part0013

THE first “Instructions on Training” were issued to battalions of the Heavy Branch towards the end of December 1916. They are of some interest, as the esprit de corps and the efficiency of the entire formation was by degrees moulded on them.

“The object of all training is to create a ‘corps d’élite,’ that is a body of men who are not only capable of helping to win this war, but are determined to do so. It cannot be emphasised too often that all training, at all times and in all places, must aim at the cultivation of the offensive spirit in all ranks. The requirements, therefore, are a high efficiency and a high moral.

“Efficiency depends on mental alertness and bodily fitness; the first is produced by extensive knowledge and rapidity of thinking logically, the second by physical training, games, and the maintenance of health .

“Efficient instructors and leaders are essential; indifferent ones must be ruthlessly weeded out. Officers must not content themselves with the teaching and knowledge they gain, but must supplement these by personal study and effort. Further, they must exercise their ingenuity in adapting the knowledge they have gained so that it may interest and expand the ideas of those they teach. In mental superiority and bodily vigour they must be examples to their men.

“As a general principle, officers and N.C.O.s, charged with the duty of instruction of troops, should adopt the following method: First the lesson is to be explained, secondly demonstrated, and finally carried out as an exercise.

“Instruction must be interesting. As interest soon flags, subjects will be changed at short intervals, though the same movements must be frequently practised on different occasions.

“Changes should be based on a system; thus, work which has required brain power should be followed by work entailing physical exertion, and vice versa. As physical training develops muscle on a definite system, so should mental training develop mind. It will not be easy to accomplish this unless schemes are carefully organised and thought out, and training is carried out according to a progressive programme.

“Much time is often wasted by attempting long unrealistic movements and by prolonged drill. Three to four hours a day, divided into hourly or half-hourly periods, should be sufficient. Ten minutes’ rest intervals should succeed each hour’s work.

“Order is best cultivated by carrying out all work on a fixed plan. Order is the foundation of discipline. Small things like marching men always at attention to and from work, making them stand to attention before dismissing them, assist in cultivating steadiness and discipline. Each day should commence with a careful inspection of the billets and the men, or some similar formal parade. Strict march discipline to and from the training grounds must be insisted upon.

“It is an essential part of training for war that the men are taught to care for themselves, so as to maintain their physical fitness. To this end the necessity for taking the most scrupulous care of their clothing, equipment and accoutrements will be explained to them.

“The men must be brought to understand that on the skill they gain during training will depend their lives as well as the result of the battle. Instruction is not a matter of getting through a definite time, but of employing that time to the fullest advantage.”

The training of the Heavy Branch was divided into the following categories: Brigade Training, Battalion Training, Schools, Courses of Instruction, Camps of Instruction, Lectures and Depot Training.

Brigade and battalion training were divided into two periods—individual training and collective training. As time was very limited, all individual training had to be completed by February 15, 1917.

“The object of individual training” (to quote the “Instructions”) “is twofold: first, to impart technical knowledge and skill; secondly, to cultivate general knowledge so as to enable all ranks to obtain the highest benefit from the schemes set in collective training. These latter in their turn are for the purpose of training units for battle. Individual training is the keynote of efficiency. On the thoroughness with which it is carried out rests the efficiency of the whole training.”

The object of the collective training was:

During January and February all officers took part in a long indoor scheme which when completed formed a tactical and administrative basis for future operations, and all ranks were lectured to on discipline, esprit de corps, moral, and leadership.

Whilst the above work was in progress a Reinforcement Depot was formed, first at Humerœuil, later on it was moved to Erin, and eventually to Mers, near Le Treport. The Depot was the receiving station of all drafts arriving for the Tank Corps, whether from the Training Centre in England, or from units or hospitals in France. The duty of the Depot was to hold on its strength all reinforcements until fully trained, and when fully trained to continue refresher training until they were required to fill vacancies in the battalions.

Besides the Depot and the schools attached to it, two main schools—Gunnery and Tank Driving—were instituted in the Bermicourt area. In the early summer of 1917 the first was moved to the sea coast at Merlimont, and the second to Wailly, a village close to the zone devastated by the Germans during their retreat in the preceding February and March, which permitted of driving being carried out without damage to crops. This school remained at Wailly until January 1918, when, on account of the threatening German attack, it was moved to Aveluy near Albert. As it happened, Aveluy fell into the German hands towards the end of March 1918, whilst Wailly remained in ours until the end of the war .

Closely connected with the training of the men was the general administration of the Heavy Branch. It was fully recognised that the efficiency of all ranks depended to a great extent on the cheerfulness and comfort of their surroundings, and nothing was left undone, or at least unattempted, which could increase the men’s happiness and health.

On January 1, 1917, baths and laundries were opened at Blangy. The arrangements first made enabled 450 men to bathe each day; this permitted of every man getting a bath once a week. Cinema theatres were also established at the Depot, and later on at Merlimont and elsewhere, being bought out of funds provided by the canteens’ and supper bars. While at Erin a Rest Camp was formed to which those men who were temporarily incapacitated for work were sent to recuperate. This later institution was found so useful that in the summer of 1917 a seaside Rest Camp was established at Merlimont, the object of which was to provide rest and change of surroundings to men who had been in action, or whose health was impaired. This camp could accommodate 100 officers and 900 other ranks, and the period of rest there was usually limited to fourteen days.

An even more popular institution than the Merlimont Rest Camp was that of the Mobile Canteens: these consisted in lorries fitted to carry canteen stores; they formed the mechanical vivandières of the Tank Corps, following up units to within a mile or two of our front lines or pushing forward across the battlefield when a success had been gained. During the dark days of March and April 1918, they played a notable part in maintaining the esprit de corps of the battalions by providing comforts which would otherwise have been unobtainable. They also formed cheerful rallying-points where men could meet, eat, and chat, and then return to battle refreshed and still more determined to see it through for the honour of the Corps to which they belonged and which, it may without boasting be said, always thought of their needs first and generally supplied them.