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b i g g e s t c o n t i n g e n tOf War ArrivesI n Great ConvoyB r i t a i n ' s Mastery z o f Seas - Proved- a s Men

Strea m Asho re After Quiet Crossing ;, 1 , 2 0 0 - B e d Military Hospital I s IncludedFIRST ARMORED FORCE EVER SENTA BRITISH PORT, July 2 (CP) .-Canada's battle-

primed o v e r s e a s f ig ht i ng f o rc es have been streng t hene d byt h e l a r g es t c o n t i n g e n t o f t r o o p s t o arrive in the United King-dom in this war . Headed by rugged men of the FirstCanadianArmy Tank Briga de, the men streamed ashore inthousands from a huge c o n v o y , brought safely across t heA t l a n t i c in a mighty naval escort, which proved anewBritain's mastery o f the seas .Fittest and gayest groups t o la n d

t h i s y e a r , they p ou re d o f f their grim,g rey ships whistling and laughinga t the end o f the crossing .The c o nv o y, s en t on i t s way by

C a n a d i a n warships, made a r a p i d ,uneventful -crossing i n pleasantw e a t h e r. On ly incident occurred afew days out when one o f the escort

sioner f o r S c o t l a n d, who representedHon. Vincent Massey, C a n a d i a nHigh C o mmissio ner .Mr . Shakespeare, s ta n di ng a t op ap i l e o f trunks, s a i d :"The British Government and thewhole country i s g la d t o receive t h i sfine reinforcement o f fighting menfrom Canada.

"This i s a h i s t o r i c occasion f o ri t marks the f i r s t time t a n k forma-t i o n s have come fro m Canada andshows how far-seeing are the C a n a -dian Government and military i nrealizing tha t n ot o n l y men b ut ma-c hi ne s a re heed ed i n t h i s war ."The war has shown i t i s a i r c r a f tand t a nks that a re imp or t a nt andv i t a l . "

ships dumped d e p t h c ha rg es o v er -board, b ut i t was no t made k nown,whether a submarine had been lurk-in g i n the v i c i n i t y .The troops came ashore i n tend-e r s , l u s t i l y cheering the R o y a l Navya s they passed units lying a b o u t theharb or . They piled t h e i r k i t s i r.b a g g a g e c a r s o f the "funny" Englisht r a i n s which chugged fro m - the s t a -t i o n t o carry the new a r r i v a l s t ocamps o n Britain's b a t t l e l i n e s .The e o nt in ge nt i nc l ud ed a com-plete 1,2 0 0 -b ed h os p it a l from M o n t -r e a l with more th an eighty nursings i s t e r s ; lumberman-soldiers t o com-plete the C a n a d i a n Forestry Cor psoperating i n Scotland, and severalsmall units and some headquarterso f f i c e r s o f the 3rd Division .Airmen, S a i l o r s , TooThere were reinforcements for'theinfantry, a r t i l l e r y and Ro ya l C an a-dian Army S er vic e C or ps, reconnais-sance battalions and other units a swell a a large number o f airmenand C a n a d i a n n a va l p e rs o nn el .First a n d largest gro up t o la n dwere thousands o f black-beretedC a n a d i a n s o f the t a n k brigade, f i r s tarmored f ormati on ever raised andsent o v er se as b y Canada .Officers and men o f Central On-

t a r i o , Alberta and Quebec battalionscro w d in g the d oc k s were welcomedb y Geo ffrey Sh a kesp ea re, D o m i n i o n sUnder-Secretary ; Brig . FF Worth -ington, commander o f the armoredbrigade who came t o England i n ad-v a n c , and Gordon B Johnson, Cana-dian Government T r a d e Commis-

a s word was flashed around t o moveashore .There were trappers and huntersfro m the northern outposts o f t heD o minio n, f ar me rs , t ra ct o r driversand -mechanics and men from t hec i t i e s , a l l aching f or a ct io n in theirb i g cruiser tanks ." A l l Have Same Idea . "The bri ga de was complete withi t s workshop, s i g n a l s , army servicecorps and medical sections ."We're a mixed ga ng, but we've

