companies, Royal Engineers (telegraph, telephone, visual and despatch-riding). One such company was allotted to each division, the headquarters section being with divisional head- quarters, and a section with each infantry or cavalry brigade headquarters, units maintaining their own signallers for internal communication. In the field artillery 2 howitzer brigades and 6 divisional ammunition columns were added, the, result being that each of the 6 Expeditionary Force divisions was provided with a complete howitzer brigade of 3 batteries, in place of the brigade of 2 batteries which had hitherto existed. In con- sequence of these additions, an increased number of army reservists were required for mobilization; and to provide them a certain number of recruits for field artillery were taken for a short period of Colour service in order that they might be rapidly trained and passed to the reserve. In this way it was possible to reduce the number of special reservists of the field artillery, and the training brigades hitherto maintained for these special reservists became available to form the divisional ammunition columns on mobilization. The' number of field- artillery depots was increased from 4 to 6. The infantry organ- ization was also altered from 8 to 4 companies per battalion. This reorganization had not taken place in the Territorial Force when mobilization occurred, but was then introduced. A com- plete revision of the system of supply and transport in the field was also made. The divisional train system (organized in 4 companies, each composed of a technical headquarters and the baggage and supply wagons of units, manned by Army Service Corps drivers) was introduced, and the chain of supply to railhead was completed by the introduction of a mechanical transport supply column of 3-ton lorries for each division. This unit, plying between railhead and the refilling point, daily refilled the supply wagons of the train. The cavalry division did not form a train but was served by two mechanical transport supply columns of 3o-cwt. lorries delivering on alternate days. The supply of ammunition was organized in a similar manner, the divisional ammunition column (horsed) refilled units and was itself refilled from railhead by a mechanical transport ammunition park (one per division). (For the FLYING CORPS, see the article under that heading.)
In the organization adopted for war the division was designed to be the tactical and administrative unit, self-contained in that it was composed of all arms (except the Flying Corps) and was provided with all the ancillary services required for its maintenance in the field. This system obtained throughout the British armies during the war, the divisions as self-con- tained units being allotted to army corps as occasion required, and these in turn to armies; the only deviation was in the case of the Australian and the Canadian army corps, in which the corps itself, once formed, remained intact and in certain respects became the " unit of administration."
The division in detail consisted of: headquarters (including the commander and staff, the commanders of artillery and engi- neer troops and the directors of medical, veterinary and ord- nance services) ; 3 infantry brigades each of 4 battalions, re- duced in the winter of 1917-8 to 3 owing to shortage of personnel; 4 artillery brigades each of three 6-gun batteries (three bri- gades were i8-pounder guns and one was4-s-in. howitzers); one heavy battery and ammunition column four 6o-pounder guns, horse-drawn; one divisional ammunition column (carrying ammunition for all arms); 3 field ambulances each comprising bearer and tent divisions; 2 field companies Royal Engineers (a third added later) ; one signal company R.E. (sections distrib- uted to headquarters of divisions and infantry brigades); the divisional train (carrying baggage and supplies and executing all supply arrangements between refilling points and the troops themselves); one mobile veterinary section; one cavalry squad- ron (withdrawn almost immediately to reenforce the cavalry corps). Thus it had a strength (excluding details at the base at the rate of 10% of strength) of 585 officers, 17,488 other ranks, 5,592 horses, 76 guns, 24 machine-guns.
The organization of a cavalry division followed the same lines, but comprised 4 brigades each of 3 regiments, in place of 3
brigades each of 4 battalions in the infantry division. The strength (excluding details at the base at the rate of 10% of strength) was 439 officers, 8,830 other ranks, 9,815 horses, 24 guns (i3-pounder), 24 machine-guns.
Administration of Personnel. The record of services of all per- sonnel (except officers) together with necessary personal details were kept track of through the " record offices." In these offices were filed the original attestation forms, on which all "casualties" affecting the rank and file (e.g. promotion, postings, transfers, alteration of original terms of service, wounds, rewards, punish- ments, and details of marriage, children ancj next-of-kin) were entered on receipt of the notification of the " casualty " from the unit concerned. This system continued in war as in peace. All such notifications in war, however, passed through the 3rd echelon of general headquarters of the theatre and were also entered on a special war army form which followed the individual throughout his service during the war period. By this means general headquarters could be kept informed of the state of their forces in bulk or detail and the War Office of the general strength of the armies. The careers of officers were followed in a somewhat similar manner, but certain War Office branches acted as record offices.
Payments to officers were made through agents (bankers), and special army cheques made out by an officer could be cashed within defined limits by field cashiers accompanying the troops. Payments to men were reported on " acquittance rolls " and entered in the personal pay book carried by every man. These payments together with credits, counter-charges and claims received from any source or resulting from casualties reported to record offices were brought to account by the regimental paymaster at home in charge of the accounts of the men affiliated to each record office. This system, prepared shortly before the outbreak of war and first tested therein, obtained for all theatres except India and Mesopo- tamia, and proved very successful the maximum personnel en- gaged at any time being 1,942 directing staff (of whom 250 were females) and 44,676 subordinates (of whom 30,000 were females).
Mobilization. Preparations for mobilization had received most careful and detailed consideration during the years im- mediately preceding the war; and it may be truly said, in respect of the Expeditionary Force, that when mobilization was ordered in Aug. 1914 everything was ready " down to the last gaiter button." These mobilization preparations were con- fined entirely to that Expeditionary Force; the embodiment of the special reserve and the Territorial Force being merely a calling-up of existing personnel and not in any sense a " mobil- ization." The stages in the prepared plan of mobilization were minutely followed, and comprised, first, the initiation of what was termed the " precautionary period," followed almost at once by that termed " general mobilization." The " precau- tionary period " scheme was based on the necessity for defending the United Kingdom against the possibility of invasion or raids a primary danger in the case of an island power. For this purpose the role of the navy was of first importance; and defence was required for all harbours and dockyards called into use. The plan was briefly that all standing defences (artillery and its ancillary services of electric lights, etc.) should be immediately placed on a war footing the personnel being completed by regular reservists who, on the first day of mobilization, joined the units detailed for standing defence duties. These units again were augmented by units of the special reserve and Terri- torial Force accustomed to train annually at the defences for which they were intended and which they actually manned at the outset of the " precautionary period." The mobile force associated with these defences was in the first instance formed of infantry and artillery units composing their peace garrisons, reenforced temporarily in many cases by detachments of serving personnel from units stationed farther inland and actually mobilizing. On the embodiment of the Territorial Force, cer- tain of its units proceeded, according to programme, to their coast defences (known as their " war stations "), thus replacing units of the regular army temporarily forming mobile garrisons but actually destined for the Expeditionary Force; these Terri- torial Force units were sufficient not only to form the garrisons, but also to furnish small mobile columns. Later, certain of these units chiefly those detailed for fixed defences were in turn relieved by special reserve infantry units, who proceeded to their allotted coast defences or " war stations " after embodi- ment at depots, where they had shed their Expeditionary Force
