Manpower and the Armies of the British Empire in the Two World Wars by Douglas E. Delaney Mark Frost and Andrew L. Brown

Author:Douglas E. Delaney, Mark Frost, and Andrew L. Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cornell University Press

“A Proper Soldier Now”: Unit Cohesion

While conditioning individual bodies to withstand the rigors of war, PT and battle training also enhanced the unit cohesion required for success in battle.85 During PT lessons and field exercises, for example, men were split into groups in order to inculcate “team spirit.”86 Competitive games and sports also promoted “esprit de corps,” “comradeship,” and “an unselfish attitude for the good of the side.”87 Rooted in the nineteenth-century public school tradition and incorporated into army training during the First World War, regimental sports included boxing, swimming, football, hockey, and rugby.88 Collective physical training, such as marching, likewise induced a sense of solidarity as men experienced a feeling of shared hardship. Even reluctant recruit Henry Novy admitted feeling pride when recounting a route march:

This marching was queer—at the beginning I felt for the first time, almost in spite of myself, that pride in numbers, marching numbers, squad after squad in step. I saw it in many men’s eyes, looking proudly to the passers-by. They were happy to be carrying full kit and marching, squad after squad, over 400 men. When we had our kits on, two of my mates remarked: “Here we go boys, real soldiers now.” The little coalminer said: “You feel a proper soldier now, don’t you?” When we came in, tired, all tried to say they loved it and felt no effects. A lad with bad feet dropped out. His mate remarked: “I’d rather be dead than drop out of a route march, I would honest.” To my shame I must say I felt the same, a pride of being a soldier, well disciplined, in step, doing hard work.89

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