BATTLE IS OUR BUSINESS

the [Music] this is the story of one Canadian Soldier an infantryman who is now somewhere in England this is the story of a soldier rehearsed in the job to be done assault and attack this Soldier knows the caliber of the enemy knows that in equal combat he can be beaten from comrades he knows the stealth endurance surprise and Furious slash of a Commando raid knows too that on the Frozen steps of Russia the Nazi war machine has met setback and [Music] defeat Canada was still called the arsenal of democracy when this Soldier enlisted he was just the man on the street the fell next door Canadian production was mounting more tanks more guns the 200 Nazi divisions were still on the March machines alone could never stem the Nazi TI that was common sense it must be Manpower plus [Music] machines our recruit was tough strong wearing for battle he took his place in an infantry Training Center beside a thousand other Canadians whose Heritage of freedom and toughness made it easy to turn them into skilled self-reliant fighting [Music] men I just didn't know how tough Canadians are until I joined the army I met fellas from the mountains the coasts the Northwood men right off the farm and just out of the office loggers and store clerks coal miners and college men every one of them gave up something a great bunch of guys Pete and jock and York and nudson we all wanted to get at the real job fast we wanted to fight but at the start all we did was drill day in and day out grousing became as natural is breathing to us I want to repeat what I've told you so many times before why are we doing this sad drill and arms bille while we marching up and down the square so much now there is a reason for it and you'll find in your later training that which you have learned now is going to stand you in good stead your learning discipline you're learning coordination of mind and muscle you're learning to act quickly and to think quickly and it may be a means of saving your life and the life of your comrades rod rod R move to the right and threee right turn on the right you know it doesn't come to you all at once the connection between so much Squad drill and the real business of learning to fight for instance from our very first bayut practice right up to where we could zip the point right through that little rope ring we learned one thing you got to concentrate and make your muscles respond coordination they call it and we had learned to act on orders and to act fast but there are no commands for unarmed combat a soldier is his own officer suppose you're unarmed and the enemy thinks you're harmless well if you know you're unarmed combat a few simple holes and a tough little gun gu can Flo a man twice his size all you need are your bare hands and a sense of timing you learn all that in the Infantry our platoon officer has got a pep Theory it's not the weapon that's dangerous he says it's The Man Behind the weapon sure we knew the feel of a rifle from hunting trips or shooting galleries but that doesn't cut any ice with the Army first you have to learn correct sighting aiming and cleaning and you don't pick that up by yourself pretty soon you learn to treat your rifle as though it were your right arm a strong right on that makes a soldier faster than his weapon fast enough to fire five rounds in 5 seconds first you start firing 100 yard from your target pretty soon it's 1,000 yard your target looks like a pinpoint at that distance if there's one job a soldier hates it's cleaning his weapon it's pretty dull at first but when you get into the more advanced training like the 2-in mortar it's not just a cleaning job it's almost an art my fingers were all thumbs but some of the fellas were just like kids with a meano set any weapon must be kept in good working order and I do mean clean especially if it's a complicated piece of Machinery that strips down to at least eight cleanable parts like the Bren gun a soldier armed with a Bren can be a mighty dangerous enemy you don't have to be a genius to figure out that a man who can fire 120 rounds a minute is more important in battle and a man who can only fire a 35 300 time practice 15 rounds in each of two magazines 20 seconds allowed go on when your target [Applause] appears that's what the Bren gun can do 120 rounds a minute you get a real bang out of working that gun it's easy to Fire and every man in the Infantry learns how to handle it un come on G gun four gun a training day is divided into periods and the most welcome one of all for any Soldier is the eaten period that's the one time I guess we all think and act alike out on the ranges the command is shoot the grub to me bub the cooks rustle up some real chow and you realize that there's something in that old corn about an army marching on its stomach but instead of following through with a peaceful after dinner snooze you've got to go on with the business of training for battle tommy guns used to be cops and robbers stuff back when Chicago was a shooting town but the Infantry has plans of its own for this streamlined weapon a 45 is a mean customer to meet up with in hous toh house fighting or close quarter combat and when you can send a burst through a Target firing from the hip Mister you're good 14 out of 20 huh that's not so hot what happened the other six look your shots are all going high they're going over your target hold your muzzle down a little at time [Music] you're training on the parade ground and on the ranges makes you tough and fast you learn to work with a bunch of guys as a team but it's in the barracks that you really get to know these fellas most of them living a kind of Life they've never lived before your NC is a little