184-548: The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) is the most senior regiment of the British Army Reserve. The regiment was formed in 1539 during the reign of by King Henry VIII . The R Mon RE (M) became a militia unit in 1660 and then became a part of the Royal Engineers in 1877. The regiment was formed as a posse comitatus in 1539 during the reign of by King Henry VIII ; it went on to become
368-575: A trained band and then a militia unit in 1660. It is unique in having the word 'Royal' appear twice in its name. It gained the first Royal in 1804 when it was the Monmouth and Brecon Militia. The second was acquired in 1877 when the regiment transferred from an infantry unit into a Special Reserve section of the expanding Royal Engineers . On 1 April 1967, the existing regiment absorbed 43rd Wessex Division RE (TA), 48th South Midland Division RE (TA) and 53rd Welsh Division RE (TA). The records of
552-562: A brigade of the West Riding Division , for example, was deployed to watch the east coast while the rest of the division guarded railways and munitions factories inland, and the brigades of the East Anglian Division were widely scattered about East Anglia . On 13 August 1914, Kitchener signalled a willingness to deploy overseas those territorial units in which 80 per cent of the men (reduced to 60 per cent at
736-465: A challenge. The war also exposed the difficulty in relying on auxiliary forces which were not liable for service overseas as a source of reinforcements for the regular army in times of crisis. In 1903, the Director of General Mobilisation and Military Intelligence reported an excess of home defence forces which could not be relied upon to expand the army in foreign campaigns. The utility of such forces
920-886: A degree of efficiency and attached to regular brigades. There was little logic in the choice of units deployed. Some that had been positively assessed remained at home while less well prepared units were deployed, often without enough equipment and only after being hastily brought up to strength. The first territorial unit to arrive was the 1/14th Battalion ( London Scottish ), London Regiment , in September 1914. By December, twenty-two infantry battalions, seven yeomanry regiments, and one medical and three engineer units had been sent. Territorial battalions were initially allocated to line-of-communication duties for up to three weeks before being assigned to regular army brigades. From February 1915, with 48 infantry battalions in-country, they were sent directly to their host divisions. On arrival at
1104-563: A few signals units in a category called TAVR III, designed for home defence, but, months later in January 1968, these were all earmarked to be disbanded, with 90 becoming eight-man "cadres". In November that year, the call-out arrangements for TAVR II units were brought in line with TAVR I. In 1971, the new government decided to expand the TAVR which led to the formation of twenty infantry battalions based on some of these cadres. In 1979, again,
1288-454: A fine. Recruits were required to attend a minimum of 40 drill periods in their first year and 20 per year thereafter. All members were required to attend between eight and fifteen days of annual camp. The force was liable to serve anywhere in the UK. Members were not required to serve overseas but could volunteer to do so. Haldane, who still regarded the force's primary function to be the expansion of
1472-652: A less formal system of self-discipline than the rigid, hierarchical discipline of the regular army, feeding a professional prejudice against the amateur auxiliary. The regular army had no more faith in the territorials' abilities than it had in those of the force's predecessors. Territorial standards of training and musketry were suspect, and the reputation of the territorial artillery was so poor that there were calls for it to be disbanded. Regular officers, fearing for their career prospects, often resisted postings as territorial adjutants . The Army Council predicted that, even after six months of intensive training on mobilisation,
1656-783: A limited extent by law should they be compulsorily mobilised. There is, however, no legal protection against discrimination in employment for membership of the Army Reserve in the normal course of events (i.e. when not mobilised). Before the creation of the Territorial force, there were three "auxiliary forces"—the Militia, the Yeomanry, and the Volunteers. All militiamen over 19 could join the Militia Reserve, accepting
1840-405: A local territorial identity in their efforts to recruit new members, and used imagery of local scenes under attack to encourage enlistment. In general, the force attracted recruits from the working class, though they were mainly artisans rather than the unskilled labourers who filled the ranks of the regular army. In some units, middle and working classes served together. Units which recruited from
2024-475: A major role in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations, bottoming at an estimated 14,000. From 2011 that trend was reversed and a new target of 30,000 trained manpower set with resourcing for training, equipment and the emphasis restored to roles for formed units and sub-units. During periods of total war , the Army Reserve is incorporated by the royal prerogative into Regular Service under one code of Military Law for
SECTION 10
#17327728571652208-534: A mixture of formed units and individuals. In Tony Blair's Strategic Defence Review of 1998, the TA's size was reduced to 41,200. In 2003, 9,500 reservists were mobilised to take part in Operation TELIC , the invasion of Iraq . Reservists were deployed in a mixture of formed bodies and as individuals. For example, a formed sub-unit from 131 Commando Squadron Royal Engineers opened up a beach landing point on
2392-550: A month before it arrived in France, largely by the attachment of a brigade from the 55th (West Lancashire) Division . It was the first experience in assault for the two battalions that spearheaded the division's attack. They succeeded in reaching the German second line of defences, but when the regular forces on their right did not the territorials were forced to retire with heavy losses. A professionally planned and executed assault by
2576-516: A naval defence against invasion as complacent and a strong home army as essential. A bill sponsored by the NSL in 1909 proposed using the Territorial Force as the framework for a conscripted home army. When that failed, the league became increasingly antagonistic towards the auxiliary. The force was denigrated for its excessive youth, inefficiency and consistently low numbers, and ridiculed in
2760-608: A new government planned further expansion. In the Reserve Forces Act of 1982, the Territorial Army title was restored, and, in the following years, its size was again increased, together with new equipment and extra training, the target being 86,000 by 1990. Some brigades were re-formed which consisted mostly of TA units, including two out of three brigades for a new reserve division for the British Army of
2944-680: A number of service companies were raised from volunteer units, employed as integral companies of their sister regular battalions, and were well regarded in the field. The decision was taken in late December to form a new force, the Imperial Yeomanry, to consist of mounted infantry. Whilst the Yeomanry provided many of the officers and NCOs, only a small number of the junior ranks came from existing Yeomanry regiments, with some more from Volunteer corps. The units performed well, but recruiting proceeded in fits and starts—recruitment stopped in May, and
3128-548: A parachute brigade were to remain allocated for NATO and the defence of Western Europe; the other eight divisions were placed on a lower establishment for home defence only. The territorial units of the Royal Armoured Corps were also reduced in number to nine armoured regiments and eleven reconnaissance regiments. This was effected by the amalgamation of pairs of regiments, and the conversion of four RAC units to an infantry role. The new parachute brigade group become
3312-434: A peak of 268,000 men in 1909 when invasion scares prompted a surge in recruitment, but by 1913 numbers had declined to less than 246,000, and the officer corps was nearly 20 per cent under-subscribed. In 1910, a third of the force had not completed the minimum level of musketry training. Only 155,000 territorials completed the full 15-day annual camp in 1912, and around 6,000 did not attend at all. In 1909, some 37 per cent of
3496-617: A proposed new drill hall because the War Office took so long to approve plans, and Essex had to wait five years before it received approval for the construction of new rifle ranges . Good facilities were regarded by the associations as important for efficiency, unit esprit de corps and recruitment, and the authorities' parsimony and apparent obstruction were seen as undermining these. The force failed to retain large numbers of men after their initial enlistment expired, and it consistently fell short of its established strength. It reached
3680-730: A rank lower than their regular counterparts. Although the Territorial Force provided many officers for the regular army, very few were appointed to higher commands, despite pre-war promises by Haldane that they would be. In 1918, government efforts to defend the military record on senior territorial promotions failed to acknowledge that most were temporary and in home units. Ian Macpherson , Under-Secretary of State for War, conceded that just ten territorial officers commanded brigades and only three had been promoted to highest grade of General Staff Officer. The territorials received scant recognition for their early enthusiasm. The Army Council refused to grant any special decorations for those who had accepted
3864-402: A recognisable entity distinct from the regular and New Army forces. It suffered some 84,000 casualties during the offensive, and the indiscriminate replacement of these with recruits who had been conscripted into the army rather than volunteering specifically for the Territorial Force marked the beginning of the end for the territorial identity. Fourteen second-line divisions were formed during
SECTION 20
#17327728571654048-544: A reinforcement for the Expeditionary Force. Because the military authorities regarded the Territorial Force as weak and saw no value in an auxiliary that was not liable for foreign service, they prioritised expenditure on the regular army, leaving the force armed with obsolete weapons. On the outbreak of the First World War , Lord Kitchener by-passed the Territorial Force and, with the approval of
