Battalion size...

[Liz Kitcher]

Hi,

As I'm a complete novice at all the terminology etc, (despite having a grandfather and great grandfather having served in the British army), could someone give me an indication of how big (in terms of numbers of men) a battalion would be during WW1?

Thanks,

Liz

[Tom Morgan]

Hello, Liz,

Roughly speaking an Infantry battalion consisted of about 1,000 men and 36 officers.

The men would be arranged into four companies of about 240 each, usually referred to as A, B, C and D. Each Company would be commanded by a Major or more usually later on in the war, by a Captain or a more junior officer according to cicumstances.

Each Company would be further divided into four platoons of 60 men each, each commanded by a Lieutenant or Second lieutenant.

The Platoon would be further divided into four Sections, each with a Corporal in charge.

There were lots of soldiers who had specialist jobs. For example, there would be clerks, signallers, transport men who looked after the horse and carts, cooks and so on. Under normal circumstances these specialists would never go into the trenches with the Battalion. When these men are subtracted, the fighting strength of the Battalion was about 850 men plus officers.

Of course, these figures and command responsibilities applied to a battalion at full-strength with a full complement of officers. On active service a battalion could find itself with a much smaller number of men and some very junior officers carrying out some very senior jobs.

Hope this helps.

Tom

[Chris_Baker]

Liz, there's an entire section with very detailed definitions of army units and formations, on the Long, Long Trail. There's a link top-left of this page. Click on "Army Terms and Definitions", which you'll find on the left hand menu at the home page.

[Muerrisch]

Each Company would be commanded by a Major or more usually later on in the war, by a Captain or a more junior officer according to cicumstances.

I would just add that, even in the 'piping times of peace' it was exceptional to have four Majors in addition to the 'Senior Major' [the title in 1914 for 2 i/c]. It was quite common to have no company commanded by a Major. A glance at Westlake's rolls in 'British Battalions 1914' will confirm. Most companies had a senior captain and a second captain, the logical consequence of merging eight companies [invariably commanded by a captain] into four, only months before August 1914. Just as they had a senior colour sergeant and a junior colour sergeant appointed as CSM and CQMS respectively, although paid a little extra.

And many companies went to France with far fewer than 30 officers, even including MO attached.

Any subaltern appointed to command a company in other than the most fleeting circumstances became an acting Captain, and pensionable as such if killed or maimed after 30 days in post, a very real consideration for next of kin.

[sandyford]

L.B.

Your statement about 'acting' appointments being entitled to pension etc. after 30 days, is very interesting. I learn something new on this forum every day.

Cynically, I had always thought that 'Acting' probably meant that you did the role without the enhanced pay or other benefits and had presumed that the main purposes of these 'acting' roles would be to avoid pension payments at a higher level.

There are also 'temporary acting', 'temporary' and 'brevet' among the appointments in the London Gazette and they do seem to be very carefully dated and sometimes in retrospect.

Kate

[ZBZ5]

On 8/25/2004 at 16:11, Chris_Baker said:

Liz, there's an entire section with very detailed definitions of army units and formations, on the Long, Long Trail. There's a link top-left of this page. Click on "Army Terms and Definitions", which you'll find on the left hand menu at the home page.

Chris,

 

Is there still a list of definitions of army units and formations on the Long, Long Trail as you suggest?  Looking for these details myself.

 

Cheers,

Graham