Recruitment WW100

from volunteering to conscription

TheArmy struggled to supply new soldiers with uniforms and weapons.While Officers

were expected to buy their own uniform from a military outfitter,everything from boots

and trousers to caps and vests had to be hurriedly produced and distributed for the

other ranks. Thousands were issued with the temporary‘Kitchener Blue’uniform and a

cardboard cap badge.Some recruits thought these substitute uniforms made them look

like postmen.Others had to wait many weeks before they received any uniform at all and

reports of clothing theft in camps were common.

Learning how to use a rifle was a critical part of a new soldier’s training but weapons

were in desperately short supply.

In a country defined by class,only‘gentlemen’from the upper and middle classes were

expected to become new Officers in 1914.Britain’s public schools and universities were the

main recruiting grounds for the new leaders required to manage the new soldiers in the

ranks.Young officers were taught how to control and care for men and how to command

their respect.The most junior Infantry Officers,Second Lieutenants,were often only

teenagers.Each had to lead a platoon of around thirty men,many older and from much

tougher backgrounds than themselves.

The months spent as a trainee soldier improved the health of many men with some

putting on weight from theArmy food!Training together created a spirit of comradeship

and men learned to operate as a cohesive unit.Soldiers departing for the Front were often

waved off by patriotic civilians.For most,it would be their first time abroad.Each soldier

carried a message from Lord Kitchener in his pay book,reminding him to be‘courteous,

considerate and kind’to local people and allied soldiers,and to avoid‘the temptations

both in wine and women’.

New recruits have their kit fitted following enlistment.One young man is helped into his tunic