With The Immortal Seventh DivisionKennedy, Edmund John
History
With The Immortal Seventh Division
Kennedy, Edmund John
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British
But this splendid attribute of the British officer is not only seen amid
the excitement of conflict. At the end of a weary march when all alike
are fagged out and ready to throw themselves upon the earth and rest,
the first consideration on the part of the officers is the men; their
food, their billets; and when these important questions are dealt with,
then, and not till then, with wearied frames, these gallant gentlemen
begin to think of themselves. This evokes a feeling which I may not
inaptly style, hero worship, on the part of the men. Frequently, in
describing the glorious death of some favourite officer, a man has said
to me, 'I loved him like a brother'; and this condition of regard is
mutual, for it is no uncommon thing (on the occasion of the departure of
the 'leave' train) to see an officer, frequently of senior rank, on
spotting in the crowd a non-commissioned officer, or private, from his
regiment, go up to him and with a hearty grip of the hand, say, 'Well,
my lad, hope you have had a good time!' Such a state of things would, of
course, be impossible in the German army, but we Englishmen have proved
that the most solid foundation of a true relationship between officers
and men is respect and love, and right happy are the results attained.
(2) Our men: It is not possible to speak too highly of the splendid
manhood embodied in our ranks to-day. Their language is certainly
reprehensible, but after all we must realize that their vocabulary is
not an extensive one, and the employment of adjectives which, to a
refined ear, sounds deplorable, is only used by them to describe an
intensity which no other words they possess would be capable of
rendering. I am, of course, not referring to blasphemy or obscenity,
which is immediately checked by every right-minded man in authority.
During the whole of my experience in Flanders, I did not come across
one case of drunkenness; my experience may be peculiar, but I do not
think so. To begin with, there is, of course, the very strong deterrent
of rigid punishment for such an offence. Again, there are not the
facilities for the purchase of strong drink, such as unhappily
characterizes the condition of affairs in Great Britain; but away and
beyond these preventives lies the fact that every man is imbued with the
idea that he must keep himself fit and 'play the game,' and the result
is that at the Front to-day we have a sober army. I cannot too strongly
warn the men who are at home, preparing for the Front, to watch
themselves closely in this respect, and for the following reasons:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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