Feb 1918 - Reduction of British Brigades to 3 Battalions each

[ccsk]

Hi all,

 

Can anyone point me in the direction of the Army Order / War Office document (or whatever it actually was) that precipitated the reduction of the number of battalions per British Army brigade from 4 to 3 in Feb 1918? I thought it would be easy to find but I've looked and looked and I'm either being even more incompetent than usual, or it I turns out it's not quite so easy....

 

If anyone has a copy of this they could share that would also be fantastic! Thanks in advance,

 

Steve

[Ron Clifton]

It isn't easy, and I have never found a precise reference, but the answer should be in one of the following files at Kew in class WO123:

WO 123/60 Army orders (War Office) 1918 

Subsubseries within WO 123 Army Council Orders   
WO 123/191 Nos 1-250 listed at front 1916-1917 
WO 123/192 Nos 251-522 listed at front 1917-1925 

Subseries within WO 123 GENERAL ROUTINE ORDERS   
Subsubseries within WO 123 France   
WO 123/201 3080-7676 (includes Inspector-General of Communications' Routine Orders 1-297 1918-1919 

WO 123/279 0001-2574 1917-1920 
WO 123/282 0720-7489 (includes Mediterranean) 1916-1920 
 

Treat yourself to a trip to London!

 

Ron

[ccsk]

Many thanks Ron, I really appreciate the head start on the search you have given me.

 

A trip to the archives with all those lovely documents to read through - oh what chore!!  

 

Have a great weekend, regards, Steve