ARMY PAGEANT

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 13, 15 July 1936, Page 4

ARMY PAGEANT

HISTORICAL APPEAL

THE ALDERSHOT TATTOO

NEW WAYS AND OLD

(From "The Post's" Representative^.) LONDON, June C.

Historical associations are cherished by the average Englishman, and few opportunities are missed of making contact with them. With the magnificent spectacle that the Aldershot Tattoo presents annually they are the impelling forces which take thousands to Rushmoor every year, some forty miles by car or- train, to witness an entertainment that finishes after midnight and prevents arrival home before the smallest hours of the morning. Aldershot is not lacking in its historical associations this year, and it is not unfitting, perhaps, at a moment when no Royal person ' holds the title of Prince of Wales, that the presentation of the first Prince 10 the Welsh people by Edward I at Carnarvon Castle should be reenacted. It was one of the most spectacular moments of an entertainment that is a spectacle purely and simply, and it provided the preliminary to -iHe grand finale when 5000 men, dressed in uniforms of all periods, stream into the 11-acre arena, with its background of trees. IMPRESSIVE FINALE. ' With this host of trained men, grouped, in orderly array, facing the spectktors and with the long lines of the. physical training squads bearing lighted torches, the flood lights were lowered. Coloured rays splashed out from searchlights at the various vantage points in the stand, and, with, sharp points of light glittering from the instruments of the huge massed regimental bands, the first notes of "Abide With Me" stole out to the audience through the mid-;' night air. No more fitting finale could* be imagined as the soothing tones of the hymn provided a sharp contrast to; the deep-throated roar of guns and the crackle of old-fashioned musketry that had not long preceded this impressive setting.N It was this rapid' comparison of the* old-fashioned and present-day weapons used by the British Army that piovided one of the more awesome, and, at the same time, amusing moments of the tattoo. The days of the muzzleloading rifle are but hazy notions in the mind of the average man today, and the extraordinary period of time required to load those weapons is still more hazy. Two regiments of infantry of the nineteenth century," in their picturesque costumes, performed the complicated exercises \vhich involved the firing of the bld-Tashioned rifles. Three or four minutes elapsed as the infantrymen obeyed the commands issued through a loud speaker, and then spurts of flame flashed out, followed by an irregular crackling and streaming waves of gunpowder smoke.. In striking contrast is the company of the presentday infantry, their khaki uniforms providing a drab contrast to the colour-: ful clothes worn by our great-grand-fathers. But their arms, like their uniforms, were equally more practical, and three volleys rang out from the modern rifles in the time required for the old muzzle-loaders.to receive their quota of powder; and "shot.:_ . ' ARTIIXERYV PAST-AKD PRESENT. Still greater in contrast was the roar of the mechanised batteries of 18----pounders, 60-pounders, arid 6-inch howitzers with the artillery of 100 years ago. While horses unlimbered the guns and retired to a discreet distance, the tanks and tractors remained attached to the modern weapons. There was a laugh as the early models were "sponged," and the soldiers .with ramrods drove' home the charges. There was frank joviality a's they "fired," the popping of the reports resembling, in the distance, the opening of monster champagne bottles. It was in no laughing mood, however, that the roar and faint concussion of the modern' weapons were received. Many . frankly placed their hands to their ears and sympathised with the -infant bawling in protest. A solitary rabbit, disturbed from its slumbers, bobbed out to the arena and then scuttled back-to -its burrow, restoring the previous jovial mood and relieving temporary awe. It was, of course, a strictly unofficial item on the programme! Modern troops were again seen in action as a cavalry squadron returned from the "line," indicated in the distance- by Verey lights, shell flashes, and chattering machine-guns. After, presumably, a hard day's fighting the troops settled down for a night's rest, rugging their mounts and using the saddles for pillows. -An impressive sight was the appearance, while they slept, of the Phantom Squadron, headed by the mounted' cavalry bands of six regiments, playing "The Vanished Army," while the searchlights picked out the colours of their .uniforms. They marched round the sleeping men and horse lines, lit up by the red glow of camp fires,; and faded away in the distance to the. strains of "Auld Lang Syne." This was the. signal for a hoard of present-day '. "cavalrymen," seated in trucks,- to make their appearance, purring after the Phantom Squadron with startling rapidity, and then dashing back as the alarm was given and the guns roared back a counter-attack. The cavalrymen picked themselves and their saddles up and continued with the "war." . THE MASSED BANDS. After these displays of the realities of Army life, the massed mounted and dismounted bands of the Aidershot and Eastern Commands appeared, claimed in confidential strain by the programme to be the "greatest pageant of army musicians ever seen." One military band is ever sufficient to set toes tapping to time and voices humming in (or may be out) of tune. The effect of several first-class bands, massed in perfect formation, and marching in the neat precision with the official stamp of army training, may be better imagined than : described. The steady throb of the drums, the full, tones of the instruments, and the trills of the fifes can never fail to make an impression upon even the most unimaginative and unemotional. While the bands were marching, the huge gates of "Carnarvon Castle" rolled slowly open and a. company bearing lighted torches streamed slowly into the arena, resembling nothing to ■ much as a large, gleaming caterpillar. Five minutes later the company was divided round and-among the bands. The lights were lowered, and the mass of men marched through the gloom to their conductor, the rays from the torches twinkling in a hundred different points.

A sharp contrast was the splattering fire of the British Infantry, as Sir Archibald Campbell's expedition, which proceeded up the Irrawaddi to Eangoon in 1824, attacked the Burmese stockades by cannon fire from three vessels and then by rifle fire. The army of those days, incidentally, fought in full dress under tropical conditions, an irksome necessity not fully appreciated perhaps by the modern soldier playing his part in the cold, night air. Other scenes were pro-

vided by physical training squads drilling in time to "The Music Goes Round and Round," and "Dancing Cheek to Cheek." A weird effect, after the masses of men, were the evolutions of electric lanterns, blue, yellow, and red, in the pitch darkness. They, too, disappeared into the yawning gates of Carnarvon Castle, while the massed bands, invisible in the darkness, played "The General's Fast Asleep," a suggestion that was not without a humorous appeal to the crowds.

Caparisoned knights, gaily attired archers, and men-at-arms, numbering 3000 in all, formed a picturesque group as the time-honoured legend of the presentation of the first Prince of Wales to the Welsh chieftains at Carnarvon Castle in 1248 was enacted. It was a great heraldic picture as Edward, with aid of loud-speakers, presented the infant to the kneeling people, beneath the blazing motto, "I serve."

Once more the gates of the Castle opened and through them streamed every performer to take his place in the finale. The National Anthem was played well after midnight, an hour for which the thousands who flock to the Tattoo pay scant respect, and who regard the two-hour return journey with equanimity.