THE PREPARATION AND THE START OF MORE BATTALIONS
I. SUMMARY OF EVENTS
When the crash came in August, 1914, the only British forces ready to
assist were, of course, the units composing the regular army, and it
was soon seen that these were numerically far too few for a struggle
of the present magnitude; and though we were only bound by treaty to
furnish a certain number of soldiers, that number would only serve to
show our goodwill, but could not possibly do much towards the decision
of the result. As far as it went the old regular army proved itself
to be the finest and most highly trained in Europe, but it was a
lamentably small force even when reinforced by the good and seasoned
Indian and other oversea regiments, battalions and batteries. England
had engaged herself in an enormous task and she recognized, if but very
slowly, that it was so. When the awakening began everybody, or nearly
everybody, male or female, was anxious to do his or her share, and so
it came to pass that, while the first fierce fighting was going on in
Flanders and in France, Englishmen left in our island were enlisting,
drilling, training and working with tremendous energy to equip and
place in the field new and larger armies wherewith to fight out the
quarrel on more even terms. The regular army, it was recognized, was
but an advance guard, and it was for it to hold the field until the
others had prepared themselves.
In addition to those engaged there were trained or partially trained
troops, but many more than these were required. These partially
trained men were the recruits at the depot, the 3rd (Special Reserve)
Battalion, and the Territorials. No better material could be found
anywhere than these latter, but the annual fortnight’s training,
together with periodical musketry work and other drills and exercises,
which the soldier might attend or not as he pleased, did not suffice to
enable the units to take the field at once in a great European war. In
this chapter will be found a short account of how the required soldiers
were provided as far as East Kent was concerned, and some of the
methods by which it was arranged that the Old Buffs who hail from there
should be expanded into a far larger regiment, and the ranks of all its
battalions kept up to strength; for it was quite clear that draft after
draft of fresh men would continually have to cross the seas to supply
the waste of war.
But first it may be as well to record very briefly the progress of
and changes in the general situation of the world from September,
1914, when the 1st Battalion landed in France, up to the middle of
the following year. On the 29th October, 1914, Turkey entered the war
as an ally of Germany. On the 2nd November the Russians, who were
of course on our side, but who were slower to mobilize than other
countries, entered East Prussia and great hopes were entertained that
their having taken the field in force would do wonders to bring the
enemy to ruin. Even the most pessimistic saw that the presence of their
armies in Germany itself ought to ease the pressure on the Western
Front. On the 3rd November, Turkey being now an enemy, the forts on the
Dardanelles were first bombarded by an English and French fleet, and
this bombardment was repeated on the 19th February, 1915, and several
times during the month of March.
The 14th November saw a check to the Russians and a powerful German
invasion of Poland. On the 17th November a British force landed on
the shore of the Persian Gulf. The 20th November saw the commencement
of a series of small fights and skirmishes in Egypt. This country was
nominally part of the Turkish Empire, and the suzerain power made more
than one attempt to enforce the claim and to cross the Suez Canal,
without, however, any more success than the establishment of yet
another theatre of war and the consequent holding up of British troops.
The Australians and New Zealanders, however, arrived in Cairo two days
before Christmas and the province was safe enough after that, although
before that date the Indian soldiers, together with the Egyptians
themselves, had gallantly kept the foe in check.
On the 22nd March, 1915, Przemysl capitulated to the Russians, who took
120,000 prisoners and 700 big guns. On the 25th April Anglo-French
troops landed on both shores of the Dardanelles and soon established
themselves across the Gallipoli Peninsula. On the 28th a very powerful
Austro-German offensive developed in Galicia. The 3rd May was the date
on which Italy denounced the Triple Alliance, to which she had been
an adherent for so many years. There was much fighting in Gallipoli
on the 6th, and on the 7th the world was startled by the cold-blooded
cruelty of the enemy in torpedoing the _Lusitania_ off the coast
of Ireland, and it was demonstrated to all that the taking of innocent
and non-combatant lives was a recognized part of the German programme.
Italy declared war on Austria on the 23rd May.
An important article appeared in _The Times_ on the 14th May on
the shortage of munitions.
In France, of course, war went on furiously all the time. Ypres was
attacked on the 29th November and the 10th and 14th December, 1914.
There was fierce fighting about St. Eloi in the middle of February, and
in March came the battles of Neuve Chapelle and St. Eloi.
Nor was the war confined to the land: the battle of Coronel in the
Pacific on the 1st November, 1914, saw the loss of the British cruisers
_Good Hope_ and _Monmouth_, and the battle of the Dogger Bank
took place on the 24th January, 1915.
There was another event which happened during this period which
was of the greatest interest to a very deserving section of the
army. In previous wars, with the exception of the all-glorious and
much-longed-for V.C., there was no military decoration, if we except
the D.S.O., that was to be earned by junior officers or warrant
officers. The C.B. and C.M.G. were reserved for generals and officers
of field rank. His Majesty the King, recognizing that many most
deserving juniors amongst his faithful soldiers could hope for nothing
beyond the universal War Medal, instituted on the 28th December, 1914,
the Military Cross, limited to officers below the rank of major, and
certain warrant officers, and many a gallant young fellow can now vie
with his senior in the legitimate and proper display of trophies.
This idea was further developed, in March, 1916, by the grant of a
Military Medal (M.M.) to those non-commissioned officers and privates
who had performed acts of gallantry which, in this war, at any rate,
were not considered quite sufficiently important to earn the V.C.
