Mobilize!

On the afternoon of 4th August 1914 at 5.18pm, a telegram was received at the Orderly Room of the 2nd Battalion at Curragh Camp, Dublin. It read: “To Commanding Officer, 2nd Suffolk - Mobilise” - The Great War had started for The Suffolk Regiment.
Immediately, the carefully laid down plan for the mobilization of the Reservists began to be put into operation. Captain and Adjutant, A.M. Cutbill took from the Battalion safe, Army Form C.2118 – the “War Diary” and started straight away to record the Battalions activities. 
At the same time, Lieutenant N.A. Bittleston; the Battalion's machine-gun officer, left the Curragh with the Colours of the Battalion, to be placed in times of emergency, at the Depot at Bury St. Edmunds. Along with Lieutenant Bittleston were five senior NCOs who were to assist in the organisation of the reservists who were being called back to the ‘Colours.’
At the same time as this was happening, all across the country, Regimental Depots were checking their ledgers for contact details and addresses of the thousands of Reservists. These men, who were still on the reserve list, were liable in times of emergency, to be called back to the Colours, would shortly receive telegrams ordering them to report to their respective Regimental Depots. Some of these men had left the Army almost nine years before and were almost at the expiry of their reserve limit. Within hours, they would be soldiering again with their old chums...

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