World War I

At 2300 hours, 4 August 1914, Canada, as part of the British Empire, found itself at war with Germany. The country immediately began to rally behind the "King and Emporer". The 10 officers, 8 attached officers and 276 men of the Canadian Signal Corps were attached to the Signal Service, Canadian Engineers. Since no further signal officers were recruited during the war, engineers and infantry officers often assumed signal officer duties. By April 1915 the Engineers had 14 officers and 492 men employed on signal duties.

VIMY RIDGE

During the period of 9 - 12 April 1917 the Canadian Corps was victorious at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. This was the only significant allied victory of 1917, but it cost the Canadians 10% of their number as casualties with 3598 killed in action or dying of wounds. Canada's success in this battle earned it a seat as an equal partner at the conference table for the armistice talks.


COMMUNICATIONS DURING THE WAR

In 1915, the pigeon service became a special branch of Signals controlling 20,000 birds. The Canadian Corps used 100 pigeons a day in 1915. By 1916 mobile vehicle lofts came into use. In 1916 the telephone was providing primary front line communications. Lines had to be buried at least six feet deep, a labour intensive operation. Existing division and corps signal companies lacked the resources for this so a number of "lines of communication" units were formed.



In 1916 each Canadian division had 16 motorcycle dispatch riders
(DR's), and by 1918 this number had grown considerably to offset
increasing security restrictions applied to wireless traffic. Signals
DR's wore the winged wheel trade badge on the lower left sleeve
and the famous blue and white band on either the right or both arms.
The band was a highly visible marking which identified their priority
over other traffic.


THE BIRTH OF ELECTRONIC WARFARE

In the summer of 1915 the allies found out that the Germans were listening to allied telephone conversations They had discovered that allied telephone conversations could be picked up by way of the ground return of single wire telephone circuits then in use. Buzzer signals could be detected up to distances of 300 yards and speech at 100 yards, using only rudimentary equipment from enemy front line trenches. German listening posts were soon routinely intercepting front line allied telephone traffic at ranges up to 600 yards. The allied discovery of these interceptions led to the removing of the telephone circuit grounding points from 100 yards to, by 1916, 1600 yards behind the front lines. The use of twisted cable, elaborate code names and unit call signs, coupled with the development of new equipment all helped to defeat the interceptions by the enemy. Unit identities, names of officers, locations and timings became prohibited subjects for electronic transmissions, backed up by court-martial action against offenders. The secret of how the Germans were listening in; was finally solved in 1916 by Sergeant Lorne Hicks of the School of Signalling in Barriefield, Ontario. During a morse code class Sergeant Instructor Hicks discovered that his wireless equipment was receiving a signal from a low tension buzzer unit located some 90 feet away. This led to a scientific investigation of this curious phenomenon resulting in corrective action. The fullerphone, in use in brigade headquarters by 1917, used direct current Morse signals from the telephone's buzzer and vibrator to effectively eliminate signals which permitted enemy interception. The fullerphone was used throughout World War I and well into World War II.