II. DUTIES AT THE DEPOT
The depot of the Buffs is at Canterbury, which is also the headquarters
of the 4th (Territorial) Battalion. During peace the headquarters and
the permanent elements of the 3rd or Special Reserve Battalion occupied
the depot. As Special Reserve officers only gave a small portion of
their time to the profession of soldiering they were reinforced, so
to speak, by a few regular officers and other ranks who administered
the depot. When war broke out, Lt.-Colonel H. D. Hirst commanded the
3rd Battalion, but as he, like all Special Reserve officers and as the
Militia before them, lived at his home, the depot was commanded by
Major W. A. Eaton, an experienced regular major of the regiment.
Directly mobilization was ordered, it was the duty of the depot and
3rd Battalion staff to call up, clothe and equip all Army Reservists
and to despatch all who were passed fit for general service to join
the 1st Battalion at Fermoy. This work began early on the morning of
the 5th August and was completed during the night of the 6th, having
been carried through without a moment’s break. In all about 850 Army
Reservists were called up, and of these some 700 were sent, in three
trains, to Ireland.
On Saturday, 8th August, the 3rd Special Reserve Battalion was
mobilized, about 500 strong; and the men gave good proof of their
fitness by marching that same night from the barracks at Canterbury to
the Citadel Barracks at Dover, a good eighteen miles.
Although very few of the people in authority seemed to expect a great
war, still minute preparations had been made beforehand for a sudden
mobilization, and amongst these it had been arranged that the officers
on the Reserve of Officers list (not to be confused with Special
Reserve) should each be told off in peace time to the job they would
have to do in war. These officers were, practically speaking, all those
who had retired and were still under the age of fifty-seven. Of them,
some had been detailed to join at Canterbury on mobilization to take
over the depot, Colonel G. V. Dauglish, a late commanding officer of
the 1st Battalion, being appointed to command. On the departure of the
3rd Battalion for Dover, the depot, with its staff of reserve officers
and a few details, proceeded to deal with the recruits who were already
coming in fast.
Recruits for the New Army were at first trained at the depot, though
in practice they were trained by regular officers, lent for the
purpose. As the strength of a company was raised, it was sent with the
officers as a complete unit to its battalion; but this system did not
last, recruits being afterwards sent direct to their battalions. Other
training and the preparation of drafts for the front was carried out by
the 3rd Battalion and, later, by the 9th as well.
The Officer Commanding the depot was also in charge of the East Kent
Recruiting Area. The barracks were very soon crowded by the number of
recruits, and, as new recruiting conditions developed, a large staff
of men and women were employed in the recruiting offices, making it
necessary for extra accommodation to be provided in the town. The
Territorial battalions had their separate recruiting arrangements.
It is interesting to recall the helpfulness of the recruits in the
early days in making the best of a difficult and only partially
organized job, and of old Buffs, non-commissioned officers and men,
who re-enlisted for the depot and active service. It may be noted that
while special efforts were made to get stout fellows for the Buffs,
these efforts had to be co-ordinated with the duty of the Recruiting
Area to obtain recruits for the Army generally.
The depot gradually acquired many and varied duties both towards the
regiment and the Service generally. To mention a few: the storage
and cataloguing of the heavy baggage of the regular battalions and
of innumerable kits; the supply of clothing and necessaries during
the early months by direct purchase from dealers; the charge of the
2nd Battalion band boys; and--a difficult task for the adjutant--the
responsibility for all invalids of the regiment from overseas. These,
taken on the strength of the depot, had to be traced in the various
hospitals and touch kept with them till passed to the 3rd or 9th
Battalion on discharge from hospital. Convalescents were for a long
period sent to the depot for hardening before rejoining for service. A
novel feature was the Agricultural Company, under a special officer,
comprising men of different regiments from overseas or on home service.
These men were employed in large numbers on farms, the depot being
responsible for their general supervision and for arrangements with the
farmers as to employment, pay, board and lodging.
Among old Buffs and others serving at different times during the war at
the depot and in the Recruiting Area were: Majors F. Bradley Dyne, R.
G. A. Marriott, D.S.O., G. A. Porter, A. H. Tylden-Pattenson, D.S.O.
(Adjutant), and Captain H. H. C. Baird, D.S.O.; Major W. Tufnell,
M.B.E., and Captain V. T. Dampier Palmer, O.B.E. (Recruiting Officer),
late 3rd Battalion The Buffs; Captain S. Kelsey Burge (Agricultural
Officer), late 4th Battalion; Major H. Paine, late Cheshire Regiment;
Major G. Croft (Quartermaster), late Royal Sussex Regiment; R.S.M.
J. W. Harris, C.S.M. G. Holmes, Col.-Sgts. F. H. Wright and F. H.
Sheppard, Orderly Room Clerk F. Freeman.
III. THE 3RD (S.R.) BATTALION
As regards details of the various battalions which in 1914 were either
home units or being raised in England, the 3rd had, when Militia,
served with distinction in South Africa. It was now, as has been
said, under the command of Lt.-Colonel Hirst, but its duties, as well
as its name, had undergone marked change. Fifteen years before it
had volunteered as a unit for active service, had been accepted and
had proved its value. Now a much more weary and thankless task was
required of the Special Reserve. It must accept thousands and thousands
of recruits, equip them, train them and then, as soon as the men
showed promise of doing the battalion real credit, draft them off to
the other Buffs at the seat of war, never to see them again unless,
returning maimed or worn out, a few should drift back to Dover marked
for “home service only.” Truly a heart-breaking job for the colonel and
his staff.
