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78-661: The South Lancashire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment, which recruited, as its title suggests, primarily from the South Lancashire area, was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 as the Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) by the amalgamation of the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot and

156-518: A company of voltigeurs , who were expected to act as skirmishers as well being able to deploy into line. In the Russian Empire, light infantry was forming at a very fast pace; by the end of the 18th century, regiments of light infantry totaled 40,000 soldiers ( Jaeger ). The armament of light infantry was very different from the armament of linear infantry. They were armed with high-quality muskets, as well as pistols (for close combat). After

234-456: A full general, attached to the 29th Independent Infantry Brigade , it was part of Force 121, which invaded Madagascar in order to prevent use of the island by the Japanese. From April 1944 until the end of the war, it fought in the recapture of Burma , initially with the 36th Infantry Division alongside the 2nd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment . The 2nd battalion was then transferred to

312-513: A million men had enlisted. The priority placement of recruits was to make up the strength of K1 units, then the Reserve battalions, and then the K2 units. Almost 2.5 million men volunteered for Kitchener's Army. The War Office stipulated that NCOs for these new formations should be selected from those men reenlisting. By the beginning of 1916, the queues were not so long anymore. Information about

390-500: A pied (light infantry), one of Grenadiers and one of Carabiniers . Similar differentiations were made in the majority of European armies of the period, although English-speaking authors sometimes use the designation "line infantry" when referring to the ordinary infantry of some other countries where the exact term was not in use. The term was also used by US units during the Second World War, as shown by this quote from

468-572: A report of the 782nd Tank Battalion in late April 1945: On the 22nd of April, the Battalion moved from Oberkotzau, Germany to Wunsiedel , Germany. Here the attachment of the line companies to the Regimental Combat Teams of the 97th Division was completed. We separated, not coming together again until the war was over. Company "A" joined the 303rd at Rehau, Germany: Company "B" joined the 386th at Arzburg, Germany: and Company "C"

546-740: A short distance. In some cases, it was possible to defeat the enemy with just one volley at close range. The line was considered the fundamental battle formation as it allowed for the largest deployment of firepower. Against surrounding enemy cavalry, line infantry could swiftly adopt square formations to provide protection. Such squares were hollow (consisting of four lines), unlike the pikemen's and old-style musketeers' square. Troops in skirmish formation, though able to take cover and use initiative, were highly vulnerable to cavalry and could not hold ground against advancing infantry columns. Line infantry provided an "anchor" for skirmishers and cavalry to retreat behind if threatened. Movement in line formation

624-435: A small part of the infantry branch of most armies, because of their vulnerability to hostile cavalry. Pikemen formed the majority of infantrymen and were known as heavy infantry. A significant part of infantry consisted of old-style musketeers, who did not use the linear tactics, instead skirmishing in open formation. However, by the middle of the 17th century, musketeers deployed in line formation already provided about half of

702-549: A training battalion with the 52nd Brigade . The battalion's role was training British infantry replacements in jungle warfare for the British Fourteenth Army . The 50th (Holding) Battalion was raised in 1940. That October, it was redesignated as the 9th Battalion and joined the 225th Infantry Brigade and then the 207th Infantry Brigade . The battalion remained in the United Kingdom for the war and

780-486: A way of instilling discipline and unit cohesion . Members of the US Army utilize the term "line company" (informally) in light infantry battalions to differentiate those companies (generally A–D) that perform the traditional infantry role from the support companies (generally F and HHC) charged with supporting the "line companies". The Marine Corps does the same for all its infantry units. In this vein, officers assigned to

858-419: The 114th Indian Infantry Brigade , 7th Indian Infantry Division , serving with them until July 1945, when the Battalion came under command of the 20th Indian Division. The 2/4th Battalion was raised in 1939 as a 2nd Line Territorial Army battalion duplicate of the 1st Line 4th Battalion, later redesignated the 1/4th Battalion. Both the 1/4th and 2/4th battalions served in the 164th Infantry Brigade , part of

