February 22, 2002 German POWs work for South River company in Second World War

During WWII, as the shortage of manpower in agriculture and logging became an issue across Canada, many POWs volunteered to work to keep busy and make a little money for the future. The Standard Chemical Company in South River needed help with the cutting of cordwood for its chemical plant and saw logs for its sawmill. About forty less militant German merchant mariners that spoke English volunteered to come from the Montieth POW camp to work on the Standard Chemical limits in Paxton Township in Algonquin Park south east of South River.

The Standard Chemical Company prisoner of war camp in Algonquin Park, showing the large garden produced by the POWs. Keith Anderson photo.

The POWs lived and worked primarily at Camp 10 cutting saw logs, but also cut cordwood at other locations. Camp 10 was in the centre of Paxton Township and was accessed by the company railway, which traveled 23 miles north, east, and south through the company limits in Laurier and Ballantine Townships, to about two miles from Camp 10, where a skidway, depot and warehouse were located to serve several camps. The last two miles were covered by foot, sleigh or wagon. There was a cadge road from Camp 10 east into Sundridge that was used occasionally and on at least one occasion by POWs who briefly went AWOL. The men used to go on walks, and on one occasion a loner got lost for two to three days before getting back to camp in bad shape. 

Bud Anderson was the camp foreman and had a couple of local men helping him in the bush and a clerk in the office. One of the clerks was teenager Keith Anderson, who took the POW count and recorded the log haul, wages, etc. The POWs got fifty cents a day if they cut 3/4 of a cord of 4’ hardwood logs cut with a swede saw. In a recent conversation, Keith recalled that there were two uniformed WWI veterans who had a separate hut and .303 rifles and were there as guards, but kept to themselves. The POWs usually wore gray flannel work clothes with a circle cut out of the back of the shirt and filled with a red insert (see photo opposite). 

POWs loading logs on sleigh in Algonquin Park logging camp. Note POW patch on the back of the man front and centre. Gail Maeck photo.

The Germans had four of their men as cooks who did all of the cooking for everyone from supplies brought in by train and by sleigh to the camp. Everyone ate with the Germans in the cookery, including park ranger Dan Stringer, whose headquarters were located at Camp 10. The Germans had their own leader who was a liaison with the company at the camp, and occasionally with the main office in South River. Elsie McIsaac, the secretary to Superintendent Orlo Cooper at the time, remembered this man (Hans Kneipper) coming into the office to talk with Mr. Cooper. 

Hartley Trussler, the well known newspaper columnist who knew Dan Stringer the park ranger, told an interesting story in a column he wrote on Dan at the time of Dan’s death in 1975. Trussler had the job of inspecting places to see if food rationing rules were being followed, and the POWs had filed a complaint. Trussler wrote: 

I was a little concerned [about going into Camp 10] but needn’t have been because Dan Stringer had become quite friendly with most of them and introduced me and acted as an intermediary. We had our supper with them, and it was as good a meal as you could wish for. After supper we had a meeting at which [they] told me their troubles and we had a very friendly discussion. By the way; they were given exactly the same rations as the local people. They were quite a fine gang of men, clean, well groomed, and well behaved. 

Hartley stayed overnight with Dan and swapped war stories with some of the POWs. Hartley, a former logging train engineer, was thrilled on the trip back to South River to have a chance to drive the Shay locomotive. 

Dan Stringer’s daughter Gail Maeck recently recalled how her father had a great relationship with the POW "kids" and received carvings from them and, after they left, letters and visits. On one occasion the POWs made a fancy birthday cake for Mrs. Springer (Jean Christie) which Dan took home, and which some cautiously would not eat. 

Keith Anderson has many photos taken during his time there, and has many memories of those days. He remembers the story of one of the company men working in the bush at a work site where he received a message delivered by one of the POWs that he was to go right away to the main office in South River. Ironically, the message he got was that his son had been killed in action in Germany. 

Art Loney of South River, who was a lead teamster in the Standard Chemical yard there during the war, was sent into the POW camp to pick up a horse to replace one in South River. The POWs loved their horses and were quite angry to lose a favourite. 

The POWs were quite creative and produced some remarkable artwork in their spare time. They also loved to swim and often went to a small lake (Sahwa) nearby on Sundays to swim and paddle a canoe they carved from a cedar log (see photo). 

German POWs out for a swim and a row in their homemade dugout canoe.

As the war drew to an end and the POWs knew they were losing, and as the long days grew on them, some became testy and the odd fight and black eye would be seen. 

Camp 10 has now returned to nature, with little left but a few crumbling buildings and a few old logging artifacts, hinting at the life that existed there many years ago. 

Many POWs returned to Canada to visit, and several hundred from camps across Canada emigrated here and led productive lives after the war. The POW experience at South River must have ranked high in the humane treatment of prisoners, as compared to the millions who suffered terribly at the hands of the other side. 

My thanks to those mentioned above, and the others who helped me piece this nostalgic story together before it was lost. 

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