4232-652: A result, some TA divisions had made little progress by the time the Second World War began; others, who had started from a stronger position, were able to complete this work within a matter of weeks. The TA's war deployment plan envisioned the divisions being deployed, as equipment became available, in waves to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that had already been dispatched to Europe. The TA would join regular army divisions when they had completed their training. In 1938, it
4416-466: A sense of family or club. A similar sentiment was exploited in raising the New Army pals battalions , but in the Territorial Force this was reinforced by a pedigree that New Army units did not possess; most territorial units could trace a lineage back to the early or mid 19th century through units of yeomanry or volunteers which had for generations been a part of local communities and social life. In
4600-636: A sizable force of regular troops was based in the United Kingdom for service as an expeditionary force, over and above the troops already stationed overseas. However, once the decision was taken to send a corps-size field force to fight in the South African War, the system began to show a strain. By the end of January 1900, seven regular divisions, roughly half of their manpower from the Regular and Militia Reserves, had been dispatched leaving
4784-470: A yeomanry mounted division, deployed without its horses as infantry, had reinforced British Empire forces engaged in the Gallipoli Campaign . Their landings were chaotic; the 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade , for example, landed nearly a week before the other two brigades of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division. The infantry were rushed into battle without any opportunity to acclimatise, and
4968-716: Is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army . It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. The Army Reserve was known as the Territorial Force from 1908 to 1921, the Territorial Army (TA) from 1921 to 1967, the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) from 1967 to 1979, and again the Territorial Army (TA) from 1979 to 2014. The Army Reserve
5152-567: The 44th Independent Parachute Brigade Group . British forces contracted dramatically as the end of conscription in 1960 came in sight as announced in the 1957 Defence White Paper . On 20 July 1960, a reorganisation of the TA was announced in the House of Commons. The territorials were to be reduced from 266 fighting units to 195. There was to be a reduction of 46 regiments of the Royal Artillery, 18 battalions of infantry, 12 regiments of
5336-607: The 47th (1/2nd London) Division was one of the few successes in the Battle of Loos on 25 September, but the 46th (North Midland) Division suffered 3,643 casualties in a failed assault against the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 13 October. To Lieutenant-General Sir Douglas Haig , commander of the First Army , the 46th Division's failure demonstrated that "some territorial units still need training and discipline". By
5520-586: The 48th (South Midland) and the 49th (West Riding), were among the initial 25 divisions of the Fourth Army , which bore the brunt of the fighting during the four and a half months of the Somme offensive. The 49th Division was committed piecemeal on the first day to the fighting around the Schwaben Redoubt , and two battalions of the 48th Division were attached to the 4th Division and participated in
5704-655: The 58th (2/1st London) and 62nd (2nd West Riding) Divisions were well regarded by the war's end. The 51st (Highland) Division, whose men labelled themselves as "duds" after a slow start, and the two London first-line divisions were among the best in the BEF by 1918. A reputation for dependability resulted in the 48th (South Midland) Division being transferred to Italy to relieve the regular 7th Infantry Division in March 1918. Several territorial divisions overcame poor initial impressions to become effective, dependable formations by
Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers - Misplaced Pages Continue
5888-478: The Battle of Doiran in Salonika , played a key role in the capture of Jerusalem on 9 December. The yeomanry provided 18 dismounted regiments which fought as infantry and, in 1917, were formed into the 74th (Yeomanry) Division . This division was transferred to France in 1918 along with the 52nd (Lowland) Division. Five brigades of yeomanry fought in the mounted role, and in 1917 three of them were formed into
6072-558: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF). As the territorials completed their training and the threat of invasion receded, complete divisions were deployed to combat theatres. The first to depart was the 46th (North Midland) Division , which arrived on the Western Front in March 1915. By July, all 14 first-line divisions had been deployed overseas. The Northumberland Brigade of the Northumbrian Division became
6256-567: The Expeditionary Force which he was establishing as the centerpiece of the Regular Army. The Territorial Force was to be composed of fourteen divisions of infantry and fourteen brigades of cavalry, together with all the supporting arms and services needed for overseas war, including artillery, engineers commissariat and medical support. The new Special Reserve was to take over the depots of the militia, as an expanded reserve for
6440-688: The Honorable Artillery Company (HAC) indicate that it was formed two years prior to the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia). However, in 1930 the Army Council ( Army Board from 1964) reviewed the Army's precedence table and King George V agreed that, on account of its status as a militia unit, the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) were the senior regiment. In 1957 the matter
6624-661: The Northumbrian Division took up positions in the east coast defences, and the following day elements of the Welsh Division were gathered in the area of Pembroke Dock . Some formations assembled close to their bases before moving on to their war stations; the Highland Division , for example, gathered at various locations north of Edinburgh before proceeding to Bedford , north of London. Defence duties resulted in some divisions being dispersed;
6808-603: The Sinai and Palestine Campaign . The EEF comprised forces from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and India, and the British contribution was predominantly territorial. Most of the infantry was provided by the four territorial divisions that had fought at Gallipoli. When the 42nd Division was transferred to France in March 1917, it was replaced in July by the second-line 60th (2/2nd London) Division . The latter, having already fought during
6992-685: The Special Air Service , in North Africa, which fathered several other special forces units, including the Special Boat Service . After VJ Day in August 1945, the Territorial Army was reduced and re-structured. In 1947, the TA was restructured and expanded through the reactivation of some of the 1st Line divisions that were initially disbanded after the war, keeping its former role of supplying complete divisions to
7176-556: The Tennis Court in some of the hardest fighting of the battle. Later the commander of the 14th Army, of which they were part, Field Marshal Slim , himself a pre-First World War Territorial became Chief of the Imperial General Staff and a strong promoter of the TA, coining the expression still in use today that Territorials are 'twice a citizen'. One pre-war Guards reservist, (then) Major David Stirling set up
7360-566: The Volunteer Force and the yeomanry . Battalions of the militia and Volunteer Force had been linked with regular army regiments since 1872, and the militia was often used as a source of recruitment into the regular army. The terms of service for all three auxiliaries made service overseas voluntary. The Second Boer War exposed weaknesses in the ability of the regular army to counter guerrilla warfare which required additional manpower to overcome. The only reinforcements available were
7544-588: The Yeomanry Mounted Division . The yeomanry mounted some of the last cavalry charges ever made by British forces; the Charge at Huj on 8 November 1917 by the 1/1st Warwickshire Yeomanry and 1/1st Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars , followed five days later with a charge by the 1/1st Royal Bucks Hussars in the Battle of Mughar Ridge . By the end of a campaign in which the EEF had advanced across
Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers - Misplaced Pages Continue
7728-556: The 18th century were cavalry-based units, which were often used to suppress riots (see the Peterloo Massacre ). Several units that are now part of the Army Reserve bear the title "militia". In 1899, with the outbreak of the South African War , the British Army was committed to its first large-scale overseas deployment since the 1850s. The Cardwell Reforms of 1868–1872 had reformed the system of enlistment for
7912-622: The 1991 Gulf War 205 Scottish General Hospital was mobilised as a unit based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and a number of TA staff officers and others volunteered and served during the conflict, either in supporting roles in Germany or within 1 (UK) Armoured Division in the Middle East. In December 1991, as part of the reductions in Options for Change, it was announced that the TA's establishment
8096-506: The 42nd (East Lancashire) Division. Second-line units immediately assumed that the third line would take over their home-based duties, in the belief that second-line divisions would be deployed overseas. Many second-line battalions refused to take recruits who had not accepted the Imperial Service Obligation, a practice that was not officially sanctioned until March 1915 when the option to enlist only for home service
8280-529: The 46th being one of the digging" divisions with few anti-tank guns and artillery pieces. A London TA battalion, the Queen Victoria's Rifles deployed at Calais and fought off German reconnaissance forces before the arrival of the two regular sister battalions with whom they held the town for two crucial days shielding the Dunkirk evacuation. Further south, The 51st fought in a rearguard action with
