Canadian Expeditionary Force

26th Battalion of the Second Contingent, 1915

The Canadian Expeditionary Force was mostly volunteers; a bill allowing conscription was passed in August, 1917,[1] but not enforced until call-ups began in January 1918 (see Conscription Crisis of 1917). In all, 24,132 conscripts had been sent to France to take part in the final Hundred Days campaign.[2]

As a Dominion in the British Empire, Canada was automatically at war with Germany upon the British declaration.[3] Popular support for the war was found mainly in English Canada.[4] Of the first contingent formed at Valcartier, Quebec in 1914, about two-thirds were men who had been born in the United Kingdom. By the end of the war in 1918, at least half of the soldiers were British-born. Recruiting was difficult among the French-Canadian population, many of whom did not agree with supporting Canada's participation in the war;[5][6] one battalion, the 22nd, who came to be known as the 'Van Doos', was French-speaking. ("Van Doos" is an approximate pronunciation of the French for "22nd" - vingt-deuxième)

Private Joseph Pappin, 130th Battalion.[7]

To a lesser extent, several other cultural groups within the Dominion enlisted and made a significant contribution to the Force including Indigenous people of the First Nations, Black Canadians as well as Black Americans.[8] Many British nationals from the United Kingdom or other territories who were resident in Canada and the United States also joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force. A sizeable percentage of Bermuda's volunteers who served in the war joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force, either because they were resident in Canada already, or because Canada (its next nearest neighbour after the United States) was the easiest other part of the British Empire and Commonwealth to reach from Bermuda (1,239 kilometres (770 miles) from Nova Scotia). Bermuda had been part of British North America (a collection of colonies administered collectively as a region by the Colonial Office), with its garrison forming part of that of Nova Scotia (the second nearest landfall from Bermuda after the United States) under the Commander-in-Chief, Maritime provinces,[9][10] but as an Imperial fortress it had remained under administration of the British Government after being left out of the 1867 Confederation of Canada (along with the Colony of Newfoundland). As the Royal Canadian Regiment, 38th Battalion (Ottawa), CEF, 77th Battalion, CEF, and 163rd Battalion (French-Canadian), CEF were posted successively to the Bermuda Garrison before proceeding to France, islanders were also able to enlist there.[11] Although the Bermuda Militia Artillery and Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps both sent contingents to the Western Front, the first would not arrive there until June 1915. By then, many Bermudians had already been serving on the Western Front in the Canadian Expeditionary Force for months. Bermudians in the Canadian Expeditionary Force enlisted under the same terms as Canadians, and all male British Nationals resident in Canada became liable for conscription under the Military Service Act, 1917.

The Canadian Expeditionary Force raised 260 numbered infantry battalions, two named infantry battalions (The Royal Canadian Regiment and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry), 17 mounted regiments, 13 railway troop battalions, five pioneer battalions, four divisional supply trains, four divisional signals companies, a dozen engineering companies, over 80 field and heavy artillery batteries, fifteen field ambulance units, 23 general and stationary hospitals, and many other medical, dental, forestry, labour, tunnelling, cyclist, and service units. Two tank battalions were raised in 1918 but did not see service. Most of the infantry battalions were broken up and used as reinforcements, with a total of fifty being used in the field, including the mounted rifle units, which were re-organized as infantry. The artillery and engineering units underwent significant re-organization as the war progressed, in keeping with rapidly changing technological and tactical requirements.[12]

Another entity within the Canadian Expeditionary Force was the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. It consisted of several motor machine gun battalions, the Eatons, Yukon, and Borden Motor Machine Gun Batteries, and nineteen machine gun companies. During the summer of 1918, these units were consolidated into four machine gun battalions, one being attached to each of the four divisions in the Canadian Corps.

