orders

[john w.]

Prior to the Great War I seem to remember reading that the British army tried to publish standing orders to cover every eventuality.

Does anyone know if they tried to cover retreat? as in what to do in the event of....

In 1914 the BEF retreated and many men were cut off from their regiments and chaos ruled.

Many returned to their units without uniforms, equipment, often days or weeks late.. what would have happened to them or what indeed did happen to them.. anything or nothing?

Any ideas? thoughts?

[Guest BryanShanks]

Hi John,

The British Army train for all eventuallities, there are standing orders for everything except retreat - withdrawal yes, retreat no. I am sure there are enough old soldiers, sailors and airmen using the Forum to back me up on this. During the Korean war we advanced 10,000 yards in October 1951 to straighten out the line, we consolidated and waited the ineviatable counter attack. It came on the 4th November 1951 (the day Bill Speakman, BW attached KOSB was awarded The Victoria Cross.) My battalion pulled back (not retreated) by companies when literally thousands of Chinese charged. Myself and two others in a dug-out never got the message to withdraw, consequently we became cut off, stayed where we were. Luckily the Chinese withdrew (they retreated!) but we were now in No Man's Land. As we could not just sit there we ventured toward our own lines along a deep valley hoping to find friendly faces, all we got was Australians telling us to go away as only Australians can, with the odd shot to speed us up. We wandered about for five days and nights until we stumbled onto our own Mortar Platoon. Arriving at Battalion Headquarters, the Second in Command grunted, "Thought you were dead." End of story, no one bothered to de-brief us, nothing more was ever mentioned, we returned to our company as if nothing had happened. Yes, people do get cut off and lost, not only in a withdrawal, but in attack also. Not only are these situations very frightening, but more to the point very confusing. It happen in all wars. We were lucky, others who became detached are missing to this day. That is the "fog of war."

Bryan Shanks

WFA 9308