CANADA HISTORY - War-WWI

To France

In December of 1914 it was decided that the Canadian regiment Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry would be added to the British 27th Division and would leave their training base on Salisbury Plain in South Western England and e transported to France. At this point in the training and mobilization of Canadian troops and regiments, there were not enough Canadian units to form Divisions and corps so they were placed within British formations.

On February 4th, 1915 the first Canadian Division was ready for deployment and after an inspection on Salisbury Plain by King George V, they marched off the plain and boarded trains. After a short trip to Avonmouth they embarked on ships for France. Under the command of Lieutenant General Edwin Alderson, the division was made up of 3 infantry and 3 artillery brigades. In addition to these combat units the division also had engineers, mounted troops and ammunition column and a divisional train. Additional units remained at Salisbury Plain to form the framework of the training facilities for additional Canadian troops on their way from Canada.

The Canadian 1st Division arrived in St Nazaire France on February 16th where they were entrained and started their trip North t the front lines.500 miles later they arrived about 20 miles from Ypres and began to march towards the front where they joined the British forces under the command of Sir Douglas Haig and took up the left wing at the town of Fleurbaix as a part of the IV corps.

Conflict came quickly as the Battle of Neuve Chapelle flared up quickly on March 10th and Canada was really at war.