87 14 15 16 17 18 The GreatWar ByWilliam Stewart Prewar Militia officers provided over two-thirds of the senior command cadre for the Canadian Expeditionary Force’s (CEF) combat units and formations. During the Hundred Days campaign, 71% of the most senior combat officers ranked colonel and above were still from the Militia. This included commanders of the corps, two of the four divisions, and the corps’ artillery commander. A central paradox of the Canada’s First World War experiencewas howthe prewarMilitia long derided for being a patronage riven and poorly trained mob produced the essential leadership of the CEF. They were a key factor in making the Canadian Corps an elite formation, along with superb British staff officers, the character of Canadian soldiers, and the semi-permanent nature of the corps. Based on the records of 345 senior officers, who commanded the battalions, regiments, brigades, divisions and the corps in the battles of Second Ypres, Festubert, on the Somme in 1916, at Passchendaele in 1917, or the Hundred Days in 1918, Militia officers made up 68% of the total (235 officers).2 These officers served in the combat arms of the infantry, artillery, engineers, cyclists, cavalry, machine guns, engineers, and pioneers leading battalion or battalion-equivalent units and above.3 One of the striking aspects of the senior combat commanders was the diversity of origins of these officers, from those living in the highest circles of the country to those of far more humble origin. This article will look at four examples of this diversity in Militia officers and their service. Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron Macpherson Edwards (Commanding Officer (CO) 38th Battalion) was a wealthy Ottawa lumberman and a rare Baptist in the ranks of the senior commanders. More than ‘Play at Soldiers:’ Profiles of Militia Officers in the Canadian Expeditionary Force Lord Kitchener on the Militia “middle-aged professional men who were allowed to put on uniforms and play at soldiers.”1 1 Peter Simkins, Kitchener’s Army: The Raising of Britain’s New Armies, 1914-1916, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988, 69. 2 These were officers who held permanent or temporary command and who had an attestation and service record in the CEF. 3 Two tank battalions were forming at the armistice but did not reach the front and are not included.
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