The Story of the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light InfantryRose, Geoffrey Keith
History
The Story of the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
Rose, Geoffrey Keith
Great Britain. Army. Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
The example which the General set was especially fine. He spent every
day and nearly all day in the front line. Nothing annoyed him more
than, say, at 9 a.m. to receive the message of a divisional conference
fixed for his headquarters at 11. Equipped in his short overalls and
shrapnel-helmet (conspicuous in a light cover) and carrying a white
walking-stick, he used to quit Brigade Headquarters with matutinal
punctuality. His outset borrowed something of the atmosphere of 'John
Peel' on a fine morning. Battalion Headquarters, if not warned
surreptitiously of his arrival, would scramble through their breakfast
(not that the General designed to interfere either with rest or
eating) as his form outlined itself in the doorway, accompanied by
cheery greeting. In the front line itself his visits were refreshing.
Prospects of shelling never deterred him. No post was too far forward
for him to pay it a call. Often, when shells fell, he deliberately
remained to share the danger. Once I knew him to return to a trench,
which had been quite heavily shelled while he was there, because the
Germans started on it again. A prodigious walker, he tired of daylight
imprisonment to trenches and chose the 'top.' His figure must have
been familiar to enemy observers. But his route was so erratic that,
though he drew fire on many unexpected places after he had left, he
was rarely himself shot at during his progress.
The General is a great representative of _esprit de corps_, and
believes strongly in military comradeship. In a sense his claim for
'esprit de Brigade' was a little far-fetched, for Battalions held to
themselves very much, and the fact that they relieved each other,
though often a bond of alliance, was sometimes also a cause of
friction. Between Battalions he did not shrink from making comparisons.
'My Berks' had done this; 'My Bucks' should do the same. Much good
resulted. The standard of efficiency was raised. Though at times he
was discovered to be naively inconsistent, one thing was certain--the
184th Brigade felt throughout its members that it was the best in the
Division. The war has not produced many great men, but it has produced
many great figures--amongst whom Robert White is by no means the
least.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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