Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Photographs
- Maps
- Tables and figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- British military ranks
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 In the beginning
- Chapter 2 Organising for battle
- Chapter 3 Sinews of war
- Chapter 4 Already half a soldier
- Chapter 5 Into battle
- Chapter 6 Learning the hard way
- Chapter 7 Hitting the peak
- Chapter 8 The year of victory
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Divisional activities
- Appendix 2 Activity and location summaries
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 3 - Sinews of war
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Photographs
- Maps
- Tables and figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- British military ranks
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 In the beginning
- Chapter 2 Organising for battle
- Chapter 3 Sinews of war
- Chapter 4 Already half a soldier
- Chapter 5 Into battle
- Chapter 6 Learning the hard way
- Chapter 7 Hitting the peak
- Chapter 8 The year of victory
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Divisional activities
- Appendix 2 Activity and location summaries
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Military administration is in essence about ‘the maintenance of forces in the field’. As Douglas Haig observed:
Wars may be won or lost by the standard of health and moral[e] of the opposing forces…Badly supplied troops will invariably be low in moral[e] and an Army ravaged by disease ceases as a fighting force. The feeding and health of the fighting forces are dependent upon the rearward services, and so…with the rearward services rests victory or defeat.
In accordance with British doctrine responsibility for administration was divided between the A&Q (Adjutant General and Quartermaster) staff. The A staff dealt with personnel matters while Q dealt with logistics. Both of these endeavours are rarely mentioned in Australian histories and, aside from a few specialist British studies produced immediately after the war, little attention has been given to the subject until recently. It was not until 1998 that a study of the BEF's logistics was published, and the broader subject of administration has yet to receive similar attention.
Although any account of administration must be rather mundane in comparison with battle history, it is none the less a vital part of how armies function and how they spend their time. The 1st Division spent 423 days out of 1683 – a quarter of its service – engaged in administration. Half of this time (205 days) was consumed in administrative moves, sometimes by ship (66 days), rail (43 days), motor vehicle (12 days) or, more often, by marching (84 days). Most of the other half of its administrative time was spent looking after its personnel, be it rest and recreation (153 days), camp duties (20 days), ceremonial parades (9 days), inspections (4 days), and medical and mortuary activities (2 days). The remaining 30 days were devoted to logistics: preparing quarters and billets (17 days) and ordnance activities related to drawing and returning equipment (12 days).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- To Win the BattleThe 1st Australian Division in the Great War 1914–1918, pp. 58 - 83Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012