Kitchener's Army

Alfred Leete's recruitment poster for Kitchener's Army.

The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, as Kitchener's Mob,[a] was an (initially) all-volunteer portion of the British Army formed in the United Kingdom from 1914 onwards following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War in late July 1914. It originated on the recommendation of Herbert Kitchener, then the Secretary of State for War to obtain 500,000 volunteers for the Army. Kitchener's original intention was that these men would be formed into units that would be ready to be put into action in mid-1916, but circumstances dictated the use of these troops before then.[1] The first use in a major action of Kitchener's Army units came at the Battle of Loos (September–October 1915).


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  1. ^ Medlicott, (1967), p. 21.'[Kitchener] had acted decisively on the outbreak of war in calling for a large enlistment of 500,000 volunteers for the regular army; but these would take time to train and he did not anticipate that the full weight of the British effort could be thrown in until perhaps the middle of 1916.'