MOBILE COMMAND TODAY
On 27 September 1968, Lieutenant General W.A.B. Anderson, OBE, CD, commander Mobile Command and Senior Serving Gunner, addressed the annual meeting of the RCA Association being held in Shilo. During his talk General Anderson reviewed the current situation in Mobile Command. Extracts from the address follow.
I should like to review the structure of Mobile Command as it is now emerging. It was four years ago that the White Paper on Defence said that we were going to reorient the land forces from the structure in which they had been cast for the best part of fifty years; i.e., oriented towards an expeditionary force for Europe. This was expressed in terms of greater mobility, with emphasis on air transportability in order to give us more flexibility to deploy quickly anywhere in the world. The White Paper said as well that the land force would be transformed into an integrated land air force by the addition of a tactical air force. You will remember that the RCAF ended the war with widespread experience of tactical aviation. This had withered during the past twenty years to a single squadron of tactical aviation because of the priority which had been given to air defence and the air division in Europe. Let me review the situation in Mobile Command today. The Brigade Group in Europe is finally a fully mechanized Brigade Group. There are now tracked vehicles for every arm and the supporting services so that the whole force is “cross-country mobile”. The M109s for the artillery make this an up-to-date effective military force. The greatest problem lies in a replacement for the Centurion as the main battle tank. This is not an acute problem for the next several years but is obviously an important military factor in the policy review which is now taking place.
The second largest contingent of Mobile Command is the force in Cyprus. On the initiative of the UN, this is being reduced from a large battalion group to a small battalion group; a reduction of about 25%. For the second time we have had a gunner battery doing six months duty in an infantry role in order to get experience of peace-keeping operations. Mobile Command also has responsibility for the other overseas peace-keeping forces in Indo-China, Viet Nam, Laos, Kashmir and Palestine.
At home, we have reorganized the three infantry brigade groups into four combat groups. These are not fighting formations as such. They are simply groupings of units on our bases for purposes of training and operational readiness. The concept is that Mobile Command might have to field a task force which was strong in sappers if there were community services to be rehabilitated, or strong in land or air reconnaissance or, alternately, a balanced brigade group. We will build up the order of battle from the battle units within the combat groups. The four combat groups are located in Gagetown, Valcartier, Petawawa and in the West, this latter being centered in Calgary with outlying units in Winnipeg, Chilliwack and Esquimalt. The combat group in Gagetown is mechanized; that is to say, the armoured regiment there is equipped with Centurions and the artillery regiment with M109s which are not airportable. The other three combat groups will consist of light air-transportable vehicles. Their gunner regiments will be equipped with the L5 pack hows. All of these major units of the combat arms in Canada are less one squadron, battery or company; hence they are not able to take to the field as such. Thus to field a 24 gun regiment, we should have to reinforce with a battery from another regiment. This reflects the limitations which have been imposed on our manpower.
Our new tactical air group has recently come into being, 10 Tactical Air Group with Headquarters in St Hubert, has taken command of all Mobile Command aviation except for the artillery air OPs and certain other light aircraft.
The Tactical Air Group will include the CF-5 fighter bombers which are being built by Canadair. These are just starting to come off the production line, and delivery will continue into the first few months of 1970. There will be two operational squadrons – one in Bagotville and the other either in Edmonton or Cold Lake. There will also be an operational training squadron to train pilots for the CF-5. Also in the group is the de Haviland Buffalo, a short take off and landing fixed wing aircraft with very impressive performance for field logistics. It carries a good pay load, and can take off and land without elaborately prepared fields. The third member of our family is the Voyageur, a medium supply helicopter which has been in service now for some time. The Voyageur, along with the Buffalo, will really transform our whole field logistical system; it is a transformation. Logistics in the field have been confined to wheeled and tracked vehicles. The system is now redesigned to use four equipments: wheels, tracks, rotary wing and fixed wing. The fourth type in the Tactical Air group is the Bell utility tactical helicopter which we have called the Iroquois – so well known as the Huey in Viet Nam. “Tactical” describes this helicopter in that it forms an integral part of the ground-air reconnaissance team of the light armoured regiments, introduces vertical tactics for the infantry and evacuates casualties from the forward areas. The other type of helicopter, not forming part of the Air Group, is the light observation helicopter to replace the L19 for artillery spotting, and to provide command and control for the armoured and infantry commanding officers. There will be two of these in every infantry and armoured regiment so that the CO is not road-bound as he used to be.
Finally, in the structure of Mobile Command, there is the new Airborne Regiment. This is an all arms force, excluding armoured reconnaissance but including an airborne battery with pack howitzers. It is just forming but already a most robust training programme is going on. Based in Edmonton there is a detached sub-unit in Valcartier which will be moving to Edmonton as soon as suitable French-speaking schooling for dependents can be arranged there. All members of the regiment are parachutists.
This then is the rundown of Mobile Command’s new structure: forces in Germany, Cyprus and elsewhere overseas; four combat groups and a tactical air group at home, together with an airborne regiment. The intention of the White Paper of 1964 is finally taking shape and things are really looking up for the RCA, where one sees the mechanized branch completely reorganized with its SPs, the light branch receiving its first 30 howitzers by Christmas, the airborne battery giving a new dimension to the Regiment and the drone troop adding a new sophisticated flavour.
