Thursday, September 12, 2013

CANADA MILITARY NEWS: PAGE 1/Sep12-CAMP ALDERSHOT-NOVA SCOTIA/Afghanistan/CANADA'S MILITARY HISTORY/Canada formed by Christian Religious Wars-Catholics versus Protestants/WW1/background of who we are/September 11


_ Camp Aldershot 2013  Forty years later The Black Watch Atlantic Branch Association held 2013 reunion at Camp Aldershot this weekend.







 
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CANADA MILITARY NEWS: 11 September 2013-Tribute n photos of Canadians Sept. 11 2001-World Trade Center-New York USA/Photos and Memorial 2 Canadians sacrificed Afghanistan- We Remember Always







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VIDEOS

World War One (WWI) from a Canadian Perspective


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Proud Canadian Soldier- SOLDIERS, SEAMEN, AIRMEN ONE AND ALL -BOER WAR-AFGHANSITAN



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Canada Pride



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Canadian, Please

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First World War (WWI)

ARTICLE CONTENTS: Going to War  |  War and the Economy  |  Recruitment at Home  |  Other Canadian Efforts  |  Borden and the Conscription Issue  |  The Final Phase  |  Suggested Reading  |  Links to Other Sites

 

The First World War of 1914–1918 was the bloodiest conflict in Canadian history, taking the lives of more than 60,000 Canadians. It erased romantic notions of war, introducing slaughter on a massive scale, and instilled a fear of foreign military involvement that would last until the Second World War. The great achievements of Canadian soldiers on battlefields such as Ypres, Vimy and Passchendaele, however, ignited a sense of national pride and a confidence that Canada could stand on its own, apart from the British Empire, on the world stage. The war also deepened the divide between French and English Canada, and marked the beginning of widespread state intervention in society and the economy.



Going to War
 The Canadian Parliament didn't choose to go to war in 1914. The country's foreign affairs were guided in London. So when Britain's ultimatum to Germany to withdraw its army from Belgium expired on 4 August, 1914, the British Empire, including Canada, was at war, allied with Serbia, Russia, and France against the German and Austro-Hungarian empires.

The war united Canadians at first. The Liberal opposition urged Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden’s Conservative government to take sweeping powers under the new War Measures Act. Minister of Militia Sam Hughes summoned 25,000 volunteers to train at a new camp at Valcartier near Québec; some 33,000 appeared. On 3 October the first contingent sailed for England. Much of Canada's war effort was launched by volunteers. The Canadian Patriotic Fund collected money to support soldiers' families. A Military Hospitals Commission cared for the sick and wounded. Churches, charities, women's organizations, and the Red Cross found ways to "do their bit" for the war effort. In patriotic fervour, Canadians demanded that Germans and Austrians be dismissed from their jobs and interned (see Internment), and pressured Berlin, Ont, to rename itself Kitchener.


World War I, Map
World War I, Map




War and the Economy
 At first the war hurt a troubled economy, increasing unemployment and making it hard for Canada's new, debt-ridden transcontinental railways, the Canadian Northern and the Grand Trunk Pacific, to find credit. By 1915, however, military spending equalled the entire government expenditure of 1913. Minister of Finance Thomas White opposed raising taxes. Since Britain could not afford to lend to Canada, White turned to the US.

Also, despite the belief that Canadians would never lend to their own government, White had to take the risk. In 1915 he asked for $50 million; he got $100 million. In 1917 the government's Victory Loan campaign began raising huge sums from ordinary citizens for the first time. Canada's war effort was financed mainly by borrowing. Between 1913 and 1918 the national debt rose from $463 million to $2.46 billion.

Canada's economic burden would have been unbearable without huge exports of wheat, timber and munitions. A prewar crop failure had been a warning to prairie farmers of future droughts, but a bumper crop in 1915 and soaring prices banished caution. Since many farm labourers had joined the army, farmers began to complain of a labour shortage. It was hoped that factories shut down by the recession would profit from the war. Manufacturers formed a Shell Committee, got contracts to make British artillery ammunition, and created a brand new industry. It was not easy. By summer 1915 the committee had orders worth $170 million but had delivered only $5.5 million in shells. The British government insisted on reorganization. The resulting Imperial Munitions Board was a British agency in Canada, though headed by a talented, hard-driving Canadian, Joseph Flavelle. By 1917 Flavelle had made the IMB Canada's biggest business, with 250,000 workers. When the British stopped buying in Canada in 1917, Flavelle negotiated huge new contracts with the Americans.


Recruitment at Home
 Unemployed workers flocked to enlist in 1914–15. Recruiting, handled by prewar militia regiments and by civic organizations, cost the government nothing. By the end of 1914 the target for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was 50,000; by summer 1915 it was 150,000. During a visit to England that summer, Prime Minister Borden was shocked with the magnitude of the struggle. To demonstrate Canadian commitment to the war effort, Borden used his 1916 New Year's message to pledge 500,000 soldiers from a Canadian population of barely 8-million. By then volunteering had virtually run dry. Early contingents had been filled by recent British immigrants; enlistments in 1915 had taken most of the Canadian-born who were willing to go. The total, 330,000, was impressive but insufficient.

Recruiting methods became fervid and divisive. Clergy preached Christian duty; women wore badges proclaiming "Knit or Fight"; more and more English Canadians complained that French Canada was not doing its share. This was not surprising: few French Canadians felt deep loyalty to France or Britain. Those few in Borden's government had won election in 1911 by opposing imperialism. Henri Bourassa, leader and spokesman of Québec's nationalists, initially approved of the war but soon insisted that French Canada's real enemies were not Germans but "English-Canadian anglicisers, the Ontario intriguers, or Irish priests" who were busy ending French-language education in the English-speaking provinces. In Québec and across Canada, unemployment gave way to high wages and a manpower shortage. There were good economic reasons to stay home.

The Canadian Expeditionary Force

Canadians in the CEF became part of the British army. As minister of militia, Hughes insisted on choosing the officers and on retaining the Canadian-made Ross rifle. Since the rifle jammed easily and since some of Hughes's choices were incompetent cronies, the Canadian military had serious deficiencies. A recruiting system based on forming hundreds of new battalions meant that most of them arrived in England only to be broken up, leaving a large residue of unhappy senior officers. Hughes believed that Canadians would be natural soldiers; in practice they had many costly lessons to learn. They did so with courage and self-sacrifice.

At the second Battle of Ypres, April 1915, a raw 1st Canadian Division suffered 6,036 casualties, and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry a further 678. The troops also shed their defective Ross rifles. At the St Eloi craters in 1916, the 2nd Division suffered a painful setback because its senior commanders failed to locate their men. In June, the 3rd Division was shattered at Mont Sorrel though the position was recovered by the now battle-hardened 1st Division. The test of battle eliminated inept officers and showed survivors that careful staff work, preparation, and discipline were vital.

Canadians were spared the early battles of the Somme in the summer of 1916, though a separate Newfoundland force, 1st Newfoundland Regiment, was annihilated at Beaumont Hamel on the disastrous first day, 1 July. When Canadians entered the battle on 30 August, their experience helped toward limited gains, though at high cost. By the end of the battle the Canadian Corps had reached its full strength of four divisions.

The embarrassing confusion of Canadian administration in England, and Hughes's reluctance to displace his cronies, forced Borden's government to establish a separate Ministry of Overseas Military Forces based in London to control the CEF overseas. Bereft of much power, Hughes resigned in November 1916. The Act creating the new ministry established that the CEF was now a Canadian military organization, though its day-to-day relations with the British army did not change immediately. Two ministers, Sir George Perley and then Sir Edward Kemp, gradually reformed overseas administration and expanded effective Canadian control over the CEF.


Other Canadian Efforts
 While most Canadians served with the Canadian Corps or with a separate Canadian cavalry brigade on the Western Front, Canadians could be found almost everywhere in the Allied war effort. Young Canadians had trained (initially at their own expense) to become pilots in the British flying services. In 1917 the Royal Flying Corps opened schools in Canada, and by war's end almost a quarter of the pilots in the Royal Air Force were Canadians. Three of them, Maj William A.Bishop, Maj Raymond Collishaw, and Col. William Barker, ranked among the top air aces of the war. An independent Canadian air force was authorized in the last months of the war. Canadians also served with the Royal Navy, and Canada's own tiny naval service organized a coastal submarine patrol.

