War without warning—Canada’s loyalty—Improvising an Army—Efforts of the Minister of Militia—Camp at Val-cartier—Canadian Armada sails—Arrival at Plymouth— Lord Roberts’s interest—King’s visit to Canadian Camp —Training completed—Sailing for France.

“O ye by wandering tempest sown
’Neath every alien star,
Forget not whence the breath was blown
That wafted you afar!
For ye are still her ancient seed
On younger soil let fall—
Children of Britain’s island-breed
To whom the Mother in her need
Perchance may one day call.”
—William Watson.

War came upon us without warning, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Our people were essentially non-military, fearing no aggression from a peace-loving neighbour, and ignorant of the imminence of German aggression. Yet, in seven weeks, Canada created the first apparatus of war. In seven weeks we assembled an army which, a few months later, was to save Calais on the battlefield of Langemarck. As a demonstration of practical loyalty the exertions of Canada were only equalled by Australia and New Zealand. As an example of administration rising to an emergency, the effort has never been surpassed in military history.

When the British ultimatum to Germany demanding the recognition of the neutrality of Belgium expired, the Canadian Government decided to raise an Expeditionary Force. As this news flashed across the Dominion, the fires of patriotism, which had been smouldering, burst into flame in every province. Parliament was in vacation, but the Prime Minister returned from the West and summoned his Cabinet. The Minister of Militia was already at work in his office, for the proposal of the Canadian Government to raise 20,000 men had been accepted by the British Government.

Within two months of the outbreak of war between Great Britain and Germany, the Dominion of Canada concentrated, armed, and sent to Europe an Expeditionary Force of 33,000 men. A voluntary army, the first complete Canadian Division ever assembled, with more than half a Reserve Division, this force was by far the greatest body of soldiers that had ever crossed the Atlantic at one time. It comprised cavalry, artillery, infantry, engineers, signallers, supply and ammunition columns, field ambulances and hospital staffs, provided with all the apparatus required for the handling and treatment of the wounded; it carried its own complement of rifles, machine guns, field guns, and heavy artillery, and a store of ammunition.

It was not the first time that Canadians had taken up arms in defence of Imperial interests. In the Crimean War, Canadians fought in the ranks of the British Army. The Indian Mutiny saw the old Prince of Wales’ Royal Canadian Regiment at Gibraltar and at Malta. More than 7,000 Canadians fought for England in the South African War. But now the Empire was to be tested to its foundations. The Minister of Militia, Major-General the Hon. Sir Sam Hughes, K.C.B., acted with the promptness and energy for which he was already famous in the Dominion. In less than a month the Government, which had asked for 20,000 men, found almost 40,000 at its disposal, and the Minister of Militia deemed it necessary to issue orders that no more recruits be enrolled for the first contingent.

Thus did Canada answer the call. From the workshops and the offices of her cities, from the lumber camps of her forests, from the vast wheatfields of the West, from the farms and orchards of the East, from the slopes of the Rockies, from the shores of Hudson Bay, from the mining valleys of British Columbia, from the banks of the Yukon, from the reaches of the St. Lawrence, the manhood of Canada hurried to arms.

No mere jackboot militarism inspired them. They sought neither the glory of conquest nor the rape of freedom, nor the loot of sacked cities. No selfish ideal led them to leave their homes and exchange the ease and comforts of civil life for the sufferings of war and the risk of death. They came forward, free men and unconstrained, with a simple resolve to lay down their lives, if need be, in defence of the Empire—their Empire too—the very existence of which, as they swiftly saw, was menaced by the most formidable military combination which had ever sprung to arms. The first contingent was born partly of the glory of adventure but more of the spirit of self-sacrifice; and this spirit, in its turn, was born of the deepest emotions of the Canadian people—its love of Country, of Liberty, and of Right.

The Government, in deciding to raise a contingent for service in Europe, were carrying out the national will, and when Parliament entered upon its special session, some days after the declaration of War, unanimity prevailed. The Prime Minister spoke for all parties when he declared that Canada stood “shoulder to shoulder with Britain and the other British Dominions in this quarrel.” Sir Wilfrid Laurier spoke of the “double honour” of Canadians of French descent in the opportunity of “taking their place to-day in the ranks of the Canadian Army to fight for the cause of the allied nations.” The Government announced its further intention of raising a sum of fifty millions of dollars for war purposes.

