Recruitment WW100

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from volunteering to conscription 7
From So It Looks To Me (London,1952) the autobiography of SirWilliam Darling
7
autumn months,September and October,we rose at dawn and formed
fours,marched in column,formed on the left,closed column of platoon
and other manoeuvres,ad did physical exercise – running
before breakfast,square drill in the forenoon,attempted manoeuvres
if the weather permitted it in the afternoon,and attended instruction
lectures at ate what we got and how we got it.
The unprecedented increase in the size of theArmy put enormous
strain on resources and volunteers experienced many shortages in
these early months of the Darling’s opinion,K2,Kitchener’s
second newArmy, was ‘nobody’s child’.
With civilian overcoat,red tunic,blue trousers with the red
stripe,and a postman’s hat – such was the equipment of a Royal
Highlander of the 9th BlackWatch in the early weeks of the
Autumn of 1914 …
However,it was not long before these civilian volunteers were forged
into effective units.Here,a core of ex-regular non-commissioned
officers proved invaluable in inculcating into the new recruits a sense
of regimental identity and belonging.Darling observed that despite
being enlisted for only a few weeks, ‘we quickly assumed a
new allegiance’.
I think it very moving that these men,who lately owed no
allegiance to anyone ...had somehow accepted the reputation
of their recently,not even self-chosen,regiment,as something
for which they had a special responsibility,something for which
they were prepared to fight for and,as events showed,something
for which,when the time came in France and Flanders,they
were prepared to die.