Published Works

History of the Canadian Military Engineers

The Canadian Military Engineers’ Association and the Military Engineering Institute of Canada have produced the History of the Corp of Royal Canadian Engineers and Canadian Military Engineers in three volumes. The writing of the fourth volume is currently underway. The books can be ordered individually or as a set from this site.

A shorter background of the history of Military Engineering and of Canadian Military Engineering is found in Chapter 1 of “Customs and Traditions of the Canadian Military Engineers, also available on this site.

Other History Sources

There are several excellent online sources of Canadian Military History information to get a person started on research: The Canadian Military History Gateway provides access to a major collection of historical material. Recent Publications

The three-volume series, "Canadian Military Heritage", at the Directorate of History and Heritage is a good dealing of the broad subject. The interactive publication can take a couple of hours to peruse but is worth the time invested.

War Diaries are a primary source of historical material. Many are available online and on-going projects are increasing this inventory. To locate a War Diary, refer to this link.

Published Works

There are a number of published works dealing with Canadian Military Engineering topics. We have searched the National Library and the national AMICUS database, Canadian War Museum, DND’s Directorate of History and Heritage, the CME Museum, and the CFB Chilliwack Historical Society, and list more than 100 publications on this site.

Many of these publications were of limited production and are now available only in person at a limited number of Institutions and in private holdings. Some can be borrowed, however, through an InterLibrary Loan arranged by your local Public Library. These books are grouped by broad categories. Use the menu on the right to reveal the listed books.

A number of units produced a good summary record of their activities during WW II but this never developed into a published Unit History. You can check tor the existence of such material by reviewing the War Diaries that are now available online for all WWII RCE Units. See the Annex at  https://cmea-agmc.ca/find-military-records-former-cme-members ) for instructions on how to access these War Diaries.

Searches for additional books can be performed at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/amicus/index-e.html.

If you need help in researching specific areas of Canadian Military Engineering history, please refer to The Canadian Military Engineering Museum and use the Research Staff link at the bottom of that page. Corrections, recommendations for additions, and locations of publications may be made through history.heritage@cmea-agmc.ca 

 

(updated 15 Feb 21)