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 database contains the digitised War Diaries of CEF infantry, artillery and cavalry units, Brigade, Division and Corps commands and support units such as Railway and Forestry troops. The site also includes the War Diaries of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and several British units that served under Canadian command.

This site does not include documents relating to the Royal Canadian Navy or Canadians in flying corps, except for two War Diaries of the Royal Flying Corps. In addition, units were only required to record their "Actions in the Field." Therefore, you will find very few 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 record tactical and strategic information. Once you have identified the unit in which you are interested, War Diaries provide 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 diary on a day-to-day basis. Because of this variation, one 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.

There are two ways to search the war diaries database on the search page: "Unit Name" and "Date." A "Unit Name" search requires the entry of the name of the military unit, as the War Diaries database is organized and accessible by the military units' name. A researcher can enter the name of the military unit into the "Unit Name" field, such as "Alberta Dragoons" or "4^th Division," to retrieve files. The number of files returned for a search can be changed by using the Number of references per page icon.

Keyword List
To help researchers who may not know the exact name of a military unit, or who wish to familiarize themselves with the units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, a Keyword List is available by clicking the Unit Name label on the Search page. The Keyword List names the military units of the CEF and can be used for a "Unit Name" search. For example, on the keyword list appears the heading Cavalry. When a researcher enters Cavalry in the "Unit Name" search, military units related to cavalry will be retrieved.
For example:

A researcher can chose the military unit which interests them and click on the "images associated with this entry" icon. A list of dates connected to the unit's War Diaries will appear. A researcher can click on a date and view the related War Diaries.

Please note that the Keyword Search is meant to be used as a guide to give insight to the many military units which made up the CEF. However, names of military units not listed on the Keyword list may exist in the War Diaries database.

Date Search
A researcher can also enter a specific year and month to access the War Diaries database, either on its own, or with the name of a military unit. This search function makes it possible for researchers to follow units from month to month, or to see the first-hand experiences of a single day.
Please Note: The War Diaries database is organized by the military unit's name and the "outsides dates." For example, a War Diaries file may contain diaries from 1916/01/01-1916/01/31 inclusive. However, a researcher can only search a specific day if it is the first or last day of the outside dates, ie 1916/01/01-1916/01/31. Therefore, a researcher should use the wildcard symbol "$" to represent the day when using the Date Search option (1916/01/$).

Other Help
Other sources are available from the National Archives of Canada to help researchers find the military unit assigned to a person. Please note that two steps are involved:

Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)
Over 600,000 Canadians enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the First World War (1914-1919). The CEF database is an index to those personnel files, which are held by the National Archives. To date, over 765,000 images of Attestation papers have been scanned and are being made available on-line. In these Attestation papers, a researcher can find a soldier's regiment number, which they can then use to search the Regimental Number List of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to obtain the military unit name assigned to a soldier.

Regimental Number List of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The Regiment Number List of the Canadian Expeditionary Force is a guide which links a soldier's regiment number to his assigned military unit. With the military unit's name, a researcher can then search the War Diaries database.

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 an "historical record" somewhat differently, meaning that the richness of information researchers can find in these 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 Diary. In some 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 these appendices are found in each War Diary.

Please note:
Not all of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) War Diaries held by the Library and Archives of Canada have been digitized for this project. The vast majority of War Diaries have been digitized and we plan to add those of the remaining units in the future. In the meantime, microfilm copies of all the CEF War Diaries held by the Library and Archives of Canada are available at our Ottawa location, or through the inter-institutional loans department of your local library.

The War Diaries are invaluable in that they provide a first-hand account of what the various units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force experienced in the First World War. Military researchers, genealogists and teachers can access the War Diary database and study the authentic military records to gain an understanding of Canada's role and experience. Students can be challenged with writing about the life a soldier in a certain unit, and use the diaries as primary source material to research their work.

Although a number of Canadian Expeditionary Force units, most famously the 22^nd 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 amongst 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.