attacked by 160,000 German troops. Outgunned and outnumbered the Expeditionary Force suffered heavy casualties and was forced to retreat. On the back of this humiliation Britain started recruiting a large army for the first time. Lord Kitchener, the war minister, began a campaign calling for men aged between 19 and 30 to enlist. At first this was very successful; by the middle of September over 500,000 men had signed up for ‘Kitchener’s Army’; by the end of 1915 two million men had volunteered. In Derbyshire, many enlisted with the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment of the Sherwood Foresters. The Regiment raised 33 Battalions and lost 11,410 men during the course of the war.
Lining up to enlist. Creswell, Derbyshire. 1914
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