Canadian snow related equipment post WW2

[Robin Craig]

Rob, James and Charlie thanks for your comments,

I have a tent itself and once repaired I will show that.

Slowly assembling the items is the way any of us gather a collection, but also spread the word that we are looking for things.

I have a really nice piece currently under a purchase process.

A ten man toboggan so far eludes me, I have been offered one locally at a price I just can't afford but I know where it is and if I get enough work on my side job I may be able to put it under the Christmas tree . . .

[rob love]

Once you get the 200 pound toboggan, you will then need to get the nifty GPMG mount that clamps onto it and an M1919A4 (or C1 or C5A1 clone) GPMG along with T&E and pintle to finish up the ensemble.



I took a photo of the mount we have at work, and will try and post it tomorrow.

[Ed Storey]

There was a nice condition one for sale at the last Ottawa show - I believe it has found a home (not with me).

[rob love]

Here is a photo of the GPMG mount. I always thought they were a Canadian thing, but I have since seen American examples of what appear to be the same mount. I have also seen them using the normal M2 tripod head, although this one has a cast head in white.

[Robin Craig]

Rob I wondered how long it would take to bring that subject up.

As Ed Storey said there was one locally for sale at a show I did not attend and now is the in the possession of Mike Calnan who has generously offered it for me to copy.

It looks a fairly simple item, is the centre portion a manufactured part used elsewhere, I am not a big firearms person.

I am wondering if there is a winter warfare manual that shows a toboggan and all its constituent items.

I am thinking an aluminum shovel, the Coleman stove and lantern, the billy can set to name a few.

[rob love]

The center part is unique in the white version, but can be substituted with the regular black pressed steel version from a normal GPMG M2 tripod. I have owned several of these things over the years, and never had the cast white heads on them, so I can't explain what the real situation was. Mine mostly came from the local scrapyard, so perhaps the removal of the head was some kind of de-milling. It is also possible the the white ones broke and would be substituted with the black ones, which were removed in the end to go back onto the normal tripods. I was combat arms in the militia, but a mechanic for my regular force career. As a mechanic, my time hauling toboggans was quite limited, and I never saw those gun mounts in use. I think they may have been more of a curiosity. I did get stuck onto a sov-op up to Repulse Bay back around 96, and got to experience the coldest that Canada has to offer during a very long and cold week on the tundra.



Other things that went into the toboggan were the snow saw kit, and there was an actual arctic axe back in the day. The axe had a white fiberglass handle with an orange tip on the end. Even with the orange tip, it was the kind of a thing that if you placed it on the ground, it would be lost. I found a few of them in the springtime over the years.



Optional equipment were the mountain stoves, which we would drag along for extra heat. Once you had the coleman two burner going, the lantern going, and the single burner mountain stove, you could get the tent right up to 21°C. You did have to watch out for pink eye of course.



Naptha could either be in their original cans or else the little one gallon green plastic jerry cans. That, of course, would be in the toboggan as well.



I remember kit lists back in the day for the toboggan. The source may have been the winter warfare series of manuals.

[James P]

Originally Posted by Robin Craig

Rob I wondered how long it would take to bring that subject up.

As Ed Storey said there was one locally for sale at a show I did not attend and now is the in the possession of Mike Calnan who has generously offered it for me to copy.

It looks a fairly simple item, is the centre portion a manufactured part used elsewhere, I am not a big firearms person.

I am wondering if there is a winter warfare manual that shows a toboggan and all its constituent items.

I am thinking an aluminum shovel, the Coleman stove and lantern, the billy can set to name a few.

We saw the "billy can" (read one gallon tin can from the mess) during Winter Warfare training, used it one day, then chucked it. Find a nice pot set cooking that nest into each other, source a couple of the green naptha cans, a mitt full of 12 inch steel spikes, axe, saw as Rob points out and you would have a cool collection. Never, not once, did I see the toboggan MG mount in use or training, in fact the first and only one I ever saw is the one on display at the CWM.

[Robin Craig]

James and Rob

I think the MG mount is a bit beyond me at the moment but is interesting.

I am so far grateful for all the pointers given and I am attempting slowly to get all the rest of the gear.

Accompanied by my 97 Skandic it should look good when eventually i get it together.

If anyone has any items I am always willing to buy items. My tahnks to Eric Booth for his generous donation of items.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by James P

Find a nice pot set cooking that nest into each other, .

Almost forgot about those. There is the frying pan with the folding handle that also acts as a lid for the pot, and all of it fits into the pressure cooker.
There is also a bent up piece of roundstock that allows you to hang the lantern off the tent pole.



You will also have to find some boxes of rations, and some rolls of the most industrial toilet paper known to man. (For that, you may well have to travel to one of the all-inclusive resorts in Cuba). And, perhaps a roll of the brown paper towel that is totally non-absorbent.



Another item we saw, but I never actually used in the field, are the special boxes with plastic bag in them to make the giant ice blocks that you would use to make defensive positions.



I have a couple of friends who have assembled the winter kit on the toboggan. It ends up taking up a lot of space. Keep looking fopr your stuff locally, and when the list gets shorter, I can likely find the majority of whats left at my favorite scrapyard©.