Kindle Notes & Highlights
The electrical department provided everything that was not mechanical, including pontoons and mining stores.
However, in 1914 the Commander-in-Chief in France asked for small searchlights for field companies.
At home, they were used as anti-aircraft lights, mainly in London, once Zeppelin attacks commenced.
The Commander-in-Chief in France then requested additional antiaircraft lights and by December 1917 the establishment in France included ninety more projectors
Larger quantities of surveying stores were also needed; these included some 10,200 levels, 3,300 measuring chains, 3,900 inclinometers, 3,250 sextants and numerous other instruments.
Sandbags were needed on such a large scale for trenches that all the available stocks in Great Britain were bought up, as well as several million bags
Large amounts of ballast were needed for the maintenance and construction of railways. Mine refuse from Bethune and sand from Calais were transported by rail or road.
Trenches, once dug, needed to be drained, and the Royal Engineers supplied hand-operated pumps for this, as well as heavy duty mechanical pumps for water supply from boreholes, and purification equipment including sand filters. These pumps were mounted on lorries and thus could be easily moved from borehole to borehole as needed.
The Royal Engineers needed numerous vehicles to carry equipment, from tools to building and bridging materials and explosives.
As an example, it was thought that 8,800 telegraph poles, 2,300 miles of field cable and 900 portable telephones would be enough; in the first two years of war the actual use of these was 334,000, 165,000 and 51,000 respectively.
In October 1914 the Commander-in-Chief in France proposed some improvements in telephone communications between artillery units and the divisional artillery commander.
Other items which were difficult to obtain included signalling lamps and electrical cells (batteries) and telephone switchboards.
Other signalling activities included the use of despatch riders, who rode motorcycles (Triumphs for preference) and carried,
At the beginning of the war there were few bridges in Flanders capable of carrying the amount of traffic needed for a serious advance.
The first order, placed in October 1914, was for enough material for sixteen steel girder bridges;
Each of the new armies included one horsed bridging train, and one mechanical transport bridging train.
When the expeditionary force was mobilised, it was provided with equipment including airbags and superstructure to construct rafts.
There was some discussion on the necessity of providing bridging pontoons to carry heavy loads across wide rivers, such as the Rhine.
Bridging was mostly done with pontoons, either using custom-built pontoon boats, or whatever local boats were available.
Barges were also used to fill gaps in bridges. Fitted with turntables, they carried a double roadway for floating bridges,
Charles Inglis, a Royal Engineers officer, invented what came to be called the Inglis Bridge.
Heavy bridging depots were located at Havre and Les Attaques; each had a fleet of 280-ton barges, comprising one fully equipped workshop barge,
By the end of 1915 three of these fleets were completed and a fourth was nearly ready.
Early in 1917, when it was realised that canal transport was not useful for carrying bridging material during an advance, the barge depots were discontinued
However, the fact that many areas of the front lacked canals meant that smaller bridging store depots were needed in those areas and these were duly set up.
The result was that in February 1913 the existing Army Post Office Corps and the proposed Territorial Army Postal Service
When war was declared in August 1914, all but two NCOs and twentyeight other ranks went to France with the BEF.
This all needed more personnel. By November 1914 the original twoNCOs and twenty-eight other ranks had been joined by two officers and 145 other ranks;
This ration was changed after a few weeks, and again early in 1917, the second time reducing the amount of bread to 16oz.
The numbers fed during the war rose from 324,000 in 1914 to 2,973,690 in 1918, and the amount of bread issued in an average month rose from 5,974,382 in 1914 to 58,717,114 in 1918.
At the time of the Armistice more than 7,000,000 tins of pork and beans were purchased each month from the USA.
To make it easier to store, handle and collect, it was decided that the meat supply should be frozen; however,
Despite the shortage of supply, it was thought unwise to reduce the sugar ration for trench troops, but the sugar shortage, combined with a failure of the fruit crop, allowed a reduction in the jam ration. As well as hay, potatoes were managed by the Forage Committee. When the full quantities became difficult to obtain, arrangements were made in Ireland and Jersey to ensure a regular supply, and seed potatoes were sent out to Egypt and Salonika.
One small problem lay in providing food to Orthodox Jews. There were three Jewish battalions recruited in Palestine who were granted
British soldiers carried an ‘emergency’ ration. Originally this was just chocolate, but after it was realised that it was insufficient,
The packaging required was either tins (and for a couple of items, glass or stoneware pots) packed in wooden cases made to War Office
Bags also had to be obtained from the Reserve Supply Department for granulated sugar and salt, both to be in double
Bacon came as sides, middles or bellies, each piece to be wrapped and sewn into stout canvas, then packed into iron-bound wooden
Meat essence and meat extracts were to be in sealed glazed earthenware or glass pots, containing 1 or 2oz, packed
Everything else was to be in tins, made of best quality steel coated with pure tin; 112 of the steel sheets,
Preserved meat could be beef or mutton, the beef from animals between two and four years old, and the meat
Corned beef or mutton should contain no preservatives except salt, saltpetre and sugar. Roast or boiled beef or mutton should be in tins containing
Roast chicken (or as the tins stated ‘roast fowl’) was in 12oz tins, so must have been either a very small bird
Tea was to be a blend of two or more types of pure China, Indian or Ceylon tea, the blending to be done in a public bonded warehouse.
It took a while to get enough trained cooks for the army, and some female civilian cooks were used at first.
it was not until factory canteens were started by industrialists that the machinery that was needed for large-scale catering made its appearance.
Cooks were recommended to keep a brine tub for preserving meat. The brine was just salt and water, strong enough to float the meat
The bakery at Calais was near the docks. There were four officers and 1,020 other ranks, plus 100 workers from the docks who could be attached when needed. It consisted of four field corps bakeries and could produce a total of 450,000 2lb loaves per day, of which 60,000–80,000lb were for the French. It had sufficient racks for two days’ production.
Although it was not really suitable, the only building available for the bakery was an old paper mill.
There were fourteen bread stores at Boulogne, each with a capacity of 900,000 2lb loaves; these were then packed for issue in bags containing twenty-five