Thousands of Canadians cut down forests in Scotland and France, and built and operated most of the railways behind the British front. Others ran steamers on the Tigris River, cared for the wounded at Salonika (Thessaloniki), Greece, and fought Bolsheviks at Archangel and Baku (see Russian Civil War, Canadian Intervention in).

Vimy and Passchendaele

British and French strategists deplored diversions from the main effort against the bulk the German forces on the European Western Front. It was there, they said, that war must be waged. A battle-hardened Canadian Corps was a major instrument in this war of attrition. Its skill and training were tested on Easter weekend, 1917, when all four divisions were sent forward to capture a seemingly impregnable Vimy Ridge. Weeks of rehearsals, stockpiling, and bombardment paid off. In five days the ridge was taken.

The able British commander of the corps, Lt-Gen Sir Julian Byng, was promoted; his successor was a Canadian, Lt-Gen Sir Arthur Currie, who followed Byng's methods and improved on them. Instead of attacking Lens in the summer of 1917, Currie captured the nearby Hill 70 and used artillery to destroy wave after wave of German counterattacks. As an increasingly independent subordinate, Currie questioned orders, but he could not refuse them. When ordered to finish the disastrous British offensive at Passchendaele in October 1917, Currie warned that it would cost 16,000 of his 120,000 men. Though he insisted on time to prepare, the Canadian victory on the dismal and water-logged battlefield left a toll of 15,654 dead and wounded.


Battle for the Hindenburg Line
Battle for the Hindenburg Line
Canadian advance east of Arras, France: Cambrai on fire, October 1918 (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/PA-3420). 


Vimy Ridge
Vimy Ridge
Canadian machine gunners dig themselves into shell holes on Vimy Ridge, France, April 1917 (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/PA-1017). 


Sir A.W. Currie, soldier, educator
Sir A.W. Currie, soldier, educator
General Sir A.W. Currie with "Muggins" of Red Cross Fame. Sir Arthur Currie insisted that Canadian troops fight together so they could take pride in battling together as Canadians (courtesy British Library). 



Borden and the Conscription Issue
 A year before, even the patriotic leagues had confessed the failure of voluntary recruiting. Business leaders, Protestants, and English-speaking Catholics such as Bishop Michael Fallon grew critical of French Canada. Faced with a growing demand for conscription, the Borden government compromised in August 1916 with a program of national registration. A prominent Montréal manufacturer, Arthur Mignault, was put in charge of Québec recruiting and, for the first time, public funds were provided. A final attempt to raise a French Canadian battalion—the 14th for Quebec and the 258th overall for Canada—utterly failed in 1917.




Trenches, Vimy Ridge
Trenches, Vimy Ridge
The preserved WWI trenches at Vimy Ridge, France (photo by Jacqueline Hucker). 
 Until 1917 Borden had no more news of the war or Allied strategy than he read in newspapers. He was concerned about British war leadership but he devoted 1916 to improving Canadian military administration and munitions production. In December 1916 David Lloyd George became head of a new British coalition government pledged wholeheartedly to winning the war. An expatriate Canadian, Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, helped engineer the change. Faced by suspicious officials and a failing war effort, Lloyd George summoned leaders of the Dominions to London. They would see for themselves that the Allies needed more men. On 2 March, when Borden and his fellow premiers met, Russia was collapsing, the French army was close to mutiny, and German submarines had almost cut off supplies to Britain.
Borden was a leader in establishing a voice for the Dominions in policymaking and in gaining a more independent status for them in the postwar world. Visits to Canadian camps and hospitals also persuaded him that the CEF needed more men. The triumph of Vimy Ridge during his visit gave all Canadians pride but it cost 10,602 casualties, 3,598 of them fatal. Borden returned to Canada committed to conscription. On 18 May 1917 he told Canadians of his government's new policy. The 1914 promise of an all-volunteer contingent had been superseded by events.

Many in English-speaking Canada­—­farmers, trade union leaders, pacifists—­opposed conscription, but they had few outlets for their views. French Canada's opposition was almost unanimous under Henri Bourassa, who argued that Canada had done enough, that Canada's interests were not served by the European conflict, and that men were more needed to grow food and make munitions.

Borden felt such arguments were cold and materialistic. Canada owed its support to its young soldiers. The Allied struggle against Prussian militarism was a crusade for freedom. There was no bridging the rival points of view. To win conscription, Borden offered Sir Wilfrid Laurier a coalition. The Liberal leader refused, sure that his party could now defeat the Conservatives. He also feared that if he joined Borden, Bourassa's nationalism would sweep Québec. Laurier misjudged his support.

Many English-speaking Liberals agreed that the war was a crusade. A mood of reform and sacrifice had led many provinces to grant votes to women and to prohibit the sale or use of liquor (see Temperence). Although they disliked the Conservatives, many reform Liberals like Ontario's Newton Rowell believed that Borden was in earnest about the war and Laurier was not. Borden also gave himself two political weapons: on 20 September 1917 Parliament gave the franchise to all soldiers, including those overseas; it also gave votes to soldiers' wives, mothers and sisters, as well as to women serving in the armed forces, and took it away from Canadians of enemy origin who had become citizens since 1902. This added many votes for conscription and removed certain Liberal voters from the lists. On 6 October Parliament was dissolved. Five days later, Borden announced a coalition Union government pledged to conscription, an end to political patronage, and full Women's Suffrage.

Eight of Canada's nine provinces endorsed the new government, but Laurier could dominate Québec, and many Liberals across Canada would not forget their allegiance. Borden and his ministers had to promise many exemptions to make conscription acceptable. On 17 December, Unionists won 153 seats to Laurier's 82, but without the soldiers' vote, only 100,000 votes separated the parties. Conscription was not applied until 1 January 1918. The Military Service Act had so many opportunities for exemption and appeal, that of more than 400,000 called, 380,510 appealed. The manpower problem continued.


The Final Phase
 In March 1918 disaster fell upon the Allies. German armies, moved from the Eastern to the Western Front after Russia's collapse in 1917, smashed through British lines. The Fifth British Army was destroyed. In Canada, anti-conscription riots in Québec on the Easter weekend left four dead. Borden's new government cancelled all exemptions. Many who had voted Unionist in the belief that their sons would be exempted felt betrayed.

The war had entered a bitter final phase. On 6 December 1917 the Halifax Explosion killed over 1,600, and it was followed by the worst snowstorm in years. Across Canada, the heavy borrowing of Sir Thomas White (federal minister of finance) finally led to runaway inflation. Workers joined unions and struck for higher wages. Food and fuel controllers now preached conservation, sought increased production and sent agents to prosecute hoarders. Public pressure to "conscript wealth" forced a reluctant White in April 1917 to impose a Business Profits Tax and a War Income Tax. An "anti-loafing" law threatened jail for any man not gainfully employed. Federal police forces were ordered to hunt for sedition. Socialist parties and radical unions were banned. So were newspapers published in the "enemy" languages. Canadians learned to live with unprecedented government controls and involvement in their daily lives. Food and fuel shortages led to "Meatless Fridays" and "Fuelless Sundays."

In other warring countries, exhaustion and despair went far deeper. Defeat now faced the western Allies, but the Canadian Corps escaped the succession of German offensives. Sir Arthur Currie insisted that it be kept together. A 5th Canadian division, held in England since 1916, was finally broken up to provide reinforcements.

The United States entered the war in the spring of 1917, sending reinforcements and supplies that would eventually turn the tide against Germany. To help restore the Allied line, Canadians and Australians attacked near Amiens on 8 August 1918 (see Amiens, Battle of). Shock tactics—using airplanes, tanks, and infantry—shattered the German line. In September and early October the Canadians attacked again and again, suffering heavy casualties but making advances thought unimaginable. The Germans fought with skill and courage all the way to Mons, the little Belgian town where fighting ended for the Canadians at 11 AM (Greenwich time), 11 November 1918. More officially, the war ended with the Treaty of Versailles, signed 28 June 1919.