8464-604: The 53rd (Welsh) Division and the 60th (2/2nd London) Division in Palestine were transferred to France and replaced with Indian battalions in 1916. The 75th Division was formed in Egypt in March 1917 with territorial units transferred from India, though it too was subsequently 'indianised'. Several territorial battalions from the 42nd (East Lancashire), 46th (North Midland) and 59th (2nd North Midland) Divisions were reduced to training cadres, demobilised or disbanded shortly before
8648-406: The 54th (East Anglian) Division did not receive any formal instruction about the nature of the campaign for the first four weeks of its participation in it. Some battalions of the 53rd (Welsh) Division were second-line units and had still been supplying replacement drafts to first-line units, and the division was given only two weeks notice that it was to go to Gallipoli. The 42nd Division impressed
8832-505: The Al Faw Peninsula and then two further crossing points on sequential watercourses for tanks in the attack on Basra. The Royal Yeomanry mobilised Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) and two sub-units to deliver the UK's Chemical, Radiological, Biological, and Nuclear counter-measures for Operation TELIC. At the peak in 2004, reservists made up 20% of Britain's strength in Iraq. Territorial Force The Territorial Force
9016-477: The Army Council, under Kitchener's direction, agreed that TF units volunteering en bloc for overseas service should be sent to France, while Kitchener set in hand the machinery for the recruiting of an entirely separate 'New Army' of what came to be known as Kitchener units, in parallel with the expansion of the Territorial Force. These New Army units were given priority for equipment, recruits and training over
9200-619: The Army Reserve increasingly providing routine support for the Regular Army overseas including the delivery of composite units to release regular units from standing liabilities; including Bosnia, Kosovo, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands. Some 2,800 TA personnel volunteered for and deployed on Operation Resolute from 1995 to 1998, the UK's contribution to the NATO mission to enforce peace in the Former Yugoslavia . These were
9384-636: The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in September and brokered the Munich Agreement . The agreement averted a war and allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland. Although Chamberlain had intended the agreement to lead to a further peaceful resolution of issues, relations between both countries soon deteriorated. On 15 March 1939, Germany breached
SECTION 50
#17327728571659568-457: The Expeditionary Force, hoped that up to a quarter of all territorials would volunteer on mobilisation . The Imperial Service Obligation was introduced in 1910 to allow territorials to volunteer in advance. It was illegal to amalgamate or disband territorial units or transfer members between them. The reforms were not received well by the auxiliaries. The exclusion of the militia rendered Haldane's target of just over 314,000 officers and men for
9752-782: The Imperial Service Obligation before the war. The Territorial War Medal , awarded to those who had volunteered for service overseas in the first months of the war, was denied to volunteers who had been held back even though they rendered invaluable service training the rest of the army. Those who served in India received no campaign medal. The three territorial divisions sent to India in 1914 felt penalised by their early readiness. The men were placed on lower, peacetime rates of pay; gunners had to purchase equipment that should have been issued; officers attending courses were not fully reimbursed for their hotel expenses; and non-commissioned officers promoted after arrival had to protest before they received
9936-665: The London County Territorial Association, wrote in the National Review that the country would have to choose between an under-strength voluntary auxiliary and compulsory service. In his opinion, the Territorial Force was the last chance for the volunteer tradition, and its failure would pave the way for conscription. Advocacy for compulsory service was led by the National Service League (NSL), which regarded reliance on
10120-491: The London Regiment. Battlefield amalgamations were a military necessity which threatened the legal protections on territorial unit integrity. Although the territorials were proving their worth in defensive operations, the commanders of the regular formations to which they were attached still did not trust their abilities. The regulars regarded the primary function of the territorials to be the release of regular battalions for offensive operations. The territorials were employed in
10304-400: The Military Service Acts of 1916. These permitted the amalgamation and disbandment of units and the transfer of territorials between them, introduced conscription, and required territorials either to accept the Imperial Service Obligation or leave the force and become liable for conscription. The last recruits to voluntarily enlist in a specific unit of the Territorial Force before the choice
10488-410: The New Army was still forming and training. Many of the Territorial units suffered immediate heavy casualties and on the night of 20 April 1915 Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Woolley of the Queen Victoria Rifles, secured the first of the 71 Victoria Crosses won by Territorials in the First World War. General Sir John French , General Officer Commanding the BEF, later wrote 'Without the assistance which
10672-425: The Regular Army so that recruits now served for six years with the colours and then a further six years liable for reserve service, with the Regular Reserve. The administrative structure of the Army had been further reinforced by the creation of regimental districts, where regular infantry regiments were paired together to share a depot and linked to the local militia and volunteer units. The reforms had ensured that
10856-399: The Regular Army, with many of their best and most experienced men already deployed with regular units as members of the Militia Reserve. The dominions and colonies provided 57 contingents, overwhelmingly of volunteer forces as none had a substantial full-time force; those from Canada alone numbered some 7,400 Altogether, Britain and her empire deployed some half a million soldiers. After
11040-401: The Regular Army. Under multiple political pressures, Haldane altered the public purpose of the Territorial Force in his Territorial and Reserve Forces Act to home defence, at the last moment but did not alter the planned structure. During the First World War, by the end of April 1915, six full Territorial divisions had been deployed into the fight. Between the wars the Territorial Army (as it
11224-566: The Rhine (BAOR). In addition, a new organisation was established, the Home Service Force, with a separate target of 4,500, composed of older ex-regulars and territorials to guard key points. As the Cold War intensified, the scale and pace of exercises involving the TA in its war roles increased. Two large-scale exercises were mounted testing the Army's ability to reinforce BAOR, Crusader in 1980 and Lionheart in 1984. The latter involved 131,000 British service personnel, including 35,000 Territorials, together with US, Dutch and German personnel. This
SECTION 60
#173277285716511408-476: The Royal Artillery were disbanded, with nine others passing into "suspended animation" as new English Electric Thunderbird Surface to Air Missile units replaced them. On 20 December 1955, the Secretary of State for War informed the House of Commons that the armoured divisions and the 'mixed' division were to be converted to infantry, and the 16th Airborne Division reduced to a parachute brigade group. Only two divisions (43rd and 53rd), two armoured brigades, and
11592-526: The Royal Engineers and two regiments of the Royal Corps of Signals. The reductions were carried out in 1961, mainly by amalgamating units. Thus, on 1 May 1961, the TA divisional headquarters were merged with regular army districts, which were matched with Civil Defence Regions to aid mobilisation for war. The Army Reserve Act of April 1962 made provision for a new TA Emergency Reserve (TAER), within existing TA units, who could be called out without Royal Proclamation as individuals to reinforce regular units around
11776-700: The Sinai, through Palestine, and into Syria, territorial casualties numbered over 32,000 – 3,000 more than those suffered by British regular, Australian, New Zealand and Indian forces combined. The much maligned 46th (North Midland) Division redeemed itself in 1918 in a hazardous attack during the Battle of St Quentin Canal . The operation was successfully spearheaded by the 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade , which included two battalions that were almost disbanded because of their alleged poor performance at Gommecourt two years earlier. The seven untested second-line divisions saw their first actions in 1917. They generally suffered, undeservedly, from poor reputations, although
11960-417: The South African War, the Conservative government embarked on a series of reorganisations which had a negative impact on all the auxiliary forces. The Militia was heavily understrength and disorganised, whilst the number of recruits for the Volunteers was falling off and it was becoming apparent that many Volunteer Corps were headed towards financial collapse unless some action was taken. The Territorial Force
12144-419: The TA units which formed a majority of those which took part in the Narvik operation were untrained and had been subject to such turbulence, through expansion and reorganisation that many lacked cohesion. The failures of command, coordination and execution in that campaign led to a debate on its conduct with a no-confidence vote in the government. Partially as a result of lessons from Narvik, the Territorial Army
12328-478: The TA was to be 440,000: the field force of the Territorial Army was to rise from 130,000 to 340,000, organized in 26 divisions, while an additional 100,000 all ranks would form the anti-aircraft section. The forming Second Line formations were given liberty to be numbered and named as they saw fit, with some using related names and numbers from the First World War e.g. 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division formed in 1939. The immediate response to this announcement
