LAUGH OR CRY: RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING

LAUGH OR CRY: PART II

In the second part of their series exploring humour among British troops during World War One, Peter Hart and Gary Bain examine how recruitment and training was perhaps only funny for one section of the army

MEMBERS OF THE 15TH COUNTY OF LONDON DURING PHYSICAL DRILL IN HYDE PARK IN WESTMINSTER. STRENGTH-SAPPING EXERCISE WAS USED TO WEED OUT THE ALCOHOL AND EASE THE MUSCLES AHEAD OF A DAY OF TRAINING, ALL COMPLETED UNDER A CEASELESS BARRAGE OF INSULTS FROM THE INSTRUCTORS

TOPFOTO

The war on the Western Front was underway. The British had been blooded at Mons, the Marne had been won and the ‘race to the sea’ had been completed. Attack was followed by counterattack, one bloody repulsion followed another and the soldiers were entrenched from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border.

However, one problem was that the professional cadre of the British Expeditionary Force, the all-volunteer ‘old contemptibles’, had suffered heavily. Not only were replacements demanded, but so was a massive expansion. At this point, voluntary recruitment was raising Kitchener’s First Hundred Thousand, while many more were joining Territorial battalions.