As soon as the policy of the Government had been ratified, General Hughes devised and ordered the establishment of the largest camp that had ever been seen on Canadian soil. The site at Valcartier was well chosen. It lay some sixteen miles to the west of Quebec, within a day’s march of the gathering transports. The soil was, in the main, light and sandy, and a river of pure water was available. Yet the work of adapting this virgin soil to military purposes was enormous, and the transformation, effected within a fortnight by an army of engineers and workers, a remarkable triumph of applied science. Roads were made, drains laid down, a water supply with miles of pipes installed, electric lighting furnished from Quebec, and incinerators built for the destruction of dry refuse. A sanitary system, second to none that any camp has seen, was instituted. Every company had its own bathing place and shower baths; every cookhouse its own supply of water." Troughs of drinking-water, for horses, filled automatically, so that there was neither shortage nor waste. The standing crops were garnered, trees cut down and their roots torn up. A line of rifle targets 3½ miles long—the largest rifle range in the world—was constructed. Three miles of sidings were run out from the wayside station, and a camp telephone exchange was quickly put in working order. Camp and army leaped to life in the same hours. Within four days of the opening of the camp, nearly 6,000 men had arrived in it. A week later the number was 25,000. In those August days all roads led to Valcartier, and the railways rose to the occasion, gathering the first Division to the rendezvous, from every corner of the country, in great trains, each of which carried and fed 600 men.

The assembling force comprised elements from every phase of Canadian life. There were those whose names were known throughout the land. There were men who had fought at Paardeburg— some of them “very barely” within the age limit of 45. One, who had retired from a colonelcy of a regiment, offered to serve as a private, so anxious was he to go. He was more than satisfied when he received a majority. Another, who had spent his fifteenth birthday as a bugler in South Africa, has since celebrated his third war birthday in the Flemish trenches.

The original intention of the authorities was to send to England a Division, consisting of the regular complement of three infantry brigades; but, on September ist, General Hughes announced at the camp that a fourth brigade would be formed, to be used as drafts to supply the war wastage in the other three. Towards the end of the month the Government decided to send all four brigades over together. “The total reinforcements for the first year of a great war,” said Sir Robert Borden in announcing his decision, “are estimated at from 60 to 70 per cent. If the reserve depots necessary for supplying such reinforcements were established in Canada, eight or ten weeks might elapse before they could reach the front. ... For these reasons, as well as others, we deem it advisable that the reserves shall be kept on hand in Great Britain, as the Force at the front must continually be kept at full strength, and that without the slightest unnecessary delay.”

While the new army underwent its preliminary training at Valcartier, there were other preparations of every kind to be made. The cloth mills of Montreal began to hum with the manufacture of khaki, which the needles of a great army of tailors converted into uniforms, greatcoats and cloaks. The Ordnance Department equipped the host with the Ross rifle—a Canadian-made arm. Regiments were shuffled and reshuffled into battalions; battalions into brigades. The whole force was inoculated against typhoid. There were stores to manufacture and to accumulate; a fleet of transports to assemble; a thousand small cogs in the machine to be nicely adjusted.

Early in September, the whole First Division was reviewed by the Governor-General in a torrential downpour of rain; and again* towards the end of the month, a few days before embarkation, the Duke of Connaught (accompanied by the Duchess and the Princess Patricia) took the salute at Valcartier from the first army of Canada. At this final review the contingent was fittingly led past the saluting base by the man whose name, more than any one other, will be linked in history with the first Canadian Division. General Hughes had cause to be proud of the 33,000 men who marched past that day, fully armed and fully equipped, well within two months of the declaration of war in Europe.

The feat of raising such a force is all the more remarkable when one considers that, with the exception of the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry, the overwhelming majority of the men who volunteered for the great War were civilians, without previous experience or training. The “Princess Pats,” as that already famous regiment is now commonly called, was the only one that consisted almost entirely of old soldiers.

