Hi all,

Can anyone tell me what efforts were taken to keep infantry battalions upto strenght. Did replacements come to the battalion as a batch or was it a drip feed of new men.

Would the new men be sent to the battalion while it was resting or was it just pot luck as to where the replacments new unit would be.

Thanks kev

Great efforts were made to keep battalions up to strength, but the demand often outstripped supply.

Replacements didn't necessarily arrive in large batches. The war diaries often have references to the numbers arriving.

I'm sure someone else will be able to tell you more detail about this subject, but I believe the system got better as the war went on. Reinforcement Camps were set up and men were sent out to front-line units from there.

If a man was sent to his new unit whilst they were in the front line he would usually make his way to the transport lines and join the rest of the battalion when they came out of the line.

Regards,

Ken

Thanks Ken

Very useful info.

kev

Kevin
In my notes taken from the War Diary 6th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers T.F. there is the following info.

I was only taking notes to try to find when new soldiers arrived & how they had replenished the Battalion Strength after St. Julien. I intended to go back to take a more accurate copy, so it is not word for word:

27th August 1915
'Average Daily Trench Strength 13 officers & 307 other ranks including M.G. signallers.' ( I don't know exactly what trench strength means or whether that should read M. G. & signallers.)

7th Nov 1915
'2 Officers & 101 other ranks arrived. They seem poor physical specimens.'

There are references to new officers arriving singly.

Kate

The experience of 2RWF was that it got worse. The army's official doctrine, based on experience, was that 80% replacements for infantry would be needed in the first year of a European war. This was, like many pre-war arrangements, brilliant, within what the politicians would allow. Thus the Reserve and the Special Reserve. Thus the first four very substantial drafts were on their way to 2RWF before any significant fighting: war always finds out the weak and the scrimshankers.

Later in the war, and particularly in 1918 [Lloyd George's malign influence] reinforcements were very tardy in arriving.

But the idea of a trench strength consistently maintained at over a half [say 500 men] was unsustainable for long periods.

Thank you all for some very interesting comments.

Kev.