Fitness classifications

[Moonraker]

I'm vaguely aware of the main classifications of soldiers' medical fitness but had always thought they were fairly simple. But the diaries of Sergeant Eric S Evans 847 of the 13th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, So Far from Home, (Patrick Wilson, editor, Kangaroo Press 2002) record his disappointment at being "marked back" at B1A2 after a doctor had said he would be graded "fit". After a bad night of cold shivers and trembling in the face and knee joints, he was re-classified B1A3.

Can anyone provide a full list of the different classifications, please?

(The diaries are a good read. Evans spent time at most of the Salisbury Plain camps. He didn't drink or smoke and was disapproving of his fellow-Australians' poor discipline and loose morals.)

Moonraker

PS I've just discovered this: "Convalescent New Zealanders at Codford were graded thus: B3 light work; B2 able to route march 4 to 6 miles; B1 able to route march 10 miles a day; A able to route march 14 miles a day, so fit enough to move to Sling Camp." But this doesn't explain "B1A2" and the like.

[Tyrim]

Moonraker,

Just to expand on what you already have, sometime ago I found the following:

Great Western Front Association

http://www.westernfr...on-cat-war.html

Conscription Categories in the Great War

Tuesday, 09 December 2008 00:00 Martin Hornby .From Military Service Act - 27th January 1916.

On 27th January, 1916, the Military Service act became law, every man between the ages of 18 and 41, if unmarried, was 'deemed to have enlisted'. On 25th May, married men were 'deemed' to have done the same. The following categories were established:

A: General Service.

B1: Garrison Service Abroad.

B2: Labour Service Abroad.

B3: Sedentary Work Abroad.

C1: Garrison Service at Home Camps.

C2: Labour Service at Home Camps.

C3: Sedentary Service at Home Camps.

The Official History records the physical standards defining each category:

A: Able to march, see to shoot, hear well and stand active service conditions.

B: Free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service on the lines of communication in France, or in garrisons in the tropics.

B1: Able to march five miles, and see to shoot with glasses and hear well.

B2: Able to walk five miles to and from work, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.

B3: Only suitable for sedentary work.

C: Free from serious organic disease, able to stand service conditions in garrison at home.

In contemporary usage, a 'Category Man' was anyone assigned to a category below 'A'.

Sorry I can't help with the expanded categories,

tyrim

[Piorun]

Not sure that this stands close scrutiny. If not, I'm sure that Squirrel or Centurion will be along shortly Antony

A Able to march, see to shoot, hear well and stand active service conditions.

Subcategories:

A1 Fit for despatching overseas, as regards physical and mental health, and training

A2 As A1, except for training

A3 Returned Expeditionary Force men, ready except for physical condition

A4 Men under 19 who would be A1 or A2 when aged 19

B Free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service on Lines of Communication in France, or in garrisons in the tropics.

Subcategories:

B1 Able to march 5 miles, see to shoot with glasses, and hear well

B2 Able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes

B3 Only suitable for sedentary work

C Free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service in garrisons at home. Subcategories:

C1 As B1

C2 As B2

C3 As B3

D Unfit but could be fit within 6 months.

Subcategories:

D1 Regular RA,RE, infantry in Command Depots

D2 Regular RA,RE, infantry in Regimental Depots

D3 Men in any depot or unit awaiting treatment

[regimentalrogue]

Just to add one more source:

OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN FORCES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-19

THE MEDICAL SERVICES

By Sir Andrew MacPhail, Kt., O.B.E., B.A., M.D., C.M., LL.D., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.,' F.R.S.C.

Professor of the History of Medicine, McGill University

Published by Authority of the Minister of National Defence,

Under Direction of the General Staff

(pp. 211-12)

For the purpose of ascertaining the physical condition of each soldier and his value as a reinforcement a system was established early in 1917 by which men were assigned to groups according to their fitness for service. Five medical categories were created, A, B, C, D, E, to include, respectively, men who were fit for general service; fit for certain kinds of service; fit for service in England; temporarily unfit but likely to become fit after treatment; and all others who should be discharged.

Category A was divided into four classes 1, 2, 3, 4, which contained respectively: men who were fit for active service in respect of health and training; men who had not been in the field but only lacked training; casualties fit as soon as they were hardened by exercise; and boys who would be fit as soon as they reached 19 years of age.

Category B was likewise subdivided into four groups, to include men who were fit for employment in labour, forestry, and railway units; men who were fit for base units of the medical service, garrison, or regimental outdoor duty; men capable of sedentary work as clerks; or skilled workmen at their trades. In Category C were placed men fit for service in England only.

In Category D were all men discharged from hospital to the command depot, who would be fit for Category A after completion of remedial training; and there was a special group to include all other ranks of any unit under medical treatment, who on completion would rejoin their original category. Category E included men unfit for A, B or C, and not likely to become fit within six months. It was a general rule that a soldier could be raised in category by a medical officer but lowered only by a board.

