Part 1 (1/2)

The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade.

by Edward Lord Gleichen.

NOTE.

The following pages--not in the first instance intended for publication--contain an expanded version of the very sc.r.a.ppy Diary which I kept in France from day to day.

The version was intended for private home consumption only, and has necessarily had to be pruned of certain personal matters before being allowed to make its bow to the public. I have purposely refrained from adding to it in the light of subsequent events.

I trust that the reader will consequently bear in mind the essentially individual and impressionist aspects of this little work, and will not expect to find either rigidly historical, professional, or critical matter therein.

G.

_14th August 1917._

The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade.

August 1914 to March 1915.

In accordance with the order received at Belfast at 5.30 P.M. on the 4th, the 15th Brigade started mobilizing on the 5th August 1914, and by the 10th was complete in all respects. We were practically ready by the 9th, but a machine-gun or two and some harness were a bit late arriving from Dublin--not our fault. Everything had already been rehea.r.s.ed at mobilization inspections, held as usual in the early summer, and all went like clock-work. On the 8th we got our final orders to embark on the 14th, and on the 11th the embarkation orders arrived in detail.

Brigade Headquarters consisted of myself, Captain Weatherby (Oxford L.I.) as Brigade Major, Captain Moulton-Barrett (Dorsets), Staff Captain, Captain Roe (Dorsets), Brigade Machine-Gun Officer, Lieutenant Cadell, R.E., Signalling Officer, and Lieutenant Beilby, Brigade Veterinary Officer. Military Police, A.S.C. drivers, postmen, and all sorts of odds and ends arrived from apparently nowhere in particular, and fitted together with extraordinary little effort. The battalions grew to unheard-of sizes, and by the time that all was complete the Brigade numbered 127 officers, 3958 men, 258 horses, and 74 vehicles.

_Aug. 14th._

The Ches.h.i.+res[1] and Bedfords[2] arrived by train in the early morning of the 14th from 'Derry and Mullingar and went straight on board their s.h.i.+ps--Brigade Headquarters, Dorsets,[3] and half the Norfolks[4]

being in one, Ches.h.i.+res and the other half of the Norfolks in another, and the Bedfords in a third.

[Footnote 1: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. D. C. Boger).]

[Footnote 2: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Griffith, D.S.O.).]

[Footnote 3: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. L. J. Bols, D.S.O.).]

[Footnote 4: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Ballard).]

Great waving of handkerchiefs and cheering as we warped slowly out of Belfast docks at 3 P.M. and moved slowly down the channel.

_Aug. 16th._

The weather was beautifully fine on the pa.s.sage, and on the 16th we all arrived at our destination.

The Bedfords had arrived on the previous tide to ourselves, and were already fast alongside the quay. Orders were received from the Disembarking Officer, and we disembarked and formed up independently and marched off to Rest Camp No. 8, six miles off on the hills above Havre.

It had been pouring heavily on sh.o.r.e for two days, though it was quite fine when we landed; so the ground where we were to encamp was mostly sopping. It was not easy to find in the dark, especially as the sketch-maps with which we were provided most distinctly acted up to their names. Added to these difficulties, a motor-lorry had stuck on the way up and blocked our transport for the night. I rode ahead alone, but had immense difficulty in finding the Brigade Headquarters Camp, which was quite a long way from the other battalion camps.