Point de Maisonnette is a cape located in northeastern

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Its geographic coordinates are 47º50'15"N, 65º00'13"W. It is the dividing point for delineating the northern limits of

Caraquet Bay Caraquet Bay (french: Baie de Caraquet) is situated in the northeast of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It is bordered on the south by the town of Caraquet and the village of Bertrand, to the south by the parish of New Bandon, to the nort ...

from Chaleur Bay. It is located near the unincorporated fishing community of Maisonnette. The

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues ...

maintains a light station at Pointe de Maisonnette.

Operation Pointe Maisonnette

Pointe de Maisonnette was the focal point of a minor naval operation during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

which saw vessels of the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

ambush in late September 1943 as part of what is known as the

Battle of the St. Lawrence The Battle of the St. Lawrence involved marine and anti-submarine actions throughout the lower St. Lawrence River and the entire Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Strait of Belle Isle, Anticosti Island and Cabot Strait from May–October 1942, September ...

. Canadian military intelligence and the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP) intercepted mail addressed to several Kriegsmarine officers (including

Otto Kretschmer Otto Kretschmer (1 May 1912 – 5 August 1998) was a German naval officer and submariner in World War II and the Cold War. From September 1939 until his capture in March 1941 he sank 44 ships, including one warship, a total of 274,333 tons. For ...

) imprisoned at the Camp 30

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

camp at

Bowmanville Bowmanville is a town of approximately 40,000 people located in the Municipality of Clarington, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately east of Toronto, and east of Oshawa along Highway 2. Bowmanville was first incorporated as a to ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

in early 1943. The correspondence detailed an escape plan, known as Operation Kiebitz, in which the prisoners were to tunnel out of the camp and make their way (using currency and false documents provided to them) through eastern Ontario and across Quebec to the northeastern tip of

off the Pointe Maisonnette lighthouse where the POW escapees would be retrieved by a

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

. Canadian authorities did not tip off the POWs and detected signs of tunnel digging at Camp 30 shortly afterward. All POWs except one were arrested at the time of their escape attempt; the sole POW who managed to escape travelled all the way to Pointe de Maisonette undetected, likely travelling onboard Canadian National Railways passenger trains to the Bathurst area. This POW was apprehended by military police and RCMP on the beach in front of the lighthouse the night of the arranged U-boat extraction. The RCN provided a U-boat counter-offensive force (code-named "Operation Pointe Maisonnette") that was led by , which was outfitted with an experimental version of diffuse lighting

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

for the operation. The task force led by ''Rimouski'' waited in Caraquet Harbour, obscured by Caraquet Island, the night of 26–27 September 1943 and detected the presence of ''U-536'' off Pointe de Maisonnette while shore authorities arrested the POW escapee. ''U-536'' managed to elude the RCN task force by diving just as the surface warships began attacking with depth charges; however, the submarine was able to escape the Gulf of St. Lawrence without making the planned extraction.

References

Maisonnette Landforms of Gloucester County, New Brunswick 1943 in Canada Military history of New Brunswick 1943 in New Brunswick Lighthouses in New Brunswick {{NewBrunswick-geo-stub

Operation Pointe Maisonnette

See also

References