In typical British county regiments, the 1st and 2nd Battalions were regular army, the 3rd was the special reserve battalion which did not normally serve overseas but remained at home as the regimental depot and training unit, from which replacements were sent to the regular battalions. The 4th, 5th and 6th Battalions were normally Territorial Force battalions. Amongst the terms of service in the Territorial Force, service outside the United Kingdom was voluntary. Territorial battalions raised second line battalions which would be numbered 2/4th, 2/5th and 2/6th, initially from men who declined to volunteer for overseas service. The number of battalions depended on the recruitment potential of the area from which the battalions were raised (the Dorsetshire Regiment raised eleven battalions, whilst the London Regiment managed to raise eighty-eight battalions).[1] Regular army divisions were numbered 1st to 8th. "New Army" divisions of Kitchener's Army raised after the outbreak of war were numbered 9th to 26th. The 27th to 29th Divisions were Regular army divisions made up from units recalled from garrisons around the empire. The 30th to 41st were New Army and the 42nd to 74th were Territorial. The 63rd Division (Royal Naval Division) was made up from Naval Reserves and did not follow this numbering pattern.[2]
Army and Corps organisation
Army
British Expeditionary Force: Commander: General Sir Douglas Haig (since 10 December 1915)[3]
Fourth Army: The Fourth Army was formed on 5 February 1916.[4] Army Commander: General Sir Henry Rawlinson.[3]
Reserve Army: The Reserve Army was formed on 23 May 1916 and took over VIII and X Corps from the Fourth Army on 4 July 1916, during the Battle of Albert.[5] Army Commander: General Sir Hubert Gough[3]
Fifth Army: The Reserve Army was renamed the Fifth Army on 30 October 1916[6]
French Sixth Army, which contained British or Dominion forces:
20th Army Corps.[14] The 11th and 39th Divisions were attached to the French XX Corps (Sixth Army) for the opening days of the battle.[15]
35th Army Corps.[14] The British 2nd Division was detached to XXXV Corps, Sixth Army.[16]
Formations per battle
Refer following section titled "Divisions" for brigades, regiments and battalions associated with each division participating in the listed battles. Battle nomenclature and participating units information taken from source British Army Council Command Notice 1138 unless stated.[17]
A majority of the French Divisions were triangular divisions – comprising three regiments, with each regiment containing three battalions. During the Battle of Verdun, General Pétain had rotated the French Divisions through the battle – resulting in a large number of divisions entering the Battle of the Somme with experience.
Army and corps organisation
List of Army/Corps/Divisions involved taken from Organigramme des Grandes Batailles.[24]
Army
Northern Army Group (Groupe d'armées du Nord) Commander: General Ferdinand Foch
(Note: A majority of the corps and divisions were transferred from other armies during the battle.)
Infantry divisions
1st Infantry Division
2nd Infantry Division
3rd Infantry Division
4th Infantry Division
10th Infantry Division
11th Infantry Division
12th Infantry Division
13th Infantry Division
14th Infantry Division
17th Infantry Division
18th Infantry Division
20th Infantry Division
25th Infantry Division
26th Infantry Division
39th Infantry Division
41st Infantry Division
42nd Infantry Division
43rd Infantry Division
45th Infantry Division
46th Infantry Division
47th Infantry Division
48th Infantry Division
51st Infantry Division
53rd Infantry Division
56th Infantry Division
61st Infantry Division
62nd Infantry Division
66th Infantry Division
70th Infantry Division
72nd Infantry Division
77th Infantry Division
120th Infantry Division
121st Infantry Division
125th Infantry Division
127th Infantry Division
132nd Infantry Division
152nd Infantry Division
153rd Infantry Division
Moroccan Infantry Division
2nd Colonial Infantry Division
3rd Colonial Infantry Division
10th Colonial Infantry Division
15th Colonial Infantry Division
16th Colonial Infantry Division
Cavalry divisions
1st Cavalry Division
2nd Cavalry Division
3rd Cavalry Division
4th Cavalry Division
German: 2nd Army
German order of battle derived from Hart, Appendix C unless stated. Commander: General der InfanterieFritz von Below On 19 July, split into the 1st Army (opposite the British) and the 2nd Army, Commander: General der ArtillerieMax von Gallwitz (opposite the French) with authority over the 1st Army as Armeegruppe Gallwitz-Somme, this was not an army group, the term for which was Heeresgruppe Chief of the German General Staff: General der InfanterieErich Falkenhayn (until 28 August 1916), GeneralfeldmarschallPaul von Hindenburg. German divisions were being converted from square to triangular, hence some had four infantry regiments, others had three.
