The New Army Battalions 1914-1918

When war broke out on 4th August 1914 the Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, was also acting as Secretary of State for War. On 6th August Lord Kitchener, on leave from Egypt where he was British agent, was appointed to this post. Immediately on assuming office he said that we must be prepared for a three years war and that we would require an army of seventy divisions.

On 7th August a poster and notices in the newspapers called for an addition of 100,000 men, between 19 and 30, to the Army, serving for three years or the duration of the war. The response was overwhelming and within a few days the First Hundred Thousand had joined up and by the middle of September half a million men had enlisted. They included the best of their generation, eager to serve their country. Many gave their lives in the Somme battles of 1916 where the New Army battalions suffered grievous losses.

Kitchener decided that the massive expansion must be achieved by the creation of new armies separate from the Regulars and Territorials so he did not make use of the framework of the Territorial Force as envisaged in the Haldane plans.

The new army consisted of over 500 battalions (including the reserve units) and was popularly known at the time as Kitchener's Army. It was organised in thirty divisions formed in groups of six. The new battalions were raised as additional battalions of the regiments of Infantry of the Line sharing their traditions and regimental spirit. They were numbered consecutively after the existing battalions of their regiments and were distinguished by the word "Service" in brackets after the number.

Later Second Reserve and Local Reserve battalions were formed as explained below. A large number of new units were also raised for the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers and other arms for the thirty new divisions. They did not, however, have the word "Service" in their titles.

There are five categories of New Army battalions:-

1. The service battalions raised in August and September 1914 formed the First (9th to 14th Divisions), Second (15th to 20th Divisions) and Third (21st to 26th Divisions). The three new armies were sometimes abbreviated to K1, K2 and K3. In addition to the twelve battalions for each division a number of Army Troops units were raised and attached to divisions for training. All these Army Troops battalions eventually went to regular or new army divisions. The 37th Division was formed in 1915 with thirteen Army Troops battalions.
2. Another series of service battalions was formed in the autumn of 1914 with men from the reserve and extra reserve battalions, which were now well over establishment, to form the original Fourth Army (30th to 35th Divisions) known as K4. Later in order to provide reinforcements for the first eighteen divisions it was decided in April, 1915 to break up the divisions of the Fourth New Army and reconstitute the infantry as reserve battalions to train recruits and send drafts to the first three new armies. (The battalions became second reserve battalions and were organised in eighteen reserve infantry brigades. On 1st September 1916 all these second reserve battalions were absorbed in the Training Reserve.
3. At the same time as the units of the first four armies were being formed a number of service battalions were being raised by committees from cities, towns, organisations and individuals. These battalions were clothed, housed and fed by these committees until the War Office took them over in 1915 and refunded the raisers' expenditure. These battalions supplied most of the infantry for the 30th to 41st Divisions. The new Fourth New Army divisions took over their numbers, 30th to 35th, from the original Fourth Army (see 2 above). The Fifth New Army (36th to 41st Divisions) included the 36th (Ulster) and 38th (Welsh) Divisions which were raised in Northern Ireland and Wales. The locally raised battalions had an additional title in brackets showing their connection with the district or organisation which helped to form them.
4. The locally raised service battalions formed depot companies and in 1915 these companies were grouped to form local reserve battalions, with numbers following the parent battalions, to supply reinforcements to their service battalions. On 1st September 1916 these battalions were absorbed in the Training Reserve.
5. A few more service and reserve battalions were formed in 1915 and 1916 in addition to those in the above four categories.

In the summer of 1918 about twenty garrison and other battalions were renamed service battalions. They were used to supply some of the infantry for the reconstitution of the 14th, 16th, 40th and 59th Divisions in France, which had been reduced to cadre after heavy casualties in the German offensives. These battalions had no connection with the service battalions of the New Army formed in the early years of the war.