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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade,
+by Edward Lord Gleichen
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade
+       August 1914 to March 1915
+
+
+Author: Edward Lord Gleichen
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 14, 2007  [eBook #22074]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH
+INFANTRY BRIGADE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Clarke, Christine P. Travers, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from
+digital material generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian
+Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/toronto)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 22074-h.htm or 22074-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/7/22074/22074-h/22074-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/7/22074/22074-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/fifteenthbrigad00gleiuoft
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. All other
+      inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's
+      spelling has been preserved.
+
+      The missing word "in" has been added in the sentence:
+         However, I detached the Dorsets to move along the
+         canal bank from Gorre and get in touch with the French.
+
+         Weatherby, who had cantered off to get in touch with them,...
+
+
+
+
+
+THE DOINGS OF THE
+FIFTEENTH INFANTRY BRIGADE
+AUGUST 1914 TO MARCH 1915
+
+
+
+[Illustration: L. de St. A. -- J. T. W. -- G. -- A. L. M.-B. -- R. E. B.
+_photo by Lieut. H. M. Cadell, R.E._ Some Of Brigade Headquarters.]
+
+
+
+
+THE DOINGS OF THE
+FIFTEENTH INFANTRY BRIGADE
+AUGUST 1914 TO MARCH 1915
+
+by
+
+Its Commander
+
+Brigadier-General COUNT GLEICHEN,
+(now Major-General Lord Edward Gleichen),
+K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+William Blackwood & Sons
+Edinburgh and London
+1917
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+
+The following pages--not in the first instance intended for
+publication--contain an expanded version of the very scrappy Diary
+which I kept in France from day to day.
+
+The version was intended for private home consumption only, and has
+necessarily had to be pruned of certain personal matters before being
+allowed to make its bow to the public. I have purposely refrained from
+adding to it in the light of subsequent events.
+
+I trust that the reader will consequently bear in mind the essentially
+individual and impressionist aspects of this little work, and will not
+expect to find either rigidly historical, professional, or critical
+matter therein.
+
+                                        G.
+  _14th August 1917._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                       Pages
+  Up to the Eve of Mons................................ 1-21
+
+  The Battle of Mons.................................. 22-38
+
+  Mons to Le Cateau................................... 39-43
+
+  Le Cateau........................................... 44-56
+
+  The Retreat......................................... 57-86
+
+  The Advance......................................... 87-93
+
+  The Marne.......................................... 94-102
+
+  To the Aisne...................................... 103-111
+
+  The Aisne......................................... 112-140
+
+  Westward Ho!...................................... 141-149
+
+  Abbeville to Béthune.............................. 150-157
+
+  Givenchy and Festubert............................ 158-198
+
+  To Bailleul....................................... 199-205
+
+  To Ypres.......................................... 206-208
+
+  The First Battle of Ypres......................... 209-248
+
+  Back to Locre..................................... 249-251
+
+  Trench Life Opposite Messines..................... 252-280
+
+  Giving Up Command................................. 281-283
+
+
+SKETCH-MAPS.
+
+                                                        Page
+  Boussu-Wasmes.......................................... 28
+
+  Missy-on-Aisne........................................ 123
+
+  Givenchy-Violaines.................................... 167
+
+  The Footbridge over the Canal......................... 175
+
+  Beukenhorst (near Ypres).............................. 211
+
+  The Messines Front.................................... 255
+
+
+ILLUSTRATION.
+
+
+  Some of Brigade Headquarters                _Frontispiece_
+
+
+
+
+The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade.
+
+August 1914 to March 1915.
+
+
+In accordance with the order received at Belfast at 5.30 P.M. on the
+4th, the 15th Brigade started mobilizing on the 5th August 1914, and
+by the 10th was complete in all respects. We were practically ready by
+the 9th, but a machine-gun or two and some harness were a bit late
+arriving from Dublin--not our fault. Everything had already been
+rehearsed at mobilization inspections, held as usual in the early
+summer, and all went like clock-work. On the 8th we got our final
+orders to embark on the 14th, and on the 11th the embarkation orders
+arrived in detail.
+
+Brigade Headquarters consisted of myself, Captain Weatherby (Oxford
+L.I.) as Brigade Major, Captain Moulton-Barrett (Dorsets), Staff
+Captain, Captain Roe (Dorsets), Brigade Machine-Gun Officer,
+Lieutenant Cadell, R.E., Signalling Officer, and Lieutenant Beilby,
+Brigade Veterinary Officer. Military Police, A.S.C. drivers, postmen,
+and all sorts of odds and ends arrived from apparently nowhere in
+particular, and fitted together with extraordinary little effort. The
+battalions grew to unheard-of sizes, and by the time that all was
+complete the Brigade numbered 127 officers, 3958 men, 258 horses, and
+74 vehicles.
