How did this 58th Battalion web site get started?

In May 1997, Benjamin was at a conference in Toronto, met some very interesting people from France, started to cruise the Web sites in France and stumbled on the Western Front sites about Passchendaele. In 1917, Benjamin's Grandfather, Lieutenant Albert Thomas SKILL, 58th (Central Ontario) Battalion fought and lost his life during the Passchendaele battle.

Benjamin also found some books at the local public library that sparked his interest to develop this Web site. Then he travelled to Passchendaele three times and eventually discovered the Western Front Association.

How do you find information about the Canadian operations during the Great War?

Like other research projects, finding information about particular Canadian batallions, soldiers, or battles is a combination of researching the literaure and networking with members of various groups. Here is a list of some of the most effective information sources:

1. Join the local Central Ontario Branch of the Western Front Association (COBWFA) based Ontario, Canada.
2. Join the main Western Front Association (WFA) based in the UK. The WFA has a very useful list of sources for sesearching a soldiers service records.
3. Consult the classic book on the Great War, Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919, by Colonel G.W.L. Nicholson, Ottawa, Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationary, 1964. The text of the "History of the Canadian Expeditionary Force" by Col. G.W.L. Nicolson is available free on the web in PDF format It takes a few minutes to download the 683 pages and the maps are not included.
4. Conduct a literature and book search at your local library. For a particular CEF Battalion, ask your local reference librarian to determine if a Batallion History has been written. For example, for the 58th Battalion get the book "Second to None", by Kevin Shackleton. This book is available in most libraries or you can order it from a bookstore or eBay, about $20 CAD.
5. Search the National Archives of Canada site in Ottawa. You can search a database of CEF WW1 soldiers and you can order more detailed records. To search the database, click Soldiers of the First World War -> Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) -> database. (If an icon appears it means that the files have been scanned.) The CEF War Diaries and Attestation Papers are available in the database.
6. Although most of the CEF War Diaries were scanned in 2003 and are displayed at the National Archives of Canada site, you can still order a photocopy of the CEF Battalion War Diary for each month of the war and other records. The photcopies cost $0.20 CAD a page and it is best to hire the services of a researcher in Ottawa. The National Archives publishes a list of recommended researchers.
7. Search the Veteran Affairs Canada site. There is alot of information here including a database of all Canadian and Newfoundlanders killed in action in all the wars. This site duplicates the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) site in the UK. However, because viewers can add information and photos to the Veteran Affairs Canada site many of those KIA (Killed in Action) have additional photos available online (click on Letters & Collections -> Virtual War Memorial). For an example of the additional photo and data available, type the name Ronald MacKinnon or William MacKinnon at the prompt.
8. Search the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) site in the UK.
9. Search the Air Force Association of Canada site - has citations for all decorations won by Canadian air force personnel in WWI and WWII.
10. Search the Canadian Archival Informational Network - lists the holdings in many of the archives in Canada including the National Archives of Canada.
11. Search the National Library of Canada site.
12. Search the Regimental Histories for all units within the British Empire and Commonwealth.
13. Search Cyndi's List of Military Sources
14. Contact the Museum of the Regiments in Calgary, Alberta.
15. Contact the Military History Society of Manitoba. The Society has sketch histories of CEF Battalions and Canadian Militia units. Also, they have lists of nearly 400 units of the CEF compiled prior to their sailing overseas. The lists include the name, number, rank, former service and next-of-kin for each man. Email the archivist, Bruce Tascona at tasconab@mb.sympatico.ca
16. Search the Bibliography of Regimental and Military Histories at the University of Calgary Library in Alberta, Canada. The library has a good collection of regimental history books particularly for Canadian regiments. The purpose of this bibliography is to provide the researcher with a working collection that will assist them in their studies. Please note that the Library is adding to its collection continuously so no bibliography can ever be complete.
17. Search the Research and Links pages on the Canadians at Passchendaele site. Summarizes the CEF 58th Battalion and other Great War research tools.
18. Contact the Church that stores the Battalion Colours or Church where many of the men attended. For example, the 58th Battalion Colours are kept at the Church of the Transfiguration in Toronto and there are about 10 members of the Church who still have old war papers and diaries at home. Also, the 58th Boy Scout Troup took its number from the 58th Battalion so you can also look for the appropriate Boy Scout Troup and contact their Church.
19. Place an advertisement in a local newspaper asking for information on a particular battalion.
20. Attend a meeting of the Orders Medals and Research Society (OMRS) or a sale of Great War medals -- the folks that collect medals usually know historical events that are not available elsewhere.
21. Search the London Gazette - the Official Journal of the United Kingdom that includes Despatches written by the British Army's various Commanders-in-Chief (such as those written by Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig) and Armed Forces Promotions and Re-gradings.