tougher than your mother or your wife you don't leave your stuff around for him to pick up unless you want a couple of days CB in the Army Every Man's bunk is his castle and judging from the holes in some of the guys socks they just don't give a darn get it some of the guys in our Barracks are getting to be about as fussy As Old Maid whether we like it or not each one of us has got to take a turn is orderly the one place you can really sleep is in barck if they let you and horse play soon shows up the soree [Music] head but if you've got some reading or some studying that you want to do and and if you're serious about it they'll give you a break that is if you're really serious about it some guys study so hard their brains crack under the strain but even the most hardboiled guys get a little sentimental over a letter from home after all that that sort of sums up the things you fight forthe wife something this time anything for me no uhoh bill what do you get on the mail right yourself B go on private private wow I see s get married eh where do you see that right here oh blazes that's the girl I used to run around with think you'll ever recover hey Pete yeah here's a letter from AR car overseas AR car overseas right the last time I heard from Marty he was at the coast oh he's over there no hey tell me you ever get a letter from Ruth remember the little girl used to run around with at the coast oh no she hadn't over the to she hadn't no oh that's well why well I used to have a lot of fun with her if I remember okay boy get in that's a St that's a St come on come on come on it's only around Heyday that the guys beat us out of Camp after dinner most of the time there's lots going on right around the barracks like a movie or a Scrappy baseball game and the tougher the day the more those guys take it out on the up the fellas who thought they were going to get away from brainwork in the Army were certainly fooled they've got to go to kindergarten all over again a soldier in the Infantry today goes to school right from the start to get the hang of things like map Reading [Applause] you learn the symbols for Sawmills and water towers you find out what those funny little signs mean you learn to identify landmarks and how to inspect ground miles away how to find your exact position and examine Contours measure distances in battle a soldier's map May save his life and the lives of his [Music] [Music] comrades I guess a Mees Schmid a Stuka swooping low and pumping hot lead can throw a mighty good scare into any guy but that's where your training and instinctive action come in you drill and drill for months on how to scatter and take cover you learn how to concentrate your fire how to fire together in one burst how to keep the plane high enough to cut down his striking [Music] power first you practice with rifle then machine gun [Music] always your target is a balloon and always in the back of your mind you wish it were a [Music] plane the Army moved like clockwork and there's order in everything it does even in the way they feed you every man at the same time you don't spend half your time trying to get served and finally wind up with cold meat and potatoes whether we like it or not but we get our vitamins and calories our diets are planned oh nothing fancy no chocolatey claes or pink te's but there are pts that means the physical training the Army gives you to keep fit our instructor always cracks you got to be limber to be fighting Timber so he gets us in shape and develops our sense of Rhythm we learn to do things together at the same time teamwork that's what makes the Infantry but some of the guys think the command those are missing a good bet in them 45 minutes a day of PT isn't enough they've got to go one better so they go in for gym squads jumping over horses getting muscle bound but I got to admit a little thing like an assault course doesn't phas these boys the assault course is rough tough and nasty and you've got to be across between a champion Sprinter and a pack trenches to jump hurdles to clear 45 lbs of battle pack on your [Music] back Thunder flash is busting your eardrums smoke choking and blinding you and all the time you got to keep remembering every ounce of drill and Dana training they ever taught you [Music] I sort of got the feeling that an assault course is well like making a 70 yard run for a touchdown with plenty of obstacles in the way but there are no crowds to cheer when you've made the goal no sir you're just glad to flop down ease your pet and loosen your tunic right then a man's best friend is a [Music] shower why I'm trying to off my you look better in here you did on that assault I get two bucks tonight take my out that's a good idea you matter all poked out yeah they that assault course is Pretty Tough you guys at the assault course get you down this afternoon well hello there t00 how are you well what's the matter with being a store clerk we live cleanly it's a good honest profession nor by goly I can't figure it all out what do you mean figure what out well you work in a store pretty soft life Roy works on a farm and he works pretty hard and yet he's all ped out on it yeah but I mean Roy Wast a lot of energy doing his beta training did you ever notice how he makes a point yes I was just going to show him something on that the way he makes it and the way he should make it when you make it and you walk in there you want to walk straight in like that you see notice right when he makes his point the rifle never moves from the position it's in when he's carrying it at the on guard forearm still along the top of the butt and the butt still up against his hip and the only thing that actually moves the point