The Canadian Corps with its four infantry divisions comprised the main fighting force of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The Canadian Cavalry Brigade also served in France. Support units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force included the Canadian Railway Troops, which served on the Western Front and provided a bridging unit for the Middle East; the Canadian Forestry Corps, which felled timber in Britain and France, and special units which operated around the Caspian Sea, in northern Russia and eastern Siberia.[13]

A large number of United States citizens enlisted in the Canadian armed forces while the United States was still neutral. In November 1915, an all-American battalion of the Canadian Army was formed and given the title 97th Battalion (American Legion). The unit embarked for Europe in May 1916 at Toronto, but were held at Aldershot, Nova Scotia, due to objections by the US Government, causing a number of desertions and resignations. The battalion finally arrived in England in September, having officially dropped the "American Legion" title,[14] although the term continued to be used informally throughout the war. Further American battalions followed, but were either used as drafts for other CEF units or had been merged with the 97th Battalion by the end of the war. Approximately 2,700 US citizens are interred in Commonwealth War Graves. On returning to New York after the war, some 2,700 US citizens who had fought with British Empire forces, including 300 African Americans, were detained at Long Island because they lacked the correct documentation to be readmitted.[15] A United States Department of War report in early 1918 estimated that 25,000 to 30,000 Americans were serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.[16]

When it was deployed in 1914, the Canadian Expeditionary Force included only infantry battalions, but it became clear by 1915 that support and administrative units needed to be included on the Western Front.[17] After September 1915 it expanded to include supporting combat corps and what were considered administrative corps:

• Canadian Cavalry Brigade
• Canadian Forestry Corps
• Canadian Machine Gun Corps
• Corps of Guides (Canada)
• HQ Corps of Military Staff Clerks
• Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps
• Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps
• Royal Canadian Army Service Corps
• Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps
• Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
• Canadian Military Engineers
• Canadian Postal Corps
• Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery

The Canadian Expeditionary Force also had a large reserve and training organization in England, and a recruiting organization in Canada.

Chinese labourers were also brought over to Europe, especially the Canadian Railway Troops.[18] From 1917 to 1918 84,000 Chinese labourers were recruited for the Chinese Labour Corps from China (via Shandong Province) that were shipped to Canada and then some to the Western Front. Many of these labourers died in Belgium and France.[19]

Enlistment form for a soldier of the 71st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force, who saw action at Arras. This young man would suffer a shrapnel wound but later returned home safely to Canada.

The 1915 Battle of Ypres, the first engagement of Canadian forces in the Great War, exposed Canadian soldiers and their commanders to modern war. They had previously experienced the effects of shellfire and participated in aggressive trench raiding despite a lack of formal training and generally inferior equipment. They were equipped with the frequently malfunctioning Ross rifle, the older, lighter and less reliable Colt machine gun and an inferior Canadian copy of British webbing equipment that rotted quickly and fell apart in the wet of the trenches.

In April 1915, they were introduced to yet another facet of modern war, gas. The Germans employed chlorine gas to create a hole in the French lines adjacent to the Canadian force and poured troops into the gap. The Canadians, operating for the most part in small groups and under local commanders, fired into the flanks of the German advance, forcing it to turn its attention onto the Canadian sector. For three days, Canadian and reinforcing British units fought to contain the penetration with a series of counter-attacks while using handkerchiefs soaked in urine to neutralize effects of the gas. One in every three of the inexperienced but determined Canadians became a casualty. The senior Canadian officers were also inexperienced at first and lacked communications with most of their troops. Notable among these was Arthur Currie, a brigade commander later became the commander of the Canadian Corps and who appointed as his divisional commanders only those who had fought well in this engagement. The battle cost the British Expeditionary Force – BEF (of which the Canadian Corps was a part of) 59,275 men and the Canadian Expeditionary Force over 6000.[20]

According to historian G. W. L. Nicholson, "The Somme offensive had no great geographical objectives. Its purpose was threefold – to relieve pressure on the French armies at Verdun, to inflict as heavy losses as possible on the German armies, and to aid allies on other fronts by preventing any further transfer of German troops from the west."[21] The Canadian Corps was formed after receiving the 2nd and 3rd and later, 4th divisions. Its first commander was Lieutenant-General Edwin Alderson, who was soon replaced by Lieutenant-General Julian Byng, in time to repulse a German attack at Mont Sorrel in the Ypres sector in June 1916. while much of the BEF was moving toward the Somme. In this engagement, Major-General Malcolm Mercer, commander of the newly formed 3rd Division was killed; he was the most senior Canadian to be killed in the war.

