CHAPTER XVI
CONCLUSION 415
LIST OF APPENDICES
PAGE
I Nominal roll of Officers who were killed in action, or died of wounds or disease in the Great War, 1914–1919 425
II Nominal roll of Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men who were killed in action, or died of wounds or disease in the Great War, 1914–1919 432
III Rewards (British) won by Officers, Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men in the Great War, 1914–1919 504
IV Foreign Decorations awarded to Officers, Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men during the Great War, 1914–1919 530
V Mention in Despatches: all ranks during the Great War, 1914–1919 535
VI Mention for Record (Mention “B”): all ranks during the Great War, 1914–1919 545
VII List of serving officers, 1st and 2nd Battalions, awarded brevet rank 548
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS 549
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES IN COLOUR
A MAN OF KENT
(_After the painting by Lady Butler_) _Frontispiece_
THE RECAPTURE OF KUT EL AMARA
(_After the painting by Herbert Alexander, A.R.W.S., Lieut. 5th Bn. The Buffs_)
_To face page_ 190
PLATES IN MONOCHROME
_To face page_
YPRES FROM NEAR THE MENIN GATE 40
BATTLEFIELD NEAR ST JULIEN 44
ROAD NEAR HOOGE 86
BRINGING UP WIRE 162
MORVAL 172
SALONICA--ROAD MADE BY BRITISH 176
ARCH AT CTESIPHON 194
GENERAL ALLENBY ENTERS JERUSALEM 214
SCENE ON THE ANCRE 224
WINTER ON THE WESTERN FRONT 234
A NEW TRENCH 262
CAMBRAI ON THE MORNING THE ENEMY WAS DRIVEN OUT 410
LIST OF MAPS
GENERAL MAP--WESTERN FRONT _End Papers_
_To face page_
RADINGHEM 20
YPRES 56
NEIGHBOURHOOD OF LOOS 98
HOHENZOLLERN REDOUBT AND THE DUMP 104
ADEN 120
TURKISH LINES NEAR KUT 130
THIEPVAL 154
VALLEY OF THE STRUMA 182
VICINITY OF KUT 198
PALESTINE 220
LOOS CRASSIERS 254
SPOIL (OR BUFFS’) BANK 254
CAMBRAI 266
POELCAPPELLE 276
COUNTRY NORTH OF BAGHDAD 308
COUNTRY NEAR CAKLI STATION 308
LAGNICOURT AND NOREUIL 324
VENDEUIL 346
VENDEUIL TO VARESNES 350
COUNTRY RETAKEN FROM ENEMY, AUTUMN OF 1918 356
ALBERT 364
COMBLES AND MORVAL 378
RONSSOY 378
DIAGRAM: BATTLE OF THE SELLE 386
ST QUENTIN 406
GENERAL MAP--MIDDLE EAST _End Papers_
FOREWORD
To read this record of the part played by the Buffs in the desperate fighting of the early months of the war, in turning the tide of the enemy’s success and in the crowning victories, fills me with pride.
No pen can adequately convey the true measure of the constancy and valour of those men who endured and fought through the daily hardships, the hourly perils, the nerve strain during darkness--and this under the conditions of modern warfare, in battles which lasted not hours but weeks, with the added horrors of high explosives, gas poisoning, flame throwers, tanks and machine guns, delay-action mines and other mechanical and inhuman devices. Through all these trials the spirit of the regiment--of the Men of Kent--never faltered, its certain hope of victory never wavered.
For over three hundred and fifty years the historic name and high traditions of the Buffs have been in the keeping of the generations of men who followed each other in one or other of the so-called Regular battalions; during the Great War eight battalions, including two Territorial, took the field, and six others served at home. No less than thirty-two thousand men passed through the ranks of the regiment, of whom over five thousand gave their lives for their King and Country. But in spite of the great increase of numbers, and in spite of all the new dangers and perils, there was no change in the spirit, no weakening in the sense of duty which have always animated the Buffs; new and old battalions alike maintained, and more than maintained, the glory of the name handed down to them.
The recital of those deeds, and a description of the character of the war and conditions in which they achieved them, cannot therefore but inspire those who come after them in the battalions of the Buffs; so that should they too in their generation be called on to pass through the fiery ordeal, they also may, in the faith of their fathers, pass through unshaken to final victory.
[Illustration: Handwritten signature]