+
+
+_Aug. 14th._
+
+The Cheshires[1] and Bedfords[2] arrived by train in the early morning
+of the 14th from 'Derry and Mullingar and went straight on board their
+ships--Brigade Headquarters, Dorsets,[3] and half the Norfolks[4]
+being in one, Cheshires and the other half of the Norfolks in another,
+and the Bedfords in a third.
+
+         [Footnote 1: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. D. C. Boger).]
+
+         [Footnote 2: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Griffith, D.S.O.).]
+
+         [Footnote 3: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. L. J. Bols, D.S.O.).]
+
+         [Footnote 4: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Ballard).]
+
+Great waving of handkerchiefs and cheering as we warped slowly out of
+Belfast docks at 3 P.M. and moved slowly down the channel.
+
+
+_Aug. 16th._
+
+The weather was beautifully fine on the passage, and on the 16th we
+all arrived at our destination.
+
+The Bedfords had arrived on the previous tide to ourselves, and were
+already fast alongside the quay. Orders were received from the
+Disembarking Officer, and we disembarked and formed up independently
+and marched off to Rest Camp No. 8, six miles off on the hills above
+Havre.
+
+It had been pouring heavily on shore for two days, though it was quite
+fine when we landed; so the ground where we were to encamp was mostly
+sopping. It was not easy to find in the dark, especially as the
+sketch-maps with which we were provided most distinctly acted up to
+their names. Added to these difficulties, a motor-lorry had stuck on
+the way up and blocked our transport for the night. I rode ahead
+alone, but had immense difficulty in finding the Brigade Headquarters
+Camp, which was quite a long way from the other battalion camps.
+These were dotted on the open fields at some distance from each other,
+and pitched in no particular order, so that by the time I had got my
+bearings and brought in the battalions, it was about 11 P.M. There was
+of course no baggage, nor anything to sleep on except the bare ground
+under the tents, with our saddles for pillows; and as a pleasant
+excitement nearly all our horses stampeded about 2 A.M., tore up their
+picketing-pegs from the soft ground, and disappeared into the darkness
+in different directions.
+
+
+_Aug. 17th._
+
+Daylight, however, brought relief, and a certain amount of our
+transport; and all the horses were discovered in course of time and
+brought back. Most of the morning was spent, unsuccessfully, in trying
+to bring up the remaining transport up a steep and narrow road which
+was the only alternative to the blocked one. But some of the horses
+jibbed, and we had eventually to give it up and bring up supplies by
+hand.
+
+The battalions were comfortably settled down under the expectation of
+another night there; but at 2.15 P.M. we got orders to move off by
+train at night. This we did from three different stations, at times
+varying from 12 midnight to 5.45 A.M., having arrived according to
+order at the stations four hours previously. This is the French
+system, allowing four hours for the entraining of a unit. Although a
+lot of manhandling had to be done, and the trucks were not what we had
+been accustomed to, we all entrained in about forty minutes, so had
+any amount of time to spare.
+
+Silver (my first charger) was very bobbery as usual, and it took a
+good half-hour to persuade him to enter his truck. Once in, he slept
+like a lamb.
+
+
+_Aug. 18th._
+
+We were comfortable enough, though packed like sardines, and with
+three-quarters of an hour's rest at Rouen for coffee, and another rest
+at Amiens--where we heard that poor General Grierson, our Corps
+Commander, was dead--broke a blood-vessel in the train--we arrived at
+Busigny at 2.15 P.M. Here we found Captain Hyslop[5] (Dorsets), who
+had been sent ahead from Belfast, and who gave us orders to detrain at
+Le Cateau, a few miles farther on. I must say that all these
+disembarking and training arrangements were extraordinarily well done,
+and reflected great credit on the Allied staffs combined. No hitch, no
+fuss, no worry, everybody got their orders in time, and all necessary
+arrangements had been carefully thought out beforehand.
+
+         [Footnote 5: Hyslop was very severely wounded six days
+         afterwards and taken prisoner, but exchanged later on.]
+
+We arrived at Le Cateau at 3.10 P.M., and detrained in half an hour,
+baggage and all. The battalions marched off to their billets,--Dorsets
+and Headquarters to Ors, the other three battalions to Pommereuil:
+nice clean little villages both of them.
