The Story of the Great War, Volume 8 / Victory with the Allies; Armistice; Peace Congress; Canada's War Organizations and vast War Industries; Canadian Battles Overseas

by Unknown

CHAPTER III

DEPARTURE OF FIRST CONTINGENT

The calling together of the men, during the earlier period of the war at least, was the easiest part of the work in hand. The training and equipment of these first two contingents required all of the rest of the first war year. Eight thousand horses had to be purchased and shipped from all parts of the country to the training camps. Provisions to feed men and horses had also to be gathered in from all the Provinces and shipped across after the first contingent had sailed. Over a hundred special trains were needed to accomplish this before the end of the year, after which, as the Canadian forces on the other side increased, they were augmented in proportion. With the first contingent there was shipped a consignment of war material including seventy field guns alone. The total value of this first shipment approached close to $14,000,000.

Nor were these supplies confined to the use of Canadian troops exclusively. On August 6, 1914, when war had become a definite certainty, the governor general sent the following message to the British colonial secretary:

"My advisers request me to inform you that the people of Canada, through their Government, desire to offer one million bags of flour, of ninety-eight pounds each, as a gift to the people of the United Kingdom, to be placed at the disposal of his Majesty's Government, and to be used for such purposes as they may deem expedient."

This munificent gift was accepted with deepest expressions of gratitude, and with the assurance that "we can never forget the generosity and promptitude of this gift and the patriotism from which it springs." Two hundred trains, of thirty cars each, were required to transport this flour, valued at $3,000,000, to the port whence it was shipped.

Meanwhile, during the first few weeks after the call for men had been issued, hurried preparations were made to establish the training camps in which they were to be received and trained. Most notable of these mobilization centers was Valcartier Camp, ideally situated outside of Quebec. Under the direction of Captain William Price, Lieutenant Colonel E. H. Burstall, and Lieutenant Colonel W. McBain, extensive housing accommodations were erected, roads constructed, and all the improvements of a modern city were installed. One prominent feature was three miles of rifle butts for rifle practice. Here 33,000 recruits were gathered and housed before three months had passed.

The training of the recruits in the Canadian mobilization camps was, for obvious reasons, only of the most elementary sort. First of all there was a dearth of competent instructors, which could be more plentifully supplied in England. And then there was the psychological factor; it was difficult to make the men realize the seriousness of military discipline on native soil, so distant as it was from the seat of war. Therefore the men were taught little more than how to march in proper formation before they were shipped to England, where they were to be more fully "licked into shape" in the Canadian training camps established there.

Once on the other side, immersed in the tense war feeling which permeated the English people, almost within sound of the big guns which were already thundering close to the gates of Paris, the Canadian recruit came to a profound realization of the full significance of the situation and his responsibilities. Under these conditions he quickly relinquished the last vestige of that intense individualism so characteristic of the sons of pioneers, an excellent quality in a guerrilla fighter, but not so desirable in the units of a large fighting organization.

During the last week of September, 1914, the first contingent of recruits at Valcartier Camp began embarking for its overseas journey. On the 21st the premier and several of his Cabinet members formally delivered a farewell address to these men about to leave their native country for war service. At Quebec a great fleet of transports, thirty-two in number, were anchored in readiness, and as each received its assignment of troops, it lifted anchor and sailed quietly and secretly down the river, toward the open sea, there to meet a convoy of warships, under the command of Rear Admiral Rosslyn E. Wemyss, C. M. G., D. S. Q. As each regiment embarked there was read to it the farewell message of the governor general:

"On the eve of your departure from Canada I wish to congratulate you on having the privilege of taking part, with the other forces of the crown, in fighting for the honor of the king and the Empire. You have nobly responded to the call of duty, and Canada will know how to appreciate the patriotic spirit that animates you. I have complete confidence that you will do your duty, and that Canada will have every reason to be proud of you. You leave these shores with the knowledge that all Canadian hearts beat for you, and that our prayers and best wishes will ever attend you. May God bless you and bring you back victorious."