The Governor-General’s review over, news from the camp came fitfully. The censor was at work, and the public guessed rightly that the division was on the move. Through the darkness and the rain and the mud of the night of September 23rd-24th, the guns crawled down the sixteen miles of valley that brought them to Quebec at daybreak, the men drenched, but happy in the knowledge that they were at last off to the war. The weather was so bad that the infantry, instead of marching, were brought down in a long succession of heavy trains. The embarkation of horses, men, guns and wagons was completed in less than three days. And so the First Canadian Division, with its Reserves, sailed away down the St. Lawrence, in a fleet of Atlantic liners such as the mighty gateway of Canada had never before borne on her bosom.

The fleet assembled in Gaspe Basin, on the coast of Quebec, where the warships which were to convoy it across the Atlantic awaited it. On October 3rd the transports steamed out of Gaspe Bay in three lines ahead, led by His Majesty’s ships Charybdis, Diana, and Eclipse, with the Glory and Suffolk on the flanks, and the Talbot in the rear. Later, the Suffolk's place was taken by the battle-cruiser, Queen Mary. The sealing-ship Florizel, with the Newfoundland Regiment aboard, joined the fleet after its departure from Gaspe Bay.

The voyage was uneventful if rather long, the fleet entering Plymouth Sound on the evening of October 14th. So strict had been the censorship that the arrival of the Canadian Armada was quite unexpected by the people of Plymouth and Devon-port; but no sooner had the word gone forth that the Canadian transports had arrived, than the townsfolk flocked to the waterside, to cheer and sing, and cheer again.

No one was allowed on board the transports, but, when on the succeeding days the troops were landed and marched through the streets, they received a welcome which they will never forget. Hundreds of the men had relatives and friends who were anxious to catch a glimpse of them at the docks, but access was refused. The only exception made throughout the various disembarkations was in the case of the late Field-Marshal Lord Roberts.

Lieut.-General Alderson [Lieut.-General Edwin Alfred Hervey Alderson, C.B., has a distinguished record of service. He was born in 1859, at Ipswich, and began his military career with the Militia, from which he passed to the Regular Army in December, 1878. He joined the Royal West Kent Regiment as Second Lieutenant, and was promoted to Lieutenant in July, 1881; and in this year he first saw active service with the Natal Field Force in the Transvaal campaign. He was ordered to Egypt in the following year, serving there with the mounted infantry. He was in two actions, at Kassassin and at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir on September 13th. He received the medal with clasp and the Khedive’s bronze star. Lieut. Alderson took part in the Nile Expedition of 1884-1885. He was promoted Captain in June, 1886, and Major in May, 1896, and received the brevet of Lieut.-Colonel in 1897. In 1896 and 1897 he served in South Africa under Sir Frederick Carrington. In October, 1899, he was given the command of the mounted infantry of the 1st Cavalry Brigade. His services throughout the South African campaign were constant and distinguished. In 1903 he was promoted Colonel, and appointed to the command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Army Corps. He became a Major-General in 1906, and in 1908 commanded the 6th Division, Southern Army, India. His rank of Lieut.-General dates from October 14th, 1914. General Alderson has received the honour of K.C.B. since this book was in the press.] had been appointed to the command of the contingent, and visited the commanding officers before the work of disembarkation began.

The Canadian Division, the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, and the Newfoundland Regiment occupied camps on Salisbury Plain at Bustard, West Down South, West Down North, Pond Farm, Lark Hill, and Sling Plantation. Here the Canadians remained until their departure for France. Here, in the mud and cold and rain of those four dismal months, they worked and lived and displayed that spirit of endurance, courage, and willingness which has since proclaimed them to the world as troops of the finest quality. On the sodden grazing lands, in the fog and mud of the battalion lines, in the dripping tents and crowded, reeking huts, the men of Canada gave promise of the great spirit they possessed, and their officers saw it and were proud.

Lord Roberts visited the Division soon after its arrival in England. It was the last public appearance of this great soldier in England, and the following are the principal points in his speech to the Canadian troops:—

“We have arrived at the most critical moment of our history, and you have generously come to help us in our hour of need.

# # #

“Three months ago we found ourselves involved in this war, a war not of our own seeking, but one which those who have studied Germany’s literature and Germany’s aspirations, knew was a war which we should inevitably have to deal with sooner or later. The prompt resolve of Canada to give us such valuable assistance, has touched us deeply. That resolve has been quickened into action in a marvellously short space of time, under the excellent organising and driving power of your Minister of Militia—my friend, Major-General Hughes.

