WW2 Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Transport

[David Dunlop]

I was sitting here with a cup of tea thinking over various things World War Two related, and it struck me I know very little about the lines of communication and transport that existed across the Pacific from Canada to Australia and New Zealand during the war. I think I have always assumed the Japanese control of the southern Pacific area was so tight, there wasn't any meaningful traffic and any shipping or air movement took the long way round from Europe.

Take the CMP/Blitz, for example. How did they get established in Australia? Directly from Canada via the Canadian West Coast, or via Europe to North Africa to South Africa to Australia and New Zealand?

There were frequent flights from Canada and the USA to Europe via Northern and Southern Atlantic routes. Were any similar flights done across the Pacific via Hawaii, Fiji…?


David

[Lynn Eades]

I would suspect that most of it went to sea via the St Lawrence sea way, down around the Horn and across. I heard there was a well used submarine base in the Perth area that was used by a number of allied nations, in defence of those ships. My knowledge is vague at best, so I await your responses with interest.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Ships, more ships, brave men and a tolerance for sunk ships. Not many aircraft of the day had legs to go across the Pacific, even with refueling stops.

[Mike Cecil]

Across the sea in ships....

There were various routes, and their dominance depended upon enemy submarine and surface ship activity to a certain extent.

From Canada, freight destined for Australia such as Blitz trucks went mostly down the US east coast, across the Carib. and through the Panama Canal, then across the Pacific to NZ and Australia. When losses mounted to an unacceptable degree in the Carib., significant proportions of the trucks, etc were shipped by train to the US and CDN west coast, and loaded there for transit across the Pacific. All these were mostly free running voyages.

Aust and NZ products headed for Canada, USA and Britain went either across the Pacific, through the canal, across the Carib. and up the east coast, often 'free running' (not in convoy, not escorted) to US and CDN east coast ports. There, ships for GB would be allocated to a convoy for the cross-Atlantic run. Same in reverse.

Or the other route (to Britain) was west across the Great Australia Bight, then north west across the Indian Ocean to Kenya or west direct to Capetown then up the African west coast.

Losses of Blitz trucks headed for Australia were in the thousands, along with smaller numbers of aircraft. Also rifles, web equipment and other military items. Likewise, Australian goods headed for the UK, Canada and the USA had a loss rate, mostly on the Carib. and Atlantic legs of the voyages. The Pacific was not immune, but the Japanese submarine warfare was not as wide ranging/intensive as that waged by the Germans in the Atlantic and the ocean was a hell of a lot bigger. (So the Japanese tended to concentrate on choke points rather than chance encounters on the open ocean, as to a certain extent, did the Germans in the Carib.)

The CMP was made by Ford and Chev - the two dominant vehicle types on Aust roads before WW2. Both Ford Canada and GM Canada had 'parented' Australian operations in the 1920s, and had the infrastructure in place to support the assembly and rebuilding of Blitz trucks.

Mike C

[Keith Webb]

I didn't realise they were lost in such numbers coming to Australia.

I wonder who shouldered the bill for those. I assume the ones we ordered were paid for by the Australian government, but were they C.O.D as it were or once they left the factory?

I imagine those losses were ours rather than Ford Canada.

[Ganmain Tony]

In a distant part of my memory I seem to remember German Surface Raiders contributing significantly to allied merchant vessel tonnage losses as well..

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

I didn't realise they were lost in such numbers coming to Australia. I wonder who shouldered the bill for those.

Merchant vessels and their cargoes were insured, just as in peacetime. Premiums varied according to vessel type, shipping route, free running or in convoy, etc. etc. Business is business!

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Both Ford Canada and GM Canada had 'parented' Australian operations in the 1920s, and had the infrastructure in place to support the assembly and rebuilding of Blitz trucks.

Likewise Ford and GM in NZ, India, and South Africa - all were established by Ford and GM Canada as wholly owned subsidiaries, operating under the old Commonwealth arrangements which afforded Canada export priveleges over the US. They were acquired by Ford and GM USA some time after WW2.