Filling the ranks : manpower in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1918 / Richard Holt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holt, Richard, 1948 February 21- author.

Series:

Carleton library series ; 239.

Carleton library series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Canada. Canadian Army. Canadian Expeditionary Force--Personnel management.

Canada.

Canada. Canadian Army. Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Canada. Canadian Army--Recruiting, enlistment, etc--History.

Canada. Canadian Army.

History.

World War, 1914-1918--Regimental histories--Canada.

World War, 1914-1918.

Armed Forces--Personnel management.

Regimental histories.

Personnel management.

Physical Description:

xvi, 347 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2017]

Summary:

Manpower is the lifeblood of armies regardless of time or place. In the First World War, much of Canada's military effort went toward sustaining the Canadian Expeditionary Force, especially in France and Belgium. The job was not easy. The government and Department- of Militia and Defence were tasked with recruiting and training hundreds of thousands of men, shipping them to England, and creating organizations on the continent meant to forward these men to their units. The first book to explore the issue of manpower in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, Filling the Ranks examines the administrative and organizational changes that fostered efficiency and sustained the army. Richard Holt describes national civilian and military recruitment policies and criteria both inside and outside of Canada, efforts to recruit women, convicts, and members of First Nations, African Canadian, Asian, and Slavic communities; the conduct of entry-level training; and the development of a coherent reinforcement structure. Canada's ability to fill the ranks with trained soldiers ultimately helped make the Canadian Corps an elite formation within the British Expeditionary Force. Based on extensive research in British and Canadian archives, Filling the Ranks provides an abundance of new information on Canada's role in the Great War. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Militia Roots 13

2 Regulating Manpower: Government and Military Policies 1914-18 34

3 Enlistment Criteria 55

4 Alternative Sources of Manpower 83

5 The Recruiting Structure 1914-18 104

6 Infantry Training 128

7 Reinforcements: Policy, Management, and Wastage 169

8 Reinforcements: Canada to England 184

9 The Overseas Via Dolorosa: Reinforcements in England and France 209.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Holt, Richard, 1948 February 21-, author. Filling the ranks.

ISBN:

9780773548770

0773548777

OCLC:

962129204