12512-423: The Territorial Army but there were grave shortages of instructors and equipment. It was envisioned that the duplicating process and recruiting the required numbers of men would take no more than six months. In practice, existing TA units found themselves stripped of regular training staffs and often many of their own officers and NCOs to form and train the new units, long before their own units were fully trained. As
12696-466: The Territorial Force unattainable. The new terms of service imposed an increased commitment on members compared to that demanded by the previous auxiliary institutions. By 1 June 1908, the force had attracted less than 145,000 recruits. Despite considerable efforts to promote the new organisation to the former auxiliary institutions, less than 40 per cent of all existing auxiliaries transferred into it. The county territorial associations emphasised pride in
12880-404: The Territorial Force. After three attempts to persuade them, Haldane abolished the militia and created the Special Reserve . Crucially, Haldane's efforts were based on the premise that home defence rested with the navy and that the imperative for army reform was to provide an expeditionary capability. His reorganisation of the regular army created a six-division Expeditionary Force, and his plan
13064-446: The Territorials afforded between October 1914 and June 1915, it would have been impossible to hold the line in France and Belgium. Other Territorial formations were dispatched to Egypt and British India and other imperial garrisons, such as Gibraltar , thereby releasing regular units for service in France and enabling the formation of an additional five regular army divisions by early 1915. Territorial divisions went on to fight in all
13248-515: The Territorials for the bulk of the war. Kitchener justified this, during the first few months of the war, on the grounds that the Territorial Force should focus mostly on home defence. In the first few days after the call for overseas service on 9 August, the result in many TF units was hesitant, with some units only recording around 50% volunteering, partly because men with families were reluctant to leave well-paid jobs especially while there
13432-416: The War Office promise that the second line would no longer be trawled for replacements to be sent to the first line. By this time, second-line battalion establishments had been reduced to 400 men, less than half the number normally serving in an infantry battalion at full strength. It took on average 27 months to prepare a second-line formation for active service, compared to eight months for the first line, and
13616-511: The War Office which, when finally forthcoming, often rejected the associations' plans outright or refused to allocate the full financing requested. In 1909, the Gloucestershire association complained that "most of our association are businessmen and are unable to understand why it takes ten weeks and upwards to reply" after waiting for a response to its proposed purchase of a site for a field ambulance unit. Somerset lost three sites for
13800-452: The Western Front, individual battalions were attached to regular army formations and sent into action, and the territorials were credited with playing a key role in stopping the German offensive. The first complete territorial division to be deployed to a combat zone arrived in France in March 1915. Territorial divisions began participating in offensive operations on the Western Front from June 1915 and at Gallipoli later that year. Because of
13984-561: The amalgamation of 44 territorial battalions and the disbandment of a further 21. In July, the 50th (Northumbrian) Division was left with a single territorial battalion when it was reorganised following heavy losses during the Spring Offensive. Its other territorial battalions, having fought in most battles since the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915, were reduced to a cadre or disbanded. All but one battalion in each brigade of
14168-618: The army as a whole. An innovation in 1922 was the creation of two Air Defence Brigades to provide anti-aircraft defence for London. It appears that these two brigades relatively quickly became 26th and 27th Air Defence Brigades . During the 1930s, tensions increased between Germany and the United Kingdom and its allies . In late 1937 and throughout 1938, German demands for the annexation of Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia led to an international crisis . To avoid war,
14352-460: The associations assisted in recruiting the New Army alongside their own work raising and equipping territorial units. The Cambridgeshire , Denbighshire and East Riding associations, for example, together raised 11 New Army units in December 1914. The associations performed remarkably well in equipping their units, despite the fact that the War Office prioritised New Army units and, in the case of
14536-554: The auxiliaries – nearly 46,000 militiamen served in South Africa and another 74,000 were enlisted into the regular army; some 20,000 men of the Volunteer Force volunteered for active service in South Africa; and the yeomanry provided the nucleus of the separate Imperial Yeomanry for which over 34,000 volunteered. The war placed a significant strain on the regular forces. Against a background of invasion scares in
14720-502: The auxiliary forces and transform the yeomanry from cavalry to mounted infantry . Brodrick's efforts were met with opposition from auxiliary interests in the government, and the yeomanry in particular proved resistant to change. A royal commission on auxiliary forces concluded in 1904 that the volunteer organisations were not fit to defend the country unaided and that the only effective solution would be to introduce conscription . This option, regarded as political suicide by all parties,
14904-551: The beginning of the war, had been its unique possession". For the 1/6th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment , losses during the Battle of the Somme had damaged its "territorial influence". Criticisms of the drafting system were voiced in the House of Commons , and territorial representatives expressed concern that the force's unique character was being lost. Military authorities stated their desire to replenish units with replacements from
15088-492: The construction and maintenance of trenches, and generally performed only supporting actions in the attacks at Neuve Chapelle and Aubers Ridge in early 1915. An exception was the 1/13th Battalion ( Kensington ), London Regiment. During the Battle of Aubers Ridge, the Kensingtons became the first territorial battalion to be deployed in the first wave of a major assault, and was the only battalion to achieve its objective on
15272-444: The country virtually empty of regular troops. This was the end of the planned mobilisation; no thought had been given pre-war to mobilising the Militia, Yeomanry or Volunteers as formed units for foreign service. On 16 December, the first request was sent from South Africa for auxiliary troops, and a commitment was made to send a "considerable force of militia and picked yeomanry and volunteers". The first Volunteer unit to be sent out
15456-427: The county territorial associations and the War Office was often acrimonious. The associations frequently complained about excessive bureaucracy and inadequate finance. The military authorities begrudged the money that could have been spent on the regular army being wasted on what they perceived as an inefficient, amateur auxiliary. Efforts to provide adequate facilities, for example, were undermined by slow responses from
15640-411: The county territorial associations was significantly reduced in the face of opposition to civilian encroachment in military affairs. Instead, the associations were chaired by Lord Lieutenants and run by traditional county military elites. Militia representatives refused to accept Haldane's plans to allocate a proportion of the militia as a reserve for the regular army and incorporate the remainder into
15824-413: The county territorial associations would be unable to cope with the task of recruiting and training large numbers. He also believed that because so few territorials had thus far volunteered for foreign service, the Territorial Force was better suited for home defence than as a means of expanding the army overseas. At the end of July, territorial Special Service Sections began patrolling the east coast. On
16008-441: The courage of the territorials, he criticised the performance of the 53rd and 54th Divisions. His comments failed to recognise the difficulties the two divisions had faced with the loss of many of their trained men transferred to other units before their arrival at Gallipoli. Lieutenant-Colonel E. C. Da Costa, GSO1 of the 54th Division, refuted accusations by Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stopford , commander of IX Corps , that
16192-524: The creation of Kitchener's Army. All TA recruits were required to take the general service obligation: if the British Government decided, territorial soldiers could be deployed overseas for combat that avoided the complications of the TF, whose members were not required to leave Britain unless they volunteered for overseas service. The composition of the divisions was altered, with a reduction in
16376-483: The day before the declaration of war, the 1st London Brigade was dispersed by platoons to protect the rail network between London and Southampton. The remainder of the Territorial Force was mobilised on the evening of 4 August 1914, and war stations were quickly occupied by those units with bases located nearby. By 6 August, for example, units of the Wessex Division were concentrated at Plymouth while those of
16560-602: The day. But the Territorial Force had filled the gaps created in the regular army by the German offensive of 1914, and French wrote that it would have been impossible to halt the German advance without it. The 51st (Highland) Division participated in an attack on 15 June 1915 in the Second Action of Givenchy, part of the Second Battle of Artois . The division had lost several of its original battalions to piecemeal deployment and had been brought up to strength only
16744-706: The defensive battles of the initial German offensive during the Race to the Sea . Among the first to see action was the London Scottish, which suffered 640 casualties on 31 October 1914 during the Battle of Messines . It was in action again during the First Battle of Ypres in November, and was praised as a "glorious lead and example" to the rest of the Territorial Force by Field Marshal Sir John French , commander of
