From: "David Johnson", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The following entry regarding the formation of the Artists Rifles, taken
from the History of the Great War. The period being covered is 1914.
"What proved a valuable experiment was tried about this time by Sir John
French in establishing the Artists Rifles as a training corps for officers
in the field. Here, in the best possible training-ground, cadets not only
learned the theory of their duties within sound of the guns, but also
acquired full practical knowledge by turns of forty-eight hours in the
trenches, visits to the observation posts of batteries, and so on. When
first started the school was able to turn out officers at the rate of
seventy-five a month, but it was not long before this increased to a
hundred.
Reports received by Sir John French, from divisional and army corps
commanders, on officers who had been trained in this way, were most
satisfactory."
I have always understood that they started out providing "Front-Line"
experience, which soon developed into operations behind enemy lines -
recovering downed airmen, sabotage, etc. and that the progression was from
this type of work in WW1 to SOE in WW2 thence to SAS
Dave Johnson
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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