Canadian Expeditionary Force

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26th Battalion of the Second Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1915
26th Battalion of the Second Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1915

The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the group of Canadian military units formed for service overseas in the First World War. As the units arrived in France they were formed into the divisions of the Canadian Corps within the British Army. Four divisions ultimately served on the front line.

The force consisted of 260 numbered infantry battalions, 2 named infantry battalions (The Royal Canadian Regiment and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry), 13 mounted rifle regiments, 13 railway troop battalions, 5 pioneer battalions, as well as 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. 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.

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[edit] Composition

The Canadian Expeditionary Force was comprised mostly of men who had volunteered, as conscription was not enforced until the end of the war when call-ups began in January 1918. (See Conscription Crisis of 1917.) Ultimately, only 24,132 conscripts arrived in France before the end of the war.

Canada was the senior Dominion in the British Empire and automatically at war with Germany upon the British declaration. According to Canadian historian Dr. Serge Durflinger at the Canadian War Museum, popular support for the war was found mainly in English Canada.[citation needed] Of the First Division formed at Valcartier, Quebec, '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, who came to be known as the 'Van Doos', was French-speaking.

To a lesser extent, other cultural groups were represented with Ukrainians, Russians, Scandinavians, Belgians, Dutch, French, Americans, Swiss, Chinese, and Japanese 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[1], Afro-Canadians and Japanese-Canadians.

After distinguishing themselves in battle from the Second Battle of Ypres, through the Somme and particularly in the Battle of Arras at Vimy Ridge in April 1917, 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 maneouvres in the spring of 1918, the Canadians were ordered to spearhead the last campaigns of the War from the Battle of Amiens on 8 August 1918, which ended in a tacit victory for the Allies when the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918.

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

The CEF disbanded after the war and was replaced by the Canadian Militia.

[edit] Equipment

[edit] Vehicles

Armoured carriers and armoured tractors
Tanks

Mark I tank training tank, UK

[edit] Service rifles and carbines

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins
Martini Henry 1870s-end of WWI UK
Winchester rifle 1870s-end of WWI USA

.303 rifles

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins
Martini-Metford—1894-? UK
Martini-Enfield UK
Lee-Metford—1895-? UK
Lee-Enfield UK
Lee Enfield Mk I—1896-1905 UK
Lee Enfield (SMLE) Mark III—1916-1943 UK
Ross rifle CAN
Ross Mark I and Ross Mark II—1905-1913 CAN
Ross Mark III—1913-1916 CAN

[edit] 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) Flag of the United States United States
Colt Model 1911 Pistol—1914-1945 Flag of the United States United States
Smith & Wesson 2nd Model "Hand Ejector" Revolver—1915-1951 Flag of the United States United States

[edit] Approved private purchase and secondary side-arms

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins
Webley Mark VI Revolver Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Enfield No. 2 MkI Revolver Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom

[edit] 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 1914-1919 UK
Lewis Machine Gun—1916-1939 USA

[edit] Infantry anti-tank weapons

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins

[edit] Grenades, mines and other explosives

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins

[edit] Infantry mortars

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins

[edit] Bayonets and combat knives

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins
Pattern 1913 bayonet
Ross Bayonet CAN
No. 4 Rifle Bayonets
Mk I Spike Bayonet
Mk II Spike Bayone
Mk III Spike Bayonet
No. 5 Mk II Knife Bayonet
No. 7 Knife Bayonet
No. 9 Socket Knife Bayonet
C1 Bayonet
Nella C7 Bayonet

[edit] Ammunition

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins
.303 British Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
.455 Webley Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom

[edit] Uniforms, load bearing and protective equipment

Uniforms

See also: Battledress, Uniforms of the Canadian Forces

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins
Service Dress 1903-1939
Canadian pattern and british pattern

Load bearing equipment

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins
Oliver Pattern Equipment 1898-19??
1903 pattern bandolier equipment

Head dress

Model/Type Period or Years in Use Manufacturer/Origins
Glengarry Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Tam o'shanter Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Field Service Cap Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Beret Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Brodie helmet Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Morton, Desmond. When Your Number's Up

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

  • Berton, Pierre. Vimy
  • Christie, Norm. For King & Empire, The Canadians at Amiens, August 1918. CEF Books, 1999
  • Christie, Norm. For King & Empire, The Canadians at Arras, August–September 1918. CEF Books, 1997
  • Christie, Norm. For King & Empire, The Canadians at Cambrai, September–October 1918. CEF Books, 1997
  • Dancocks, Daniel G. Spearhead to Victory – Canada and the Great War, Hurtig Publishers, 1987
  • Morton, Desmond and Granatstein, J.L. Marching to Armageddon. Lester & Orpen Dennys Publishers, 1989
  • Morton, Desmond. When Your Numbers Up. Random House of Canada, 1993
  • Newman, Stephen K. With the Patricia's in Flanders: 1914–1918. Bellewaerde House Publishing, 2000
  • Nicholson, Col. G.W.L. Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914–1919, Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War, Queen’s Printer, 1964
  • Schreiber, Shane B. Shock Army of the British Empire – The Canadian Corps in the Last 100 Days of the Great War. Vanwell Publishing Limited, 2004

[edit] See also

[edit] External links