Sunday Jan 27^th, 1918

Reveille 8:30, breakfast 9 o’clock. Grand day. CO inspection 11:45. Quiet afternoon.  No night work. Very little gun fire.

Officer Cadet Unit

The Battalion diary today mentions that four soldiers leave the Battalion to join the Officer Cadet Unit in the UK.

Horrendous casualties in the first months of WWI virtually decimated the regular British Army.  Its Officers were no exception with over 4,000 killed or wounded.  This loss, together with the huge expansion of the Army over the course of the war, created an almost insatiable demand for officers.

By November 1918, over 247,000 officers had been commissioned.  About 60% of the new officers came from the ranks of the Army.  The rest from the Officer Training Corps, established in 1908, which had units in many private schools, Universities and the Inns of Court.  After January 1916, all officer candidates had to complete a 4½ month training course with an Officer Cadet Battalion.  Candidates had to be over 18½ years old, and either seen service in the ranks or been a member of the OTC.

Successful candidates were commissioned for the duration of the war, and as such, were designated ‘Temporary Officers’.  Disparagingly, those commissioned from the working and lower middle classes were also sometimes referred to as ‘Temporary Gentlemen’. Indeed, to address this, part of the OCB curriculum focused upon the etiquette of the Officers Mess! Potentially a case in point, this photograph shows members of the No 5 Officer Cadet Battalion dining in Trinity College, Cambridge.  Likely to be more concerning for some, becoming an Officer was an expensive business as they were expected to buy their own uniform and have a bank account to receive their pay.

13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 27th January 1918 – Vladaja Camp

Church service as usual. About noon enemy fired 12 to 14 rounds into HQ camp. 4 OR who left the Bn 6-1-18 for Base to await embarkation to UK for admission to Officer Cadet Unit are struck off effective strength from that date. 5 OR having rejoined again are taken on form 25-1-18.

References & further reading

Officer Training in the British Army of 1914-1918 – The Long Long Trail

Officers – Tommy 1914-18

Officer Cadet Battalion – image Q30322, Imperial War Museum