The station of the battalion was the Citadel at Dover, and its strength
at times exceeded a hundred officers and two thousand other ranks.
Drafts for service were constantly being despatched and the gaps thus
left as constantly being filled up, mostly by fresh recruits, both
officers and men; either those joining late because they at first had
failed to understand the urgent need there was for their services, or
because they were so many months older than when war commenced and now
could pass muster as men, often by the help of a little forgetfulness
as to the exact date of their birth. It was quite remarkable not only
in Kent, but throughout the country, how many young lads, thorough
men in everything except years, struggled to get accepted as officers
or soldiers. Many people in 1914 entertained the idea that the
British race had deteriorated in manly qualities from the old stock,
but the spirit shown at home, as well as the work done abroad, very
conclusively proved the contrary.
The history of the 3rd Battalion during the momentous years was a
monotonous one. It could be nothing else. It took men, trained men and
sent men out, but how it trained them and what sort of men it sent out
is well exemplified by the following official report written by Lieut.
A. Howard Reed (4th Battalion) to Colonel Hirst relative to a draft
despatched by him for the 10th Battalion late in the year 1917: “I have
the honour to report on the conduct of the men of the draft from your
Battalion on the occasion of the torpedoing of H.M.S. ... as follows:--
“The whole draft paraded at their station with the utmost calmness.
L.-Sgt. Canfor (who had been blown up by the explosion, and who was
severely shaken) called the roll ... whilst the men detailed cut loose
the rafts, the remainder sang until the rafts were launched. L.-Corpl.
Baker volunteered to jump from the rails to secure a raft which had no
painter. This he did, and succeeded in bringing it alongside, thereby
assuring the safety of about twenty men. Owing to their splendid
discipline, I was able to get every man safely into the water, and
clinging to rafts. After about two and a half hours in the water we
were rescued, with the exception of one man (Pte. Howlett) of whom I
can find no trace. Whilst on the rafts the men sang continuously, and
cheered the work of rescue, and generally behaved in a most gallant
manner. I am unable, of course, to give you any details of the terrible
affair, which was enough to try the courage of the bravest men, but I
wish to say, Sir, that the behaviour of these men was above reproach. I
am proud to have been in command of such a draft, and, in my opinion,
their conduct nobly upheld the honour of our Regiment, and deserves a
place in the history of the deeds accomplished by it. Recommendations
have been asked for, and I have submitted the names of Sgt. Canfor,
L.-Corpl. Baker and one Private.”
Commenting privately on this adventure, Howard Reed stated: “I had
planned out in advance exactly what to do if we got hit, as it was up
to me to do the best for them when the emergency arose. I was fortunate
in having men who unhesitatingly obeyed my orders, showed absolute
trust in myself and behaved like heroes.” The name of the vessel was
the _Aragon_, and the date of the disaster the 30th December, 1917.
IVA. 4TH BATTALION
The 4th and 5th Battalions of the Buffs were Territorials, and when
war was declared they were both out for their annual training at
Longmore with their division--“The Home Counties.” Every Territorial
unit had what was called special service sections--that is, a few
selected men were always held in readiness to guard, in case of sudden
emergencies, important strategic points throughout the country. These
special sections of the 4th Battalion were mobilized as early as 28th
July--a week before war broke out--and were consequently amongst the
very first to be put on a war footing, at a time, indeed, when very few
of their countrymen had begun to think that England was on the verge
of this tremendous epoch of her history. These men were despatched to
safeguard the wireless stations in Thanet and the cable at Dumpton Gap.
On the 5th August the battalion was completely mobilized at Dover and
was in the new Connaught Barracks there to guard the nearest point to
the Continent till their place could be taken by the 3rd or Special
Reserve Battalion. A few days later the Kent Infantry Brigade retired
to Canterbury and was billeted there.
Here Lt.-Colonel G. Gosling, commanding, called for volunteers to serve
in France or elsewhere abroad, and in response to his appeal enough
stout fellows volunteered to serve anywhere to ensure that the 4th
Buffs could be reckoned on as an overseas unit. Those who failed to
volunteer formed the nucleus of a new battalion for home service only
and were denominated the 2/4th Battalion.
The following extract from the _Kentish Gazette_ describes the
situation after the battalion became an overseas unit:--
“Towards the end of August, 1914, when the Germans were devastating
Belgium and there were grave probabilities of a raid on the coast, the
4th Battalion was suddenly ordered to Thanet. Recruits flocked in from
East Kent until the battalion was nearly 1,300 strong. The training was
carried on under difficult conditions and a great deal of discomfort,
but the cheerful willingness to learn made things easy, so that by the
middle of October a very fine battalion was ready to be sent wherever
required. Just before the end of October, 1914, the 4th Battalion and
part of the Home Counties Division was ordered to India, to enable the
Regulars to be moved from India to France.”
* * * * *
It is noteworthy that of this rush of patriotic young men to swell the
ranks of the 4th Battalion, which is referred to in the extract I have
quoted, forty-four students from Wye College joined in one day.
