Leonard Rundvall born in Prince Albert Sask. Oct 3 1920; he lived on a farm at Mildred Sask.; his dad, Theodore sold the farm for $5.00 in October 1936 and moved his family to trail B.C. Leonard joined the Canadian Army, Royal Rifles Regiment in 1942 and took his training at Vernon B.C.. and at Nanaimo BC.

Old Leather Photo Album

Remember first seeing this in the bottom drawer of the blanket chest in Carragana. I keep it on the top shelf of my closet now. Many of the pictures that you see in this blog come from this album. The reason I did this blog is to put down in writing for our and my siblings grandkids for the future, they're too young for it now, but sometime!

Training 1942 at Vernon B.C.

Ed Picard, Len Rundvall & Keith McKie; The Three Musketeers together from the first day in the Army.

Notice the Tar paper huts.

Len

BSA Bike / Carriers

On Board the Troop Transport From Canada to England

Relaxing

Battle Gear

Cap Badge

Black Watch Tartan

Order of Command

21st Army Group

2nd Canadian Infantry Division

5th Infrantry Brigade

(Formation sign used to identify vehicles of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division)

Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada

Oldest Canadian Regiment

Sister Regiment- Calgary Highland Regiment

B (Beer or Baker) Company

Number 3 Mortar Platoon

Rah! Rah!

Canadian War Cemetry in Holland

Embarkation & Disembarkation

A copy of the orders:

1 St BN THE BLACK WATCH RHE OF CANADA
Past 11 Orders issued by
Last Order Canadian Section QHR 2nd Echelon NO 38
NO 37 21 ARMY GROUP 15 July 44
14 Jul 44

1) Embarkation & Disembarkation
b) Embarked in the United Kingdom wef 4 JUL 44 disembarked I n France
wef 7 JUL 44

K46848 Pte RUNDVALL L P

(Along with hundreds of other soldiers.)

( O R IRWIN) Lt.
For officer IC
Canadian Section GHQ 2nd Echelon
21 ARMY GROUP

The men of 2nd Division arrived in France in broad daylight after an uneventful crossing of the English Channel. The Black Watch War Diarist noted that the weather was warm and clear. “We passed,” he wrote, “alongside the battleship HMS Rodney which was shelling the enemy.

After disembarking and shedding their “Mae Wests” the battalion marched from Courseulles to Vers-sur-Mer where Major Motzfeld and the advance party had laid out the battalion position.

On the afternoon of July 11, II Canadian Corps became operational. The commanding officers must have felt they were fully trained for there was little attempt to provide the men with realistic information on the nature of fighting.
On July 18th 5 Brigade moved to an assembly area on the western outskirts of Caen. It was time to go to war.

2nd Canadian Infantry Division Patch

to differentiate where they belong

The Brigade-Terry Copp 1

The Battle Honours of the Black Watch Regiment

BOURGEBUS RIDGE

Bourguebus Ridge (France) 18-23 Jul 44
Faubourg de Vaucelles (France) 18-19 Jul 44
Verrieres Ridge -Tilly-La-Campagne 25 Jul 44

FALAISE

Clair Tizon (France) 11-13 Aug 44
Forte de la Londe (France) 27-29 Aug 44
Falaise (France) 7-22 Aug 44
Dunkirk, 1944 (France) 8 - 15 Sep 44
Antwerp-Turnhout Canal (Belgium) 24 - 29 Sep 44

THE SCHELDT

South Beveland (Belgium) 24 - 31 Oct 44
The Hochwald (Netherlands) 26 Feb - 4 Mar 45
The Scheldt (Netherlands) 1 Oct - 8 Nov 44
Woensdrecht (Netherlands) 1 Oct - 8 Nov 44
Walcheren Causeway (Netherlands) 31 Oct - 4 Nov 44

THE RHINELAND

The Rhineland (Germany) 8 Feb - 10 Mar 45
Xanten (Germany) 8 - 9 Mar 45

THE RHINE

The Rhine (Germany) 23 Mar - 1 Apr 45
Groningen (Netherlands) 13-16 Apr 45
Oldenburg (Germany) 27 Apr - 5 May 45

NORTH-WEST EUROPE

North-West Europe 6 Jun 44 - 5 May 45

The Price of Freedom in Caen

Universal Carrier

L P Rundvall was the Driver/Mechanic/Mortar man of the Universal Carrier

The vehicle is widely known as a "Bren Gun Carrier". The Universal Carrier (of which there were several types) was lightly armoured, which made it proof against small arms fire, though the armour was not proof against close-range MG fire. The open roof was also not proof against mortar or shellfire.
The carrier had an 85 horsepower engine that could drive the vehicle 30 miles per hour. The carrier was small, being just over 5 feet tall, almost 7 feet wide, and between 12 and 13 feet long. The Carrier was very maneuverable.

The Mortar Platoon

Canada. Dept. of National Defense collection Library and Archives Canada

Michael M. Dean, Photographer
Black Watch ‘B’ Company Mortar crew firing at target
L. to R. Privates Al Keep, Bill Dart and Len Rundvall.
Groesbeek Netherlands. Feb 3 1945

Each infantry battalion in the Canadian Army in World War Two had its own artillery to draw on; by 1944 six 3-inch mortars made up the Number Three Platoon of the battalion. The mortar had certain advantages over conventional artillery; it was small and easily transported (usually by Carrier but it could be man packed in an emergency), it did not give off a visible muzzle flash when it fired, and as it belonged directly to the battalion it was always on call.
Communications gear might include a Telephone Set D Mk. V and/or a No. 18 wireless set, as well as two No. 38 wireless sets (small, man-portable radios).

The weapon was fired indirectly, and as such, was only good against infantry or other "soft" targets. It was also an effective weapon for laying smoke or firing illumination rounds at night. Mortar bombs exploding in woods could also be a nightmare for enemy infantry, as the trees themselves would be converted into deadly fragments which would rain straight down into enemy entrenchments.
The mortar was a rather "stealthy" weapon in that it could be dug in underground, making it invisible to enemy troops. Also, the mortar bomb made no noise while in flight, giving no warning to enemy troops, as was sometimes the case with artillery shells.

The standard 3-inch mortar bomb (measuring 76mm by the metric scale) would not penetrate heavy enemy fortifications, nor was the mortar platoon a real substitute for having gun and howitzer support both on the attack and the defense. The Canadian infantry battalion also equipped each rifle platoon with a 2-in (51 mm) mortar which was effective against infantry and for laying smoke. Each infantry division also had 4.2 inch mortars included in the arsenal of the divisional machine gun battalion.

The following pictures of Leonard’s Company B were taken by Lieut. Michael M. Dean,late winter 1945 in Holland.

Personnel of "B" Company, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, in their dugout, Germany, 3 February 1945.

Infantrymen of the Black Watch digging trenches, Holten, Netherlands 7 April 1945.
















Personnel of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada in slit trenches.

Privates Oscar Meadows and Lloyd Holmes of "B" Company, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, outside their dugout, Groesbeek, Netherlands, 3 February 1945.

Infantrymen of "B" Company, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, firing a three-inch mortar, Groesbeek, Netherlands, 3 February 1945

Taking a Break

Canadian War Production

This unique logo was a widely-produced decal printed during WW2 to identify Canadian-made war production. It was on weapons, vehicles, ammunition boxes and all manner of hard kit. It is printed in English, Russian and Chinese, to represent three of the main recipients of our equipment. No self-respecting Long Branch Browning Hi-Power or Bren is complete without one!
Canadian peace-time industries adapted amazingly well to war production once retooling was completed.