a l l go t the same idea-work l i k e th edevil o n o u r t a nks getting ready f o ra f i g h t , " s a i d Tr . A . KThompson,C alg ary . L.Cpl, Don Garrison, P e a c eRiver, Alta . , was a trapper before hee n l i s t e d , a n d ' - Tr . Fred Leary, Van -couver, was a lumbermanTR . G . R Gerhardt, E d m o n t o n ,was a barber ; now h e ' s a t a n kdriver . L- C p l . - Ralph Lepper andCp l . . Johnny Nay l o r worked - i n To -r ont o o f f i c e s before,. s i g n i n g up ."We're re a d y t o take o ver anykind o f tank right away a n d ' g ethandy with them," s a i d S. S.M . Nor-man Kirkham o f Red Deer. Alta . ,as he lined up h i s men f o r debarka-t i o n with R S .M . Willy Law andS. S .M . B i l l S pen ce r, b ot h o f Cal-gary .MajorWB Welbourn o f T or on-t o , f o r twenty years a missionary mChin a ; where he a l s o served theChinese Army, i s t he Salvation Armyofficer with the brigade . He tossedhandfuls o f chewin g gum l i k epennies t o the! c r o w d e d tendersalongside .

"Handsome and H e a l t h y . "Mr . Sh akes , , : ' e s a i d that i f Ger-many "cleans i - d Russia i t w i l l b eo ur t urn n ext . ""I n that c a s e the o n ly obstructioni n the path o f t he Nazis w i l l be t heemba t t le d force o f the Empire," hea d d e d . "We are determined thato ur free way o f l i f e w i l l prevail andt h a t we w i l l r i d t he w o r l d o f t h i spestilence and plague known a sH i t l e r ' s New Order ."The inhabitants o f England w i l l

sleep much better now that t h i sbrigade o f cheerful, handsome andhealthy C a n a d i a n tankmen i s here . " 'The brigade, which w i l l b e com-manded by Brigadier Worthin g to n,was l ed overseas b y Brigade Major .Joh n Andrews o f St . Thomas, Ont .Staff C a p t . Frank Schmidlin,Kingston, Ont . , and Major J . S Gow,Windsor, Ont . , commanded thet r o o p s , on the largest ship . MajorE F A rm sb y, L o nd o n, Ont , andMajor G e o r g e Perrigard, ThreeRivers, l ed other large batches .Aboard transports which serveda s l i n e r s i n pe a ce time, the tank troopscrowded t he decks and passageways

J Hugh P l a x t o n in GroupLieut . Hugh Plaxton, f ormer To -r o n t o n member o f P a rlia m en t, waswith t he g r o u p o f na v a l menThe hospital was hea de d by aMo n treal colonel and MatronBlan che Herman, native o f Lunen -burg, N S . , who worked i n M ontrea l .Major B S Johnston, Montreal, wasregistrar and there were more thanthirty d o c t o r s , including C a p t . Mun-ro Bourne o f 1 4 1 o n t r e a l , fo rmer C a -na di a n Olympic swimming s t a r .The n ur se s s ta ge d a concert d i -irected by Nursin g S i s t e r Agnes Ten-nant o f Mo n treal o n their l a s t nighta t sea . "Brig-Gen.. B Whit e met t heForesters . Their o f f i c e r s included .Majors J . M Soy, H a l i f a x R EM a u d e - R o x b y, Kelo wn a, B,C ; - L . MHan bury, Vanc ou ver, formerly o fBrandon Man ; A C M c Ca l l , K i rk -la n d Lake ; W . A . H Ferguson, Hail-eybury ; R A Montgomery, Chicou-