16928-473: The desperate fighting, earning further praise from French for their tenacity and determination. Several other territorial battalions attached to regular army formations fought with distinction in the defence of Ypres, at the cost of heavy casualties. The three battalions of the Monmouthshire Regiment were temporarily amalgamated into a single composite battalion, as were three battalions of
17112-555: The division lacked attacking spirit and was badly led. Da Costa claimed that its poor performance was entirely due to the way it had been "chucked ashore" and thrown into a poorly-coordinated and ill-defined attack. Following a successful British defence of the Suez Canal , the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) was formed in March 1916 and went over to the offensive against German and Ottoman forces in
17296-592: The duration of hostilities or until de-activation is decided upon. After the Second World War , for example, the Territorial Army, as it was known then, was not demobilised until 1947. Army Reservists normally have a full-time civilian job or career, which in some cases provides skills and expertise that are directly transferable to a specialist military role, such as NHS employees serving in Reservist Army Medical Services units. All Army Reserve personnel have their civilian jobs protected to
17480-579: The end of May. Battalion strengths fluctuated throughout training as men were drafted to first-line units. The division was still only at two-thirds strength when it attacked at the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916 alongside the Australian 5th Division . The heavy casualties suffered by the Australians were blamed on the failure of the territorials' assaulting battalions to take a key position. By August 1915, four territorial infantry divisions and
17664-586: The end of the month) had accepted the Imperial Service Obligation. Despite the low uptake before the war, 72 per cent of the rank and file volunteered for foreign service by the end of September. The first full territorial divisions to be deployed overseas were used to free up imperial garrisons. The East Lancashire Division was sent to Egypt in September, and three territorial divisions had been deployed to India by January 1915. Territorial battalions released regular troops stationed at Aden, Cyprus , Gibraltar and Malta . Five regular army divisions were created from
17848-539: The end of the war. The 61st (2nd South Midland) Division, for example, blamed for the failure at Fromelles, was commended by Lieutenant-General Hubert Gough , commander of the Fifth Army , as the best performing of his 11 front-line divisions in the initial onslaught of the German spring offensive in March 1918. As the war progressed, Britain began to struggle with manpower shortages, prompting changes which affected
18032-535: The fight. The (Regular) Expeditionary Force of six divisions had been rapidly sent to the Continent, where, facing overwhelming odds, they secured the left flank of the French Army. Of the 90,000 members of the original BEF deployed in August, four-fifths were dead or wounded by Christmas. So the arrival of the Territorials, first as reinforcements and then in whole divisions came at a critical juncture, while
18216-400: The first day's fighting. The 48th Division itself went into action on 16 July, and by the end of September the remaining four territorial divisions – the 47th (1/2nd London), 50th (Northumbrian), 51st (Highland) and 55th (West Lancashire) – had relieved battle-weary units and gone into action. Although the 46th Division's poor performance at Gommecourt cemented a perception that it
18400-451: The first half of the war, territorial casualties were generally replaced with drafts from a battalion's own reserve. Although there were some cases of replacements being sourced from different regions or non-territorial units, in mid-1916 the ranks of the territorial units were still largely populated by men who had volunteered specifically for service as a territorial in their local regiment. The legal protections for this were stripped away by
18584-402: The first line compromised the second line's home defence capabilities until a third line was raised to take over responsibility for territorial recruitment and training. The second line's duties were further complicated by the expectation, later confirmed, that it too would be deployed overseas. Territorial units were initially deployed overseas to free up regular units from non-combat duties. On
18768-415: The first territorial formation larger than a battalion to fight under its own command when it participated in an abortive counter-attack on 26 April 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres . It suffered 1,954 casualties and earned a personal congratulation from French. The division had deployed only three days earlier; the rest of its units were attached piecemeal to other formations and immediately thrown into
18952-510: The first- and second-line units, but when unable to do so, replacements were sent from the Training Reserve. The system was organised by region, so even if a battalion did not receive replacements from its own regiment they were generally sourced from an appropriate locality, but it did not guarantee unit integrity. After the heavy losses sustained during the Somme offensive, dilution of the territorial identity accelerated because of
19136-428: The force in preference to the new or regular armies. They had elected to join local regiments and been imbued with an esprit de corps during their training in those regiments' own second and later third lines. The strong sense of locality was reinforced by a shared civilian background – it was not uncommon for territorials to be employed in the same office, mill or factory – and many territorial memoirs betray
19320-412: The force throughout its existence. The Territorial Force was established on 1 April 1908 by the amalgamation of the Volunteer Force and the yeomanry. The Volunteer Force battalions became the infantry component of the Territorial Force and were more closely integrated into regular army regimental establishments they had previously been linked to; for example, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Volunteer Battalions of
19504-424: The force would not reach a standard at which two territorial divisions could be considered the equal of one regular division as planned. In 1908 and 1914, it was decided that two of the army's six expeditionary divisions should be retained in the UK for home defence, so ineffective was the Territorial Force perceived to be in the role to which it had been assigned. In 1910, Lord Esher , pro-conscription chairman of
19688-454: The force's ability to defend the homeland. To replace foreign-service units, the Territorial Force was doubled in size by creating a second line which mirrored the organisation of the original, first-line units. Second-line units assumed responsibility for home defence and provided replacement drafts to the first line. The second line competed with the New Army for limited resources and was poorly equipped and armed. The provision of replacements to
19872-464: The front, the territorials would spend several days in further training behind the lines before undergoing a period of trench acclimatisation. When the battalion was considered proficient, or when the pressure to relieve a regular unit became too severe, the territorials were allocated their own sector of the front. The time between arriving at brigade and taking over the trenches varied from between six days to one month. The territorials were thrown into
20056-496: The gap between the near destruction of the regular army that year and the arrival of the New Army in 1915. Territorial units were deployed to Gallipoli in 1915 and, following the failure of that campaign, provided the bulk of the British contribution to allied forces in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign . By the war's end, the Territorial Force had fielded twenty-three infantry divisions and two mounted divisions on foreign soil. It
20240-628: The infantry reduced from 86 to 13 battalions and the yeomanry (armoured units) from 20 to one. Units in the new TAVR were divided into various categories: In addition were various miscellaneous units, such as OTCs and bands e.g. Northumbria Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. In the face of a considerable Parliamentary battle, and a public outcry led by the County Associations , the government agreed to retain an additional 28,000 men in 87 'lightly armed' infantry units and
20424-399: The influx of replacements who had no territorial affiliation. Some units still maintained a regional identity; the 56th (1/1st London) Division, for example, retained its essentially London character despite the fact that the four battalions of its 168th Brigade received replacements from at least 26 different regiments during the battle. Others experienced substantial dilution by the end of
20608-410: The islands" to be prepared - by forming a militia - for possible war with France. The militia defended the island against several pirate raids, and in 1549 against a French invasion attempt. The militia played a role in the Battle of Jersey , for which its actions gained it the 'Royal' title. Militia historically were regarded as light infantry regiments . In recognition of its Light Infantry ancestry
20792-563: The largely French forces along the Somme. At the same time, a small TA unit, the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers , carried out the first major commando-style operations of the war the XD Operations, destroying 2 million tons of crude and refined oil, along the coastline of France and the low countries. Meanwhile, units with little training and cohesion were also sent abroad, despite their lack of preparation;
20976-683: The liability to serve overseas with the Regular Army in case of war if called on to do so. The second element of the auxiliary forces was the Yeomanry , 38 regiments of volunteer cavalry which had historically been used as a form of internal security police. The third arm was the Volunteers , There were 213 rifle corps and 66 corps of artillery, though the latter were mostly coastal artillery or static "position batteries" and they did not constitute an organised field force. There were some engineer and medical units, but no service corps. The Yeomen of
