Mobilizing The Troops

When the time came to train the volunteers to be soldiers, they sent them to a sandy plain in Valcartier, Quebec. Tents littered the field as more than 30,000 soldiers were there. Colonel Sam Hughes was in charge of training these men to become the soldiers that would fight for Canada overseas. The Ross rifle was the standard firearm for the Canadien troops. At first it was a good gun, but then during trench warfare it was proven useless with the concentrated close fighting, and it constantly jammed in the mud. Canadien soldiers would drop the Ross and pick up a Lee Enfield from a dead British soldier. Sam Hughes was fired for his stand by the Ross rifle despite its many problems.