War Diaries of the First World War

Introduction: What are war diaries?
Individual service files
How to search for war diaries
Keyword list
How to interpret the diaries
Why are the war diaries written in English only?

Introduction: What are war diaries?

From the start of the First World War, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) units were required to maintain a daily account of their "Actions in the Field." This log was called a war diary. This collection contains the digitized war diaries of CEF infantry, artillery and cavalry units, brigade, division and corps commands and support units such as railway and forestry troops. It also includes the war diaries of several British units that served under Canadian command. For other British units, visit the website of The National Archives.

This collection does not include documents relating to the Royal Canadian Navy or Canadians in flying corps, except for two pages from June 1916 for the Royal Flying Corps. In addition, units were only required to record their "Actions in the Field." Therefore, you will find very few war diaries for periods during which units mustered in Canada, shipped to Europe or trained in England.

These are not personal diaries. War diaries rarely record information about individual men. This is because war diaries were never intended to document individual service, and also due to the size of the unit to which a single war diary referred. For example, infantry diaries were recorded by battalions, which consisted of approximately 1,000 men. Artillery diaries were most often kept by brigades, which numbered about 4,000 men. Command-level diaries recorded tactical and strategic information.

A war diary provides the most complete first-hand record of how and where that unit was deployed, and the wartime experiences of its individual members.

The information found in the war diaries varies greatly and is dependent on the ability of the junior officer responsible for writing the war diary on a day-to-day basis. Because of this variation, you may find a detailed account of a battalion's involvement in a battle, a description of training exercises, or simply a sentence describing the weather.

Individual service files

References to the service files of those who served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) can be found in our Personnel Records of the First World War database.

Service files indicate where an individual was posted in England, but do not record the places in France or Belgium of postings or battles. The files provide the name or number of the units in which the individual served. With that information, locations and battles can be determined by searching the relevant war diaries.

How to search for war diaries

Use Collection Search to view the digitized war diaries for the CEF (RG9-D-III-3, finding aid 9-52).

In the drop-down list, select Archives.
In the keyword box, enter 9-52 war diaries and the name of the unit. Examples:
- 9-52 war diaries 52nd Battalion
- 9-52 war diaries Cyclist
- 9-52 war diaries 11th Trench Mortar
In the search results, scroll down to find the file title with the dates of interest to you.
Click on the file title to view the full item description.
On that description page, click on Digital Objects.
You can view the images online or download them to your computer as a PDF file.
If you run your cursor over an image, it will show the month and year. Note that some files may not be in chronological order.
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge it. You can also print it or link to it, and you can move through the images sequentially by using the side arrows.

Keyword list

Here are some keywords and unit names for the CEF and also for the British units that are included in this collection.

Canadian Expeditionary Force keywords and units
- Labour Commandment Canadian Corps
- Canadian Corps Water Patrols
- Canadian Corps Supply Column
- Canadian Corps Troop Column
- Canadian Corps Mechanical Transport Column
- Canadian Ammunition Park
- Chemical Advisor, Canadian Corps
- Canadian Army Gymnastic Staff
- Canadian Corps Infantry School
- Camp Commandant, Canadian Corps
- Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp
- Canadian Corps Infantry School
- Canadian Army Pay Corps
- Field Cashier
- Postal Services Check
- Paymaster
- Royal Canadian Regiment
- 1^st Canadian Division
- 2^nd Canadian Division
- 3^rd Canadian Division
- 4^th Canadian Division
- 5^th Canadian Division
- Headquarters
- General Staff-Canadian Troops
- Canadian Infantry Battalion
- 1^st-15^th Canadian Infantry Brigade
- Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
- Young Soldiers' Battalion Canadian Reserve
- Cavalry
- Cyclist
- Canadian Mounted Rifles
- Artillery
- Canadian Siege Battery
- Canadian Heavy Battery
- Divisional Ammunition Column
- Mortar
- Canadian Anti-Aircraft Battery
- Canadian Divisional Mechanical Transport Company
- Machine Gun
- Canadian Tank Battalion
- Chief Engineer
- Royal Engineers
- Canadian Engineers
- Pioneer Battalion
- Canadian Labour
- Entrenching Battalion
- Signal
- Engineer and Barrack Service
- Canadian Railway
- Canadian Wagon Erecting Company
- Canadian Employment Company
- Canadian Forestry Corps
- Canadian Divisional Train
- Supply
- Canadian Army Auxiliary Horse Transport
- Canadian Field Bakery
- Canadian Field Butchery
- Canadian Corps Salvage Company
- Canadian Army Service Corps
- Medical
- Canadian Field Ambulance
- Canadian Casualty Clearing Station
- Canadian Hospital
- Canadian Sanitary Section
- Medical Stores
- Ambulance
- Canadian Laboratory
- Dental
- Veterinary
- Regiment Depot
- Canadian General Depot
- Regiment Depot Group
- Canadian Remount Depot
- Canadian Record Office
- Ordnance Service
- Canadian Ordnance Workshop Unit
- Canadian Embarkation Camp
- Canadian Concentration Camp
- Canadian General Base Depot
- Canadian Infantry Base Depot
- School
- Canadian Report Center
- Canadian Military Police
- Canadian Chaplain Services
- Canadian War Graves
- Estates and Legal Branch
- Department of the General Auditor
- Progress Charts
- Report, Canadian Corps Operation, Vimy
- MD (Military District)

