Canadian Expeditionary Force - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the organisation that fought in Europe, see Canadian Corps
Canadian Corps
The Canadian Corps was a World War I corps formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France. The corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 1915 and the 4th Canadian Division in August 1916...

.

The Canadian Expeditionary Force
Expeditionary warfare
Expeditionary warfare is used to describe the organization of a state's military to fight abroad, especially when deployed to fight away from its established bases at home or abroad. Expeditionary forces were in part the antecedent of the modern concept of Rapid Deployment Forces...

was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Units of the C.E.F. were divided into field formation in France, where they were organized first into separate divisions and later joined together into a single Canadian Corps

Canadian Corps

The Canadian Corps was a World War I corps formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France. The corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 1915 and the 4th Canadian Division in August 1916...

within the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. Four divisions ultimately served on the front line, while a fifth was disbanded to reinforce the others. In the later stages of the war, particularly after their success at Vimy Ridge

Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military engagement fought primarily as part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the Canadian Corps, of four divisions, against three divisions of the German Sixth Army...

and Passchendaele, the Canadian Corps was regarded by friend and foe alike as the most effective Allied military formation on the Western Front. The Germans went so far as call them "storm troopers" for their great combat efficiency.

Composition

The Canadian Expeditionary Force was mostly volunteers, as conscription was not enforced until the end of the war when call-ups began in January 1918 (see Conscription Crisis of 1917

Conscription Crisis of 1917

The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I.-Background:...

). Ultimately, only 24,132 conscripts arrived in France before the end of the war.

Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

was the senior Dominion in the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

and automatically at war with Germany upon the British declaration. According to Canadian historian Dr. Serge Durflinger at the Canadian War Museum

Canadian War Museum

The Canadian War Museum is Canada’s national museum of military history. Located in Ottawa, Ontario, the museum covers all facets of Canada’s military past, from the first recorded instances of death by armed violence in Canadian history several thousand years ago to the country’s most recent...

, popular support for the war was found mainly in English Canada. Of the first contingent formed at Valcartier, Quebec in 1914, 'fully two-thirds were men born in the United Kingdom'. By the end of the war in 1918, at least 'fifty per cent of the CEF consisted of British-born men'. Recruiting was difficult among the French-Canadian population, although one battalion, the 22nd

Royal 22e Régiment

The Royal 22nd Regiment is an infantry regiment and the most famous francophone organization of the Canadian Forces. The regiment comprises three Regular Force battalions, two Primary Reserve battalions, and a band, making it the largest regiment in the Canadian Army...

, who came to be known as the 'Van Doos', was French-speaking ("Van Doo" is an approximate pronunciation of the French for "22" - vingt deux)

To a lesser extent, other cultural groups were represented with Ukrainians

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

ns, Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

ns, Italians

Italian-Canadian

An Italian Canadian is a Canadian of Italian descent or heritage. According to the 2006 census of Canada, 1,445,335 Canadians consider themselves to be of Italian origin. The Italian-Canadian population climbed by more than 12% and half have combined Italian origins along with another ethnic...

, Belgians

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Americans

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Chinese, and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese men who enlisted. Despite systemic racism directed towards non-whites, a significant contribution was made by individuals of certain ethnic groups, notably the First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

, Afro-Canadians and Japanese-Canadians.

The C.E.F. eventually numbered 260 numbered infantry battalions, two named infantry battalion

Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

s (The Royal Canadian Regiment

The Royal Canadian Regiment

The Royal Canadian Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Canadian Forces. The regiment consists of four battalions, three in the Regular Force and one in the Primary Reserve...

and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is one of the three regular force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army. The regiment is composed of four battalions including a primary reserve battalion, for a total of 2,000 soldiers...

), 13 mounted rifle regiments, 13 railway troop battalions, 5 pioneer battalions, as well as numerous ancillary units including field and heavy artillery batteries, ambulance, medical, dental, forestry, labour, tunnelling, cyclist, and service units.

