War offers its participants a million varied ways to become ill, injured, wounded or die. For Company Sergeant Major Walter William Herd, reg. no. 53527 an injury he sustained was most unusual and almost grimly comical C.S.M. Herd[i] enlisted in the C.E.F. with the 18th Battalion on October 26, 1914, and as can be attested... Continue Reading →
July 1917 Casualties
Please click on a link for more information about the 18th Battalion soldier. Rank Surname Forename Reg. No. Private ADAMS J 54245 Private BURLEIGH WILLIAM RILEY 124197 Private CLARKE R 53785 Private COLE JOSEPH WILSON 123509 Private CONNATY JAMES 225546 Private CRAWFORD 409106 Private FORBES JAMES 225563 Private GRAHAM CONROY PEYTON 491320 Private HOLLAND SANDIESON... Continue Reading →
June 1917 Casualties
Of the 1,161 Canadian service personnel who perished in June 1917 none of them were members of the 18th Battalion,
Vimy Ridge: Instructions for the Offensive
SECRET Copy No. 4 18TH CANADIAN INFANTRY BATTALION INSTRUCTION FOR THE OFFENSIVE Ref: Roclincourt 1/10000. Thelus N.W. and Thelus N.E. 1/5000. Tables “A” XXXXX”. Barrage Map. S.S. 135. INFORMATION. The Canadian Corp will take the VIMY RIDGE in conjunction with operations on other portions of the front. The 19th Canadian Battalion is attacking on our... Continue Reading →
War Diary of the 18th Battalion: April 1917
Place Date Hour Summary of Events and Information Bois-des-Alleux 1 8 am Battalion billeted in huts Bois-des-Alleux near Mont-St-Eloy. Battalion marched to training ground near Estree Cauchie, where exact taped replica of enemy frontage to be attacked, laid out. Four other ranks admitted to Hospital (Sick). 2 A complete... Continue Reading →
War Diary Summary: April 1917
The beginning of April 1917 found the battalion in the rear areas north-west of Arras practising the largest field problem the Canadian Corps was to engage in up to that time in the war: Vimy Ridge. The Battalion practices a Brigade sized exercise on April 2 and then prepared its equipment for the coming attack.... Continue Reading →
A Minor Trench Raid
Lead a patrol into "No Man's Land" night of December 1/2, 1916. Report on Minor raid, Night of Dec. 1/2. 18th Canadian Battalion Our patrol advanced within short distance of enemy wire but no party were there, so we lay in wait for several hours hoping it would appear. Information In the shell holes were... Continue Reading →
2017 History Symposium in London Ontario
Be advised that there is a history symposium being held in London, Ontario on February 25, 2017. The symposium has a movie event on the Friday before the seminars. The event is being held at the Delta London Armories by Marriott. Cost: $60 for the seminar (lunch not included) and $60 for the dinner. Web... Continue Reading →
The Stress of Combat: Captain Lloyd at Vimy Ridge
There is no doubt that Captain E.R.V. Lloyd served with bravery and distinction during the World War 1 with the 18th Battalion. Enlisting as an “Original” on November 3, 1914 in Windsor, Ontario, he rose through the ranks. First as a private soldier and then had the rather unusual circumstance of being promoted from the... Continue Reading →
Canadians Competed: A Fine and Very Warm Day of Sports in Hythe
In the August 31, 1915 edition of the Montreal Gazette on page 13 is a news story. Pushed back inside the paper in the Sports Section is a story. The headlines of the day decry: EXPECT SEASON TO SET BAR TO TEUTON’S SURGE: Military Observers Hope That Equinoctial Period Will Limit Forward Movement or MINES,... Continue Reading →
Sergeant Austin’s Accident: The Tale of Two Emerging Modern Weapon Systems
Robert Wallace Austin reg. no. 113067 joined the Canadian Army at 8:45 a.m.[i] on July 23, 1915 in the city of Ottawa.[ii] He was just shy of one month past his twenty-first birthday when he joined the 8th Canadian Mounted Rifles (8th C.M.R.) and he was to be transported to England in October 1915 to... Continue Reading →
May 1917 Casualties
Summary of May 1917 Activities (for more information please refer to war diary transcription to be posted at a later date) 42 members of the 18th Battalion perished this month. The beginning of May 1917 found the Battalion in service in the vicinity of Arras, France and were in reserve at NUEVILLE ST VAST where... Continue Reading →
No Relations
When you process a lot of information regarding the soldiers of the First World War you get "use" to the format of the forms such as the attestation papers. Every once and a while this research holds information that makes one pause and wonder about the service person being researched. Private Thomas Collins, reg. no.... Continue Reading →
One Hundred Years Ago: November 11, 1916
There was no Remembrance Day in 1916. The concept of remembering the dead with a national day of recognition had not been conceived of until later and it would be a whole two years of conflict with its dead, dying, wounded, and damaged combatants. The 18th Battalion had been through the Somme and had suffered... Continue Reading →
“If it so happens that I am allowed to die for my country…”: The Unusual Will of Private R.H. Burgess D.C.M.
A will is a macabre document. It is a recognition by the object of the will, the living person (the testator) who is making the will out, that they will cease to exist. The will exists and enforces the conditions of the testator after they have died and invokes certain conditions at the distribution of... Continue Reading →
The Spirit Shown By All Ranks Was of the Highest Order
18th Battalion War Diary November 1918 Appendix 9 Narrative of Action for November 8/9 1918 Map Ref. Sheet 45 1/40,000 The night of 8th November 1918 the Battalion was billeted in ELOUGES (T/10) in close support to the 5th [Canadian] Infantry Brigade. On the 9th at dawn the 4th [Canadian] Infantry Brigade were ordered to... Continue Reading →
Laurier Military History Speaker Series
Highly Recommended... Marc Milner, University of New Brunswick Date: November 8, 7:00 pm “The Forgotten Gunners: The Tale of Two Anti-Tank Batteries at War 1940-1945” Little is known of the raising, training and operations of Canada’s anti-tank batteries in the Second World War. Anti-tank guns typically operated dispersed on the battlefield and their actions are often subsumed... Continue Reading →
Review of Somme Presentation at Laurie Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies
‘Ghastly and Gruelling’: Canada’s Ignored Campaign on the Somme, 1916 by William F. Stewart William F. Stewart is the author of "The Embattled General: Sir Richard Turner and the First World War" and a historian with a particular interest in the Canadian Expeditionary Force's involvement at the Somme in the late summer and fall of... Continue Reading →
First impressions: LAC’s new Personnel Records of the FWW
Today’s announcement by Library and Archives Canada caught me by surprise and so I’ve spent the last couple of hours checking out their new Personnel Records of the First World War data… Source: First impressions: LAC's new Personnel Records of the FWW
Our Boys Were Certainly No Angels
Introduction The role of an Assistant Provost Marshal is basically the Chief of Police for a military unit or encampment. Keeping control of the approximately 15,000 troops from all branches of the Army in the 2nd Division was a very real challenge. The “boys” being young, many far from home, but conversely many native... Continue Reading →
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 