Territorial Army Research Articles

An Audit Of Territorial Army Medical Grades On Presentation For Mobilisation And Full Time Reserve Service At RTMC Chilwell

An audit was carried out on a cohort of Territorial Army (TA) personnel passing through RTMC in order to assess the quality of their previous medical assessments compared to that...

At the double

The Territorial Army has devised an exercise programme that can be done at home, ideal for nurses on shift work. Catriona Richardson reports

Lionel Wigram, Battle Drill and the British Army in the Second World War

Like many thousands of his contemporaries, Lionel Wigram (1907-44), a London-based solicitor and property developer, joined the British army at the outbreak of the Second World War. Already commissioned in the Territorial Army, he joined the Colours as a captain. Battle drill, invented during the First World War and revived by the then Lieutenant-General Harold Alexander in I Corps after Dunkirk, was a method of teaching infantry minor tactics. Wigram played the leading part in spreading this training technique to the whole of the Home Army. Having founded and run 47th Division's School of Battle Drill in 1941, he was appointed chief instructor at the new GHQ Home Forces Battle School at Barnard Castle early in 1942. It was from here that battle drill swept through Home Forces. Later that year, the Barnard Castle school became a wing of the new War Office School of Infantry established on the same site, and battle drill gained War Office blessing. Battle drill was, however, a controversial training technique. Many officers, particularly those of the regular army, did not trust it. The War Office withheld its approval until battle drill's popularity with the troops threatened to make a mockery of official reservations. Although there were respectable pedagogical objections to battle drill, there were also other less honourable motives for the hostility battle drill aroused in some quarters. That Wigram was not a regular officer yet nonetheless presumed to teach the army its business was chief among them. Wigram reciprocated with a large measure of contempt for the regular army, which in his view had failed to maintain elementary infantry fighting skills. Dissenting from previous interpretations, this article contends that battle drill was a highly promising development that both rescued infantry morale and improved military efficiency. However, it proved not to be the panacea that many had hoped, although not for the pedagogical reasons that had prompted regular army doubts. The author explores the reasons for this situation, arguing that ultimately the regular army's failure to take Wigram into its confidence robbed British troops of their best chance of thorough training for the problems they would face in battle.

Territorial Army broadens your outlook and it pays

I am sorry Anne Porteous feels somewhat antagonistic towards the Territorial Army's drive for more nurses in its ranks (Letters February 24).

Campaign launched to recruit more nurses into the territorial army

Campaign launched to recruit more nurses into the territorial army

The Embryo of a wartime army

If at some point in the future Britain has to engage in a major conflict, the Army will have to be enlarged. To this extent the existing Regular Army should be seen in Enoch Powell's phrase as ‘the, embryo of a wartime army’ But what does this actually mean, both for the Regular Army and the traditional base for enlargement, the Territorial Army? Major Storr explores the basic premises for enlargement, the requirements for a future wartime army and whether the TA is the right instrument for enlargement. At the core of the issue the author sees the need for fully professional and pared down officer corps, without which the quality needed to command ‘the embryo of a wartime army’ cannot be guaranteed.

Phoney war and Blitzkrieg: the territorial army in 1939–1940

At the ‘outbreak of war in 1939, the Regular army was augmented by Territorials and militia to make up the British Expeditionary Force. By May 1940, they had suffered serious defeats which, given that the Territorials had theoretically been training for years, raised worrying questions. Here Peter Caddick‐Adams explores why the TA was in fact so unprepared for war, tracing back from its initial deployment the roots the problems encountered in. out of date equipment, training, recruitment and leadership, highlighting the dichotomy’ between peacetime and wartime ‘needs. These shortcomings were exacerbated by a lack of understanding of German strength and tactics, which contributed to the defeats encountered in Belgium. After considering the credible performance of the TA against the odds, Captain Caddick‐Adams discusses the poor financing and lack of commitment on the part of the authorities during, the 1930s. Despite these difficulties, TA units performed credibly, and with increasing importance and ability throughout the war. While the TA may be much better integrated into toddy's military capabilities the author concludes that current feelings of under‐ funding and undervalue still prevail and need to be countered if today's TA is not to be taken for granted.

Beyond Bosnia: Using the territorial army

The deployment of elements of the Territorial Army in Bosnia has proven conclusively that the TA can and do have an important role to play in the security and defence of the UK. Far from merely a showpiece for those playing at soldiers the Territorials provide real support, real, reserves and a key link between military and civil society Brigadier Holmes highlights the need for a broad recruiting network to ensure a balance of members and flexibility of structure to appeal to as many as possible. Training, service time and pressures of modern careers and lifestyles have all to be taken into account to maintain and enhance a capability based force able to respond when and where necessary. While hardly a panacea for societal ills, Brigadier Holmes concludes that volunteer forces have a great deal to offer society and volunteers alike.

Heat illness in the army in Cyprus.

Heat illness in the British Armed Forces is a significant occupational risk. This paper analyzes reports of heat casualties occurring in Episkopi, Cyprus from January 1990 through December 1994. A total of 96 casualties were reported from 48 separate incidents. On seven occasions, three or more casualties occurred concurrently (maximum 19). There were 20 incidents causing 32 casualties from Cyprus-based units and 28 incidents causing 64 casualties from units visiting Cyprus. There was a clear seasonal variation of reports with the maximum number of reports occurring from May to August. The majority of reported casualties occurred when the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature was between 26 degrees C and 29 degrees C. Cyprus-based units had most casualties occurring as a consequence of forced marching whereas most casualties from visiting units occurred during military field exercise training. Visiting Territorial Army units had the highest incidence of heat casualties for visiting units. The majority of heat casualties were mild; there were only ten severe cases. It was not possible to identify any particular risk factors applicable to individuals except incomplete acclimatization. The study showed that the current guidelines used by the British Armed Forces do not prevent all heat casualties. It is not possible to estimate how many casualties are prevented by the guidelines. All incidents involving a serious casualty or multiple casualties should be investigated to determine whether the guidelines should be further amended.

