The 31st Division was an infantry division of the British Army. It was raised in the Great War by volunteers from Kitchener's Army and formed in April 1915 as part of the K4 Army Group and taken over by the War Office on 10 August 1915. Comprising mainly infantry battalions from Yorkshire and Lancashire, the division was sent to Egypt in December 1915 before moving to France in March 1916 and spent the remainder of the First World War in action on the Western Front. The 31st Division was the quintessential New Army division, being made up entirely of Pals battalions. The 31st Division's first major action was on the first day on the Somme (1 July 1916). The division suffered 3,600 casualties and failed to reach any of its objectives. Later it served at the Battle of the Ancre and at Oppy Wood. It took part in the defence against the German spring offensive in early 1918, and finally in the victorious battles of the Hundred Days Offensive. Recruitment On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular Army, and on 11 August the newly-appointed Secretary of State for War, Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'. The flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the army to absorb and organise them, and by the time the Fifth New Army (K5) was authorised, many of its constituent units were being organised as 'Pals battalions' under the auspices of mayors and corporations of towns up and down the country. Training In late May and early June 1915 the units of the 31st Division began to assemble at South Camp, Ripon, where brigade training began in earnest. Musketry training was finally begun in August, and in September the division moved to Hurdcott Camp at Fovant where the brigade received SMLE service rifles and carried out final intensive battle training on Salisbury Plain. Service Egypt On 29 November 1915 the division received warning orders to join the British Expeditionary Force in France, and advance parties set out for the embarkation ports of Folkestone and Southampton. At the last minute, the destination was