Canada alone lost 60,661 war dead. Many more returned from the conflict mutilated in mind or body. The survivors found that almost every facet of Canadian life, from the length of skirts to the value of money, had been transformed by the war years. Governments had assumed responsibilities they would never abandon. The income tax would survive the war. So would government departments later to become the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Pensions and National Health.

Overseas, Canada's soldiers had struggled to achieve, and had won, a considerable degree of autonomy from British control. Canada's direct reward for her sacrifices was a modest presence at the Versailles conference and a seat in the new League of Nations. However, the deep national divisions between French and English created by the war, and especially by the conscription crisis of 1917, made postwar Canada fearful of international responsibilities. Canadians had done great things in the war but they had not done them together.

Author

Desmond Morton. Revised by Tabitha Marshall and Richard Foot.


Suggested Reading
 E. Armstrong, The Crisis of Quebec, 1914-1918 (1974 reprint); Pierre Berton, Vimy (1986); W.R. Bird, Ghosts Have Warm Hands (1968); M. Bliss, A Canadian Millionaire (1978); R.C. Brown, Robert Laird Borden, vol II (1980); D.G. Dancocks, Legacy of Valour (1986) and Spearhead to Victory: Canada and the Great War (1987); W.A.B. Douglas, The Creation of the National Air Force (1986); D.J. Goodspeed, The Road Past Vimy (1967); J.L. Granatstein and J.M. Hitsman, Broken Promises (1977); Desmond Morton, A Peculiar Kind of Politics (1982), and Canada and War (1981); G.W.L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 (1964); J.A. Swettenham, To Seize the Victory (1965); J. Thompson, The Harvests of War (1978); B. Wilson, Ontario and the First World War, 1914-1918 (1977); S.F. Wise, Canadian Airmen and the First World War (1980).


Links to Other Sites
Canadian War Museum
 The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa is dedicated to the men and women who served with valour and distinction in Canada’s armed services. Their website features a virtual tour of the museum and multimedia online exhibits that depict how Canada met and overcame wartime challenges throughout its history.

Archives of Ontario
 The collections held by the Archives of Ontario are a rich resource for the study of the history of Ontario and its people. Check out the historic photographs, paintings, documents, patriotic posters, personal letters, audio files, and other online features.

Battle of Passchendaele
 This site provides links to a detailed education guide that invites students to discover how the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele became a defining event in Canadian history. Activities focus on the analysis of vital primary sources, multimedia, and other resources. Associated with the the major Canadian feature film "Passchendaele." From Historica Canada.

CBC: Vimy Ridge Remembered
 A multimedia CBC feature devoted to the stories of Canadian veterans who fought on the front lines at Vimy Ridge in the First World War.

Canada at War
 A very detailed information source about Canadian military activity in the First World War and the Second World War. Also features an extensive database of Canadian soldiers who died in battle.

The Canadian Wartime Experience: The Documentary Legacy of Canada at War
 This website examines the impact of wartime experiences on previous generations of Canadians. Peruse digitized images of ink-stained personal letters, official documents, news clippings, old photographs, and much more. Covers major military conflicts from the Red River Rebellion to the Vietnam War. Also offers learning activities that relate to primary source materials. From University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.

The Treaty of Versailles: Peace without Justice
 A brief analysis of the historical impact of the Treaty of Versailles from The Montréal Review.










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French Canada and Recruitment during the First World War


Dispatches: Backgrounders in Canadian Military History

Dr. Serge Durflinger

Introduction

During the First World War, the Canadian government used posters as propaganda devices, for fund raising purposes and as a medium to encourage voluntary enlistment in the armed forces. Posters were an important form of mass communication in pre-radio days and hundreds existed during the war, some with print runs in the tens of thousands.

Because of Canada’s bilingual character, recruiting poster images and text reflected different cultural traditions, outlooks and sensibilities. Recruiting posters remain snapshots in time, helping historians understand the issues and moods of the past.

The French-Canadian recruiting posters on display in the Les Purs Canayens exhibit reflect Canada’s pressing demand for manpower during the First World War. They also indicate the underlying social, cultural and political strains which affected Canada’s war effort and influenced military policy. Most French-speaking Canadians did not support Canada’s overseas military commitments to the same degree as English speakers.

At the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Dominion of Canada was constitutionally a subordinate member of the British Empire. When Britain was at war, Canada was at war: no other legal option existed. Nevertheless, Ottawa determined the actual nature of Canada’s contribution to the war effort, not London.

When Canadians learned they were at war, huge flag-waving crowds expressing loyalty to the British Empire drowned out voices of caution or dissent. The war would be a moral crusade against militarism, tyranny, injustice, and barbarism. “There are no longer French Canadians and English Canadians,” claimed the Montreal newspaper, La Patrie, “Only one race now exists, united…in a common cause.” Even Henri Bourassa, politician, journalist, anti-imperialist, and guiding spirit of French-Canadian nationalism, at first cautiously supported the war effort. Few Canadians could have predicted at this time that their nation soon would become a major participant in the worst conflict the world had yet seen, or that the war would place enormous political and social strains on Canada.

Recruitment: Policy versus Reality

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Robert Borden immediately offered Britain a contingent of troops for overseas service. Thousands of men enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), then assembling at Valcartier, Québec under the personal, if chaotic, supervision of Sam Hughes, the exuberant Minister of Militia and Defence. There was a surplus of volunteers and selection standards remained high; some men, in fact, were turned away. On October 3, a convoy of ships carrying nearly 33,000 Canadian troops departed for Britain. In December 1914, Borden announced solemnly that “there has not been, there will not be, compulsion or conscription”. To find whatever manpower might be necessary, Borden placed his faith in Canadians’ patriotic spirit.

Fully two-thirds of the men of the first contingent had been born in the British Isles. Most had settled in Canada in the 15-year period of massive immigration which had preceded the Great War. The same attachment to the Mother Country was less obvious among the Canadian born, especially French Canadians, of whom only about 1000 enlisted in the first contingent. At the time war was declared, only 10 percent of the population of Canada was British born. Yet, by the Armistice in 1918, nearly half of all Canadians who served during the war had been born in the British Isles. These statistics indicate that voluntary enlistments among the Canadian born were never equal to their proportion of the population.

Following the despatch of this first contingent, the Department of Militia and Defence delegated the task of recruiting to militia units across the country. This decentralized and more orderly system raised a total of 71 battalions — each of approximately 1000 men — for service overseas. Posters, which appeared in every conceivable public space, were an important part of this large recruiting effort. The poster text and images were usually designed and printed by the units themselves and tailored to local conditions and interests. Many of the posters on display are good examples of these.

Recruitment, however, was already tapering off in the fall of 1915. In October of that year, Ottawa bowed to the pressure of patriotic groups and allowed any community, civilian organization or leading citizen able to bear the expense to raise an infantry battalion for the CEF. Some of the new battalions were raised on the basis of ethnicity or religion, others promoted a common occupational or institutional affiliation or a shared social interest, such as membership in sporting clubs, as the basis of their organization. For example, Danish Canadians raised a battalion, two battalions recruited “Bantams,” men under 5 feet 2 inches tall, and one Winnipeg battalion was organized for men abstaining from alcohol. Up to October 1917 this “patriotic” recruiting yielded a further 124,000 recruits divided among 170 usually understrength infantry battalions.

In July 1915, with two contingents already overseas and more units forming, Ottawa set the authorized strength of the CEF at 150,000 men. Extremely heavy Canadian casualties that spring during the Second Battle of Ypres indicated that additional manpower would be required on an unprecedented scale. There would be no quick end to the fighting. In October, Borden increased Canada’s troop commitment to 250,000; by the new year, this had risen to 500,000. This was an almost unsustainable number on a voluntary basis from a population base of less than eight million. Within months, voluntary enlistments for Canadian infantry battalions slowed to a trickle.

Unemployment had been high in 1914-1915, and this perhaps had prompted the initially heavy flow of enlistments, especially from economically-troubled Western Canada. By 1916, the booming wartime industrial and agricultural economies combined to provide Canadians with other options and employers competed with recruiting officers for Canada’s available manpower. Those keen to volunteer had already done so; the rest would have to be convinced — or compelled.

