 43,000 reservists had been sent overseas with the regular forces—out of a total of 80,000—with the remainder sent overseas as reinforcements and replacements over the first year of the war.The conventional system of posting reservists to their own regiment worked until April 1900, after which it became sometimes necessary to post reservists to different regiments due to heavy losses, and by September 1900 this system had broken down entirely, with the reserves entirely exhausted of men.On 16 December, the first request was sent from South Africa for auxiliary troops, and a commitment was made to send a "considerable force of militia and picked yeomanry and volunteers".