What were the Canadian operations on the Western Front?

Canadian troops participated in the following operations on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918:

• The Battles of Ypres, April-May 1915
• The Actions at Festubert and Givenchy, May-June 1915
• The St. Éloi Craters, March-April 1916
• The Battle of Mount Sorrel, 2-3 June 1916
• The Battles of the Somme, July-November 1916
• The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917
• The Battles of the Scarpe, April-May 1917
• The Capture of Hill 70, 15-25 August 1917
• The Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres), Canadian battles from 26 October to 10 November 1917.
• The Battle of Amiens, 8-11 August 1918
• The Battle of Arras, 26 August-3 September 1918
• The Canal du Nord and Cambrai, 27 September-11 October 1918
• The Capture of Valenciennes, 1-2 November 1918.

What were the Canadian 58th Battalion operations during the Great War?

According to Kevin Shackleton, the 58th arrived in France in Feb 1916. They missed the earlier battles altogether. The 58th was in the attack that re-captured most of the Canadian line at Mt. Sorrel June 13. They participated in several atacks on the Somme, particularly the attack on Regine Trench Oct. 8. Then they moved to the Vimy sector. they were in support on April 9, but in the front line as the attack continued. They were not involved at Hill 70, but were in the area.

The 58th were in the attack at Passchendaele on Oct 26, 1917 and then they held Vindictive Crossroads north west of the village in early November. They were back in the Lens area after that.

At Amiens they led the attack on the first day and then were in reserve for a couple of days before moving to the front before the attack wound down. At Arras they were in the attack on the second day and stayed on the attack to the end of August. They followed through after the Canal du Nord was crossed and were fighting in the outskirts of Cambrai till Oct 1. That was their last action before the end of the fighting.

What is a Great War Trio of Medals?

• If you served overseas in 1915, you received the star.
• If you served overseas at anytime, you received the round bronze Victory medal.
• If you served in the armed forces at all, you received the silver medal.

Where are the Great Haig Debate articles?

• Haig: The Great Captain - by Gervase Phillips

• Haig: Was He a Great Captain? - by Geoffrey Miller

• The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) - by Geoffrey Miller, the edited text of a paper given in France in November 1993.

  Quotation from the Miller paper, "This attack cost 7000 casualties, The Australian 3rd. Division lost 3,199 lives in the 24 hours of this attack. The exhausted Australians were at last withdrawn but Haig was still pathologically obsessed with capturing Passchendaele Village and ordered the Canadians to take over the battle. However their General Elliot, who was one of the few of Haig's Generals who retained his common sense, refused to move until the weather had eased and adequate supplies were available."

  "Eventually, on November the 12th. the Canadians took Passchendaele, or what was left of it, and the battle was finally over. Air photographs of Passchendaele were taken after the battle; it is estimated that half a million shell holes could be seen in the half square mile of the picture! This, presumably, was where Haig expected his troops to winter. And so the British gained their objective, although it was quite useless to them in terms of the original plan; the attack from the sea at Nieuport had been abandoned, and there was no hope of breaking through to the German occupied Channel ports, which were eventually blockaded by hulks sunk at Zeebrugge."

• (The Battle of) Third Ypres: A Decisive Victory? - by Gervase Phillips.