Reminiscences and discoveries: The British 3-inch anti-aircraft rocket. Part one: Dive-bombers

In 1940 Duncan Sandys, aged 32, was already a Member of Parliament, and had piloted himself all over Russia in his own small biplane. He had resigned from the Foreign Office because they had misread the dangers of Hitler, and had become Winston Churchill’s son-in-law. He was tall, broad-shouldered and, with his red hair, exceptionally good-looking. He was forceful and extremely able. He could be very persuasive but, if he thought he was being unreasonably thwarted, ruthless. He had little sense of danger, be it physical or of any other person. He had independent means. To his friends he was loyal and generous to a fault. He had joined the Territorial Army as a second lieutenant in a Royal Artillery anti-aircraft regiment. He had his first experience of real soldiering in May 1940 when the four-gun site he commanded on the bank of a Norwegian Fjord suffered heavy bombing. For the part he played in the subsequent evacuation he was recommended for immediate promotion to major.

At the Menin Gate

Abstract This essay reports an historical and sociological journey through family memories to the battlefield of World War I. It follows the short military career of a working class lad through the Territorial Army (Northumberland Fusiliers) to his death on the Ypres Salient in 1915. It builds on the bridges of memory, soldiers’ diaries, and newspaper reports to link the past to the present and explore the logic of war from the point of view of the ordinary soldier. The method employed generates new questions about World War I and is an accessible one for non‐specialists to use to organise their own journeys to the past.

Useable and relevant: The Territorial Army beyond the 90s

The Territorial Army, like all institutions, is being forced to adapt to the changed environment in which it finds itself. In this article. Kennedy and Holmes provide us with a useful historical background to the TA, their role, utility and broad areas of responsibility. They proceed to examine operational effectiveness and the TA's perspective on what they need from the current restructuring. The TA provides a link between society and the army, a connection which, the authors assert, is essential in what is a peculiarly demilitarised society.

HOSTILITY PATTERN AMONG TERRITORIAL ARMY PERSONNEL

A comparative study of hostility and direction of hostility was carried out on 26 Territorial Army personnel, 23 regular Army personnel, 23 patients with minor depression and 30 controls. No statistically significant difference in scores on any of the hostility subscales was found between the two groups of Army personnel and controls. The depressive group showed significantly high scores on self-criticism, guilt and total hostility as compared to the Territorial Army personnel. The difference in these intropunitive subscales (self-criticism and guilt) points to less proneness to depression in Indian Territorial Army personnel. Direction of hostility was found to be more extropunitive in regular Army and Territorial Army personnel as compared to normal group, which might be an outcome of military training.

You scratch my back..

“I done me Gazza ligament, innit, doc?” He had been route marching with the Territorial Army. I examined the knee, diagnosed simple overuse, and gave standard advice. “No x ray then, doc? Don't get no letter for the specialist?” “No x ray; no specialist,” I confirmed. He shrugged, hesitated, and asked for a chest x ray instead. He was young and had never smoked. I reminded him that this was not Marks and Spencers. But, he insisted, his mate had seen a bloke on the private for a routine checkup and got an x ray. He just knew I would have done more …

British military geologists: through the Second World War to the end of the Cold War

The mobile conflict of the Second World War demanded a greater range of British military geological expertise than hitherto, primarily in the North African, Italian and Northwest European campaigns but also in East Africa and the Far East, and in United Kingdom home defence. Most of the senior military geologists (W. B. R. King, F. W. Shotton, J. V. Stephens, W. A. Macfadyen, J. L. Farrington, D. R. A. Ponsford, W. T. Pickard) served with the Royal Engineers, principally on tasks relating to development of potable groundwater, quarrying for bulk aggregates and assessment of terrain for military purposes (including trafficability across beaches and siting of airfields). F. W. Anderson served in the infantry, but was seconded to guide research into the effects of aerial bombardment. All were temporary soldiers and returned to civilian life at the end of the war. Since 1948, however, the British Army has maintained continuity in geological expertise through officers of the reserve army (the Territorial Army or from 1953 to 1967 the Army Emergency Reserve), for peace-time engineering projects and active service in times of crisis, whether occasioned by military conflict or humanitarian need.

Making sense of the territorial army

Colonel Day here seeks to provide a framework for assessing the future worth of the Territorial Army in the context of the ‘One Army’ of the late twentieth century. He looks at the economic and historical factors which have led to dependence on both an all‐volunteer army and part‐time soldiers. He goes on to provide a model of the TA which takes account of the realities of readiness for war and the orientation of its members which will best serve the future needs of Britain's defences.

The challenge of the 90s for the Territorial Army

The author outlines the restructuring of the Territorial Army under the ‘Options for Change’ policy, and assesses the need for reformed attitudes within both the Regular Army and the Reserves if the TA is to fulfil an important role in the functioning of the Army.

Reserve Forces and the British Territorial Army: A Case Study for NATO in the 1990s. By Wallace Earl Walker. London: Tri-Service, 1990. 190p. $45.00 cloth, $20.00 paper. - Civilian-based Defense: A Post-military Weapons System. By Gene Sharp. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. 152p. $19.95.

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Book Review: Reserve Forces and the British Territorial Army: A Case study for NATO in the 1990s

Book Review: Reserve Forces and the British Territorial Army: A Case study for NATO in the 1990s

Sexist talk is frivolous

I was somewhat amused by our colleague Ms Linda Bailey's reference to the advertisement carried in the magazine for nurses to join the Territorial Army (‘Dangerous territory', Nursing Standard October 31 Letters).