GENERAL ORGANISATION OF THE ARMY IN WW1

The Army is organised in two quite different ways:- First to provide a ‘home’ for each soldier and second to conduct operational duties.

The ‘Homes’ fit into one of four categories, The Cavalry, The Infantry, The Artillery and Specialist Corps. Essentially the cavalry were mounted on horses, the infantry fought on foot, the artillery operated the big guns and the specialist corps provided specialist expertise to support the other units.

Cavalry regiments were made up of approximately 500 men broken down into 3 squadrons (the operational units), each of which was further subdivided into 4 troops of approximately 40 men. They were classified as Guards, Dragoon Guards, Dragoons, Hussars and Lancers. Many of the regiments included the word ‘Yeomanry’ and these by and large were territorial units formed from men who provided their own horses. Early in WW1 men could also volunteer to join a yeomanry regiment by providing his own bicycle but these units were later incorporated into the Army Cyclists Corps. It was soon found that there was little place for cavalry in the war as it developed and the cavalry never expanded. In fact many of the cavalry units were dismounted and fought as infantry units.

Infantry regiments were either Foot Guards or had a very strong affiliation with a particular region, usually a county. They were made up of a number of battalions which were the operational units of the infantry. Battalions were classified as Regular, Reserve, Territorial, Service, Labour or Garrison according to their origins or duties. At the outbreak of war most county regiments consisted of two regular battalions (usually 1^st and 2^nd) who alternated between serving at home or overseas, a reserve battalion (3^rd) which trained new recruits for the regular battalions and provided annual training for reservists and one or more territorial battalions made up of companies based upon the major towns. The service, labour and garrison battalions were formed to accommodate the vastly increased numbers of infantrymen. Some regiments eg the London Regiment consisted solely of territorials.

Within the United Kingdom the county regiments were grouped into commands, South East, Southern, London, Western, Eastern, Northern and Scottish. Southern command for example consisted of The Royal Berkshire Regiment, The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, The Devonshire Regiment, The Somerset Light Infantry, The Dorset Regiment, The Hampshire Regiment, The Wiltshire Regiment, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, The Worcestershire Regiment and the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

The artillery was made up of four units:- The Honourable Artillery Company, The Royal Horse Artillery, The Royal Field Artillery and the Royal Garrison Artillery. Each was broken down into batteries of various sizes depending upon their type of gun and these batteries were attached to Divisions or Brigades as required.

The specialist corps ranged from such bodies as the Chaplains Department to the Royal Engineers. They were attached to other units in companies or as individuals. The other key units in the field were: The Army Service Corps, The Royal Army Medical Corps, The Royal Army Ordnance Corps and the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. There were also two nursing corps; The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service staffed almost entirely by women. As the war progressed further corps were formed, the Labour Corps, The Machine Gun Corps, The Tank Corps and the Royal Flying Corps.

In order to undertake operational duties the army was organised into Brigades, Divisions, Corps and Armies. The Division was the principal unit comprising three brigades of three of four battalions each, plus a labour battalion and a number of specialist units. Divisions were attached to Corps for particular engagements and Corps similarly attached to armies. In all there were 5 British armies on the western front and around 30 Corps each of which maintained a permanent General Headquarters to which divisions (or sometimes brigades or even battalions) could be attached as required.

The Infantry Battalion was divided into five companies, the HQ company, and A, B, C and D Coys. The companies were in their turn broken down into sections or platoons.

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