French-Canadian Battalions, C.E.F.

Armée canadienne, Bataillons canadien-français

The only French-speaking battalion to reach France was the 22nd. Another 13 battalions recruited in Canada, some reached England. All fed the 22nd. French-speakers were also found in many other Québec-based English-speaking battalions, as well as other non-Québec battalions.

"It is impossible to authenticate the various "statistics" concerning French-Canadian enlistments that were bandied about in the press and on the public platform during this period and since. In official military records all Canadian-born were treated alike as "Canadian". When attesting a man on enlistment into the Canadian Expeditionary Force no attempt was made to establish his nationality beyond recording the country of his birth. The only question on the Attestation Form bearing directly on this point read: "In what town, township or parish and in what country were you born?" Thus when Sir Robert Borden gave the House of Commons figures "furnished to me by the Department of Militia and Defence", showing that up to 31 March 1918 there had been despatched overseas, 147,505 Canadians born "of British descent", and 16,268 Canadian-born "of French descent", the accuracy of his information must be questioned. (Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919, 1964:317)"

Unit	Number Block	Name	Lt. Col.	Date Sailed	Officers	Other Ranks	Where Formed	Destination
22nd	61001-64000	Canadien Français	Gaudet, F.M.	May 20, 1915	36	1097	PQ, St. Jean	5th Brigade
41st	416001-418000; 486501-486550	Canadien Français	Archambeault, Louis-H.	October 18, 1915	36	1082	PQ, Québec	abs 10th Reserv
57th	448001-451000	Canadien Français	Paquette, E.T.	June 2, 1916	18	419	PQ, Québec	abs 69th; 10th Reserve
69th	120001-123000		Dansereau, J. Adolphe	April 17, 1916	34	1023	PQ, Montréal	abs 10th Reserve
117th	748001-751000	Eastern Township	Gilbert, L.J.	August 14, 1916	36	856	PQ, Sherbrooke	abs 23rd Reserve
150th	847001-850000	Carabiniers Mont Royal	Barre, Hercule	September 23, 1916	24	515	PQ, Montréal	abs 14th, 22nd, 24th, 87th, 5th CMR
163rd	666001-663000	Canadien Français	Desrosiers, Henri	November 27, 1916	38	822	PQ, Montréal	Bermuda; abs 10th Reserve
165th	666001-669000	French Acadian	D'Aigle, Louis-C.	March 28, 1916	24	526	NB, Moncton	abs 13th Reserve and CFC
167th	672001-675000	Canadien Français (Chasseurs)	Readman, Onésisme	PQ Recruiting			PQ, Québec	redesignated PQ Recruiting Depot 1917
171st	684001-687000	Québec Rifles	Price, Sir William	November 23, 1916	27	574	PQ, Québec	abs 148th, 5th Pioneer, 20th Reserve
178th	856001-859000	Canadien Français	de la Bruere Girouard, René-Arthur	March 3, 1917	20	415	PQ, Victoriaville	abs 10th Reserve
189th	889001-892000	Canadien Français	Piuze, Philippe-Auguste	September 23, 1916	26	595	PQ, Frazerville	abs 69th
206th	243001-246000	Canadien Français	Pagnuelo, Tancrede	Sent Drafts to Bermuda			PQ, Montréal	abs 157th Bermuda
230th	1012001-1015000	Voltigeurs Canadien Français	de Salaberry, René	January 23, 1917	18	687	ON, Brockville	230th CFC
233rd	1021001-1024000	Canadien Français	Leprohon, Edouard	Absorbed by 178th			MB, Winnipeg	abs 178th
258th	1105001–1108000	Canadien Français	Blondin, P.E.	October 6, 1917	16	215	PQ, Québec	abs 10th Reserve

*The 117th Eastern Township and 171st Québec Rifles appealed to French-speakers to enlist. The 14th (Royal Montréal Regiment) Battalion out of Montréal had about 250 men (two companies) in its original enlistment group.