The 31st Battalion (Alberta), CEF, was an infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War.
The battalion recruited in Alberta and was mobilized at Calgary.
The battalion was raised at Calgary, and started recruitment in Alberta, on 7 November 1914.
On 17 May 1915, the battalion sailed for England on RMS Carpathia, with a complement of 36 officers and 1033 other ranks.
On 18 September 1915 it disembarked in France, where it fought with the 6th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war.
After initial training in England, the battalion fought in Belgium and France, and was often at the forefront of the fighting at :
St. Eloi Craters
the Ypres Salient,
Vimy Ridge (Thélus Village)
Fresnoy, Somme
Second Battle of Passchendaele
the Battle of Amiens (1918), the Battle of Arras (1917)
Battle of Drocourt-Quéant Line
Valenciennes
Mons
the occupation of the Rhineland
The battalion captured a Siberian pony from the Germans, which apparently had been captured from the Russians earlier in the war.
The Canadians named this pony Heinie, and it became the 31st Battalion's mascot.
After the war the 31st brought Heinie to Alberta, where it worked until at least the late 1920s for the Dominion Parks Branch near Banff, Alberta.
The bulk of the battalion returned to Canada on SS Cedric on 27 May 1919, and to Calgary on 1 June 1919, with the unit's disbandment occurring on 30 August 1920.
Through the course of the First World War, the 31st Battalion suffered losses of 941 dead, and an additional 2,312 non-fatal casualties. A total of 4,487 men served in the battalion.
The 31st Battalion was awarded the following battle honours:
Mount Sorrel
Somme 1916, 1918
Flers-Courcelette
Thiepval
Ancre Heights
Ancre 1916
Arras 1917, 1918
Vimy 1917
Arleux
Scarpe 1917, 1918
Hill 70
Ypres 1917
Passchendaele
Amiens
Drocourt-Guéant
Hindenburg Line
Canal du Nord
Cambrai 1918
Pursuit to Mons
France and Flanders 1915, 1918
Source : 31st_Battalion_(Alberta),_CEF
Numeral Collar Badge
Formation Patche
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