The organisation of the Canadian cavalry regiments

I’ve been asked recently if I could explain how the Canadian Cavalry Militia Regiments were organized. Prior to the First World War Canada had two full time cavalry regiments, thirty-five militia cavalry regiments and a solitary independent cavalry squadron. The vernacular of the day called these Permanent Force and Non-Permanent Force Regiments.

Not all militia cavalry regiments were organized the same way. Nineteen of the regiments consisted of four squadrons; fifteen regiments had three Squadrons each, and one regiment had only two squadrons. But regardless of the number of squadrons a regiment had, each squadron consisted of four troops of about 25 men.

The only difference there seems to be between a two or three squadron regiment and a four squadron regiment, and that is the latter had no machine gun section in their squadrons. However, the administrative orders of the day do state that ‘’machine guns will be issued as they become available, but only if the section are reported to be efficient’’.

Nothing is written down anywhere on how they are to become efficient on them if they do not possess machine guns, or how the regiment is to form a machine gun section in order to become efficient with no machine guns available in the regimental armoury.

Cavalry Regiment came with a variety of titles, Dragoons, Horse, Hussars, Dragoon Guards, Horse Guards, and Light Horse. No matter what they were called, they were all armed regardless with swords and rifles. Interestingly enough, Canada never had a regiment of Lancers.

The regiments were commanded, as they are today, by a Lieutenant Colonel, with a Major as the Deputy Commanding Officer. Each squadron was commanded by a Major with a Captain as his deputy, and four Lieutenants as troop commanders. Each Squadron had a Squadron Sergeant-Major and each troop a Sergeant and also a Corporal. This chain of command has not really changed that much in the past 110 years.

With thirty-five cavalry regiments scattered across the country one would expect to have a couple of thousand horses being looked after in the local regiment’s stables. But this was not the case. In fact very few horses were owned by any militia cavalry regiment; in truth very few cavalry regiments had any proper stables at all.

Nearly all the horses used by a regiment were rented from local farmers as required. Renting horses did not always work out the way a regiment wanted it to.

The annual fitness report of the 8th Princess Louise’s New Brunswick Regiment of Cavalry for 1891-1892, given to them by Lt-Col G.J. Maunsell, Deputy Adjutant-General stated that ‘’The horses in these four troops did not come up to the usual regimental standard’’.

A regiment had to take what was available locally, and sometimes they had to take what was offered, sub-standard or not.

Pay, for all ranks, was a haphazard thing, it certainly was not a regular monthly event as it is today for the current generation of reserve soldiers, all of whom have direct deposit of their pay to their private bank accounts. Privates were paid 50 cents a day back in the 1890’s, and the RSM was paid $2,00 a day. Most militia soldiers never saw any pay at all. It was gathered off them to pay for regimental dances, sporting events and uniform upkeep.

Officer had to deal with a lot more expense than the NCO’s and men. They had to provide their own uniforms, full dress, service dress, mess dress, their swords, and all their field living equipment which all cost a good sum of money; and they had to ensure their uniforms were up to standard at all times or replace them. While the officers were paid better than the NCO’s and Men, they too never saw a cent of their pay as it went to maintain the furnishing of the officer’s mess.

Changes in modern warfare have forced restructuring onto the cavalry regiments, gone are the horses, general service wagons, farriers, and trumpeters. Today the remaining eighteen reserve armoured regiments are specialists in armoured reconnaissance using the G-Wagon Light Utility Vehicle.

(NOTE: Will be replaced by TAPV.)

Numbering about 200 all ranks these days an armoured regiment exists for the purpose of training reserve soldiers who will be used to augment the regular army in times of need. The days of a reserve regiment recruiting to full strength and heading into action are long gone, modern warfare does not provide enough lead time to do that as in days gone by.

Réf: THE ARMY NAVY & AIR FORCE VETERANS IN CANADA, ANAVETS, Shoulder to shoulder. Issue June 2016. Page 7. https://online.fliphtml5.com/tbrfm/dtca/#p=6

By Bill Nangle, CD