Kitcheners Mob | Page 9

battalion is any criterion, then I can
say truthfully that there is very little crime in Lord Kitchener's armies
either in England or abroad. The "jankers" or defaulters' squad was
always rather large; but the "jankers men" were offenders against minor
points in discipline. Their crimes were untidy appearance on parade,
inattention in the ranks, tardiness at roll-call, and others of the sort, all
within the jurisdiction of a company officer. The punishment meted out
varied according to the seriousness of the offense, and the past-conduct
record of the offender. It usually consisted of from one to ten days,
"C.B."--confined to barracks. During the period of his sentence the
offender was forbidden to leave camp after the parades for the day were
ended. And in order that he might have no opportunity to do so, he was
compelled to answer his name at the guard-room whenever it should be
sounded.
Only twice in England did we have a general court-martial, the offense
in each case being assault by a private upon an N.C.O., and the penalty
awarded, three months in the military prison at Aldershot. Tommy was
quiet and law-abiding in England, his chief lapses being due to an
exaggerated estimate of his capacity for beer. In France, his conduct, in

so far as my observation goes, has been splendid throughout. During
six months in the trenches I saw but two instances of drunkenness.
Although I witnessed nearly everything which took place in my own
battalion, and heard the general gossip of many others, never did I see
or hear of a woman treated otherwise than courteously. Neither did I
see or hear of any instances of looting or petty pilfering from the
civilian inhabitants. It is true that the men had fewer opportunities for
misconduct, and they were fighting in a friendly country. Even so,
active service as we found it was by no means free from temptations.
The admirable restraint of most of the men in the face of them was a
fine thing to see.
Frequent changes were made in methods of training in England, to
correspond with changing conditions of modern warfare as exemplified
in the trenches. Textbooks on military tactics and strategy, which were
the inspired gospel of the last generation of soldiers, became obsolete
overnight. Experience gained in Indian Mutiny wars or on the veldt in
South Africa was of little value in the trenches in Flanders. The
emphasis shifted from open fighting to trench warfare, and the textbook
which our officers studied was a typewritten serial issued semiweekly
by the War Office, and which was based on the dearly bought
experience of officers at the front.
We spent many a starry night on the hills above Folkestone digging
trenches and building dug-outs according to General Staff instructions,
and many a rainy one we came home, covered with mud, but happy in
the thought that we were approximating, as nearly as could be, the
experience of the boys at the front. Bomb-throwing squads were
formed, and the best shots in the battalion, the men who had made
marksmen's scores on the rifle ranges, were given daily instruction in
the important business of sniping. More generous provision for the
training of machine-gun teams was made, but so great was the lack in
England of these important weapons, that for many weeks we drilled
with wooden substitutes, gaining such knowledge of machine gunnery
as we could from the study of our M.G. manuals.
These new duties, coming as an addition to our other work, meant an

increased period of training. We were impatient to be at the front, but
we realized by this time that Lord Kitchener was serious in his demand
that the men of the new armies be efficiently trained. Therefore we
worked with a will, and at last, after nine months of monotonous toil,
the order came. We were to proceed on active service.
CHAPTER IV
ORDERED ABROAD
One Sunday morning in May we assembled on the barrack square at
Aldershot for the last time. Every man was in full marching order. His
rifle was the "Short Lee Enfield, Mark IV," his bayonet, the long
single-edged blade in general use throughout the British Army. In
addition to his arms he carried 120 rounds of ".303" caliber
ammunition, an intrenching-tool, water-bottle, haversack, containing
both emergency and the day's rations, and his pack, strapped to
shoulders and waist in such a way that the weight of it was equally
distributed. His pack contained the following articles: A greatcoat, a
woolen shirt, two or three pairs of socks, a change of underclothing, a
"housewife,"--the soldiers' sewing-kit,--a towel, a cake of soap, and a
"hold-all," in which were a knife, fork, spoon, razor, shaving-brush,
toothbrush, and comb. All of these were useful and sometimes essential
articles, particularly the toothbrush,