Raggytash the men conscripted in 1916 would not in all probability have been at the front in August 1916 another myth about World War One - Men were not trained in days and thrown into battle.

1914 - 1915 the numbers required for the BEF were made up from the Regulars, the Army Reserves - these were all men who had previously completed their time in the British Army. You then had the Special Reserve, six months training minimum, and the Territorial Army which had been formed in 1908. By the end of 1915 the new training camps had been built in Great Britain and in France

1916 - Saw the use of a mixture of Original Regular Army & Reservists; "Kitchener's Citizen Army" and early Derby Scheme Recruits.

1917 - 1918 A mixture of originals; volunteers; Kitchener's Army; Men Attested under the Derby Scheme and Conscripts.

Total casualties on the British side at the First Battle of Ypres were as follows:

Killed - 7,960
Wounded - 29,583
Missing - 17,873
Unknown - 2,128

The battle was so successful from the German point of view that they called it "The Massacre of the Innocents of Ypres" - they were referring to their own losses.

British Losses - 58,155
Belgian Losses - 10,145
French Losses - 86,237
German Losses - 134,315

I have found no source for 18,000 to 3,000 story.

Haig's I Corps Order of Battle was as follows:

I Corps (Haig)

1st Division (Lomax)

1st (Guards) Brigade
1st Coldstream Guards
1st Scots Guards
1st Black Watch
1st Queens Own Cameron Highlanders
London Scottish Regiment

2nd Brigade
2nd Royal Sussex Regiment
1st Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
1st Northamptonshire Regiment
2nd Kings Royal Rifle Corps

3rd Brigade
1st Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment
1st South Wales Borderers
1st Gloucestershire Regiment
2nd Welsh Regiment

XXV Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
113th Battery
114th Battery
115th Battery

XXVI Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
116th Battery
117th Battery
118th Battery

XXXIX Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
46th Battery
51st Battery
54th Battery

XLIII (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
30th (H) Battery
40th (H) Battery
57th (H) Battery
26th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery

Mounted Troops
"A" Squadron 15th Hussars
1st Cyclist company

Engineers
23rd Field company Royal Engineers
26th Field company Royal Engineers

2nd Division (Monro)

4th (Guards) Brigade
2nd Grenadier Guards
2nd Coldstream Guards
3rd Coldstream Guards
1st Irish Guards
1st Hertfordshire Regiment

5th Brigade
2nd Worcestershire Regiment
2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
2nd Highland Light Infantry
2nd Connaught Rangers

6th Brigade
1st King's Regiment (Liverpool)
2nd South Staffordshire Regiment
1st Royal Berkshire Regiment
1st Kings Royal Rifle Corps

XXXIV Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
22nd Battery
50th Battery
70th Battery

XXXVI Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
15th Battery
48th Battery
71st Battery
XLI Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
9th Battery
16th Battery
17th Battery

XLIV (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
47th (H) Battery
56th (H) Battery
60th (H) Battery
35th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery

Mounted Troops
"B" Squadron 15th Hussars
2nd Cyclist company

Engineers
5th Field company Royal Engineers
11th Field company Royal Engineers

Damn sight more than 18,000 men