# 52nd Bn (Manitoba Regiment) in World War I



## historian (10 Mar 2012)

I am trying to follow the course of this regiment through World War I, where it passed through and what battles it participated in.

Is there a good link (or links) that would allow me to trace the path of these soldiers?

Thanks.


----------



## Old Sweat (10 Mar 2012)

Here is the link to the unit's war diary in the Library and Archives Canada site.

http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=52nd+Battalion&s13=&s12=&l=20&s9=RG9&s7=9-52&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect2=THESOFF&Sect4=AND&Sect5=WARDPEN&Sect6=HITOFF&d=FIND&p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2Farchivianet%2F02015202_e.html&r=0&f=S


----------



## historian (10 Mar 2012)

Thank you for the links.  They are helpful.

I still welcome any additional information.  I would like to do a thorough job of this.


----------



## bick (10 Mar 2012)

http://www.52ndbattalion.com/


----------



## historian (11 Mar 2012)

Thanks.

I noticed their history section ends in Spring 1916 (with a few years left in the war) and tried to e-mail the webmaster's address but the e-mail got bounced.

Might anyone know how to contact the people in charge of 52ndbattalion.com?


----------



## Michael OLeary (11 Mar 2012)

Have you explored the website of the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, which perpetuates the 52nd Battalion?

Brief history here.

Battle honours here (not so neatly lifted from my own page on the LSSR's Battle Honours).

You may also want to try and track down this reference through your local library system:

*From Thunder Bay through Ypres with the fighting 52nd* [microform] / by W.C. Millar.  [Canada?: s.n.], c1918.


----------



## The Bread Guy (11 Mar 2012)

historian:  PM me your e-mail and a bit more detail re:  exactly what you seek, and I can connect you with someone who might be able to help.


----------



## historian (11 Mar 2012)

Michael O'Leary said:
			
		

> Have you explored the website of the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, which perpetuates the 52nd Battalion?
> 
> Brief history here.
> 
> ...



Thank you.  These are some good starting points.


----------



## historian (11 Mar 2012)

Also, if anyone can tell me how significant it is that I am focusing on the Manitoba Regiment of the 52nd Bn, I would be grateful.

I don't know if that particular regiment might have been sent off from the others, thereby making me wrong to simply follow the 52nd in general.  Most of the references I see to the 52nd include regiments other than Manitoba, if they include a regiment at all...


----------



## Old Sweat (12 Mar 2012)

The Manitoba Regiment was, like the other terrirtorial regiments in the CEF, an administrative arrangement that grouped battalions that had a link to a province or military district together for the purposes of streaming recruits through training and the reinforcement system to one of the CEF battalions. I am away from home, so I cannot dig out the reference, but try to get a copy of the Canadian Official History by Nicholson. It has an explanation which includes a table that groups the infantry and depot battalions into the various regiments.

In other words, the Manitoba Regiment was not a tactical organization. It was an administrative device. It also should not be confused with various battalion titles that were combined with a numercial designation, for example the 8th Battalion (Winnipeg Rifles.)


----------



## Michael OLeary (12 Mar 2012)

The CEF Study Group notes that the 52nd Battalion was actually titled the *52nd (New Ontario) Battalion, CEF* (LINK).

Quoted there is an extract from the 52ndbattalion.com website:



> The 52nd (New Ontario) Battalion, CEF was raised in Northern Ontario during the Spring of 1915 with its mobilization headquarters at Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ontario. The Battalion joined the 9th Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division on February 23, 1916 and thus began the trial by fire for the men of the north in the trenches of France and Belgium.
> 
> After the war, the men returned home and the 52nd was disbanded in the early 1920s with its Regimental Colours laid-up in St. John The Evangelist Anglican Church.



This page shows that the 52nd was one of three units which received reinforcements from the Manitoba Regiment as a regionally based Reserve battalion. The three units were the 8th, the 52nd, and the 78th.

So, I guess the question for you is this: are you interested in tracking the 52nd Battalion, or are you interesting in tracking units raised in Manitoba?


----------



## Blackadder1916 (12 Mar 2012)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> . . . . . . but try to get a copy of the Canadian Official History by Nicholson. It has an explanation which includes a table that groups the infantry and depot battalions into the various regiments.



It's easy to follow Old Sweat's advice.  Nicholson's "Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919" is available as a PDF download from DHH.


----------

