Soldiers and Gentlemen: A History of the University and Public Schools Brigade of the Royal Fusiliers 1914-1918 - (Taylor Colin W.)(Paperback)

Reassesses the reputation and effectiveness of four Royal Fusiliers battalions composed of university students and public school boys.Soldiers and Gentlemen: A History of the University and Public Schools Brigade of the Royal Fusiliers 1914–1918 recounts the Great War history of four unusual infantry units: 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st (Service) Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers. Recruited from former university students and public school boys who chose to serve as ‘gentleman rankers’ rather than officers, these units were dismissed as ‘Chocolate Soldiers’ or ‘rotten men’. This volume sets out to re-examine their reputation and effectiveness.Recruiting and training of the four ‘Service’ battalions of the University and Public Schools Brigade commenced in September 1914. Special permission was sought from Lord Kitchener; his brief reply was, ‘Go ahead, and if you can raise 10,000 men I shall be all the better pleased.’ Training commenced at Epsom and Leatherhead before the volunteers were moved to Clipstone (Nottinghamshire) and Tidworth (Wiltshire) for collective and pre-deployment training. Many left to pursue commissions elsewhere in Kitchener’s Army during this time. Following many delays, the battalions deployed overseas for trench warfare introduction in ‘quiet’ sectors at Givenchy and Cambrin over the winter of 1915–1916. In early 1916, three battalions were disbanded with large numbers of personnel dispatched hom
více informací