The Sherwood Foresters in the Great War 1914-1919 | Page 6

need for it we hardly thought fair. The demand for volunteers was in the first instance put rather baldly, with little notice, and with apparently little realisation of the enormous difficulties under which so many were labouring, and it was not surprising that this appeal met with little response. A second earnest appeal, reinforced by the feeling that the honour, even the existence of the Battalion was in danger, resulted in over 800 volunteering, which was eminently satisfactory, though it is impossible to avoid the feeling that many who volunteered then did so against their better judgment, and that the decision should have been made for them.
All the other units in the Division having more or less similarly settled this vital question, training was started in earnest.
The first area allotted to the Division was Hertfordshire, and we entrained on August 15th, for the first time, and by no means the last. Hours went by after our scheduled time before there was any sign of the train. In an adjoining field, however, the various Company entertainers had full scope and played to large audiences. Eventually we got off in two trains, and detraining at Leagrave marched the last three miles to Luton, where we arrived in the early hours of August 16th. Here we stayed for six days and carried out a little training, mostly at Luton Hoo and Markyate. We cannot say that we regarded this as the most pleasant of our experiences, as our billets were not of the best either for Officers, who were mostly crowded into a few cottages, and took turns at bathing in small tin baths in the sculleries, or men who were also crowded in somewhat unwholesome schools, while our menu consisted monotonously of bully beef and pickle, and army biscuit and cheese.
Better things fortunately were in store, for on August 21st, we moved on a few miles to Harpenden, where we were destined to stay for three months, and where we received on all sides the greatest possible hospitality. We are sure that all who were billeted at Harpenden will look back with the greatest pleasure to the time spent in that delightful district. The men for the most part were billeted in small houses, three or four together, and with the more than ample rations and billeting allowances then in force, both men and billet owners were exceedingly well off.
Here we had also the 5th, 6th and 7th Sherwood Foresters, which, with ourselves, formed the Notts, and Derby Infantry Brigade, under the Command of Brigadier-General C. T. Shipley, who had Major E. M. Morris as Brigade Major, and Capt. R. J. Wordsworth as Staff Captain. The Stafford and Lincoln and Leicester Infantry Brigades completed the North Midland Division, which was commanded by Major-General The Hon. E. J. Montagu Stuart-Wortley.
Fortunately the weather for some time was splendid, and the Battalion soon began to shew the result of constant and regular drill, and the turnout and smartness improved rapidly. Training comprised almost every possible form that could be required to make both officers and men efficient, and went so far as to include the detailing of Sergt.-Instructor Mounteney to carry out the by no means easy task of trying to turn Officers into swordsmen. It is no disparagement of his efforts to congratulate ourselves that we never had to put our lessons to the test of stern reality. "Infantry Training" and "Field Service Regulations" were studied and more or less followed out in practice in all we did. Most of our drill, musketry instruction, bayonet fighting, physical exercises, and outpost drill were carried out on the splendid Common at Harpenden, but our training area extended to most of the surrounding parks and farms, where the bulk of our more advanced work in attack practice and tactical exercises was carried out. Perhaps some of the best remembered places are "High Firs," where we first spent a night in bivouacs, Sandridge, where there was a small range, Rothamstead Park, Redbourn, Ayre's End, Hammond's End Farm, Annable's Farm, Mackery End, Thrale's End Farm, where barbed wire entanglements were put up, the like of which we never saw in France or anywhere else, and Cold Harbour. At Sundon, not far from Dunstable, we dug and occupied our first real trench system, which after a preliminary skirmish at night, when rockets were used to guide the attacking troops, had to withstand a heavy dawn attack by the Lincoln and Leicester Brigade.
Classification practices were fired at Wardown and Galley Hill ranges, near Luton, on thoroughly wet and disagreeable days, with ammunition not intended for the rifle we were using, and altogether under such adverse conditions, that good scores were impossible.
In addition to Brigade and Divisional schemes in the neighbourhood of Harpenden we had big shows on two days at Kinsworth,