The Canadian Forces

THE CANADIAN FORCES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 -1919 NOTE In the writing of this history the author has been given full access to relevant official documents in possession of the Department of National Defence; but the inferences drawn and the opinions expressed are those of the author himself, and the Department is in no way responsible for his reading or presentation of the facts as stated. OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN FORCES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919 GENERAL SERIES VOL. I FROM THE OUTBREAK OF WAR TO THE FORMATION OF THE CANADIAN CORPS AUGUST 1914–SEPTEMBER 1915 BY COLONEL A. FORTESCUE DUGUID D.S.O., B.Sc., R.C.A. DIRECTOR OF THE HISTORICAL SECTION, GENERAL STAFF MAPS AND SKETCHES COMPILED AND DRAWN BY CAPTAIN J. I. P. NEAL R.C.E. PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENCE Ottawa J. O. PATENAUDE, I.S.O. Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty 1938 PREFACE The general volumes of the Official History of the Ca- nadian Forces in the Great War, 1914-1910, running in chronological series, are designed to provide a memorial for participants, a source for historians, a manual for soldiers, and a guide for the future. This book is the first of the chronological series. Even if that war had made an end of all war, men would still be interested in the great experiences of the race. There are other aspects too. The statement of impartial truths in a dispassionate war history may engender healthy gratitude for the blessings of peace, and although it may temper the brightly glowing legends of men hazarding their lives for their convictions, of women not afraid to lose their dearest and suffer agony, yet it cannot impair the tradition of de- voted service. There have been peoples who, after the man- ner of the Zidonians, the Incas, and even the Athenians, be- came so civilized as to be unable or unwilling to defend themselves and whose protection by others was not worth while. On earth at least such types are doomed; under artifi- cial conditions the unstable and unfit prosper; eventually na- ture takes its course, more robust or adaptable species reduce and supplant them. But such themes are not expanded here. Without any in- troduction as to the earlier development of the Canadian Forces–which when prepared was found to be too volumi- nous–or to the motives and actions leading to war–which was considered too controversial–this volume opens with events in Canada during the critical week preceding the outbreak of war on the 4th of August, 1914, and carries the reader to the 13th of September, 1915, on which date was formed the Canadian Corps. In this period the First Contin- gent was raised and proceeded overseas, the 1st Canadian v vi PREFACE Division fought at Ypres, Festubert and Givenchy, and the 2nd Canadian Division arrived in France. In the course of the war Canada gained a wealth of knowledge and experience, which, if judiciously examined and applied, will help to guide both policy and procedure. This vast store was chiefly won by that third of the adult male population which served in the armed forces; their individual deeds and impressions will pass into family tradition, but the record of their combined effort must be drawn from contemporary documents, illuminated by personal experience and presented as a complete whole, if the priceless heritage so hardly won is to be preserved in comprehensible form. Therefore the subsequent volumes of the series have also been outlined and apportioned to suit the main course of Canadian military action in the field, and will cover well- defined periods: the winter of 1915-1916, including the formation of the 3rd Canadian Division, and the spring and summer of 1916, with the fighting for the St. Eloi Craters and at Mount Sorrel; the arrival in France of the 4th Cana- dian Division and the operations on the Somme, 1916; the winter of 1916-1917, the capture of Vimy Ridge and of Fresnoy, Avion and Hill 70; the operations culminating in the capture of the Passchendaele Ridge, and the winter of 1917-1918; the spring and summer of 1918 and the fighting on the Amiens front in March and August; the Arras- Cambrai battles, with the breaking of the Drocourt-Quéant Line, the crossing of the Canal du Nord and the capture of Bourlon Wood; the taking of Valenciennes and the advance to and capture of Mons, on 11th November, 1918, followed by the march to the Rhine, and the return home in 1919. To illustrate the operations from Amiens to Mons over 100 maps have been specially compiled; those for St. Eloi and Mount Sorrel are in preparation. Contemporary events in Great Britain, at sea, in Canada, and in other theatres where Canadian forces were employed have been allotted to the PREFACE vii appropriate volume. To the student of humanity as well as to the student of military history, the study of the effort put forth by Canada in the War of 1914-18 offers a wide and interesting field. There is exemplified the response of a young country, as yet imperfectly knit by bonds of mutual danger, of joint interest or of common origin, to an external impulse. There can be followed, each in its varying phases, the formation, the cam- paigning and the disbandment of an army raised and sent overseas as the outward expression of a profound reaction: the genesis, action and dissolution of a highly organized body to meet unusual and complicated conditions, in many ways a parallel to the history of other exceptional and spe- cialized living entities. The impulse was sudden, for the outbreak of war came as a surprise to the community at large; the reaction was immediate on the part of those susceptible to the call of the blood or appreciative of the gravity of the crisis: some inher- ited the instincts of fighting ancestors, others the dispositions of loyal patriots of past generations, and in some imagination replaced tradition. But for the purposes of this history it mat- ters little whether the response be attributed to the exuber- ance of youth, to altruistic loyalty bred of time-honoured tradition, or to an acute discernment of threatened subjuga- tion. As in any crisis, there at first ensued the uncertainty natural in a community not organized to meet such an even- tuality, or so constituted that one individual can assume di- rect personal control, and improvised measures take the place of ordered and predetermined action. But from that uncertainty there emerged a body of 31,000 men, the First Contingent, whose exploits thrilled and whose spirit perme- ated the country, to the profit and inspiration of those who followed. In all 628,462 served, and 60,661 returned no more. Hitherto writers of history have usually been handi- viii PREFACE capped by the lack of authentic information: some have been carried away by the prejudices and passions of the time; others, tempted by dubious or partial authorities, have indulged at length in unfruitful speculation. But in dealing with this war so many original and complementary documents are available that the work becomes in the first instance a process of refinement : a great mass of material must be sifted and tested. It is a laborious and intricate process but it yields a simple residue. More may be discovered later and the whole treated again, using methods of selection evolved from increased knowledge, but that possibility does not impair the values now recovered. Then follows the second task, the complicated operation of fitting every fact into its proper place in the mosaic, so that a rational presentation results. The picture can never be made quite complete, some lights are too pronounced, some shadows too deep and there are places where detail is lack- ing; but the coming years may fill some of the gaps and the passage of time will soften and correct the perspective. Yet the broad outline of the composition and the grouping of the principal figures will remain unchanged. The threefold object of the writer, who since May 1921 has directed the work of collecting, sorting, indexing, ex- tracting, and compiling,1 and who in May 1932 was named historian and made responsible for what is here produced in print,2 has therefore been to assemble established facts and figures into a form that can be readily grasped, to reproduce verbatim typical or important documents, and to arrange in pertinent relation a series of significant pictures, so that in the light of ordered testimony the reader, relieved of the speculative drudgery of groping in the dark after elusive facts, may be free to follow the action closely, to draw his own conclusions, and to form his own opinions. The War Diaries kept by military units and formations 1 Order in Council, P.C. 1652 of 27. v. 1921. 2 Debates, House of Commons, 16th May, 1932, Vol. VIII, p. 2982. PREFACE ix in the field, their orders, instructions, maps, field messages, returns and reports, state papers, official files, Government publications, and documents and information gathered from participants, are the basic material from which this record has been compiled. The work of the Historical Section, General Staff, is dealt with annually in the Report of the Department of Na- tional Defence. In the preface to the official volume “The Medical Services,” written by Sir Andrew Macphail,3 special reference was made to Canadian Regimental Histories, official, but written and published privately.

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