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Prelude to the Front
By the time the CEF landed in Plymouth, England, in the middle of October, 1914,
British forces had already seen action at the Battles of Mons and Marne, and
the Eastern Front was exploding. A German submarine scare that had diverted the
CEF armada from its intended destination of Southampton showed that the Great
War was underway on all sides. When Kaiser Wilhelm heard the Canadians had arrived
in 30 ships he boasted they would be "going home in 30 rowboats."'
After a delayed disembarkation, the bedraggled Canadian soldiers travelled by
train to Salisbury Camp, an old training ground within sight of Stonehenge. Salisbury
Camp was never meant for winter training and now that season was closing in fast
and with it sheets of driving wind and rain that reduced the ancient plains to
sucking, soaking mud. It wouldn't let up for four months. It was ironic preparation
for the dreadful conditions and septic gunk the soliders would find themselves
stuck in for years of battle. |
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But, despite the foul weather, chronic coughs and the cold, the CEF became soldiers
that winter on the plain. British officers, appalled by the Canadians' brash
manners and lack of respect for authority, drilled, trained and disciplined the
men into a division of soldiers who made up for in will and heart what they lacked
in British demeanor.
On February 4, 1915, the CEF was reviewed by King George V. Two weeks later
the First Division headed to France and into the hungry mouth of the Great War. |
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Canadians Training
at Salisbury Camp, England 1915
For the Canadian Expeditionary Force the real military training, and the
real exposure to the mud that would become their home began on Salisbury Plains,
England. |
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