User:Lord Milner/Manpower Committee

Prior to World War I, Britain’s military manpower needs was largely dependent on the size of its navy and colonial needs. No thought was given to fighting a large land war in Europe. Even after the World War I started, a million volunteers filled the ranks of the military. However, by mid-1915, the volunteers were drying up, and a National Registration Law took effect in July.

Prime Minister Herbert Asquith

A cabinet committee on man power was first set up in February 1916. Hankey was its Secretary. Prime Minister Asquith spoke about it in a secret session of Parliament on April 25th & 26th. His speech for voluntary recruitment was not received well. A compulsory service bill was made, and it passed on May 25, 1916. This was England's first draft.

Per this website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMnIioQ9sC0 Conscription was imposed on all single men in January 1916; on all married men later in the year.

Prime Minister Lloyd George

On December 6, 1917, the War Cabinet set up a Man-Power Committee, headed by Lloyd George, with other members being George Curzon, Edward Carson, Jan Smuts and George Barnes, to deal with enlistments and vital war industries like mining, shipbuilding, agriculture, and timber, which due to their national security issues and a strong belief in socialism at the time, were all controlled by the government. Due to the drain on manpower during the first three years of war, the government estimated a shortfall of 500,000 healthy men, and 800,000 overall, in these industries. For this reason, Hankey says Lloyd George wanted to get rid of Robertson and Haig, whose strategies were so wasteful in human life. The goal of the man-power committee was to preserve the armies and nations until the Americans could arrive in strength.

A "Draft Report on the Man Power Committee", dated 13 December and written by Maurice Hankey, was discussed in a War Cabinet meeting on 17 & 18 December 1917. It was revised on 24 December, reprinted and distributed on January 2nd, Hankey pressed for its conclusions to be adopted, but it was held up by an indecisive War Cabinet for three months. Hankey estimated the military would be short 500,000 to 600,000 men, and he recommended that B.E.F. divisions be reduced from 12 to 9 battalions. It was only after the German spring offensive in March 1918 that Lloyd George introduced a new bill, on April 9th, that lowered the age of the draft to 18, extended its eligibility to age 50, and conscripted Ireland. The Prime Minister did not want to take men before they finished high school, and the War Cabinet was weary about the Irish. The report itself, M.P.C.-14, is today held at the National Archives.

The seriousness of the Man Power Report and conscription of Ireland only faded from view in late July 1918, with new reports of victory on the battlefield. The critics of Lloyd George say mandatory conscription should be imposed on everyone up to age 50 for the duration of the war, and that if this had occurred from the outset of the draft, General Haig would not be short soldiers.

World War I presented a unique problem for Governments. It occurred at a time when technology outpaced tactics, with the result being very high casualty rates. Indeed, the lethality of the machine gun alone caused one English politician to say, "This is the war to end all wars". However, the Generals adjusted to these circumstances, with the knowledge that the Great War was a war of attrition, and decisions made with regards to manpower and conscription were policy matters left in the hands of civilians. Former Supreme War Cabinet Secretary an author Peter Wright explains it best: "If the two sides were allowed to go on killing each other in France indefinitely, when all the Germans were dead there would still be a few Allies left, and they would win. This was <a> simple strategy, as far as can be gathered..." "This was the point of difference <with> the War Cabinet...who presumed to think there might be a less primitive strategy."

General Haig predicted that the Flanders Offensive would allow the Allies to outnumber the Germans by 30% on the Western Front by April 1, 1918. For this reason, he wanted his casualties replaced and to continue his attacks in Flanders into the fall of 1917. Lloyd George thought there was little evidence to believe Haig's offensives in Flanders would defeat the Germans in 1918 any more than they had in 1917.

On October 31, 1917, General Haig requested that the War Cabinet not transfer any of his divisions to Italy (6 divisions were scheduled for transfer after the Italian defeat at Caporetto). Also, on November 24, 1917 Haig submitted a letter to the War Cabinet outlining his strength requirements to continue offensive operations in 1918. As a minimum, he asked that his divisions be brought back to authorized strength levels (they were down from 12 to 9 battalions after the Flanders Offensive).

The Crisis After the Somme

Although battlefield casualties from the Somme Offensive reduced Haig's divisions by 25%, his stated intent was to continue the offensive in the Spring, and he requested the manpower to achieve that goal. However, reserves in England were depleted, and the only way to replenish the B.E.F. was to take manpower away from critical war industries, or to continue the draft by reducing the minimum age of conscription to 18 (taking teenagers before they finish high school), and extending the maximum age to 50. The Prime Minister wished to avoid both alternatives, and from this a myth grew that England had a million men in uniform, that Lloyd George was unwilling to surrender them to General Haig, and for this England almost lost the war.