A commanding officer could, however, raise a man in Category A from second to first group, since training alone and not medical treatment was involved. All soldiers of low category were examined at regular intervals and new assignments made.

It was the function of the medical services to assign recruits and casualties to their proper categories. In April, 1918, when the demand for men became urgent, an allocation board was set up for the duty of examining all men of low category, and assigning them to tasks that were suitable for their capacity.

[moggs]

From the Australian Department of Veteran Affairs handbook come the following for World War One classifications

A1 Fit for active service

A2 Fit for active service when fully trained

A3 Fit for overseas training camp, to which transferred for hardening, prior to rejoining unit overseas

A4 Fit for active service when of age (military)

B1A1 Fit for light duty only - 4 weeks

B1A2 Fit for overseas training camp in three to four weeks

B1A3 Fit for overseas training camp in two to three weeks

B1A4 Fit for overseas training camp when passed dentally fit

B1B ?B2B or ?B1A1 'Observation'

B2B Unfit for overseas training camp six months, and temporally unfit for Home Service

C1 Fit for Home Service only

C2 Unfit for overseas temporarily unfit for Home Service

C3 Permanently unfit for service

hope this helps

Jonathan

[Moonraker]

Thanks for some very comprehensive - and prompt - replies.

J T Canner, in History of Chitterne, tells of the villagers being accustomed to being awoken at 4AM by the New Zealanders’ band accompanying soldiers who had recovered their health at Codford marching to Sling Camp for training – a distance of some 18 miles (proof of their fitness, of course)– before being sent off again to the Front.The regime at Sling was tough, and it had its own Bull Ring. One soldier commented: "We were all congratulating ourselves on having escaped the sub[marine]s, but on the second day in the Bull Ring we did not think we had been half so lucky, as we had first imagined, and on the third or fourth day we began to think we had jolly hard luck indeed."

Canner was presumably a local person, but (s)he's stretched the distance a little between Codford and Sling. My own estimate is that it's not quite 16 miles. Many soldiers on Salisbury Plain over-stated the distances they marched, for which they may be forgiven; even today, on dry, consolidated surfaces and wearing light clothes and a small rucksack, I find some of the miles more like 2,000 yards.

Moonraker

[Muerrisch]

This, from an article that I wrote, gives the continuum of categories over the whole war. Slightly b*ggered by my copy and paste.

THE GRADES OF FITNESS

A soldier was classified on enlistment or commissioning and also after some medical boards. The grades changed with time.

That used in the early part of the war was:

· General Service

· Field service at home

· Garrison service abroad

· Garrison service at home

· Labour

· Sedentary work [cook, clerk, stores, batman etc]

In May 1916 they became:

· A General Service

· B1 Abroad Garrison service

· B2 Labour

· B3 Sedentary work

· C1 At home Garrison service

· C2 Labour

· C3 Sedentary work

By Army Council Instruction by 1^st July 1916 further changes were made:

A able to march, see to shoot, hear well and stand active service conditions

1 fit for dispatching overseas, as regards physical and mental health and training

2 as 1, except for training

3 returned Expeditionary Force men, ready except for physical condition

4 men under 19 who would be GradeA1 or A2 when aged 19

B free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service on Lines of Communication, or in garrisons in the tropics

1 able to march five miles, see to shoot with glasses and hear well

2 able to walk five miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes

3 only suitable for sedentary work

C free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service in garrisons at home

1 As B1

2 As B2

3 As B3

D unfit but likely to become fit within six months

1 Regular RA, RE, infantry in Command Depôts

2 Regular RA, RE, infantry in Regimental Depôts

3 men in any Depôt or unit awaiting treatment.

E unfit and unlikely to become fit within 6 months

[Moonraker]

I've just obtained an undated postcard from an unnamed soldier at Perham Down Camp near Tidworth and Ludgershall. He writes:

 

"They marked me B.2.A Class when I came hear first   now I am B.1. A3  So I am getting closer to France. When I am marked A.1 I am fit for active service. Then we get 2 weeks training. And away to France first draft so I dont want to be marked A1 in a hurry."

 

Obviously from the very helpful replies of yesteryear I can work out what B1.A3 and A1 mean but what about  B.2A?

 

For the first half of the war, British infantry trained at Perham Down, to be succeeded by Australians. For no particular reason the full message struck me as having been written by a British soldier, but the sender heads his card "Perham Downs", the plural form being used mainly, but not exclusively, by Australians.

 

Moonraker

 

[MalH]

Thank you all for your contribution in solving my mystery.

A first class response again - Ill have to give you all a T.M.B Classification A1.

 

MH

[Chalkie Wight]

Hi,

I am researching the service record of Air Engineer Frederick George Smith 84981 and it states  under medical boards "Recatigorised  Bii 13/11/18" this was under authority 2/W200 dated 19 November 1918.  I believe this means Category B2, which was discussed peviously by the Forum in 2010.  Am I correct in making this assessment?

Cheers