THE CANADIAN RAILWAY CORPS

Never did railways as a means of transportation play so important a part in warfare as during the recent World War, in spite of the remarkable development of motor vehicles. It was her superior railway systems which gave Germany her principal advantage over the Russians on the eastern front, and as the great struggle developed, it became daily more obvious that the Allies would have to draw on their resources in railway construction to the uttermost to offset the initial advantage which Germany had in this respect on the western front. At first the French undertook to direct what railway construction it was thought would be necessary, but it was not long before the French Government was forced to call on the British for help. Finally the British found themselves unable to keep pace with the demand, and what was more natural than that Canada, the land of marvelous railway construction, should in her turn be appealed to?

It was in the spring of 1915 that the British Government asked for two railway construction companies. The Canadian Government turned the request over to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, with the result that from the employees of that corporation were recruited the first five hundred members of the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps, which landed in France in the following August.

In May, 1916, the situation in France had become so pressing that the British War Office was compelled to ask for another unit, of about one thousand men, for railway construction behind the lines in France.

The task of organizing this body of men was assigned by the Canadian Government to Lieutenant Colonel J. W. Stewart, who combed the railway workers of the whole country for technical experts and efficient workers. These men were then formed into the 239th Overseas Railway Construction Corps.

Meanwhile Sir Eric Geddes had been assigned the task, as director general of transportation, to reorganize the transportation service behind the lines on the western front. He immediately called General Stewart over to England for a special conference, the outcome of which was a further demand on Canada for railway men.

It was agreed that Canada should furnish five battalions of railway construction men, which were to be known as the Canadian Railway Troops. General Stewart was then instructed to proceed to France to act as deputy director of light railways, as well as chief in command of the Canadian Railway Troops.

In January, 1917, General Stewart became Deputy Director General of Transportation, which gave him jurisdiction over the Royal Engineers' Railway Construction companies as well as over his own Canadians. By this time it had been decided to increase the number of battalions to ten.

The 127th Infantry Battalion was reorganized as the 2d Battalion of Canadian Railway Troops, and proceeded to France in January, 1917. The 239th was renamed the 3d Battalion of Canadian Railway Troops, and followed the 2d two months later. The 4th and 5th Battalions were organized at Purfleet, and proceeded to France at about the same time. By the following April still another battalion had arrived in France, and by June all ten were behind the lines. Henceforward they carried on practically all the light railway construction along the whole western front, especially such lines as had to be laid in quick time, over ground evacuated by the enemy in their retreat.

Upon their first arrival the Canadian Railway Troops rendered notable service, just before the attack on and capture of Vimy Ridge. For some weeks before the weather had been unusually rainy, and the ground was so deep with mud as to be almost impassable for any kind of vehicle. In spite of these conditions the Canadian railway men laid their roads to within rifle range of the front lines, ready to serve as supply lines when the advance should begin.

The attack begun, and the advance progressing, the railway detachment followed the front line closely, laying their tracks almost as fast as the infantry could push ahead. In this way supplies of provisions and ammunition were carried forward, while the wounded were carried back to the clearing hospitals.

Within a week before the Arras offensive tracks had been laid to the top of Vimy Ridge, and by the end of April, 1917, when the British lines were pushed across the level plain beyond the Ridge, the light railways had followed them so closely that food supplies were dumped almost by the field kitchens. Such similar service was rendered by the Canadian Railway Construction Troops at Messines as well.

It was at Ypres, however, that they especially distinguished themselves. During two months of the summer of 1917, says the official report, the average daily number of breaks in the light railway lines behind the front, due to German artillery fire, was about a hundred exclusively within the area occupied by the Second and Fifth British Armies alone. Here the Canadians pursued their construction work exposed to the full fire of the enemy guns, without even the moral satisfaction of being able to return the fire.

On one occasion, however, they were to have this satisfaction in full. It was during the last four days of March, 1918, while the Germans were advancing on Amiens, that a break suddenly developed in the British lines. No reserves were available at the time. On the spur of the moment the railway men organized sixteen Lewis-gun teams and held the ground in the break until finally they were relieved by regular troops.

Early in 1918 the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps, the 58th Broad Gauge Operating Company, the 13th Light Railway Operating Company, the 69th Wagon Erecting Company, and the 85th Engine Crew Company were brought under headquarters, and the whole were formed into the Corps of Canadian Railway Troops.

In the summer of 1918, General Allenby, in command of the expeditionary force in Palestine, called for a company of expert bridge builders. The War Office immediately called for volunteers from among the Canadian Railway Troops, and 6 officers and 250 men were sent to Palestine. The following table, taken from the report of the Ministry of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada, shows the relative strength of the Canadian and the Imperial Railway Construction Corps at different periods of the war:

Besides the foregoing, there were four Canadian Railway Troops Operating Companies, with a total strength of 1,087 when the armistice was signed. The total number of Canadian railway troops in England when hostilities ceased was 3,364.

During the period of their work at the front members of the railway troops were awarded 489 honors and decorations.