[3] O'Daire had been lured to Canada on a government scheme which offered ownership of land to immigrants, provided they were able to make it arable.

His military experience lead the authorities to consider him a dangerous threat and by 1933 O'Daire found himself arrested and imprisoned on charges of provoking a riot in Saskatchewan.

As part of their orders, they were commanded on 25 August to capture Purburrel Hill, a height south of the town, on which 500 Rebel troops were entrenched behind barbed wire and concrete pill-boxes,[7] fortified with input from German advisors.

Finding themselves unsupported and outnumbered against the defenders, O'Daire's unit took heavy casualties and Peter Daly was wounded in the abdomen.

Daly was taken away for aid while O’Daire took charge[8] refusing the orders of his superior, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Ćopić, to continue the suicidal attack, keeping his men dug in on the exposed hillside until nightfall and safe withdrawal.

[7] On 26 August O'Daire, this time supported by the 15th Brigade's anti-tank battery, succeeded in breaking the enemy lines,[7] leading to the capture of 300 troops.