Battle of Bowmanville

The Battle of Bowmanville was a 1942 revolt in the Bowmanville prisoner of war camp, Ontario, Canada. The prisoners, most of whom were higher-ranking German officers, objected to the intended shackling of 100 prisoners. The battle lasted for three days.[1]

Battle of Bowmanville
Part of the American Theater of World War II
DateOctober 10–12, 1942
Location
Camp 30 in Bowmanville, Ontario
43°55′37″N 78°40′00″W
Result Revolt failed
Belligerents
 Canada  Germany
Units involved
Veteran's Guard of Canada
Canadian Army cadet commandos		 126 German POWs
Casualties and losses
1 Veteran's Guard injured Several wounded

Revolt

The residents of Camp 30 were mostly Germans captured by the British and sent to Canada for internment in anticipation of a potential invasion of Britain. They were guarded by the Veteran's Guard of Canada. The violence began after 126 prisoners were sent to another camp to be shackled as a reprisal for the chaining of Canadian soldiers captured at Dieppe (itself a reaction to captured plans for the shackling of German POWs[2]). After a period of hand-to-hand fighting, during which one Canadian guard had his skull fractured, 400 prisoners barricaded themselves in a hall. They remained there for over a day while the guards awaited reinforcements. A group of students at a nearby commando course in Kingston, Ontario arrived on Canadian Thanksgiving, subduing the barricaded prisoners with fire hoses and tear gas.[3]

Three shots were fired during the revolt, two of which wounded PoW Volkmar Koenig, shot by a tower guard after prisoners grabbed a Canadian officer.[4] Another prisoner was stabbed with a bayonet, but survived.[5] A number of other prisoners and guards were injured during the revolt, often in hand-to-hand combat.[6]

References
  1. "Behind barbed wire in Canadian PoW camps - CBC Archives". Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  2. Turcotte, Jean-Michel (January 2018). "Bowmanville, 1942: The 'Shackling Crisis' and the Treatment of German Prisoners of War in Canada". Online Atlas on the History of Humanitarianism and Human Rights.
  3. "Prisoners: Battle of Bowmanville". Time Magazine. 26 October 1942. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  4. "An insult to our military history". Toronto Sun. 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  5. "Prisoners: Battle of Bowmanville". Time Magazine. 26 October 1942. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  6. "Behind barbed wire in Canadian PoW camps - CBC Archives". Retrieved 2018-06-29.
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