Description
Mr. Chadderton describes crossing the Canal and being pinned down by enemy fire.
Clifford Chadderton
Clifford Chadderton, CC, O. Ont., OStJ, CLJ, CAE, DCL, LLD Mr. Chadderton was born May 9, 1919, in Fort William, Ontario, and was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His mother worked as an accountant. His father, an entrepreneur, was a veteran of the First World War who suffered complications from being gassed at Vimy Ridge. Under the tutelage of his parents Mr. Chadderton was brought up to believe in Canada and the importance of education. He became interested in social events, politics, military history and the process of debate. These interests led Mr. Chadderton to become a news editor for the Canadian Press and a reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press while attending the University of Manitoba. Mr. Chadderton even found time for another interest - playing hockey for the Winnipeg Rangers, the farm team for the New York Rangers. On October 15, 1939, Mr. Chadderton enlisted in the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, climbing the ranks quickly to become a company commander and an acting major by the end of the war. While serving in Europe he was wounded twice, once by a bullet at the Abbaye d'Ardenne in Normandy, and then by a grenade near the Leopold Canal in Belgium on October 10, 1944. There, he lost his right leg below the knee, and his military career came to an end. Mr. Chadderton never let the loss of his leg hinder him. In fact, it has made him a beacon of hope to many, and has given him the opportunity to work for the needs and benefits of Canadian amputees and veterans. He is the Chief Executive Officer of The War Amps, and Chairman of the National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada. A persistent, dedicated and devoted man, Mr. Chadderton is also known nationally and internationally as a documentary producer, creating The War Amps Never Again! series, which illustrates the realities of war. He has also written an inspirational memoir entitled, Excuse Us! Herr Schicklgruber, which is an insight into the personalities, feelings and hopes of the men who fought alongside Mr. Chadderton in the Second World War. Mr. Chadderton continues to challenge the world and enjoy life with no regrets, having made a home for himself in Ottawa, Ontario, and creating a legacy with his wife, two children, and four grandchildren.
Transcript
Then finally at about 4 in the morning, 3 or 4 in the morning I got the word, the North Shores are coming to paddle your troops across. Now the North Shores had paddles and no they left their rifles on one side and they had the paddles and they paddled these K-Pog boats, canvas boats and K-Pog boats across. The Winnipeg Rifles got in them and then the Germans had come back. The ones that had either not been burned, because they were too well dug in, or the ones that had been sort of scared away, they came back and they were firing at us. But it's called enfilade, enfilade fire, which is sideways fire. So they had placed machine guns lengthways to the canals, so they could fire down the canal and shoot the hell out of us. So we lost a lot of men crossing that canal. How many I don't know. We had sixty some going over, maybe we lost twenty. But we got across, and when we got across we ran into the Regina Rifles who had gone ahead on our left and the Canadian/Scottish were on our right and we were in the middle. So we ran into the Regina Rifles on our left and I said, "What kind of a do is this? " And they said, "It's shaky as hell and we don't know if we can hold it. The Germans are keep countering attack us". And I said, "Oh my God". And he said, and I said, "Well I'll dig in. Where should I dig in? " He said, "There's lots of slit trenches here". He said, "You might have to throw some dead Germans out of them". So I did and we dug in and occupied these slit trenches that the Germans had. And the Germans put in about three attacks, between four and first light I guess. Then the next day was quiet. We were sort of regrouping and what not, that would be the 7th. On the 8th, they sent up, we needed reinforcements. A company, an infantry company is about 120. I was down to about thirty men, so I couldn't hold the ground. And so I said so and they said okay we got some reinforcements. So that's the first time we saw any conscripts. They sent up some conscripts to us. Good guys! Wanna fight! No choice, but wanted to fight. Most of them French speaking, and I could speak a little french so we were alright there. So they came up the next day, that would be the 3rd, the 6th, 7th, 8th, that would be the 9th was we got reinforced. Then we went over the afternoon of the 9th and occupied these, more of these slit trenches, filled them up with new troops and had a fairly quiet night. They fired a bit at us, but it wasn't really bad. Then the next day, the 10th, the colonel called me and he said, you know, "Have you got Grazen on your map? " I said, "Yeah." He said, "You're being fired on from there." I said, "You're telling me, sir." I didn't call him sir, I called him sunray. "You're telling me, sunray," that was the name for the colonel. And he said, "I want you to put in an attack for this Grazen." I said, "Okay fine." So I got a hold of three or four of my best men and said, "Now we'll go down this road as far as we can and dig in, that's the first step." Then after we had dug in and we got a good look at the ground then Sgt. Magichi will be with us and Magichi will say, "Okay, bring up the rest of your men." In the meantime, I stayed in the slit trench behind, where I could organize the troops who were coming up. So Magichi went up the road and then I got a signal from him, "come ahead," so I brought up about ten or fifteen reinforcements. There was a road with polderland on each side flooded so you could only get so many men up. I got up there and as soon as we got in, they fired every damn thing at us you could think of.