OPERATIONS, C E. F. FRANCE AND BELGIUM 1915-1917 CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914-1919 CARLETON LIBRARY SERIES The Carleton Library Series publishes books about Canadian economics, geography, history, politics, public policy, society and culture, and related topics, in the form of lead- ing new scholarship and reprints of classics in these fields. The series is funded by Carleton University, published by McGill-Queen's University Press, and is under the guidance of the Carleton Library Series Editorial Board, which consists of faculty mem- bers of Carleton University. Suggestions and proposals for manuscripts and new editions of classic works are welcome and may be directed to the Carleton Library Series Editorial Board c/o the Library, Carleton University, Ottawa K1S 5B6, at [email protected], or on the web at www.carleton.ca/cls. CLS board members: John Clarke, Ross Eaman, Jennifer Henderson, Laura Macdonald, Paul Litt, Stanley Winer, Barry Wright 191 A Wampum Denied 201 Watching Quebec Procters War of 1812 Selected Essays Sandy Antal Ramsay Cook 192 The Blacks in Canada: A History 202 Land of the Midnight Sun (Second edition) A History of the Yukon Robin Winks Ken S. Coates and William R. Morrison 193 A Disciplined Intelligence 203 The Canadian Quandary (New edition) Critical Inquiry and Canadian Thought Harry Johnson in the Victorian Era 204 Canada and the Cost of World War II A.B. McKillop The International Operation of the 194 Land, Power, and Economics on the Frontier Department of Finance, 1939-1947 of Upper Canada Robert B. Bryce John Clarke Edited by Mathew Bellamy 195 The Children ofAataentsic 205 Lament for a Nation (Anniversary edition) A History of the Huron People to 1660 George Grant Bruce G. Trigger 206 Confederation Debates in the Province 196 Silent Surrender of Canada, 1865 (New edition) The Multinational Corporation in Canada P.B. Waite Kari Levitt 207 The History of Canadian Business, 197 Cree Narrative 1867-1914 Expressing the Personal Meanings of Events R.T. Naylor Richard J. Preston 208 Lord Durham's Report (New edition) 198 The Dream of Nation Based on the Abridgement A Social and Intellectual History of Quebec by Gerald M. Craig Susan Mann 209 The Fighting Newfoundlander 199 A Great Duty A History of the Royal Newfoundland Canadian Responses to Modern Life Regiment and Mass Culture, 1939-1967 G.W.L. Nicholson L.B. Kuffert 210 Staples and Beyond 200 The Politics of Development Selected Writings of Mel Watkins Forests, Mines, and Hydro-Electric Power Edited by Hugh Grant and David Wolfe in Ontario, 1849-1941 H.V. Nelles 211 The Making of the Nations and Cultures 224 How Schools Worked of the New World Public Education in English Canada, An Essay in Comparative History 1900-1940 Gerard Bouchard R.D. Gidney and W.PJ. Millar 212 The Quest of the Folk 225 A Two-Edged Sword Antimodernism and Cultural Selection The Navy as an Instrument of Canadian in Twentieth-Century Nova Scotia Foreign Policy Ian McKay Nicholas Tracy 213 Health Insurance and Canadian Public Policy 226 The Illustrated History of Canada The Seven Decisions That Created the 25th Anniversary Edition Canadian Health Insurance System and Edited by Craig Brown Their Outcomes 227 In Duty Bound Malcolm G. Taylor Men, Women, and the State in Upper 214 Inventing Canada Canada, 1783-1841 Early Victorian Science and the Idea J.K. Johnson of a Transcontinental Nation 228 Asleep at the Switch Suzanne Zeller The Political Economy of Federal Research 215 Documents on the Confederation of British and Development Policy since 1960 North America Bruce Smardon G.R Browne 229 And We Go On 216 The Irish in Ontario Will R. Bird A Study in Rural History Introduction and Afterword Donald Harman Akenson by David Williams 217 The Canadian Economy in the Great 230 The Great War as I Saw It Depression (Third edition) Frederick George Scott A.E. Safarian Introduction by Mark G. McGowan 218 The Ordinary People of Essex 231 The Canadian Oral History Reader Environment, Culture, and Economy Edited by Kristina R. Llewellyn, on the Frontier of Upper Canada Alexander Freund, and Nolan Reilly John Clarke 232 Lives in Transition 219 So Vast and Various Longitudinal Analysis from Historical Sources Interpreting Canada's Regions in the Edited by Peter Baskerville and Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Kris Inwood Edited by John Warkentin 233 W.A. Mackintosh 220 Industrial Organization in Canada The Life of a Canadian Economist Empirical Evidence and Policy Challenges Hugh Grant Edited by Zhiqi Chen and Marc Duhamel 234 Green-lite 221 Surveyors of Empire Complexity in Fifty Years of Canadian Samuel Holland, J.E W. Des Barres, Environmental Policy, Governance, and the Making o/The Atlantic Neptune and Democracy Stephen J. Hornsby G. Bruce Doern, Graeme Auld, 222 Peopling the North American City and Christopher Stoney Montreal, 1840-1900 235 Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 Sherry Olson and Patricia Thornton Official History of the Canadian Army in the 223 Interregional Migration and Public Policy First World War in Canada G.WL. Nicholson An Empirical Study With a new introduction Kathleen M. Day and Stanley L. Winer by