Kingston's Part in the 'Battle of Bowmanville' - October, 1942

With the debacle at Dieppe two months earlier fresh in their minds, the Canadian military was involved in a battle waged here on Canadian soil in October, 1942. The alliteratively-named 'Battle of Bowmanville' took place at a prisoner-of-war camp housing high-ranking German officers east of Toronto. Upon hearing reports of Canadian prisoners taken at Dieppe being shackled by their German captors, Canadian authorities decided to replicate the incident. They asked for volunteer officers at the camp to participate in what we'd call a photo-op today, as photos and claims of shacklings of British and German prisoners were publicized.

I had never heard of this camp nor this incident. More background on the camp is available here, here and here

Of course the proud Germans would not agree, and perhaps it was right that they didn't. Regardless, guards pressed the point and it resulted in a prison riot and stand-off. Wounds from bayonets, baseball bats and even hockey sticks were reported on both sides. While reading a recently-published account of the incident in a Legion magazine article on WWI veterans returning as PoW guards in WWII, the story mentioned that the riot was in part put down by 200 Royal Military College students! Another account mentions troops from Kingston here on a commando course. Yet another mentions troops from Barriefield. Most accounts of the Battle of Bowmanville focus on the German side, not the Canadian side, of the story.

I can only imagine the forces from Kingston being hurriedly hustled west by train to Bowmanville. It would have been the most expedient way to get there - probably the only way when inter-city roads were rudimentary and road transport likely hard to come by. It would be interesting to know if the quickly-assembled force boarded a CNR train at the Outer Station (top photo) or perhaps a CPR special on the former K&P. I favour the former. It's doubtful that newspapers of the time would have contained any news due to wartime security measures. 

We may never know. But we need to learn more about this incredible incident.