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The recruitment of pals battalions was confined to the 69 line infantry regiments of the British Army. The Guards Regiments [2] and regiments formed only from Territorial Force battalions [3] [a] did not form any pals battalions. Amongst the line infantry regiments, there was considerable variation in the number of battalions recruited ...
The 'Pals' phenomenon quickly spread across the country, as local recruiting committees offered complete units to the War Office (WO). One such organisation was the British Empire League (BEL), which advocated unity for the British Empire and had previously raised troops for service in the Second Boer War .
"Pals" departing from Preston railway station, August 1914. The pals battalions of World War I were specially constituted battalions of the British Army comprising men who enlisted together in local recruiting drives, with the promise that they would be able to serve alongside their friends, neighbours and colleagues, rather than being arbitrarily allocated to battalions.
Most regiments had two regular battalions, supported by associated battalions from the Territorial Force ('part-time' soldiers) and Reserve Battalions. After the start of the war, many new battalions were raised and called "Service Battalions". Service battalions raised from a single locale were often called "Pals battalions".
Then on 13 December it exchanged two Royal Fusiliers Pals battalions for Regular battalions from 2nd Division, so that 22nd (Kensington) and 23rd (1st Sportsman's) battalions were now brigaded with 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment, 1st King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), and for a short time 1/5th King's (Liverpool Regiment), an attached TF battalion ...
West Ham Pals; 15th (Service) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (1st Leeds) 16th (Service) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (1st Bradford)
The 32nd Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was raised in 1914, during the First World War.The division was raised from volunteers for Lord Kitchener's New Armies, made up of infantry 'Pals battalions' and artillery brigades raised by public subscription or private patronage.
The 1st Gwent Battalion was a Welsh 'Pals battalion' formed as part of 'Kitchener's Army' during World War I. Raised by local initiative in Monmouthshire and Glamorgan , it became the 10th (Service) Battalion of the local regiment, the South Wales Borderers ('10th SWB').