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Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, usually on a part-time basis. Unlike a military reserve force, an auxiliary force does not necessarily have the same degree of training or ranking structure as regular soldiers, and it may or may not be integrated into a fighting force. Some auxiliaries, however, are militias composed of former active duty military personnel and actually have better training and combat experience than their regular counterparts.
The designation "auxiliary" has also been given to foreign or allied troops in the service of a nation at war. The term originated with the Latin eponymousAuxilia relating to non-citizen infantry and cavalry serving as regular units of the Roman Empire. In the context of colonial troops, locally recruited irregulars were often described as auxiliaries.
By the 2nd century AD the auxiliaries had been organised into permanent units, broadly grouped as Ala (cavalry), Cohors (infantry) and Cohors equitata (infantry with a cavalry element). Both cavalry alae and infantry cohors numbered between 480 and 600 men each. The mixed cohors equitata usually consisted of six centuries of foot soldiers and six squadrons of horsemen. Specialist units of slingers, scouts, archers and camel mounted detachments continued in existence as separate units with a regional recruitment basis.
At the start of the 18th century, the English (from 1707, British) military (as distinct from naval) consisted of several regular and reserve military forces. The regular forces included district garrison artillery establishments that maintained forts and batteries, as well as field artillery, ready for war, with the batteries brought up to strength in war time by drafts from other military or naval forces, and field artillery trains formed during wartime, all of which would be absorbed into the Royal Artillery on or after its 1716 formation, and the Royal Engineers (an officer-only corps responsible for planning naval and military works in garrisons and on expedition), both of which, with the civilian-staffed stores, transport, Commissariat, and other departments were all parts of the Board of Ordnance, and the English Army (after 1707, the British Army), composed primarily of cavalry and infantry. The Horse and Foot Guards were considered parts of the British Army, though falling under the Royal Household there were differences in their command and administration. There were also other minor forces of little military significance, such as the Yeomen of the Guard.
The reserve military forces included the Honourable Artillery Company and the Militia (or Constitutional Force), which was normally an infantry-only force until the 1850s. To these would be added the mounted Yeomanry and the Volunteer Force, though the latter existed only in wartime until the 1850s. Similar reserve forces were raised throughout the British Empire. The reserve forces were auxiliary to the regular forces, and not parts of them. They were under the command of local representatives of the Crown (expressed as the Monarch, although by the 19th century the monarch had become a figurehead for the British Government, which was responsible to Parliament). In the British Isles, the reserve forces were controlled by lords lieutenant of counties until 1871, when the British Government took direct control.
The Reserve Forces were originally for local service, embodied for home defence in times of war or emergency. During the latter half of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century, these various military forces would be increasingly integrated with the regular force, as the British Army became when the Board of Ordnance was abolished and its military corps (by then including the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and the Royal Sappers and Miners), as well as the commissariat, ordnance stores, transport, and barracks departments, were absorbed into the British Army in 1855. During the same period, the British Army Regular Reserve was created (in 1859 by Secretary of State for WarSidney Herbert, and re-organised under the Reserve Force Act 1867) and, to prevent confusion, the Reserve Forces were increasingly referred to instead as the Auxiliary Forces or the Local Forces.
Officers of the Reserve or Auxiliary Forces took precedence below British Army officers of the same rank (officers of the Yeomanry force and of the Volunteer Force similarly took precedence below officers of the Militia Force). When auxiliary units worked with Regular Forces, overall command was held by the highest-ranking officer of the Regular Forces, providing he held the same rank (or higher) as the highest-ranking officer of the Auxiliary unit. The personnel of the Auxiliary Forces were not originally subject to the Army Act, or the earlier Mutiny Acts, though by the end of the 19th century they had become subject to the act while embodied for training with regular forces or for active service.
