On Friday, in article
<memo.20080229124109.3532A@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
prd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Paul Dormer" wrote:
> In article <slrnfsfsat.28q.andyl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, andyl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> (Andy Leighton) wrote:
>
> > Conscription wasn't introduced in Britain until 1916. Of course once
> > it was introduced it took a hell of a lot of people, willing or not,
> > and by the end of the war conscripts far outnumbered the
> > volunteers.
>
> Do you know when in 1916? Am I right in thinking that all the British
> participants at the Somme (July-November) would have been volunteers?
Yes.
And a lot of them were not well-trained. Part of the apparent stupidity
of the tactics came from doubts that the volunteers were capable of the
more effective pre-war professional army tactics. The training system
had been overwhelmed, and months were wasted before the volunteers even
saw a rifle. My grandfather was one of those volunteers, though his
battalion didn't get into the Somme battle until after the First Day.
After two years of combat experience, he'd spent time attached to the
Americans, teaching them how not to be stupid in the trenches.
Both the British and US Armies had worked out how to avoid that problem
for the next big war, which also came with a bit more build-up. It
didn't prevent a fiasco such as Kasserine Pass, though Rommel and the
DAK would be hard to match.
--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
On the horizon, a carrier task force of the Salvation Navy was
turning into the wind, preparing to launch Zeppelins.
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