The Tragedy of Britain's PALS Battalions

9/13/2014 - 9/19/2014

To encourage army recruitment, Britain created the PALS Battalion. This meant that friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even athletes could enlist and remain in the same battalions together. The scheme worked and recruitment soared in Britain. At the Somme (1916), where casualties on the first day reached 60,000 alone, the mistake of PALS Battalions was realized. Some British towns lost their entire youthful male population due to the PALS.