Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group

1. Library and Archives Canada
2. CEFSG War Diary Transcription (in progress = IP)

Prior to 1914 the force was more commonly described at the "Canadian Militia".  At the outbreak of the war, Canada offered the British an expeditionary force, an offer that was graciously accepted in August 1914.  The first contingent was organized at Valcartier, Quebec and subsequently arrived in England on October 14, 1914 where training continued on the Salisbury Plain.  These Canadian troops moved to France in February 1915 and entered the line at the Battle of Ypres in early March 1915.

Other Canadian troops were already in France serving under the British Expeditionary Force, as was the case with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, which had joined the British 8th Brigade in November 1914.  Forces from Newfoundland, which was not a Canadian province at that time, also had forces under the control of the BEF.

The 2nd Canadian Division was initiated in late October 1914 and left for England in April 1915, only after the 1st Division was established in France.  The 2nd Division left for France in September 1915, at which time it joined with the 1st Canadian Division to  form the Canadian Corps.

The 3rd and 4th Divisions were formed as a result of the June 1915 request from the British War Office, with the 3rd Division formed in December 1915.  The 4th Division was subsequently formed from units already in England or soon to arrive, in April 1916.

In each of the Division pages of this web site we have provided additional details as to their origins and development, as reported by Nicholson (our primary reference to date).  As more information becomes available, a synopsis will be prepared and posted.

The structure of the Canadian Divisions changed during the early part of the war to coincide with the British Army Divisions.  Similarly titles of staff and units was changed to better mesh with the British form.  A significant change came when each of the four (4) Battalions per Division were reduced from eight (8) companies to four (4) companies.  Later, a Pioneer Battalion was added to the Division to provide Labour, thus reducing (but not eliminating) the need for combat infantry soldiers to also complete all the manual labour. 

Below each of the Divisions were the Brigades, those being the lowest level in the Canadian Corps to retain operation control with designated Staff functions.  Each Division had four Brigades identified by their function, such as Field Artillery, Engineers, Infantry, Machine Guns, etc.

Each of the Artillery Brigades were composed of Batteries and the Infantry and Engineers Brigades were composed of Battalions.  As we have already noted, the original setup of 8 Infantry Battalions per Brigade was reduced early in the war to 4 Battalions, to coincide with the British divisional structure.  Each Battalion consisted of 4 Companies and each Company had 4 Platoons.

In the early stages of the war (circa 1915) the Machine Gun were separated from the Battalions and restructured into Brigade Machine Gun Companies, then later into the Machine Gun Battalions, as noted in Nicholson's Appendix B (page 545).  Love reports that by 1918 a Battalion consisted of approximately 1,260 persons.

We have also set aside a page to deal with the Reorganized units that were not found associated with any of the units "serving in the field".  If you have information on these units, please send it by e-mail or private message and it will be posted.  A detailed listing of all the battalions, relative to their placement, is provided in the Summary Table (see link in each page footer).