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Pre-War Regular, Reserve and Territorial Force Infantry Battalions.
Immediately prior to the outbreak of the
Great War, the Regular Infantry of the British Army consisted of four
Guards Regiments and sixty-nine Infantry Regiments. Infantry
Regiments normally consisted of two active Battalions, with one
Battalion serving overseas and one in the UK. Each Regiment
would normally have one Reserve Battalion, based at the Regimental
Depot, which trained new soldiers and supplied reinforcing drafts to the
two active Battalions. In the case of the South Wales
Borderers, as with most Infantry Regiments, the active Battalions were
numbered the 1st and 2nd, and the Reserve Battalion was numbered the 3rd
(Reserve).
Many of the Infantry Regiments, including
the SWB, also had Territorial Force (TF)
Battalions. These were made up of part-time officers and
soldiers who had signed up for Imperial or Home Service, and each of
these Battalion trained its own personnel so there was therefore no
requirement for the TF to be established with Reserve Battalions.
The TF Battalions were usually numbered after the Regular and Reserve
Battalions of the Regiment and often had a second title linking them
with their home city or town. In the SWB the one TF
battalion was named 1st Brecknockshire Battalion TF.
Each of the active
Battalions, overseas and UK based, were grouped with a Brigade and/or
Division and immediately prior to the outbreak of war, Battalions of the
SWB were deployed as follows:
- 1st Battalion (Regular).
Based at Bordon, Hants, part of 3rd Brigade/1st Division.
- 2nd Battalion (Regular).
Based at Tientsin, China (protecting the British Concession in the
City).
- 3rd (Reserve) Battalion.
Based at The Barracks, Brecon.
- 1st Brecknockshire Battalion (TF). Based at
The Barracks, Brecon. Part of the South Wales Brigade
TF, Welsh Division TF.
The Re-Organisation at the Outbreak of
War.
The Regular and Reserve Battalions saw
little change at the outbreak of war, only their reinforcement to War Establishment by Regular
and Special Reservists and the deployment to mobilisation locations.
In the TF Battalion, those personnel who had signed up for Imperial
Service were formed into the First Line of the Battalion, designated the1/1st
Brecknockshire Battalion (TF), for service
overseas. Those who had signed for Home Service (and could
not or would not sign up for Imperial Service) were formed up into the
Second Line of the Battalion designated the 2/1st Brecknockshire
Battalion. These Battalions continued
to recruit and train their own personnel.
Service Battalions.
On the outbreak of war, The Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener,
saw that the UK must be prepared for a war lasting three to four years,
requiring an Army of at least 70 Divisions. On 7th August
1914, he started a campaign to recruit an initial 100,000 men, but the
response was overwhelming and 500,000 were signed up. He
decided not to use the framework of the TF to expand the Army, but to
create a "New Army", separate from the current Regulars and
Territorials. More than 500 New Army Battalions were raised
forming the basis of three New Armies, known as K1 (9th - 14th
Division), K2 15th - 20th Division) and K3 (21st- 26th Division).
The New Army Battalions were numbered consecutively after the existing
Regular and Territorial Battalions and they were distinguished by the
word "Service", in brackets, after their number. In the SWB, the Service Battalions raised were:
- 4th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Brecon, in August - September 1914.
K1. Allocated to 40th Brigade, 13th Division.
- 5th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Brecon, in August - September 1914.
K2. Allocated to 58th Brigade, 19th Division.
- 6th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Brecon in September 1914.
K3. Allocated to 76th Brigade, 25th Division.
- 7th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Brecon in September 1914.
K3. Allocated to 67th Brigade, 22nd Division.
- 8th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Brecon in September 1914. K3. Allocated to
67th Brigade, 22nd Division.
- 9th (Reserve)
Battalion. Raised as a Service Battalion at Pembroke
Dock in October 1914. K4. Became a Second Reserve
Battalion, on the break-up of 4th Army in late 1914/early 1915, to
train and supply reinforcements to SWB Service Battalions of K1, K2
and K3.
Locally Raised Service Battalions.
Apart from the formal Service Battalions being raised as described
above, local Citizen's Recruiting Committees were raising their own
Battalions independent of the War Office. The expense of
raising, clothing, feeding, housing and training of these Battalions
were met by the Recruiting Committees until they were formally taken
over by the War Office in 1915 and added to the Army Establishment.
At this time all previous expenses were refunded to Committees and
further costs borne by the War Office. These Battalions were
to become known as Locally Raised Battalions and provided the majority
of the infantry for the 4th New Army (K4). The Battalions
were numbered consecutively after the Service Battalions in a Regiment
and had an additional title showing the connection with the city, area
or organisation which raised them. In the SWB the Locally Raised Battalions were:
- 10th (Service) Battalion (1st
Gwent). Formed at Brecon, in October 1914. K4.
Allocated to 115th Brigade, 38th Division.
- 11th (Service) Battalion (2nd
Gwent). Formed at Brecon in December 1914.
K4. Allocated to 115th Brigade, 38th Division..
- 12th (Service) Battalion (3rd
Gwent). Formed at Newport in March 1915. K4.
Allocated to 119th Brigade, 40th Division.
Further Re-Organisations.
Territorial Force (TF).
By June 1915 most of the First Line Battalions of the TF had been
deployed to active service locations overseas and the Second Line
Battalions were preparing for future overseas service and so a Third
Line Battalion was
formed to train and supply reinforcements to the First Line and later to the Second Line Battalions.