A distinct entity within the Canadian Expeditionary Force was the Canadian Machine Gun Corps

Canadian Machine Gun Corps

The Canadian Machine Gun Corps was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army. The Canadian Permanent Machine Gun Brigade was organized in the Permanent Force on 3 Nov 1919. The Canadian Permanent Machine Gun Brigade was redesignated the Royal Canadian Permanent Machine Gun Brigade on 16 Jun 1921...

. 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

Canadian Corps

with its four infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

divisions comprised the main fighting force of the CEF. The Canadian Cavalry Brigade also served in France. Support units of the CEF included the Canadian Railway Troops, which served on the Western Front and provided a bridging unit for the Middle East; the Canadian Forestry Corps

Canadian Forestry Corps

The Canadian Forestry Corps was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army with its own cap badge, and other insignia and traditions.The Canadian Forestry Corps was created 14 Nov 1916. The crest of the Canadian Forestry Corps consists of a circle, with a beaver on top, superimposed on a pair of...

, which felled timber in Britain and France, and special units which operated around the Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

, in northern Russia and eastern Siberia.

The Battle of Ypres, 1915

The 1915 Battle of Ypres, the first engagement of Canadian forces in the Great War, changed the Canadian perspective on war. Ypres rushed young Canadian soldiers out of their former naïve ideal of glory and showed them common themes of war. As a testament to its gruesome nature, Ypres is also considered the grounds upon which poison gas in the Great War ceased to be irregular. Possibly the most impressive of the Canadian forces was the Second Brigade under the command of Arthur William Currie, who would later attain the rank of general. This first battle spat them out the other end as professional and skilled soldiers (especially at improvisation on the battlefield), with a high morale and confidence. The battle cost the BEF (of which the Canadian Corps was a part of) 59, 275 men.

The Battle of the Somme, July-November 1916

“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 Germany troops from the west.” The Canadian Corps is formed after receiving the 2nd and 3rd division; its first commander was Major-General M. S. Mercer. On the 1st of July a seven-day assault began and British losses numbered 57, 470. During this time the 1st Newfoundland Regiment is decimated when attacking German trenches. Mark I Tank first appears in Battle at Somme, though premature the psychological impact is astounding and the sheer sight of it makes many German soldiers surrender immediately. The toll of the 5-month campaign cannot be statistically verified by a single reliable source however historians have come into the range of German losses roughly 670,000 and an Allied total of 623,907.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-14 April 1917

The battle of Vimy Ridge had incredible significance for Canada as a young nation. For the first time ever the Canadian Corps, with all four of its divisions attacked as one, under Canadian leadership with sole members from Canada. This tactical victory clearly showed how effective and powerful the Canadian Expeditionary Forces had become. This one Canadian offensive amounted to the capture of more land, prisoners and armaments than any previous offensive. The main offensive approach was an artillery strike while maintaining constant infantry progression through the battlefield known as Creeping Barrage.

Passchendaele, October – November 1917

Led by Lieutenant General Currie, the first offensive of the Canadian Corps in Passchendaele or the Third Ypres, was on October 26, 1917, cost 2,481 Canadian soldiers and made little progress. The second assault on October 30 took the lives of 1,321 soldiers and also made small gains. However on November 6th, the third attack successfully won the town of Passchendaele, forfeiting 2,238 killed or wounded. The final assault to capture Passchendaele Ridge began on November 10th and was completed the same day. The Canadian Corps did in two weeks what the other Allied forces were not able to do in three months. Canadian Corps suffered 15,654 battle casualties in the muddiest stalemate battle of the Great War.

