Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> No unit or formation of the first three New Armies kept its war diary until embarka- tion orders arrived. In consequence there is no official record of the troubles and diffi- culties of the early days of these new divisions. Nevertheless it is necessary to stress the shortage of clothing equipment and arms and the lack of sufficient trained instructors which almost every unit had to face from the day of its formation a shortage which in several of the divisions lasted all through 1914. Even in the divisions of the First New Army these deficiencies were very real; they naturally became more serious and were increasingly felt in the divisions of the Second and Third New Armies. All spare clothing equipment and arms were used up almost at once and for trained instructors the last- formed of the divisions had to rely largely on officers and n.c.o.s who had been wounded in the early fighting and had recovered sufficiently to report for duty. Divisional histories routine orders (when they existed) regimental histories and private accounts have been used for the compilation of the short narrative which deals with the formation of each division and the special difficulties which had to be surmounted before it was ready to embark for a theatre of war. Considering the general unprepared- ness of the country for participation in a great war it is remarkable that all but one of these eighteen newly-raised divisions should have been able to leave England within fourteen months of the declaration of war. The remaining division began embarkation in December 1915. (MP)