It was on the 29th October that the battalion left Thanet, as did all
the rest of the Home Counties Division, with the exception of the 4th
Royal West Surrey, detached for other important services. At Suez and
Aden the convoy was delayed three and four days respectively owing to
the activity of the Turks, who had already attacked Perim and were now
threatening the Canal. In fact, the battalion disembarked at Suez and
marched through the town as a demonstration.
IVB. 5TH BATTALION
The early war history of the 5th Battalion, which it will be remembered
was also a Territorial one, resembles that of its twin the 4th.
Indeed, the two were together in the Kentish Brigade of the Home
Counties Division. On mobilization it was sent to Dover, afterwards to
Canterbury and then to Sandwich, where it relieved the Kent Cyclists,
and late in October it too sailed for India in the _Corsican_,
under command of Lt.-Colonel Munn-Mace, T.D. It was quartered at
Kamptee and formed part of the Jubbulpore Brigade, for on the arrival
of the Territorial divisions from England in relief of the white part
of the Indian garrison, their original home organization in brigades
and divisions fell through, and each unit had to join the brigades and
divisions already existing in India.
Whatever could be made of the existing British forces, however, could
never suffice to meet the great emergency. Huge new armies must be
formed, trained and, what was still more difficult, equipped to go
direct to the seat of war; and so our island became for the first time
in its history one vast training camp, and every man that was a man
and young enough turned his hand to war. Times were almost as critical
during certain periods of the Napoleonic Wars a hundred years before,
but, of course, in those days campaigns, however important, were fought
with very small armies because there was nothing to transport, feed and
supply the same but a few sailing ships by sea and horse-drawn carts by
land. But now times had changed in this respect and each nation put in
the field the largest force it could muster and equip. So steps were at
once taken in England.
V. THE 6TH BATTALION
On the 22nd August, 1914, Major W. A. Eaton, who had been in command
of the depot until the mobilization of the 3rd Battalion, which he
accompanied to Dover, received a telegram ordering him to proceed to
Colchester to take over command of a 6th Battalion of his regiment
about to be raised there. On arrival with his servant[10] he found
nothing but some empty barracks which had been vacated in haste. That
evening, however, a draft consisting of Captain B. E. Furley, Lieut.
(adjutant) T. Wheler, 2nd Lieut. E. H. Allen and about one hundred men
arrived--the nucleus of the first Service Battalion of the Buffs to
be raised, a battalion consisting of men who had without hesitation
responded to Lord Kitchener’s call to arms.
Drafts arrived almost daily, as did officers, old and new: Major C.
P. Lloyd as second in command, Lieut. D. K. Anderson, who happened to
be home on leave from India, and, as Regimental Sergeant-Major and
Quartermaster-Sergeant respectively, N. Linwood and A. Scragg, both of
whom came to join the battalion without a moment’s delay at the urgent
request of the commanding officer. 2nd Lieut. Hugh Brodie, well known
at Canterbury as an “Old Stager,” was the first New Army officer to
report, and he was soon followed by others. Practically the last two
drafts were composed of men, in all about 250, from the firm of William
Cory and Son, Ltd.,[11] who went to form D Company under Captain G.
B. T. Friend. This company was always known as Cory’s, and 2nd Lieut.
Hamilton Greig, son of the managing director, was afterwards posted to
it on transfer. Soon the battalion was over strength, but more men kept
on arriving, turning up without warning from all sorts of directions.
Anyone who served with one of Kitchener’s battalions during the latter
part of 1914 and the beginning of the following year will remember
what it was like. Genuine hard work and honest efforts on the part of
all to make bricks with so very little straw. It is easier to collect
heroes for the defence of their country than to arm, clothe and equip
them; and the number of men got very far in advance of the amount
of necessaries for them. A new battalion at this period was not a
pretty sight. A very ugly and shoddy suit of blue was doled out to
the soldier, with a civilian greatcoat and generally a dummy rifle,
and with this turn-out he did real strenuous drill and training. Old
service rifles, for drill purposes only, began to come in later on, and
the men gradually obtained sufficient blankets and clothing. Nothing
daunted the spirit of the troops, however, and life was cheery enough.
In November the 6th Battalion moved into hutments at Sandling Camp,
near Shorncliffe. Owing to the rain and lack of any drainage system,
the camp quickly became a sea of mud, the huts uninhabitable, even with
tents inside; and so, just before Christmas, the battalion went into
billets about the villages of Elham and Lyminge, and very good billets
they were. The householders one and all seemed to vie with each other
as to who could do their men the best. Nor will the officers ever
forget all the kindness which was shown to them.
The following is an extract from a letter written by the commanding
officer, after clothing and rifles had at last been issued:--
“It was on one Sunday while we were in these billets that
the battalion, accompanied by the band of the 3rd Battalion,
generously lent to us for the occasion, went to Canterbury and
attended a special service most kindly arranged for us by the
Dean[12] at the Cathedral, and at which we were privileged to
hand in the Colours of the 2nd Battalion recently returned from
India and gone to the front. With reference to this occasion I
cannot refrain from quoting the following extract from a letter
received by me from an old Buff officer temporarily doing duty
at the depot:
“‘I cannot say how delighted I was at the appearance of your
regiment. It was simply magnificent. Candidly I do not think I
ever saw a finer body of men in any battalion since I joined the
1st in Cawnpore in 1878. They were a fine lot averaging thirteen
years’ service, but I think your lot even topped them.’”
