Explanation
of the British Army (Infantry) 1914-1918
Regular
and Pre-War Territorial Force
Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, the Regular
Infantry consisted of four Guards Regiments (the Welsh Guards were not
formed until 1915) and sixty nine Infantry Regiments. Both the Guards
and the Infantry Regiments normally consisted of two active Battalions
and one Reserve Battalion. With the exception of the Guards one of these
active Battalions would serve overseas and one would remain in Great
Britain. Both Guards Battalions normally stayed in Great Britain.
The Reserve Battalions would normally stay at the Regiment’s
home depot training new soldiers and supplying drafts to the two active
Battalions. There were, however, exceptions to this and some Regiments
had four active Battalions and two Reserve Battalions, in this case
two of the active Battalions would serve overseas and two would remain
in Great Britain. Each of the Reserve Battalions would supply drafts
to the active Battalions.
The Battalions would be numbered, the active Battalions
first and then the Reserve Battalion: i.e. 1st and 2nd Bn Welsh Regiment.
3rd (Reserve) Bn Welsh Regiment.
Many of the Infantry Regiments, but not the Guards
or Irish Regiments, also had Territorial Force Battalions, these were
part-time soldiers similar to todays Territorial Army. Each Battalion
trained its own soldiers therefore there were no Reserve Territorial
Force Battalions. The Territorial Force Battalions were numbered after
the Regular Reserve Battalions and often had second titles linking them
with the home town or county of the Battalion: i.e. 4th (Renfrewshire)
Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
In addition to the Guards and Regular Infantry Regiments
there were also ten Territorial Force Regiments. These were entirely
made up of part-time soldiers and in all other aspects were the same
as the other Territorial Force Battalions.
The Regular active Battalions serving in Great Britain
and all the Territorial Force Battalions were grouped into Brigades
and Divisions. A Brigade consisted of four Battalions and a Division
consisted of three Brigades. The Regular Divisions were made up of Battalions
from any the Regiments but the Territorial Force Divisions were normally
made up from Battalions within a certain area.
The Regular Divisions and Brigades were numbered and
the Territorial Force Division and Brigades were named (the Territorial
Force Division and Brigades were numbered in May 1915 keeping their
names as a second title): e.g.
1st Division consisting of:
1st (Guards) Brigade
2nd Brigade
3rd Brigade
East Anglian Division consisting of:
Essex Brigade
East Midland Brigade
Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade
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Changes
to the Territorial Force
The outbreak of the First World War brought some changes
to the Infantry Regiments. The Regular Battalions remained as they were
but within the Territorial Force Battalions some changes were made.
When a man joined the Territorial Force, he had a choice
of service he could volunteer for. He could volunteer for service at
home, and if required overseas, or just for Home Service. The rates
of pay were different. Men volunteering for both home and overseas were
paid more than the Home Service volunteers.
Because the Territorial Force Battalions had men of
both categories, the Battalions had to split forming second line Battalions
just after the war started, the second line Battalions being for Home
Service. The Territorial Force Battalions were now given fractional
numbers, i.e. 1/4th Bn (first fourth) for duties overseas and 2/4th
Bn (second fourth) for Home Service (although many 2nd line Battalions
were sent overseas later during the war).
By June 1915 most of the Territorial Force Battalions
had formed a 3rd line. The role of this 3rd line was to supply reinforcements
to the Battalions of the 1st and 2nd lines. These 3rd line Battalions
also had a fractional designation, a 3/ followed by the number of the
parent Battalion. The 3rd line Battalions were formed in the autumn
of 1915 into groups, each group relating to one of the pre-war Territorial
Force Divisions. The 3rd line Battalions dropped the fractional numbers
in April 1916 and became Reserve Battalions Territorial Force, e.g.
