Читать книгу The 23rd (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (First Sportsman's) - Fred W. Ward - Страница 6

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The story of the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers cannot fail to be a fine one. Every soldier who, like myself, had the honour of fighting, I may say, shoulder to shoulder with it, will read its history with the deepest interest.

As its first Brigadier, I took up that appointment on December 19, 1914, when the Battalion was in its infancy, deficient of arms and equipment, but full of men whose physique, zeal, and spirit were magnificent, and this spirit was fully maintained, to the honour and fame of the Battalion, in the face of the enemy in France during the winter of 1915–16, and throughout 1916 and 1917, during which time it was in my (99th) Brigade, which formed part of the 2nd Division.

Throughout the heavy fighting we went through during this period, the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers never failed me. What they were ordered to do they did, and more; any objective they seized they held on to, and never retired from. Few units can boast of as proud a record as this.

Many hundreds of their best and bravest made the last sacrifice, but the splendid gallantry and dogged and cheerful endurance of the Battalion never lessened.

I was, and am, a proud man to have had such a Battalion in my Brigade, a Battalion second to none amongst those who fought for the Empire in the Great War.