Call-to-Arms, by Charles Messenger

Call-to-Arms: The British Army 1914-18, by Charles Messenger
Cassell Military Paperbacks, 2005
506 pages plus British Army Acronyms, Medical Categories, Infantry units, Sources, bibliography, index and 16 pages of b&w photos

Description
In 1914 the British Army was scarcely more than an imperial police force. However professional, it was dwarfed by its Continental neighbors anf rivals. But by the end of the Fiurst World War, over 8.5 million men had been recruited and the British Army had become the most effective fighting force on the Western Front.

Charles Messenger charts how this unprecedented new force was raised, trained and deployed. He looks in detail at the problems of recruitment and training and at the difficulties of integrating regular troops with volunteers and later, conscripted men.

How was morale sustained among men wholly unused to military life but fighting a war in which death was dealt out on an industrial scale? And what was the role of women, who for the first time played a significant role in a major conflict?

Discipline, the treatment of the wounded, the provision of clothing, the huge difficulties such a vast force, the awarding of medals and other honours, officer selection, and the training of the Staff are just some of the themes in this comprehensive survey of the organisation of Britain's army in the First World WAr.

Table of Contents
List of illustrations
Introduction
1. The British Army in 1914
2. The REgular army Goes to War
3. The Territorials
4. The New Armies
5. Conscription
6. New Weapons, New Arms
7. Labour
8. Women in khaki
9. Manpower at the Front and the Crisis of 1918
10. Officer Selection and Training
11. The Staff
12. Discipline
13. Medicine
14. Welfare and Morale
15. Honours and Awards
16. The Verdict
Appendix 1: British Army Acronyms
Appendix 2: Medical Categories
Appendix 3: Infanrtry Units
Sources
Bibliography
Index