+
+When about halfway out to Ors--I was riding on ahead of the Brigade
+with only Weatherby--we were met by a motor bikist with a cypher
+telegram for me. This stumped us completely, as, not yet having
+reported to the Division, we had not yet received the local field
+cypher-word; so, seeing a car approaching with some "brass hats" in
+it, I rode across the road and stopped it, with a view to getting the
+key. To my horror, Sir John French and Sir A. Murray descended from
+the car and demanded to know why I had stopped them. I explained and
+apologised, and they were very pleasant about it; but on looking at
+the wire they said that I could disregard it, as they knew what it
+was about, and it was of no particular importance by this time; so we
+pursued our way in peace.
+
+The billeting had already been done for us by our (5th) Divisional
+Staff, and we found no difficulty in shaking down.
+
+I was billeted on a small elderly lady of the name of Madame W----,
+who was kindness itself, and placed herself and her house at our
+disposal; but I regret to say that when our men, in search of
+firewood, picked up some old bits of plank lying about in the garden,
+she at first made a shocking fuss, tried to make out that it was a
+whole timber stack of new wood, and demanded fifty francs
+compensation. She eventually took two francs and was quite content.
+
+Here it was that Saint André joined us, having been cast off by the
+5th Divisional Staff at Landrecies as a superfluous interpreter.
+Looking like an ordinary French subaltern with a pince-nez, he was in
+fact a Protestant pastor from Tours, son of the Vicomte de Saint
+André, very intelligent and "cultured," with a great sense of humour
+and extremely keen. I really cannot speak too highly of him, for he
+was a most useful addition to the Staff. In billeting and
+requisitioning, and in all matters requiring tact in connection with
+the inhabitants or the French Army, he was invaluable. I used him
+later as A.D.C. in action, and as _Officier de liaison_ with the
+French troops. I don't know what his knowledge of divinity may have
+been, but if it was anything like equal to his military knowledge it
+must have been considerable. He had studied theology at Edinburgh, and
+his English was very fluent, luckily untouched by a Scottish accent.
+He was always bubbling over with vitality and go, and plunged into
+English with the recklessness of his race; when he couldn't express
+himself clearly he invented words which were the joy of the
+Mess,--"pilliate," "whizzle," "contemporative," and dozens of others
+that I can't remember; and what used to charm us particularly was that
+he so often went out of his way to put the accent on the wrong
+syllable, such as in bilyétting, brígade, áttack, ambassádor, &c. He
+was, indeed, a great acquisition to the Brigade.[6]
+
+         [Footnote 6: He was subsequently awarded the D.S.O. and Croix
+         de Guerre (aux Palmes) for excellent and gallant work
+         achieved under fire.]
+
+
+_Aug. 19th._
+
+Next morning I rode across to have a look at the other battalions. The
+transport horses of the Cheshires were perhaps not all they might have
+been, but it was the particular stamp of Derry horse that was at
+fault, and not the battalion arrangements. Otherwise we were ready for
+the fray.
+
+
+_Aug. 20th._
+
+We had arrived on the Tuesday (18th), and on the Thursday Sir C.
+Fergusson (commanding 5th Division) paraded the Brigade by battalions
+and made them a short speech, telling us we were to move on the
+morrow, and giving us a few technical tips about the Germans and how
+to meet their various wiles, largely about machine-guns and their
+methods of attack in large numbers. The Bedfords were the most
+interested audience, and interrupted him every now and then with
+"'Ear, 'ear," and a little handclapping at important points. I think
+the General was a little nonplussed at this attention: I know I was.
+Whether it was due or not to the audience being accustomed to
+attending political meetings at home, or to the air of Bedfordshire
+being extremely vitalising I don't know, but once or twice afterwards
+when the battalion was addressed by General Smith Dorrien,[7] and even
+by Sir J. French, they showed their approbation in the manner above
+set forth--somewhat to my confusion.
+
+         [Footnote 7: Commanding of course the 2nd Corps (composed of
+         the 3rd and 5th Divisions).]
+
+
+_Aug. 21st._
+
+Next day we moved off early. I already found myself overburdened with
+kit--although I had not even as much as the regulation 150 lb.--and I
+left a camp-bed and a thick waistcoat and various odds and ends behind
+in Madame W----'s cupboard, under the firm belief that I might at some
+future period send for it if I wanted it. Alas! the Germans have now
+been at Ors for close on three years.
+
+A hot march of about fifteen miles brought us to Gommignies.
+Stragglers, I regret to say, were already many--all of them
+reservists, who had not carried a pack for years. They had every
+intention of keeping up, of course, but simply could not. I talked to
+several of them and urged them along, but the answer was always the
+same--"Oh, I'll get along all right, sir, after a bit of rest; but I
+ain't accustomed to carrying a big weight like this on a hot day," and
+their scarlet streaming faces certainly bore out their views. To do
+them justice, they practically all did turn up. I was afraid that, in
+spite of great care and the numerous orders I had issued about the
+fitting and greasing of new boots, it was the boots which were at
+fault; but it was not so, except in a very few cases.