Letter from the Front

Desperate Fighting

The sun has risen on many a dead Canadian this morning. You can say that it is very unlikely that braver troops can be found than the Canadians; they have behaved splendidly. Canada can expect a startler re the casualties, but she can be sure she has good fighting material. I have been up all night, and feel very tired. We were shelled out of our last billet and had a narrow escape. I am sitting in the same place, and the same noise is going on and shells are whistling past and shaking the house as usual. A bomb from an aeroplane has just burst by the house, a man wounded and a horse killed, and as I stood at the door to give an order, one of these steel arrows dropped at my feet. This is the fifth day of the battle, almost without interruption. I still have my clothes on, but have been able to get a shave and two feet washes. I breakfasted on hard tack and jam, with a mixture of rum, water, and tea that i had in my water bottle to wash it down. Yesterday I had tea and a box of Sardines. The medical people are splendid, and work hard and lose many. It is a strange sight to see the Belgian peasant women and children fleeing, some too old to walk far, the poor souls! You see an old woman with a few household goods and a few children in a two-wheeled cart, and with a boy and girl in the shafts and perhaps three dogs harnessed under it pulling, while larger children push behind. We brought down an aeroplane this morning. They shelled a town in our rear last evening, and drove the hospital people out of some house, so that two hundred or so wounded had to be taken out and laid in a field. When I went up to...I rode through quite a few batteries all going full blast. There were English, Canadians, Algerians, French, Senegalese, Arabs, Belgian, and Indian troops around. I have had no sleep or clothes off for some days and nights, and the fighting is desperate. My hair is cropped close - yes, I am a beauty - I have no use for brush or comb.

From Officer of Divisional Train, April 23rd, 1915.

The Final Count

After distinguishing themselves in battle from the Second Battle of Ypres

Second Battle of Ypres

The Second Battle of Ypres was the first time Germany used poison gas on a large scale on the Western Front in the First World War and the first time a former colonial force pushed back a major European power on European soil, which occurred in the battle of St...

, through the Somme and particularly in the Battle of Arras

Battle of Arras (1917)

The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....

at Vimy Ridge in April 1917, and Passchendaele the Canadian Corps came to be regarded as an exceptional force by both Allied and German military commanders. Since they were mostly unmolested by the German army's offensive manoeuvres in the spring of 1918, the Canadians were ordered to spearhead the last campaigns of the War from the Battle of Amiens on August 8, 1918, which ended in a tacit victory for the Allies when the armistice

Armistice

An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...

was signed on November 11, 1918.

The Canadian Expeditionary Force lost 60,661 men during the war, representing 9.28% of the 619,636 who enlisted.

The End of the C.E.F

The C.E.F. was legally distinct from the Canadian Militia

Canadian Militia

The Canadian Militia was the traditional title for the land forces of Canada from before Confederation in 1867 to 1940 when it was renamed the Canadian Army.The Militia consisted of:* Permanent Active Militia* Non-Permanent Active Militia...

which did not mobilize in 1914. The Militia remained active in Canada during the war. After 1918, it was decided (after lengthy dissertation by the Otter Committee) that units of the C.E.F. would be disbanded, and that the Militia would be reorganized. Individual units of the Canadian Militia, notably infantry and cavalry regiments, were permitted to perpetuate the battle honours and histories of the C.E.F. units that had actually fought the war.

After the war, the Canadian Military Hospitals Commission reported on provision of employment for members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force on their return to Canada, and the re-education of those who were unable to follow their previous occupations because of disability.

Vehicles

Armoured carriers and armoured tractors

Tanks
Mark I tank

Mark I tank

The British Mark I was a tracked vehicle developed by the British Army during the First World War and the world's first combat tank. The Mark I entered service in August 1916, and was first used in action on the morning of 15 September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, of the Somme...

training tank, UK

Mark IV tanks in battle were operated by CEF crews, but they belong to the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