Although remaining nominally separate forces from the British Army, the units of these forces in the British Isles became numbered sub-units (squadrons, battalions, or companies) or regular British Army corps or regiments, and ultimately were funded by the War Office, making them technically parts of the British Army. The Yeomanry and the Volunteer Force merged under the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 in 1908 to become the Territorial Force. Although still meant to be local service, this force sent drafts of volunteers to regular battalions, and then entire units, overseas during the First World War. The potential to serve overseas in wartime became a permanent part of its role after the war when it was re-named the Territorial Army, remaining nominally a separate force (or army) from the British Army until 2014 when it became the British Army Reserve. The Militia in the British Isles was replaced with the Special Reserve in 1908, which sent drafts of replacements to regular units in wartime. After the First World War, this force was allowed to lapse. In British colonies, a number of militia and volunteer units continued to exist after 1908, generally being re-organised eventually on Territorial lines (though not administered as parts of the Territorial Army, and remaining local service). Most of these units continued to be viewed as auxiliary to the British Army, rather than parts of it (as this was no longer true of such units in the British Isles, this has led to the misconception in recent decades that these units are not part of the British military as the uninformed presume British military to connote British Army, although the Combined Cadet Force and the Army Cadet Force in the United Kingdom also remain separate forces).
The Auxiliary Legion was a British military force sent to Spain to support the Liberals and Queen Isabella II of Spain against the Carlists in the First Carlist War.
Boer War
During the Second Boer War Boer auxiliaries were employed by the British Army under the designation of "National Scouts". Recruited in significant numbers towards the end of the war from Afrikaner prisoners and defectors, they were known as hensoppers ("hands-uppers" i.e. collaborators) by their fellow Boers.
North-West Frontier
Khussadars were tribal auxiliaries employed by the British administration in regions of the North West Frontier of India. Distinguished only by armbands they provided convoy escorts as a substitute for regular troops and units of the para-military Frontier Corps.
Volunteers, Militia and Yeomanry
Prior to the creation of the Territorial Force in 1908, the term "Auxiliary Forces" was used by the British Army to collectively cover Yeomanry, Militia and Volunteers. That is to say the various part-time units maintained to act in support of the Regular Army (UK).
In 1941, the British government created an organization of Auxiliary Units in southern England, capable of waging a guerilla war against occupying forces should Britain be invaded by the Nazis. Since the invasion never came, they were ultimately never used in combat. The Auxiliary Units were meant to carry out assaults on German units, along with damaging train lines and aircraft if necessary.
While working as full-time, active duty personnel, the women's services of World War II were titled as or seen as auxiliaries to the male services. These services were:
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force was originally an auxiliary of the Royal Air Force, when it was first conceived and formed in 1924.
Today the RAuxAF acts as a military reserve; this is reflected in its more common name 'RAF Reserve'.
France made extensive use of tribal allies (goumiers) as auxiliaries in its North African possessions. During the Algerian War of 1954–62 large numbers of Muslim auxiliaries (Harkis) were employed in support of regular French forces.
During the Russo-Japanese War, Japan made use of Manchurian honghuzi as auxiliaries against Russian forces.
Nazi Germany
German paramilitary police forces, called Hilfspolizei or Schutzmannschaft, were raised during World War II and were the collaborationistauxiliary policebattalions of locally recruited police, which were created to fight the resistance during World War II mostly in occupied Eastern European countries. Hilfspolizei refers also to German auxiliary police units. There was also a HIPO Corps in occupied Denmark. The term had also been applied to some units created in 1933 by the early Nazi government (mostly from members of SA and SS) and disbanded the same year due to international protests. Certain German auxiliary units, such as the Reserve Police Battalion 101, committed horrendous massacres of Jewish, Romani, and other targeted ethnic groups while serving with the Wehrmacht and Einstazgruppen in Eastern Europe. The example of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 came to exemplify both civilian participation in the Holocaust, as well as the active knowledge of how immoral their actions were among perpetrators of the Holocaust. Throughout their service on the Eastern Front, when ordered to execute civilians en masse, members of the Battalion were frequently given the opportunity to reject participation in the events in lieu of standing guard at the perimeter or other less violent tasks. Battalion members were frequently rotated to avoid war fatigue and their veritable psychological destruction, and when participating in the atrocities they often tried to shoot away from infants, mothers, and minors, preferring to try to shoot the elderly or the ill to ease their conscience. They would frequently turn to heavy drinking to try to quell the mental anguish caused by participation in these acts. While a minority was generally able to escape participation in the acts, most were willing volunteers, succumbing to social pressures pushed by an atmosphere of shared guilt and fervent hypermasculine nationalism.
