Canadian Military Engineers Museum, 5 Canadian Division Support Base (5 CDSB) Gagetown, New Brunswick, Armoured Vehicles

Armoured Vehicles located with the Canadian Military Engineer Museum, Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering, 5 CDSB Gagetown

The Canadian Military Engineers Museum first opened at CFB Chilliwack on 11 May 1957. The Museum moved to its present site, within the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineers, located within the Mitchell Building at 5 CDSB Gagetown in Oromocto, New Brunswick, and officially re-opened on 1 July 1998. The Canadian Military Engineers Museum houses some of the finest engineer-specific and general military artifacts in the country illustrating the major achievements of the Canadian Military Engineers in the development of Canada in times of peace and war. With its “living museum” concept, there are tens of thousands of artifacts on display throughout the museum and within the walls of the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering, which is the home of the CME Museum.

The CME Museum holds over 9,000 photos from the history of the Canadian Engineers and over 10,000 reference books and training manuals for research purposes. There are many personal diaries and all of the Second World War War Diaries from Engineer units detailing day to day operations at that time. The research library is open to the public for research or reading for interest. The CME Museum is a member of the Organization of Military Museums of Canada, the New Brunswick Museums Association, receives funding and support from the Director of Heritage and History, and has close ties with the New Brunswick Military History Museum also located at 5 CDSB Gagetown.

The CME Museum is home to some 35,000 artefacts that represent the history of all facets of the Canadian Military Engineers. From the 18th century to the present, from bulldozers to buttons, and from the Victoria Cross won by Captain Norman Mitchell during the First World War to artworks by F.H. Varley of the Group of Seven, the collection captures the identity of the Corps and its role in the formation of Canada. The School itself is incorporated in the CME Museum’s concept of a “living museum” as a great many of its artefacts are displayed throughout the entire school and can be appreciated by all at any time of the day.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4816313)

Centurion armoured vehicle-launched bridge (AVLB), 4 Field Sqn, RCE, Ex Reforger 74, Eilheim, Germany, Oct 1974.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4748878)

Centurion AVBL, Ex Regensprung, Lahr, Germany, 9 Sep 1975.

Centurion AVBL, CFR 67-10173, Canadian Military Engineer Museum.  This vehicle is on display on Champlain Ave., East of the Base Medical Centre.

Centurion AVBL (aka Number 6 tank bridge), Canadian Military Engineering Museum, 5 Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, New Brunswick.  This AVBL carried a single piece bridge mounted on the Centurion that departed from the launch method employed by the Churchill Bridgelayer and used an up and over deployment.  The bridge itself was 52 feet long, significantly longer than its predecessors and 4 feet 8 inches wide, able to accommodate a load class of 80.  The bridge was dimensioned from extensive trials and was the largest single piece that offered a reasonable compromise on mobility.  Although the folded or scissor bridge offered a lower visible footprint, it takes longer to deploy and recover.  Although the single piece Number 6 tank bridge presented a conspicuous target when it was being deployed, it took less than two minutes to put in place.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 5184004)

Beaver Armoured Vehicle Bridge Layer (AVBL), Fall Ex 87, NATO Exercise in Germany.

Beaver Armoured Vehicle Bridge Layer (AVBL), Canadian Military Engineering Museum. This AVBL is locted in front of the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering,  5 CDSB Gagetown, New Brunswick

AVLB Beaver

The Beaver armoured vehicle launched bridge (AVLB), is an armoured, fully tracked vehicle built on the chassis of a Leopard Tank.  It is a highly mobile, rapidly deployable assault bridge that can be used to span natural and man-made obstacles on the battlefield.  The vehicle’s 22 meter-long bridge can support vehicles as heavy as 60 tonnes over streams and anti-tank ditches.  The Beaver is powered by a V-10, twin super charged, 830 HP, multi-fueled engine.  It is equipped with an NBCD system that provides protection against nuclear, biological, and chemical agents.  It is also equipped with eight smoke/HE grenade dischargers.

Specifications: Length: 11.82 m (with bridge).  Width: 4.0 m (with bridge).  Height: 3.57 m (with bridge).  Weight: 45, 450 kg (with bridge).  Bridge Length: 22.0 m.  Bridge Width: 4.0 m.  Width of Bridge Lane: 1.55 m.  Class of Bridge: 60 tonne.  Crew: 2-3.  Engine: Multi-fuel engine, 10 cylinders, 830 hp.  Max Speed: 62 km/h.  Number that were in service: 9.

(3 Canadian Division Photo)

Badger Armoured Engineer Vehicle (AEV), 3 Canadian Division, Wainwright, Alberta.

The Badger Armoured Engineering Vehicle is designed to provide engineer support to mechanized combat forces. It is capable of performing a wide range of tasks under battlefield conditions including dozing, ripping, excavating, craning, grappling, welding, cutting, winching, and towing”.