21160-493: The major battles of the war in France and Belgium and several campaigns further afield including Gallipoli . (See main article Territorial Force ). From 1916, as the war progressed, and casualties mounted, the distinctive character of territorial units was diluted by the inclusion of conscript and New Army drafts. Following the Armistice all units of the Territorial Force were gradually disbanded. The Territorial Force (TF)
21344-449: The majority deploying to Aden, where one of their officers, Lieutenant Mike Smith, won an MC. This was followed by a large reduction and complete reorganisation, announced in the 1966 Defence White Paper and implemented from 1 April 1967, when the title Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) was adopted. This abolished the former divisional structure of the TA. The size of the TAVR was to be reduced from 107,000 to under 50,000, with
21528-403: The military authorities, raised instead the New Army of volunteers to expand the regular army. His decision was based not only on professional prejudice – he regarded the territorials as a joke, led by "middle-aged professional men who were allowed to put on uniform and play at soldiers" – but also on an appreciation of the constraints imposed by the force's constitution. He feared that
21712-431: The military authorities. Territorial officers and specialists such as doctors, vets, drivers, cooks and dispatch riders received less pay than their counterparts in New Army and regular units. Officers were considered junior to their regular counterparts of the same rank, leading some to remove the 'T' insignia from their uniforms as a badge of inferiority, and commanders of second-line brigades and third-line battalions were
21896-446: The more affluent urban centres contained a significant proportion of well-educated white-collar workers . Territorial officers were predominantly middle class, meaning that in some units there was little to separate officers from other ranks in terms of social status. Territorial officers were regarded as social inferiors by the regular army's more privileged officer corps. The territorials' relatively narrow social spectrum resulted in
22080-456: The number of infantry battalions required. There was also a reduced need for cavalry, and of the 55 yeomanry regiments, only the 14 most senior retained their horses. The remaining yeomanry was converted to artillery or armored car units or disbanded. The amalgamation of 40 pairs of infantry battalions was announced in October 1921. As part of the post-war " Geddes Axe " financial cuts, the TA
22264-522: The offensive; the 149th (Northumberland) Brigade, for example, received large numbers of replacements from East Anglia, Northamptonshire , London and the Midlands . By March 1917, a significant proportion of the men in the second-line 61st (2nd South Midland) Division came from outside the South Midlands due to the replacement of losses suffered at the Battle of Fromelles. By the end of the year,
22448-600: The opening battles in France, Kitchener came under pressure to make up the losses. With the New Army not yet ready, he was forced to fall back on the territorials. Despite the preference of General Ian Hamilton , Commander-in-Chief of the Home Forces, for the Territorial Force to be deployed to the Western Front in complete brigades and divisions, it was deployed piecemeal. Because of the pressing need for troops, individual battalions were sent as soon as they reached
22632-491: The pay increase to which they were entitled. The divisions were still stationed there at the war's end, despite promises made by Kitchener that they would be redeployed to France within a year. Indications that they would be the first to be demobilised proved false when the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Afghan War forced the government to retain some territorial units in India until 1920. The poor treatment of
22816-518: The popular press as the "Territorial Farce". The NSL's president – the former Commander-in-Chief of the Forces , Lord Roberts – enlisted the support of serving officers in a campaign against it, and in 1913 the Army Council declared its support for conscription. Even prominent members of the force itself favoured compulsory service, and by April 1913 ten county territorial associations had expressed support for it. The relationship between
23000-541: The press, George Wyndham , Under-Secretary of State for War , conceded in Parliament in February 1900 that instead of augmenting the regular army's defence of the British coast, the auxiliary forces were the main defence. The questionable performance of the volunteers, caused by poor standards of efficiency and training, led to doubts in both government and the regular army about the auxiliary's ability to meet such
23184-493: The rank and file were under 20 years old; in the opinion of the Inspector-General of the Home Forces , this proportion rendered the force too immature to be effective. In 1913, approximately 40,000 territorials were under 19 years old, the minimum age at which they could volunteer for service overseas. Barely seven per cent of the force had accepted the Imperial Service Obligation, seriously compromising its viability as
23368-619: The recommendation of the Honours and Distinctions Committee with regard to the relative precedence of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers and the Honourable ArtiIlery Company meets with the Queen's approval. Yours sincerely, M. E. ADEANE The Jersey Militia were brought under the command of the R Mon RE (M) in 2007. The Jersey Militia was formed in 1337 when Edward III ordered "all his faithful peoples of
23552-607: The regiment is as follows: The regimental museum of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers is in Monmouth Castle . The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) Charitable Trust is a wholly voluntary charity that supports the wider life of the Regiment. It was registered in 2002 and is registered (Number 1093105) with the Charity Commission. Territorial Army (United Kingdom) The Army Reserve
23736-486: The regiment was afforded the right to wear the Militia flash in 1943. A small, light infantry green rectangle, often referred to as the snooker table; worn at the top of the left arm. Soldiers of the regiment are Sappers but also militiamen and wear the militia flash in perpetuity, as observed by Brigadier John Henry Ridge CBE when inspecting troops during the Sapper 300 celebrations in 2016. The current organisation of
23920-490: The regular Army until 1967. For the first time, TA units were formed in Northern Ireland . The maneuver divisions established or re-established in 1947 were: 52nd (Lowland) Division was re-established as a tenth, 'mixed' division in March 1950. The territorials also provided much of the anti-aircraft cover for the United Kingdom until 1956. In that year, Anti-Aircraft Command and 15 anti-aircraft regiments of
24104-598: The regular army's Gloucestershire Regiment became the regiment's 4th, 5th and 6th Battalions (Territorial Force). The infantry was organised into 14 territorial divisions , each of three brigades . The yeomanry regiments became the mounted component of the Territorial Force, organised into 14 mounted brigades. Brigades and divisions were equipped with integral supporting arms along regular army lines, comprising territorial units of artillery (totalling 182 horse and field batteries), engineers and signals, along with supply, medical and veterinary services. Each territorial unit
24288-544: The regular infantry". There were eight first-line territorial divisions on the Western Front at the start of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. Two of them, the 46th (North Midland) Division and the 56th (1/1st London) Division , went into action on the first day in a disastrous attack on the Gommecourt Salient , a diversionary operation conducted by the Third Army . Two more territorial divisions,
24472-470: The regulars with its spirit in the Third Battle of Krithia on 4 June. The 155th (South Scottish) Brigade of the 52nd (Lowland) Division assaulted with such determination in July that it overran its objective and came under fire from French allies. The 156th (Scottish Rifles) Brigade suffered over 50 per cent casualties in the Battle of Gully Ravine on 28 June, and a battalion of the 54th Division
24656-473: The reorganisation, becoming Territorial battalions of Regular Army infantry regiments. Only one infantry unit, the London Regiment , has maintained a separate identity. The TF was formed on 1 April 1908 and contained fourteen infantry divisions , and fourteen mounted yeomanry brigades . It had an overall strength of approximately 269,000. Haldane designed it to provide a much larger second line for
24840-412: The reshuffle indicated that the Territorial Force had exceeded the expectations of the military authorities, and the territorials' time with the regulars generally resulted in a strong camaraderie and mutual respect between the two. French reported in February 1915 the praise of his commanders for their territorials, who were "fast approaching, if they had not already reached, the standards of efficiency of
25024-421: The rest of the British land forces, bore little resemblance beyond a geographic origin to those that had sailed in 1914 and 1915. By 1918, there was little to differentiate between regular, territorial and New Army divisions. Failure to guarantee the integrity of its units was the most contentious of several grievances felt by the territorials against what they perceived as a hostile and patronising attitude from
25208-526: The same regiment or regimental district, but stressed that the Military Service Acts had removed any obligation to do so and that military expediency sometimes necessitated not doing so. As the availability of men of military age dwindled, it became increasingly difficult to source replacements from some sparsely populated regions. The largely rurally recruited 48th (South Midland) and 54th (East Anglian) Divisions became increasingly diluted as
25392-422: The same trend could be seen in the first-line 48th (South Midland) Division. The indiscriminate replacement of casualties prompted rueful comments about the damage being done to the nature of the Territorial Force. The historian C. R. M. F. Cruttwell , serving with the 1/4th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment , lamented that, by the end of 1916, the battalion had "lost its exclusive Berkshire character which, at
