A SHROUD of complete secrecy descended over Southampton as Lord Kitchener’s expeditionary force set sail for the front.

Although it was impossible to hide the great movement of troops through the port, not a single word was uttered out of place by local people.

The town, as it was then, did everything it could in welcoming the soldiers and in doing so recognised that loose talk could endanger the vast military operation now under way in Southampton.

In these early days of the conflict a feeling of national loyalty was afoot and the people and communities of Southampton answered the call of duty with enthusiasm and pride.

“An impenetrable veil was drawn before the scene, though we have been aware of the movements of the mighty machine which Lord Kitchener controls behind the closed and guarded dock gates,” wrote the Hampshire Independent, a forerunner of the Daily Echo.

“Complete secrecy naturally there could not be, nor was it sought. Experts in waterside operations have been called to the aid of the military, but their lips are quite inevitably sealed, nor would it be the wish of anyone to force their confidence.

“The fullest capacity of the port has been tested and the carefully prepared and elaborate machinery which is required for this operation of war has worked not only with well-oiled smoothness, but with a measure of unity between the military and civil interests, which is beyond praise.”

Many local families opened their homes up to the troops giving them shortterm accommodation, while others contributed food to boost military rations and volunteered to help out at the army camps established around Southampton.

“The stay of the troops in our midst was short,” said the newspaper at the time.

“We hadn’t time to know them. We welcomed them to their camps, giving us as little trouble as possible to the camp guards, and then we stood in silent lines to speed them on their way to what our Allies so happily call the field of honour.”

There were times when the departure of the troops were quite emotional occasions.

“Sometimes the men went forth singing, striking a responsive chord among those who were left,” said one newspaper report.

“One Sunday night they sang the songs of the homeland during the whole of their two-mile march.

“At other times they smoked and talked quietly, but always had a ready hand to wave.

“There were times of grave sadness, but the sense of quiet confidence was always close to the surface.

“One day the residents on the route brought out baskets of fruit, and there were countless occasions when private citizens came forward with well-meant offers of one sort or the other.

“Southampton has seen many things of which at this stage we may not write, but we have cause for pride in the way in which civic needs have been subordinated to the requirements of the military.

“It has been a treasured experience to most of us, for it has given us a closer knowledge of the men who have gone forth ‘with sword on high and brow with purpose knit’ to defend the national honour and the good order of our modern civilization.”