The Badger AEV is capable of dozing 270 cubic meters per hour with a maximum dozing speed of 8 km/h. The dozer blade is equipped with two ripper teeth that are used when backing up. The vehicle is also capable of excavating up to 140 cubic meters per hour when fitted with a 1.5 meter wide bucket. It can also be fitted with a smaller 0.8 meter-wide bucket with a capacity of 0.6 cubic meters.  The AEV is capable of operating in a crane mode with a maximum lifting capacity of 7.8 tonnes. The excavator arm can be fitted with two grappling teeth for picking up large objects. The Badger is also equipped with an electric welding and cutting unit and a CAPSTAN winch. The winch as a pulling capacity of 35 tonnes and a cable length of 90 meters.  The Badger is capable of carrying and deploying the class 60 Track Way (portable road sections) as well as fascine (a large bundle of tubes used to fill in anti-tank ditches, creating a crossing site). The class 60 Track Way is carried on the dozer blade and is deployed by the winch. The fascine is carried on the back deck and is placed using the excavator arm with the grappling teeth.  The AEV is powered by a V-10, twin super charged, 830 horsepower, multi-fuelled engine. It is equipped with an NBCD system that provides protection against nuclear, biological, and chemical agents. It is also equipped with eight smoke/HE grenade dischargers.  (TanknutDave.com)

Badger Armoured Engineer Vehicle, Canadian Military Engineers Museum, 5 CDSB Gagetown, New Brunswick.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4816325)

Centurion ARV, Ex Reforger, Germany, Oct 1974.

Centurion Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV), CFR 54-81334, New Brunswick Military History Museum vehicle park.

Centurion Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV)

Nine Centurion Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARV) were purchased for the Canadian Army  in 1954.  The tank turret was replaced by a superstructure housing a winch powered by an auxiliary engine and capable of pulling of up to 90 tons using a system of blocks.  The ARV was armed with a single .30 inch machine gun on the commander's cupola.  It was used by many different units including the RCEME and 4 Engineer Support Regiment at CFB Gagetown for the recovery of heavy armour and vehicles bogged down in the muddy terrain during training operations until the arrival of the Badger ARV.

M578 Light Recovery Vehicle

The M578 an American designed armoured recovery vehicle in service with the Canadian Army.  It provided maintenance support to mechanized infantry and artillery units and to recover disabled light armored vehicles using its crane boom.  The cab can rotate 360°, and has a 30,000 lb (13,600 kg) capacity winch was run through a crane on the cab.  Another winch, 60,000 lb (27,000 kg) capacity, was mounted on the front of the cab.  The crane operator and rigger both had vision cupolas in the cab roof.  The M578 was designed with systems to be powered even while the vehicle was shut off.  An auxiliary system drove an onboard generator as well as hydraulic pumps which, in turn, supplied drive power to the cab, the boom arm, a pair of winches, and an anchor spade - the latter fitted to the rear of the hull. It was armed with a heavy machine gun fitted on the turret roof.  They have been used at CFB Gagetown by the RCEME and by 4 Engineer Support Regiment.

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(Author Photos)

Aardvark mine clearance vehicle, Canadian Military Engineering Museum, 5 Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, New Brunswick.

(Author Photos)

Linked Belt Crane, DCI, CFR No. 56-06502, Canadian Military Engineering Museum, 5 Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, New Brunswick.

(Author Photos)

Caterpillar D7 Bulldozer on a Bailey Bridge Section, Canadian Military Engineering Museum, 5 Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, New Brunswick.

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Caterpillar D7 Bulldozer in service with 4 Engineer Support Regiment, Royal Candian Engineers, 5 CDSB Gagetown, New Brunswick.

Examples of artefacts held in the CME Museum

The Victoria Cross (VC), 1914-1915 First World War Star. British War Medal, King George V, 1919. Victory Medal (Inter-Allied War Medal), 1914-1919. Defence Medal, 1945. Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Overseas clasp, 1939-1945. British War Medal 1939-1945. Member of the Royal Victorian Order (Ribbon). Queens Jubilee 1952-1977. Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, 1953. Canada Confederation Medal 1867-1967. Queens Jubilee Medal 1952-1977.

Capt Coulson Norman Mitchell, VC, MC

Coulson Norman Mitchell was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on 11 December 1889 and graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1912 with a degree in engineering. After the First World War began, he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as an engineer officer, and served with the 1^st Tunnelling Company, Canadian Engineers. He received the Military Cross for his actions in December 1916 at "The Bluff", in the Ypres Salient. In part, the citation reads,

"For conspicuous gallantry in action. He displayed great courage and skill in countermining against enemy galleries. On one occasion he was cut off from our own lines for twelve hours. He has previously done fine work."