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936-472: The 21st Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps at St Helens and Widnes became the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions of the regiment. The 2nd Battalion spent most of the first 30 years of its existence overseas, while the 3rd Battalion was embodied specifically for service in the Second Boer War. In addition, the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions raised a service company to reinforce the 1st Battalion in

1014-985: The 30th Division in November 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 1st Battalion saw action on the North West Frontier in May 1919 and then took part in Third Anglo-Afghan War in July 1919. After the Armistice with Germany the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion went to Ireland and in 1919 it was stationed in Dublin carrying out duties in support of the civil power during the Partition crisis . It returned to England to be disembodied later in

1092-613: The 3rd Infantry Division , nicknamed Monty 's Ironsides . With this division, it landed at Sword Beach on D-Day and fought its way through the Normandy , the Netherlands and later the invasion of Germany . The 2nd Battalion was in Bombay in 1939, being transported back to Britain in July 1940 to defend the home front against the expected German invasion . In 1942, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Michael West , later to become

1170-603: The 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division . In 1943, the 2/4th Battalion was transferred to the British Army's airborne forces and converted to become the 13th Parachute Battalion of the Parachute Regiment , part of the 5th Parachute Brigade , which itself was part of the newly raised 6th Airborne Division . The 13th Parachute Battalion saw combat during Operation Tonga , the British airborne landings in

1248-653: The 56th Brigade in the 19th (Western) Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 8th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 75th Brigade in the 25th Division in September 1915 also for service on the Western Front. The 9th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 66th Brigade in the 22nd Division in September 1915 for service on the Western Front but transferred to Salonika in November 1915. The 11th (Service) Battalion (St Helens Pioneers) landed at Le Havre as pioneer battalion to

1326-438: The 61st (South Lancashire Regiment) Garrison Regiment, Royal Artillery . In early 1945, due to a severe shortage of infantrymen in the 21st Army Group , the regiment was converted into the 612th (South Lancashire Regiment) Infantry Regiment, Royal Artillery and joined the 306th Infantry Brigade , thereby releasing trained infantrymen for frontline service. The regiment raised many other battalions for service before and during

1404-702: The 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) . In 1938, it was renamed the South Lancashire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's Volunteers) and on 1 July 1958 the regiment was amalgamated with the East Lancashire Regiment to form the Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) . The 1st Battalion was in Ranikhet , India , when the regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 as

1482-497: The American Civil War . The Austro-Prussian War in 1866 showed that breech-loading rifles , which gave the individual shooter a greatly increased rate of fire as well as the capability to reload from a prone position, were greatly superior to muzzle loaded rifles. In the 1860s, most German states and Russia converted their line infantry and riflemen into 'united' infantry, which used rifles and skirmish tactics. After

1560-635: The Battle of Loos (September–October 1915). Contrary to the popular belief that the war would be over by Christmas 1914, Kitchener predicted a long and brutal war. He believed that arrival in Europe of an overwhelming force of new, well-trained and well-led divisions would prove a decisive blow against the Central Powers . Kitchener fought off opposition to his plan, and attempts to weaken or water down its potential, including piece-meal dispersal of

1638-743: The Battle of the Tugela Heights later that month during the Second Boer War . At the same time as the 40th and 82nd regiments amalgamated to form the South Lancashire Regiment, the 4th Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own Light Infantry) became the new regiment's 3rd Battalion. In 1881, the local units of the Volunteer Force were affiliated to the regiment. In 1886, the 9th Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps at Warrington and Newton , and

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1716-615: The First World War in late July 1914. It originated on the recommendation of Herbert Kitchener , then the Secretary of State for War to obtain 500,000 volunteers for the Army. Kitchener's original intention was that these men would be formed into units that would be ready to be put into action in mid-1916, but circumstances dictated the use of these troops before then. The first use in a major action of Kitchener's Army units came at

1794-655: The Franco-Prussian War , both the German Empire and the French Third Republic did the same. However, Great Britain retained the name "line infantry", although it used rifled muskets from 1853 and breech loading rifles from 1867, and switched from closed lines to extended order during the Boer wars . The growing accuracy, range, and rate of fire of rifles, together with the invention of

