Canadian Army Central Ordnance Depots

[Edwin Wand]

I assume you are talking about the post war 1946 to the 1968 preunification period of the Canadian Armed Forces.

I am not familiar with Central Ordnance Depots but there were Regional Ordnance Depots (ROD) during this post war period. They were part of the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps.

There was 26 ROD at Cobourg Ontario and at Ortona Barracks in Oakville, there was also a ROD, I think it was either 15 or 17 ROD. I don't recall if Hagersville Ont was designated as a ROD but it was a large RCOC installation.

As you mentioned there were RODs at London and Montreal.

During the National Survival Phase of the post war period, the Government established storage facilities at various locations across Canada. I think you will find there were such facilities at Welland Ont., Coburg, Hagersville etc.

The theory was that major cities such as Toronto and Hamilton (steel) and Niagara Falls (power) would be destroyed. In these circumstances equipment and troops from outlying areas would ride to the rescue.

In retrospect and indeed at the time, there seemed little hope that these arrangements would be of much help should a nuclear attack occur.

Fortunately, these supplies were never needed and much of this equipment was surplused. Items such as Deuce and a halfs still in boxes were later sold from Levy's Auto Parts in Toronto.

To my knowledge the National Survival phase of Canada's history has never been adequately documented. Part of the reason might be that the conversion of Canada's army from soldiers to National Survivalists was very unpopular with the Army. Nevertheless our Militia trained for the worst all the while knowing there was very little they could do in the event of a nuclear attack. For example, in the early stages there weren't even dosimeters available, let alone adequate transport and trained military personnel.

The RCOC History would probably be a helpful source of information about our RODs.

Hope this helps.

[Jon Skagfeld]

15 ROD was located in Lakeview very close to the Small Arms site.

There was a 43 COR at Base Borden.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Here are pics of the London Ordnance Depot on Highbury Road in London, Ontario being demolished a couple of years ago. Nothing there now but the concrete floor and weeds. The last pic is the tank repairing facility across the street. I recall going by there when I was a kid and seeing hundreds of what I now know were M series Dodges parked nose to tail.

[David Dunlop]

Thanks for posting the photos, Bruce.

I remember Peter Ford once telling me that on a trip down to Ottawa one year in the early 1980’s he bumped into one of the staff from the London Depot at a nearby diner. The chap told Peter that a couple of years earlier he had been tasked with disposal of a huge allotment of boxes full of unissued WW2 Military Vehicle Manuals. They had done a number of truck loads to the local dump and then word got out a few manuals had turned up at a used book store for sale. The higher ups decided all remaining manuals had to be burned and they did so somewhere on the Depot grounds. The chap told Peter it took three days of near continuous burning to finish the job.

David

[BCA]

From packing slips with surplus vehicle parts:
27 Central Ordnance Depot London, Ontario (March 1955 & Mar.1953)
I'll dig for more slips. … Brian

[BCA]

Nearly all of the automotive parts packing slips in my collection originate from the 27 Central Ordnance Depot, London Ontario. I think this because there must have been a major packaging or inspection and re-packing facility there. The packaged part was usually accompanied by a circular inspector tag with a inspector number. A 1969 engine test log indicates an engine rebuilt by "27 CFSD WKSP BR" so London also had a workshop facility.
Workshop numbers have been discussed in other MLU threads.
Interestingly I have one shipping document for an order going from "27 C.O.D. Hagersville Ont. SPSS" to "No. 27 Central Ordnance Depot, Highbury Ave., London, Ontario" so Hagerville had a connection to 27 C.O.D.
Several WW2 packing slips from Ford and GM refer to Longue Point Ordnance Depot or simply Longue Pointe Depot. No number is assigned.
CFB Downsview (Toronto area) had a very large supply depot which I recall being referred to as No. 1 Supply Depot. It was phased out in the late 1980's to early 1990's (?) and excess probably shipped to Montreal (Longue Point?). The huge Supply Depot building at Downsview is now used primarily as a film studio.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by BCA

CFB Downsview (Toronto area) had a very large supply depot which I recall being referred to as No. 1 Supply Depot. It was phased out in the late 1980's to early 1990's (?) and excess probably shipped to Montreal (Longue Point?). The huge Supply Depot building at Downsview is now used primarily as a film studio.

As a young reservist I was kitted out at No. 1 Supply Depot at Downsview. We drove there in the back of a deuce and spent several hours out in the rain, at night, by a back door wondering if we were even at the right place. Then the door opened and we went in to get a mysterious tangle of '51 pattern web gear, WW2 era mess tins, a melmac plate and cup (I still have the cup) and an M1 helmet with a reversible green/brown cover. Most of us assembled the '51 pattern web, wore it once and went to a surplus store to buy ourselves a set of '64 pattern web. Most of the kit, weapons and vehicles we were issued was made before we were born.