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.
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. 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, 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 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 was signed on November 11, 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.
Equipment
Vehicles
Armoured carriers and armoured tractorsTanks
Mark I tank training tank, UK
Service rifles and carbines
.303 rifles
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)
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| Colt Model 1911 Pistol—1914-1945
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| Smith & Wesson 2nd Model "Hand Ejector" Revolver—1915-1951
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Approved private purchase and secondary side-arms
Machine guns, light machine guns and other weapons
Infantry anti-tank weapons
| Model/Type
| Period or Years in Use
| Manufacturer/Origins |
Grenades, mines and other explosives
| Model/Type
| Period or Years in Use
| Manufacturer/Origins |
Infantry mortars
| Model/Type
| Period or Years in Use
| Manufacturer/Origins |
Bayonets and combat knives
| Model/Type
| Period or Years in Use
| Manufacturer/Origins |
| Pattern 1913 bayonet
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| Ross Bayonet
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| No. 4 Rifle Bayonets
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| Mk I Spike Bayonet
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| Mk II Spike Bayone
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| Mk III Spike Bayonet
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| No. 5 Mk II Knife Bayonet
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| No. 7 Knife Bayonet
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| No. 9 Socket Knife Bayonet
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| C1 Bayonet
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| Nella C7 Bayonet
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Ammunition
Uniforms, load bearing and protective equipment
UniformsSee also: Battledress, Uniforms of the Canadian Forces
| Model/Type
| Period or Years in Use
| Manufacturer/Origins |
| Service Dress 1903-1939
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| Canadian pattern and British pattern
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Load bearing equipment
| Model/Type
| Period or Years in Use
| Manufacturer/Origins |
| Oliver Pattern Equipment 1898-19??
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| 1903 pattern bandolier equipment
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Head dress
Notes
References
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
See also
External links
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