1 March 1942
Canadian Women’s Army Corps is granted full army status. Previously, only nursing sisters were admitted into the Canadian Armed Forces.

2 March 1951
DND publishes its first Korean War casualty list. Today, the names of 516 Canadians are inscribed in the Korean War Book of Remembrance.

3 March 1915
The First Canadian Division is now responsible for a large section of front near Fleurbaix, France, as part of IV Corps (United Kingdom).

4 March 1885
The first contingent of returning Nile voyageurs arrives in Halifax after assisting in the effort to relieve the besieged British garrison at Khartoum, Sudan.

6 March 2002
Nearly 130 combat troops of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, are sent to Afghanistan to search for terrorists.

7-10 March 1945
Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds proceeds with Operation Blockbuster II, to capture Xanten. The German town is taken within three days.

11 March 1918
The first case of Spanish influenza is diagnosed in Kansas; soldiers spread it across Canada and carry it to the front in Europe.

12 March 1964
Canada commits peacekeepers to the UN mission in Cyprus; more than 25,000 personnel serve there over the next 29 years.

13 March 1971
Paul Rose is sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the kidnapping and murder of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte during the FLQ Crisis.

15 March 1900
The Royal Canadian Regiment enters Bloemfontein after taking part in the British drive to seize the Boer capital of the Orange Free State in South Africa.

16 March 1935
Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and orders Germany to rearm. He also reintroduces military conscription.

19 March 1885
The Northwest Rebellion begins. Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont declare the Second Métis Provisional Government.

22 March 1944
The Canadian Army reaches its greatest strength—495,804, including 74,391 conscripted men and 15,845 women.

Lieutenant Leslie H. Browne, Royal Canadian Engineers, plays bagpipes aboard a ship enroute to France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Photo: Lieutenant Donald I. Grant, Library and Archives Canada.

26 March 1941
Nineteen of 31 crew members are lost after the engine room in HMCS Otter, an armed yacht, catches fire. The vessel sinks within 2½ hours.

HMCS Otter [Library and Archives of Canada PA-139114]

28 March-1 April 1918
The anti-conscription Easter Riots begin in Quebec City, culminating with deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers. More than 150 casualties result.