Out of many directions, soldiers returned in formal line beside lodgings (4,3,8)

'out of many directions soldiers returned' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'formal line beside lodgings' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'formal' is 'fromal' which is located in the answer.
'line' could be 'l' (used when specifying particular lines from a poem) and 'l' is located in the answer.
'lodgings' could be 'quarters' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'quarters' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?