The Walrus and the Penguin (II)

The Mobilization of the British Army (1914-1916)

Herbert Horatio Kitchener (Library of Congress)

The following continues a series begun with the following post.

The Walrus and the Penguin

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On 5 August 1914, the Regular Army began to mobilize. Thanks to a combination of meticulous preparation and the trained manpower provided by the Special Reserve, this process was an extraordinarily smooth one. Within a week, the lion’s share of this gargantuan exercise in administration and logistics had been completed, and many elements of the Expeditionary Force were already aboard the ships that would take them to the Continent. Soon thereafter, the great task was complete, and the Special Reserve took up its principle wartime duty of training the men (and, in some corps, the horses) needed to maintain the strength of the Expeditionary Force.

The mobilization of the Regular Army coincided with the ‘embodiment’ of the Territorial Force, a measure that called for all members of that body to report to their drill halls for continuous active service. In many respects, ‘embodiment’, which involved the drawing the stores, the preparation of equipment, and the requisition of horses, bore a close resemblance to mobilization. The two processes differed, however, in one important respect. Where the mobilization of the Regular Army provided the United Kingdom with a force that was ready to take the field, the embodiment of the Territorial Force provided a body prepared to begin a course of serious military training.