"Pals".

In 1914 men were encouraged to join up together, being promised that they would serve with their friends ("pals") often in the same platoon or company. Whole groups of men joined the army on this basis often coming from the same warehouse or office. The Manchester Regiment quickly raised several thousand recruits by this system. Indeed, some battalions of the Regiment were initially known as the Warehousemen and Clerks battalions. The Battle of the Somme in 1916 caused tremendous casualties amongst "Pals" battalions resulting in whole communities and even families receiving War Office telegrams saying that their menfolk had been killed or wounded in action. After that men were drafted into regiments wherever reinforcements were needed sometimes resulting in Scotsmen serving with English County regiments and vice versa- not always a welcome arrangement.

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