Guards divisions
Line divisions
Guards Reserve divisions
Reserve Infantry divisions
Ersatz divisions
Notes
^The 102nd and 103rd Infantry Brigades of the 34th Division had suffered many losses in the Battle of Albert, 1916, changed places with the 111th and 112th Infantry Brigades of the 37th Division and went into line with the 37th Division, IV Corps, First Army on Vimy Ridge, while the two 37th Division brigades, fought in the battles of Bazentin and Pozières under the 34th Division. (Liddle p. 176)
^The Cambridgeshire Battalion
^The Bermondsey Battalion
^The 2nd Portsmouth Battalion
^The Kent County Battalion
^The Lewisham Battalion
^The 2nd Football Battalion
^The Arts and Crafts Battalion
^The Wearside Battalion
^The Yeomen Rifles Battalion
^The 2nd Public Works Battalion
^ a bCity of London Regiment
^Poplar and Stepney Rifles Regiment
^1st Surrey Rifles Regiment
^London Irish Rifles Regiment
^ a bThe Queen's Regiment
^Post Office Rifles Regiment
^St. Pancras Regiment
^Civil Service Rifles Regiment
^Blackheath and Woolwich Regiment
^The Sutherland and Caithness Battalion
^The Ross Highland Battalion
^The Morayshire Battalion
^The Fife Battalion
^The Argyllshire Battalion
^The Buchan and Formartine Battalion
^The Highlanders Battalion
^The Banff and Donside Battalion
^The Deeside Highland Battalion
^The New Zealand Division later joined II ANZAC Corps together with the 3rd and 5th Australian Divisions
Citations and references
Citations
^Hart p. 42
^Hart p.43
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad aeWestern Front Association website
^Liddle p. 175
^ a bLiddle p.174
^Liddle p.175
^Hart p.164
^Hart p.385
^Hart p.132
^Hart p.184
^Liddell-Hart p.322
^Hart p.308
^Keegan p.320
^ a bDoughty p. 291
^Hart p.209
^Hart Appendix B
^Army Council, Cmnd 1138
^National Archives: Naval Division (1914–1919)
^Buchan p.58
^Buchan p. 56
^Long Long Trail
^Kincaid Smith 1920, pp. 11–12
^Hart p.54
^[1] Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine french: Organigramme des Grandes Batailles. Accessed 2010-07-01.
^ a b c dImperial War Museum (The Somme) website
^ a b cHart Appendix C
References
Books
Buchan, John (1992) [1920]. The History of the South African forces in France (litho repr. ed.). London: Imperial War Museum & Battery Press. ISBN 978-0-901627-89-6.
Digby, Peter. K. (1993). Pyramids and Poppies: The 1st SA Infantry Brigade in Libya, France and Flanders: 1915–1919. Rivonia: Ashanti. ISBN 978-1-874800-53-8.
Doughty, Robert A. (2005). Pyrrhic victory: French Strategy and Operation in the Great War. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Belknap Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01880-8.
Hart, Peter (2006). The Somme. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-36735-1.
Keegan, John (1998). The First World War (1st ed.). London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-09-180178-6.
Kincaid-Smith, M. (2001) [1920]. The 25th Division in France and Flanders (pbk. repr. Naval & Military Press ed.). London: Harrison & Sons. ISBN 978-1-84342-123-8. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
Liddle, P. H. (2001). The 1916 Battle of the Somme: A Reappraisal. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth. ISBN 978-1-84022-240-1 – via Archive foundation.
Robertshaw, Andrew; Dennis, Peter (2006). Somme: 1 July 1916. Campaign 169. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-038-3.
The Official Names of the Battles and Other Engagements Fought by the Military Forces of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914–1919, and the Third Afghan War, 1919: Report of the Battles Nomenclature Committee as Approved by The Army Council Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty. London: HMSO. 1921. OCLC 29078007.
Websites
"Order Of Battle For The Somme July–November 1916". Western Front Association. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
"The 21st Division in 1914–1918". The Long, Long Trail. 1914–1918 Net. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
"The German Army: Order of Battle 1 July 1916". The Battle of the Somme 1916 [microsite]. Imperial War Museum. 2006. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
Further reading
Edmonds, J. E.; Wynne, G. C. (2010) [1932]. Military Operations France and Belgium 1916: Appendices. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. I (Imperial War Museum and Naval & Military Press ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-84574-730-5.
James, E. A. (1990) [1924]. A Record of the Battles and Engagements of the British Armies in France and Flanders 1914–1918 (repr. London Stamp Exchange ed.). Aldershot: Gale & Polden. ISBN 978-0-948130-18-2.
External links
Order of Battle of British Infantry Units, 1 July 1916, Imperial War Museum Archived 4 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
