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Taking the Service Battalions to War

Raising the New Armies and Expanding the Territorial Force – Battalion Command 1914-

2.2 Taking the Service Battalions to War

Many first-appointed did not, however, take their battalions on active service. In K1, 65 per cent were taken abroad by their first CO. Twenty-nine per cent had one change of CO, and six per cent two changes. In K2, 53 per cent were taken abroad by their first CO. Thirty-three per cent had one change, 11 per cent two changes, and three per cent three changes. In K3, 52 per cent were taken abroad by their first CO. Thirty-six per cent had one change, 11 per cent two changes, and one per cent four changes. Of the locally-raised battalions, only 41 per cent were taken abroad by their first CO. Fifty one per cent had one change, six per cent two changes, and two per cent three changes.

The increasing number of changes through K1 to the locally-raised battalions is not surprising, given the increasing number (and varied pedigrees) of retired officers employed. The 35 per cent turnover in K1 is for the most part accounted for by the

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replacement of 21 Regular Majors promoted CO, 15 being transferred as COs to their Regular battalion in France, indicating both the attrition of those battalions and the priority given by the BEF and War Office to keeping the fighting units properly officered. Two were transferred to other service battalions, one to a Brigade-Major post; and three appear to have been genuine cases of ill-health (rather than using this as a euphemism for sacking). Only one seems not to have been up to the mark, being transferred back to depot command. 40

Examples indicate the nature of these battalion command changes. The 12th Highland Light Infantry (K2) underwent three changes of CO before going on active service. Lieutenant- Colonel A. Giles,41 an Indian Army Lieutenant-Colonel, lasted 60 days in command (seeing no further service in the war), to be replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel A.S. Begbie, another Indian Lieutenant-Colonel,42 who lasted 124 days (several months later receiving a Special Appointment graded Staff Captain). The next CO was Lieutenant-Colonel F.M. Sandys-Lumsdaine,43 who served for 123 days (later serving as CO with the 2/6th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, a home service battalion), being replaced seven days before the battalion left for active service under Lieutenant-Colonel J.H. Purvis, a Regular captain retired seven years from the regiment.44 The subsequent careers indicate that these men emerged as unfit for command or active service.

40

Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peyton Sadler, 9th Sherwood Foresters, whose tenure of command lasted from 9 August 1914 until 25 October 1914.

41

Albert Giles, aged 52 in 1914, was still on the active list, but had commanded 11th Rajputs.

42

Arundel Sinclair Begbie had, aged 48 in 1915, had commanded 16th Rajputs, and had retired in August 1914.

43

Francis Myles Sandys-Lumsdaine, aged 48 in 1914, was a retired Regular Major of the Highland Light Infantry, and had been retired for 18 months.

44

John Henry Purvis had been acting as an ADC from 18 September 1914 to 6 January 1915, and commanded until 6 March 1916 when he was replaced and not used as a CO again.

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The 8th Leicestershire (K3) underwent four changes of command. Colonel E.R. Scott,45 an ex-Regular, lasted 14 days in command whereupon he was transferred to the 10th Essex (where he lasted 148 days before being transferred again to the 2/4th Loyal North Lancashire, from whence he retired again without seeing active service). The second CO was Colonel C.H. Shepherd,46 also an ex-Regular, who lasted 53 days before replacement (being used again approximately a year later as CO 1st Garrison Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment in India). The third was the retired Indian Army Lieutenant-Colonel H.P. Bell,47 who served for 180 days (being appointed a Group Commander in France in November 1914). Bell was replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel F.J. Radford,48 an ex-Regular who had already been replaced as a Brigade-Major, but who only served 46 days, a new CO (Lieutenant-Colonel J.G. Mignon, a Regular 13 years retired from the regiment)49 being appointed the day before the battalion went on active service. Again, an active process was clearly evaluating fitness for command. Twenty-eight battalions (seven per cent) experienced a change of CO in the two months prior to active service.

Of the COs of K1 14 per cent were removed before going on active service and not used again to command a battalion on active service; for K2 the figure was 26 per cent; for K3, 32 per cent; and for locally-raised battalions, 35 per cent. Overall, 27 per cent of the COs appointed to command New Army battalions were removed before they went on active service, clearly unsuitable for such service on likely grounds of either physical fitness or

45

Edmund Richard Scott was a 57 year-old brevet Colonel, a retired Regular Lieutenant-Colonel of the Leicestershire Regiment, who had been retired for just over seven years in August 1914.

46

Charles Herbert Shepherd was a 68 year-old substantive ex-Regular Colonel who had been retired over 11 years in August 1914.

47

Henry Phillips Bell, aged 48 in August 1914, had been retired one month from the 44th Infantry.

48

Frederic John Radford, aged 42 in 1914, was an ex-Regular Major of the Sherwood Foresters, who had retired in August 1912. Radford finished the war in the Labour Corps.

49

Jephson George Mignon commanded until 14 July 1916 when he was killed on the Somme on the Bazentin Ridge.

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competence. The 27 per cent replacement figure compares favourably with the 39 per cent of TF COs50 who were removed from command before their battalions proceeded overseas.

The problems faced in some divisions, however, are indicated by the account of Captain H.C. Rees, 2nd Welsh,51 who was appointed GSO1 38th (Welsh) Division on 21 April 1915. Here:

The standard of knowledge of the brigadiers and commanding officers was, as a rule, so low that any progress in field training was manifestly impossible. I therefore started staff rides for the senior officers. These staff rides soon convinced the General … that changes were absolutely essential.52 Eventually two Brigadiers and nine of the original Commanding Officers were replaced before the division sailed for France.53

As 38th Division comprised locally-raised battalions, a group identified above as having the highest rate of CO replacement, Rees’ experiences are unsurprising.54