GRANDADâ S ARMYVolunteers Defending the British Isles in the First World War

Mike Osborne

ISBN 10: 1781558183 / ISBN 13: 9781781558188

Published by Fonthill Media, 2021

About this Item

Hardback 286 pagesPublished Price £30 A history of the fascinating early home defence volunteer unit during World War I. After war had been declared in August 1914, the volunteer movement gained publicity from discourse in the press advocating civilian participation in home defence, with notable proponents being Arthur Conan Doyle and H. G. Wells. The first elements of central organisation were established by the formation of the London Volunteer Defence Force.When it was discovered that the Volunteer Act 1863 had never been repealed, it was used in April 1916 to legitimise the movement. VTC Battalions legally became Volunteer Regiments of the new 'Volunteer Force'. Eventually, they were allowed to wear khaki uniforms and equipment began to be officially supplied. With the introduction of conscription in 1916, came the power of the Military Service Tribunals to order men to join the VTC; however, the clause in the 1863 act which allowed resignation after fourteen days' notice initially made this unenforceable, so a Volunteer Act 1916 was passed which obliged members to remain in the Corps until the end of the war. By February 1918, there were 285,000 Volunteers, 101,000 of whom had been directed to the Corps by the Tribunal.The VTC comprised those who were too old, too young, too unfit or too indispensable to serve in the regular forces. They fought for the right to be armed, uniformed and trained; to be employed on meaningful duties; and at first, to exist at all. This book explores the origins, development and structure of the VTC, along with those who belonged to the many supporting medical, transport, police and youth organisations who kept the home fires burning or, in some cases, tried to put them out. The VTC arose from the need of those men who were forced to stay at home to be seen to be doing their bit. They saw the removal of the bulk of both the regular army and the Territorial Force to the Western Front as their opportunity to prepare to resist the expected German invasion of Britain, and as a way of countering accusations of shirking, or even cowardice.

Seller Inventory # 31040

Bibliographic Details

• Title: GRANDADâ S ARMYVolunteers Defending the British Isles in the First World War
• Publisher: Fonthill Media
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1781558183
• ISBN 13: 9781781558188
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • History
  • Military History

About this title

Synopsis

In August 1914, on the outbreak of the First World War, there was enormous pressure on men to enlist in Kitchener's New Armies, supplementing the tiny regular army and Territorial Force. This pressure was intense, and posters, the entreaties of local worthies, and an apparently indiscriminate scattering of white feathers, all exacerbated masculine sensitivity. We are all familiar, if only through BBC TV's 'Dad's Army', with the Home Guard of the Second World War. Far less is known of their First World War equivalent: the Volunteer Training Corps (VTC). Like their counter-parts in WW2, the VTC comprised those who were too old, too young, too unfit or too indispensable to serve in the regular forces. They fought for the right to be armed, uniformed and trained; to be employed on meaningful duties; and at first, to exist at all. This book explores the origins, development and structure of the VTC, along with those who belonged to the many supporting medical, transport, police and youth organisations who kept the home fires burning or, in some cases, tried to put them out. The VTC arose from the need of those men who were forced to stay at home to be seen to be doing their bit. They saw the removal of the bulk of both the regular army and the Territorial Force to the Western Front as their opportunity to prepare to resist the expected German invasion of Britain, and as a way of countering accusations of shirking, or even cowardice.

About the Author

Dr Mike Osborne's interest in fortification began with childhood visits to castles. It has developed over the years to include all aspects of the topic from Iron-Age forts to Cold War bunkers. He was a volunteer-coordinator for the Defence of Britain Project recording twentieth-century military structures. After a thirty-year-career in education he took early retirement to write, producing over twenty books to date. Topics include: Civil War sieges and fortifications, drill halls, twentieth-century military structures, a series of county surveys of defences including the award-winning 'Defending Cambridgeshire', and the best-selling 'Defending Britain'.