Category: Units

  • No.1 Canadian General Hospital in the Great War

    No.1 Canadian General Hospital in the Great War

    No.1 Canadian General Hospital Organized at Valcartier 14 September 1914 initially under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Murray MacLaren. Most of personnel from No. 5 Field Ambulance (Active Militia), Montreal. No.1 Canadian General Hospital had as its basis, the volunteers, officers and men from No.5 Field Ambulance. Brought to camp by Major Roland Playfair Campbell, given…

  • Army Troops Companies and Canadian Engineers in the Great War

    Army Troops Companies and Canadian Engineers in the Great War

    Army Troops Companies and Canadian Engineers worked in the corps area. Constructing defences, accommodation and route communications. In addition, ran corps workshops and parks, built positions for heavy guns, and worked on water supply, frequently in forward areas. No.1 Army Troops Company, Canadian Engineers No.1 Army Troops Company organizes in Ottawa in September 1915 as…

  • Artillery – Heavy and Siege Battery in the Great War

    Artillery – Heavy and Siege Battery in the Great War

    Artillery Heavy and Siege Battery, were composed of sections, each having two guns. Batteries were reduced to four guns each in December 1914 but returned to six guns each in March 1917. There were four batteries in each artillery brigade. Most field batteries did not have war diaries; accounts of their activities were recorded in…

  • 31st Alberta Battalion in the Great War

    31st Alberta Battalion in the Great War

    Organization 31st (Alberta) Battalion ‘Bell’s Bulldogs’ organizes in November 1914 under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Henry Bell. The 31st Battalion mobilized at Calgary, recruited in Edmonton, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Wetaskiwin, Youngstown, Claresholm and also Pincher Creek. Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Henry Bell Arthur Henry Bell a professional soldier and veteran of the Boer War.…

  • 42nd Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) in the Great War

    42nd Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) in the Great War

    42nd Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) organize February 1915 initially under command of Lieutenant-Colonel George Stephen Cantlie DSO. Cantlie on special leave of absence to Canada, 14 December 1916. He would return to command the 20th Reserve Battalion. Major R.L.H. Ewing taking command in his absence. The 42nd Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) mobilize at…

  • 29th (Vancouver) Battalion in the Great War

    29th (Vancouver) Battalion in the Great War

    Tobin’s Tigers 29th Vancouver Battalion organized in October 1914 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Seymour Tobin. Also known as “Tobin’s Tigers”. Lieutenant-Colonel H S Tobin Tobin a veteran of the R.N.W.M.P., the 72nd Regiment and the South African War (Lord Strathcona’s Horse). The 29th Vancouver Battalion mobilized at Vancouver, and also recruited in Vancouver,…

  • Nursing Sisters Demobilization in the Great War

    Nursing Sisters Demobilization in the Great War

    The first members of the Canadian Army Medical Corps Nursing Service to be attached to the British Expeditionary Force, were a contingent of 20 Nurses who arrived in France on 7 November 1914 for duty with Imperial units. Peak strength of the C.A.M.C. in France was 828 Nursing Sisters on 1 March 1918. With the…

  • Canadian Corps of Signals, Canadian Engineers, Signal Service, in the Great War

    Canadian Corps of Signals, Canadian Engineers, Signal Service, in the Great War

    VELOX-VERSUTUS-VIGILANS CEFRG‘s first post of a CEF unit – The Canadian Corps of Signals ‘Swift, skilled, alert’ Canadian Corps of Signals The Canadian Corps of Signals signal service acted as a component of the Canadian Engineers during the Great War, providing signal companies for the four divisions, two artillery signal units, and a corps signal…