Arrival of the 3rd Canadian Division: Mar 1916

Throughout the fall and winter of 1915, a steady stream of Canadian recruits arrived in England. They received their training and were used to form the 3rd Canadian Division. The division was composed of several newly arrived battalions: the Royal Canadian Regiment, The Loyal Edmonton Regiment, the 42nd Battalion of the Royal Highlanders of Canada, and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. The Royal Canadian Regiment, Canada's only permanent force regiment in 1914, had recently arrived in England after a year of garrison duty in Bermuda. Defence Minister Sam Hughes, who detested the permanent force, had banished the regiment there. The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry had been attached to the British 27th Division since its arrival in France on 4 January 1915. In March 1916, the 3rd Canadian Division joined the Canadian Corps in the Messines Ridge sector in Belgium.