The War Years This overview of a world at war was submitted by Jim Currier, son of Park rider Felix Currier. It was the late years of the 1930’s. Winds of war were fanning out across much of the world, especially in Europe. Hitler and his pal Mussolini were entertaining visions of world domination. Times were hard since the worst Depression in modern history. Promises of full employment and prosperity were not hard to sell to the populations of Germany and Italy. Together they set out to build up their armies, air force and naval strengrh to a point they would be invincible against the less modern and weaker foces of their expected victim nations. Hitler developed the highly mobile tactics of his “Blitzkrieg”, and the days of trench warfare had become obsolete, though it took time and stunning defeats before the Allies came to realize this. Canada was certainly unprepared when war broke out in 1939. Poland was overrun by the Nazis in a short time. Britain and France had watched Hitler’s antics but when Neville Chamberlain got assurances of “Peace in our time” they were somewhat pacified. However, Sir Winston Churchill was convinced that the Axis leaders were not to be trusted or believed. He was right. Since before the first Great War of 1914 - 1919 the Wainwright Buffalo Park had been 65,000 acres of federally owned game preserve. When war broke out in 1939 it became apparent none of the training centres in Canada had the space for training a full brigade of troops with all the necessary equipment. The word came down from Ottawa that the Park would be chosen for this summer training centre. The area was turned over to the Defence Department early in 1940. Then began a flurry of building and construction such as Wainwright had never seen before. Whereas the Buffalo Park and the C.N.R. were the main employers previously, the army camp soon became number one. Personnel and equipment poured into the area. Machine gun fire, artillery barrages, and the rumble of tanks became daily routine. Trained personnel moved out and recruits took their place. These soldiers moved overseas to take their place alongside the veterans of Sicily, Ortona, River Moro, Cassino; men of the “red Devil” 1st Canadian Division and the 5th Division members of First Canadian Corps, Central Mediterranean Forces. They would also storm the beaches of Normany for the “D” Day invasion of “Fortress Europe” along with 2nd, 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions. Their training at Camp Wainwright stood them in good stead in the hard and fierce battles before Germany surrendered in May of 1945. In the meantime the need as a training centre had passed and a POW centre for German officer prisoners was established here at Wainwright. They were eventually returned to Germany after the war and the POW camp was phased out. Later, during the Korean War many troops came here to refine and hone their skills before moving on to service in the Asian Theatre with troops of the United Nations. During all these years the military has been very co-operative with the local civilian community in all their concerns. We trust the Super Powers will continue their efforts toward a peaceful co-existence, but just in case, Camp Wainwright will be here On Guard.