Mark Osborne Humphries Reproduced by permission of the National Gallery of Canada "OVER THE TOP" From a painting by Lieut. Alfred Bastien Men of the 22nd Battalion assaulting east of Arras during the Canadian Corps' advance to the Drocourt-Queant Line, August 1918 Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War G.W.L. NICHOLSON Carleton Library Series 235 McGill-Queen's University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago © McGill-Queen's University Press 2015 First published in 1962 by Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationary, Ottawa Reprinted with corrections in 1964 ISBN 978-0-7735-4617-2 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-7735-9790-7 (CPDF) Legal deposit fourth quarter 2015 Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper McGill-Queen's University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Nicholson, G.W.L. (Gerald William Lingen), 1902-1980, author Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919: official history of the Canadian Army in the First World War / G.W.L. Nicholson. (Carleton library series; 235) Reprint, with new introduction. Originally published: Ottawa: R. Duhamel, Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery, 1962. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-0-7735-4617-2 (bound).-ISBN 978-0-7735-9790-7 (CPDF) 1. Canada. Canadian Army. Canadian Expeditionary Force - History. 2. Canada. Canadian Army - History - World War, 1914-1918. 3. Canada - Armed Forces - History - 20th century. 4. World War, 1914-1918 - Regimental histories - Canada. 5. World War, 1914-1918 - Canada. I. Title. II. Series: Carleton library series; 235 D547.C2N52 2015 940.4'1271 C2015-905575-X C2015-905576-8 The new material in this book was typeset by Interscript in 10.5/13 Baskerville. CONTENTS Introduction to the Carleton Library Series Edition: The Origins of Nicholson's Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919 by Mark Osborne Humphries xiii Foreword to the First Edition by Colonel G.M.C. Sprung xli Preface to the First Edition xlii I. Canada at War 3 II. Forging the Weapon 18 III. The Battles of Ypres, 1915 49 IV. Festubert and Givenchy, 1915 93 V. The St. Eloi Craters and Mount Sorrel, 1916 129 VI. The Battles of the Somme, July-November 1916 160 VII. Behind the Front 201 VIII. The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-14 April 1917 233 IX. The Capture of Hill 70, 1917 269 X. Passchendaele, October-November 1917 298 XI. Conscription 340 XII. The German Offensives of 1918 362 XIII. Amiens, 8-11 August 1918 386 XIV Through the Hindenburg Line to Cambrai 425 XV The Final Advance, 12 October-11 November 461 XVI. Outside the Corps 485 XVII. After the Armistice 524 APPENDICES "A" Persons Holding Principal Appointments 539 "B" Canadian Unites in France and Belgium, November 1918 544 "C" Appointments, Enlistments, Strength and Casualties-Canadian Expeditionary Force 546 "D" Infantry Battalions which Served with the Canadian Corps, Showing Subsidiary Titles (where applicable) and Places of Mobilization or Organization 549 "E" The Results of the Military Service Act 551 "F" Battles and other Engagements in which Canadian Forces Participated 554 "G" Distinguishing Patches of Canadian Units in the Field 564 Abbreviations 557 References 561 Index 595 viii CONTENTS MAPS (in Colour) Operations, C.E.F., France and Belgium, 1915-1917 (front end-paper) 1. Ypres: The Gas Attack, 22 April 1915 50 2. Festubert, 15-21 May 1915 114 3. The St. Eloi Craters, 4, 6 April 1916 138 4. The Battle of Mount Sorrel, 2-13 June 1916 138 5. The Battles of the Somme, July-November 1916 168 6. Courcelette, 15 September 1916 198 7. Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917 260 8. Hill 70 and Lens, 15-25 August 1917 292 9. Passchendaele, 26 October-10 November 1917 322 10. German Offensives, March-July 1918 382 11. The Battle of Amiens, 8-17 August 1918 412 12. The Battle of Arras, 26 August-2 September 1918 442 13. The Canal du Nord and Cambrai, 27 September-11 October 1918 442 14. Valenciennes, 1-2 November 1918 472 15. The Final Advance: Cambrai to Mons, 12 October-11 November 1918 472 Operations, C.E.F., France and Belgium, 1918 (back end-paper) SKETCHES (in Black and White) 1. Camp Valcartier, 1914 21 2. Canadians on Salisbury Plain, 1914-1915 33 3. The Western Front: Initial German Advances, August-September 1914 41 4. Battle of Neuve Chapelle, 10-12 March 1915 52 5. The Northern Sector, 21 April 1915 54 6. The Open Flank, 12:01 a.m.-9:30 a.m., 23 April 1915 65 7. Closing The Gap: The Afternoon Attacks, 23 April 1915 69 8. The Apex Lost, 4:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m., 24 April 1915 72 9. The Battle of St. Julien, 10 a.m. to Midnight, 24 April 1915 74 10. The Second Brigade Holds Firm, 2:00 a.m., 25 April 1915 77 11. The Battle of St. Julien, 2:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. 25 April 1915 79 12. The Attack by the Lahore Division, 26 April 1915 84 13. The Salient, 22 April-4 May 1915 86 14. The Battle of Frezenberg Ridge, 8 May 1915 89 15. The Front from Ypres to Arras, 9 May 1915 94 16. Givenchy, 15 June 1915 105 17. The Canadian Corps in the Line, 23 September 1915 116