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The Graveyards of Gallipoli; A Digger History Associate Site |
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A Tribute to the Men of all the Nations that took part in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 |
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British "New Army" Divisions: 10th (Irish) 11th (Northern) & 13th (Western) |
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| These Divisions are all part of the “New Army”- the new British
army recruited after the outbreak of WWI to expand the professional army
rapidly shrinking in size due to casualties in France and Belgium.
All three divisions were formed from civilian volunteers in August and September 1914. Given that the men of these divisions were volunteers who received considerable training in the British Isles before employment the divisions had potential, but had no combat experience and were poorly led- there was a shortage of good officers when the divisions were formed and so the divisions' officers were for the most part aging regulars of no great talent promoted above their level of competence. |
Sub category index
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When
Kitchener called for volunteers in WW1 so many responded that there
weren't enough regimental badges to go round.
The Army got round this problem by converting General Service buttons into cap badges by adding a slider fitting. Most were thrown away when the regimental badge/s became available. This rare example survived. |
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Kitchener's New Army #1 (K1) |
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On 5 August 1914 - the day that he took over as Minister for War - Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum issued orders for the expansion of the Army. He believed that the war would not be 'over by Christmas' as the popular press (in both Great Britain and Germany) put it. He had been opposed to the creation of the Territorial Force, and did not plan to base the expanded army upon it. Instead, he determined to raise a new army composed of volunteers. Each man would sign up for three years or the duration of the war, whichever was shorter, and would agree to being sent to serve anywhere. On 6 August Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men of all ranks in the Regular Army, for these new recruits were to be enlisted into the regular army on a temporary basis. |
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"K1": the first hundred thousand |
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Army Order 324, dated 21 August 1914, specified that six new Divisions would be created from units formed of these volunteers, collectively called Kitchener's Army or K1. It detailed how the new infantry battalions would be given numbers consecutive to the existing battalions of their regiment, but with the addition of the word 'Service' after the unit number. Most line infantry regiments raised one K1 battalion, and a few, such as the Rifle Brigade, raised more. These first six Divisions were originally numbered 8 to 13. The first would be the 8th (Light) Division- composed of battalions from the Light Infantry and Rifle regiments. Each of the five Army Commands in Great Britain would also organise one Division. These K1 Divisions were administered and supplied by the War Office from the beginning. However, by September 1914 an 8th regular army Division was being formed, so the 8th (Light) was renumbered the 14th (Light) Division.
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'Your
King and Country need you. A call to arms' was published on 11th August
1914 explaining the conditions of service and calling for 100,000
men to enlist. This figure was achieved within two weeks.
