My father joined the 25th County of London Regiment in 1916.
He did his military training at Feltham in London where they were under "canvas". (That expression meaning tents). After completing his training he sailed for India. During the voyage he said the ship stopped in Valletta Grand Harbour. Then sailed on to Port Said, then through the Suez canal to Port Suez. Then on to India. I do not remember if he said where the ship docked. I think he may have mentioned the name of the ship, but I cannot remember. The one thing I can remember about a ship's name is the one he sailed home on in 1920. He said they called it the "Fried Fish Shop" because it was a captured German ship, which was called "The Fredrickshon" (not sure of spelling).
That is the way he pronounced it.
He talked a lot about being up on the NW Frontier and in the foothills of the Himalayas.
He said they used mules to carry all of their heavy equipment. He said the mules were very sure footed and could walk along narrow trails quite easily. He mentioned about being as far up as the Khyber Pass but not actually going through it. During one skirmish on the Frontier, he saw one chap close to him get shot through the throat. He had just put his head up above the rocks. They tried to plug the hole, but it was no good. He died. On another occasion he saw an Officer get shot in the face. He was killed. My father said that the Tribesmen (Pathans) used to make their own bullets and that they used Dum-Dum bullets.
He said the troops went through villages where the Tribesmen had been. They would find the moulds and the lead that they used to make the bullet heads from. During one of these searches my father picked up a Tribesman's knife, which I still have. It is quite primitive.
It is a straight ribbed-back blade which is 12" long. From the handle it is about an inch wide and tapers to a needle point. The sheath is possibly some sort of animal skin or leather. The colour is medium brown and has a metal protective cap on the end.
My father always kept this knife at the back of his wardrobe, but when he died my mother
asked me to take it away, as she never liked it in the house.
My father talked about being with the Gurkha's, or Johnny Gurkha as he used to refer to them. He spoke very highly of them. He said the were great chaps. He said that during an engagement with the enemy, they would leave their rifles, go out with their kukri's under covering fire from our troops, then return some time later with three or four heads, holding them up by their hair, shouting "souvenirs Johnny, souvenirs Johnny". My father said that the Gurkha's hated the Tribesmen. They would bundle up some of the bodies in loads of straw, stuff handfuls of bullets into the bundle and then set fire to it and watch it burn and all the bullets exploding.
Another memory was, that one of the out-lying hill piquet's was attacked by tribesmen and the only person to get out alive was the signaller. I don't know where my father was in relation to this. (I read in the medals and awards section about a signaller was awarded for bravery for bringing someone back from this action. It sounds like the same action). Maybe my father was in the main camp.
I remember my father referring to Waziristan. He travelled all over India because of his cycle racing. He went to Bombay, Bangalore, Calcutta and Delhi (Agra). He said he had to travel once by train on his own across the Sind desert. He contracted malaria at some point and ended up in a military hospital in Simla. He said it was a "kill or cure" place. If they didn't cure you, it would kill you because of the high doses of quinine.
I have already mentioned that my father spoke about the Amritzar Riots of 1919.
I just don't know in what capacity he was involved. From what he said, I just assumed
that he was there.
by Brian Warren, his son. [2012]
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Bangalore - 1916 |