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Home Service Battalions
The Home Service Battalions were a force of the British Army in both the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars, intended for home defence and other duties. Those who joined these battalions were exempted from service outside of the United Kingdom. First World War Before the outbreak of the First World War, volunteer reservists of the Territorial Force could not be ordered to serve outside of the United Kingdom, under the terms of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907. When hostilities commenced in August 1914, Territorial soldiers were asked to sign a document called the Territorial Force Imperial Service Badge, Imperial Service Obligation which waived their immunity from overseas service. By 26 September 1914, 72% of Territorials had signed; the remainder were consigned to second line battalions. New Territorial recruits continued to be able to enlist for home service only, until March 1915. The Military Service Act 1916 forced those under the age of 41 to sig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve personnel and 4,697 "other personnel", for a total of 108,413. The British Army traces back to 1707 and the Acts of Union 1707, formation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain which joined the Kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland into a Political union, single state and, with that, united the English Army and the Scots Army as the British Army. The Parliament of England, English Bill of Rights 1689 and Convention of the Estates, Scottish Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the Charles III, monarch as their commander-in-chief. The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence (United Kingd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
73rd Division (United Kingdom)
73rd Division was a short-lived infantry division of the British Army during World War I. It served in Home Forces and never went overseas. Home Service On the outbreak of World War I the Territorial Force (TF) immediately mobilised for home defence, but shortly afterwards (31 August 1914), its units were authorised to raise 2nd battalions formed from those men who had not volunteered for, or were not fit for, overseas service, together with new volunteers, while the 1st Line went overseas to supplement the Regulars. Early in 1915 the 2nd Line TF battalions were also raised to full strength to form new divisions, and began to form Reserve (3rd Line) units to supply drafts. The remaining Home Service men were separated out in May 1915 to form brigades of Coast Defence Battalions (termed Provisional Battalions from June 1915). 9th Provisional Brigade 9th Provisional Brigade was formed in East Kent mainly from details of local units and infantry from Lancashire. It had the following ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infantry Battalions Of The British Army
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadly encompasses a wide variety of subspecialties, including light infantry, irregular infantry, heavy infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry, mechanized infantry, Airborne forces, airborne infantry, Air assault, air assault infantry, and Marines, naval infantry. Other subtypes of infantry, such as line infantry and mounted infantry, were once commonplace but fell out of favor in the 1800s with the invention of more accurate and powerful weapons. Etymology and terminology In English, use of the term ''infantry'' began about the 1570s, describing soldiers who march and fight on foot. The word derives from Middle French , from older Italian (also Spanish) ''infanteria'' (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latin '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner Of War
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons. These may include isolating them from enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and Repatriation, repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishment, prosecution of war crimes, labour exploitation, recruiting or even conscripting them as combatants, extracting collecting military and political intelligence, and political or religious indoctrination. Ancient times For much of history, prisoners of war would often be slaughtered or enslaved. Early Roman gladiators could be prisoners of war, categorised according to their ethnic roots as Samnites, Thracians, and Gauls (''Galli''). Homer's ''Iliad'' describes Trojan and Greek soldiers offeri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regular Army
A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standing army, the permanent force of the regular army that is maintained under arms during peacetime. * a military reserve force that can be mobilized when needed to expand the effectiveness of the regular army by complementing the standing army. A regular army may be: * a ''conscript army'', including professionals, volunteers and also conscripts (presence of enforced conscription, including recruits for the standing army and also a compulsory reserve). * a ''professional army'', with no conscripts (absence of compulsory service, and presence of a voluntary reserve), is not exactly the same as a standing army, as there are standing armies both in the conscript and the professional models. In the United Kingdom and the United States, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Army Reserve (United Kingdom)
The Army Reserve 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. Descended from the Territorial Force (1908 to 1921), the Army Reserve was known as the Territorial Army (TA) from 1921 to 1967 and again from 1979 to 2014, and the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) from 1967 to 1979. The force was created 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 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Defence Companies
The National Defence Companies of the Territorial Army were a voluntary military reserve force of the British Army, for the purpose of home defence in the event of war. Enlistment was limited to former members of the British Armed Forces between the ages of 45 and 60. The scheme was established in 1936, during rearmament prior to World War II. On the outbreak of war in September 1939, the National Defence Companies were called up for service and became the basis of the Home Service Battalions. Establishment After the end of World War I, responsibility for home defence on land rested with the Territorial Army and also the Royal Defence Corps which consisted of regular army soldiers who were too old or unfit for front line duties. With the rise of Nazi Germany during the 1930s, the government of the United Kingdom came under political pressure to modernise and re-equip the Armed Forces. As a part of that process, Duff Cooper, the Secretary of State for War, announced the disba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Re-armament
British rearmament was a period in British history, between 1934 and 1939, when a substantial programme of rearming the United Kingdom was undertaken. Rearmament was deemed necessary, because defence spending had gone down from £766 million in 1919–20, to £189 million in 1921–22, to £102 million in 1932. Ten Year Rule After World War I, dubbed " The War To End All Wars” and “The Great War”, Britain (along with many other nations) had wound down its military capability. The Ten Year Rule said that a "great war" was not expected in the next ten years with the belief in its impossibility and the folly of preparing for it. Britain, therefore, made almost no investment at all in the development of new armament. The British Admiralty, however, requested the suspension of this rule when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931. The policy was officially abandoned on 23 March 1932 by the Cabinet, four months before Adolf Hitler's Nazis became the largest party in the German Reich ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Defence Corps
The Royal Defence Corps was a corps of the British Army formed in 1916 and disbanded in 1936. As part of the reorganisation of home defence forces by Field Marshal Sir John French, Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, the Royal Defence Corps was created to “...carry out duties connected with the local defence of the United Kingdom, including those hitherto performed by the Supernumerary Territorial Force Companies....." The role of the corps was thus to provide troops for security and guard duties inside the United Kingdom, guarding important locations such as ports, bridges and railways, as well as prisoner-of-war camps. In addition to the Supernumerary Companies, 18 (Home Service) Garrison battalions of line infantry regiments became part of the RDC. Garrison battalions were composed of soldiers either too old or medically unfit for active front-line service; the Home Service status indicated they were unable to be transferred overseas. The corps was never intended to be employe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
72nd Division (United Kingdom)
72nd Division was a short-lived infantry division of the British Army during World War I. It served in the Home Defence forces and never went overseas. Home defence On the outbreak of World War I the Territorial Force (TF) immediately mobilised for home defence, but shortly afterwards (31 August 1914), its units were authorised to raise 2nd battalions formed from those men who had not volunteered for, or were not fit for, overseas service, together with new volunteers, while the 1st Line went overseas to supplement the Regulars. Early in 1915 the 2nd Line TF battalions were also raised to full strength to form new divisions, and began to form Reserve (3rd Line) units to supply drafts. The remaining Home Service men were separated out in May 1915 to form brigades of Coast Defence Battalions (termed Provisional Battalions from June 1915). 8th Provisional Brigade 8th Provisional Brigade was formed mainly from details of regiments from the English Midlands. Brigadier-General Willoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in European theatre of World War I, Europe and the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, Middle East, as well as in parts of African theatre of World War I, Africa and the Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I, Asia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare; the widespread use of Artillery of World War I, artillery, machine guns, and Chemical weapons in World War I, chemical weapons (gas); and the introductions of Tanks in World War I, tanks and Aviation in World War I, aircraft. World War I was one of the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated World War I casualties, 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded, plus some 10 million civilian de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
