we crossed the French coast Wd'saw lights, Ancl somebody was flashing a 'V' ". Unemotionally the `facts are built up as 'the loather jackets of the air crews crowd in and oat of the office; and the only visitor who never varies IS the cleaner; who arrives at eight o'cjodllc every morning and says, "Nice to see yon have got a few more pins up on that board, sir." a • Soldier's send their sturdy, carrier flying over the brow of a knoll during manoeuvres at Camp Borden., With expert service crews to keep them rolling, machines are not spared in training men for the toughest brand of modern warfare. ELECTRIC SPUD -PEELERS TAKE THE STING OUT OF K. P. DUTY Full time potato peeling lobs are a thing of the past for Private Jack Canuck. Today's army kitchen is equip- ped with a bright, shiny electric potato peeler that can slice the skin off a spud in the time it took a kitchen fatigue man to count three. Using electric potato peelers saves valuable man hours. Counter Check Books • We Are Selling Quality Books Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and. Copies Readily. All styles, Carbon Leaf and Black Back: Prices as Low as You Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Next Order. • The Seatorth News SEAFORTH, ONTARIO. PAGE SIX Canada's Biggest Military Garage By Lieut, B. M. Pearce On the outskirts of the city of London, Ontario, stands 's vital link in Canada's wars industry, an impor- tant part of the great machine which is rapidly motorizing and meehaniz- ing Canada's army. It is Canada's biggest army garage. Bearing the rather cumbersome and unexciting name of . Central Me- chanization Depot, it is actually one of the most interesting phases of the entire Ordnance set-up. To this De- pot come all the Universal carriers, artillery tractors, lorries andmotor- cycles fresh from Canadian war plants for distribution to Camp Bor- den, Petawawa, Debert and a score of other training centres. It also functions as a garage for the repair of damaged army vehicles sent here from centres across Canada, Commanding Officer of the C.M.D. is Colonel Frank Chappell, "V.D., for- mer General Motors official and a veteran of the Great War. He start- ed the Depot in July, 1940, in the outbuildings of London's fairgrounds with a staff of two officers and five civilians. Today the Depot is housed in one of the most modern and spa- cious buildings hi Canada's indust- rial war machine, It now employs several hundred manually and cleric. ally skilled tradesmen. They comp- rise motor mechanics, welders, sheet metal workers, blacksmiths and woodworkers, as well as accountants, technical storemen and spare part clerks. Originally conceived as an assem- bly plant for army vehicles, the De- pot's functions have changed. In the past year Canadian motor car plants have perfected their essembly lines with the result that army machines are now rolling out of the factories, complete in every respect. We know that the companies have already de- livered upwards of 200,000 army ve- hicles of all kinds, that they are turn- ing, out an army automotive unit ev- ery thre minutes and that Canadian - made tracked and wheeled vehicles have been used in nearly every en- gagement in which the Empire's sol- dier's have participated, Where then does the C.M.D. fit into this picture. Simply that every such vehicle for use in Canada goes through this Depot for inspection and servicing. They arrive here from Ford, Chrysler and General Motors plants by rail and by highway con- voy. Later they are speeded on their way to Gorden, Petawawa and other army centres. In the Depot a staff of skilled mechanics gives them a com- plete checkup, sees that every part, bolt and nut is correct and services them when necessary. The Depot is in essence the distributing point for al] mechanized vehicles used by the Canadian Army throughout the Do- minion. In addition is housed an en- ormous store -room of spare parts for each and every one of the 100 different types of army vehicles pro- duced by Canadian factories. A staff of trained men is constantly on the jump to fill the demand for spare parts, from a score of Canadian army training centres. Another important phase of the work at C.M.D. is the repairing and replacing of parts in worn and dam- aged vehicles. Into the Depot comes an unending procession of motor- cycles, carriers and lorries that have seen better days. Once they were new and lustrous, 100 percent per- fect. An accident, a fire, or the con- stant gruelling strain to which they, are subjected by Canada's brawny, intrepid young soldiershas taken its toll. The boys are doing tricks with motorbikes, jeeps and carriers that would make your hair curl. Night manoeuvres take their toll, too. It may be just a damaged fender or a missing motor. It may be a valve -1 grinding job or the replacing of a shattered frame. Some trucks have suffered severe damage in crashes and practically require rebuilding. i C.M.D. has many ingenious devices' for straightening fenders, taking bumps out of bodies, washing and cleaning parts and