November 16th - 22nd 1914

November 16^th Monday

We commence our Course of Instruction. Application firing of 5 rounds at 300 yards. Done rotten. 14 out of 20. Raining cats and dogs. Rest of day marking at the butts.

November 17^th Tuesday

Fired 7 rounds rapid in 45 secs at 300 yards, 19 out of 28. Am on butt duty every day now. Markers have to fire first in the morning. Have to keep our nuts low.

November 18^th Wednesday

Raining like the devil, but have to fire just the same, 5 rounds application at 300 yards. Got wet through while firing and only managed 9 points.

November 19^th Thursday

Snap shooting at Silhouette Figure at 300 yards with 4 secs exposure. Got 3 hits. Finished of Instructional Course. Not so well this time. Got 56 out of 88.

November 20^th Friday

Duff men tried again. Am behinds the butts all day and had a fairly easy time, especially under Capt M.F.P. Paid 7/-. Spent the evening in Recreation Room.

November 21^st Saturday

Started our Standard Test and were told that those passing 1^st Class would get 3d a day extra. Grouping of 5 rounds at 100 yards, 8-inch group, 20 out of 25.

November 22^nd Sunday

Served out with new drill suits. Church parade is washed out, but we have a ceremonial parade in memory of Lord Roberts. Got a big mail in. Plenty of letters for me. Rather lucky this time.

November 9th - 15th 1914

November 9^th Monday

Started our Qualification Test. Had to do Harmonization of Sights at 1200 yards, 25 yards range. Very easy test. All correct.

November 10^th Tuesday

Grouping of 3 shots at 25 yards. Got a 1 inch group. Not at all bad.

November 11th Wednesday

Grouping of 5 rounds at 100 yards. Got an 8 inch group. 20 pints, possible 25.

November 12^th Thursday

Fired 5 rounds on application at 200 yards off, 17 out of 20 points. Am doing very well up to the present.

November 13^th Friday

Sharp shooting 5 rounds at 200 yards off. 16 out of 20. Paid 7. -. Firing is a bit of a strain so spent evening in Camp.

November 14^th Saturday

Rapid Firing at 200 yards, 8 rounds in 45 secs. Obtained 22 points out of 32. Total 75 out of 87. Passed Qualification Test.

November 15^th Sunday

Church Service in Mess at 11.00am. Our Harvest Festival Parson from Garrison Church, The service has the Hymns ‘We plough the fields and scatter, The Sower went forth sowing and now thank we all our God’. Collection from Red X. Collected over £11.00.

November 1st - 8th 1914 - Learning Weapons & Sport

NB: Take note that they were enlisted as a Machine Gunner and others in similar roles, yet they had never really fired anything before. I think the overwhelming madness of the WW1 was the sheer amount of information and things that they just didn't know. Imagine going into a war in the modern era with limited military intelligence. Back then, they just did it because that's what you meant to do. They did also find time for football though, of course!

November 1914

November 1^st Sunday

Church parade as usual. Got a mail up and considered myself lucky to get a few letters from home.

November 2^nd Monday

Started to learn field firing at disappearing targets and taking cover.

November 3^rd Tuesday

Now they have put us on Rapid firing, which is loading, firing and unloading 15 rounds in 1 minute. Fairly easy.

November 4^th Wednesday

Went on to Range and had a test in Visual training. Managed to find 5 out of 7 targets.

November 5^th Thursday

Marched over to Melleha Ridge and had our test on judging distance. Done fairly well. Only had 10% of error.

November 6^th Friday

Had our test in Rapid loading. Had to load, take ammunition out of pouches and close them up each time, and unload 90 rounds in a minute. Done it in 57 secs. Paid 7/-. G Coy played C Coy at cricket. Beat them by 6 wickets.

November 7^th Saturday

Nothing much to do now before firing. Just revising a bit and had to explain everything ourselves. That afternoon ‘G’ Coy played ‘C’ Coy at football and won 3-1.

November 8^th Sunday

Church Service at 6.00am. Went to St Pauls Bay after dinner and had my usual weekly bust up. Of course I have to mix with civilians here, especially the females. Our 1^st Batt pitches camp close by.