HLI Chronicle 1914 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

·72 HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHJlO~rCLE.Liddiard; 6th, CorpJ. Meilde; 7th, Pte.Stewart; 9th, Bugler South worth : 13th,Pte. Howard; 15th, Pte. Cormyn.On the 14th February a triangular contestwas held between ourselves, the Black Watch,and the Munster Fusiliers. The latter havealready made a name for themselves in therunning line, and are probably, with theConnaughts, one of the strongest teams inthe Command. The course was over about7kmiles of rough country. The result was ;­1st, Munster Fusiliers, 73 points; 2nd,H.L.!., 288 points; 3rd, Black Watch, 335points.Sergt. Evans, our first man home, finished3rd. Our next best men were :-Corpl. Meilde,22nd; Pte. M'Donald, 28th; CorpL Smith,30th; L.-Corpl. Black, 31st; Pte. Sherratt,32nd; Pte. Cormyn, 33rd; Corpl. Camp bell,34th.On Friday, 6th March, we met the King'sJ~iverpool Regiment. As before, the first tenmen counting. The course, which was veryheavy after the recent rains, was across theLong Valley, Pondtail Bridge, Ball Hill, andin across the Queen's Parade. The resultwas very close, our opponents winning by afew points. Sergt. Evans was first in, winningcomfortably. Pte. M'Donald finishedfifth.TH.E CONNAUGHT OBSTACI,E SHIELD.FOR the seventh year in succession the challengeshield presented by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaughtfor team obstacle racing has been won by an Irishregiment, this honour falling to the prowess of the 2ndRoyal Munster Fusiliers for the second year in successionon Friday, when they won it from seven othercompeting teams in a veryarduou9 competition.The competition is indeed a severe test of physicalfitness, and was rendered more difficult on Friday bythe heavy rains of the previous weeks, which hadturned large sections of the course into quagmires.So bad, indeed, had become that section between the:!I-Iarlborough Lines Gymnasium and the corner of theArmy Athletic Ground. where the finishing flags wereusually placed, that it was deemed advi~able at thelast minut~ to make alterations in the conditions.The finish was therefore armnged on the edge of thelst Brigade Rooreation Ground, but to compensate forthe shorter distance the t,eams had to cover they weresent over two of the obstacles at the fifarlboroughI,ines Gymnasium, finishing up with the wooden wall,a formidable obstacle to surmount after completing themile of bog, bars, and ditches, and the Great Redoubt.The competition attracted as much interest asusual, if not more, there being a number of Generaland Staff Officers at the finish, together with a crowdof interested spectators. The arrangements were inthe hands of Captain J. Bacchus, Superintendent ofGymnasium, Brigadier.General J. E. Gough, V.C.,being the chief umpire. assisted by Major H. M. Finch,R. Berks. Regiment; Major H. E. Walsh, SouthStafford Regiment; and Lieut. J. Bettg, }faster.at-.Arms. Captain Lord G. Stewal't·}£urray, BlackWatch, was starter and timekeeper, assist,ed by Lieut.R. C. Evelegh. 52nu L.L, and Lieut. A. A. Hanbury.Sparrow, R. Berb. Regiment.Among the spectators were Major.General S. H.Lom!l.x, commR,nding 1st Division, and Major-GeneralSir Archibald ~[urray, commanding 2nd Division.Each team wa~ composed of one officer, one sergeant,and tWPIlty rank and file from each of the four doublecoru panies of its battalion, the idea of the competitio1tbeing to encourage the training of a large number oftroops to traverse a piece of ground int~rsected withvarious obstacles at a fast pace, and in a practicalmanner, without allowing it to develop into a meretime test. Drill order, with rifles and side arms, wasworn, but as canvas or khaki was optional it wasinteresting to observe that the four top teams worecanvas elothing.Points were given at each obstacle, and for tIlemanner in which the teams finished -whether they werewell in hand and in a fighting condition. The standardtime was 8 mins. 30 secs., taken from the last ma,n in,men falling out penalising their team 10 points for one,30 for 2. and 100 for 3, and in some cases teams sacrificedvaluable time points to get all their men in.Two teams managed to beat the standard time,.but the winners gathered the most points for goodform. The first team to go was the 2nd K.R.R.C., andthe last was the 1st K.R.R.C.At the conclusion the points and times were shownto be as follows :­1. 2nd R. }iunster Fus.. 8m. 518.. 119'2, 1st Colds. Guards, 8m. 3h., .. 100·3, 2nd Highland L.I.. 9m. 5s., .. 89·4, 2mi King's R.R.C.• Sm. 478., 855, 1st King's R.R.C., 9m. 1611.. 50·6, 2nd Conn. Rangers. 9ru. 168.. 33.7, 1st The King's, 10m. 198., 5-S, 2nd Worcester Regt., IOm. 40s., -:la.None of the tearu~ had been allowed to practiseover the course. so that all started level in that respect.The manner of their finishing was very interesting,the great majority of the troops being much " done"when they passed the flag. This was not to be wonderedat" considering the terrible going and the finish at thewall, and also taking into consideration the extremeyouth of the majority of those taking part. Indeedthe wonder is that the men dia,so well, and that onlythree fell out of the 724 taking part speaks volumesfor the stamina and pluck of all the teams.The Coldstream Guards and Munsters surmountedthe last obstacle in splendid style, the stronge3t remainingin rear to help the others over. The HighlandLight Infantry finished in the most attractive manner,coming in as they started in their sections or platoons.'When all were in and the points totalled, the prizes,were presented by Major·General Lomax, who said hehad soon the competition through for four years, andwas much struck by the enormous irupr6vement seenin the running of the men. He remarked on the fact,that only three had fallen out during that severe test,a most creditable proof of the soundness of the trainingand discipline of the teams. A great advantage ofthat competition was that it brought officer3 and meninto close contact. It was most desirable to sce officerstaking an active part in the games and contestca of themen. and it was one of the things they were very proudof--to see officers helping their men to win honour andglory for their rcgiments.The test imposed was that of the fighting efficiency,·