128s: See A.F.B.
A.C.I.: Army Council Instructions: the Army Council had command of the Army, and issued Orders and Instructions; the latter were more concerned with organisation, training, and logistics.
Ack emma: phonetic alphabet for a.m. (ante meridiem)
A.C.P.: Army Command Pay
Adjutant: officer whose business is to assist the superior officers by receiving and communicating orders, conducting correspondence, and the like (OED 2 Mil.).
A.F.B.: Army Form followed by B and a number; thus A.F.B. 128. These were called ‘attestation papers’ and certified the identity of a soldier, who was always to carry a copy. A duplicate copy was kept on file.
A.P.M.: Assistant Provost Marshal; one who assists a Provost Marshal, who is the head of military police in a camp or in a unit on active service and charged with the preservation of order.
A.S.C.: Army Service Corps
Bandy chair: not a chair but a seat formed by two people linking hands, crossed at the wrist; Cockney slang for a Banbury chair according to A Penguin Dictionary of Historical Slang.
Batman: attendant or orderly who performs a variety of tasks for the officer to whom he is assigned.
B.E.F.: British Expeditionary Force, i.e. the British army sent to France.
Casual battalion: battalion that troops pass through on their way from one station to another; a military entity that facilitates such movements of troops.
C.B.D.: Cavalry Base Depot
C.C.S.: Casualty Clearing Station
Clasp: military decoration: a bar or slip of silver fixed transversely upon the ribbon from which a medal is suspended (e.g. D.S.O with clasp); the medal being given for the whole campaign, the clasps bear the names of those significant operations in it at which the wearer was present (OED 6.).
Colour-sergeant (also colour-serjeant): army sergeant whose special duty is to attend the regimental colours (a flag, ensign, or standard of a regiment) in the field (OED).
D.C.M.: District Court-Martial
Draft: group of soldiers drawn from a larger body of men for a specific strategic or tactical purpose.
D.S.O.: Distinguished Service Order; military decoration awarded for exceptional service during combat in time of war.
Fatigues: the extra-professional duties of a soldier (OED 3.a.)
Flea-bag: a soldier’s sleeping bag (OED flea 6.a.)
Garrison: body of soldiers stationed in a fortress or other place for purposes of defence, etc. (OED 4.†a.)
G.C.B.: Grand Commander of the Bath
G.M.P.: Garrison Military Police
G.O.C.I.C.: General Officer Commanding-in-Chief
G.S.: General Service
G.S.O.: General Staff Officer
H.E.: high explosive
H.Q.: headquarters
I.B.D.: Infantry Base Depot
Indent: to make a requisition on or upon a person for a thing (OED v.5.intr.)
K.C.M.G.: Knight Commander of St Michael and St George
Kitchener battalion: named for General Herbert Horatio Kitchener who, as Secretary of State for War during H. H. Asquith’s term as Prime Minister, recruited an all-volunteer force called the New Army by way of a poster picturing him saying, in effect, Kitchener ‘wants YOU / JOIN YOUR COUNTRY’S ARMY!’ This New Army had no limitations on its deployment and hence, it was hoped, would provide overwhelming power against German forces.
L. of C.: lines of communication
M.C.: Military Cross; decoration awarded to men of any rank – though, at first, captain or below – who showed exemplary gallantry during battle.
Mess: each of the several parties into which a regiment or ship’s company is systematically divided, the members of each party taking their meals together (OED 4.b.).
Militia battalion: army unit composed of ordinary citizens called up for duty as auxiliary forces rather than one composed of professional soldiers.
Mills bomb: type of hand grenade, serrated on the outside to form shrapnel on explosion, invented by Sir William Mills, 1856–1932 (OED).
M.O.: Medical Officer
N.C.O.: Non-Commissioned Officer; enlisted member of the armed forces, including the ranks of sergeant and corporal, who is a link between commissioned officers and the ordinary soldier.
No Man’s Land: space between hostile trenches that neither warring side owned but where many on both sides died trying to capture the trench opposite.
O.C.: Officer Commanding
Parade: assembling or mustering of troops for inspection or display; especially a muster of troops that takes place regularly at set hours, or at extraordinary times to hear orders read, as a preparation for a march, or any other special purpose (OED 2.a.).
P.B.: permanent base
Pip emma: phonetic alphabet for p.m. (post meridiem)
P.M.: Provost Marshal. See A.P.M.
Quarter: short form for Quartermaster, whose duty it is to provide quarters for soldiers, to lay out a camp, and to provide ammunition, rations, and supplies of various kinds.
R.A.S.C.: Royal Army Service Corps; perhaps an anachronism since the R.A.S.C. was not formed until 1918.
R.E.B.D.: Royal Engineers Base Depot
Red Caps: nickname for Garrison Military Police, who have a scarlet flash on their caps.
R.G.A.: Royal Garrison Artillery
R.S.M.: Regimental Sergeant Major
R.T.O.: Railway Transport Officer
Soldier’s Small Book: AB-50 (Army Book-50) was a 32-page book that each soldier was required to carry for purposes of identification and notation, e.g., for making out a will.
V.A.D.: Volunteer Aid Detachment
W.A.A.C.: Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, established in 1917; duties included cooking, catering, storekeeping, clerical work, maintaining motor vehicles, and a variety of other such non-combat tasks.
Warrant officer: one appointed by an official certificate who is intermediate in rank between the commissioned and non-commissioned officers (OED).
