The remainder of the army was organized as follows: I. Army Corps (Haig), II. Army Corps (Smith-Dorrien), III. Army Corps (Pulteney), IV. Army Corps (Rawlinson), Indian Army Corps (Lt.-Gen. Sir J. Wilcocks). There was shortly added the V. Army Corps (Gen. Sir H. C. O. Plumer). The Expeditionary Force had now attained dimensions which necessitated its further sub-division, and the term " Army " was introduced on Dec. 26 1914, after which the army corps were designated " Corps." General Sir Douglas Haig was appointed to command the I. Army and Gen. Sir H. Smith-Dorrien, who was shortly succeeded by Gen. Sir H. C. O. Plumer, the II. Army. Lt.-Gen. Sir W. R. Robertson became chief of the general staff in France in Jan. 1915, and Lt.-Gen. R. C. Maxwell succeeded him as quartermaster-general. The III. Army was formed in July 1915, and Gen. Sir C. C. Monro appointed to the command; he was succeeded by Gen. Sir E. H. H. Allenby, in Oct., on his appointment to the command-in-chief in the Dardanelles. In Oct. 1915 the composition of the British armies was: G.H.Q. troops; Royal Flying Corps (Trenchard) in three wings; Cavalry Corps (Bingham) of three divisions; I. Army (Haig) I. Corps (H. Gough), III. Corps (Pulteney), IV. Corps (Rawlinson), Indian Corps (C. B. Anderson); II. Army (Plumer) II. Corps (Fergus- son), V. Corps (H. D. Fanshawe), VI. Corps (Keir); III. Army (Monro, then Allenby) two Indian cavalry divisions (Barrow and Cookson), VII. Corps (Snow), X. Corps (Morland), Cana- dian Corps (Alderson), XI. Corps (Haking).
On Dec. 19 1915 Gen. Sir Douglas Haig succeeded Field-Marshal Sir John French in command of the British armies in France, and Lt.-Gen. L. E. Kiggell became chief of the general staff. In Feb. 1916, Lt.-Gen. G. H. Fowke became adjutant-general. Field-Marshal Sir J. French was appointed commander-in-chief of the Home Forces. In Dec. 1915 the reorganization of the War Office staff at home, necessitated by the enormous expansion of the British army and the increasing number of theatres of war, caused considerable changes. Lt.-Gen. Sir W. Robertson succeeded Lt.-Gen. Sir A. J. Murray, as C. I. G. S. Lt.-Gen. Sir C. F. N. Macready succeeded Lt.- Gen. Sir H. C. Sclater as adjutant-general to the forces in Feb. 1916. Lt.-Gen. Sir J. Cowans continued as quartermaster-general to the forces a position which he had occupied since the commencement of the war and which he held until the end. In Feb. 1916 Gen. Sir C. C. Monro took command of the I. Army in France.
In Sept. 1916 the British Expeditionary Force in France continuing its expansion was reorganized into five armies, comprising: G.H.Q. troops; Royal Flying Corps (Trenchard) in five brigades; I. Army (Monro, then Home)!., IV., XL Corps, totalling 10 divisions; II. Army (Plumer) VIII., IX., I. Anzac, II. Anzac Corps, totalling 13 divisions and including 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Australian and 4th Canadian Divs.; III. Army (Allenby) 2nd Cav. and 1st (Indian) Cav. Divs., VI., VII., XVII. Corps, totalling I cavalry division and 6 divisions; IV. Army (Rawlinson) ist Cav. and 2nd (Indian) Cav. Divs., III., X., XIV., XV. Corps, totalling 2 cavalry divisions and 17 divisions (including the Guards and New Zealand Divs ) Reserve (later V.) Army (Gough) 3rd Cav. Div., II., V., XIII. and Canadian Corps, totalling I cavalry division and 10 divisions.
