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The End of the Pals As a recruitment strategy and as a popular image, the ‘Pals’ worked well. As fighting units too they would prove to be effective. They were a phenomena of the early weeks of the war. But by late 1914 the stock of volunteers was running out. In early 1915, conscription would be introduced and men would be assigned to units as necessary, with very little option as to which battalion or regiment they could serve in. As far as recruitment was concerned the ‘Pals’ had run their course. Almost from day one of arriving in France the idea and structure of the pals battalions changed as casualties occurred and replacements arrived. The Pals battalions became more and more diluted. More than any other time, it was on the first day of the Somme Offensive, 1 July 1916, that can be seen as the beginning of the end of the ‘Pals’. On that day it was the Pals battalions which took the full weight of the 60,000 casualties. From then on fewer and fewer of the original volunteers were remaining and the replacements were more likely to be conscripts. They would be strangers, perhaps not even from the same home town. By the end of the war the idea of the ‘Pals’ perhaps only remained in the minds of the survivors. 20 | The Oswestry Pals
The 6 Battalion KSLI had casualties of around 600 men during the war. The first men to be demobilised returned to the UK early in 1919. The remaining 6 Battalion had returned by March. Most were ‘Discharged, Class Z’, to be held in the army reserve in case hostilities reignited. The reserve was later abolished in 1920. They returned to their civilian life and likely the same job. Others had been discharged under King’s Regulation 392 as being unfit for war service, meaning they had been wounded and disabled. The most significant and tragic consequence of the Pals was a product of its success. The men enlisted together, served together and were killed together. The loss of men was not only felt in the units on the front line. Back home, all across the country, it was common that in many businesses, neighbourhoods or families the men had been wiped out, sometimes in a single day. It was community spirit that brought the Pals together yet the success of their camaraderie left communities struggling with heavy losses. The ‘Pals’ that returned home still maintained their bond and over the years many reunions were held in Oswestry and elsewhere in Shropshire. They paraded on Remembrance Day and were stalwarts in the local British Legion. | The Oswestry Pals 21
Page 1 and 2: The Oswestry Pals
Page 3 and 4: Contents 4. The Oswestry Pals 6. Re
Page 5 and 6: At the beginning of August, Lord Ki
Page 7 and 8: Hundreds of people turned up. These
Page 9 and 10: | The Oswestry Pals 9
Page 11 and 12: Leaving Oswestry On the morning of
Page 13 and 14: we have plenty of blankets. Bread i
Page 15 and 16: Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915 T
Page 17 and 18: A Raid on the Enemy Lines 29 June 1
Page 19: | The Oswestry Pals 19
Page 23 and 24: Sergeant 12258 Stanley Williams Bor
Page 25 and 26: Private 12260 William Jones Born in
Page 27 and 28: | The Oswestry Pals 27

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