Canadian Expeditionary Force
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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.
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. 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] Trucks
| Model/Type | Period or Years in Use | Manufacturer/Origins |
|---|
[edit] Armoured carriers and armoured tractors
[edit] Tanks
| Model/Type | Period or Years in Use | Manufacturer/Origins |
|---|
[edit] Training tanks
| Model/Type | Period or Years in Use | Manufacturer/Origins |
|---|---|---|
| Mark I tank | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom |
[edit] Service rifles and carbines
| Model/Type | Period or Years in Use | Manufacturer/Origins |
|---|---|---|
| Martini Henry | 1870s-end of WWI | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom |
| Winchester rifle | 1870s-end of WWI | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
.303 rifles
| Model/Type | Period or Years in Use | Manufacturer/Origins |
|---|---|---|
| Martini-Metford - 1894-? | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Martini-Enfield | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Lee-Metford - 1895-? | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Lee-Enfield | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Lee Enfield Mk I - 1896-1905 | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Lee Enfield (SMLE) Mark III - 1916-1943 | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Ross rifle | Image:Flag of Canada.svg Canada | |
| Ross Mark I and Ross Mark II - 1905-1913 | Image:Flag of Canada.svg Canada | |
| Ross Mark III - 1913-1916 | Image:Flag of Canada.svg Canada |
[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) | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States | |
| Colt Model 1911 Pistol - 1914-1945 | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States | |
| Smith & Wesson 2nd Model "Hand Ejector" Revolver - 1915-1951 | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
[edit] Approved private purchase and secondary side-arms
| Model/Type | Period or Years in Use | Manufacturer/Origins |
|---|---|---|
| Webley Mark VI Revolver | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Enfield No. 2 MkI Revolver | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom |
[edit] Submachine guns
| Model/Type | Period or Years in Use | Manufacturer/Origins |
|---|
[edit] Machine guns, light machine guns and other weapons
| Model/Type | Period or Years in Use | Manufacturer/Origins |
|---|---|---|
| Colt Machine Gun 1914-1916 | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States | |
| Vickers Machine Gun 1914-1919 | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Lewis Machine Gun - 1916-1939 | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
[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 | Image:Flag of Canada.svg Canada | |
| 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 | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| .455 Webley | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg 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 | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Tam o'shanter | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Field Service Cap | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Beret | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom | |
| Brodie helmet | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Morton, Desmond. When Your Number's Up
[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
- Canadian Great War Project
- The C.E.F. Paper Trail
- The C.E.F. Study Group
- Central Ontario Branch – Western Front Association
- Library & Archives Canada - Canada and the First World War
- National Defence – Books/Publications Online – Contains a link to download a copy of Nicholson’s Official History of the C.E.F.
- Veteran Affairs Canada – History of the First World War
- Regimental Rogue site
- Links to Nicholson text and maps (see book reference below: [1])
- canadiansoldiers.com article on the CEF
- Canadian Virtual War Memorial
- French Canada and Recruitment during the First World War
- Oral Histories of the First World War: Veterans 1914-1918 at Library and Archives Canadano:Canadian Expeditionary Force
ja:カナダ海外派遣軍
