Battle of Bowmanville

The residents of Camp 30 were mostly Germans captured by the British and sent to Canada for internment in anticipation of a potential invasion of Britain. They were guarded by the Veterans Guard of Canada. The violence began after 126 prisoners were sent to another camp to be shackled as a reprisal for the chaining of Canadian soldiers captured at Dieppe (itself a reaction to captured plans for the shackling of German POWs^[3]). After a period of hand-to-hand fighting, during which one Canadian guard had his skull fractured, 400 prisoners barricaded themselves in a hall. They remained there for over a day while the guards awaited reinforcements. A group of students at a nearby commando course in Kingston, Ontario arrived on Thanksgiving, subduing the barricaded prisoners with fire hoses and tear gas.^[4]

Three shots were fired during the revolt, two of which wounded PoW Volkmar Koenig, shot by a tower guard after prisoners grabbed a Canadian officer.^[5] Another prisoner was stabbed with a bayonet, but survived.^[4] A number of other prisoners and guards were injured during the revolt, often in hand-to-hand combat.^[1][2]

• List of incidents of civil unrest in Canada