Small arms

Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
18 Martini Henry Martini-Henry The Martini-Henry was a breech-loading single-shot lever-actuated rifle adopted by the British, combining an action worked on by Friedrich von Martini , with the rifled barrel designed by Scotsman Alexander Henry...	70s-end of World War I
Winchester rifle Winchester rifle In common usage, Winchester rifle usually means any of the lever-action rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, though the company has also manufactured many rifles of other action types...	1870s-end of World War I

.303 rifles

Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
Ross Rifle Ross rifle The Ross rifle was a straight-pull bolt-action 0.303 inch calibre rifle produced in Canada from 1903 until the middle of the First World War.... Mark I and Ross Mark II (multiple * variants)	1905–1913	Canada
Ross Rifle Mark III	1913–1916	Canada
Lee Enfield (SMLE) Mark III	1916–1943

Service pistols
Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
Colt "New Service" Revolver—1900-1928 (also used by the NWMP and RCMP from 1905–1954)
Colt Model 1911 Pistol—1914-1945
Smith & Wesson 2nd Model "Hand Ejector" Revolver—1915-1951

Approved private purchase and secondary side-arms
Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
Webley Webley Revolver The Webley Revolver was, in various marks, the standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the Commonwealths from 1887 until 1963.The Webley is a top-break revolver with automatic extraction... Mark VI Revolver
Enfield No. 2 MkI Enfield revolver Enfield Revolver is the name applied to two totally separate models of self-extracting British handgun designed and manufactured at the government-owned Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield; initially the .476 calibre Revolver Enfield Mk I/Mk II revolvers , and later the .38/200 calibre Enfield No... Revolver

Bayonets and combat knives
Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
Pattern 1907 bayonet
Ross Bayonet (for 1905 and 1910 rifles)		Canada

Machine guns, light machine guns and other weapons

Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
Colt Machine Gun 1914-1916		USA
Vickers Machine Gun Vickers machine gun Not to be confused with the Vickers light machine gunThe Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 inch machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army... 1914-1950s		UK
Lewis Machine Gun Lewis Gun The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War... —1916-c.1945		USA

Ammunition

Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
.303 British .303 British .303 British, or 7.7x56mmR, is a .311 inch calibre rifle and machine gun cartridge first developed in Britain as a blackpowder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee-Metford rifle, later adapted to use smokeless powders...
.455 Webley .455 Webley .455 Webley is a British handgun cartridge, most commonly used in the Webley top break revolvers Marks I through VI.The .455 cartridge was a service revolver cartridge, featuring a rimmed cartridge firing a .45 bullet at the relatively low velocity of 650 ft/s...

Uniforms, load bearing and protective equipment

See also: Battledress, Uniforms of the Canadian Forces
Uniforms of the Canadian Forces
The Uniforms of the Canadian Forces are the official dress worn by members of Canada's military while on duty.Prior to unification in 1968, the uniforms of the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force were similar to their counterparts in the forces of the United Kingdom...

Uniform
Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
Service dress Service Dress (British Army) Service Dress was the new style of khaki uniform introduced by the British Army for use in the field from the early 1900s, following the experiences of a number of imperial wars and conflicts, including the Second Boer War. This variant of uniform continues to be worn today, although only in a... 1903-1939
Canadian pattern and British pattern

Load bearing equipment

Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
Oliver Pattern Equipment 1898-19??
1908 pattern web equipment

Head dress

Model/Type	Period or Years in Use	Manufacturer/Origins
Glengarry Glengarry The glengarry bonnet is a traditional boat-shaped hat without a peak made of thick-milled woollen material with a toorie on top, a rosette cockade on the left, and ribbons hanging down behind...
Tam o'shanter Tam o'shanter (hat) A Tam o' Shanter is a Scottish style hat originally worn by men. The hat is named after a character in a poem written by Robert Burns in 1790...
Field Service Cap
Brodie helmet Brodie helmet The Brodie helmet, called Helmet, steel, Mark I helmet in Britain and the M1917 Helmet in the U.S., was a steel combat helmet designed and patented in 1915 by the Briton John Leopold Brodie...

External links

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