of the bet is the fact that he's walking most of you fellas when you're making a point you pull the rifle away back with your arms and throw the thing away forward well hello you got a haircut too man get all you guys are just envious I got a date tonight can't be bothered with you use a bowl of a chip that cut I got to go the canteen and make a phone call Jock I'll buy you Coke if you come up with me well boy if you were buying I Who coming all them [Applause] [Music] all us what he get the of them all the give us deep in the Heart of Texas T [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can always tell when there's going to be a dance in Camp the band Blows Its head off for weeks ahead and on the big night while Hell Breaks Loose in the washroom 2,000 razor scrap 200 th000 chins everything smells of shoe polish and hair oil you never saw so many padas in one [Music] place then when you get there some guys get the girls and some guys get the bird [Music] [Applause] [Music] there are even guys who just come along to be alone in a [Music] crowd and in this corner we have the oing Oscars [Music] and now I'm going to let you in on a military secret did anybody ever tell you an army dances on its [Music] stomach art lovers in the Infantry [Music] and what does a soldier do with his spare time why he reads he studies he improves his mind in fact my friend he's clear out of this world [Music] [Music] okay come on you guys out of it that guy ever come on get out of bed hey wake that guy up down [Music] there get up after six hit the deck down there come on let I'm quiet you guys pay attention there's a mass par at quarter to8 this morning I want you all dressed in battle order at 7:30 what [Music] another up like wheel [Music] dire R OC is a pretty good head not the brass hat pipe who get you out on the parade ground just to watch you march around in full equipment under a hot sun we sort of get a kick out of parading for him if your company puts everything it's got into its marching it isn't wasted on the OC mostly when he calls a parade he's got something pretty important to tell us now today's parade marks the completion of one of the phases of your training as your commanding officer I've watched with a great de of Interest your progress in the fundamentals of this game we call soldiering your conduct on pray today and your deportment and marching proves to me one thing that you have learned the meaning of discipline which is really the ability to give commands and to obey commands I know that some of you at times have got fed up with this fundamental of soldiering and I know that you all want to get on with the job for which you enlisted which is to get over there and do some fighting but try to remember that this job of soldiering is not learned in the day now I want each one of you to feel that he is an important and vital member of a team and that the success or failure of an engagement may depend upon his ability to think and act quickly now up to now you have worked in squads and platoon tomorrow you will take part in an exercise involving the whole Battalion it will be an exercise in the attack that is to say an offensive action uh which will take into account the initiative skill and ability of each member of this little team of ours now you men who have been itching to fight here is your opportunity to prove whether you are able to do this job I want all the officers and non-commissioned officers down to section leaders to meet me in the training building tonight at 1800 hours when I will explain the scheme for tomorrow's work to you on the sand table now the lesson I want to bring out in tomorrow's exercise is the necessity for offensive action in the protective role our task is to provide flank protection to a column which is moving in a southwesterly direction along here and I intend doing it in this manner a company that will be your company clerk will provide the advanced guard and I want you to make is your first objective the first bound Point F your second objective Bon Hill and your final objective dark wood now during our kindergarten training is over from now on we've got to learn to move and act as a big team that's the way it is in 4 months you've changed from a store clerk a logger or a miner into a soldier from here in you're on your own you're ready to take your place for battle beginning to get the meaning of all the fire and fight of an assault course all the muscle building PT all the firing and jarring of the machine gun that's what the Tactical exercise is four our platoon is far up in advance of the rest of the Battalion with my section leading our immediate objective is a clump of wood suddenly the enemy opens fire we Dash across exposed ground we keep low and take advantage of all covers we've contacted the enemy now it's your job to take a position and to hold it every single hour of training is beginning to count you're a soldier now a Canadian infant [Music] Tre once before at Demi Ridge at festu be at goni the enemy has felt the impact and fury of the of Canada has known The Sting of their slashing French raid the Forerunner of today's Commando tactics they have reason to fear the tough fighting qualities of the Canadian Soldier [Music] [Music] final battles are yet to come our tanks will close with the enemy's paner divisions our PLS Will Blast their mesms from the skies but Victory will be won by the steel and fire of the Infantry for only the Infantry can come to close grips with the Nazi and destroy him as he destroyed Poland Norway the lowlands and Greece the fate of the oppressor will be in the hot lead and Cold Steel of a citizen's Army whose motto is Battle is our business [Music] oh