Chapter XXII: The Canadian Forestry Corps

On February 15, 1916, the Colonial Secretary cabled to the Governor-General of Canada, H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, the following message:

“H.M. Government would be grateful if the Canadian Government would
assist in the production of timber for war purposes. Owing to the
very serious shortage of freight for munitions, food, forage and
other essentials, which is a matter of the gravest concern to H.M.
Government, it is impossible to continue to import Canadian timber
on a sufficiently large scale to meet war requirements, and
arrangements must therefore be made for felling and converting
English forests.

“Chief difficulty is finding sufficient skilled labor, fellers,
haulers and sawyers. One thousand five hundred men are urgently
needed, and H.M. Government would suggest that a Battalion of
lumbermen might be formed of specially listed men to undertake
exploitations of forests of this country. If proposal commends
itself to Canadian Government, would beg very early action. Suggest
that men be enlisted into Canadian Expeditionary Force and
despatched in small companies under competent supervision.
Government is aware that lumber season is now in progress, but feel
sure that men would enlist even at sacrifice of present employment
if the reason of appeal were made known to them. Incidence of cost
will be arranged as agreeable to Canadian Government.”

A further cable was sent on February 29th. So quickly did the Canadian authorities make up their minds, that on March 1, 1916, a cable was sent stating that the Battalion asked for would be provided with the least possible delay. The raising of Units in this Corps exemplified the readiness of the Canadian Government to assist in the most unexpected direction.

The 224th Battalion, under Lieut.-Colonel McDougall, arrived in England, April 28, 1916, and the 230th, 238th and 242nd Battalions followed within six months.

Nova Scotia’s quota in this branch of the Service was about 525 officers and men, known as the Nova Scotia Forestry Draft, composed of three Companies with a personnel of officers as follows:

_Staff._—Major M. C. Denton, Officer Commanding; Major E. J. Stehlen, Second in Command; Capt. J. G. Pierce, Adjutant.

_“A” Company._—Capt. M. D. McKeigan, O.C.; Lieut. A. Roy, Lieut. Parker McDonald, Lieut. David Neal.

_“B” Company._—Capt. G. D. Blackader, O.C.; Lieut. N. P. McKenzie, Lieut. C. B. McDougall, Lieut. C. F. Kinney.

MAJOR M. C. DENTON,
Forestry Corps.]

_“C” Company._—Capt. H. B. Verge, O.C.; Lieut. George Harding, Lieut R. S. Shreve, Lieut. W. V. R. Winters.

Authorization for this Unit was granted in March, 1917. Recruiting and organization work began immediately by Companies, under the direct supervision of the Company Commanders in the various counties as follows: “A” Company in Pictou, Cape Breton, Victoria and Inverness; “B” Company in Halifax, Cumberland, Colchester and Prince Edward Island; and “C” Company in Shelburne, Queens, Lunenburg, Yarmouth and Digby; “A” and “B” Companies mobilized at Truro; “C” Company at Yarmouth; and on May 29th all Companies proceeded to Aldershot to complete the work of organization, after which they embarked on the White Star Line Transport _Justicia_, and arrived in England, July 4, 1916.

The Base Depot for the Corps was at Smith’s Lawn, Sunningdale, Berkshire, within the confines of Windsor Great Park. This site was given to the Corps by His Majesty the King in December, 1916.

About the middle of August the entire draft was broken up, a portion of the officers and men were absorbed into other Forestry Units, operating in England, Scotland and the South of France. Officers that were not disposed of in this manner transferred to the Flying Corps, Canadian Railway Troops, Infantry and Labor Battalions, subsequently getting over to France.

It is difficult to conceive the multitude of ways in which timber was used for war purposes. At the Front, the Army very largely walked on timber, lorries drove on timber, railways, light and heavy, required huge numbers of sleepers or ties. Underground no less than above ground was timber used for dugouts, and all the complicated contrivances connected with trench warfare. From huts to ammunition boxes, from duckboards to stakes for barbed wire entanglements, the uses of timber ranged. The general specifications for a Company’s operation in this Corps was the production of Sawn Lumber, Fuelwood, Pickets, Hurdles, Fascines, Faggots, Continuous Rivetting and Parry Sticks.

In order to save time, and for other reasons, it was arranged that Canadians should bring with them their own machinery and equipment of the kind to which they were accustomed, with the necessary modifications to adapt it to the conditions in Britain and France. The work of the Forestry Corps was thus not only of the utmost assistance in meeting the need of timber for the War, and in saving tonnage, but was of permanent value in that it has knit more closely together the people of Great Britain, with their compatriots scattered throughout Canada.