Kitchener's army

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" Lord Kitchener wants you ": poster by Alfred Leete (1880–1933), 1914

When Kitchener's Army or New Army ( New Army ) by Minister of War was Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum established British mass army in World War I referred.

history

While most commanders and politicians on both sides predicted a short war at the beginning of the First World War, Kitchener - as one of the first - predicted a multi-year war and based his policy on it from the start. In contrast to the armies in France and Germany , which were essentially based on conscription , the British army was until then a professional army and not a mass army , and until January 1916 there was no conscription either. There were only nine regular divisions that were shipped to France as the British Expeditionary Force at the start of the war . The British regiments were previously used in a rotation system at home or in the colonies . Until 1914, the Royal Navy was the more important part of the armed forces.

The day after he was appointed Secretary of War (August 5, 1914) Kitchener issued the order to enlarge the army. The well-known poster, which shows him pointing directly at the beholder, combined with the indirect request to fulfill the “patriotic duty”, also dates from this time. By the army order 324 of August 21, 1914, six new divisions were initially set up from the volunteers recruited . In total, more than 40 divisions had been established for use in France by 1915 . Most of the new army's units were trained at the Aldershot Training Area . During a visit by King George V in September 1914, 130,000 men were stationed there.

The volunteers undertook to serve for three years or until the end of the war, if it lasts longer. They also agreed to serve wherever the army needed them. Often times , the individual units were put together from volunteers from the same city or area (so-called pals battalions , German for "Kumpelbataillone").

In the Battle of the Somme , Kitchener's divisions were deployed on a large scale. For example, on July 1, 1916, the day with the most casualties in British military history, the Ulster Division lost over half of its soldiers.

Army groups and divisions

Kitchener's army consisted of the following army groups and divisions :

  • K1 Army Group
    • 9th (Scottish) Division
    • 10th (Irish) Division
    • 11th (Northern) Division
    • 12th (Eastern) Division
    • 13th (Western) Division
    • 14th (Light) Division
  • K2 Army Group
    • 15th (Scottish) Division
    • 16th (Irish) Division
    • 17th (Northern) Division
    • 18th (Eastern) Division
    • 19th (Western) Division
    • 20th (Light) Division
  • K3 Army Group
    • 21st division
    • 22nd division
    • 23rd division
    • 24th Division
    • 25th Division
    • 26th Division
  • K4 Army Group
    • 30th Division
    • 31st division
    • 32nd division
    • 33rd Division
    • 34th Division
    • 35th Division
  • Fifth New Army

literature

  • Howard Green: The British Army in the First World War. The Regulars, the Territorials and Kitchener's Army. With some of the campaigns into which they fitted. J. Trehern, London 1968.
  • Peter Simkins: Kitchener's Army. The Raising of the New Armies, 1914-16. Manchester University Press, Manchester et al. 1988, ISBN 0-7190-2638-5 .

Source

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Military Service Act , see also : Military Service Act 1916