Capt. Gerald Butler - The Military History of Cape Cod Canal

Although perplexing, the military history of the Cape Cod Canal began at Fort Ruckman, in Nahant, Massachusetts. In September 1940, certain National Guard units were federalized, including coast artillery and antiaircraft regiments. Accordingly, Battery C, 241st Coast Artillery Regiment (Harbor Defense), was stationed at Fort Ruckman and assigned to Battery Augustus P. Gardner, a massive 12-inch, long-range gun battery.

Battery C performed artillery drills and maintenance upon Battery Gardner from September 1940 through October 1941. At that time, a regular army unit from the 9th Coast Artillery Regiment (Harbor Defense) took station at Fort Ruckman and manned the gun battery, as shown below. Battery C was then transferred to Fort Dawes, Deer Island, in Winthrop.

This is one of the last formations of Battery C, 241st Coast Artillery Regiment (Harbor Defense), at Fort Ruckman in October 1941. Elements of the battery have been divided into platoons, as shown above.

Personnel were originally quartered in squad tents while contractors completed new barracks and structures at Fort Dawes. In this view, soldiers are readied for personal and full-field inspection in front of pup tents.

Prior to construction of temporary buildings at Fort Dawes, the Resthaven Cemetery had to be exhumed and remains transferred to Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. This 1940 image depicts the joint military and civilian ceremony at Resthaven honoring soldiers from the War of 1812 through the postCivil War era.

When the new barracks were completed at Fort Dawes, a grand martial ceremony was held, complete with an official flag-raising ceremony that took place involving all of the forts personnel and officers from the headquarters of the Harbor Defenses of Boston.

Although these two photographs do not show Fort Dawes, they were taken at nearby Fort Heath in Winthrop and accurately depict a typical sandbagged 155mm cannon emplacement under construction by the gun crew.

Shown in this diagram are the primary components of a 155mm cannon in its traveling, or towed, position.

This is a view of a 155mm cannon atop the highest hill at Fort Dawes. Limbers for the gun can be seen to the rear of the cannon, and a manhole-style observation station is located directly to the rear right of the gun carriage. The original Harbor Defense Seawards Station and signal mast is situated to the far right of this October 1941 image.

Members of Battery C relax after an arduous artillery drill on a 155mm cannon at Fort Dawes on a warm October day in 1941.

Intensive artillery drills began in mid-November 1941 that included towing the 155mm cannons from their firing position to various locations throughout Fort Dawes. In this image, a powerful tractor is towing a 155mm cannon by means of a wheeled limber arrangement. The limbershown with seated gunnerswas an intermediate assembly that connected the trails of the gun carriage together to form a central tow point. Due to Deer Islands wind-swept location, a tarpaulin has been draped around the breech and recoil mechanisms of the gun carriage proper. This prevented abrasive sand clogging the delicate elevation and traversing systems and the finely machined surfaces of the weapons working components.