Then and Now – Transportation Infrastructure in the First World War

My doctoral thesis describes the efforts of the Canadian Corps in the First World War on the Western Front to build and maintain transportation infrastructure like bridges, roads, and railways so that logistics transportation units like the Army Service Corps, Ammunition Column, and light railways could bring supplies to the frontline troops. At the war's end, these specialized troops accounted for over 20% of all soldiers in the Canadian Corps. Still, their story is largely forgotten because of the focus on the victory at Vimy Ridge or the futility of the Somme and Passchendaele. My thesis uncovers how the Canadian Corps built an extremely robust transportation service, often in disagreement with the British, necessary to move all the required supplies and ammunition. This “Then and Now” photo essay examines some of the key transportation infrastructure of bridges, roads, and light railways taken by Canadian Corps official photographers as part of the war records and publicity efforts of Lord Beaverbrook. I took the “Now” images in June 2024 while I visited over 300 sites where the Canadian Corps built roads, railways, and bridges and received their supplies to gain an appreciation of the distance and topography the troops encountered.