In Oct. 1916 Gen. Sir C. Monro was appointed commander-in- chief in India and was succeeded in command of the I. Army by Gen. Sir H. S. Home. In June 1917 Gen. Sir E. H. H. Allenby was ap- pointed commander-in-chief in Egypt and Palestine, and was suc- ceeded in command of the III. Army by Gen. Sir J. H. G. Byng.
In Aug. 1917 the organization of five armies still held good. The Cav. Corps had been reconstituted, and comprised the ist, 2nd,, 3rd and 5th Cav. Divs.; the Indian units of the Indian cavalry divisions having been transferred to Egypt and Palestine, and the remainder of the cavalry reenforced by mounted yeomanry having been reorganized into the above divisions. The I. Army (Home), con- taining the I., XI, XIII., Canadian and Portuguese Corps, totalled 13 divisions the 4 Canadian divisions being now in one corps and the 2 Portuguese divisions which had joined the Allies being or- ganized with the British forces. The II. Army (Plumer) comprised the IX., X., I. Anzac and II. Anzac Corps, totalling 12 divisions; the 1st, 2nd and 5th Australian Divs., constituting the I. Anzac Corps and the 3rd and 4th Australian Divs., with the New Zealand Division, the II. Anzac Corps. The III. Army (Byng) comprised the III., IV., VI., VII., and XVII. Corps and the 4 th Cav. Div. totalling I cavalry division and 15 divisions. The IV. Army (Raw- linson) temporarily comprised only the XV. Corps of 4 divisions, and the 1st Div., not incorporated in a corps. The V. Army (Gough) comprised the II., V., VIII., XIV., XVIII. and XIX. Corps.
In Nov. 1917 Gen. Sir H. Plumer was appointed to command the British troops in Italy, and Gen. Sir H. Rawlinson was transferred from the command of the IV. Army to that of the II. until within a fortnight of Gen. Plumer's return in March 1918. General Sir H. Rawlinson was, in Feb. 1918, appointed British military representa- tive on the Supreme War Council (recently instituted) and a member of the Army Council. In March, however, he was recalled to com- mand the V. Army in the crisis following the German offensive of March 21, and in the following month resumed command of the IV. Army. In Dec. 1917 Lt.-Gen. Sir T. E. Clarke was appointed quartermaster-general, and in Jan. 1918 Lt.-Gen. Sir H. A. Lawrence chief of the general staff in France.
In Feb. 1918 Lt.-Gen. Sir H. H. Wilson was appointed chief of the imperial general staff at the War Office, and Gen. Sir W. Robert- son shortly afterwards replaced Field-Marshal Viscount French (on the latter's appointment as viceroy of Ireland) as commander-in- chief in Great Britain. In Sept. 1918 Maj.-Gen. Sir G. M. W. Macdonogh succeeded Gen. Sir C. F. N. Macready as adjutant- general to the forces at the War Office, on the latter's appointment as chief commissioner of the metropolitan police.
In Aug. 1918 there were still five armies, the cavalry corps having been reduced to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divs., and the XIV. and XVIII. Corps broken up. These changes were due to the diminished person- nel available. The composition of the divisions, too, had been weakened by the reduction of infantry brigades to 3 instead of 4 battalions.^ The Royal Flying Corps (now designated " The Royal Air Force ") in France had been increased by the creation of the Independent Air Force (Trenchard), which took up positions in rear of the French and was concerned with long-distance bombing.
At the time of the Armistice on Nov. II 1918 the order of battle comprised: G.H.Q. troops; Royal Air Force (T. M. Salmond), Headquarters Squadron and 9th Bde. (directly under G.H.Q.), with the 8th Bde. in the Independent Air Force (Trenchard) ; Cavalry Corps (Kavanagh) of three divisions; I. Army (Home) VII., VIII., XXII. and Canadian Corps, and 1st Bde., R.A.F. ; II. Army (Plumer) II., X., XV., XIX. Corps and 2nd Bde., R.A.F. ; III. Army (Byng) IV., V., VI., XVII. Corps and 3rd Bde., R.A.F.; IV. Army (Rawlinson) IX., XIII. Australian Corps and 5th Bde., R.A.F.; V. Army (Birdwood) I., III., XL, Portuguese Corps and loth Bde., R.A.F.