The ceremony above referred to took place on the 31st January, 1915,
and more advanced training at Aldershot lasted from about then till
the 1st June, when yet another warlike body of Buffs made the great
move and sailed for France to show of what stuff the old regiment was
made. This battalion belonged to the 37th Infantry Brigade of the
12th Division, the Brigadier being G. A. Fowler, and the Divisional
Commander Major-General James Spens, C.B. (brother to a well-known and
much beloved old Buff), but he was succeeded by Major-General F. D. V.
Wing, C.B., when the division went to France. The other battalions of
the 37th Brigade were: 6th Queens, 7th East Surrey, 6th Royal West Kent.
The officers embarking for France were:--
_Commanding Officer._ Lt.-Colonel W. A. Eaton.
_2nd in Command._ Major C. P. Lloyd.
_Adjutant._ Captain T. Wheler.
_Quartermaster._ Lieut. N. Linwood.
_A Company._
Major B. E. Furley.
Lieut. H. W. Brodie.
„ T. H. Crowther.
2nd Lieut. J. C. Page.
„ C. W. B. Marsh.
„ D. Lambert.
_B Company._
Captain R. P. Wedd.
„ Lord Teynham.
Lieut. C. D. Gullick.
2nd Lieut. J. C. T. Leigh.
„ S. A. Erlebach.
_C Company._
Captain C. E. G. Davidson.
Lieut. P. A. C. Kelsey.
„ R. O. C. Ward.
2nd Lieut. C. E. H. Druitt.
„ C. Bainbridge.
_D Company._
Captain G. B. T. Friend.
Major A. Soames, D.S.O. (acting).
Lieut. R. Hodgson.
„ A. L. Gullick.
2nd Lieut. G. H. Greig.
„ R. H. Williams.
_Transport Officer._
Lieut. A. D. R. Terry.
_Medical Officer._
Lieut. J. R. Driberg.
R.S.M. W. Jeffries.
R.Q.M.S. A. J. Scragg.
After a day at Boulogne the battalion went by train to St. Omer and
from there marched to Remilly-Werquin. Here it had two or three days’
rest and then, in the hottest weather, marched by stages, passing the
Commander-in-Chief on the way, to billets and bivouacs at Meteren, near
Bailleul, which brought it, of course, into the immediate vicinity of
the two regular battalions.
VI. 7TH BATTALION
As has already been shown, the 6th Battalion was much over strength
within a very short time of its raising, and from the surplus of this
unit arose the 7th Battalion. By the 17th September this consisted of
two thousand men, all in plain clothes. There was a common expectation
at this time that khaki uniform was all ready for the recruits who came
up voluntarily to serve and that the men would be turned out soldiers,
as far as clothes were concerned, with the utmost promptitude. This was
unfortunately not the case, and as, naturally, the recruit under the
circumstances joined in his very worst garments, the battalion, like
others, was soon ridiculously ragged. It was some days before uniform
of any sort was handed out, and then it was but a temporary makeshift.
A few D.P. (drill purpose) rifles were available for each company.
The birthplace of the 7th Buffs was Purfleet, Essex, and the first
officers belonging to it were Captain B. E. Furley (temporarily),
Lieut. E. H. Allen and 2nd Lieut. A. G. Kenchington, who were
transferred from the 6th Battalion with 1,600 recruits, 600 of whom
passed on again to start the 8th Battalion. The first regularly
appointed commanding officer was Lt.-Colonel Gilbert Johnson, who
assumed command at the end of September, and his second-in-command was
Major A. F. Campbell Johnston, very well known a few years back in the
2nd Battalion and who did good work as regards instilling the ancient
regimental spirit into new soldiers’ minds. Both the new officers and
the new men showed the greatest keenness and anxiety to learn, and
with such a state of things the manufacture of a new fighting unit
becomes comparatively easy. As in the case of other units, the senior
officers and warrant officers were, generally speaking, men who had
retired from the service, and though in some cases their knowledge
and methods were somewhat antiquated, their experience was invaluable
and their zeal indubitable. There were also a considerable number of
veteran privates, and so it was that the new armies at first consisted
of old soldiers time-expired, who felt bound to present themselves
again, and spirited young fellows who did not wait for conscription.
This was a great combination, for the former, though for the most part
somewhat obsolete, were zealous and could, at any rate, teach the
rudiments, and the latter were so eager to learn that teaching became a
pleasure. Being young and business-like, they soon passed the old men
as competent soldiers because they assimilated what the others had to
teach and added practical go-ahead methods. The respectful love and
sympathy of the new soldier for his white-headed instructor was quite
touching, and the old man, loving to come back to his ancient trade,
appreciated fully the fine type of recruit he had now to deal with.
Thus a quaint spirit of friendship and a curious comradeship arose,
which did much to make Kitchener’s armies what they were and to instil
a spirit of _esprit de corps_ and honour. It was a pity that later
on recruits were posted to any corps that required reinforcements at
the time, but, after all, these were for the most part conscripts.
Amongst the new hands were men from various parts of England, though
the majority came from Kent. The junior officers were of almost
every profession and business and were wonderfully eager and full of
_esprit de corps_.
The remainder of the year of 1914 was spent in hard and steady drill
and training and short temporary moves of quarters. There were two
changes of commanders by February, 1915, Colonel Johnson leaving on
the 14th November and Lt.-Colonel Young, of the Indian Army, relieving
him, being himself replaced by Lt.-Colonel W. F. Elmslie, of the
Lancashire Fusiliers, a little later. On the 3rd March, 1915, Major
Campbell Johnston was transferred elsewhere. He was relieved by Major
C. Parmiter, of the King’s Liverpool Regiment, who ten years before
had been adjutant of the 1st V.B. The Buffs. By March the battalion
had advanced as far as brigade training, and in April the route came
for Colchester, where the rest of the 18th Division was assembled.
