Difference between revisions of "British Army Hierarchies"

Revision as of 02:37, 22 December 2014

Units, Formations and Regiments

The British Army had two hierarchies:

• Administrative
• Tactical

These were separate at higher levels but overlapped at lower levels.

• Regiments/Corps were administrative. Their member units served in many different formations at the same time.
• Formations were tactical. Their member units could be from different regiments, of different types, and even of different nationalities.
• Units were tactical and administrative at the same time.

Administrative Hierarchy

• Arm (infantry, cavalry or artillery; see also The Long Long Trail: Constitution of Military Forces)
• Record Office
• Regiment/Corps
• (some odd ones between regiment and unit that only apply in some cases)
  • Horse and Field Artillery were administratively part of the same Regiment/Corps but had distinct regimental identities within it
  • Motor Machine Gun Service had its own identity and cap badge. Originally part of Royal Artillery but later moved to Machine Gun Corps
  • Yeomanry regiments could be duplicated into 3 lines.
  • Army Service Corps was divided into horse transport, motor transport, remounts etc.
  • Territorial region (significant admin level for Territorial Royal Engineers but not for infantry; other arms may vary)
  • Royal Engineers (Transport) was a big organisation within the Royal Engineers. Signal Service was also a sub-group of Royal Engineers
  • Honourable Artillery Company was divided into infantry and artillery. The infantry part shared a record office with the London Regiment
• Units (see below)

Formation Hierarchy

This is a typical hierarchy based on the Western Front, but there were all sorts of non-standard formations in other theatres, especially in Africa and Asia.

• General Headquarters (usually one per theatre; sometimes synonymous with Expeditionary Force, sometimes not)
  • Lines of Communication (under GHQ in each theatre)
• Army (not used in every theatre)
• Corps
• Division
• Brigade (infantry, cavalry or tank, but not artillery)

Units could be direct members of any level of formation. Above Brigade level this was in groups known as Divisional Troops, Corps Troops, Army Troops, or GHQ Troops .

Unit Hierarchy

• Infantry Battalion; Cavalry Regiment; Field Artillery Brigade
• Infantry Company; Cavalry Squadron; Field Artillery Battery
• Infantry Platoon; Cavalry Troop; Field Artillery Section

A Royal Engineers Company was a similar size to an Infantry Company but for many types of engineers was the largest unit, attached directly to a formation.

Cavalry or Yeomanry Squadrons could be attached directly to an infantry division, separately from their parent regiments.

Regulars and Territorials

Every unit of the British Army could be classed as one of:

• Regular Army
• Territorial Force (including Yeomanry)
• Special Reserve
• New Army

These classifications apply at unit level and don't follow the admin hierarchy: most infantry regiments contained battalions of all types.

Except for Special Reserve, they can also apply to formations at Brigade and Division level, but are usually meaningless at higher levels.

Examples

Infantry Battalion

Administrative hierarchy:

• Arm: Infantry
• Record Office: Lichfield
• Regiment/Corps: Lincolnshire Regiment
• Unit: 1/5th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment
• Unit: B Company
• Unit: 5 Platoon

Same battalion's tactical hierarchy, 1 July 1916 (sources: gommecourt.co.uk; WO 95/2691):

• Formation: General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force (ie Western Front)
• Formation: Third Army
• Formation: VII Corps
• Formation: 46th Division
• Formation: 138th Infantry Brigade
• Unit: 1/5th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment
• Unit: B Company
• Unit: 5 Platoon

Regular Cavalry

Administrative hierarchy:

• Arm: Cavalry
• Record Office: Cavalry Canterbury
• Regiment/Corps: Corps of Dragoons
• Unit: 7th Dragoon Guards
• Unit: B Squadron

Same regiment's tactical hierarchy, 14 July 1916 (source: David Kenyon's PhD thesis, pp. 50-56):

• Formation: General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force (ie Western Front)
• Formation: Fourth Army
• Formation: XIII Corps
• Formation: 2nd Indian Cavalry Division
• Formation: Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade
• Unit: 7th Dragoon Guards
• Unit: B Squadron

The cavalry divisions on the Western Front were sometimes part of a tactical formation called Cavalry Corps, which should not be confused with the administrative corps of Dragoons, Hussars and Lancers.

Sources

These are some of the main sources for British Army structure and naming.

There is no complete published list of which divisions were in which corps and when. This data will need to be added manually from a variety of sources.

Primary

• London Gazette: supposed to publish Royal Warrants for creation of new regiments, but they're hard to find.
• The Army List: mostly a catalogue of officers. Supposed to contain lists of regiment names as used at the time, but they're hard to find.
• Army Orders: official orders for creating, renaming and disbanding units (among many other things). Published by HMSO. Sets in BL and TNA, WO 123. Has internal index but there does not appear to be any easily available index published separately.
• Army Council Instructions: official orders for creating, renaming and disbanding units (among many other things). Published by HMSO. Set in TNA.
• WO 95:
  • original orders of battle: snapshots of whole tactical hierarchy in each theatre at regular intervals.
  • original war diaries
  • catalogue data: includes regiment and unit names but not consistent enough to be an authority in itself.

Secondary

• William Spencer, First World War Army Service Records: a guide for family historians. Detailed guide to official documents of British Army, not just personnel files. Includes list of regiments and record offices, but this is incomplete and contains some errors.
• A.F. Becke, Order of Battle of Divisions (6 vols). Commonly known as 'Orders of Battle'. Mostly compiled from a sample of original orders of battle from WO 95, with notes on changes in between. Only covers British formations. Doesn't cite original documents for specific facts.
• E.A. James, British Regiments 1914-1918. Gives brief details of every British infantry battalion and cavalry regiment. Useful bibliography but doesn't cite sources for specific facts. Mostly superseded by The Long Long Trail, but includes what appears to be a definitive list of full names of British regiments.
• The Long Long Trail: Chris Baker's website. Includes pages for each British regiment and division. Brief history of battalions but doesn't have a detailed page for each battalion. Generally doesn't cite sources but regiment and division pages seem to be mostly derived from Becke and James. Mentions having corrected some errors in James so should be preferred where they disagree.