British keywords and units
- Lahore Divisional Artillery
- Lahore Divisional Ammunition
- West Lancs Divisional Artillery
- West Lancs Brigade
- Royal Artillery
- Reserve Divisional Ammunition Column
- Reserve Divisional Trench Mortar Group
- Trench Howitzer Battery
- Royal Engineers
- Royal Army Service Corps
- Royal Army Medical Corps
- 1^st Army
- 2^nd Army
- 4^th Army
- Reserve and Fifth Army
- Cavalry Corps
- Lahore Division
- 3^rd Division
- 4^th Division
- 5^th Division
- 11^th Division
- 20^th Division
- 24^th Division
- 28^th Division
- 27^th Division
- 50^th Division
- 55^th Division
- 80^th Infantry Brigade
- 9^th Infantry Brigade
- Royal Welsh Fusiliers
- XVII Corps
- XIV Corps
- 1^st Cavalry Division
- 3^rd Cavalry Division
- Artillery Festubert
- Infantry Givenchy
- Second Army
- St. Eloi
- Guards Division
- Royal Flying Corps
- Sketches and Locations
- Index to Edmonds Files
- Colonel Duguid

How to interpret the diaries

War diaries were written by hand or typed on a standard legal-sized form that included columns headed "Place," "Date," "Hour," "Summary of Events and Information" and "Remarks and References to Appendices." Although the form outlined what information to capture, every unit interpreted what constituted a "historical record" somewhat differently, meaning that the richness of information that researchers can find in these war diaries varies greatly from unit to unit.

These differences appear principally in the "Summary of Events and Information," the heading under which a narrative account of the unit's experiences was written. The information recorded in this column relied heavily on the writing style and ability of the person responsible for completing the war diary. In some war diaries, this column is a terse, point-form record of the most basic facts, while others contain lengthy, graphic and moving first-hand descriptions of life in the front lines and during trench warfare.

In addition to the war diary form, units were required to attach copies of the administrative documents they received. These appendices include a variety of "General Orders" that regulated routine aspects of military life like rations, transfers, discipline and promotions.

In preparation for an attack, units received detailed "Operation Orders," which outlined the unit's roles and objectives, as well as other essential information like maps, intelligence reports, artillery timetables and code names.

Longer narratives of events and reports on operations may also be found as appendices to some war diaries. Researchers should note that not all of these appendices are found in each war diary.

Why are the war diaries written in English only?

Although a number of CEF units, most famously the 22nd Battalion, were composed of French-speaking officers and men, they operated within a Canadian and Imperial military hierarchy whose working language was English. The men in these units spoke French among themselves, but they used English when communicating with other units and with higher-level commanders. Similarly, the war diaries of these French-speaking units were written in English because they were initially submitted to British authorities, and after 1916 to the Canadian War Records Office, which was based in London, England, and operated in English.

Date modified:: 2022-08-31