I'm trying to find a book or a web page that gives a history

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While Canadian, not British specifically, here is a link to the CEF war diaries, which are all online.

We pretty much copied the British example outright, so it will be a pretty good guide. I have used the 29th Battalion, "Tobin's Tigers" from Vancouver as the example. Sorry about the mental url...


http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=29th+canadian+infantry+battalion&s13=&s12=&l=20&s9=RG9&s7=9-52&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect2=THESOFF&Sect4=AND&Sect5=WARDPEN&Sect6=HITOFF&d=FIND&p=1&u=http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/02015202_e.html&r=1&f=G

Photo shows the sniper-scout section of the 29th, with the rare Ross Rifle sniper conversion.

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>>2235233

Oh, and an example page. The pagination on that link is weird--1917 is at the top of the page, then as you scroll down it goes into 1915 and 1916.

>>2235233
This is fantastic thanks a million.

>>2235149
I know you asked specifically for British but look into All Quiet on the Western Front. Gives off a bit of the vibe you seem to be looking for. Or are you perhaps looking for something more clean cut and factual?

>>2235520
Patrol doesn't necessarily need factual info, but it plays better when you have some basic facts, where they aid verisimilitude. For instance it heavily suggests giving your players period maps to use to mark locations. It's also heavily built on dealing with the whole of the soldiering experience. Physical fatigue and mental stress are far more important to the mechanics than straight simulationist combat. It's the kind of game that doesn't have rules for acrobatics but it does have rules for drug use.

I've read All Quiet and I've read a decent amount of literature about WW1 in general to try and get at a tone I want to play with (Wilfred Owen is the most depressing person holy shit). The problem with All Quiet is that Germany's system was so much more mentally taxing than Britain's because you were on the firing line so much longer since they didn't have the troops to rotate. While Britain was always on the verge of being under supplied, by the mid point of the War Germany was having difficulty keeping its men fed.

>>2235233
Did most battalions have a whole section devoted to scouting? From what I'd read it was a lot more ad hoc of a system than that, though I've mostly read about stuff from The Somme and before.

>>2235584
Seems like you know a lot more about it than me. For me All Quiet is the 'go-to' book when people ask how WWI was for the common soldier hence the recommendation.