PShoulder flash Royal Canadian Engineers RCE (canvas)
The Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers expanded dramatically in size to support Canada's war effort. On August 31, 1939, the Permanent Force engineers included 50 officers (with 14 seconded to other branches of the Canadian Army) and 323 other ranks; the maximum size of the Corps was reached in 1944, when it included 210 officers and 6283 other ranks.
In keeping with British Army practice, company-sized units in the two armoured divisions were called "squadrons" following cavalry terminology. The following units were deployed in Canada and in Europe:
- 1st Canadian Infantry Division
- 1st Field Company
- 3rd Field Company
- 4th Field Company
- 2nd Field Park Company
- 2nd Canadian Infantry Division
- 2nd Field Company
- 7th Field Company
- 11th Field Company
- 1st Field Park Company
- 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
- 6th Field Company
- 16th Field Company
- 18th Field Company
- 3rd Field Park Company
- 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division
- 6th Field Squadron
- 8th Field Squadron
- 9th Field Park Squadron
- 5th Canadian (Armoured) Division
- 1st Field Squadron
- 10th Field Squadron
- 4th Field Park Squadron
- 6th Canadian Infantry Division in Pacific Command
- 20th Field Company
- 25th Field Company
- 26th Field Company
- 7th Field Park Company
- 7th Canadian Infantry Division in Atlantic Command
- 15th Field Company
- 23rd Field Company
- 27th Field Company
- 5th Field Park Company
- 8th Canadian Infantry Division in Pacific Command
- 21st Field Company
- 24th Field Company
- I Canadian Corps
- 12th Field Company
- 13th Field Company
- 14th Field Company
- 9th Field Park Company
- 1st Drilling Company
- II Canadian Corps
- 29th Field Company
- 30th Field Company
- 31st Field Company
- 8th Field Park Company
- 2nd Drilling Company
- First Canadian Army
- First Canadian Army Troops Engineers
- 5th Field Company (unit code 1207 [3])
- 20th Field Company (unit code 1208)
- 23rd Field Company (unit code 1209)
- 10th Field Park Company (unit code 1210)
- 2nd Canadian Army Troops Engineers
- 32nd Field Company
- 33rd Field Company
- 34th Field Company
- 11th Field Park Company
- No. 1 Workshop and Park Company
- 1st Field (Air) Survey Company
- 2nd Field Survey Company
- 3rd Field (Reproduction) Survey Company
- First Canadian Army Troops Engineers
- General Headquarters (GHQ) and Line of Communication (LoC) Troops
- 1st Mechanical Equipment Company
- 1st Mechanical Equipment Park Company
- 2nd Battalion
- 3rd Battalion
- 1st Road Construction Company
- 2nd Road Construction Company
- No. 1 Railway Operating Company
- No. 1 Railway Workshop Company
- Other units
- 1st Chemical Warfare Company (in Canada, September 1942 – 31 August 1943)
- 2nd Chemical Warfare Company (in Canada, September 1942 – 31 August 1943)
- No.1 Tunnelling Company R.C.E. (in Gibraltar)
- No.2 Tunnelling Company R.C.E. (in Gibraltar)
The senior officers of the Corps in World War II were as follows:
- Chief Engineer, First Canadian Army
- Major-General Charles Sumner Lund Hertzberg (6 April 1942 – 23 June 1943)
- Brigadier James Learmont Melville (24 June 1943 – October 1943)
- Brigadier Allister Thompson MacLean (20 October 1943 – 1 September 1944)
- Brigadier Geoffrey Walsh (2 September 1944 – 20 July 1945)
- Colonel Henry Lloyd Meuser (Acting Chief Engineer, 21 July 1945 – 31 December 1945)
- Chief Engineer, I Canadian Corps
- Brigadier Charles Sumner Lund Hertzberg (25 December 1940 – 6 April 1942)
- Brigadier James Learmont Melville (6 April 1942 – October 1943)
- Brigadier Alan Burton Connelly (1943–1944)
- Brigadier Colin Alexander Campbell (27 July 1944 – 23 April 1945)
- Brigadier John Despard Christian (24 April 1945 – 17 July 1945)
- Chief Engineer, II Canadian Corps
- Brigadier Allister Thompson MacLean (1943)
- Brigadier William Norman Archibald Bostock (1943–1944)
- Brigadier Geoffrey Walsh (13 February 1944 – 1 September 1944)
- Brigadier Dudley Kingdon Black (2 September 1944 – 16 June 1945)
