The Significance of Camp X
Unofficially known as Camp-X, the paramilitary training installation was officially known by various names: as S25-1-1 by the RCMP (the Royal Canadian Mounted Police file name), as Project-J by the Canadian military, and as STS-103 (Special Training School 103) by the SOE (Special Operations Executive), a branch of the British MI-6. It was established December 6, 1941, on the Whitby/Oshawa border in Ontario, Canada through co-operative efforts of the British Security Co-Ordination (BSC) and the Government of Canada.
The BSC’s chief, Sir William Stephenson, was a Canadian from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and a close confidant of the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, who had instructed him to create “the clenched fist that would provide the knockout blow” to the Axis powers. One of Stephenson’s successes was Camp-X!
The book, Inside Camp-X, and the story begin, “Lieutenant-Colonel Roper-Caldbeck, the first Commanding Officer of Camp-X, stopped, stared over the rolling fields, picturesque Lake Ontario, and the newly erected buildings and thought to himself, “Everything is ready!”
The Date: December 6th, 1941!
That date was most significant. Had the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour been executed six months earlier, there would never have been a Camp-X. The Camp was designed for the sole purpose of linking Britain and the United States. Until the direct attack on Pearl Harbour, the United States was forbidden by an act of Congress to get involved with the war. How timely that Camp-X should open the day before the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese.
Even the Camp’s location was chosen with a great deal of thought: a remote site on the shores of Lake Ontario, yet only thirty miles straight across the lake from the United States. It was ideal for bouncing radio signals from Europe, South America, and, of course, between London and the BSC headquarters in New York. The choice of site also placed the Camp only five miles from DIL (Defense Industries Ltd.), currently the town of Ajax. At that time, DIL was the largest armaments manufacturing facility in North America.
Other points of strategic significance in the Camp’s locale include the situation of the German Prisoner of War Camp in Bowmanville (Camp 30), the position of the mainline Canadian National Railway, which went through the top part of Camp-X, and that of General Motors on the eastern border of the Camp. The Oshawa Airport which was a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) / Royal Air Force (RAF) Commonwealth air training school at the time was only a short drive from Camp-X.
Training of Allied agents in espionage activities (sabotage, subversion, deception, intelligence, and other ‘special means’), was the necessity to establish a major communications link between North and South America and European operations of SOE. Camp-X became the assembly line for ‘special agents’ and subsequently the SOE. Training was extensive in map reading, weaponry and Morse Code.
It will be books such as Inside Camp-X (by Lynn Philip Hodgson) that we will have to rely upon to tell the real story of what went on behind those barbed wire fences which includes information on interviews with the men and women of Camp-X as well as the neighbours of the Camp.
(Note: Although this site is Copyright ©, you may quote from it for the purpose of doing essays, reviews, or newspaper articles. Students, for pictures of Camp-X during WWII, please go here. **Permission has been granted by the family of Lynn Philip Hodgson to use the information he has gathered and posted for Camp X.**
Note: There is no winter maintenance at the site.
Requirements to log this virtual
** NOTE: For the photo in #8 - Either picture will require your geoname and date of visit on a piece of paper.**
1) At the Camp X monument, there is a bust. Who is it?
2) What is on the side of the post of this bust?
3) Why is this area called Intrepid Park?
4) How many benches are at the memorial?
5) What was used to communicate vital messages?
6) Who is the commemoration dedicated to?
7) Facing the front of the monument, list the flags starting at the left.
8) With the monument in the background, take a photo of yourself (you do not need to show your face) or personal item. Either picture will require your geoname and date of visit on a piece of paper. Please post your photo with your log.
Do not post your answers in your log. Please send answers to me through the geocaching message site or by email. I will contact you if the information is not correct or needs tweaking.
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Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.