CFB Gagetown
Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, also referred to as
CFB Gagetown, is a large
Canadian Forces Base located in southwestern
New Brunswick.
At the beginning of the
Cold War, Canadian defence planners recognized the need for providing the
Canadian Army with a suitable training facility where brigade and division-sized armoured, infantry, and artillery units could exercise in preparation for their role in defending western Europe under Canada's obligations to the
North Atlantic Treaty. The facility would need to be located relatively close to an all-season Atlantic port and have suitable railway connections.
Existing training facilities dating from the
First and
Second World Wars in eastern Canada were relatively small (see
CFS Debert,
CFS Aldershot,
CFB Valcartier,
CFB Petawawa), thus a new facility was considered. At the same time, regional economic development planners saw an opportunity for a military base to benefit the economy of southwestern New Brunswick.
The area under consideration was an expansive plateau west of the
St. John River between the cities of
Saint John and
Fredericton, measuring approximately 60 km in length and 40 km in width; more accurately it runs between
Oromocto in the north to
Welsford in the south, and between the St. John River in the east and the South Branch of the
Oromocto River in the west.
Over 900 families inhabited the area living in dozens of active, vibrant rural communities, primarily engaged in agriculture and forestry industries. The terrain was variable, providing mixed Acadian forest, swamp and marshland, as well as open farming areas similar to the
Northern European Plain. The influence of the
St. Croix Highlands, part of the
Appalachian Mountain range, creates hilly terrain and valleys in the southern and western part of the region close to the
Welsford and
Oromocto Rivers.
The expropriation of lands began in the early
1950s, much to the surprise of local residents who had been kept in the dark about the expropriation until the last minute. The base was surveyed so as to not affect some of the historic communities along the western bank of the St. John River such as Gagetown, Hampstead, and Browns Flat; the expropriation began several kilometres west of the river and eliminated the communities of Petersville, Hibernia, New Jerusalem and many others. This remains the largest single land expropriation in the history of
New Brunswick and is still a subject of rancour for those families removed from their historic homes and communities.
The base headquarters were chosen for the northern part of the base adjacent to the small (then) village of Oromocto. In preparation for the influx of service personnel, Oromocto was redesigned as a "planned" town, with buried electrical utilities and residential and commercial clustering typical of larger planned towns such as
Richmond Hill, Ontario. Oromocto's futuristic design became a source of conversation throughout the centuries-old
Loyalist towns and villages spread throughout the St. John River valley.
Construction of the base facilities in Oromocto benefitted from convenient railway connections provided by
Canadian National and
Canadian Pacific Railways. A new alignment of the
Trans-Canada Highway was built on the eastern bank of the St. John River, opposite from Oromocto in the early
1960s (see
New Brunswick Highway 2) and a new highway bridge across the St. John River connected the Trans-Canada Highway to the village of
Burton, just south of Oromocto and near the east gate for the base.
The
Gagetown Military Camp (or
Camp Gagetown) opened in 1956 and was named after the village of
Gagetown, although the base was located west of this historic village and was headquartered 25 miles to its north in Oromocto - an act that has caused no end of confusion over the years. The base's territory measured 1,129 km² and included numerous live-fire ranges for infantry, armoured, and artillery units, as well as aerial weapons ranges.
At the time of its opening in 1956, until the opening of
CFB Suffield in
1971, Camp Gagetown was the largest military training facility in Canada and the entire
Commonwealth of Nations. By comparison, Suffield has 2,690 km² with 2,270 km² usable by the military, and 420 km² designated as a National Wildlife Refuge.
Initially, Camp Gagetown was the home base for many army regiments, including the Black Watch and the Royal Canadian Regiment, however defence cutbacks in the
1960s saw a gradual reduction. On
February 1,
1968, the
Canadian Army, the
Royal Canadian Air Force and the
Royal Canadian Navy, were merged to form the
Canadian Armed Forces. Following this unification, Camp Gagetown was renamed
Canadian Forces Base Gagetown (CFB Gagetown).
In the post-unification armed forces, CFB Gagetown functioned as the primary combat training centre for Force Mobile Command (renamed
Land Force Command in the
1990s). In the early
1970s, CFB Gagetown began to simultaneously refer to itself as
Combat Training Centre Gagetown (CTC Gagetown), referring to its comprehensive artillery, armour, infantry and engineer training schools, a role that continues to the present day. Many still refer to it as Camp Gagetown or 'Home of the Army' due to the history and current involvement with land forces.
Increased defence spending in the
1980s saw numerous new training facilities built and ranges modernized, and this continued into the
1990s as the Canadian Forces closed obsolete bases. CFB Gagetown continues to function as the army's primary training facility, although due to risk of forest fires in recent years, live-fire training has been pushed primarily to the fall-winter-spring seasons.
Gagetown is often referred to as the only place in the world where one can find "swamps at the top of hills."
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CFB Gagetown - official website