CHAPTER IV

THE STEADY STREAM OF RECRUITS

The departure of the first contingent, which became known to the public through an announcement made to the press by General (then Colonel) Hughes on September 24, brought all Canada to a first profound realization of the tragic aspects of the war. The first big sacrifice had been made.

Meanwhile recruiting continued at a steady pace. But it was now becoming more obvious that a sense of patriotic duty, rather than enthusiasm, was to be the impelling motive henceforward. The youth of the country came forward more deliberately, thoughtfully.

During 1915 180,000 men responded to this call of duty, or at the average rate of 3,400 a week. A large proportion of these, especially in the second half of the year, undoubtedly had been moved by the campaign of education which was carried on by the newspapers. "The country requires," said the Toronto "Globe," in its issue of January 23, 1915, "information as to the causes of the war, the issues involved, and the pressing need for men."

The difference between the first volunteers and those who only came forward during the later periods was one which certainly reflected no discredit on the latter. If they came more slowly it was only that they were, on the whole, older men, more inclined to be guided by reason than by youthful enthusiasm. These were the men who had given the issues of the war close study, and by the process of deliberate judgment came to the conclusion that their duty, not to Canada, or to the Empire, alone, required them to offer themselves, but a duty to the cause of world democracy and civilization itself. From these came some of the best soldiers who later distinguished themselves and won promotion on the bloody fields of battle in France.

At the end of the year 212,000 Canadians were in uniform. At that time the Government called for a total contribution of half a million men. In the middle of February a mere handful short of a quarter of a million men had enlisted. Of these 30 per cent were native-born Canadians, 62 per cent were British-born settlers, and 8 per cent were foreign born.

On November 2, 1915, an official announcement indicated in what proportion the various provinces had contributed to the total number of enlistments. The figures were as follows:

Ontario, 42,300; Quebec, 14,000; the Maritime Provinces, 15,000; Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 28,000; British Columbia and the Yukon, 17,000; Alberta, 14,200.

At this time recruiting was now averaging 2,000 a day.

The call for half a million men which the premier issued at the first of the year, 1916, stimulated recruiting perceptibly. During the month of January 30,000 men responded from all parts of Canada; in February almost 27,000 enlisted; and in March nearly 33,000 presented themselves. The grand total during these three months was not far short of 90,000. By the following June 335,000 of the half million men called for had been obtained.

During the summer and the fall of 1916 the stream of recruits began to diminish very perceptibly. During this period the daily average dropped down to three hundred.

By this time the volunteer system was beginning to reach its limits. But the record was, nevertheless, a splendid one, especially when it is remembered how abstract the issues of the war must have been to the minds of a large portion of the masses. At the end of 1916 434,529 men from Canada were on war duty of some kind, not counting over 70,000 casualties at the front.

During 1917 the slackening of recruiting became so apparent that the Government had now to consider extraordinary means to stimulating it, if Canada was to raise her full quota of half a million men. Chief of these means was the creation of the National Service Board, by an Order in Council, on October 5, 1916. This body was empowered to order a registration of the remaining man power of the nation, for the purpose of bringing about a coordination of the various industries with a view to army requirements.

The census taken by the board during the following few months showed a total enumeration of 1,549,360 able-bodied workers, 286,976 of which were engaged in nonessential occupations, and 183,727 in agriculture. Included there were 4,660 skilled workers in the mining industry, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of munitions. The work of the board brought this information, but no increase in enlistments.

Splendid as had been the response of Canada's youth, the fact had now to be faced, in the beginning of the fourth year of the war, that the need for men at the front exceeded the supply available through the volunteer system. Needs considered, there remained only the last resort—conscription.

This was a decision which the Government faced with extreme reluctance. Already conscription had become the subject of a great deal of heated discussion, in legislative halls as well as in the daily press. Temperamentally the Canadian people could accept the idea only with the greatest of reluctance. It was contrary to the individualistic sentiment of the nation. But it was the only remaining alternative to a still greater evil—a German victory.