Populating lists of military units

From Linking experiences of World War One
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Populating lists of military units from all the countries involved in the First World War is a huge task.

Albanian units in World War I

Not started. Can you help by suggesting a source of structured data about Albanian military units?

American units in World War I

Order of Battle. See also U.S. Army WWI Tables of Organization Notes.

See Category:United States for lists of unit pages.

We now have a page for every unit of every type that was permanently part of divisions that served in Europe. We also have pages for all divisions, corps and armies that served in Europe, and the main Services of Supply units.

We don't yet have:

  • corps troops, army troops or GHQ troops in Europe
  • units temporarily attached to divisions in Europe
  • units or formations that didn't serve in Europe

Details of these units can be found in the order of battle in the external link above.

Australian units in World War I

Pages exist for most Australian Army units, except for:

  • AIF units that don't have war diaries in AWM4 (are there any?)
  • some AIF depots, bases, training schools, chaplains, and a few other obscure ones
  • some PF/CMF departments, schools and staff

The larger RAN warships and some transports have pages but there may be more transports, supply ships and smaller armed vessels missing. The Australian Official History might contain details of missing ships. Wikipedia has good coverage of larger warships.

Belgian units in World War I

Not started. British Official History includes Belgian order of battle for 1914. A few Belgian artillery units later fought under British command and have war diaries in WO 95.

British units in World War I

Pages now exist for every infantry battalion mentioned in E.A. James, British Regiments 1914-1918. This covers all branches except Volunteer Training Corps. We still need a fuller list of VTC regiments and battalions, and their later affiliations to regular regiments, but have some red links. Some provisional battalions might be missing if they were disbanded before the middle of 1916. Some RDC battalions might be missing if they were never part of other regiments. We don't have any information on RDC companies yet. We probably have all the naval and marine battalions and brigades that were in 63rd Division.

Pages also exist for every tactical corps and division (except perhaps some divisions that only existed for a short time), and all armies and expeditionary forces in European theatres (except home forces armies and Kitchener's new armies). Some infantry brigades (that don't have war diaries) and lots of other formations (especially in lines of communications and non-European theatres) are still missing.

Units from parts of the British Empire outside Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom have been split off into British colonial units in World War I but might be brought back.

Pages now exist for all British machine gun units that have war diaries plus the administrative organisation of the Machine Gun Corps and the Machine Gun Training Centre.

Pages now exist for:

  • every regular cavalry and yeomanry regiment and brigade known to have existed, some squadrons that operated independently, and the administrative hierarchy of the cavalry.
  • every cyclist battalion and company that has war diaries.
  • every Royal Horse Artillery unit that has war diaries.

The majority of administrative corps and departments have basic pages and most of the rest are redlinked but there might still be some obscure ones missing. See Constitution of the Military Forces of the British Crown for a more comprehensive list.

Canadian units in World War I

Canadian Expeditionary Force now has pages for:

  • Canadian Corps, all divisions, and infantry and cavalry brigades
  • infantry battalions except pioneers and reserve battalions
  • most machine gun units and brigade trench mortar batteries

1914 British Army List includes a complete list of pre-war Militia units.

Chinese units in World War I

We have basic information and further sources about the Chinese Labour Corps but no detailed list of units, and no information about the composition of the Chinese Army.

French units in World War I

Got pages for all Western Front armies and some corps. Still need more info on division level and below, and on army groups.

Greek units in World War I

Not started. Can you help by suggesting a source of structured data about Greek military units?

Indian units in World War I

Indian Army

Pages exist for:

  • all divisions (infantry and cavalry)
  • all infantry brigades that have war diaries. Brigades that don't have war diaries are missing and don't have red links.
  • all infantry battalions listed in the January 1919 Indian Army List
  • all cavalry regiments and brigades known to have existed
  • all machine gun units that have war diaries and can be unambiguously identified as Indian

Imperial Service Troops

Pages exist for most infantry and cavalry units but some could be missing. Imperial Service units are not listed in the Indian Army List.

Volunteer Corps and Defence Force

Not started but Volunteer units are listed in the British Quarterly Army List and Defence Force units are listed in the Indian Army List.

Italian units in World War I

Started, but no accessible, definitive online sources? Some published sources available. Can you help by suggesting a source of structured data about Italian military units?


Japanese units in World War I

Not started. Can you help by suggesting a source of structured data about Japanese military units?

Montenegrin units in World War I

Not started. Can you help by suggesting a source of structured data about Montenegrin military units?

New Zealand units in World War I

Started. Should be complete for infantry, lots more other possible units could be added (some listed on the talk page).

Portuguese units in World War I

Redlinked Western Front infantry battalions, brigades and divisions.

Linked to external site that seems to give complete list of units at home, on Western Front and in Africa (all in Portuguese but military terminology is fairly easy to translate).

Romanian units in World War I

Not started.

Russian units in World War I

Not started.

Serbian units in World War I

Not started.

South African units in World War I

Pages exist for South African Overseas Expeditionary Force infantry, machine gun and mounted units and brigades that have war diaries or are mentioned in the Monthly Army List for July 1916. Some units are probably missing.

1914 British Army List gives a complete list of pre-war Union Defence Force units. We now have pages for all the mounted and infantry units given in this list.

There were also some commando units that took part in the invasion and occupation of German South-West Africa that aren't in the Army List and don't yet have pages.