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.