After the conclusion of the Armistice the bulk of the armies were demobilized or transferred home, the remainder forming, with young soldier battalions from home, the army of the Rhine and the neces- sary clearing-up forces in France and Belgium.
Italy. In Nov. 1917, in the crisis following Caporetto, British and French reenforcements were sent from France. The British troops were allotted the Montello sector of the defence of the Piave, which was the hinge linking the portion of the line facing N. in the Alps with that facing E. in the plain and covering Venice. General Sir H. Plumer, until then commanding the II. Army in France, was appointed to the independent command of the British troops in Italy. On Dec. 4 the line allotted was taken over. The troops com- posing the force were: XIV. Corps (Lord Cavan); 5th, 7th, 23rd, 4 ist and 48th Divisions. Later, when it was decided not to maintain as large a force in Italy as was originally intended, Gen. Plumer returned to France and was succeedad in command on March 10 1918 by Gen. the Earl of Cavan. Lt.-Gen. Sir J. M. Babington assumed command of the XIV. Corps. The 4ist Div. returned to France in March, followed by the 5th Div. in April. In Oct. the X. Italian Army including the XIV. British Corps (less 48th Div.), and the XL Italian Corps, later temporarily reenforced by the XVIII. Italian Corps was placed under the orders of Lord Cavan for what proved to be the final offensive. The 48th Div. was temporarily attached to the XII. Italian Corps.
Egypt. In Jan. 1915 the garrison of Egypt had been enlarged by the arrival of troops from England, India, Australia, and New Zea- land to a total strength of 68,000. They were at that time organized as: Army Troops; Indian Expeditionary Force consisting of the loth and nth Indian Divs. composed of British and Indian units; East Lancashire (Territorial) Div.; Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Lt.-Gen. Sir W. Birdwood), comprising the 1st Aus- tralian and the New Zealand and Australian Divs. The garrison at the outbreak of war was commanded by Maj.-Gen. the Hon. J. H. Byng, who was relieved in the increased command at the end of Sept. 1914 by Lt.-Gen. Sir J. G. Maxwell. In March 1915 the expedition to the Gallipoli peninsula was launched from Egypt (which acted as lines of communication to the force), and the remainder of the troops were organized for the defence of the Suez Canal. Lt.-Gen. Sir. A. J. Murray was appointed to the command in Jan. 1916 with Maj.-Gen. A. Lynden Bell as chief of the general staff, Maj.-Gen. W. Campbell as senior administrative staff officer, and Maj.-Gen. E. A. Altham as inspector-general of communica- tions for the whole Mediterranean. Lt.-Gen. Sir J. G. Maxwell retained the position of High Commissioner.
The forces, reenforced by the withdrawal of the Dardanelles Expeditionary Force and from France, were organized for the defence of the Suez Canal, with the XV. Corps (Home) at Port Said, the IX. Corps (Byng) at Suez, the Anzac Corps (Godley) at Ismai'lia, and the VIII. Corps (Davies) in reserve. The 2nd and 4th Australian Divs. were in process of formation. The 46th Div. arrived from France but returned before being incorporated in a corps. After the abortive Turkish attack the following reductions and changes took place gradually.
In 1916 the VIII., XV. and IX. Corps H.Q. returned to France, where they were reconstituted, the 42nd Div. (Feb.), 3lst, 1st and 2nd Australian (March), New Zealand (April), 2nd and 4th Aus- tralian (June) and nth (July) Divs., proceeding to France in the months shown, and the I3th Div. to Mesopotamia in March.
In June 1917, after the first battle of Gaza, Gen. Sir E. H. H. Allenby replaced Lt.-Gen. Sir A. Murray in the chief command, and in July the Eastern Force was under Lt.-Gen. Sir P. W. Chet-