Manœuvres in Suffolk under General F. J. Maxse, commencing at the end
of April, were a preliminary to a series of pretty strenuous brigade
and divisional field days in Wiltshire directly afterwards. On the
9th June General Poett left the 55th Brigade, which was taken over
by Br.-General Martyn, late of the Royal West Kent. H.M. The King
inspected the division at Stonehenge on the 24th June and expressed
himself well pleased. July saw the end of the preliminary work. Final
leave was commenced on the 7th.
The Colonel of the Buffs, General Sir Arthur Paget, inspected the
battalion on the 13th, and on the 27th July the brigade left its camp
at Codford for Folkestone _en route_ for Boulogne, to be merged
into the valiant army of Britain and her Colonies, an army destined to
prove, and which indeed had already proved, that the modern Englishman
was bred true to type and was a worthy descendant of his heroic sires.
VII. 8TH BATTALION
In September, 1914, when all the real manhood of England not already
soldiers were crowding to the Colours, and when elderly men and young
boys were so strangely forgetful as to the years of their birth, and
when all birth certificates of gallant Englishmen at either end of what
is called military age were so universally mislaid and lost, Colonel
F. C. Romer, C.B., C.M.G., then in his sixty-fourth year, was offered
his choice of raising any one of three specified Service Battalions,
and he chose to raise the 8th Battalion of the Buffs. He was a member
of Boodles and at the time honorary secretary of the club. He was a
believer in mature men and wished, at any rate, to have a certain
leaven of the middle-aged amongst his officers, so his first step
was to turn to a few of his club friends, and Major Dansy, Major A.
Crawley, Captain Hare, Captain W. Howard, Lieut. Sir William Cooke
and Captain W. D. Johnson immediately followed their leader, as did
two of the club waiters. All of them were over forty years of age
except, perhaps, the two privates. The considerable detachment from
Boodles Club above referred to proceeded to camp at Shoreham, where
they found awaiting them Captain E. C. Norman (adjutant), Regimental
Sergt.-Major A. Barton, four N.C.O.’s and a draft of five hundred
odd from Canterbury. By the end of September the full complement
of officers had arrived and training was going on in earnest and
continued very strenuously all October, in spite of a complete lack
of every necessity: clothing, arms, boots, equipment, camp furniture
and even army forms. In the first week the battalion was inspected
by the divisional commander, everybody but the officers and one or
two N.C.O.’s being in mufti, and some in rags. This state of things,
however, was common enough in our island at this period and nobody
minded and all went well, because the old soldiers were keen to pass
on all they knew and the young ones to absorb every kind of military
knowledge.
The month of November brought a change for the worse in the way of
weather, and things were not so pleasant. The parade ground was a sea
of mud, tents leaked and men were seldom dry and never very clean.
On more than one occasion rows of tents were flooded out and whole
companies marched out at night to find what shelter they could. The
officers’ mess, the board-schools and even the station waiting-room
were, at different times, used as billets for the soaked and shivering
battalion. Hopes of moving shortly into new huts did something to cheer
the somewhat drooping spirits, but, owing to shortage of labour, these
were not completed till months after the specific date, and on the 1st
December the brigade moved into billets at Worthing, a very welcome
change. The winter passed comfortably in billets, but there were
renewed delays as regards equipment.
On the 1st April, 1915, the battalion proceeded to Reigate for a hard
fortnight of trench digging. The system of entrenching which now
obtained in the army in France differed widely from that to which the
instructors still in England were accustomed to, and the works turned
out by the zealous new armies at this time differed considerably from
those with which they later on became familiar. The next move was back
to the old camp, where the hutments were at last ready for occupation.
It is always easier to train during the summer season than at other
times, and the long days at battalion and brigade field days brought
the unit more forward than all the previous months. There were, about
June, upwards of forty officers in the 8th Battalion, and even this
figure was small when compared with other corps. In June there was
another journey, this time to the Aisne Barracks at Blackdown near
Aldershot. The object now was divisional training during July and
August, culminating in a review by Lord Kitchener and a week’s trench
digging at Chobham. The battalion provided the King’s Guard during
His Majesty’s visit to Aldershot in August. During the third week in
August rumours of going abroad grew stronger, and the last week or so
was spent in feverish preparation. The battalion eventually sailed on
the night of the 31st August/1st September as part of the 72nd Infantry
Brigade and 24th Division. And now five battalions of the Buffs were
warring in France and two serving their country in India. The officers
of the 8th Battalion who embarked for the war were Colonel F. C. Romer,
C.B., C.M.G., in command, Major D. F. Robinson, 2nd in command, Captain
F. W. Watson, adjutant, Lieut. A. Barton, recently promoted Qr.-Master,
2nd Lieut. E. T. Smith, M.G. Officer, Lieut. J. R. Spensley, R.A.M.C.
_A Company._
Major Guy Warden.
Capt. A. M. C. Hollist.
Lieut. F. D. Montgomerie.
„ T. H. Taylor.
2nd Lieut. E. F. Corner.
„ E. C. Wanstall.
_B Company._
Capt. W. Howard.
