On taking command of 33^rd Field Engineer Squadron in 2003, then-Major E. "Eppo" van Weelderen, CD, embarked on a project to bring the history of his unit forward to the present day. "Green Route Up", tells the Second World War story of the Royal Canadian Engineers of the 4^th Canadian Armoured Division, which included the 6^th Field Park Squadron, the lineal predecessor of 33^rd Field Squadron.  

GREEN ROUTE UP was the name of the main axis of advance of the 4^th Canadian Armoured Division (4 Cdn Armd Div or 4 Div). It stretches from CAEN in NORMANDY to WILHELMSHAVEN in GERMANY. Practically every inch was wrestled from the fanatical enemy by our gallant comrades of the Infantry and Armoured Corps, with the direct support of the Artillery, and all made the greatest sacrifices and paid a heavy toll

The tasks of the Divisional Engineers are many and varied, but by far the greatest was that of opening and maintaining GREEN ROUTE as far as tactically possible, for our own divisional traffic, that is up to 7,000 vehicles of which some 350 may be of 40 tons in weight. The road was littered with the mangled bodies of men and animals, often in a state of advanced putrefaction, and smashed and burnt-out vehicles of every description. Thousands of mines were concealed in its surface as well as the enemy’s most ingenious death traps. It crossed the greatest water obstacles in EUROPE over which all bridges had been destroyed. Hundreds of huge craters dotted its winding course. But that is not all. The enemy almost invariably stayed and defended these obstacles to the last, showering the sappers with bombs, shells, rockets, mortars and machine-gun bullets. The following pages tell how GREEN ROUTE UP, over its entire length of some 600 miles was repaired and maintained class 40 by 6^th Field Park, 8^th Field and 9^th Field Squadrons, during the passage of 4^th Canadian Armoured Division.

Major van Weelderen was given one of the only surviving copies of the book. Realizing the sappers of 2006 were not the target audience of GREEN ROUTE UP - it was written by engineers of the 4^th Division as a memento for their own veterans and as such was focused on retelling the story that they already knew. To make the book relevant to a present-day audience, he set out to republish the book in a more contemporary form. He added an index for use in research, a list of terms and acronyms and published enough copies to present to each member of his squadron when he relinquished his command in 2006.