With an increase in the amount of troops needed to serve on the frontline, women were allowed to serve as auxiliaries to the Wehrmacht, known as Wehrmachthelferin, to take over duties within Germany. The Nazis conscripted German women and girls into the auxiliaries of the Volkssturm. Correspondingly, girls as young as 14 years old were trained in the use of small arms, panzerfausts, machine guns, and hand grenades throughout the war.
Auxiliary military units in the United States have largely stemmed from the era of the Second World War, finding a place in assisting the United States Military with resupply, surveillance, aid transportation, and military intelligence. Most historical units were dissolved around the end of the war in 1944–1945, with many integrating into the command of their formerly male counterpart units.
The Freiwilliger Polizeidienst are auxiliary state police services in Germany under different denominations (for example Sicherheitswacht in Bavaria and Saxony and Freiwilliger Polizeidienst in Baden-Württemberg or Hesse), operated by non-professional forces. In most states, the forces are composed of trained volunteers, acting as an assisting and reserve force to the regular police force. Due to the fact, that the voluntary police services are state-run institutions, the equipment, training and tasks differ. Through patrols, it is supposed to ensure public order and safety.
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry auxiliary providing medical response support to Civil and Military authorities within London during a major event or incident.
Simkins, Michael (1974). The Roman Army from Caesar to Trajan. p. 7. ISBN0-85045-191-4.
Wary, Raffaele D'Amato (2017). Roman Army Units in the Eastern Provinces (1). p. 13. ISBN978-1-4728-2176-8.
Hamilton, F. W. (1874). THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE FIRST OR GRENADIER GUARDS. In Three Volumes. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street.
Castelow, Ellen. "The Yeomen of the Guard". Historic UK. Historic UK Ltd. Retrieved 2 September 2021. The Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard, to give them their full title, was created by Henry VII in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth and is the oldest military corps in existence in Britain.
Litchfield, Norman E. H. (1987). The Militia Artillery 1852–1909. Nottingham: The Sherwood Press (Nottingham) Ltd. ISBN9780950820514.
Young, Douglas MacMurray (1961). The Colonial Office in The Early Nineteenth Century. London: Published for the Royal Commonwealth Society by Longmans. p. 55.
Hart, H. G. (1861). The New Annual Army List, and Militia List, for 1861. London: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. pp. 469–473.
The Monthly Army List, January, 1937. Corrected to 30th December, 1936. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1937. p. 86 to 146–149.
Goodenough, W. H.; Dalton, J. C. (1893). THE ARMY BOOK FOR THE BRITISH EMPIRE. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 40. Militia and volunteers were formerly styled the Reserve Forces. This term is now only applied to the reserves proper of the regular army.
Somerset, George. "Imperial Yeomanry And Volunteers—Temporary Army Rank—Relative Rank With Militia Officers. Volume 79: debated on Monday 19 February 1900". George Somerset, 3rd Baron Raglan. Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 2 September 2021. I am sure I shall be anticipating what the noble Marquess will say when I state that the question of relative rank amongst the Auxiliary forces as compared with the Army is one of extreme difficulty. All officers in the Regular Army are senior to officers in the Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers of the same rank. Officers of Militia are senior, in the same way, to officers in the Yeomanry and Volunteers, and officers in the Yeomanry are senior to Volunteer officers of the same rank.
"Guidance The Ministry of Defence cadet forces". British Government Website. Ministry of Defence, British Government. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021. The cadet forces are based on the traditions, values and standards of their parent Service but they are not part of the Armed Forces. The cadet forces comprise the: *Sea Cadet Corps *Volunteer Cadet Corps *Combined Cadet Force *Army Cadet Force
HART'S ANNUAL ARMY LIST, SPECIAL RESERVE LIST, AND TERRITORIAL FORCE LIST, FOR 1911: (BEING THE SEVENTY-SECOND ANNUAL VOLUME,) CONTAINING DATES OF COMMISSIONS, AND A SUMMARY OF THE WAR SERVICES OF NEARLY EVERY OFFICER IN THE ARMY, SUPPLY &c. DEPARTMENTS, MARINES, AND INDIAN ARMY, AND INDIAN LOCAL FORCES. WITH AN INDEX. BY THE LATE LIEUTENANT GENERAL H. G. HART. JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON. 1911
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