Contributing to General Haig's manpower shortage was the status of the French Army. Unless replacements were found, by September of 1918, 75% of the French army would be demobilized due to enlistments ending, and for this, Georges Clemenceau asked David Lloyd George if the English Army could take over an additional 25 mile sector of the French line. Lloyd George and Lord Derby agreed to this at the January 28, 1918 Supreme War Council Meeting in Versailles, which General Haig missed due to illness.

The course for England to steer in the Great War towards the end of 1917 all depended on manpower. Author Peter Wright says, "To the making of their calculations a War Cabinet Committee applied itself, concentrating all the figures obtainable by all the information branches of all the Allies". The Committee on Man Power was thus created, comprised of [NAMES]. The numbers were in by December.

On December 3rd and 9th, 1917, Eric Geddes presented a paper to the War Cabinet that predicted a serious manpower shortage for the Army in 1918. On November 24, 1917, General Haig wrote a letter saying legislation or administrative efforts must be made to increase B.E.F. manpower or else infantry units would be 40% below their present levels by April 30, 1918. Army strength was presently 100,000 soldiers below the authorized level, and Geddes recommended legislation to raise the conscription age, to draft the Irish, and to take skilled workers from shipbuilding, agriculture and/or munitions.

On December 6th, under Lloyd George's chairmanship, a Man Power Committee was created to review and reallocate Britain's dwindling manpower resource. Its goal was "to produce a scheme for the coordination of manpower". It was supervised by Lord Curzon, and Winston Churchill (Minister of Munitions), Admiral Jellicoe (First Lord of the Admiralty), and Lord Derby (The Secretary of State for War) were asked to make recommendations. The War Office was represented by Maurice Hankey and General Macready, the head of Military Personnel. When the latter suggested large numbers of men be drafted and sent to the front lines, Lloyd George reminded them that just a week or two earlier, General Haig wanted to renew the Flanders Offensive in February or March based on German attrition, and even with the transfer of 30 divisions from the Eastern Front.

The draft report of the Man Power Committee was ready on December 13th.

The Committee, created by Lloyd George, reported on January 9, 1918 that priority must be given to the Royal Navy and air force, shipbuilding, the construction of tanks and aircraft, and last, food production and timber production. It acknowledged that the Allies would be forced on the defensive in 1918, to a much stronger enemy, and that maintaining 'staying power' was of primary importance.

On 29 January 1918, the manpower crisis was discussed by General Haig at the Supreme War Council Meeting in Versailles. Taking into account casualties and enlistments ending, he said the number of British divisions on the front would be reduced by 30, and the French by 53, within 9 months. This could only be offset by increased British recruiting and the arrival of more American troops.

The German Spring Offensive

The situation on the Western Front is perhaps best described by by Sir James Edmonds in the Official History of the war.

References

• Roskill, Stephen, Hankey, Man of Secrets, Volume I, (1877-1918), London: Collins, 1970
• Hochschild, Adam, To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion: 1914-1918, Boston: Houghton, 2011
• Owen, Frank, Tempestuous Journey, New York: McGraw Hill, 1955
• Lloyd George, David, War Memoirs of David Lloyd George, Vol. V, Boston: Little Brown, December 1936
• UK National Archives (internet site): Link
• Martin, Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, A Stricken World, Boston: Houghton, 1975
• Wright, Peter, At The Supreme War Council, New York: G.P. Putnam, 1921
• Reid, Walter, Five Days From Defeat: How Britain Nearly Lost the First World War, Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2017
• Edmonds, Sir James E, History of the Great War, Vol VIII, Military Operations, the March Offensive, 1918, London: MacMillan, 1935
• Lloyd, Nick, The Western Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918, <GET INFO>
• Haig, Douglas, War Diaries and Letters, 1914-1918, London: Orion, 2005

Further Reading

• UK National Archives, World War I section, Man-power numbers: CAB 23-7, pg. 76 of 315

The War Priorities Committee must also become involved. (see CAB 23-4, pgs. 350, 476 of 579) On July 11, 1918, The War Cabinet created the Post War Priorities Committee, headed up by General Smuts. It had 5 members. Its purpose was to make rules to demobilize the economy. (Roskill, Vol. I pg. 581)