# # #

“We are fighting a nation which looks upon the British Empire as a barrier to her development, and has, in consequence, long contemplated our overthrow and humiliation. To attain that end she has manufactured a magnificent fighting machine, and is straining every nerve to gain victory.

# # #

“It is only by the most determined efforts that we can defeat her.” [From Canada of October 31st, 1914.]

The King paid his first visit to our troops early in November. His Majesty was accompanied by Field-Marshals Lords Roberts and Kitchener, Sir George Perley, Member of the Canadian Cabinet in charge of the office of the High Commissioner in London,3 and Sir Richard McBride, Prime Minister of British Columbia.

The Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry left Salisbury Plain early in December and joined the 27th British Division. The Regiment was brigaded with the 3rd King’s Royal Rifles, 4th King’s Royal Rifles, 4th Rifle Brigade, and 2nd King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.

The King again visited the Canadian troops on February 4th, 1915; and on the following day a Division composed of three infantry brigades, three artillery brigades,' ammunition column, divisional engineers, divisional mounted troops, and divisional train, marched off Salisbury Plain and entrained for their port of embarkation under the command of Lieut.-General Alderson.

Lieut.-Colonel (now Major-General) M. S. Mercer commanded the ist Infantry Brigade, which was composed of the ist Battalion (Ontario Regiment) under Lieut.-Colonel F. W. Hill, the 2nd Battalion under Lieut.-Colonel (now Brigadier-General) David Watson, the 3rd Battalion (Toronto Regiment) under Lieut.-Colonel (now Brigadier-General) R. Rennie, and the 4th Battalion under Lieut.-Colonel A. P. Birchall, who was killed in action.

The 2nd Infantry Brigade was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel A. W. Currie (now Major-General), and his four Battalions, the 5th, 7th, 8th, and 10th, were commanded respectively by Lieut.-Colonels G. S. Tuxford, W. F. H. Hart-McHarg, L. J. Lipsett (now Brigadier-General), and R. L. Boyle. Colonels Hart-McHarg and Boyle fell at Ypres.

Colonel R. E. W. Turner, V.C., D.S.O., who has since been promoted to the rank of Major-General, commanded the 3rd Infantry Brigade, with Lieut.-Colonels F. O. W. Loomis, F. S. Meighen (now Brigadier-General), J. A. Currie, and R. G. E. Leckie (since promoted to Brigadier-General) commanding respectively the 13th Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada), the 14th Battalion (Royal Montreal Regiment), the 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders of Canada), and the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish).

Lieut.-Colonel (now Brigadier-General) H. E. Burstall commanded the Canadian Artillery, with Lieut.-Colonels E. W. B. Morrison (now Brigadier-General), J. J. Creelman and J. H. Mitchell commanding artillery brigades. The Officer Commanding Divisional Engineers was Lieut.-Colonel C. J. Armstrong (now Brigadier-General); Lieut.-Colonel F. C. Jameson was in command of the Divisional Mounted Troops and Major F. A. Lister of the Divisional Signal Company.

The Division sailed from Avonmouth, and the last transport reached St. Nazaire, on the Bay of Biscay, in the second week of February.

The 6th, 9th, nth, 12th, and 17th Battalions were left in England as the Base Brigade of the Division. These battalions were formed later into the Canadian Training Depot; later still, together with reinforcements from Canada, into the Canadian Training Division, under the command of Brigadier-General J. C. MacDougall.

Such, in its principal commands, was the Army which left Canada for the Great Adventure. It carried with it, and it left behind, high hopes. It was certain that no men of finer physique or higher courage could be found anywhere in any theatre of this immense struggle. But there were some—and these neither faint-hearted nor unpatriotic—who recalled with anxiety the scientific organisation and the tireless patience with which Germany had set herself to create the most superb military instrument which the world has ever seen. And they may have been forgiven if they asked themselves :

“Can civilians, however brave and intelligent, be made in a few months the equals of those inspired veterans who are swarming in triumph over the battlefields of Europe?”

“Can Generals, and Staffs, and officers be improvised, able to compete with the scientific output of the most scientific General Staff which has ever conceived and carried out military operations ? ”

These were formidable questions, and even a bold man might have shrunk from a confident answer.

The story of Canada in Flanders, however inadequately told, will make it unnecessary ever to ask them again.