1872-774: The King's Own Royal Border Regiment , in 2007, to form the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border) . The Lancashire Infantry Museum is based at Fulwood Barracks in Preston . The regiment was awarded the following battle honours : 1. Awarded in error, and withdrawn in 1925 The following members of the Regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross : Colonels of the regiment were: Line infantry Line infantry mainly used three formations in its battles:

1950-630: The Maxim machine gun in 1883, meant that close order line infantry would suffer heavy losses before being able to close with the enemy, while the defensive advantages given to line infantry against cavalry became irrelevant with the effective removal of offensive cavalry from the battlefield in the face of the improved weaponry. With the turn of the 20th century, this slowly led to infantry increasingly adopting skirmish style light infantry tactics in battle, while retaining line infantry drill for training. Although linear battle tactics had become obsolete by

2028-478: The Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) by the amalgamation of the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot and the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) . It was deployed to Aden in 1884 and returned to the United Kingdom in 1886, where it remained until 1899. The 1st Battalion lost 41 men during the Battle of Spion Kop in February 1900, but then captured Green Hill at

2106-575: The Sudan , Britain, Berlin and Hong Kong where, in 1958, it was amalgamated with 1st Battalion, the East Lancashire Regiment , to form 1st Battalion, the Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) which was later amalgamated with the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) to form the Queen's Lancashire Regiment which was, however, merged with the King's Regiment (Liverpool and Manchester) ,

2184-408: The matchlock muskets of some line infantry were equipped with bayonets . Bayonets were attached to the muzzles and were used when line troops entered melee combat. They also helped to defend against cavalry. At the end of the 17th century, a solution was sought to a flaw within the design of matchlock muskets. Since the matchlock musket used a slow burning piece of twine known as a slow match ,

2262-551: The 387th at Waldsassen, Germany. The British Army retains the traditional distinction between "Guards", "Line Infantry" and "the Rifles" on ceremonial occasions for historical reasons. It is linked to the order of precedence within the British Army and regimental pride, so for example Colonel Patrick Crowley states in the "introduction" in A Brief History of The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (2015): The examples of valour, adherence to duty, and fortitude, continue to inspire

2340-427: The 7th Brigade in the 3rd Division in February 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 1/5th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 12th Brigade in the 4th Division in February 1915 also for service on the Western Front. The 2/4th and 2/5th Battalions landed at Boulogne as part of the 172nd (2/1st South Lancashire) Brigade in the 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division in February 1917 also for service on

2418-558: The American Civil War, both Union and Confederate armies had only a few line regiments equipped with the old-style smooth-bore muskets. However, France, due to Napoleon III, who admired Napoleon I, had 300 line battalions (comprising an overwhelming majority) even in 1870. Although the French line infantry received Chassepot rifles in 1866, it was still being trained in the use of close formations (line, column and square), which

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2496-549: The Austrian army abandoned their pikes. In 1703, the French army did the same, in 1704 the British and 1708 the Dutch. In 1699–1721, Peter I converted almost all Russian foot-regiments to line infantry. The abandonment of the pike, together with the faster firing rate made possible by the introduction of the new flintlock musket and paper cartridge , resulted in the replacement of the deeper formations of troops more suitable for

2574-565: The Barrow Garrison, fulfilling its dual role of coast defence and preparing reinforcement drafts of regular reservists, special reservists, recruits and returning wounded for the regular battalions serving overseas. Thousands of men would have passed through its ranks during the war. In September and October 1914, it probably assisted in the formation of 10th (Reserve) Battalion, South Lancashires, at Crosby from Kitchener's Army volunteers. The 1/4th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of

2652-779: The German Jäger ), armed with rifled carbines and trained in aimed shooting and use of defilades . In Britain, much of the light infantry was armed with smooth-bore muskets, only a few regiments used rifled muskets. In France, during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , the division into the Guard, line infantry and light infantry formally continued to exist, line and "light" regiments had identical weaponry (smooth-bore fusils) and tactics. (Napoleon preferred smooth-bore weaponry for their faster reload speeds.) However, each battalion in both line and "light" regiments included

