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Photos - 10th Battalion, CEF, 1914-1918
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At left - Signals Detachment of the
10th Battalion. Note the US made Colt machineguns, which would remain a standard
issue weapon until 1917. These troops are all wearing the Canadian designed service
dress tunics, which would prove to be inferior to the British issue and eventually
replaced. The stiff forage caps would also be replaced in the trenches with
unstiffened caps, and by 1916 with steel trench helmets.
At right - the first Commanding Officer of the Tenth Battalion,
Lieutenant Colonel Russ Boyle. A tall, rough-and-tough former cavalryman, veteran of
the South African War, and Alberta rancher, one of Boyle's first acts upon arriving in
England was to parade the battalion, throw his coat to the ground, and announce to his men
that anyone who wanted to "punch the hell out of me" could take the opportunity
then and there. No one took him up on it. Boyle was fatally wounded by machine
gun fire in the attack on Kitcheners' Wood on the night of 22-23 April 1915 and succumbed
after his evacuation from the battlefield. |
The Tenth Battalion trains at Salisbury Plain. Above,
marching past Stonehenge, below - bayonet practice with the Ross rifle.
Another early war shot, showing the tight
fitting Candian uniforms and Ross rifles.
| Tenth Battalion does the morning wash, Abeele,
France, May 1916. DND/Library and Archives
Canada/PA-000003 |
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| Camp Cooks, Abeele, France, May 1916. DND/Library and Archives Canada/PA-000009 |
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| Tenth Battalion tents, Abeele, France, May 1916. DND/Library and Archives Canada/PA-000001 |
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| Just out of the trenches, Abeele, France, May
1916. DND/Library and Archives Canada/PA-000004
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| Church parade, Abeele, France, May 1916.
The band of the Tenth Battalion would suffer heavy losses later in the war. DND/Library and Archives Canada/PA-000032
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General Currie, commander of the Canadian Corps, is seen here in
September 1917 decorating Tenth Battalion men for bravery at Vimy Ridge and Arleux.
The man being decorated is the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Tenth, identified by the
brass Royal Coat of Arms on his sleeve and the Sam Browne belt he is wearing - the only
non-commissioned soldier in the regiment to be permitted this distinction of dress.
Tenth Battalion NCOs, probably taken in early
1918. Sitting at far left is Lance Corporal Joseph Milne, MM and 2 Bars. The
only member of the battalion, and the first Canadian, to win the Military Medal three
times. Joseph Milne died of wounds received in action on 1 September 1918. At
least one Japanese-Canadian is featured, the Corporal sitting third from the left.
Photo courtesy of Dave Vose, son of Major Ernest Vose, DCM. Click photo to enlarge.
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