World War 1 French Canada Recruitment Poster, CWM AN 19900348-031

By the end of 1916, the CEF‘s front-line units required 75,000 men annually just to replace losses, which were extremely heavy among the infantry; yet, only 2800 infantry volunteers enlisted from July 1916 to October 1917 and not a single infantry battalion raised through voluntary recruitment after July 1916 reached full strength.

French Canada and Recruitment

Following the nation-wide outbursts of patriotism in August 1914, French-Canadian support for the war began to decline. There existed among French Canadians a tradition of suspicion and even hostility towards the British Empire, and, while sympathetic to France, Britain’s ally, few French Canadians were willing to risk their lives in its defence either. After all, for over a century following the British conquest of New France in 1760, France showed no interest in the welfare of French Canadians. In North America, les Canadiens had survived and grown, remaining culturally vibrant without French support. By 1914, while an educated élite in French Canada professed some cultural affinity, most French Canadians did not identify with anti-clerical and scandal-ridden France.

When a French government propaganda mission toured Québec in 1918, Bourassa spoke for French Canada when he wrote of the irony of the French “trying to have us offer the kinds of sacrifices for France which France never thought of troubling itself with to defend French Canada”. In short, neither France nor Britain was “a mother country” retaining the allegiance of French Canadians. The “patriotic” call to arms rang hollow.

French Canadians’ language and culture seemed more seriously threatened within Canada than by the war in Europe. In 1912, Ontario passed Regulation 17, a bill severely limiting the availability of French-language schooling to the province’s French-speaking minority. French Canada viewed this gesture as a blatant attempt at assimilation, which it had resisted for generations. Bourassa, who by 1915 saw the war as serving Britain’s imperial interests, insisted that “the enemies of the French language, of French civilization in Canada are not the Boches [the Germans]…but the English-Canadian anglicizers…” Bourassa’s acerbic campaign against the “Prussians of Ontario” had a major impact on recruiting for “Britain’s” war. The Montreal daily, La Presse, judged Ontario’s unyielding Regulation 17 as the main reason for French-Canadian apathy. To English Canada’s calls for greater French-Canadian enrollment, Armand Lavergne, well-known nationaliste, replied: “Give us back our schools first!” Wartime appeals for unity and sacrifice came at an inopportune time.

French Canada’s views were reflected in low enrollment numbers. Yet, most Canadians of military age, notwithstanding language, did not volunteer. Those tied to the land, generations removed from European immigration, or married, volunteered the least. Significantly, these characteristics applied most often to French Canadians, although many rural English-Canadians were not enlisting either. If British immigrants are not counted, the respective contributions of French and English Canadians are more proportional than the raw data would suggest.

When the first contingent of the CEF sailed in October 1914, it contained a single organized French-speaking company (about 150 men). Sam Hughes at first refused to authorize any French-language units. The second contingent of over 20,000 men, despatched to Britain in early 1915, had a single French-speaking Québec battalion, the 22nd, later nicknamed the “Van Doos.” Besides this battalion, the CEF was almost entirely an English-language institution, hardly an inducement for a French-Canadian to volunteer. A mere 13 of 258 infantry battalions formed during the course of the war were raised in French Canada, and all struggled to attract and retain recruits. Those understrength French-speaking battalions which proceeded overseas after 1915 were invariably broken up to reinforce the 22nd and other units suffering severe infantry shortages.

Occasionally in 1915 and 1916, respected and battle-hardened officers of the 22nd would be assigned to newly-formed French-language battalions in the hope that a claim to some association with the famed “Van Doos” might encourage prospective enlistees. It rarely did. In June 1916, the 167th Battalion, recruiting in Québec City, even tried raffling an automobile to raise interest but only raised 144 men for service at the front with the 22nd. One interesting unit was the 163rd Battalion, raised in November 1915 by the noted nationaliste journalist and adventurer, Olivar Asselin, who insisted on enrolling only high-calibre men. Criticized by his nationaliste colleagues for enlisting, Asselin explained in the pamphlet, Pourquoi je m’enrôle that, far from being a hypocrite, he was helping to defend France and not the British Empire. Asselin nicknamed his unit “les poils-aux-pattes” [hairy paws] and adopted the porcupine as his regimental emblem, explaining that “qui s’y frotte s’y pique” [stung are those who come into contact with it]. The unit’s recruiting poster, on display in the exhibit, featured a soldier in French, not Canadian, uniform. Asselin’s considerable efforts to raise a high-quality French-language battalion were in vain: despite successful recruiting, the 163rd was despatched to Bermuda for garrison duty, where it languished. It, too, was eventually dismantled to reinforce the 22nd.

World War 1 French Canada Recruitment Poster, CWM AN 19820376-821

French Canada supplied approximately 15,000 volunteers during the war. Most came from the Montreal area, though Québec City, Western Québec and Eastern Ontario provided significant numbers. A precise total is difficult to establish since attestation papers did not require enlistees to indicate their mother tongue. Though French Canadians comprised nearly 30 percent of the Canadian population, they made up only about 4 percent of Canadian volunteers. Less than 5 percent of Quebec’s males of military age were enrolled in infantry battalions, compared to 14-15 percent in Western Canada and Ontario. Moreover, half of Quebec’s recruits were English Canadian and nearly half of French-Canadian volunteers came from provinces other than Québec. The result was an angry national debate concerning French Canada’s, and especially Québec’s, manpower contribution.

Conscription and its Aftermath

When Borden pledged in 1914 that there would be no conscription in Canada he also maintained that Canada would furnish whatever manpower was needed to help win the war. By the spring of 1917, these two policies had become irreconcilable. Voluntary enrollment was no longer producing the reinforcements necessary to maintain Canada’s commitment in the field where the CEF had suffered appalling casualties. Worse was yet to come.

In May 1917, Borden visited Vimy Ridge in the immediate aftermath of that costly Canadian victory. Moved by the hardships endured by the troops and proud of their battlefield achievements, on May 18, upon his return to Canada, Borden announced that “all citizens are liable for the defence of their country and I conceive that the battle for Canadian liberty and autonomy is being fought on the plains of France and Belgium.” The government began drafting the Military Service Act.

Many English Canadians hailed the step as a military necessity, but also as a means of forcing French Canada to augment its low enlistment rate. Saturday Night magazine insisted that “it is certainly not the intention of English Canada to stand idly by and see itself bled white of men in order that the Québec shirker may sidestep his responsibilities.” English Canada hated Bourassa as much as the German Kaiser. There was little sympathy for French Canadians and little understanding of the demographic, cultural or historical factors which might have dissuaded them from enlisting.

The Military Service Act became law on August 28. Former prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier claimed the measure “has in it the seeds of discord and disunion”. He was correct; anti-conscription demonstrations occurred regularly in Montreal in the summer of 1917. Angry crowds broke office windows at the pro-conscription Montreal newspaper, The Gazette. The home of Lord Atholstan, proprietor of the equally pro-conscription Montreal Daily Star, was dynamited earlier that month although he escaped unharmed. Recruiting officers in various parts of Québec made themselves scarce for fear of their lives. Crowds chanted: “Nous en avons assez de l’Union Jack!”

The political truce which had prevented a wartime election ended. Parliament was dissolved in October 1917 and pro-conscription Liberals joined Borden’s Conservatives to form a Union Government, something of a misnomer since its founding was the result of national disunity. Some labour groups, most farmers and many Canadians of non-British origin were also firmly opposed to conscription. J.C. Watters, the president of the Trades and Labour Congress threatened that if conscription passed, Canadian workers “would lay down… tools and refuse to work”.

The ensuing December 17 “conscription” election was by far the most bitterly-contested and linguistically-divisive in Canadian history. In the end, the Unionists won 153 seats against the Laurier Liberals’ 82, including 62 obtained in Québec, but the popular vote was less than 100,000 in favour of the Unionists. The result was profound alienation in French Canada. Conscription was considered the result of the English-language majority imposing its views over a French-language minority on an issue of life and death. Conceptions of Canada and definitions of patriotism had never been further apart. Canadian national unity had never seemed so fragile.

