The History of the 2/6th (Rifle) Battalion, "the King's" (Liverpool Regiment) 1914-1919Wurtzburg, C. E. (Charles Edward)
History
The History of the 2/6th (Rifle) Battalion, "the King's" (Liverpool Regiment) 1914-1919
Wurtzburg, C. E. (Charles Edward)
Great Britain. Army. King's Liverpool Regiment; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
Company route marches accompanied by limbers--"scrounging parades,"
we called them--were instituted, and the material was soon collected
from derelict huts and trenches to repair the most serious damage. So
strong were our protests that we were informed that we were to move
to Warlus Camp, a few miles away, at an early date. This was out of
the frying-pan into the fire. Warlus Camp had not been used for some
time. Most of the fittings had been removed to another camp, and what
little was left had been "borrowed" by the civilians. There was not a
duck-board or a stove in the camp. All the huts were Nissen, and from
these most of the lining had already vanished.
In the meanwhile our houses in Arras were assuming quite a habitable
appearance, and the change was viewed with considerable dismay.
Fortunately, there was no water at the camp--or, rather, there was
no drinking water; in the huts themselves there was enough and to
spare--so the move was postponed till after Christmas; though an
advance party, under Lieutenant Beavan, composed mainly of pioneers,
moved over there to begin the work of rebuilding the camp.
The question of education now began to excite more attention. Letters
from the Higher Command were full of schemes and exhortations, and in
view of the eminently desirable results which our educational programme
might be hoped to achieve, the problem was carefully considered.
The results hoped for were--first, a new, and therefore to a certain
extent an attractive, form of employment for the men during the
mornings; and, secondly, the sharpening of their thinking powers,
which, as has been mentioned above, had become somewhat blunted. The
difficulties of the task became apparent at the outset. We had to begin
in profound ignorance as to the educational standards of the men, who,
of course, were drawn from every rank of life. Then we had no qualified
teachers, no educational books, no note-books or paper, no class-rooms,
and no syllabus of work. These were the initial difficulties; there
were others to follow later.
[Illustration: Official Photograph by permission of The Imperial War
Museum.
HÔTEL DE VILLE, ARRAS.]
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