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A general rule has been in force since August 18, 1940, relating to the sending of reinforcements to units overseas. This rule requires the District Officer Commanding to "ensure that reinforcements from C.A.S.F. Training Centres are not sent overseas unless they have completed the full period training laid down, without obtaining prior authority from N.D.H.Q.” practice the exigencies of shipping and other considerations have at times made it necessary to authorize the despatch of reinforcements overseas before the prescribed training has been completed. The particular application of the above rule to the Hong Kong force will be examined at a later stage in this Appendix. Another matter of general procedure should be mentioned. When a battalion has been moved from its district of origin to perform coast defence duties in Canada, or garrison duties in Newfoundland or the West Indies, it may happer that it has not been posted to one of the Canadian divisions. Such a non- divisional unit has not establishment in any of the training centres from which drafts of replacements can be supplied. In such a case the unit, on leaving its own district, leaves behind at the district depot a recruiting wing. Men are enlisted in the battalion by this recruiting wing and are sent on to the unit from time to time. Certain forms of elementary training may be given at the district depot but this varies with the weapons that may be available in particular districts.
Some evidence was given as to the relative merits of the training received in Training Centres and that received by a trainee with his unit. Training in the Training Centres has some advantages; it can be planned on regular lines, can be more easily supervised and recorded, and can proceed with fewer inter- ruptions from guard, fatigue and other duties. On the other hand, training with an organized unit with competent officers and non-commissioned officers is better calculated to develop in the soldier of any rank certain essential qualities. The individual training of the soldier in a battalion may proceed concurrently with the collective training of sections, platoons and companies. All ranks have an opportunity of knowing each other and from this knowledge acquiring mutual confidence against the time of encountering an enemy. Several of the officers who gave evidence spoke in emphatic terms of the supreme value of developing in all ranks the qualities of reciprocal loyalty and confidence and of a spirit of solidarity without which no battalion can reach the highest degree of efficiency as a fighting unit. Where a man trains only with his battalion, his training may be interrupted and delayed by the duties assigned to the battalion, but, where these duties involve the protection of important outposts-such as Newfoundland and the West Indies against possible enemy atacks, the experi- ence in performing such duties and the consciousness of possible exposure to enemy activities provide in themselves valuable training both for the individual and the unit. Referring to the experience of the Royal Rifles in Newfoundland, Lt. Col. Lamb says:-
It was an unusual experience for training men, because we had quite a number of alarms and scares down there, and the men began to realize that anything might happen; they showed a keen interest in their work and it was easy to train them and a pleasure. They did up to 20-mile route marches, bivouacing two or three days away, when they did their own cooking and catering; and by the time we left Newfoundland at the end of August, 1941, I do not think I have seen a fitter bunch of men, taking them all round.
With these preliminary general remarks as to the military training in Canada, we may now consider the two battalions in question.
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The Royal Rifles of Canada
The Royal Rifles of Canada were mobilized July 8, 1940, at Quebec. Before that the regiment was a reserve unit in the Non-Permanent Active Militia. er mobilization the unit trained in the Quebec district and at Sussex, N.B. November and December, 1940, the battalion went to Newfoundland as part of the Island's garrison. It returned to Canada in two parties on August 18 and 28, 1941, and late in September, 1941, took up coast defence duties at St. John, N.B., where it remained until it was warned for duty with the expedi- tion to Hong Kong on October 9, 1941.
The battalion was commanded throughout its active service by Lieutenant- Colonel W. J. Home, M.C., an experienced officer who served with distinction in the war of 1914-18 and afterwards in the Permanent Force, and had exten- sive experience in the training of troops in peace-time, as well as in war-time. The second-in-command, Major Price, is also an able, as well as an experi- enced officer. All but six of the officers who went to Hong Kong had been with the battalion since mobilization. General Crerar's testimony to his confidence in Colonel Home and Major Price, as well as in the other officers of the battalion, is quoted verbatim hereafter.
It was the settled practice in the battalion not to accept recruits unless they had been inspected and accepted by the officer commanding, or some officer delegated for that purpose by him.
Officers who had either served with the Royal Rifles, or under whose obser- vation the battalion had come in the course of military duty, gave evidence as to its efficiency and training. The effect of their evidence can perhaps best be summarized by quoting from a report written by the Acting Officer Com- manding at Quebec (Lieutenant-Colonel Berteau) on September 15, 1941, after the unit had returned from Newfoundland and before it was assigned to the Hong Kong force. The report strongly recommended that the Royal Rifles should be included in an overseas formation and stated that "the unit is one of the most efficient ever mobilized in this district, with a splendid type of men, excellent N.C.O's, and well-trained and most efficient officers".
The training of the battalion began shortly after mobilization. Probably because of the military experience of many of the officers and N.C.O's, the unit was quickly organized and made rapid progress through the earlier stages of training. Before leaving for Newfoundland its basic individual training had been completed. The training in Newfoundland is described in the written training reports on file at Ottawa and in the evidence of the Officer Command- ing in Newfoundland in 1941 (Brigadier Earnshaw), but principally by Lt.-Col. Lamb, who commanded a company during the entire stay of the battalion in Newfoundland, with the exception of five weeks when he was taking a course at Kingston.
As was very clearly explained by Colonel Lamb, Canadian troops in Newfoundland are not engaged in mere guard duties; they are serving in a potential theatre of war and their training is more intensive and varied than that usually received in a training camp in Canada. On arrival in Newfoundland two companies of the battalion were assigned to duties at the Airport and two companies performed duties at the harbour and airplane base. At the Airport one company was engaged in manning the outposts; the other in training; the two companies taking these duties from week to week alternately. At the harbour and airplane base the duties consisted in protecting the harbour and examining all incoming ships. At both these stations individual training of the men continued in alternate weeks and the training done, usually by small groups, gave to both officers and men experience valuable in modern warfare. Several witnesses mentioned the changing conditions of war; in this war often small groups of men commanded by a junior officer operate in an isolated position where the enemy is likely to appear from any direction. In this type of warfare
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