OK....my bad for not being 'up' on army formations from almost 100 years ago
But...wouldnt there be a 4th Bat in each division?
Back to school young feller!!!
Actually, this is pretty obscure stuff for most folks.
As for there being a 4th Bn in each division, no. Sam Hughes, then Minister of Militia and Defence, chose to form numbered new batallions rather than sending the already established units. Batallions 1 - 4 were raised in Ontario, using exisiting militia units to supply and recruit members. 5 - 11 were formed on the prairies. And so on. When adequate numbers were achieved, the batallion was sent overseas (following training). Canada raised 260 of these batallions by war's end, most of which arrived in England or France only to be broken up to augment earlier created batallions which were at the front serving with the 4 divisions. As an example, my great grandfather joined the 222nd in 1916, arrived in France later that year, was transferred to the 8th Bn and by 29 Apr 1917, was MIA, presumed dead and never found.
The Canadian Mounted Regiments (CMR) and artillery regiments were also similarly formed but in my experience, reference to these were usually written like 4 CMR or 4 RCA, as opposed to infantry batallions which often often wrote 4th CEF, 4th Canadians, etc. Here's a link which sums up the origin of the batallions, the units that supplied troops and their regional affiliation:
http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/organization/fieldforces/cef/cefaffiliations.htm
To say it was a cocked up way of doing business is an understatement. Following the war, the numbered batallions were disbanded and those troops kept in the service reverted to their pre-war units (which maintained their status in Canada and served as recruiting and home defence establishments throughout the war). MGen Sir William Otter was called upon to chair a commitee to determine how to perpetuate battle honours and traditions of units that didn't exist until 1914 and were disbanded immediately after the war. This took over a year, until such time as they had decided which Permanent Army and Militia units would perpetuate those honours. When WWII started, Canada simply deployed existing formed permanent and militia units, thus avoiding a repeat of the cluster created following WWI.
I'm by no means an expert on this. I'm just a guy that loves our history, reads as much as I can and takes every opportunity to talk to people who are experts so I can learn. I happily welcome additions to what I posted above.