The first group of conscripts were called in January 1918. There were slightly more than 400,000 Class I registrants; that is, unmarried and childless males aged 20-34. Nationally, almost 94 percent of these men applied for various exemptions from service (98 percent in Québec) and the appeal boards established to review these cases granted nearly 87 percent of their requests (91 percent in Québec). Some 28,000 others (18,000 in Québec) simply defaulted and went into hiding to avoid arrest by military or civilian police. Conscription was unpopular among those called, regardless of region, occupation or ethnicity.

The tension in Québec was palpable. At the end of March 1918 a mob destroyed the offices of the Military Service Registry in Québec City. Conscript troops were rushed from Toronto and on April 1 they opened fire with machine guns on a threatening crowd, killing four demonstrators and wounding dozens of others. The extent of the violence shocked the country. Religious leaders and civic authorities successfully appealed for calm. The rioting stopped, but the bitter memories would linger for decades.

Of the 620,000 men who served in the CEF, about 108,000 were conscripts. Fewer than 48,000 of these proceeded overseas and, before the war ended in November 1918, only 24,000 actually served at the front. Although all of the conscripts would have been urgently needed at the front if the war had continued into 1919, as expected, conscription hardly seemed worth the effort given the severity of the national disunity it caused. In the postwar period, French-Canadian nationalistes would point to the conscription crisis as evidence of the impossibility of reconciling the views of French and English speakers in Canada. The events of 1917-1918 forced the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King to tread warily over the same issue during the Second World War.

Further reading:
•Robert Craig Brown; Donald Loveridge, Unrequited Faith: Recruiting the CEF 1914-1918, Revue Internationale d’Histoire Militaire, No. 51, 1982.
•Marc H. Choko, Canadian War Posters, Méridien, Montreal, 1994.
•Gérard Filteau, Le Québec, le Canada et la guerre 1914-1918, L’aurore, Montréal, 1977.
•Jean-Pierre Gagnon, Le 22e Bataillon, Les Presses de l’Université Laval en collaboration avec le ministère de la Défense nationale et le Centre d’édition du gouvernement du Canada, Ottawa et Québec, 1986.
•J.L. Granatstein and J.M. Hitsman, Broken Promises: A History of Conscription in Canada, Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1977.
•Desmond Morton and J.L. Granatstein, Marching to Armageddon, Lester and Orpen Dennys, Toronto, 1989.
•Desmond Morton, When Your Number’s Up, Random House, Toronto, 1993.
•G.W.L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919, Ottawa, Queen’s Printer, 1964.

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Black Watch reunion draws vets to Aldershot

The Black Watch Atlantic Branch Association held 2013 reunion at Camp Aldershot this weekend.
by Kirk Starratt



Photos John Decoste, www.kingscountynews.ca
 More than 40 years after the regiment was disbanded in 1969, the veterans of the Black Watch still answer the call to reunions every two years, drawn by the chance for camaraderie with former comrades in arms.








In 1953, the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) began its part in the long history of the North Kentville base. When the unit returned to Canada after service in the Korean Conflict, the First and Second Battalions were stationed at Camp Aldershot, along with additional units at Camp Debert. From 1953 to 1959, Camp Aldershot saw significant use while housing this regular force unit. At one point, some 2,300 soldiers were stationed at the facility.

President Arthur Snow said more than 320 people registered for the weekend reunion. Members from across Atlantic Canada attended, the Amherst man said, with some coming in from as far away as Australia, England, the United States and Montreal.

“In just about every reunion I meet someone who has never been here,” Snow said. Although the association started holding reunions in 1979, there are still members attending for the first time. Snow said there are five new association members registered for this year’s reunion, including one Second World War veteran.
“I can’t wait to meet him,” Snow said just before the reunion started.

Snow said, sadly, the association has lost 115 members since their last reunion two years ago. However, even if members are ill, the reunion is important to them and they work hard to make it. Snow said the reunion is important to him, too, as the members are very appreciative of his organizing efforts. Snow said the part he enjoys most is getting to see his friends again, although he also enjoys meeting new members with a connection to the Black Watch.

The activities got underway Aug. 30 with a meet and greet: a chance for everyone to get reacquainted, reminisce about days gone by and talk about what is currently happening in the association. The association’s annual general meeting was held Aug. 31, as well as a dinner and dance.

The reunion included some special presentations this year. Saturday afternoon, members in uniform, led by the pipes and drums, marched on the Camp Aldershot parade square. The reviewing officer inspected the soldiers and presented Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals to 10 members. An 11th medal will be presented later to a member in New Brunswick who is unable to make the trip following the reunion.


The Black Watch’s stint at Aldershot was memorable, but short. The unit was rotated to West Germany in 1959 and was stationed at the newly constructed Camp Gagetown in New Brunswick upon its return.










The Purpose (Get Up Weary Soldier)





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Battle of York 200th Anniversary Parade Third Battalion, Royal Canadian


Published on May 26, 2013 


On April 27th 2013, Toronto had the largest military parade in the city since WW2 to commemmorate the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of York, when American forces captured the town from the British Regulars and Canadian Militia.

This footage shows the Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, that earlier in the day recieved new Regimental Colours from their Commander in Chief, Prince Philip.




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Proud Canadian Soldier


Canadian Forces Tribute-A Single Maple Leaf


Canada Pride


CANADA'S TROOPS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

Portraits of Honour (Canadian Forces) 2012

The hand painted Portraits of Honour 10' x 50' mural features the faces of the 157 Canadian Forces troops who have lost their lives while serving in Afghanistan.
The Portraits of Honour National Tour will travel across Canada starting June 1, 2011.
For more information, visit www.portraitsofhonour.ca
or call 1-888-9-HONOUR
comment:'
Visited Dave at the studio, there are now 158 portraits on the canvas.
Amazing tribute.



NOVA SCOTIA-cfb greenwood



New health centre at 14 Wing officially opened



Major Christine Drab and WO Dan Dospital explained the benefits of the virtual patient in the Emergency Care Simulator, used by military Medical Technicians and Physician Assistants to maintain and upgrade their clinical skills.  Nancy Kelly-www.kingscountynews.ca  
Published on May 23, 2013




Topics :  William Hall Victoria Cross Building , Royal Air Force , William Hall Centre- Britain 

By Nancy Kellynkelly@kingscountynews.caKingsCountyNews.ca



14 Wing Greenwood’s new health services centre will significantly improve the standard of health care provided to the military community, says the commanding officer of the base’s medical health units.



“This new facility offers all the benefits of collaborative care,” said Major Christine Drab.



The William Hall Victoria Cross Building was officially opened during a special ceremony held May 14.



“Ensuring the health and safety of our personnel is our priority and this new health care facility will help provide the care required,” said Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who was on hand at the grand opening.



The new 40,000-square foot building is three times the size of the former facility. It replaces the old quarters that were built in the 1940s, when the base served as a training centre for pilots in Britain’s Royal Air Force, and added onto throughout the years as more capacity was required.



“Up until now, staff have made do with space and facilities that have presented some logistical challenges. But that old building served us well for 70 years,” said Drab.



The new facility brings all health care services under one roof. Until recently, dental services were housed in a trailer and mental health services were located in the Morphee Centre.



The fact that patients can now have access to all services under roof is a very good thing, said staff psychologist Dr. Eileen Donahoe.



“It’s bright, it’s light and we now have the added convenience of shared care.”



Designed to be environmentally- and patient-friendly, the LEED Green-certified building makes use of natural light and incorporates waiting areas in each area of patient care. One section of the building is devoted to the cadet population, which is housed in barracks directly across the street.



“In the summer, the cadet organization brings in their own health services team. They now have a place that is devoted to their use,” explained Drab.



The building features work spaces and clinical areas for physicians, dentists, physiotherapists, mental health practitioners and support staff. It is equipped with a fully-functional lab and x-ray facility, a pharmacy and emergency treatment and preventative health departments.



Physician Assistant Warrant Officer Dan Dospital is particularly proud of the emergency care simulator, a space dedicated to providing ongoing training for medical technicians. Using a virtual patient, med-techs can “practice anything they want, anytime and constantly be improving their clinical competency,” he said



The William Hall Centre has been open since January and Drab said the staff and patients have settled well into their new environment. The former health centre is now being prepared for demolition.



