Kitchener arrived at the War Office on 6 Augus 1914 and the following day appealed
for 100,000
volunteers to join the regular army for a period of three years, or 'the duration' of the war. The
normal recruiting machinery, which had been built to cope with 30,000 recruits a year, was
swamped with as many in less than a week. 'All the air was ringing with rousing assurances,' C E
Montague recalled later, `France to be saved, Belgium righted, freedom and civilisation rewon, a
sour, crooked old world to be rid of bullies and crooks and reclaimed for straightness, decency,
good- nature, the ways of common men dealing with common men.'
Additional recruiting offices were quickly opened to deal with the flood and by late
August 100,000
men had joined the army. During the first week in September the recruitment rate rose to 30,000 a
day and it soon became necessary for Parliament to sanction the addition of another half- million
men.
Meanwhile, Kitchener's plans for the army took shape. The British Expeditionary Force
was to be
reinforced with some units of the regular army serving abroad and moveed as quickly as possible to
France. During the second week of the war, four of the six infantry divisions and the cavalry division
of the BEF crossed the English Channel and took up a position on the left of the French army. The
two other divisions soon followed. Indian Army units took over more of the garrison duties in British
overseas territories and this released enough British troops to provide two new regular infantry
divisions for France - numbered the Seventh and Eighth.
By the Spring of 1915, the British army had at its disposal 70 infantry divisions:
11 regular, 28
territorial, 30 new army, and one division (the Naval Division) raised by the Admiralty; the strength
remained more or less at this level for the rest of the war.
The establishment of an infantry division at that time was just over 18,000 officers
and men; 5,000
horses; 72 field guns in four artillery brigades of 18 guns each; and all supporting services including
a supply train and ambulance brigades. There were also 500 bicycles and 34 cars.
- The infantry element, about 12,000
strong, consisted of 12 battalions (from various regiments)
organised into three infantry brigades of four battalions each.
- An army was commanded by a General
and comprised about four corps, but precise numbers
depended on the army’s role
- A corps was commanded by a Lieutenant-General
and usually comprised three or four divisions
- A section was commanded by a Corporal
with 8 to 10 men.
An infantry division
on the march stretched some 15 miles along the road.