2730-616: The Government had overcome many of these problems. Among its methods was pressing into use old ceremonial cannons and unfinished modern artillery pieces (they lacked targeting sights). During 1915, it corrected such shortages. At the beginning of 1918, the shortage of manpower in the British Expeditionary Force in France became acute. The Army ordered infantry divisions to be reduced from twelve infantry battalions to nine. The higher-numbered battalions (in effect

2808-630: The New Army battalions into existing regular or Territorial Force divisions (the view of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), Field Marshal French ). Kitchener declined to use the existing Territorial Force (set up by Lord Haldane and Douglas Haig as part of the Army reforms of the Edwardian period) as the basis for the New Army, as many of its members had volunteered for "Home Service" only, and because he

2886-483: The New Army units, and some Second-Line Territorial units) were to be disbanded rather than the lower-numbered Regular and First-Line Territorial battalions. (Since Kitchener's death in 1916, no other major figure opposed this fundamental change to the principles on which the New Army had been raised.) In some cases, New Army divisions had to disband about half of their units to make room for surplus battalions transferred from Regular or First-Line Territorial divisions. While

2964-557: The Russian light infantry were equipped with the M1854 rifle, the remainder retaining smoothbore percussion muskets. In the second half of the 19th century, the development of mass production and new technologies, such as the Minié ball , allowed European armies to gradually equip all their infantrymen with rifled weapons, and the percentage of line infantry equipped with muskets fell. In

3042-535: The Sixth Coalition , the training of regular French line infantry recruits was limited due to the relentless attack of the Coalition Forces. A recruit was trained by firing only two cartridges and four blanks. There was also light training of forming several formations. However, training large quantities of elite line infantry was generally a complicated process. In the middle of the 16th century,

3120-1050: The UK during the period. Men who had been to a recognised public school and university graduates, many of whom had some prior military training in Officer Training Corps, were often granted direct commissions. Commanding officers were encouraged to promote promising leaders and later in the war it was common for officers (" temporary gentlemen ") to have been promoted from the ranks to meet the demand, especially as casualty rates among junior infantry officers were extremely high. Many officers, both regular and temporary, were promoted to ranks and responsibilities far greater than they had ever realistically expected to hold. The Army had difficulty supplying new units with enough weapons. No artillery pieces had been left in Britain to train new artillery brigades, and most battalions had to drill with obsolete rifles or wooden mockups. By early 1915

3198-692: The Western Front. The 6th (Service) Battalion landed at Cape Helles in Gallipoli as part of the 38th Brigade in 13th (Western) Division in July 1915; a detachment from the battalion was commanded by Captain Clement Attlee , who fell ill with dysentery during the campaign but went on to become prime minister . The battalion was evacuated from Gallipoli and went to Egypt in December 1915 before moving on to Mesopotamia in February 1916. The 7th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne as part of

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3276-478: The best shooting soldiers fight in loose ranks and cover their battalions from the enemy skirmishers. The total number of light infantry reached 40% of the entire field infantry. The sharp increase in the number of light infantry greatly influenced their quality of training and equipment. The Russian infantry of 1854 comprised 108 regiments, of which 42 were line infantry. The remainder were specialized or elite units such as Guards, Grenadiers and Jägers. Only part of

3354-444: The change reduced the unique sense of identity of some New Army formations, it developed the divisions in France into more homogeneous units. By this time there was no longer much real distinction between Regular, Territorial, and New Army divisions. Kitchener's New Army was made up of the following Army Groups (meaning a group of divisions similar in size to an army, not a group of armies) and Divisions : Kitchener's Fourth New Army

3432-400: The command of officers, but in practice this happened only in the first minutes of the battle. After one or two volleys, each soldier charged his musket and fired at his own discretion, without hearing the commands of the officers. This disrupted the system, while the gunsmoke prevented accurate shooting. Such a shootout in clouds of smoke could occur for an extended period of time and the result