„ A. G. Hamilton.
Lieut. P. J. F. Brine.
2nd Lieut. G. L. Thorp.
„ Hon. H. E. J. Robinson.
„ R. B. Carrow.
_C Company._
Capt. T. R. M. Shervinton.
„ C. H. Cardozo.
Lieut. G. A. P. Jones.
„ C. H. Herepath.
2nd Lieut. J. Vaughan.
„ G. Lindley.
_D Company._
Capt. J. Kekewich.
„ W. D. Johnson.
Lieut. J. L. Samuelson.
„ V. S. Daniell.
„ S. Vaughan.
„ B. H. Pickering.
VIII. 2ND AND 3RD LINE TERRITORIALS
In addition to the troops sent from our country to the various war
theatres, there was a very considerable army kept up at home during the
whole four years of war. The main duty of this force was, of course,
to find reinforcements for the units abroad, but the safety of our own
shores had all the while also to be considered.
Invasion, properly so called, may have been an impossibility, at any
rate, till the British Fleet had been sunk, because an invasion takes
time: armies and enormous quantities of munitions, stores and horses
must be landed and arrangements made to keep up connection between the
invading troops and the country they come from. But this is not the
case with raids: comparatively small forces can sometimes be landed in
an enemy’s country, do an infinity of damage and destruction for a day
or two and then re-embark. To guard against a possibility of anything
of this sort happening was another and very important duty of the home
army, and there were other reasons for its maintenance. When the bulk
of the 4th and 5th (Territorial) Battalions of the Buffs volunteered
for foreign service, those who did not do so were still willing enough
to fulfil their original undertaking to aid in guarding their native
shores, and these men formed the nucleus of new battalions for home
service only, called the 2/4th and 2/5th.
The 2/4th was formed at Ashford, Kent, under Lt.-Colonel Skey, and
the following month proceeded to Sunninghill and Ascot, but its
station during the first portion of 1915 was Rochester, and its
vicinity and later on it went to Sevenoaks. The intensive training
which had necessarily obtained in the case of the battalions required
for immediate war service was not in the nature of things pressed
so persistently on units of the home army, and their training was
of a steadier and slower description. Regular garrison duties were
carried out, which included a considerable amount of guard work when
at Strood and Rochester. In May, 1915, the 2/4th and the 2/5th Buffs
each furnished one company complete for a Kent composite battalion
to serve in the Gallipoli Peninsula, which unit will be referred to
later. Lt.-Colonel Atkinson was in command about the middle of 1915,
and a year later the 2/4th went back into the Ashford district. There
were very numerous drafts found and sent overseas by the 2/4th.
These generally went to the 1/4th in India, but there were notable
exceptions; for instance, in August, 1916, nearly four hundred men went
to France to the 18th and 19th London Regiment and to the King’s Royal
Rifles. The battalion was disbanded in August, 1917.
Colonel C. Hawley Williams, V.D., Honorary Colonel of the 4th Battalion
of The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment was appointed, when the
5th Buffs went to India, to command the home keeping remnant which made
the 2/5th. He had Major (Hon. Colonel) the Viscount Goschen, V.D.,
as his second-in-command. The battalion belonged to the Second-line
Kent Infantry Brigade, and like its neighbour the 2/4th, it underwent
several moves, and was at Ashford, Ascot and Bracknell successively.
Recruiting was carried on, but as the Weald of Kent is not very thickly
populated, the number did not increase as rapidly as in the case of
some other units, though very considerable efforts were made. The
progress of training was retarded by lack of instructors, lack of
equipment and lack of rifles, but the officers and men neglected no
effort to become efficient and difficulties were gradually overcome.
The history of the 2/5th was much the same as that of the 2/4th. It,
too, went through a period of service near Chatham and was worked
heavily at the guard duties, and it, too, as has been stated above,
sent a company to Gallipoli.
The 3/4th Battalion of the Buffs was raised by Major L. C. R. Messel,
T.D., at Canterbury in July, 1915, and Lieut. G. C. Bateman from the
2/4th was appointed adjutant with the temporary rank of captain. The
establishment was originally only one company, commanded by a major,
but this was shortly increased to two and an excess of strength up to
fifty per cent permitted. Lieut. R. Smith, late of the Buffs and Army
Pay Department, became Quarter-Master, and that well-known and greatly
respected veteran, J. Bennell, Regtl. Sergt.-Major, up till February,
1916, when he was relieved by C.S.M. C. Brown. On the 31st December,
1915, the battalion moved to Cambridge, together with other units
of the third-line groups (as they were called) of the Home Counties
Division. Later on the whole went to Crowborough.
The 3/5th was raised by Major Charles P. Kingsland of the 2/5th. The
original description was Third-line Depot 5th Battalion The Buffs, but
this was soon altered to 3/5th The Buffs, and in 1916 to 5th Reserve
Battalion The Buffs. The establishment was the same as that of the
last-mentioned unit, but in 1916 it was increased to 750 men in
consequence of the 1/5th being in Mesopotamia. At this time also the
commanding officer was given the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel.
Major A. Stuart Elmslie was at first the adjutant, but later became
second-in-command. R.S.M. Bolton, 1st Battalion The Buffs, was
regimental sergeant-major. This unit also joined their third-line
group at Cambridge at the very end of 1915, and it was accommodated in
Trinity College, and it also went to Crowborough in 1916, having sent a
large draft from Cambridge to Mesopotamia. On the 1st September, 1916,
the battalion was amalgamated with the 3/4th, and with it became the
4th Reserve Battalion of The Buffs, under the command of Lt.-Colonel L.
