1st Canadian Division

1st Canadian Division 1st Canadian Infantry Division 1st Canadian Division
1st Canadian Infantry Division formation patch
Active	1914–1919 1939–1945 1954–1958 1989–1999 2010–present
Country	Canada
Branch	Canadian Expeditionary Force Canadian Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Part of	Canadian Joint Operations Command
Nickname(s)	"The Old Red Patch"
Motto(s)	Agile, Versatile, Ready
Engagements	Second Battle of Ypres Battle of the Somme Battle of Vimy Ridge Battle of Passchendaele Allied invasion of Sicily Battle of Ortona Hitler Line
Commanders
Current commander	MGen Dean Milner
Notable commanders	Arthur Currie Archibald Cameron Macdonell Guy Simonds Chris Vokes Roméo Dallaire

The 1st Canadian Division is an operational command and control formation of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, based at CFB Kingston.

Formed during the First World War in August 1914, the 1st Canadian Division was a formation of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The division was initially made up from provisional battalions that were named after their province of origin but these titles were dropped before the division arrived in Britain on 14 October 1914. Following the war, the division was stood down only to be re mobilized as a formation on 1 September 1939 as the 1st Canadian Infantry Division for service in the Second World War. The division was also reactivated twice during the Cold War.

In 2010, the division was reactivated for a third time. While the remaining four divisions of the Canadian Army are responsible for command of the units within their respective geographic regions, the 1st Canadian Division was formed to serve as headquarters unit of any unit available for deployment on division-level formation of the Canadian Army.

The First Contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was raised in August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, concentrated at Valcartier Camp in Quebec, and set off for England in the largest trans-Atlantic convoy to date two months later. Training and reorganization commenced upon arrival in the United Kingdom in October 1914, and it was not until 26 January 1915 that the division was officially organized, under the command of Lieutenant-General Edwin Alderson, a British Army officer. Several units under command of the First Contingent were excluded from the divisional organization, including the 17th Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders), 18th Battalion, and several companies of Newfoundland soldiers (later formed into the Newfoundland Regiment and assigned to the British 29th Division).