Change and continuity in combat: a statistical analysis of the officers of 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, 1914 to 1918

Abstract

ABSTRACTOfficers are an underexplored aspect of the Australian experience of the First World War. Using the wealth of data available from personnel and unit records from the Australian Imperial Force, this article takes a snapshot of the officers from the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion each Christmas Day from 1914 to 1918, to explore the changes in the battalion officer cohort as the war progressed. Throughout the war there was constant turnover of officers, and the battalion needed to maintain a strength over twice its war establishment in order to sustain casualties. Given the significant number of casualties suffered this required a large regular intake of new officers. However, the demographic composition did not change much, nor was there a perfect meritocracy. For all the dynamism about the movement of officers in and out of the battalion, it maintained a relatively static demographic profile throughout the war.