7th Medium Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name = 7th Medium RegimentRoyal Canadian Artillery


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dates = 1 September 1939 - 8 June 1945
country = Canada
country = flag|Canada|1921
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branch = Canadian Army
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role = Artillery
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equipment = 5.5-inch artillery piece x 16
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battles = Normandy, Liberation of Holland
dsibanded = 8 June 1945
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notable_commanders = Lt-Col. G.H. Ellis; Lt-Col. W.G. Myatt; Lt-Col. F.P. Haszard, OBE.The 7th Medium Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, was one of six Canadian medium regiments that sawservice in Britain and continental Europe in the Second World War, the othersbeing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Medium Regiments.(There was no 6th Medium.)

The 1st, 2nd and 5th Mediums served in Italy, while the 3rd, 4th,and 7th were in northwest Europe. Three of these units (1st, 4th, and 7th)were each equipped with sixteen 5.5-inch guns, firing 100-pound shells,while the other three had 4.5-inch guns firing 60-pound shells.

Medium regiments were not part of the artillery component of the individual infantry or armoured divisions as were most field regiments (25-pounder guns) but were classed as "Army" troops and were available to support any formation which needed the fire of heavier guns.

The 7th Medium Regiment was raised in September 1939 withthe mobilization of four Ontario militia field artillery batteries: the 12th(London), 45th (Lindsay), 97th (Walkerton) and 100th (Listowel).In the period from then until February 1941, during which timethe regiment was at Petawawa, there were a number oforganizational changes from which emerged the 7th ArmyField Regiment, RCA, consisting of the 12th, 45th and 97thBatteries.

The 7th continued its training at Petawawa and in New Brunswickuntil November 1941, when it went overseas to England, where itspent over two and a half years in constant training. A majorchange occurred in November 1943 when the regiment wasconverted from Field to Medium, and gave up its 25-poundersfor the much-bigger 5.5s. In the process it became a two-batteryregiment, and the 97th Battery was disbanded, most of its personnel, however, being absorbed by the other two larger batteries.

The war for the 7th Medium became the real thing when it crossedthe Channel in the second week in July 1944, and from then untilthe end of the fighting in the first week of May 1945 it took part inall the major battles and actions in which the Canadian Army wasengaged: Normandy, the Seine crossing, the Channel ports (Boulogne and Calais), the Scheldt, Bergen op Zoom, Nijmegen salient,
the Rhineland, the Rhine crossing, the advance through central and northern the Netherlands, and finally across the Ems River into northwest Germany.

The 7th Medium fired its first round in anger at Rots, near Caen,
Normandy, shortly after 18:00 on 13 July 1944, and its last,also shortly after 18:00, from its last gun position at Veenheusenin Germany, a short distance from Emden, on 4 May 1945. In the course of 10 months in action, the 7th occupied about 60 gun positions, fired nearly 70,000 rounds of 100-pound shells in support of threeCanadian divisions, most of the British divisions and the Polisharmoured division, all of the British 21st Army Group.

The major battles in which the 7th was engaged were of courseNormandy, the Scheldt and the Rhineland. The fire programfor the opening of the latter is reported to have been the largestin the West during the war: at 05:00 on 8 February 1945,1,400 British and Canadian guns of all calibres opened fire at oncein support of the British XXX Corps, consisting for the opening of the battleof four British divisions and the 2nd Canadian Division attacking east from Nijmegen into Germany. Included in the preliminary bombardment,which ended at 09:30, were 16 medium regiments (13 Royal Artillery and three Royal Canadian Artillery.This was followed at 10:00 by the 2½-hour barrage in support of XXX Corps infantry attacking into Germany.In the ten months in which the 7th Medium was in action it had 124casualties, of which 35 were killed and 89 wounded (some of thelatter returned to the unit on recovery).

Several G.P.O.s from the 7th became 'Air Observation Post' pilots with No. 665 Squadron RCAF, and No. 666 Squadron RCAF: Lt. A.B. Culver, Lt. R.G. Everett, and Lt. R.A.S. Perley.

The 7th Medium Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, was disbanded on 8 June, 1945.

References

* Lockwood, Captain A.M. "History of the 7th Canadian Medium Regiment, R.C.A." (Toronto: Macmillan Company of Canada, 1945) No ISBN issued.