THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1287, 20 August 1914, Page 3

THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

LANDED IN FRACE. KITCHENER S WAY. FIELD-MARSHALL FRENCH IN COMMAND. KITCHENER’S MESSAGE TO TROOPS. London, Aug. 17. The Press Bureau states that the British Expeditionary Force landed safely in France. The embarkation, transportation and debarkation of the men and stores was carried out with the greatest precision and without a single casualty.

King George telegraphed a message to the troops, which was read to each regiment before embarkation.

Each soldier also carried a little slip of paper signed by Earl Kitchener, with two hundred words of soldierly advice, telling them to fear God, honour the King, and remember they were fighting on the soil of a friendly nation ; to abstain from liquor and looting, and to be courteous to women but not more than courteous.

The embarkation was a grim and solemn business. There were no farewells on the piers. The long lines of khaki-clad men marched to the docks in the early morning and the vessels slipped quietly away. The only hints given to the public of the approaching departure of the troops were the visits of Field-Marshall Sir John French and other generals to Buckingham Palace and Marlborough House, the King’s visit to Aldershot and the Queen’s visit to Tidworth, where she personally took farewell of the officers and presented gifts to the men of her own regiment.

The skippers of the transports did not know their destination until they opened their sealed orders three miles out.

Some of the troopships were not even aware that they were being escorted until a submarine was suddenly seen passing partially submerged. Field-Marshal Sir John French and his staff stood on the quarterdeck of the scout-cruiser Asp, and as she approached Europe her decks were cleared for action.

The majority of the populace were not aware that the British general was expected, though the arrival of a transport at the same time aroused general enthusiasm. The military governor and the Mayor greeted Sir John French at the jetty. Throughout Friday and Saturday ' the Britishers marched through the streets to the camps on the French hills, and were quickly distributed at various points of which the town is the victualling centre.

The whole was done without excitement, and everybody seemed to be doing an everyday job. . The precise contents of every ships hold were known, and directly the troops left the cargo was carried out to sheds at prearranged places, where the exact space was allocated. It was manifest that the lessons in South Africa were not forgotten. 1