(London Gazette, 13 February 1917)

Captain Mitchell earned the Victoria Cross on the night of 8/9 October 1918 while leading a party of sappers on a reconnaissance mission near Cambrai in France. Their task was to venture beyond the Canadian front line to examine bridges over which the Canadian 5th Infantry Brigade proposed to advance, and to prevent their demolition. After finding one bridge destroyed, Mitchell moved on to the next, which spanned the Canal de l’Escaut. Running across the bridge in total darkness, Mitchell found that it had indeed been prepared for demolition. With a non-commissioned officer he cut the detonation wires and began to remove the explosive charges. When the Germans realized what was happening, they charged toward the bridge but were held off by Mitchell’s sappers until reinforcements arrived. Saving the bridge over the Canal de l’Escaut contributed significantly to the later success of the 5th Infantry Brigade’s offensive operations.

Citation

For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on the night of 8th-9th October, 1918, at the Canal de L’Escaut, north-east of Cambrai.

He led a small party ahead of the first wave of infantry in order to examine the various bridges on the line of approach and, if possible, to prevent their demolition.

On reaching the canal he found the bridge already blown up. Under a heavy barrage he crossed to the next bridge, where he cut a number of ‘lead’ wires. Then in total darkness, and unaware of the position or strength of the enemy at the bridgehead, he dashed across the main bridge over the canal. This bridge was found to be heavily charged for demolition, and whilst Capt. Mitchell, assisted by his N.C.O., was cutting the wires, the enemy attempted to rush the bridge in order to blow the charges, whereupon he at once dashed to the assistance of his sentry, who had been wounded, killed three of the enemy, captured 12, and maintained the bridgehead until reinforced. Then under heavy fire he continued his task of cutting wires and removing charges, which he well knew might at any moment have been fired by the enemy.

It was entirely due to his valour and decisive action that this important bridge across the canal was saved from destruction.”

(London Gazette, no.31155, 31 January 1919)

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Airborne Engineer manekin prepared for a full-equipment jump.

Formation patch worn by Royal Canadian Engineers attached to the First Canadian Army during the Second World War.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3585921)

RCE clearing a minefield, Italy, 20 Dec 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524448)

Engineers of the 7th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, clearing a road of mines, Bergues, France, 16 September 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3523628)

Sappers of the Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE), 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, sweeping for mines along the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, 16 October 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3396102)

RCE sweeping for mines, Normandy, France, 22 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3207524)

RCE placing demolition charges, Caen France, 10 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3396138)

RCE sweeping for mines, Vaucelles, France, 20 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3191657)

Sapper C.W. Stevens of the 18th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, using a mirror to locate the igniters underneath a German Teller mine, France, 22 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3192330)

RCE clearing rubble to build roads in France, 4 Aug 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3224531)

Soli Dubash, father of Anneke Dubash, is manning the crane in this photo of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Bridging Troop, RCE, constructing a pontoon bridge across the Ems River at Meppen, Germany, 8 April 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225213)

An RCE armoured bulldozer behind a pair of scissors bridges mounted on Churchill tank chassis, in line waiting to move up during an attack on the Western Front, 8 Feb 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225214)

Scissors bridge line up waiting to move up during the attack on the Western Front, 8 Feb 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3405825)

Signalman J. Bennett of the 1st Canadian Railway Telegraph Company, Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE), installing wire on a pole in the railway yards, Louvain, Belgium, 6 January 1945.

1st Canadian Railway Operating Company

2nd Canadian Railway Operating Company

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3356107)

Personnel of No. 1 Railway Workshop Company, Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE), preparing to repair damaged locomotives, Vaucelles, France, 23 July 1944.

1st Canadian Railway Workshop Company

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3392827)

Personnel repairing a bomb-damaged truck of the 1st Canadian Railway Telegraph Company, Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE), Louvain, Belgium, 6 January 1945.

1st Canadian Railway Telegraph Company, RCCS

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3227245)

RCE bulldozer clearing rubble from the streets near the ruins of a church in Normandy, 16-17 August 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3226711)

Bull-dozer in action widening the cross-roads immediately after it was cleared by sappers of the Royal Canadian Engineers, 9 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3226712)

Bull-dozer in action widening the cross-roads immediately after it was cleared by sappers of the Royal Canadian Engineers, 9 July 1944.

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(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524627)

View of the double landing bay of the 'Quebec' bailey bridge installed by the Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE) over River Maas, Ravenstein, Netherlands, 1 Feb 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524628)

View of the sliding bay of the 'Yardley' bailey bridge installed by the Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE) over River Maas, Ravenstein, Netherlands, 1 Feb 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3262913)

Sappers of the 29th Field Company, 30th Field Company, and 31st Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE), prepare to cross Blackfriars Bridge over the Rhine River, Rees, Germany, 30 March 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3529255)

Personnel of the 9th Field Squadron, Royal Canadian Engineers, lifting rails to make a road for Canadian vehicles near the Hochwald, Germany, 2 March 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3529255)

Personnel of the 9th Field Squadron, Royal Canadian Engineers, staging a bridging demonstration for British journalists, Wallingford, England, 26 Jan 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524899)

Personnel of the Royal Canadian Engineers (R.C.E.), 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, pushing a storm boat into the Ems River south of Emden, Germany, 28 April 1945.

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