"WWI - 1st Canadian Division – made in Britain" Topic

I came across the following information whilst reading about the history of WWI and was quite surprised and fascinated by it and I thought that others may find it of interest.

"The Canadians were – and are – justly proud of the exploits of the 1st Canadian Division, and the British can share this pride, for, according to the Canadian historian Daniel Dancocks, of the 30,617 men who sailed from Canada in 1914, nearly 20,000 were British-born; this first contingent also included 762 Americans. In one newly formed regiment Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, which became a crack unit of the BEF, no less than 87 per cent of the soldiers – 950 of the first volunteers – were British-born, and most of the PPCLI recruits – 1,049 out of 1,089 – had formerly served in the British Army and could display a total of 771 decorations for gallantry or campaign medals".

It got me thinking about any other wars where the composition of one side may have been made up of ‘foreign' nationals but all I could think of was American-born soldiers, of course, in the Texas War of Independence. Any others?

Russians fighting for Germany in Normandy.

The PPCLI was intended as an instant battle ready creation, specifically recruiting veterans of the British Army who emmigrated to Canada.

Not the first time this might have happened either.
Does,"The Royal Highland Emmigrants", ring any bells from the AWI?

The OP's comment is based on a slightly false premise: in 1914, British born immigrants to Canada were not 'foreigners'. Canadians were British subjects, and as a young country heavily dependent on immigration, very many Canadians were foreign born. Even when the Canadian Expeditionary Force expanded to a full Corps, it was still just a relatively small part of the Allied forces on the Western Front, and never independent of the British high command.

There are plenty of examples foreigners fighting for countries other than that of their birth – the King's German Legion, the Brunswick Brigade, the French Foreign Legion, Auxiliaries fighting for Rome, the Union recruiting immigrants straight off the boat in the ACW.

Not only during, but prior to the US Civil War 35% of the US Army were recruited right "off the boat", often from Ireland

Napoleon also had lots of foreign troops in his army – as did the Ancien Regime

The Pontifical Zouves who fought for the independece of the Papal States in the 1860's were the Pope's own foriegn legion.

Of course, you can get into mercenaries, who have provided entire armies. but the OP is talking about foreign born in national armies.

Usually, you have a smaller proportion of foreign born. The Lafayette Escadrille (Americans fighting for France), Garibaldi's Red Shirts (fighting for France in 1871, and Greece in 1897 and 1912), the Blue Division (Spanish fighting for Germany), and the Eagle Squadrons (Americans fighting for Britain).

Grelber

France's Foreign Legion fought in Europe during WWI – Of the 42,883 legionnaires who served, 6,239 were French born with the remainder being foreign born and coming from over 100 countries.

As this was not a Colonial campaign but a war fought in France I think that thy would meet the Captain's criteria

The French Foreign Legion in Indo-China in the 50's had a lot of Germans and Algerians

I was surprised at the number of Panamanians, Phillipino, Canadians, and Columbians I served with in the Marines

The modern British army would be a ghost (even more of a ghost, perhaps I should say) if were not for Fijians….

The Salisbury Horse, Victoria Rangers, Rhodesia Regiment and BSACP / BSAP would all have been 100% 'foreign' born in both Matabele Wars and the Boer War, as Rhodesia was only founded in 1890.

In fact, the BSACP are very unusual (unique?) in being formed before the country they were tasked to protect itself was.

The Imperial Light Horse was formed in the Colony of Natal in 1899, but most of the recruits were recently-fled residents from Johannesburg in the ZAR (ie. an enemy country).