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Standing Strong & True (For Tomorrow) Official Music Video (HD)

WeSaluteOurHeroes1·3 videos

for more info: www.wesaluteoutheroes.ca
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Amazing Grace (Inuit)


Native American-Susan Aglukark-Amazing Grace (Inuit)with pic of the NorthernLights


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CANADA'S SGT.ELTON ADAMS- wrote the first song on PTSD (2008-2009) to make us aware of haunted souls of our troops with PTSD


The Battle of the mind - Operational Stress & PTSD




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WOUNDED WARRIORS.CA- Amazing Grace

CANADA:  "Freedom" Support our troops




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PTSD- Walking 4 Military Minds Canada and Wounded Warriors Canada





Walking for mental health

Hike to Ottawa suppor ts soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder



AARON BESWICK TRURO BUREAU

abeswick@herald.ca @CH_ABeswick

Kate MacEachern isn’t done walk­ing yet.

At the Canso Causeway on Tuesday morning, the Antigonish County native hiked her rucksack onto her shoulders and began putting one foot in front of the other.

She’s headed for Ottawa.

The former tank driver with the Canadian Forces aims to raise awareness about the mental health issues facing soldiers and first responders along the way.

She also wants to raise more than $50,000 for the Military Minds Association, which offers support to soldiers suffering from mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

“My walk last year has changed who I am," MacEachern said Wednesday, during a break along Highway 104 near Heatherton, Antigonish County.

“I heard so many stories from soldiers, first responders and their families and I carry thos e with me."

Last year, MacEachern walked from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown to Antigonish, raising $20,000 for the Soldier On Fund that supports retired military personnel with a chronic illness or injury.

This year’s focus is on the mind rather than the body.

“I’ve seen too many friends and families o f friends just hang on by their fingernails dealing with this stuff," said MacEachern. “Post­traumatic stress disorder is never going to go away but we can change how we deal with it by bringing the issu e out into the open."

Driving MacEachern’s support vehicle for the first 21 days of her estimated 45-day walk is Kevin Berry. The former s oldier with the 3rd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment underwent treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism in 2010. He now works with Military Minds, help­ing guide other military personnel suffering from mental health issues back toward the light.

“We’re moving away from the ‘suck it up’ attitude," said Berry. “It’s that attitude that we need to break down so that people can come forward and talk about their problems."

MacEachern, who left the milit­ary during the past year, expects to average 40 kilometres a day over the course of her 1,864-kilometre walk.




PHOTO
Antigonish County native Kate MacEachern began her walk Tuesday from the Canso Causeway to Ottawa to raise awareness of mental health issues facing soldiers and first responders. AARON BESWICK • Tr Turo Bureau

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beautiful article- tells how WWI Canada- all Canadians took part in the Great War- all races, creeds, colours, religion- and always First Peoples of Canada 10,000 years


Army display gets reinforcements

Province gives $61,000 to help improve First World War exhibit at Halifax Citadel



SHERRI BORDEN COLLEY STAFF REPORTER

sborden@herald.ca @CH_BordenColley

Nova Scotians, and visitors from across the country, will have an opportunity to learn about Canada’s First World War tri­umphs and sacrifices through new stories and artifacts that will be part of an exhibit opening next year at the Halifax Citadel Nation­al Historic Site.

Titled The Road to V imy and Beyond, the exhibit, developed for the Army Museum, will open in May 2014 and run until Re­membrance Day 2018.

During a news conference at the museum Thursday, Leonard Preyra, provincial communities, culture and heritage minister, announced that Nova Scotia is contributing $61,000 toward the design work required to improve the exhibit’s visual impact.

The improvement will be the largest exhibit transformation in the museum’s 60-year history.

Preyra was joined by retired military officers and volunteers for the announcement o f the upgrades that will be carried out ahead o f the up coming centennial of the First World War.

Also known as the Great War, it began in August 1914. It ended more than four years later on Nov. 11, 1918.

“One of the important reasons for supporting this exhibit is be­cause it fills an important gap in our knowledge . . . of World War I history," Preyra said following the announcement .

“Essentially, it talks also about the contributions of groups like the African-Nova Scotian bat­talion (No. 2 Construction Bat­talion Canadian Exp editionary Force that is also known as the Black Battalion), the Jewish regi­ments, the Mi ’kmaq, a whole range of groups that participated in World War I and World War II whose stories have just not been told, at least they’re not widely known ."

During the next four years, the museum’s project team will con­tinu e to expand on the stories and artifacts commemorating the regiments and the lives of indi­vidual Nova Scotian soldiers who served Canada during the Great Wa r.

“As an army museum, we be­lieve we have a sacred trust to commemorate and honour the service of the heroes of World War I and all the other heroes that came after them in subs equ ent wars," said retired army major Ken Hynes, director of the World War I Centennial Project.

One of the two exhibit rooms will include a two-metre-tall model of the Vimy Ridge Memori­al in France.

Noting that the Battle of Vimy Ridge was a seminal event in Canadian history, Hynes said it is “unfortunate that Canadians don’t have the opportunity to see where so many soldiers sacrificed themselves in the birth of our nation as an independent state."

The years 2012 to 2015 also mark the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. In 1814, Halifax saw the arrival of Chesapeake Blacks by ship from the United States.

Between 1813 and 1815, about 2,000 American blacks, refugees from that war, settled in the Mari­times.

The Army Museum board of governors presented the province with Freedom Halifax 1814, a print from an original painting illustrat­ing the arrival by award-winning Halifax artist Richard Rudnicki.

Through the painting, Rudnicki said he really wanted to capture the feelings of the people arriving at King’s Wharf in Halifax.

“The clothing, the ship, the uniforms of the British, that’s all available in research papers but the people’s faces were very im­portant to me and the mix of feelings of anticipation, excite­ment, nervousness, fear, the chil­dren , the men and women and als o I wanted to tell the story o f the women in there," Rudnicki said in an interview.

“They would have had a couple of hours warning that they were leaving so they just grabbed whatever they could and left. Can you imagine the courage it would have taken, although they were escaping slavery?"



PHOTO
Leonard Preyra, Nova Scotia’s communities, culture and heritage minister, examines a First World War-era rifle with Ken Hynes, director of the World War I Centennial Project at the Army Museum on Citadel Hill in Halifax on Thursday. ADRIEN VECZAN • Staff



WWI Canadian Army Museum- Citadel Hill, Halifax Nova Scotia
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Top Canadian general defends success of Afghan campaign

 By David Pugliese, OTTAWA CITIZEN September 4, 2013 




Canadian soldiers patrol an area in the Dand district of southern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 7, 2009. American and British criticism of Canada’s long and often bloody military efforts in Afghanistan has a ring of revisionism that ignores key facts, experts say. (Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press)

Photograph by: Colin Perkel , THE CANADIAN PRESS


As the U.S. military community grapples with what seasoned officers are calling the failure of the counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan, Canada’s top soldier in that country is labelling the strategy a success.

Karl Eikenberry, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and a commanding general of forces there from 2005 to 2007, has published a scathing critique of the counter-insurgency doctrine, known by its military acronym as COIN, in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine.

West Point professor Col. Isaiah Wilson III, who worked on the U.S. Afghan strategy, also writes in the new issue of the American Interest magazine about concerns over the failure of COIN in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The counter-insurgency doctrine was adopted by the U.S., Canada and other nations and stressed the need to protect civilian populations, eliminate insurgent leaders and help establish a legitimate government that could deliver services to its people. “In short, COIN failed in Afghanistan,” Eikenberry wrote.

But Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner, the most senior Canadian officer in Afghanistan, counters that isn’t the case. “I’ve seen tremendous improvement over the last couple of years and I continue to see it,” Milner said Wednesday in a phone interview from Kabul. “I think the counter-insurgency strategy may have been employed a little later than we would have liked, but in essence I think it’s moved this country in the right direction.”

“The bottom line is that I actually think for the most part the situation continues to improve,” he added.

The debate over the counter-insurgency doctrine comes as U.S. forces continue their withdrawal from Afghanistan with an eye to winding down combat operations by 2014. Questions are being raised in the U.S. whether the costly war will accomplish anything in the long term or whether the Taliban will return to power once western troops leave.

Canada, which has about 800 military personnel in Afghanistan, is also pulling out its forces. All Canadians will be home by the end of March 2014, Milner said.