3510-531: The current officers and soldiers of the modern Regiment, who are proud to belong to the most senior English Regiment of the Line. The Canadian Army also retained these traditional distinctions, and its infantry regiments were organized, titled, and uniformed in full dress as foot guards , fusiliers , light infantry, line infantry, rifles, and kilted infantry regiments. The infantry of most 21st-century armies are still trained in formation manoeuvre and drill , as

3588-509: The early hours of 6 June 1944, D-Day . The battalion served as normal infantrymen for the duration of the Battle of Normandy until being withdrawn, with the rest of the division, to England in September 1944. The 6th Airborne Division was then sent to Belgium in December 1944 to fight in the Ardennes offensive, the Battle of the Bulge . They were then involved in the largest airborne drop of

3666-489: The end of 1914 when the Territorials had been deployed, and to five armies totalling around 60 divisions in strength by the summer of 1916; approximately 2 million men, of whom around half were infantry (the rest were gun crews, supply and logistics men etc.) All five of the full army groups (meaning a group of divisions similar in size to an army, not a group of armies) were made up of volunteer recruits, which included

3744-697: The entire war with over 16,000 airborne troops taking part, known as Operation Varsity , with the US 17th Airborne Division . The 5th Territorial Battalion of the regiment was transferred to the Royal Artillery before the war and converted into the 61st (South Lancashire) Searchlight Regiment . It served in North West England, in Orkney , and in Kent against V-1 flying bombs . In late 1944, it became

3822-433: The famous Pals' Battalions . Due to the huge numbers of men wishing to sign up, in places queues up to a mile long formed outside recruitment offices, there were many problems in equipping and providing shelter for the new recruits. Rapidly the Government added many new recruitment centres, which eased the admissions burden, and began a programme of temporary construction at the main training camps. By 12 September, almost half

3900-760: The field. Following the end of the war in South Africa in 1902, the 1st battalion was sent to British India , where they replaced the 2nd battalion in Jubbulpore in Bengal . The 2nd battalion returned home, for the first times since 1884. In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve ;

3978-399: The foot troops in most Western European armies. Maurice of Nassau was noted as the first large scale user of linear tactic in Europe, introducing the 'counter-march' to enable his formations of musketeers to maintain a continuous fire. After the invention of the bayonet, musketeers could finally defend themselves from the enemy's horsemen, and the percentage of pikemen fell gradually. In 1699,

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4056-420: The form "xxth (Service) Battalion, <regiment name>". The first New Army divisions were first used in August 1915 at Suvla Bay during the Gallipoli Campaign and also the Battle of Loos on the Western Front in the autumn of 1915; they were sorely tested in the Battle of the Somme . The initial BEF—a single army of five regular divisions in August 1914, grew to two field armies comprising 16 divisions by

4134-406: The gaps in the volunteer units, which had been greatly diminished during the Battle of the Somme . After the bloody battles of 1916 and 1917, many of the British Army facing the Ludendorff Offensive of 1918 were conscripts, many of whom were youths under 21 years of age, or in their late thirties or older. Many of the other soldiers were men of lower levels of fitness who had volunteered earlier in

4212-406: The home country, line infantry forces were often raised from the local population, with the British East India Company 's sepoys perhaps being the most historically significant example. Line tactics required strict discipline and simple movements practiced to the point where they became second-nature. During training, the drill and corporal punishments were widely used. During 1814, in the War of

4290-458: The line, the square, and the column. With the universal adoption of small arms (firearms that could be carried by hand, as opposed to cannon) in infantry units from the mid-17th century, the battlefield was dominated by linear tactics , according to which the infantry was aligned into long thin lines, shoulder to shoulder, and fired volleys . A line consisted of two, three, or four ranks of soldiers. The soldiers were expected to fire volleys at

4368-486: The main objectives of which were fast deployment of a line, rapid shooting, and manoeuvre. Line infantry quickly became the most common type of infantry in European countries. Musketeers and grenadiers , formerly elite troops , gradually became part of the line infantry, switching to linear tactics. Over time the use of line infantry tactics spread outside of Europe, often as a result of European imperialism. In European colonies and settlements with small populations from