C. R. Messel, T.D. It was part of the Home Counties Reserve Brigade,
and had a strength now of no less than 1,560 men. A little later it
became the reserve unit for the 10th Buffs, of whom we shall hear
later. In October, 1917, Lt.-Colonel Messel was succeeded by Major W.
D. Sword from the North Staffordshire Regiment.
IX. VOLUNTEERS
On the 6th August, 1914, a letter appeared in _The Times_
signed by Mr. Percy A. Harris, advocating the formation and training
of Volunteer Corps. At the end of the month the War Office vetoed
the raising of volunteer units, but gave sanction to organize
_Training_ Corps, and these sprang up all over the country and
began to recruit for the oversea armies. The county was the unit of
organization, and County Commandants were appointed. At the end of
1915 the revival of the Volunteer Act passed Parliament, which awarded
military rank and status, and from this time on the Training Corps
were termed Volunteer Corps, and if called up to repel invasion the
officers and men were to become subject to military law. Only those men
who were too old to serve abroad or whose indispensable business or
employment absolutely prevented them doing so were enrolled.
So far as Kent was concerned Lord Harris, the County Commandant, took
charge of the county force and called it “Kent Volunteer Fencibles,”
but in August, 1916, the War Office, taking the matter more decidedly
in hand, the several units were made into Volunteer Battalions of the
county regiments.
In East Kent there were four of these:--
1st Volunteer Battalion was commanded by Br.-General W. Tylden; 2nd by
Major J. C. Tattersall; 3rd Volunteer Battalion by Major-General C.
F. Browne, C.B., D.S.O.; 4th Volunteer Battalion by Major H. E. T. W.
Fiennes. General Brown retiring on the 16th December, the 3rd Battalion
was taken over by Major H. T. Gullick, who had lost one son in the
Buffs and had another still fighting with the regiment.
X. 9TH BATTALION
Mention has not been made yet of the very useful and important unit the
9th Battalion, because this held rather a unique position. It was not
in August, when war broke out, in existence at all, and so could hardly
be described as Special Reserve, though its duties were exactly similar
to those of the 3rd Battalion from which it was, in fact, an off-shoot.
Its history is briefly as follows: it was first of all raised as a
Service Battalion, just as were the 6th, 7th and 8th, but being the
junior unit its organization was delayed simply because there was so
much work to do in connection with those battalions which were first
for war. Early in October, 1914, instructions were issued to carry out
the work of starting the new battalion, and as the number on the books
of the 3rd, which was at the Citadel, Dover, was at this time far in
excess of what is manageable as a single unit, some eleven officers
and seven hundred men were struck off its strength, placed under the
command of Major Layborn and sent into the old South Front Barracks
close by, as the 9th Buffs. A few old members of the regiment had been
detailed as instructors. Captain Hickman was sent to aid in starting
the battalion and, until things got into good working order, Lieut.
G. Dunster was quartermaster, Captain Courtney-Hood was the permanent
adjutant, Reveille Sgt.-Major, Edwards, Q.M.S. and Winstanley the O.R.
sergeant. Very few of the company officers had any previous military
experience, but energy and zeal are valuable assets, and the 9th was
rapidly preparing to take its place in war; Lt.-Colonel R. A. Reith, a
former commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, was appointed to the
command, and the 95th Brigade was formed from the 9th Buffs, 10th East
Surrey, 14th and 15th Royal Fusiliers. Higher divisional training was
expected to take place in the spring, and there seemed to be every
prospect of a move across the Channel in the summer of 1915 when, in
March, all hopes and ambitions were dashed to the ground by the receipt
of news that the battalion’s destination was after all to be Purfleet
in Essex, and that it was to be a home-keeping and draft-finding unit,
exactly like the 3rd Battalion. In July the first draft went to war.
Three hundred men entrained at Purfleet for London and marched from
Fenchurch Street to London Bridge Station by a circuitous route to show
themselves and exercise the Buffs’ old and long-established privilege
of passing along the City of London streets with bayonets fixed and
all honours of war. The party on this occasion was headed by the band
and drums and the Lord Mayor showed himself at the Mansion House to
take the salute. The London crowd gave the men a proper and, indeed,
an enthusiastic send-off, and there was much cheering and waving of
handkerchiefs. In September came a move to Shoreham, Sussex, whence
many drafts departed, mostly to the old regular battalions; but the
enormous one of forty officers and five hundred men went to the 8th
Battalion to replace the terrible losses that unit suffered at Loos.
There is no space to record more. The 9th did its duty like the others,
the headquarters moving sometimes, once again to Dover and later to
Southend, but the men, as in the case of the 3rd Battalion, constantly
proceeding overseas in batches. The only marked change that came was in
January, 1917, when the battalion was selected for the training of a
large number of “A4 Boys”[13] called out at that time, with the result
that the numbers rose to nearly three thousand, and four new companies
had to be organized.
Six months afterwards most of the original officers and permanent
N.C.O.’s went back to the 3rd Battalion, and the 9th Buffs became the
52nd Queen’s, in which capacity it went to France, when the dangerous
days of March, 1918, had come; it ended its career as part of the army
of occupation in Germany after the armistice.
The story of the 10th Battalion and of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada
will be told later in the book.