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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

OTC role on the Home Front


Moonraker

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How much of a role did the Officers' Training Corps have on the Home Front? Years ago, I did look at a couple of definitive books on the OTC and have just gone through my Wiltshire notes, but the only snippet I've come across is in the Imperial War Museum document 04/22/1: when J McDonald at RFC Yatesbury  was to practise co-operation between infantry and aeroplanes with Marlborough College OTC in February 1918, his engine failed on the way over to the training area.

 

I've lots of references to the OTC camps at Tidworth breaking up early on mobilisation and a few more to the camps that were held there during the war. And public school boys - and girls - helped with the harvest, but apparently not as members of the OTC.

 

Did OTC units get much involved with field exercises, other than with each other? I suspect that they would not have been allowed to guard sensitive areas, such as railway lines. What about helping with bomb damage?

 

Moonraker

 

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  • 3 months later...

Not directly answering the posted question, but I recently did some research on my grandfather's WWI history. He joined the E Surrey Regiment in 1914 - but apparently did so via the London University OTC. The odd thing was - he never seems to have been a student at London University. And looking through the listing of other OTC members, I'd say at least 10% of the others there were also not students. He joined the "Special Reserve" and went to Ypres in 1915. London University archive does have files available on the OTC with details of the field excercises mentioned above. However I only reviewed for the 1914-15 period, after which my grandfather appears in E Surrey Regiment diaries.

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The history of the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps shows that on 20th March 1917 the No14 Officer Cadet Battalion (Inns of Court) based in Berkhamsted held a field day on the common with school OTC units from Harrow, Eton, Berkhamsted and Forest School. This is an example of school OTC units having a field exercise with a unit training officers for the army.

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  • 2 months later...
2 minutes ago, Guy S said:

Although this is not directly related to this post, does anyone know what VTC stands for?

Volunteer Training Corps

 

Craig

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8 minutes ago, Guy S said:

Thank you, Craig - and my next question, what was the volunteer training corps?

Craig

 

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