25576-416: The second line often lacked sufficient weapons and ammunition. The desire among the second-line commanders to maintain a level of training and efficiency in readiness for their own deployment led to friction with their first-line counterparts, who accused the second line of holding back the best men and sending sub-standard replacements to the first line. When the regular army suffered high attrition during
25760-504: The second-line units the responsibility for providing replacement drafts to territorial combat units. Territorial battalions were numbered according to line so that, for example, the three lines of the 6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, became the 1/6th, 2/6th and 3/6th Battalions. In May 1915, territorial divisions were numbered in order of their deployment overseas; the East Lancashire Division, for example, became
25944-439: The six divisions of the Expeditionary Force which he was establishing as the centerpiece of the Regular Army. Under multiple political pressures, Haldane altered the public purpose of the Territorial Force in his Territorial and Reserve Forces Act to home defence, at the last moment. Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914. The next day, General - later Field Marshal - Haig , who had been central to Haldane's reforms and
26128-452: The summer of 1915, six complete territorial divisions had been deployed to France. Many of the 52 territorial units still attached to regular army formations were returned to their own parent commands. This allowed the professionals to remove from their formations an element made awkward by its specific terms of service. The regulars found the territorials to be slow to move and recuperate, and better in static defence than attack. Nevertheless,
26312-670: The terms of the agreement by invading and occupying the remnants of the Czech state . On 29 March, Secretary of State for War Leslie Hore-Belisha announced plans to increase the TA from 130,000 to 340,000 men and double the number of TA divisions. The plan was for existing TA units to recruit over their establishments (aided by an increase in pay for Territorials, the removal of restrictions on promotion which had hindered recruiting, construction of better-quality barracks and an increase in supper rations) and then form second-line divisions from cadres that could be increased. The total strength of
26496-409: The territorials in India resulted in low support across south-west England and the home counties , the regions from which the three divisions were recruited, when the Territorial Force was reconstituted after the war. The county territorial associations experienced a steady erosion of responsibilities as the war progressed. Although disappointed by Kitchener's decision to bypass the Territorial Force,
26680-541: The territorials. The 63rd (2nd Northumbrian) and 65th (2nd Lowland) Divisions had already been disbanded in July 1916 and March 1917 respectively. The remaining four home-based divisions lost their territorial affiliation when they were reconstituted as part of the Training Reserve over the winter of 1917/1918. In early 1918, every brigade in the BEF was reduced from four to three battalions. The reductions targeted second-line and New Army units, and resulted in
26864-493: The thirteen British divisions deployed, although three, 12th, 23rd, and 46th, were deployed, minus much of their equipment, as so-called 'digging divisions' to be used for infrastructure work. In practice, all of the divisions were heavily engaged in the fighting. The 42nd, 44th, and 48th took part in the stand on the River Escaut, The 50th, 42nd, and 46th were chosen for the final stand at the perimeter of Dunkirk, despite
27048-739: The troops released by the territorials' deployments. The extent to which territorials accepted the obligation varied considerably between battalions; some registered 90 per cent or more acceptance, others less than 50 per cent. The difficulties were not restricted to the rank and file, and many battalions sailed for foreign service with officers who had been newly promoted or recruited to replace those who had chosen to remain at home. The territorials faced difficulties as they trained up to operational standard. Some artillery units did not get an opportunity to practise with live ammunition until January 1915. Rifle practice suffered due to lack of rifles, practice ammunition and ranges on which to use them. Because there
27232-402: The war progressed, while the more urbanised recruitment areas of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division allowed it to remain essentially a Lancashire formation throughout. By the war's end, very few battalions still retained more than a handful of men who had embarked with them at the start of the war. The territorial units that fought in 1917 and 1918, subject to the same system of replacements as
27416-411: The war's end, there was little to distinguish between regular, territorial and New Army formations. The British Army of the late 19th century was a small, professional organisation designed to garrison the empire and maintain order at home, with no capacity to provide an expeditionary force in a major war. It was augmented in its home duties by three part-time volunteer institutions, the militia ,
27600-416: The war's end. The apparent cull of territorial units added to the grievances harboured by the Territorial Force about its treatment by the military authorities. Many territorial battalions had strong individual identities based on the geography of their recruitment. The ranks had been filled by men who, at least until direct voluntary recruitment into the Territorial Force ceased in December 1915, had chosen
27784-416: The war, eight of which were deployed overseas. The first to fight in a major battle was the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division . Its constituent units were raised in September and October 1914, and their training was indicative of the difficulties faced by the second line in general. New recruits paraded without uniforms until October and lived at home until the division assembled in January 1915. The infantry
27968-471: The way it was constituted and recruited, the Territorial Force possessed an identity that was distinct from the regular army and the New Army. This became increasingly diluted as heavy casualties were replaced with conscripted recruits following the introduction of compulsory service in early 1916. The Territorial Force was further eroded as a separate institution when county territorial associations were relieved of most of their administrative responsibilities. By
28152-500: The world, for up to six months in every twelve. With opposition from employers and individuals to such a large peacetime liability, the target of 15,000 volunteers proved over-ambitious and the force peaked at 4,262 in October 1963, then dropping to around 2,400 by 1968. Nevertheless, the first batch of these so-called 'Ever Readies' was sent to Libya in 1963, followed by 200 to the Far East later that year. In 1965, 175 were called out,
28336-566: Was a 1,300 man composite battalion group, composed of infantry recruited from across London units and a field battery from the Honourable Artillery Company, the City Imperial Volunteers, which was raised in early January 1900; it was sent into combat after six weeks of training in South Africa, where Lord Roberts described it as "quite excellent", and was returned home in October. At the same time,
28520-407: Was a failed unit and the 49th Division's standing was little better, the territorials generally emerged from the Somme with enhanced reputations. This was echoed by Brigadier-General C. B. Prowse, a brigade commander in the 4th Division, who commented, "I did not before think much of the territorials, but by God they can fight." The Battle of the Somme marked the high point of the Territorial Force as
28704-541: Was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army , created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription . The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry into a unified auxiliary, commanded by the War Office and administered by local county territorial associations . The Territorial Force was designed to reinforce the regular army in expeditionary operations abroad, but because of political opposition it
28888-426: Was a vast surge in recruiting with 88,000 men enlisted by the end of April. The London Rifle Brigade raised a second battalion in 24 hours. On 26 April, limited conscription was introduced. This resulted in 34,500 twenty-year-old militiamen being conscripted into the regular army, initially to be trained for six months before deployment to the forming second-line units. In parallel, recruits continued to surge into
29072-480: Was abolished. The deployment of second-line units overseas was officially endorsed in mid 1915. Until the third line was ready, the conflicting demands to supply drafts, defend the homeland and prepare for deployment caused problems for the second line. In May 1915, Kitchener informed the War Cabinet that the second line was so denuded of trained men as to render it unreliable for home defence. Only in 1916 could
29256-623: Was assigned a specific role either in coastal defence, supplementing 81 territorial companies of the Royal Garrison Artillery manning fixed defences, or as part of the mobile Central Force . Training was managed by a permanent staff of regular army personnel attached to territorial units. Recruits to the Territorial Force had to be aged between 17 and 35. They enlisted for a four-year term which could be extended by an obligatory year in times of crisis. Members could terminate their enlistment on three months' notice and payment of
29440-414: Was assigned to home defence. Members were liable for service anywhere in the UK and could not be compelled to serve overseas. In the first two months of the First World War , territorials volunteered for foreign service in significant numbers, allowing territorial units to be deployed abroad. They saw their first action on the Western Front during the initial German offensive of 1914 , and the force filled
29624-470: Was brought further into question by British military planning; the Royal Navy formed the primary defence against invasion, and studies in 1903 and 1908 concluded that the threat of invasion was negligible, despite popular perceptions to the contrary. The first reform efforts were undertaken in 1901 by William St John Brodrick , Secretary of State for War . They were designed to improve the training of