4446-497: The melee-oriented pikemen with shallower lines that maximized the firepower of an infantry formation. Besides regular line infantry, there were elite troops (royal guards and other designated elite regiments) and the light infantry . Light infantry operated in extended order (also known as skirmish formation) as opposed to the close order (tight formations) used by line infantry. Since the late 18th century, light infantry in most European countries mostly consisted of riflemen (such as

4524-467: The movement of units. In Russia, Great Britain, France, Prussia, and some other states, linear tactics and formation discipline were maintained into the late 19th century. With the invention of new weaponry, the concept of line infantry began to wane. The Minié ball , an improved rifle ammunition, allowed individual infantrymen to shoot more accurately and over greatly increased range. Men walking in formation line-abreast became easy targets, as evidenced in

4602-412: The new fusils retained the name "musket". Both muskets and fusils were smoothbore , which lessened their accuracy and range, but made for faster loading, lesser amount of bore fouling and more robust, less complicated firearms. The accuracy of smooth-bore muskets was in the range of 300–400 yd (270–370 m) against a line of infantry or cavalry. Against a single enemy, however, the effective range

4680-456: The regiment now had one Reserve battalion and two Territorial battalions. The 1st Battalion spent the war on garrison duty in Quetta , Baluchistan , on the North-West Frontier . The 2nd Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 7th Brigade in the 3rd Division in August 1914 and spent the entire war on the Western Front . The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion spent the whole war in England, initially at Crosby , later at Barrow-in-Furness in

4758-427: The rifle companies are referred to as "line officers" while billeted to positions such as Platoon Leaders and Commanding and Executive Officers. Kitchener%27s Army The New Army , often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, as Kitchener's Mob , was an (initially) all-volunteer portion of the British Army formed in the United Kingdom from 1914 onwards following the outbreak of hostilities in

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4836-520: The second half of the nineteenth century, regiments in several European armies retained the "line infantry" (or cavalry) title. This designation had come to mean an army's regular or numbered regiments, as opposed to specialist or elite formations. Accordingly, the distinction had become a traditional title or classification without significance regarding armament or tactics. For example, the Belgian Army order of battle in 1914 comprised 14 regiments of Infanterie de Ligne (line infantry), three of Chasseurs

4914-400: The soldiers wore regimental and unit badges or patches on their clothing. Many photographs from the era show uniformed soldiers drilling alongside civilian clothed soldiers, perhaps led by red-jacketed NCOs. The Regiments also suffered from a lack of officers to train them. The government called up all reserve-list officers and any British Indian Army officer who happened to be on leave in

4992-493: The true nature of the war had reached Great Britain, and enthusiasm for volunteering plunged. Great Britain had to resort to conscription under the Military Service Act 1916 , like the other great powers involved in the war. (Conscription was also applied "in reverse", so that skilled workers and craftsmen who had volunteered early in the war could be drafted back into the munitions industry, where they were sorely needed.) The first conscripts arrived in France in late 1916 to fill

5070-451: The twine sometimes would accidentally set fire to the gunpowder reservoir in the musket prematurely setting off the gunpowder, resulting in serious injury or death to the operator. For this reason and others, matchlock muskets began to be replaced by lighter and cheaper infantry fusils with flintlocks , weighing 5 kg (11 lb) with a caliber of 17.5 mm (0.69 in), first in France and then in other countries. In many countries,

5148-422: The unsuccessful army reforms of Paul I, the number of light infantry in the Russian army was significantly reduced and made up only 8% of the entire field infantry. However, the Russian army soon returned to the trend of increasing the number of light infantry, begun in the 18th century. By 1811, 50 light infantry regiments were formed in the Russian army. In addition, each linear battalion was required to have 100 of

5226-421: The war and had since been "combed out" of rear echelon jobs. Roughly half of those who served in the British Army throughout the war, including more than half of the five million men serving in the British Army in 1918, were conscripts. The British Army traditionally recruited on a regimental basis, therefore a recruit accepted into the Army was first sent to his new regiment's depot, where he received his kit and

