Entrenching battalions were temporary units formed in the armies of the British Empire during the First World War. Entrenching Battalions were trained as infantry, but were primarily utilized for manual labour duties such as trench repair, wire laying, road making and assisting tunnellers, pioneers, engineers and signals. The Battalions were also used as pools of men from which drafts of replacements could be drawn by conventional infantry battalions. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Entrenching battalions were first formed in the British Army in July 1916 and were allocated at Corps level. The practice ceased on the Western Front by autumn 1917, due to manpower shortages, but saw a revival at the start of 1918. The reduction in the number of battalions in an infantry brigade (from four to three) resulted in many (under-manned) infantry battalions being disbanded. Following the disbandment of these infantry battalions in February 1918, the pool of men was used to bring the remaining battalions up to strength, and to allocate any remaining manpower surplus to 25 entrenching battalions. These battalions were put to use in improving the existing defences in anticipation of a German offensive, and could be used as a reserve force if needed. [2] [5]
The entrenching battalions were disbanded in April 1918, with their troops apportioned to infantry battalions to make good the losses suffered following Operation Michael, which began the German spring offensive of 1918. Many of their war diaries [6] from 1918 have survived and can be consulted at the National Archives at Kew though the 1918 war diaries for the 1st, 6th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 15th and 17th Entrenching Battalions have not survived.
The following entrenching battalions were formed: [7]
The Canadian Expeditionary Force formed four entrenching battalions in July 1916, one for each of the respective divisions. They were disbanded in September 1917 with the creation of the Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp. [3]
The New Zealand Expeditionary Force formed the New Zealand Entrenching Group in February 1918. It consisted of three entrenching battalions with the manpower drawn from men of the disbanded 4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade. Each of the Battalions was attached to one of the remaining three New Zealand Infantry brigades. The Entrenching Battalions were disbanded in October 1918. [4]
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