Canadian Expeditionary Force / CEF

History of the Canadian Expeditionary Force:

The Initial Formation

The Canadian Expeditionary Force 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 within the British Army. The Canadian Expeditionary Force was mostly volunteer, 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 (“Van Doo” is an approximate pronunciation of the French for “22” – vingt deux). The CEF eventually numbered 260 numbered infantry battalions, two 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 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. 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.

Significant Battles:

• The Battle of Ypres, 1915

• The Battle of the Somme, July–November 1916

• The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9–14 April 1917

• Passchendaele, October – November 1917

Legacy of Honour: Storm Troopers

The Canadian Expeditionary Force were the first to use trench raiding tactics during the battle of the Ypes. The German’s eventually attempted to use it in their own offensives. “The officer to whom I previously referred said, “There seems to be a fear back here in Canada that the Germans are going to make a frontal attack upon the Canadians, but the Canadians at the Front are afraid they won’t (laughter) and,” he continued, “they will get the biggest reception they ever got and pay the biggest price”; and it is interesting to us to know that the only part of the line that the Canadians fought for so strenuously and won which is still in the hands of the Allies, is that which is being held by the Canadians themselves. (Applause.) They are called “The storm troops of the British Empire” by the Kaiser, and his own “storm troops” are the biggest men of his various divisions; and when he speaks of the Canadians as being the “storm troops,” it means that in his estimation, they are the best troops of the British Empire. I think the Kaiser has come more nearly to the truth there than he has ever done in anything else.” Capt. J.B. Paulin in a speech given at the Empire Club of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, on May 23, 1918. “The Canadians were marked out as Storm Troops; for the remainder of the war they were brought in to head the assault in one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst.“British Prime Minister Lloyd George, after the capture of Vimy Ridge.

N. Saskatchewan Regimental link the to CEF

The North Saskatchewan Regiment gets its history from the militia units which were based in Prince Albert, Battleford, Saskatoon and Yorkton. Since the first militia unit was formed in 1879 the soldiers from Northern Saskatchewan have earned 45 battle honours. The first unit was formed in 1879 as the Prince Albert Mounted Rifles. During the North West Resistance of 1885 it was renamed the Prince Albert Volunteers where, along with The Battleford Rifle Company, received the first battle honour North West Canada 1885. Throughout WWI, members from the 52nd Regiment (Prince Albert Volunteers), the 105th Regiment (Saskatoon Fusiliers) and the 16th Light Horse from Battleford fought with the 5th Battalion. Between 1915 and the end of WW1, 21 battle honours were earned by the 5th Battalion; Ypres, 1915,‘17; Arleus; Gravenstafel; Hill 70; St. Julien; Passchendaele; Festubert, 1915; Amiens; Mount Sorrel; Scarpe, 1918; Somme, 1916; Drocourt-Queant; Flers-Courcelette; Hindenburg Line; Canal du Nord; Ancre Heights; Cambrai, 1918; Arras, 1917,‘18; Valenciennes; Vimy, 1917; Franec and Flanders, 1915-1918 and Thiepval. On August 9, 1918 at Amiens, Sgt Rapheal Zengel earned the Victoria Cross after rushing 200 yards and taking out a machine gun position single handed.

The end of the First CEF

After 1918, it was decided (after lengthy dissertation by the Otter Committee) that units of the CEF 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 CEF units that had actually fought the war.