. . . The Committee confirmed the approval for the dispatch of the two battalions, noting that the actual units would be selected by the Minister of National Defence in consultation with the General Staff.
The selection received careful attention. The Director of Military Training was asked to prepare a list of infantry battalions in Canada in order of priority according to training, and sent it to the Director of Staff Duties on 24 September. The ten battalions
which he listed under Class "A", i.e., those best trained, were with one exception units of the 4th Division, which at this time was still in Canada.* Seven other units
were included in Class "B", these being either units of the newly-organized 6th Division or employed on coast defence. Finally, the D.M.T. listed nine battalions, which "due either to recent employment requiring a period of refresher training, or to insufficient training, are not recommended for operational consideration at present".
On 26 September the Director of Staff Duties (Colonel W. H. S. Macklin) made a submission to the Chief of the General Staff, based on these recommendations, providing for consideration lists of alternative selections from both
Class "A" and Class "B". The G.O.C. 4th Division (Major General L. F. Page) strongly reprobated the suggestion that his formation should be robbed of two battalions for the Hong Kong task; and after considering the whole situation the C.G.S. decided that the best course was to select two battalions, The Royal Rifles of Canada and The Winnipeg Grenadiers, which had been included by the Director of Military Training among those not recommended for operational consideration. Both had recently returned from garrison duties in areas adjacent to Canada (the Royal Rifles from Newfoundland, the Winnipeg Grenadiers from Jamaica), and the D.M.T. had presumably considered that they were among those in need of "refresher training".
On 30 September the C.G.S. made his formal recommendation to the Minister. He wrote: "As these units are going to a distant and important garrison where they will be detached from other Canadian forces, a primary consideration is that they should be efficient, well-trained battalions capable of upholding the credit of the Dominion in any circumstances." It would be unsound, he said, to "disrupt" the 4th Division, and it seemed to him best to select units from among those on coast defence duty or from the 6th Division. In recommending specifically the Royal Rifles and the Winnipeg Grenadiers, General Crerar wrote:
10. As you know, these units returned not long ago from duty in Newfoundland and Jamaica respectively. The duties which they there carried out were not in many respects unlike the task which awaits the units to be sent to Hong Kong. The experience they have had will therefore be of no small value to them in their new role. Both are units of proven efficiency.
11. In my opinion, the balance of argument favours the selection of these two battalions. I would be very reluctant to allot them indefinitely to a home defence role as the effect on their morale, following a period of "semi-overseas" responsibilities would be bound to be adverse. The selection represents both Eastern and Western Canada. In the case of the Royal Rifles, there is also the fact that this battalion, while nominally English-speaking is actually drawn from a region overwhelmingly French-speaking in character and contains an important proportion of Canadians of French descent.
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