Home Service personnel and those not fit for overseas service were
transferred from the Second and Third Line Battalions to the
non-Regimentally affiliated Provisional Battalions TF. In the
SWB, the Third Line Battalion TF raised was:
- 3/1st
Brecknockshire Battalion (TF).
Formed
at Brecon in April 1915 and moved to Milford Haven to guard local
installations and to train recruits and provide drafts for 1/1st and
2/1st Brecknockshire Battalions Became 1st (Reserve)
Brecknockshire Battalion TF on 8th April 1916, part of the Welsh Reserve Brigade TF.
Absorbed by 1st (Reserve) Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment TF in
August 1917 at Gobowen in Shropshire. This
unit was later billeted at Kinmel Park, Rhyl, before being based at Herne
Bay in July 1918 where it remained to the end
of the war as part of Medway Garrison.
Locally Raised Service Battalions.
By late 1915 and early 1916 the
three locally raised battalions of
the SWB (10th,
11th and 12th) had been deployed to
active service locations overseas
but no local Reserve Battalions had
been established to supply them with
recruited and trained manpower.
Two further Reserve Battalions of
the SWB were
therefore raised as follows:
-
13th
(Reserve) Battalion.
Formed at St Asaph in July 1915
from the Depot Companies of 10th
and 11th Battalions.
-
14th
(Reserve) Battalion.
Formed at Prees Heath in
September 1915 from the Depot
Company of 12th Battalion.
Service Battalions.
By spring 1915 it had become clear
that voluntary recruitment was not
going to provide the numbers of men
required. The Government
passed the National Registration
Act on 15th July 1915 as a step
towards stimulating recruitment and
to discover how many men between the
ages of 15 and 65 were engaged in
each trade. The results
of this census became available by
mid-September 1915 and on
11th October 1915, Lord Derby was
appointed Director-General of
Recruiting. He brought
forward a scheme five days later,
always called the Derby Scheme, for
raising the numbers. It was
half-way to conscription.
Disappointed at the results
of the Derby Scheme, the Government
introduced the Military Service Act
on 27 January 1916. All
voluntary enlistment was stopped as
all British males were now deemed to
have enlisted - that is, they were
conscripted - if they were
aged between 18 and 41 and resided
in Great Britain (excluding Ireland)
and were unmarried or a widower on 2
November 1915.
Conscripted men were no longer given
a choice of which service, regiment
or unit they joined, although if a
man preferred the navy it got
priority to take him.
This act was extended to married men
on 25 May 1916.
The
Training Organisation, based on the
Regimental Reserve Battalions could
not cope with the sheer number of
conscripted men now available and a
new system was put in place on 1st
September 1916 to deal with these
numbers. All New Army
Regimental Reserve Battalions would
lose their Regimental identity and
become a Battalion of the Training
Reserve. The role of
these Battalions was to train new
recruits for active service and
despatch drafts to Service
Battalions overseas. The
Reserve Battalions of the SWB were
reorganised as follows:
-
9th (Reserve) Battalion.
Based at Kinmel Park, formed the
57th Training Reserve Battalion,
part of 13th Reserve Brigade.
-
13th (Reserve) Battalion.
Based at Kinmel Park, formed the
59th Training Reserve Battalion,
part of 13th Reserve Brigade.
-
14th (Reserve) Battalion.
Based at Kinmel Park, formed
65th Training Reserve Battalion,
part of 14th Reserve Brigade.
More Reorganisations.
Training Reserve Battalions.
In 1917 the Training Reserve was
re-organised to provide better and
more specialised training for
recruits and a total of 14 TR
Battalions were designated "Young
Soldier" and "Graduated" Battalions.
This system saw these new Young
Soldier Battalions take in and
trains 18 year olds recruits and
train them step by step until the
recruits could be posted , in
Company strength, to Graduated
Battalions for further training
until ready to be sent to active
service units. In
October 1917, these Battalions were
affiliated to Regiments of the Line
and In the SWB the new units formed
were:
-
51st (Graduated) Battalion.
Formed on 27th October 1917 from
230th Graduated Battalion
(formerly 58th Training Reserve
Battalion) at Aldeburgh, part of
204th Bde, 68th Div.
Part of 3rd Brigade, 1st
Division, British Army of
Occupation between 1st March -
31st July 1919.
-
52nd (Graduated) Battalion.
Formed on 27th October 1917 from
282nd Graduated Battalion
((formerly 57th Training Reserve
Battalion - formerly 9th
(Reserve) Battalion SWB) at
Canterbury, part of 201st Bde,
68th Div. Part of
3rd Brigade, 1st Division,
British Army of Occupation
between 1st March - 31st July
1919.
-
53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion.
Formed on 27th October 1917 at
Kinmel Park from 59th Young
Soldier Battalion, part of 14th
(Res) Bde. Part of
3rd Brigade, 1st Division,
British Army of Occupation
between 1st March - 31st July
1919.
Service Battalions.
The 15th (Service) Battalion
was formed at North Walsham in June
1918 and absorbed a
cadre of 10th Battalion Cheshire
Regiment (which had returned to UK
after this Battalion had suffered
many casualties during the 25th
Division's actions during the Battle
of the Aisne 1918 in May and June
1918). The war ended
before the unit was battle-ready and
the Battalion was disbanded at
Aldershot in
November 1918.
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