The British Army during the Great War On 1st August 1914 the Army numbered almost one million men although the greater proportion were only partially trained, and many were over-age or unfit.  The Army comprised the following units:                                       All Ranks                Regular Army                 247,432              Army Reserve                145,347              Special Reserve               63,933              Territorial Force             268,777              Territorial Force Reserve     2,082              Militia and Volunteers         5,943              National Reserve            215,451                                                 ________________                                                948,965                                                 ________________   In 1914 the British Expeditionary Force consisted of one Cavalry Division and six Infantry Divisions (approximately 120,000 men).  By the end of the year 1¼ million men had voluntarily enlisted. At the end of the war, November 1918, total recruits into the British Army were:   GREAT BRITAIN   TOTALS       England   4,006,158         Wales       272,924         Scotland       557,618         Ireland       134,202             4,970,902       EMPIRE & DOMINIONS           Canada     458,218         Australia     331,814         New Zealand     112,223         South Africa        76,184         Newfoundland           6,173         West Indies      15,601             1,000213         TOTAL FOR GREAT BRITAIN + EMPIRE & DOMINIONS        5,971,11         These figures do not include Indian Army contingents. By 1917 the British Expeditionary Force comprised 5 Armies under the command of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig.           1st Army commanded by Lt. General Sir Henry Horne         2nd Army commanded by General Sir Herbert Plumer         3rd Army commanded by General Sir Edmund Allenby             (After April 1917 – General the Hon. Julian Byng)         4th Army commanded by General Sir Henry Rawlinson         5th Army commanded by General Sir Hubert Gough              (After April 1918 General Sir William Birdwood)   An Army was the largest unit under the command of a General and each Army comprised the following sub-divisions:   CORPS  -  Each Army had 4 infantry corps, each of 3 divisions.   DIVISION  -  The ration strength was about 18000 men commanded by a Major General.  Each division had 3 brigades, each of 4 battalions (12000 men) added to which was 4000 artillerymen and 2000 signallers, sappers, Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), doctors and orderlies, wagon drivers and transport staff, farriers, clerks and storemen.  Cavalry divisions were smaller and comprised about 9000 men including transport and Royal Horse Artillery elements.   BATTALION  -  This contained 1000 men and 36 officers, and was commanded by a Lt. Colonel.  This number included administrators, cooks, transport etc.  The attack strength of a battalion was about 800.   COMPANY  - 240 men and 5 officers commanded by a Captain.   PLATOON  -  50 men commanded by a Lieutenant.   SECTION  -  18 men commanded by a Lance Corporal.   Casualties Reliable casualty figures are notoriously hard to find.  JFC Fuller, in his book ‘The Army in my Life’ written in 1933, suggests total British casualties on the Western Front reported up to March 1920 were 128,205 officers and 2,632,592 other ranks.  It seems there were five casualties for every nine men sent out, and about one third of casualties were men killed.

Shipping and Supply The Royal Navy managed an effective blockade of German ports permitting safe passage of men and supplies across the English Channel.   The following totals of men and horses were carried safely to France from August 1914 to November 1918:                         757,206 Officers                    9,986,504 Other ranks                         41,416 Nurses                       804,231 Horses   By November 1918 on the Western Front there were, in total 2,260,054 men and women and 404,176 animals.   At the war’s end the following dead weight (imperial) tonnage of stores shipped to France was:   Oats & hay  5,438,602 Ammunition  5,253,338 Royal Engineer Stores  3,962,497 Coal  3,922,391 Food  3,240,948 Ordnance Stores  1,761,777 Petrol     758,614 Miscellaneous     539,398 Canteen Stores     269,317 Mechanical Transport  Stores     158,482 Royal Air Force Stores     123,570 Tanks & Stores       68,167   Total     25,497,351

Financial Cost By the last few months of the War, the financial cost each day was about £7.5m.  Yearly, the costs have been estimated as follows:   YEAR COST (in £000,000)     1914 – 1915   362   1915 – 1916   1,420   1916 – 1917   2.010   1917 – 1918   2,450   1918 – 1919   2,500       Total     8,742   All facts and figures have been culled from various Internet sites and, due to the vagaries of such figures, may not be truly consistent.

The Battle of Cambrai

The Battle of the Somme

The Battle for Ypres

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