4th Reserve Bn Black Watch Territorial Force. The Territorial Reserve
Battalions of each Regiment were amalgamated to form one Reserve Battalion,
or in the case of the large Regiments two Battalions.The groups which
had been formed, now became 14 Reserve Brigades Territorial Force. The
Territorial Reserve Battalions remained this way for the rest of the
war.Some 3rd line Battalions were sent overseas, when this was the case
a 4th line Battalion was formed and this took the role of the 3rd line
Battalion explained here.
A number of other Territorial Force Battalions were
raised during the summer of 1915, these Battalions were known as Provisional
Battalions. These were made up from personnel of the 2nd and 3rd line
Battalions not available for overseas service and soldiers of low medical
categories. By 1916 there were 41 Provisional Battalions serving in
ten Provisional Brigades. In November 1916 the 6th, 8th and 9th Provisional
Brigades were used to form the Home Service Divisions (71st-73rd). Most
of these Provisional Battalions were disbanded when the Graduated Battalions
were posted to the Home Service Divisions. The remaining Provisional
Battalions became numbered Home Service Territorial Battalions of the
Infantry Regiments on 01 January 1917.
The remaining seven Provisional Brigades were numbered
221st-227th, the Brigades were later called Mixed Brigades and were
stationed on the east coast for the remainder of the war.
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Service
Battalions
When Lord Kitchener became Secretary of State for War,
he immediately stated that we must be prepared for a war lasting three
years and would require an Army of seventy Divisions.
On 7 August a campaign was started to recruit an additional
100,000 men between the ages of 19 and 30. The response was overwhelming
and the first 100,000 men had been recruited within a few days. By the
middle of September 500,000 men had enlisted. It was decided by Kitchener
not to use the framework of the Territorial Force to expand the Army,
but to create new armies separate from the Regulars and the Territorials.
More than 500 New Army Battalions were raised as part
of the existing Regiments, the New Army Battalions were numbered consecutively
after the existing Battalions in the Regiment, they were distinguished
by the word ‘Service’ in brackets after their number. The types of Service
Battalions raised were:
a. The Battalions raised
during August and September 1914. These Battalions formed the first
three Kitchener Armies also known as K1 (9th-14th Divisions), K2 (15th-20th
Divisions) and K3 (21st-26th Divisions).
b. A 4th Kitchener Army (K4
30th-35th Divisions) was raised in the Autumn of 1914 from the surplus
personnel from the Regular Reserve and Extra Reserve Battalions. Later,
to supply reinforcements for K1-K3, it was decided to break up K4 and
convert the Infantry Battalions to Reserve Battalions, this was done
by April 1915. The Reserve Battalions were to train recruits and supply
drafts to the Battalions of K1-K3. These Battalions were known as 2nd
Reserve Battalions, by 1 September 1916 all the 2nd Reserve Battalions
had been absorbed into the Training Reserve.
c. At the same time as the first four Armies
were being raised (K1-K4), a number of Service Battalions were being
raised by committees from Cities, Towns, organisations and individuals.
The expense of raising, clothing, housing and feeding these Battalions
were met by the committees until they were taken over by the War Office
in 1915. The War Office then refunded the committee their expenses.
These Battalions were known as Locally Raised Battalions. The Battalions
then went on to supply most of the Infantry for the new 4th Army. They
used the Divisional numbers (30th-35th) from the old 4th Army (K4).
A 5th New Army was raised (36th-40th Divisions) also made up from Locally
Raised Battalions. The Locally Raised Battalions had an additional title
in brackets showing their connection with the area, town or organisation
which raised them (commonly known as the ‘Pals’ Battalions).
d. The Locally Raised Service
Battalions formed Depot Companies, and in 1915 these Companies were
grouped to form Local Reserve Battalions. These Battalions were numbered
after the parent Battalion. The role of these Local Reserve Battalions
was to supply reinforcements to the Locally Raised Service Battalions.
On 1 September 1916 all the Local Reserve Battalions were absorbed into
the Training Reserve.
e. A few more Service and
Reserve Battalions were raised in 1915 and 1916 in addition to the four
categories above. The Battalions were raised by converting dismounted
Yeomanry Regiments into Infantry. In the summer of 1918 about twenty
Garrison Battalions and other Battalions were renamed Service Battalions.
