Throughout the musketry course the weather was brilliant, but the heat tremendous. Home we would come after a cold ration for lunch, and sing ourselves hoarse as we marched through Aldershot. Many were the comments passed on our singing powers, and truly the men sang well, and marched even better. Our musketry also proved good, and we came out top of our Brigade and second in the Division.
On August 6th Lieutenant-Colonel H. D. Spencely, T.D., Honorary Colonel of the battalion, came and paid us a visit, to our great delight, and we think that he was more than satisfied with what he saw.
We were now embarked on a series of the field operations of which brigade training mainly consists. Each day saw us marching off towards the Long Valley, for ever famous in military annals, there to practise attack formations, advance and rear guards, outposts, fire control, and so forth. Some days we joined battle with the other battalions of the Brigade, one against three or two against two. Norris and Eelmoor Bridges frequently figured somewhere in the scheme of operations, or, again, Cocked Hat Wood or Outridden Copse. Many of the battles were of the most determined description, and casualties were caused, if not by enemy action, at any rate by order of the supervising staff, which consisted frequently of several distinguished soldiers, including General Sir Archibald Hunter, G.O.C.-in-C. Aldershot Command, and Sir Francis Howard, Inspector-General of Troops for overseas. The work was hard and the conditions variable. Sometimes the dust stirred up seemed almost too choking to be endured; at other times one waded through mud and slush well over the boots, to the great detriment of black puttees. Sandy Lane, the euphemistic name for the track to our camp, was notorious for its depth of mud, which the constant passing of vehicles churned up into a paste of most vile consistency.
Many were the amusing incidents of these training days, but one cannot detail them here. Still, they helped us to carry through the long days of strenuous physical exercise.
A pleasant respite, however, was ahead. On August 19th the whole battalion, less a small party left to guard the camp, proceeded to Liverpool for its "last leave," reassembling on August 24th on St. George's Plateau for the return. Great was the enthusiasm that welcomed the battalion and again sent it on its way.
On August 18th fifteen men, too young for foreign service, had been dispatched to the 5th Territorial Force Reserve Battalion K.L.R. at Oswestry, and on August 22nd we said good-bye to nine more machine gunners who were transferred to Grantham. Moreover, a light trench mortar battery was in course of formation in each brigade, and to this we contributed Lieutenant H. E. Barrow to command, 2nd-Lieutenant D. G. Leonard, and twenty-three men. The battery proceeded on September 3rd to Pirbright, returning again after some range practice on September 10th, when they occupied a corner of our camp. Later in September they finally left us for Pirbright, and we saw them no more till we met in the trenches in France.
Another important part of our training took place in the trenches constructed in the vicinity of the Foresters Public-House (or "P.H.," as the maps described it, and as, in fact, it was generally called), which was situated about two miles north of our camp on the far side of the race-course. Here an elaborate set of trenches had been dug, and these the battalions occupied in turn for varying periods not exceeding thirty-six hours, relieving each other in the approved fashion, and carrying on in the trenches as far as possible as they would do in France. An enemy was generally provided in the enemy front line opposite, and silent raids occurred at uncertain intervals. Major Geddes, the Brigade Major, and 2nd-Lieutenant Bevir, the Brigade Bombing Officer, even worked a gas attack on us; but as the sentry thought it was only smoke from an adjacent rubbish destructor the efforts of our enthusiastic staff fell somewhat flat. That these practices were valuable no one can doubt; added to which we learnt something of night-working parties, ration carrying, patrolling, laying of telephones, S.O.S. alarms, and so on; but it must be admitted that nights in the Foresters P.H. Trenches were vastly more uncomfortable than those in any trench sector we held in France in similar weather. Apart from mere practice in trench routine, we carried out some elaborate attacks across these trenches in the "wave" method then in vogue, such an operation on September 19th being performed under the eye of Sir John French, who made some flattering comments on the Division.
Three days before this we had a practice alarm, followed by a concentration of the whole Division in the Long Valley, where our Divisional Commander, Major-General Forster, carried out his final inspection before giving up command. On September 23rd the Division had the honour of being inspected by His Majesty the King. It was a brilliant day, and the scene was one that will long live in the memory of those who took part in it. The Division was drawn up in review order on the Review Ground facing the Pavilion, and after a Royal Salute the King rode round the ranks. It was a pretty severe test of discipline and steadiness, but, as a regular officer was heard to remark in the Aldershot Club that evening, "the men were magnificent, and the march past first rate. You would have thought it was a regular division." The battalion gained great credit for their share in the march past, though the pace set by the band was almost too quick even for riflemen. After this Commanding Officers were introduced to His Majesty, and we set off for home, feeling more than satisfied with our turn out, our discipline, and our drill.
We had all this while been confident of our early departure for overseas. We had had our last leave and been inspected by the King, we had lent our rifles to a draft of men from the Home Counties Division to enable them to complete their musketry before joining us, and we had all been recently inoculated and vaccinated. How near we were then to going abroad only those in the secret know, but gradually the suspicion spread that our time had not yet come, and it proved only too true. Our draft, or what we called "our draft," proceeded overseas direct, and we learned to our dismay that we were shortly to proceed to Woking for winter quarters. It was a terrible disappointment. Everyone had felt that at last the promised day was come, and here were our hopes dashed to the ground once more. The battalion behaved splendidly, however, and only those who knew the men intimately realized how severe was the blow. For two long years had we been training, and now, when our hopes were all but realized, we found ourselves condemned once more to the old grind and the old routine for an indefinite period. Men were almost ashamed to go on leave and face the heartless gibes of those who did not know the facts; but they settled down again to the old tasks with grim determination, feeling that one day they would really be allowed to go, and that the more efficient they made themselves, and the quicker they trained the promised drafts of raw men, the sooner would their ambition be realized.