The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF; ) was the expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed on August 15, 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on the German Empire, with an initial strength of one infantry division. The division subsequently fought at Ypres on the Western Front, with a newly raised second division reinforcing the committed units to form the Canadian Corps. The CEF and corps was eventually expanded to four infantry divisions, which were all committed to the fighting in France and Belgium along the Western Front. A fifth division was partially raised in 1917, but was broken up in 1918 and used as reinforcements following heavy casualties.
Personnel Recruitment
The CEF was mostly volunteers; a bill allowing conscription was passed in August 1917, but not enforced until call-ups began in January 1918 (see Conscription Crisis of 1917); only 24,132 conscripts ended up being sent to France to take part in the final Hundred Days campaign.
As a Dominion in the British Empire, Canada was automatically at war with Germany upon the British declaration. Popular support for the war was found mainly in English Canada, especially among those born in the United Kingdom who had recently emigrated. Recruiting was difficult among the French-Canadian population, many of whom did not agree with Canada's participation in the war; one battalion, the 22nd, who came to be known as the 'Van Doos', was French-speaking ("Van Doos" is a caricatured Anglophone mispronunciation of the French for "22nd" - ).
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.Morton, Desmond. When Your Number's Up Many British nationals from the United Kingdom or other territories who were resident in Canada and the United States also joined the CEF.
Some units of the Permanent Active Militia were mobilized into the CEF, including the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Lord Strathcona's Horse and the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR). But the bulk of the CEF's units were newly raised, including a privately raised and equipped battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). The CEF came to include 260 numbered infantry battalions, two named infantry battalions (RCR and PPCLI), 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.
Another entity within the CEF 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 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, which felled timber in Britain and France, and special units which operated around the Caspian Sea, in northern Russia and eastern Siberia.Stacey, C. & N. Hillmer "Canadian Expeditionary Force". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Establishment of corps 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. 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
Reserves and training The Canadian Expeditionary Force also had a large reserve and training organization in England, and a recruiting organization in Canada.
Enlistment of foreign nationals American Legion 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 CEF 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, 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 or named in its memorials.
On returning to New York after the war, 2,754 US citizens who had fought with British Empire forces, including 300 African Americans, were detained on Long Island and New Jersey because they lacked the correct documentation. Some of the men reportedly sent a telegram to King George V, complaining of their "rotten reception." The plight of these men was covered extensively in local and national media, and following several days of negotiations and bureaucratic wrangling, those who had returned legally were allowed to enter the country. Their ticket home was paid by the UK government, in addition to 28 days pay. 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.Dickon 2014, p. 94
Bermudians
A sizeable percentage of Bermuda's volunteers who served in the war joined the CEF, 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. 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, 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. 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.
Chinese Labour Corps Chinese labourers were also brought over to Europe, especially the Canadian Railway Troops. 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.
Operations
Battle of Ypres
The Second Battle of Ypres in 1915, 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) 59,275 men and the Canadian Expeditionary Force over 6000.Dancocks, Daniel G. Welcome to Flanders Fields: the First Canadian Battle of the Great War : Ypres, 1915. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1988
Battle of the Somme
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."Nicholson, Gerald W. L. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919: Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War. Ottawa: R. Duhamel, Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery, 1962.] 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.