The Canadian Gunner, Volume 4, December 1968
I should like to review the structure of Mobile Command as it is now emerging. It was four years ago that the White Paper on Defence said that we were going to reorient the land forces from the structure in which they had been cast for the best part of fifty years; i.e., oriented towards an expeditionary force for Europe. This was expressed in terms of greater mobility, with emphasis on air transportability in order to give us more flexibility to deploy quickly anywhere in the world. The White Paper said as well that the land force would be transformed into an integrated land air force by the addition of a tactical air force. You will remember that the RCAF ended the war with widespread experience of tactical aviation. This had withered during the past twenty years to a single squadron of tactical aviation because of the priority which had been given to air defence and the air division in Europe. Let me review the situation in Mobile Command today. The Brigade Group in Europe is finally a fully mechanized Brigade Group. There are now tracked vehicles for every arm and the supporting services so that the whole force is “cross-country mobile”. The M109s for the artillery make this an up-to-date effective military force. The greatest problem lies in a replacement for the Centurion as the main battle tank. This is not an acute problem for the next several years but is obviously an important military factor in the policy review which is now taking place.
The second largest contingent of Mobile Command is the force in Cyprus. On the initiative of the UN, this is being reduced from a large battalion group to a small battalion group; a reduction of about 25%. For the second time we have had a gunner battery doing six months duty in an infantry role in order to get experience of peace-keeping operations. Mobile Command also has responsibility for the other overseas peace-keeping forces in Indo-China, Viet Nam, Laos, Kashmir and Palestine.
At home, we have reorganized the three infantry brigade groups into four combat groups. These are not fighting formations as such. They are simply groupings of units on our bases for purposes of training and operational readiness. The concept is that Mobile Command might have to field a task force which was strong in sappers if there were community services to be rehabilitated, or strong in land or air reconnaissance or, alternately, a balanced brigade group. We will build up the order of battle from the battle units within the combat groups. The four combat groups are located in Gagetown, Valcartier, Petawawa and in the West, this latter being centered in Calgary with outlying units in Winnipeg, Chilliwack and Esquimalt. The combat group in Gagetown is mechanized; that is to say, the armoured regiment there is equipped with Centurions and the artillery regiment with M109s which are not airportable. The other three combat groups will consist of light air-transportable vehicles. Their gunner regiments will be equipped with the L5 pack hows. All of these major units of the combat arms in Canada are less one squadron, battery or company; hence they are not able to take to the field as such. Thus to field a 24 gun regiment, we should have to reinforce with a battery from another regiment. This reflects the limitations which have been imposed on our manpower.
Our new tactical air group has recently come into being, 10 Tactical Air Group with Headquarters in St Hubert, has taken command of all Mobile Command aviation except for the artillery air OPs and certain other light aircraft.
The Tactical Air Group will include the CF-5 fighter bombers which are being built by Canadair. These are just starting to come off the production line, and delivery will continue into the first few months of 1970. There will be two operational squadrons – one in Bagotville and the other either in Edmonton or Cold Lake. There will also be an operational training squadron to train pilots for the CF-5. Also in the group is the de Haviland Buffalo, a short take off and landing fixed wing aircraft with very impressive performance for field logistics. It carries a good pay load, and can take off and land without elaborately prepared fields. The third member of our family is the Voyageur, a medium supply helicopter which has been in service now for some time. The Voyageur, along with the Buffalo, will really transform our whole field logistical system; it is a transformation. Logistics in the field have been confined to wheeled and tracked vehicles. The system is now redesigned to use four equipments: wheels, tracks, rotary wing and fixed wing. The fourth type in the Tactical Air group is the Bell utility tactical helicopter which we have called the Iroquois – so well known as the Huey in Viet Nam. “Tactical” describes this helicopter in that it forms an integral part of the ground-air reconnaissance team of the light armoured regiments, introduces vertical tactics for the infantry and evacuates casualties from the forward areas. The other type of helicopter, not forming part of the Air Group, is the light observation helicopter to replace the L19 for artillery spotting, and to provide command and control for the armoured and infantry commanding officers. There will be two of these in every infantry and armoured regiment so that the CO is not road-bound as he used to be.
Finally, in the structure of Mobile Command, there is the new Airborne Regiment. This is an all arms force, excluding armoured reconnaissance but including an airborne battery with pack howitzers. It is just forming but already a most robust training programme is going on. Based in Edmonton there is a detached sub-unit in Valcartier which will be moving to Edmonton as soon as suitable French-speaking schooling for dependents can be arranged there. All members of the regiment are parachutists.
This then is the rundown of Mobile Command’s new structure: forces in Germany, Cyprus and elsewhere overseas; four combat groups and a tactical air group at home, together with an airborne regiment. The intention of the White Paper of 1964 is finally taking shape and things are really looking up for the RCA, where one sees the mechanized branch completely reorganized with its SPs, the light branch receiving its first 30 howitzers by Christmas, the airborne battery giving a new dimension to the Regiment and the drone troop adding a new sophisticated flavour.
The Canadian Gunner, Volume 4, December 1968