applying new paint jobs. It also has evolved many new and clever types of salvaging.1 Not a single screw or nut is wasted, regardless of its condition. Every da waged part is carefully . removed from the vehicle and meticulously stored away for future reference! and possible rebuilding. Thus while a vehicle may be beyond reclamation some parts may be saved for vale - able use elsewhere, Pile upon le of used parts may be seen carefully se- -gragated Ott the Floor of the work- 1 shop. Colonel- Chappell is very proud of the skille'cl artisans who form the • Depot's staff. Many of them were' former garage mechanics in civilian life. "They required very little me- chanical instruction," he declares, "and they quickly become experts in disassembling and rebuilding all types of • army vehicles," The Depot find is a U-boat,' and I had hardly also has quite a close association with the Mechanics' Training Centre at Queen's Park, London, where thousands of young Canadian lera receive their sehooling in motor meehanics. Before graduating they are taken for advanced instruction to the C,M.D. The two centres„ both under Colonel Chappell's guidance, are doing great things for Canada's meelanizecl army. "Somebody Was Flashing A `V' " By en Intelligence Officer'' of the RAF. Several thousand intelligence Of- ficers in RAP stations throughout the world testify against the idea— which still persists—that modern in- telligence is primarily a sword and cloak affair, Possibly some branches of it are, but primarily it is a vital item of operational equipment. Before leaving their bases, for ex- ample air crews want to know where they are going, what they will meet, whether there will be any opposition, or what will be there to help them; how and where they can get back. The Gen Shop must supply these facts. Pukka Gen They call it GEN in the RAF. No- body is particularly proud of this little abbreviation, but everybody knows it. Everybody knows also that Duff Gen is the wrong information —rumor, misleading tales. Pukka Gen is good information, solid fact, intelligence upon which lives can safely depend and operations be bas- ed. Good intelligence, in which I am a humble tradesman, is at every- body's beck and call throughout the twenty-four hours. The Intelligence Officer must set up his shop as close as possible to operation -room staffs and to the air crews. As graphically as possible he must set forth the pro- per kind of GEN. Window dressing, so to speak, with wall maps is one of his essentials. An ever-increasing rosette of red pins stuck into the middle of the At- lantic may represent attacks on U- boats during the battle of the Atlan- tic. Yellow pins on bomber maps may represent the lay -out of German. airdromes in Occupied Europe. Blobs on the green outlines of Britain may tell fighters where the balloons are. The Gen Shop has to be up-to-the- minute in its information. On card indices and in files there are target maps and maps of enemy territory which would make German hair stand on end if Nazi eyes could see how much of their defense organiza- tion is carefully plotted. Lives in the air depend on great masses of information having been correctly absorbed by all members of every air crew. There is generally room for a few more or less comfort- able chairs somewhere in the office for them to drop in and read "what's new." Casual Questions Quite apart from the official brief- ing and interrogation which take's place as a matter of course, casual questions such as these may be popp- ed at any moment: What is the difference between sea -going and ocean-going U-boats? Are we likely to see any Me. 110's in this district? Is the Porpoise lightship still in the same position? What is the flak like over Hoch- weiler? The target for today, or the tar- get for tonight, requires special briefing, possibly with the aid of an epidiascope (as the modern magic lantern is called) in a lecture room. This may take hours of preparation and all the maps, charts and files of the Intelligence Office come into their own. But whatever prepara- tions are on hand the shop must nev- er close for a minute, nor may the goods ever be sold out. Incoming intelligence is equally important. The moment the, air crews return either from the twilight of Europe or from the grey loneliness of the Battle of the Atlantic, one of their first calls must be at the Gen Shop. A great deal of tact, accompanied by cups of tea and cigarettes, is re- quired to deal with this type of cus- tomer. He may be tired, exultant, shot -up, shaken up, optimistic, pleas- ed with life, or just "browned -off," Exact detail must be obtained from him. The facts are recorded on forms which look like income tax blanks— and which permit no opportunity for Dose statements or exaggeration. It s the sum of detail here and detail there which produces new and valu- able intelilgenee. Exact Accounts A welter of observations and per•• sonal comment has to be reduced to an exact operational account. Quite casual' phrases tell a terrific story: "r said to Bob, 'For God's sake