29808-493: Was complicated for all by the need to reorganise the territorial battalions' outdated eight- company structure to the army's standard four-company battalion. On 15 August, county territorial associations began raising second-line units to replace those scheduled for foreign service. The ranks of the second line were filled by those territorials who could not or did not accept the Imperial Service Obligation. In November, associations started raising third-line units to take over from
29992-587: Was created as the Territorial Force in 1908 by the Secretary of State for War , Richard Haldane , when the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 combined the previously civilian-administered Volunteer Force , with the mounted Yeomanry (at the same time the Militia was renamed the Special Reserve ). Haldane planned a volunteer "Territorial Force", to provide a second line for the six divisions of
30176-400: Was created by the Secretary of State for War , Richard Burdon Haldane , following the enactment of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 which combined and re-organised the old Volunteer Force with the Yeomanry . As part of the same process, the remaining units of militia were converted to the Special Reserve . Most Volunteer infantry units had unique identities, but lost these in
30360-480: Was demobilised after the war and reconstituted in 1921 as the Territorial Army . The force experienced problems throughout its existence. On establishment, fewer than 40 per cent of the men in the previous auxiliary institutions transferred into it, and it was consistently under strength until the outbreak of the First World War. It was not considered to be an effective military force by the regular army and
30544-413: Was denigrated by the proponents of conscription. Lord Kitchener chose to concentrate the Territorial Force on home defence and raise the New Army to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, a decision which disappointed the territorials. The need to replace heavy losses suffered by the BEF before the New Army was ready forced Kitchener to deploy territorial units overseas, compromising
30728-543: Was envisaged that this would take at least eight months from mobilisation. In fact, with mobilisation in September 1939, the first three TA divisions arrived to take their places in the front line by February 1940: the 48th (South Midland) Division , 50th (Northumbrian) Division and 51st (Highland) Division . In April, they were joined by five more, 12th (Eastern) Division , 23rd (2nd Northumbrian) Division , 42nd (East Lancashire) Division , 44th (Home Counties) Division and 46th (North Midland) Division , making eight of
30912-492: Was equipped with old Japanese Arisaka rifles, antique Maxim machine-guns and dummy Lewis guns constructed from wood. The divisional artillery, having initially drilled with cart-mounted logs, was equipped first with obsolete French 90 mm cannons , then with outdated 15-pounder guns and 5-inch howitzers handed down from the first line. The division was not issued with modern weapons until it began intensive training in March 1916, in preparation for its deployment to France at
31096-601: Was for the Territorial Force to reinforce it after six months of training following mobilisation. Representatives of the existing auxiliary forces and elements within the Liberal party opposed any foreign service obligation. To ensure their support, Haldane declared the Territorial Force's purpose to be home defence when he introduced his reforms in Parliament, despite having stressed an overseas role eight days previously. The last-minute change caused significant difficulties for
31280-409: Was further reduced in size in 1922: artillery batteries lost two of their six guns, the established size of infantry battalions was cut and ancillary medical, veterinary, signals and Royal Army Service Corps units were either reduced in size or abolished. The bounty was also reduced to £3 for trained men and £2.10s 0d for recruits, which resulted in finding £1,175,000 of the total savings required from
31464-533: Was immediately rejected. Brodrick's successor, H. O. Arnold-Forster , also failed to overcome opposition to his reform efforts. In December 1905, a Liberal government took office, bringing in Richard Haldane as the Secretary of State for War. His vision was for a nation that could be mobilised for war without resorting to conscription – a "real national army, formed by the people". His solution
31648-700: Was insufficient transport, a motley collection of carts, private vehicles and lorries were pressed into service. The animals used to pull the non-motorised transport or mount the yeomanry ranged in pedigree from half-blind pit ponies to show horses. The Territorial Force competed with the New Army for recruits, and the War Office prioritised the latter for training and equipment. Many of the regular army staff posted to territorial units were recalled to their parent regiments, and those professionals that still remained were transferred to territorial reserve units in January 1915. Training proved difficult for formations that were widely dispersed as part of their defence duties, and
31832-468: Was investigated further and Queen Elizabeth II also agreed that the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) were the senior regiment: From:- Lieut.-Colonel The Rt. Hon. Sir Michael Adeane, K.C.B., K.C.V.O . Private Secretary to the Queen, Buckingham Palace, S.W.1. 12th March, 1957. My dear Playfair , Thank you for your letter of 8th March which I have laid before The Queen and which Her Majesty has read with interest. I am to say that
32016-473: Was now called) was re-established to be the sole means of expansion in future wars, but it was smaller than before and poorly resourced. Yet eight TA divisions were deployed before the fall of France. After the Second World War, the TA was reconstituted with ten divisions, but then successively cut until rebuilding began in 1970, with numbers peaking at nearly 73,000. It was then run down again despite
32200-484: Was officially reconstituted in 1921 by the Territorial Army and Militia Act 1921 and renamed in October as the Territorial Army (TA). The First-Line divisions (that were created in 1907 or 1908) were reconstituted in that year. The TA's intended role was to be the sole method of expanding the size of the British Armed Forces , when compared to the varied methods used during the First World War including
32384-443: Was only resumed in early 1901—and so an adequate supply of manpower was not always available. Sixty militia battalions, around 46,000 men, also volunteered and were eventually sent to South Africa. They were employed mainly on lines of communication, and regarded as second-line troops of low quality; this was unsurprising, as they were strongly deficient in officers, heavily composed of men of 18 and 19, who were regarded as too young by
32568-582: Was ordered to form 10 elite Independent Companies, forerunners of the Commandos . under the command of (then) Lt Colonel Colin Gubbins . As the war developed Territorial units fought in every major theatre. The first reinforcing unit into Kohima , where the Japanese suffered their first major defeat in mainland Asia, was a TA unit, 4th Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment who went on to hold
32752-421: Was removed, and who had trained in that unit's third line alongside neighbours and colleagues, had been drafted to their front-line units by May 1916. In September 1916, the regiment-based system for training New Army units was centralised into the Training Reserve. Separately, the 194 territorial third-line units were amalgamated into 87 Reserve Battalions. They retained responsibility for supplying replacements to
32936-528: Was slaughtered when it advanced too far during an attack on 12 August. The same month, the yeomen of the 2nd Mounted Division suffered 30 per cent casualties during the Battle of Scimitar Hill , and had to be relieved by six dismounted yeomanry brigades which landed in October. The campaign ended in withdrawal in January 1916. Although Hamilton, appointed to command the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in March 1915, praised
33120-401: Was talk of a German invasion of the homeland, but the pace rapidly accelerated and, within a fortnight, 70 infantry battalions and many other units had collectively volunteered for France. initially TF units were either fed into regular brigades or used for secondary tasks, such as guarding lines of communication but, by the end of April 1915, six full Territorial divisions had been deployed into
33304-405: Was the Territorial Force, financed, trained and commanded centrally by the War Office and raised, supplied and administered by local county territorial associations . Haldane was able to overcome opposition and pass the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 which created the force, though not without compromise. His plan to give civic, business and trade union leaders a major role in running
33488-547: Was the largest British troop movement exercise by sea and air since 1945, involving 290 flights and 150 ferry sailings. Most UK-based units reached their wartime stations within 48 hours. In 1985, Exercise Brave Defender tested Britain's home defences, with 65,000 regulars and territorials involved. At the end of the Cold War, the TA had a strength of 72,823, including 3,297 in the Home Service Force (HSF). in
33672-555: Was then commanding First Corps, recorded in his diary that Field Marshal Kitchener did 'not appreciate the progress made by the Territorial Force towards efficiency', The subsequent day, the 6th, Kitchener took up his post as Secretary of State for War announcing that morning 'He could take no account of anything but regular soldiers'. He went on to denounce the Territorial Force as 'a few hundred thousand young men, officered by middle-aged professional men who were allowed to put on uniform and play at soldiers.' Nevertheless, by 9 August,
33856-672: Was to be reduced to 63,000, while the HSF element was to be disbanded. In July 1994, this was further reduced to 59,000. The Reserve Forces Act of May 1996 was a landmark reform, making it much easier to call out any element of the Reserves at the behest of the Secretary of State for a range of purposes including 'protection of life or property' well short of the criteria for Queen's Order (e.g. 'great emergency', 'imminent national danger'). It also provides protection in employment law for members' civilian jobs should they be mobilised. This has led to
#164835