CDKW00240 - Canadians Join the (Secret) Commonwealth Brigade

Despite the Canadian Army committing to switching over to American weaponry earlier in the fall, the Canadian government proposed that their brigade sent to Korea should join other Commonwealth forces, who were already cooperating in a Commonwealth division. (Interestingly, Canadian Special Forces are reportedly still using United Kingdom style weaponry (48). It is unclear whether this is simply because Canadian troops have not yet switched over to American weapons, or whether Special Forces troops were trained with UK weapons specifically so they could fight alongside Commonwealth troops.) In this letter from 27 December, Alec Clutterbuck of the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom clarified a number of key aspects about the intended Commonwealth arrangement. Most importantly, Clutterbuck stated that there will be no formal division established of Commonwealth ground troops, and thus suggested that there was no need to confirm a name or announce the Commonwealth troop arrangements publicly. He did, however, confirm that Canadian forces would be joining Commonwealth forces for all intents and purposes on the ground in Korea.