Doing Our Part – WWII and the Prince Albert and North Connection

In the winter of 1944-45, while WWII was still in full heat in some parts of Europe and Asia, there was an operation of its own going on back in Saskatchewan.

The Allies, and specifically the United States, feared Russia invading the US through the Arctic then to Canada and finally through their northern border where defences were weaker.

With most of the armed forces overseas, Canada and United States would not be prepared for a full scale invasion in the north. The solution the Allies came up with was Exercise Eskimo, an operation to test existing methods of winter warfare in case an Arctic war did occur; we would be prepared for it.

The two sides involved were the United States Army Air Force and the Canadian Army Troops. The soldiers would arrive by train off the railway south on 1st Ave West.

Then they paraded North on Central, past the inspecting group off camera on the steps of Old City Hall. From there, they would head north out of Prince Albert to test sub-Arctic winter conditions on mobility and combat efficiency. Montreal Lake became the target area for dropping supplies by the B-17 Flying Fortress. Secret B-29 colour motion footage of the exercise was released in CBC mini-series “The War in Colours”.

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The operation attracted much attention for the city as well as foreign observers. The Americans and the British were especially interested in its progress. The National Film Board was asked to record the proceedings.

There was a memo passed dated November 4, 1944 that declared the Prince Albert Breweries, three cafes, and a rooming house to be out of bounds for military personnel. Also because a portion of the exercise would involve movement through the Prince Albert National Park, there was another agreement that no game was to be destroyed, bridges were to be reinforced if the vehicles crossing exceeded the load capacity, heavy tanks would bypass bridges altogether, firing live ammunition was limited to certain areas so that the shell would fall outside the park and no vehicles would be allowed on the golf course.

Battle simulations were run; two American B-17 Fortresses dropped 500-pound bombs on the lake to see if the bomb can destroy the ice and cease heavy vehicles from travelling across. As it turns out, the bomb only made a small hole in the ice and the ice continued to be strong enough for the vehicles to cross.

On February 3, 1925, Lac la Ronge was “liberated”. They assumed the enemy would continue to reinforce vigorously, necessitating a “fighting retreat” which occurred from February 10th to 20th. “Eskimo” wound up with a march-past before Brigadier G.A.H. Trudeau in Prince Albert on February 25. On that day the force came as close as it ever would to encountering a real enemy. An aircraft was dispatched to Porcupine Plains to retrieve the remains of a Japanese incendiary balloon discovered there.

Don Wang