Territorial Force
The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army. It was created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. Members were liable for service anywhere in the UK and could not be compelled to serve overseas. In the first two months of the First World War, territorials volunteered for foreign service in significant numbers.
About Territorial Force in brief
The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army. It was created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. Members were liable for service anywhere in the UK and could not be compelled to serve overseas. In the first two months of the First World War, territorials volunteered for foreign service in significant numbers. They saw their first action on the Western Front during the initial German offensive of 1914, and the force filled the gap between the near destruction of the regular army that year and the arrival of the New Army in 1915. Territorial units were deployed to Gallipoli in 1915 and, following the failure of that campaign, provided the bulk of the UK contribution to allied forces in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. By the war’s end, the Territorial force had fielded twenty-three infantry divisions and two mounted divisions on foreign soil. After the war, the force was demobilised after the war and reconstituted in 1921 as the Territorial Army. The force experienced problems throughout its existence, and was further eroded as a separate institution when County Territorial Associations were relieved of most of their administrative responsibilities. The Second Boer War exposed weaknesses in the British army. The only reinforcements available were the auxiliaries, nearly 46,000 militiamen, who served in South Africa and another 74,000 were enlisted into the Volunteer Force. Against a background of invasion scares in the press, George Wyndham conceded in 1900 that instead of conscription, the regular forces could augment the regular force.
The war placed a significant strain on regular forces against a backdrop of invasion scare in 1900, and it was agreed that Territorials would be the best way to boost the strength of the BEF. The British Army of the late 19th century was a small, professional organisation designed to garrison the empire and maintain order at home, with no capacity to provide an expeditionary force in a major war. The militia and Volunteer Force had been linked with regular army regiments since 1872 and the militia was often used as a source of recruitment into the army. In 1900, 34,000 men volunteered for the yeomanry, which provided the nucleus of the separate Imperial Yeomanry for which over 34,00 men served in the South Africa campaign. The Territorial Force was formed to replace the militia, the Volunteer Force and theYeomanry. It became increasingly diluted as heavy casualties were replaced with conscripted recruits following the introduction of compulsory service in early 1916. The second line’s duties were further complicated by the expectation, later confirmed, that it too would be deployed overseas. Second-line units assumed responsibility for home defence and provided replacement drafts to the first line. To replace foreign-service units, the second line was doubled in size by creating a second line which mirrored the organisation of the original, first- line units. The New Army was raised to take over responsibility for territorial recruitment and training until a third line was raised.
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This page is based on the article Territorial Force published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
