Field Service Pocket Book, 1914

Book excerpt: This book was issued by the British War Office to all senior NCOs, warrant officers and officers in the Great War. It details many aspects of the British military art, starting with the war establishments of the British Army (cavalry and Infantry Divisions and ancillary units) and the Indian Army. The handbook details everyday military conduct in the field, and lays down the regulations and guidelines for marches, quarters, camp cooking, sanitation and water supply. There are chapters on orders and the means of communication, plus overseas operations, map reading and field sketching (the intelligence functions). Field engineering is dealt with too, along with tools and explosives, together with defensive systems, obstacles, and working parties. The minutiae of engineering is also laid bare, with knots, blocks and tackles, bridging and bridging expedients and demolitions laid down. Transport is covered in Chapter V, including convoys and movements by rail and by sea. Chapter VI deals with small arms and guns, the supply of ammunition, rations and fuel, together with their storage. Pay, clothing and field equipment is detailed, and so too is office work, discipline and courts martial. Added to this is a chapter on the army in India and other overseas dominions, and details of foreign armies. Here too are tables of comparison of such diverse matters as weights and measures (British and Indian), aeronautical terms and billeting orders. This handbook - issued in 1914 and revised in 1916 - gives a remarkably detailed picture of the rules and regulations governing the British and Indian armies at the mid-point of the First World War and is warmly recommended to all students of the period.