The corps did not participate in the battles of the Somme until September, but these began on 1 July after a seven-day bombardment. British losses on the first day amounted to 57,470, which included the casualties of the Newfoundland Regiment serving in the British 29th Division. The regiment was annihilated when it attacked at Beaumont Hamel. By the time the four Canadian divisions of the corps participated in September, the Mark I Tank first appeared in battle. Only a few were available because the production time was long for the unfamiliar and unproven technology; those delivered were committed in order to aid the expected breakthrough. The psychological impact of them was considerable, with some claiming that they made many German soldiers surrender immediately, although the four months of sustained combat, high casualties among the defending Germans and the appearance of the fresh Canadian Corps were more likely factors in the increasing surrenders. The toll of the five-month campaign cannot be statistically verified by a single reliable source, however historians have estimated German losses at roughly 670,000 and an Allied total of 623,907.[21] The Canadian Corps suffered almost 25,000 casualties in this the final phase of the operation, but like the remainder of the BEF, it had developed significant experience in the use of infantry and artillery and in tactical doctrine, preparation and leadership under fire.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge had significance for Canada as a young nation. For the first time the Canadian Corps, with all four of its divisions attacked as one. This Canadian offensive amounted to the capture of more land, prisoners and armaments than any previous offensive.[21] The main offensive tactic was the creeping barrage, an artillery strike combined with constant infantry progression through the battlefield.[note 1]

Private Isaac Goodine, 26th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force [22]

In August 1917, the Canadian Corps attacked Lens as a distraction to allow two armies of the BEF to begin the Third Battle of Ypres, the attack on Passchendaele Ridge. The Corps, led by Lieutenant General Arthur Currie, captured Hill 70 overlooking Lens and forced the Germans to launch more than twenty counter-attacks in attempting to remove the threat to its flank. The Ypres offensive began with the swift capture of the Messines Ridge, but weather, concrete defences and the lack of any other concurrent Allied effort meant that the BEF fought a muddy, bloody campaign against the main German force for two months. The BEF, including the ANZACs, pushed to within two kilometres of the objective with very high casualties and in ever-deepening mud.

By September, it became clear that a fresh force would need to be brought in for the final push. With the situation in Italy and within the French army deteriorating, it was decided to continue the push and Currie was ordered to bring in the Canadian Corps. He insisted on time to prepare, on reorganizing the now-worn down artillery assets and on being placed under command of General Plumer, a commander he trusted. The first assault began on October 26, 1917. It was designed to achieve about 500 meters in what had become known as "bite and hold" tactics but at great cost (2,481 casualties) and made little progress. The second assault on October 30 cost another 1,321 soldiers and achieved another 500 metres but reached the high ground at Crest Farm. On November 6, after another round of preparations, a third attack won the town of Passchendaele, for another 2,238 killed or wounded. The final assault to capture the remainder of Passchendaele Ridge began on November 10 and was completed the same day. Nine Canadians earned the Victoria Cross in an area not much bigger than four football fields and the Canadian Corps completed the operation after it had taken the BEF three months to advance the eight kilometres onto the ridge. The Canadian Corps suffered 15,654 battle casualties in the muddiest, best-known battle of the Great War.[23]

Load-bearing equipment

Head dress

Model/type	Period or years in use	Manufacturer/origins
Glengarry		United Kingdom
Tam o' shanter		United Kingdom
Field service cap		United Kingdom
Brodie helmet	after 1915	United Kingdom

Military equipment

The CEF used a mix of service revolver or pistols, bolt-action rifles, machine guns (from light, medium and heavy) and armoured fighting vehicles (armoured cars, tanks and motorcycles). Horses and mules were used by the cavalry, as well as for transport of personnel and equipment to the front.[34]