Brothers in arms
The Pals battalions of the First World War
A group of men are sworn in to the Leeds Pals Battalion in August 1914
Imperial War Museum (Q111825)
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The 900 men of the Leeds Pals Battalion – all friends and relatives from the same home city, with an average age of 20 to 21 years – went into action in the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916. Only 150 of them survived.
This horrific loss of life, repeated in regiments throughout the British Army, was made worse by the effect it had back home. Whole communities lost their men; and losses like this reverberated around Britain.
'When the news came through it was terrible,' wrote Richard Van Emden and Steve Humphries, quoting Edith Storey from Sheffield in their book All Quiet on the Home Front. 'Several of the boys I went to Sunday School with had joined the Sheffield Pals. We'd grown up together and they'd all joined together as a crowd. They were lovely boys. Dad ... said he had something very sad to tell me. They'd all been killed on the Somme. I was devastated.'
The Battle of the Somme, with its 419,650 British casualties, was more destructive of men than anything in the two previous years of the war, and it involved many of the Pals battalions. But the roots of this tragedy weave their way back to the start of the war.
Matching the enemy's might
The British government, under prime minister Herbert Asquith (holding the post from 1908 to 1916), quickly realised in 1914 that its army of less than half a million men would not be able to match its enemies' military might, which drew on huge numbers of conscripts.
The government did not want to introduce conscription. Lord Haldane had created the territorials, part-trained soldiers ready to be called up if necessary. These men, along with the professionally-trained soldiers who would take the lead in dealing with the complexities of modern warfare, were thought to be sufficient. In addition, in Britain, where even the principal of a written constitution setting out the rights and duties of citizens was regarded as suspect, the idea of the state directing its citizens into the armed forces was seen as likely to be very unpopular with the public. Lord Roberts' argument for compulsory military service was largely ignored.
In 1914, England had an expeditionary force of just 160,000 men. Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, realised that Britain was heading for a mass, industrialised war and that many more men would be needed to fight. Without conscription, some way had to be found to address the deficiency in the armed forces – urgently.
Lord Kitchener's image on a poster was alone not enough to recruit the many more troops the war effort required. The suggestion of Pals battalions encouraged more men to enlist
Imperial War Museum (PST2734)
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A call to arms
To attract more people, Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, issued his now famous call for men to join the armed forces, culminating with the poster featuring his hard-nosed face, insistent pointing finger and the words: 'Your country needs you.' The men enlisting in response to this early call became known as Kitchener's Army.
However, this commanding call alone was not enough to bring forward the necessary numbers of volunteers. General Henry Rawlinson had another suggestion, which the government took up, establishing recruitment through Pals (sometimes called Chums or Local) battalions. People in charge of recruiting would encourage men to join up with friends or colleagues from their area, workplace, church or sports club; and the men would be told they would train and serve with these local comrades. The idea was that morale would be enhanced if the men fought alongside people they knew.