One-Two-Three: The Story of the 123rd Overseas
Battalion, Royal Grenadiers, CEF
The 123rd Battalion, Royal Grenadiers was raised in Toronto in 1915 for overseas service by Walter
Bernard Kingsmill. He was the Commanding Officer of the 10th Royal Grenadiers, having served with
them for over seventeen years.
Kingsmill hand-selected seven key leaders to raise, train, mobilize and lead the Battalion, and to
nurture the regimental culture of the Royal Grenadiers in the men of the 123rd Battalion. Recruitment
was innovative and the Battalion was above its full authorized strength before Christmas 1915. They
had completed their recruiting in record time, and training commenced immediately. Many of the men
had come from varied backgrounds in civilian life, but most were skilled tradesmen, performing their
work with great efficiency. Training began in Toronto then moved to the Niagara Camp for more
intensive training. On August 19th, 1916, they mobilized to England with 32 Officers and 964 Other
Ranks. The pace of training accelerated in England focusing on learnings in combat conditions from
the trenches. In January 1917, just as the Battalion was readying to mobilize to France, the demand for
Combat Pioneers at the Front became acute, and Kingsmill was given the choice of converting his
Infantry Battalion into Pioneers, or to have the Battalion broken up for reinforcements. Kingsmill chose
to convert the 123rd Battalion, Royal Grenadiers to Pioneers.
By early March 1917 they mobilized to France, and were assigned to the 3rd Canadian Infantry
Division. A month later, they were in the thick of battle at Vimy Ridge. As Combat Pioneers, their work
was extremely dangerous. They were assigned right at the Front, and often worked in front of the
Allies' Front-line Trenches.
In July 1917, leadership of the Canadian Corps was turned over to General Arthur Currie, and his
innovations and intuition transformed the Canadians into an elite force that was thereafter used as the
'tip of the spear' in many Allied offensives. The Pioneers contributed significantly to this. It is said that
the Canadian Corps in the latter half of the Great War played a key role in the emergence of Canada as
a world power; they were no longer just another colony in Empire.
The 123rd Battalion participated in all of the great battles of 1917; among them Vimy Ridge, Hill
70/Lens and Passchendaele. When they were not working as Pioneers or as infantrymen they were
employed in many other ways, such as serving as stretcher bearers at Passchendaele. They were
successful in saving many men of the P.P.C.L.I. Approximately 180 Patricias were carried from the
battlefield thanks to the tireless energy and fearless concentration of the 123rd.
In the spring of 1918, it became clear to General Currie that having too few Combat Pioneers and
Engineers was contributing to high casualty rates in the Corps. At the end of May 1918, the 123rd
Battalion, Royal Grenadiers was reorganized to form the backbone of the 3rd Canadian Engineer
Brigade. The 123rd merged with three Field Companies of Engineers and an Entrenching Battalion to
form the 7th, 8th and 9th Canadian Engineer Battalions. Kingsmill was given command of the 7th CE
Battalion, but soon afterward he repatriated to Canada to assume the role of Deputy Judge Advocate
General.
Although the 7th, 8th and 9th CE Battalions continued to serve for the remainder of the War as Combat
Pioneers, as the 123rd Battalion had previously, the loss of Colonel Kingsmill allowed the esprit de
corps nurtured in the 123rd Battalion, Royal Grenadiers to gradually slip away.
In February 1919, Major Lytle, one of the original leaders of the 123rd Battalion, assumed command
and brought the men of the 123rd Battalion home. The 123rd Battalion, Royal Grenadiers is
perpetuated by The Royal Regiment of Canada, and its memory lives on.