"The Great Little Army" is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

military march that was composed by Kenneth J. Alford in 1916. Alford, whose real name is Frederick Joseph Ricketts, was a bandmaster from the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

/ Royal Marines who in his last position he was appointed to, directed the Band of HM Royal Marines, Plymouth. It was made to honour the British and Allied victories that were made in the

Western Front (World War I) The Western Front was one of the main theatres of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of impo ...

. At the time, they were known as "The Contemptible Little Army" by the Imperial German Army. The march is currently employed by various units in the

as a march past. The

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also res ...

made the march the authorised march-past in quick time in 2013, replacing "" ("Quick, Clever and Ready"). Colleen McGrann, spokeswoman for the Canadian Army explained that "" was "neither particularly tuneful or easily recognizable" and that "The Great Little Army" "seemed appropriate in both name and tune". The march is also the regimental quick march for the 2nd Battalion,

Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment is the parent administrative regiment and corps of regular and reserve infantry battalions in the New Zealand Army. It was originally formed in 1947 with a singular Regular regiment and multiple reserve r ...

as well as the Special Mobile Force of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

References

1916 compositions British military marches Canadian military marches New Zealand military marches Songs of World War I Songs with music by Kenneth J. Alford {{song-stub