Читать книгу The War History of the 1st/ 4th Battalion, 1914-1918. The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment онлайн

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It has been impossible to devote very much space to these early days in England. Everyone was as keen as mustard, and we had the advantage of having, besides our Regular Adjutant Captain Norman (Royal Welsh Fusiliers), and Sergeant-Major Farnworth (of the 1st Battalion), a number of senior Officers who had made soldiering their hobby for years and passed the examinations necessary to attain their rank. The Warrant Officers and many of the Non-Commissioned Officers were also thoroughly trained. The disadvantages under which we laboured were that, being a Territorial unit, our equipment had not been up to date, and we were not, at first at any rate, taken in hand and pushed on as the newly-formed Kitchener’s Army were; but there is no doubt that at Bedford, when at last we were under orders for overseas, we held our heads high, and in all the glory of a new issue of equipment and clothes were on the whole a pretty smart and likely looking lot. It is most unfortunate that the only photographs taken of Companies at Bedford are not now available, the films having been destroyed by fire. Two Officers and a number of men had been left at Oxted, and one can never forget the pitiful disappointment shown on their faces as we marched away, leaving them behind. Some of them afterwards came to us as reinforcements.