5304-457: The war but most were disbanded before the war's end. The 6th ( Home Defence ) Battalion was raised in 1939 and, in 1941, was redesignated the 30th Battalion. It was disbanded in January 1943. The 7th and 8th battalions were both raised in 1940 and joined the 204th Infantry Brigade . On 1 September 1942, the brigade was redesignated the 185th Infantry Brigade and the 7th Battalion was sent to India , where it remained until disbandment in 1946, as

5382-421: The year. The 1st Battalion, a Regular Army battalion, was shipped to France on the outbreak of war in 1939 as part of the 12th Infantry Brigade , 4th Infantry Division , British Expeditionary Force , returning to England via Dunkirk . After returning to the United Kingdom, it was transferred to the 8th Infantry Brigade (which included the 1st Suffolk Regiment and 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment ) attached to

5460-402: Was changed only after the dethronement of Napoleon III. This was common practice in all conventional Western armies until the late 19th century, as infantry tactics and military thinking had yet to catch up with technological developments. In the years after the Napoleonic Wars, line infantry continued to be deployed as the main battle force, while light infantry provided fire support and covered

5538-459: Was formed from November 1914 with The divisions were not fully formed when the decision was made to use them to provide replacements for the first three New Armies. The divisions were broken up on 10 April 1915; the infantry brigades and battalions became reserve formations and the other divisional troops were transferred to the divisions of the newly created Fourth and Fifth New Armies. Redesignated K4 following breakup of original K4. Following

5616-610: Was introduced to army discipline and training. Next he was sent to the main training camps to join his battalion . In practice, no regiment had the required stocks of equipment, or the manpower to train the flood of recruits; men trained wearing their own clothes and shoes. To mitigate this problem, the army issued old stored uniforms, including First Boer War –vintage red jackets . Some regiments bought their own uniform and boots with money paid from public collections. Many regiments were also issued with emergency blue uniforms, popularly known as Kitchener Blue . Whilst this crisis went on,

5694-495: Was later transferred to the 164th Infantry Brigade, alongside the 1/4th Battalion, and supplied replacements to units overseas. It was apparently disbanded in July 1944, but another source claims it was disbanded in 1946. Immediately after the war, the 1st Battalion served in Egypt and Palestine before being reduced to a cadre and amalgamated with the 2nd Battalion at Trieste in 1948. The surviving 1st Battalion saw further service in

5772-468: Was no more than 50–100 yd (46–91 m). It should be borne in mind that ordinary linear infantrymen were poorly trained in aimed shooting, due to the expense of gunpowder and lead (modern reenactors achieve much better results by firing smooth-bore muskets). Line infantrymen were trained in rapid reloading. The recruit was expected to load 3 rounds a minute, while an experienced soldier could load 4–6 rounds per minute. In battle conditions, this number

5850-485: Was reduced and after the first few minutes of combat, no more than 2 rounds per minute could be expected even from well trained troops. The bulk of the line infantry had no protective equipment, as armor that could provide protection from musket fire were considered too expensive and heavy. Only the former elite troops could keep by tradition some elements of protection, for example, the copper mitre caps of grenadiers. Initially, soldiers equipped with firearms formed only

5928-419: Was slow, and unless the battalion was superbly trained, a breakdown in cohesion was assured, especially in uneven or wooded terrain. As a result, the line was mostly used as a firing formation, with troops moving in column formations and then deploying to the line at their destination. Usually, columns would be adopted for movement and melee attacks. Line infantry was trained in the manual of arms evolutions,

6006-586: Was suspicious of the poor performance of French "territorials" in the Franco-Prussian War 1870–1871. In the early days of the war, the Territorial Force could not reinforce the regular army, as it lacked modern equipment, particularly artillery. In addition, it took time to form first-line units composed only of men who had volunteered for "General Service". Those recruited into the New Army were used to form complete battalions under existing British Army regiments . These new battalions had titles of

6084-439: Was unpredictable. In addition, at the time of the “hot” shootout, the soldiers were so engaged and focused on shooting that they were not watching out for an attack of cavalry from the flank. For these reasons, experienced officers tried to avoid such uncertain exchanges and restrained their soldiers from premature firing in order to get as close to the enemy’s line as possible so that they could deliver several devastating volleys at

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