8th (Service) Battalion Border Regiment: Difference between revisions
8th (Service) Battalion Border Regiment (view source)
Revision as of 08:23, 29 June 2024
, 8 days agolinks to great war wiki
(→References / notes: one category added) |
(links to great war wiki) |
||
Line 15:
|transferred=Composite Brigade in 50th (Northumbrian) Division [[22 June]] 1918 prior to disbandment.
|disbanded=[[7 July]] 1918 at Embry, France<ref>On account of the 25th Division being broken up.</ref>
|notes=}}The '''8th (Service) Battalion Border Regiment''' was formed at Carlisle in September 1914 as part of [[
==First World War (1914-1918)==
Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener called for 100,000 men on [[8 August]] 1914 to help expand the British Armies in a fight against a formidable enemy. This enemy was greater in number and these numbers needed to be matched as closely as possible. A challenging task was set but within a short space of time scores of men enlisted to do their part and take on the might of the German Army and {{gw|Central Powers}}, whether they were ready or not, mentally or physically. The appeal for men was answered far sooner than anticipated and the rush to clothe, arm, house and feed these numbers proved to be more of a problem than the call for recruits in the first place. Thousands of recruits made their way to the Depot at The Border Regiment in Carlisle and the process of forming Service Battalions and assigning men to them began with haste. At first this would have been chaotic but with the implementation of re-enlisted {{gw|NCO}}'s and Civil Police Instructors, and all under the watchful eye of Major Nash of The Depot Staff, the organisation of such an undertaking brought
== Early training ==
The [[6th Border Regiment|6th]] and [[7th Border Regiment|7th]] Battalions were both raised and at full strength only one month after the outbreak of war. The 8th Border Regiment, made of men from Keswick, Kendal, Windermere and other towns and villages from both Cumberland and Westmorland, was different from the previous two battalions insofar as it was the first 'Pals' battalion of the Regiment. As soon as the Battalion was at strength they were sent off for training on the
The 8th Border Regiment remained at Codford until [[10 November]] when the move to the winter quarters at Boscombe (a suburb of the nearby Bournemouth) became a necessity. Here they stayed for several weeks seeing in the New Year and becoming quite popular amongst the locals as a result of their well behaved nature. During this time the men of the Battalion, whilst training hard and in time becoming something of a fighting force, were still wearing an assortment of various uniforms combined with civilian clothing. The speed at which the 8th Border Regiment was formed, brought to strength and sent off for training meant that, along with all the countless other battalions across the country doing the same, quotas for uniforms were in high demand and were simply not available for several months after formation. It wasn't until in early 1915 that the men were issued with their new uniforms and from that point they started to feel like they were part of the British Army. It was around this time that the Battalion was assigned to the 75th Infantry Brigade<ref>The 75th Infantry Brigade was made up of the 8th Battalion Border Regiment, 8th Battalion Lancashire Regiment and the 10th and 11th Battalions of the Cheshire Regiment.</ref> of the 25th Division, commanded by Brigadier-General J.A.H. Woodward and Major-General F. Ventris respectively.
Line 64 ⟶ 65:
==Roll of Honour==
The 8th Battalion World War One casualty list has been compiled using the publication ''[[Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19, Volume 39, The Border Regiment]]'' and cross-referenced with the
For the 8th Battalion roll of honour, see [[8th Battalion Border Regiment Casualty List]].
|