In his critique, Eikenberry questioned the COIN doctrine’s principles. He noted that the strategy talks about the need to protect the local population, which coalition forces did, at least from the Taliban. “But what about criminal narcotraffickers, venal local police chiefs, or predatory government officials?” Eikenberry asked.

He also questioned the assumption that U.S. military personnel without the appropriate language skills and only a superficial understanding of Afghan culture could bring development to Afghan villages. “The typical 21-year-old marine is hard-pressed to win the heart and mind of his mother-in-law; can he really be expected to do the same with an ethnocentric Pashtun tribal elder?” Eikenberry wrote.

He also warned that Afghanistan is too reliant on foreign countries for financial support. In recent years, the U.S. and other donors have paid for 90 per cent of Afghanistan’s total public expenditures, including for security forces.


Milner confirmed that Canada intends to provide financial support for Afghanistan after the 2014 pullout.

Milner said the first phase of the Canadian withdrawal will take place in October when the number of personnel drops from around 800 to about 650. The personnel are currently training Afghan security forces.

By Christmas the number will drop to around 375 and by January there will be fewer than 100 Canadian personnel in Afghanistan.

The Canadian military has been involved in Afghanistan since late 2001. One hundred and fifty-eight Canadian Forces personnel have died and more than 1,800 were injured.

In July 2011, the Canadian Forces ended its combat mission in Kandahar province and focused on training Afghan security forces.

That mission, called Operation Attention, has cost taxpayers around $500 million. Most Canadian soldiers are in or near Kabul but a small number are located in the northern centre of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Milner said that the size of Afghanistan’s security forces has increased from 192,000 in 2009 to the current 345,000. He said there are far fewer insurgent attacks, and Afghan forces, not western militaries, are involved in providing security and going after insurgents. “NATO is no longer in the lead,” he said. “We don’t even plan these operations.”

He said the situation in Kandahar has also improved. “It gives me comfort to tell you today that the areas in Kandahar province where so many of our Canadian men and women fought against a determined insurgency have improved significantly in terms of security and stability as a result of our efforts and sacrifice,” he added.

Milner described Afghanistan as a “painful and productive mission” for the Canadian military.

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Canadian troops ready to end Afghan training mission

After almost 12 years in Afghanistan, Canada's military is ready to end its final mission in the war-torn country and return soldiers home by March.


By: Bruce Campion-Smith Parliament Hill,  Published on Wed Sep 04 2013

OTTAWA—After nearly a dozen years in Afghanistan, Canadian soldiers are getting ready to return home for the last time, leaving the uncertain security of the war-torn country in the hands of Afghan soldiers and police.


Canada’s current mission training Afghan police and soldiers begins to wind down in October, marking the end of a military presence in the country that began in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.


Returning soldiers leave behind questions whether Afghans are up to the task to securing their own country from the terror threats that prompted Canada and its allies to deploy to the country in 2001.


But Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner, commander of the Canadian force and deputy commander of the NATO training mission, said the police and Afghan National Army are already taking the lead.

“We continue to see their confidence growing. It’s significant,” Milner said Wednesday.


“We’ve built a very large, capable force . . . the biggest focus for us right now is sustaining this force. . . . There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to take more time to assist them,” Milner said.


Since 2009, the Afghan security forces has grown from about 192,000 with limited mobility and firepower to an army and police contingent that today numbers around 345,000 personnel, Milner said.


Milner said the “absolutely impressive” improvements in abilities of the Afghan security forces are “like night and day” compared to what he saw during his previous tour in Kandahar two years ago.


He said the Afghan army, police and intelligence services have assumed responsibility for security operations — and as a result are suffering heavier causalities from their place on the frontlines.


During the traditional summer fighting season, he said the Afghans have done an impressive job preventing the Taliban from achieving their objectives.


“There have been a few high-profile attacks here in Kabul and other large cities but far fewer than the Taliban were hoping for,” Milner told journalists in a teleconference.


But Milner’s commander, U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford, has warned that the Afghans are suffering heavy losses in combat that may require further intervention by western forces.


“I’m not assuming that those casualties are sustainable,” Dunford said in an interview with the Guardian.


Canadian infantry soldiers, engineers, medical personnel, signallers and air force staff are all on the ground teaching Afghans their respective trades, Milner said. Most of the training happens at sites around Kabul with a smaller contingent based at Mazar-e-Sharif in the north.


The 800-strong contingent will be reduced to 650 in October and 375 by Christmas. By January, a small team of 100 will be left to wrap up the mission. By the time the last soldier returns home in March, almost 40,000 Canadian troops will have served in Afghanistan, from Kabul to a gruelling combat mission in Kandahar that ended in 2011 and back to Kabul.


“It has been both a painful and productive mission,” Milner said, adding that he’s mindful of the 158 Canadian soldiers who died during the Afghan mission.


But he said experiences in Afghanistan have been good for the Canadian military, giving it exposure to tough military operations working alongside coalition partners.


“There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s been a good experience for us,” Milner said.


“Working with our coalition partners. Fighting a difficult fight. It’s a complex fight, the counter-insurgency. We’ve learned lots of lessons.”


While troops are pulling out, Milner said Canada will continue to back Afghan security forces with financial help of up to $110 million a year.


“I know that Canada is absolutely going to continue to support Afghanistan into the future,” Milner said.


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Work out. Aldershot Camp- Nova Scotia (Canada)












Ed's Up! 1x8 - Battle School



Ed's Up! - 1x8 clip - Battle School - Camp Aldershot, Nova Scotia
(Peace Point Entertainment Group)





CAMP ALDERSHOT- NOVA SCOTIA-     Cadets, Reservists, Militia, Military since early 1900s






Camp Aldershot

Andy Barker  Published on July 18, 2013
         
Topics :  Army Cadet , Grand Falls Station , AND Company       , Kentville , Nova Scotia , Michael 

Being in the army cadets and going to Camp Aldershot in Kentville, Nova Scotia was once a thing to do. My time there, as a St. Michael's Army Cadet, was the summers of 1961 and 1962.

The first time trip to camp began near midnight at Grand Falls Station. Once aboard we took off our school army cadet uniforms, but hardly slept in our berths as the excitement had us peering out into the darkness and talking. It was then my longest train trip (at age 7 I rode up from Bishop's Falls to the mill yard on AND Company's train with my mother).

At Port aux Basques we crossed on the MV William Carson (sunk off Labrador 1977) which was quite an experience for an inland 15 year old - first time on a ship and first time ever view of the endless ocean. The smell of food in the Carson's cafeteria still lingers deep in my mind and the ferry's roly-poly sailing was practically invitation for landlubbers to be sea sick.

At North Sydney we paraded to the railway station (abandoned but still standing) and boarded another train that took us to a siding right inside of Camp Aldershot. Once stopped, a sergeant came aboard, and in a forceful loud voice, hustled us teenagers quickly off the train - a startling welcome to army life.

The second camp trip was another first - Trans-Canada Air Lines, Vanguard turboprop from Gander to Halifax - and then on to Camp Aldershot. On the flight we were brought to the cockpit to see the flying first hand and chat with the crew. In today's world, even touching the cockpit door could be the last thing you do!

Six weeks at camp meant more than half the summer away from home and living the army life seven days a week. We were paid $100 ($783 - 2013) with two $10 pay periods at camp and the balance paid at home. The line up of 500 boys or so to be paid cash was one thing, but the sight of the military police - Provost, armed with the biggest handgun I've ever seen, was something else.

At Camp Aldershot we had a medical then were issued all our gear - boots, socks, hat, shirts, shorts, putties, belt, t-shirts but used our Newfoundland Regiment caribou badge in our hat. Issued as well, a combo of knife, fork and spoon that clicked into a single unit and known as "gut wrenches". At the mess we returned our dirty dishes but washed our gut wrenches to take with us.

Our barracks was H shaped - the joining centre for washing clothes, toilets (no doors), sinks and showers with the two long extensions full of evenly spaced, steel bunk beds. A Militia corporal was assigned to our section. He slept at one end and oversaw our quieting down on lights out and getting us up early.

