The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was the expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division. The division subsequently fought at Ypres on the Western Front, with a newly raised second division reinforcing the committed units to form the Canadian Corps. The CEF and corps was eventually expanded to four infantry divisions, which were all committed to the fighting in France and Belgium along the Western Front. A fifth division was partially raised in 1917, but was broken up in 1918 and used as reinforcements following heavy casualties.
Personnel
Recruitment
The CEF was mostly volunteers; a bill allowing conscription was passed in August 1917, but not enforced until call-ups began in January 1918 (see Conscription Crisis of 1917). In all, 24,132 conscripts had been sent to France to take part in the final Hundred Days campaign.
As a Dominion in the British Empire, Canada was automatically at war with Germany upon the British declaration. Popular support for the war was found mainly in English Canada. Of the first contingent formed at Valcartier, Quebec, in 1914, about two-thirds were men who had been born in the United Kingdom. By the end of the war in 1918, at least half of the soldiers were British-born. Recruiting was difficult among the French-Canadian population, many of whom did not agree with supporting Canada's participation in the war; one battalion, the 22nd, who came to be known as the 'Van Doos', was French-speaking. ("Van Doos" is an approximate pronunciation of the French for "22nd" - )
To a lesser extent, several other cultural groups within the Dominion enlisted and made a significant contribution to the Force including Indigenous people of the First Nations, Black Canadians as well as Black Americans. Many British nationals from the United Kingdom or other territories who were resident in Canada and the United States also joined the CEF. A sizeable percentage of Bermuda's volunteers who served in the war joined the CEF, either because they were resident in Canada already, or because Canada (its next nearest neighbour after the United States) was the easiest other part of the British Empire and Commonwealth to reach from Bermuda. Bermuda had been part of British North America (a collection of colonies administered collectively as a region by the Colonial Office), with its garrison forming part of that of Nova Scotia (the second nearest landfall from Bermuda after the United States) under the Commander-in-Chief, Maritime provinces, but as an Imperial fortress it had remained under administration of the British Government after being left out of the 1867 Confederation of Canada (along with the Colony of Newfoundland). As the Royal Canadian Regiment, 38th Battalion (Ottawa), CEF, 77th Battalion, CEF, and 163rd Battalion (French-Canadian), CEF were posted successively to the Bermuda Garrison before proceeding to France, islanders were also able to enlist there. Although the Bermuda Militia Artillery and Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps both sent contingents to the Western Front, the first would not arrive there until June 1915. By then, many Bermudians had already been serving on the Western Front in the CEF for months. Bermudians in the Canadian Expeditionary Force enlisted under the same terms as Canadians, and all male British Nationals resident in Canada became liable for conscription under the Military Service Act, 1917.