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.