Chapter XIII

AFTER THE ARMISTICE—THE END
_November 1918 to March 1919_

Although we had good reason to hope that, for us, the Great War was over, there still remained the possibility that we might be called upon for an attack on Germany through Austria, and rumour, always busy when hopes were high, was inclined to send us back to the Western front, despite the news that operations were going wondrously well there without us. Our fate was decided, at any rate temporarily, on November 6, by receipt of orders to march back to Caldonazzo on the following morning. This proved to be the first of a six days’ march, covering in all some eighty miles. Other nights were spent at our old haunts Vezzena, Val Portule, Granezza, Thiene, and on November 13 we reached the rest-billets allotted to the Battalion in the villages of Maglio and Novale.

Before the start on this march from Madrano, the Battalion had collected a motley assortment of additional transport which we had captured during the advance. It included five Austrian waggons with their horses, all of an indifferent stamp, underfed and ill-cared for, and a cooker drawn by two white ponies, rather bigger than mice. These must have been the favourites of the Austrians, and they were the delight of our own Transport section, every man clamouring to be detailed as their driver.

The various Austrian dumps provided more than sufficient material wherewith to fill our extra waggons, while at Vezzena it became most difficult to determine what should be taken and what left; for, as has been previously mentioned, this place had formed the dump of an Austrian Corps.

It was decided that flour, oats and hay would best repay their carriage, so our loads were made up largely of these.

To every company was allotted a sack of the captured flour, from which each man could make his own pudding. One man, however, thought stolen flour, like stolen kisses, the sweetest, and preferred to disregard orders and loot his portion; but he broke into the wrong hut, and was found later endeavouring to make his pudding out of cement.

At Granezza we received the great news that an armistice had been signed with Germany. We knew, of course, that this meant complete victory, but already we had lived ten crowded days of glorious life: hard fighting and hard marching, the utter rout of the whole Austrian Army, captures of prisoners, guns and material beyond our wildest dreams, the surrender of Trent, an armistice at our dictation, the daily rising flood of good news from France, bearing on its crest the certainty of speedy triumph. Enthusiasm could hardly mount higher.

It would be difficult to explain why so many of us were sorry to bid a last farewell to Granezza, for there was remarkably little attractive about it. But there had been so many occasions when, during a long turn in the trenches, we had looked forward intensely to a rest here, that no doubt it had come to frame itself in our minds as a pleasant spot. We had thought of Granezza when pleasant spots were rare, and our ideas of pleasure and comfort easily satisfied. But with visions of home in England, there was really little sense in our regrets at leaving.

The march down the hill and on south to Thiene was a long one of some twenty-two miles. The men, as usual, marched exceedingly well, in spite of having been on the road throughout the four previous days.

At Thiene we were ordered to hand over to the Italian authorities the whole of our captured transport, including even the two white ponies, which the Transport section dearly loved and longed to retain.

The following day’s march of eighteen miles carried us to the villages of Maglio and Novale. It had been hinted that these were to be our final billets, so that we were most anxious that they should be comfortable or, at any rate, prove capable of being made so. Demobilisation was an uncertain quantity, and no man knew how much longer it would be necessary for him to remain in Italy. Though of one thing, every officer, N.C.O. and man was quite convinced—that when demobilisation did start he himself should be the very first man to be released.

On the whole, the billets did prove good, and were soon made still better.

“Spit and polish” at once became the order of the day. Discipline, so far from being relaxed, became stricter. On the other hand, the hours of training were considerably reduced, and sports and games organised and encouraged to fill the hours of leisure. Competitions of every description, organised by every unit and formation, became almost bewildering.

THE LAST QUARTER GUARD, ITALY, 1919.
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Of the Brigade events the Battalion won the cross-country race, and the inter-battalion and inter-company football competitions. C Company, who always seemed to shelter at least a dozen first-class players, were responsible for winning the Battalion competition, and represented the Brigade in the Divisional competition, where they reached the final before being beaten by a company of the 1/7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.

Training became largely a matter of drill, though difficulty was experienced even in this, as the size of the biggest field was only just large enough to allow of battalion drill being carried out on it.

All the necessaries were obtained to enable every man to turn himself out as smartly as possible, and at the end of a few weeks the Battalion probably looked smarter than it had ever done since the day it left Chelmsford on March 30, 1915.

The results showed themselves in inspections carried out by the Divisional and Brigade Commanders, and by a French Divisional Commander, by all of whom the Battalion was congratulated on its turn-out, smartness and march past.

Christmas was anticipated by the purchase in November of three large pigs, and a pig “board,” which was specially appointed to superintend their welfare and organise their rations, became the target of no little humour—and this in spite of its members’ efficiency.

In the past we had always been rather proud of being able to secure sufficient turkeys for the Battalion, but this year the home-fed pig was even more popular, and Christmas dinners of pork, vegetables, plum pudding, oranges, nuts and beer, were voted a huge success.

Demobilisation, which at first proceeded slowly, quickened up about the middle of January, and gradually increased throughout February, when men were dispersed at the rate of over fifty a week.

Those men who had enlisted during and after 1916, and who were consequently retained in the Service, were given the choice of two battalions to which they could transfer, the 1/5th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment and the 1/6th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, these being the two which had been detailed to represent the Division in the Army of Occupation. The Royal Warwicks were to remain in Italy, while the Gloucesters were to be moved to Scutari.

The large majority of our men voted for the 5th Royal Warwicks, partly on account of their destination, but chiefly because they were now commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel P. A. Hall, D.S.O., M.C., a Bucks officer.

To those of us who were left with the Battalion, this form of demobilisation became a most melancholy proceeding. To watch the Battalion, of which we were all so proud, being gradually reduced to nothing, was depressing in the extreme. One longed that the end could have come with a last and final dismissal of the full Battalion on a parade ground in England.

By the middle of March we were reduced to a cadre of five officers and fifty other ranks, which was the most that any infantry unit was allowed to retain in order to bring home the Regimental stores.

On March 23 the cadre left Novale, reaching Aylesbury on the 31st. Here these remnants, under Lieutenant-Colonel L. L. C. Reynolds, D.S.O., paraded once again on that Square in front of the Town Hall where, more than four and a half years ago, the whole Battalion had paraded on mobilisation.

THE CADRE, 1919.
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And so ended for us those wonderful years, in our brief record of which no claim is made of greater deeds than were achieved by others; enough that the Battalion never failed to uphold the great traditions of the British Army. Throughout those long, hard years, trying to the utmost the patience, the resolution, the courage and the endurance of all ranks, every officer, N.C.O. and man did his duty cheerfully.

In many a Midland home, for generations to come, names shall be held in honour, and question shall be asked, “What did they do?” Let the answer be: “In the Great War they served with The First Bucks Battalion.”