War and Remembrance — The Clenched Fist (Part 1 of 2)
Posted By Randy on November 19, 2017
In the waning months of 1941, and notwithstanding Hilter’s postponement of Operation Sea Lion in September of 1940, Britain was facing a continued threat of German invasion. In Europe and most every other bit of contested ground, as well as on the high seas, Allied forces were losing to the Axis on every front. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
British military intelligence of the time was called British Security Coordination (BSC), and operated under the direction of a Canadian, Sir William Stephenson, a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Stephenson enjoyed an exceptionally close relationship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and under his orders to create, “… the clenched fist that would provide the knockout blow …” to the enemy, set about the task with alacrity. An exceptionally successful component of his efforts is the subject of our gathering here today.
Special Training School 103, unofficially called Camp X, opened its heavily secured gates on 6 December 1941, the day before the attack on Pearl Harbour drew the United States into World War II in the role of an official combatant. Previously forbidden by an act of Congress from direct participation in the war, the United States was by this point an essential and vigorous host and supplier in support of the military endeavours of Britain and her Commonwealth.
The purpose of the camp was initially to act as a secure conduit through the Hydra radio system for communications between London, New York based British Security Coordination (BSC) Headquarters, Europe and South America.
“Even the Camp’s location was chosen with a great deal of thought: a remote site on the shores of Lake Ontario, yet only thirty miles straight across the lake from the United States. It was ideal for bouncing radio signals from Europe, South America, and, of course, between London and the BSC headquarters in New York. The choice of site also placed the Camp only five miles from DIL (Defense Industries Ltd.), currently the town of Ajax. At that time, DIL was the largest armaments manufacturing facility in North America.
“Other points of strategic significance in the Camp’s locale include the situation of the German Prisoner of War Camp in Bowmanville, the position of the mainline Canadian National Railway, which went through the top part of Camp-X, and that of General Motors on the eastern border of the Camp. The Oshawa Airport which was a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) / Royal Air Force (RAF) Commonwealth air training school at the time was only a short drive from Camp-X ….” ~ The History of Camp-X
Its other role, and our primary focus today, was the training of agents of the British Strategic Operations Executive (SOE), American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in unconventional warfare, and the most guttery forms of gutter fighting imaginable to the blackest of hearts. After all, it made more sense to send a small cadre of tried and tested instructors to Canada, and recruit and train North American operatives IN North America, instead of transporting them through the U-Boat gauntlet to Britain for final selection and training before transporting the rejects all the way back home.
“The SOE knew that for every 100 missions scheduled to take place, only 5% would be successful. Should this be considered a failure? Not at all; just the fact that the Allies had so many agents working simultaneously behind enemy lines meant that the Germans had to devote entire departments of high ranking, intelligent, German officers dedicating their entire war effort to tracking down every single Allied Agent which of course was an impossibility.” ~ The History of Camp-X
The Camp-X combatives syllabus still stands absent apology in the face of 21st century developments. You can’t “self defend” your way out of a fight, particularly one in which your life is at stake.
Effective action may demand
All that’s in or close to hand
Borne of fashion, trade, or whim,
Mayhap even be a part of him!
We’ll close today with a word from Robbie Cressman of Fight Like a Canadian. Until next time.
It would seem that the “uploader”; i.e., the Canadian Broadcorping Castration; has mistaken traditional Canadian affability for simply being a troublesome cunt. We’ll have the matter of the video rectified before the second installment goes live.