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t i m i , Que ; C a p t . Winria ~cewarc,Ottawa, and Lieut . Art H u d s o n ,Prince Albert, Sask ."The l a d s w i l l be happy whenthey are cutting down those Scot-t i s h pines and hear sawmills again,"s a i d P te . J . B Mitchell o f , .Uan-couver, fo r seventeen years a B r i t -i s h C o l u mb i a l u m be r ma n , as he s a to n h i s k i t , awaiting t o de b ark ."And d on't fo rget the sawdustf u s i l i e r s are here t o f i g h t , t o o ," i n -terjected P te . Burns MacDonald o fSydney Mines,NS .Gunner reinforcements fo r thenew C a n a d i a n l i g h t a n t i - a i r c r a f tregiments, commanded b y Lieut . DE Steacy o f Kingston, Ont . , man-ned s h i p s ' machine- guns day andnight .A gro up o f Belgian and Nether-l a n d s s o l d i e r s and, Norwegian a i r -men trained i n C a n a d a was amongt he a r r i v a l s .Number o f Men Secret .Ottawa, - J u l y 2 (CP) . -DefenseHead quarters a n n o u n c e d l a t e t o d a yt he s a f e arrival i n t h e U n it e d Kin g -dom o f the l s t C a n a d i a n ArmyTank Brigade . The number o f meninvolved i n the movement was n o tgiv en b ut t he , Department s a i darrival o f the bri ga de "was, haileda s a spectacular achiev emen t . ""Six months a go t h i s new unit o fthe C a n a d i a n Army was unheardo f ; i t was no t ev en o n t he armypro gram, but t o d a y i t i s a f a c t , "said Defense Head quarters .I t was made k n o w n , however,that the men o f t h e - Tank Brig ad ewere part o f the largest contingento f troops t o arrive in the UnitedKingdom i n t h i s warThe Tank Brigade, commandedb y Brig . F F. Worthi ngt on, M C . ,MM . , i s o n e o f t hr ee f o rm at io n s

t he Government has un d ertaken t osend overseas t h i s year .'The othersa re the Third Division and a narmoreddivision .Defense Headquarters, i n an-p o u n c i n g safe arrival o f t he TankBrigade, said i t was "i n fast f u l f i l -ment o f Ca na d a's pled ged word t ot he Br it ish Government . "

Work Under McNaughton. .The Tank Brigade w i l l work i nconjunction with the C a n a d i a nC o r p s under the command o f Lt. -Gen. A G . L McNaughton, givingthe Canadian f ormati on already i nBritain added striking powerPreviously i t was announced theTank Brigade would b e equippedwith vehicles i n t he Un it ed . Kin g -dom and that the desire o f theBritish Government was t o get t h i sf o r m a t i o n from t he Dominion i n t ot he Brit ish I s l e s a s so o n a s po-s i b l e .Brigadier, Worthingt on precededh i s men o Britain, i t was a n -n o u n c e d : He flew across the At .l a n t i c to prepare fo r their f i n a ltraining i n conjunction with theC a n a d i a n corps commander .Proposal t o organize t he brigade,carne by cable from D e f e n s e Minis-t er R al st o n, a f t e r consultation withthe British G overnment, when hewas i n England just over f i v e!,months a g o .A l t h o u g h p l a ns were then un d er'way fo r an armored d i v i s i o n , t he'proposal fo r a t a n k brigade a s well .was somethin g entirely new"Elite" Unit o f Army.Said the d epartmen t in i t s s t a t e -ment tonight : "The l a ndi ng onBritish s o i l o f t he . C a n a d i a n s wear-I ng their jau nty black berets wasan o ut st a n d in g e x a m p l e of-speed i nmobilizing, organizing a s - a unit;and passing t h r o u g h i n i t i a l t r a i n -; ing . ,The d e pa r tm en t t e rm ed the armyt a n k b rig ad e o ne o f t he " e l i t e " unitso f t h e - army-"the heavy, . massiveforce that tramples . down opposi-tion with an impression o f i r r es i s t i b l e power " I t forms _ p a r t o fthe a r m o r e d shock force . whichworks with the infantry and i s anadjunct o r supplemen t t o . theseforces .In C a n a d a the t a nk b rig a d e

trained a t Camp Borden, using out-moded t a nks obtained from t heUnited States a s a means o f prac-t i c i n g the rud imen ts o f t ank wa r-fare .These o l d t a nks were held t o beo f considerable v a l u e fo r trainingpurposes, t h o u g h no t s u f f i c i e n t l yup t o date t o be o f any great us ein c o m b a t .The t a n k brigade commandergave h i s men t he benefit o f h i sown extensive training i n arm o redfighting vehicle warfare . As ano f f i c e r o f the permanent force hehad specialized i n t h i s type o ftraining .