They were used to reconstitute the 14th, 16th, 40th and 59th Divisions
which had been reduced to Cadre. These Battalions had no connection
with the Service Battalions of the New Armies raised at the beginning
of the war.
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Training
Battalions
In 1915 two kinds of Reserve Battalions were formed
from the New Army Service Battalions. The role of these Battalions was
to supply the Service Battalions with reinforcements.
In April 1915 the 75 Battalions of the 4th New Army
(K4) were converted into 2nd Reserve Battalions. In the summer of 1915
further Reserve Battalions were formed when the Depot Companies of the
Locally Raised Battalions were organised into Reserve Battalions. A
total of 68 Local Reserve Battalions were raised. All these one hundred
and forty three Reserve Battalions were formed into twenty four Reserve
Brigades.
In 1916 the Training Reserve was formed when it was
found that the New Army Reserve Battalions were unable to cope with
the number of recruits coming into the Army after the introduction of
conscription. The role of the Training Reserve was to train new recruits
and despatch drafts to the Service Battalions serving overseas.
The 2nd Reserve and Local Reserve Battalions discarded
their Regimental designations and became numbered Battalions of the
Training Reserve from 1st-112th. The twenty four Reserve Brigades became
Training Reserve Brigades. Some of the old Reserve Battalions were absorbed
into the Training Reserve Battalions when the Training Reserve was formed,
hence the reduction in number of Battalions from 143 to 112.
The Reserve and Extra Reserve Battalions of the Regular
Army were not affected by these changes. Also, the Reserve Battalions
of the Territorial Force were unaffected.
The Irish Regiments had no 2nd Reserve Battalions and
there were only six Local Reserve Battalions. The six Local Reserve
Battalions were used to supply drafts to the 36th (Ulster) Division.
These Battalions did not form part of the Training Reserve.
A further reorganisation of the Training Reserve took
place in 1917, the Battalions became more specialised in the training
they carried out. In May 1917, 14 Battalions were designated Young Soldier
Battalions. These Battalions took in and trained soldiers aged 18 years
and one month. After completing basic training the young soldiers were
posted in Company strength to Graduated Battalions. Twenty-eight Graduated
Battalions were formed and linked in pairs to the Young Soldier Battalions,
they would be used for Home Service while the soldiers within the Battalion
finished their recruit training.
The Graduated Battalions were numbered from 201st onwards
and posted to the eight Home Service Divisions, they were eventually
increased in number until there were 46. The number of the Young Soldier
Battalions was increased to 23. These Battalions were organised in to
six Reserve Brigades.
On 27 October 1917, the Graduated and Young Soldier
Battalions were allotted to 23 Infantry Regiments. The Battalions were
numbered 51st and 52nd for the Graduated Battalions and 53rd for the
Young Soldier Battalion.
The Home Service Divisions were reduced from eight
to six, all of their Battalions except one was now a Graduated Battalion.
The remaining Training Reserve Battalions continued
serving until the end of the war when they formed six recruit reception
Battalions and four Battalions for training Machine Gun Corps recruits.
The remaining Battalions were disbanded.
The Officer Training Corps (O.T.C.) was formed in 1908
and was based at the universities and public schools. Between August
1914 and March 1915 20,577 temporary commissions had been granted to
former members of the O.T.C. This just about exhausted the supply of
men that had served with the O.T.C. So in January 1915 it was decided
to grant commissions to suitable men from the ranks on recommendation
from their commanding officers. The training of these men was carried
out by the O.T.C. In February 1916 the system of officer training was
changed and Officer Cadet units were formed. The courses in these Cadet
Battalions lasted four months before a successful candidate received
his temporary commission. By June 1916 there were about a dozen Cadet
Battalions and by July 1917 there were 23 Battalions around the country.
By the end of the war over 73,000 officers had been trained by the Officer
Cadet Bns.