209 Battalion CEF

[SMG65]

Can anyone help me with information on 209 Battalion CEF?

In particular can anyone tell me which CEF battalions recieved troops from 209 CEF battalion when it was broken up?

SEAN

[Broznitsky]

For some reason, this Saskatchewan-raised battalion was fed into the 9th Reserve and then the 21st Reserve, both Alberta-affiliated.

The 21st reinforced the 10th, 31st, 49th, and 50th Infantry battalions, all of which saw heavy action throughout the war.

[jhill]

The bit I know of the 209th goes like this: They arrived in England, some 900 strong, in November, 1916. On January 1, 1917 they were amalgamated with the 9th and 194th Battalions to form the new 9th Reserve Battalion, which reinforced the 10th and 49th battalions at the front. The 9th Reserve Battalion was part of the new 6th Reserve Brigade at Bramshott, but initially the 209th was not even in the area, and I do not know yet when they finally joined. The 9th Reserve Battalion itself would eventually be folded into the 21st Reserve battalion. One would expect that most of the 209th men would have passed through the system before this last reorganization.

I have read references to 209th men in large numbers with the 10th, but I also have seen them with the 49th, 31st, 46th, and 28th battalions. If these last two associations are valid, then at least some 209th men ended up with Saskatchewan units.

I am sure we shall learn more bye-the-bye.

[Borden Battery]

The 209th Battalion trained at the former Camp Hughes in western Manitoba in 1916. I have a photo album which includes the tent section in the camp where they were located.

Here is some background material on Camp Hughes. The background related to the trench training is interesting. I visited the site a couple years ago - it is now part of a large community pasture for district ranchers.

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CAMP HUGHES, CARBERRY MANITOBA

The need for a central training camp in Military District 10 (Manitoba and NW Ontario) resulted in the establishment of Sewell Camp in 1910, on Crown and Hudson's Bay Company land near Carberry, Manitoba. The site was accessible by both the Canadian Northern and Canadian Pacific Railways and the ground was deemed suitable for the training of artillery, cavalry and infantry units.

The first summer training camp, in 1910, was attended by 1,469 soldiers. Militia soldiers continued to train in the summers up until the final pre-war camp in July 1914.

After the formation of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (C.E.F.) in 1914, the camp was expanded to train large numbers of new recruits. 10,994 men of all ranks attended camp in 1915. Permanent buildings were constructed, a rifle range with 500 targets was set up, and the water supply improved.

In September, 1915 Camp Sewell was renamed Camp Hughes, in honour of Canada's Minister of Militia and Defence, Major General Sam Hughes.

In 1916, the camp trained 27,754 troops, making it the largest community in Manitoba outside Winnipeg. Construction reached its zenith, and the camp boasted six movie theatres, numerous retail stores, a hospital, a large heated in-ground swimming pool, Ordinance and Service Corps buildings, photo studios, a post office, a prison and many other structures. The troops were accommodated in neat groups of white bell tents located around the central camp.

The Camp Hughes trench system was developed in 1916 to teach trainee soldiers the lessons of trench warfare which had been learned through great sacrifice on the battlefields of France and Flanders. Veterans were brought back to Canada to instruct in the latest techniques. The trenches accurately replicated the scale and living arrangements for a battalion of 1000 men.

The battalion in training would enter the system, after first being issued their food, ammunition and extra equipment, through two long communication trenches. All along the route dugouts with thick earth overhead cover housed the troops and protected them from artillery fire.

Once established, the battalion would undergo training in daily routine, sentries, listening posts, trench clearing, and finally, a frontal assault on the "enemy" by going over the top and across no-man's land into the enemy line of trenches.

The shallow "enemy" trenches are built on higher ground as were most of the German positions on the Western Front in Europe.

An additional trench system served as a "grenade school". Here troops would practice working their way down an enemy occupied trench and finally throw live grenades from the trench into pits dug near the end.

Though much eroded after 80 years, the trench system is still essentially intact and is the only First World War training trench system extant in North America.

A decline in voluntary enlistments (culminating in the Conscription Act) caused the suspension of training in 1917 and 1918.

The camp re-opened after the war for summer training of the Militia. Throughout the 1920's the Militia continued to use the camp for annual training. In 1933 the camp was dismantled and much of the material, including some of the buildings, were moved to nearby Camp Shilo. The area lay untouched, occasionally used for training in the Second World War.

Camp Hughes - Manitoba Provincial Heritage Site

http://www.gatewest.com/~gcros/hughes/hughes.html

Mon., May 1, 1916 CAMP HUGHES (SEWELL) - MANITOBA

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"Camp Hughes, 1916 will rank as an important chapter, so far as Canada is concerned, in the Great War. Training was steadily carried on for five months and 30,000 men under discipline, were organized and trained according to the syllabus and routine of Canadian camps in England, by direction of a general staff right from the front. In ante-bellum days Camp Sewell was largely a cavalry camp, with some artillery and infantry units attached, but this year, with the exception of the necessary Engineers, Army Service, Army Medical units and two depot squadrons of cavalry, Camp Hughes was made exclusively of infantry. Great importance was attached to musketry under an efficient staff. There was a good supply of ammunition and every unit had two series of range periods before proceeding overseas. Physical training and bayonet fighting were also given marked attention and all units had an experience in the trenches, an area being given over to that work. Vigorous training was done in platoon and company as well as in battalion drill. A feature of the camp was the high grade rations regularly issued to all units, particularly fresh meat. The camp was reviewed by the Duke of Connaught and, following the march past, His Royal Highness took occasion to remark upon the fine physique of the men he had just seen. He was evidently deeply impressed by the parade of the troops at Camp Hughes. Harvest leave was granted for a large number of the NCOs and men during part of August and September, but for such time as training of units was thereby affected officers were given special training in varied courses, bombing, bayonet fighting, physical training and at the regular school of instruction where officers might qualify as lieutenants, captains and field officers under direction of an efficient trained staff. Besides two drafts of 100 officers and drafts of Engineers, Army Service and Army Medicals there were 18 battalions sent overseas direct from Camp Hughes."

"Ready for Active Service" Camp Hughes Pictorial Album

Western News Agency, Limited, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1916