The Fifth Leicestershire | Page 5

the last two named, served a fortnight in France before being
gazetted. Their further careers can be followed in later chapters with
the exception, perhaps, of Hills, who himself writes those chapters. As
his service is a combination of details, many of which are typical of the
young officer who fought in the early days of the war, for general
information we narrate so much. John David Hills, though not 20, had
already seen six years' service in his school O.T.C., including one year
as a Cadet Officer. He surrendered his Oxford Scholarship and what
that might have meant in order to join up at once. He passed through
the battalion from end to end, occupying at various times every
possible place: signalling officer, intelligence officer, platoon
commander, company commander, adjutant, 2nd in command, and
finished up in command of what was called "the cadre." For some time,
too, he was attached to the brigade staff, and when we add that he
excelled in every position separately and distinctly, and won the
admiration and love of all, we may spare him further embarrassment
and let the honours he has won speak for him.
Clothing was a lasting trouble. We were now wearing out our first suits,
and from time to time there confronted us statements that sounded
rather like weather reports, for example--"No trousers to-day; tunics
plentiful." Then the question arose as to whether a man should wear a
vest, and, if so, might he have two, one on the man, the other at the
wash. Patient endurance was rewarded by an answer in the affirmative
to the first part of the question, but the correspondence over the second
portion has only just reached the armistice stage.
And as with men, so with animals. "The waggon and horses" sounds

beautifully complete as well as highly attractive, but in the army we
must not forget to see that harness comes as well. And this thought, the
lack of harness, carries us to another great event in our history, the end
of the Luton days, the march to Ware.
Why was the march to Ware planned exactly like that? It is not in the
hope of getting an answer we ask the question. Waggons and horses
and no harness, and whose fault? Waggons and horses with harness,
and carrying a double load to make up,--no fault, a necessity. Officers
away on leave,--but let us set things down in order. Barely a fortnight
after the march to France along the Bedford Road, on Saturday, the
14th of November, a proportion of officers and men went on leave as
usual till Monday, and all was calm and still. At 1 a.m. on Monday,
orders were received to move at 7 a.m., complete for Ware, a distance,
by the route set, of 25 to 30 miles,--some say 50 to 100 miles. Official
clear-the-line telegrams were poured out recalling the leave takers.
Waggons were packed--(were they not packed!)--billets were cleared,
and we toed the line at the correct time. For want of harness, the four
cooks' carts and two water carts were left behind; for want of time,
meat was issued raw; for want of orders, no long halt was given at
mid-day. One short and sharp bit of hill on the way was too much for
the horses, and such regimental transport as we had with us had to be
man-handled. This little diversion gave regiments a choice of two
systems, gaps between regiments, or gaps between sections of the same
regiment, and gave spectators, who had come in considerable numbers,
a subject for discussion. But the chief feature of the day was that we
reached Ware that day as complete as we started. We arrived at 7-20
p.m. except for two Companies who were detached as rear guard to the
Division. The tail end of the Divisional train lost touch and took the
wrong turning, and for this reason the two Companies did not come in
till 11-30 p.m. We understand that the third bar on our medal will be
the march to Ware.
Amongst those who watched us pass near the half-way post we noticed
our neighbour, General Sir A.E. Codrington, then commanding the
London District, who as an experienced soldier knew the difficulties
and gave us, as a regiment, kindly words of praise and encouragement.

We have often wondered what was the verdict of the authorities upon
this march. As this is regimental history only, it may be permitted to
give the regiment's opinion. We fancied we accomplished passing well
an almost impossible task. It is true that not long afterwards we were
well fitted out and sent to France. We are persuaded, too, to add here
that we said we owed one thing at least to our Divisional Commander,
General E. Montagu-Stuart-Wortley; we