Camp life meant marching everywhere including meals, but we could causally return from the mess hall. After breakfast it was back to finish up around your bed - sweep, mop, dust and make a perfectly rectangle shaped bedroll with the bedding. Then it was on with the dress parade khakis - hat, shirt, shorts, below the knee socks, and cloth putties that wrapped around to blend the top of your boots with the socks.

Next it was a stand by your bed inspection and then outside of the hut for a platoon form up for the final inspection before full parade (A-B-C-D Companies and Tech Training) on the parade square. That routine we did five mornings a week parade. Our company sergeant major would send a cadet, whose dress was not to code, to hide under a nearby bridge during the full parade.

Dress code readiness took place five nights a week after supper - boots and brass polished and shined, shirts and shorts washed and pressed, hat squared off and buttons sewn on, if necessary.

After morning parade we marched off to an instruction area - map reading, knot tying and so on. Or we went to the range to shoot the FN rifles and have our turn in the bunker blow the targets where we used long pole indicators to show those shooting how well they were doing. We had lunch brought to us wherever we were - chocolate milk and peanut butter sandwiches. Around 2 pm we marched back to the hut and changed - white t-shirt and blue shorts to attend sporting events or swimming at Sunken Lake.

On weekends we either dressed in our regular school cadet gear or had day leave to enjoy what Kentville had to offer; or it was a Company outing to nearby historic sights.

Memories of those two Camp Aldershot summers also include:

- Writing home (girl in the same grade) on birch rind. Hey, once an Indian always an Indian!

- Shiniest army boots ever, had to be Dennis Budgell's of Grand Falls Academy who was in my hut.

- Figuring out the difference between "wet" and "dry" canteen. Dry meant no booze thus us our drink was Frostie root beer.

- Being asked to accompany an officer and troubled cadet. They chatted as we drove around the Annapolis Valley. And as the third man in I realize now (sexual abuse scandals) it was a smart move by the officer to have me along for the ride.

- Marching out into the country and having an overnight bivouac.

- Plenty of food including loads of fresh cold milk.

- Meeting guys I would later meet at St F.X. University.

- Chosen to march in the Natal Day Parade in Halifax and not knowing that a future brother-in-law was in the same parade.

- Sergeant Major Shirley and Sergeant Major Poff, one Militia and the other Regular Army, both tough lovable men.

- Learning about army life, military jargon, nuclear war, Nova Scotians and others on the mainland and our place in Canada, which in the summer of 1961 was just 12 years old.

Camp Aldershot was definitely an adventure from a different era, a time when we didn't have access to TV let alone the then unimaginable computers, cell phones and texting. It was a time of just boys and adult leaders in each other's spaces and faces for six weeks - tough and demanding but lots of fun and laughs and full of life changing experiences.

Makes one wonder though would a Camp Aldershot today be considered a place of cruel and unusual punishment not just for youth, but also for adults?



comment:
Why don't you check it out yourself! Sea Cadets - https://www.facebook.com/AcadiaCdts?fref=ts Army Cadets - https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautCdts?fref=ts Air Cadets - https://www.facebook.com/GreenwoodCdts?fref=ts I was a sea cadet myself for 7 years from 1995-2002 and I am currently a CIC Officer running the sea cadets in Grand Falls-Windsor, 67 RCSCC Windsor. The cadet program is the best youth program in the country. The routine today isn't much different that what is outlined, although this column makes it appear much more harsh than it actually is. I loved attending as a cadet, and the cadets today still love going! Check the link above to see what kind of adventures and activities the cadets are involved in (I may be a little bias, but I think the Sea Cadet link is the best one). Cheers!


comment:
Thanks for the trek back in time, Andy. Summers in Aldershot were a remarkable experience, and as a mere lad tucked away in Grand Falls, heading off to the mainland was as though I was being whisked away to some foreign destination. I recall the four-inch tan we all acquired between the pants and hose tops. And the seventy-dollar cheque that was mailed to us once we got home was enough to outfit me with a new suit, school supplies, comic books, many visits to Baird's and hefty containers of chips from McPherson's for some time. We were fortunate, indeed.

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Camp Aldershot was bustling 98 years ago



Kings County News
Published on August 4, 2013


           
Topics :  Nova Scotia Highland Brigade , YMCA , Soldiers Service League          , Aldershot , England , France 

In honour of the 99th anniversary of the start of the First World War Aug. 4, we remember with this piece.

By John Cunningham

It had been two years since the guns opened up on the the Western Front when a visiting Yarmouth Times reporter wrote, "Aldershot has become, as if by magic, a military town."

Training in Camp Aldershot in the summer of 1916, as Canadians marked the second anniversary of this country’s entry into the First World War, were four battalions of the Nova Scotia Highland Brigade and the Royal School of Artillery.

As many as 7,000 troops at a time were at the facility, named after Camp Aldershot in England, said author-historian Brent Fox, in his book Camp Aldershot - Serving Since 1904. The terrain, with its barren sand dunes, provided a landscape well-suited for drills and maneuvers.

The program was arduous and discipline strict, it was noted in The Nova Scotia Highlander, an in-house camp newspaper published in 1916. Battalion bands marched the soldiers with measured precision through daily changing of the guard ceremonies. Soldiers, responding to barking commands of non-commissioned officers, bustled about.

The ordinary rank soldiers slept six to eight men in damp, musty tents on the plains.

"We are not ducks, but we expect to be if the rain continues," said Pte. Garnet White, in a letter published in a June 1916 Advertiser.

At any given time, 100 to 160 men were being treated because of illness or training accidents at the camp infirmary. Hospitalized soldiers, keenly interested in keeping up with the war news, could follow coverage of the fighting in Belgium and France through fairly current copies of newspapers, provided by the men of YMCA. The "Y" volunteers also honed the dull razors to lessen the "pain and unpleasantness" of "men who must be their own barbers."

In what was revolutionary and unique for the times, the YMCA, in conjunction with the Soldiers Service League, put on concerts of music played over gramophones that were moved from one YMCA tent to another. A call went out to the civilian community to send on any "good double-disc records of which they have grown weary."

A robust sports program of baseball, football and track and field helped keep the soldiers entertained and in shape during off-duty hours. Wives and girlfriends were rarely allowed on campgrounds, so other than the reading rooms and the gramophone concerts, there was little evening entertainment.

Soldiers lucky enough to be granted leave found, after a short railway trip into Kentville, that the town welcomed them. Restaurant and merchants had quickly adapted to accommodate army needs and tastes. E.J. Bishops was taking orders for suits and raincoats for military officers. Campbells, on Main Street, carried a full line of badges, whistles and cords. Teddy’s Khaki Restaurant billed itself as an eating establishment where "every soldier is King." Mrs. A.C. More’s Green Lantern Restaurant tempted soldiers with ice-cold sodas, milkshakes and banana splits.

Back in Aldershot, officers and men of the Nova Scotia Brigade were standing by the camp rail depot at 6 a.m. for the mid-June arrival of Canada’s Minister of Defence, Sir Sam Hughes. A march past involving the entire four-battalion unit took place, along with an inspection supervised by the general, who was visiting camp as part of a cross-Maritime tour.

Hughes had high praise for the men training at Kentville. He said that from all reports, the soldiers had exhibited exemplary character while working in camp or on leave in town.

"Their work showed the most careful training," he said.

The men were training for the trenches at a time casualty tolls were reaching an almost-incomprehensible level. British Forces had attacked the Somme region of France July 1, 1916, preceded by an artillery barrage that could be heard on the south coast of England. What was to have been a triumph had turned into "the darkest day in British military history," when 57,000 soldiers were either killed, wounded or reported missing. The Canadians, fighting further north in Flanders, were about to move down to the Somme.

Most of the men from Aldershot would soon cross to England for more training before crossing over to the Battlefields of France and Belgium. These young men, when war was declared Aug. 4, 1914, had viewed it as an opportunity for adventure and glamour, but were now well aware it was not going to be easily won by Christmas.

Camp Aldershot had been established in 1904 to prepare Canadian soldiers to fight for their county and its values despite the conditions of war. It shows "the determination of Nova Scotians to discharge their duty and obligation to their country," a visiting Yarmouth Times reporter said 98-years-ago. “(Its) debt to the nation, a blood tax as real as any other tax."



John Cunningham is a retired newspaper reporter and is currently writing a book on the First World War.











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