+
+Our billeting parties had, of course, been sent ahead and started on
+their work. It was naturally quite new work to them, and it took a lot
+of time at first--two and three hours--before the men were settled.
+Nowadays it takes half an hour, or at most an hour, as everybody knows
+his job, and also takes what is given him at once, squash or no
+squash. After a little campaigning men very quickly find out that it
+is better to shake down at once, even in uncomfortable billets, than
+to hang about and try to get better ones. Here we got first touch,
+though very indirectly, with the enemy, in the shape of a French
+patrol of _Chasseurs à Cheval_ (in extraordinarily _voyant_
+light-blue tunics and shakos), who had come in from somewhere north
+after having seen some "Uhlans" and hunted them off. I sent the news,
+such as it was, on to the Division.
+
+And here I must lay stress on the fact that throughout the campaign we
+did not know in the least what was happening elsewhere. Beyond the
+fact that the 3rd Division was somewhere on our right, and that the
+French cavalry was believed to be covering our left front, we did not
+know at this period what the movement was about or where the Germans
+were supposed to be. We trusted to our superiors to do what was
+necessary, and plunged blindly into the "fog of war."
+
+The usual proceedings on the ordinary line of march were that, on
+receiving "Divisional Orders," which arrived at any time in the
+afternoon, or often at night, we compiled "Brigade Orders" on them.
+Divisional Orders give one first of all any information about the
+enemy which it is advisable to impart, then the intention of the
+Divisional General--whether he means to fight on the morrow, or march,
+or stay where he is, &c., &c.; and if he means to march he gives the
+direction in which the Division is to proceed, the order of march, by
+brigades, artillery, divisional troops such as R.E., heavy batteries,
+divisional cavalry, &c., &c., and generally says where and how the
+transport is to march, whether with its own troops or some way behind,
+and if so, where; and gives directions as to the supplies, where the
+refilling-point, rendezvous for supply carts, and railhead are, and
+many other odds and ends, especially as to which brigade is to provide
+the advanced- or rear-guard, who is to command it, at what time the
+head of the column and the heads of all the formations are to pass a
+given point, and so on. On receiving these orders we have to make out
+and issue similarly composed Brigade Orders in detail, giving the
+order of march of the battalions and Brigade Headquarters, how much
+rations are to be carried on the men and in the cook-waggons, what is
+to happen to the supply and baggage waggons, whether B transport
+(vehicles not absolutely necessary in the fighting line) are to be
+with the A transport in rear of their respective battalions, or to be
+bunched up by themselves behind the Brigade, with similar detailed
+orders about the advanced-guard or rear-guard, and the time to a
+minute as to when each detail is to pass a given point, the position
+of the Brigadier in the column, the point to which reports are to be
+sent, &c., &c. These orders might be written in anything from fifteen
+to fifty minutes according to the movement required, and then had to
+be quadruplicated and sent out to the battalions by their respective
+orderlies, or by wire. By the time the battalions had written out and
+transmitted their own orders to their companies it was sometimes very
+late indeed; but as the campaign went on, orders got more and more
+simplified somehow, and things got done quicker than at the beginning
+of the _premier pas_.
+
+The country through which we were passing was that technically
+described by novelists as "smiling." That is to say, it was pretty, in
+a mild sort of way, clean, green, with tidy farmhouses and cottages,
+and fields about ripe for the harvest. Plenty of orchards there were
+too, with lots of fruit-trees alongside the roads, and the people were
+most kind in offering us fruit and milk and water and coffee and even
+wine as we went along. But this could not be allowed on the march, as
+it would have led to men falling out without permission, and also to
+drinking more than was good for them whilst marching. Except,
+therefore, occasionally, and then only during the ten minutes' halt
+that we had in each hour, I did not allow these luxuries to be
+accepted.
+
+Gommignies was a nice shady little town, and the Notaire gave me an
+excellent bedroom in his big house; whilst I remember that I made
+acquaintance there with the excellent penny cigar of the country.
+
+
+_Aug. 22nd._
+
+Off at cock-crow next day, the country got uglier, blacker, more
+industrial, and more thickly populated as we pushed on through the
+heat, and by the time we crossed the Belgian frontier we felt indeed
+that we were in another land.
+
+The beastly paved road with cobbles, just broad enough for one vehicle
+and extremely painful to the feet, whilst the remainder of the road on
+both sides was deep in dust or caked mud, was a most offensive
+feature; the people staring and crowding round the troops were quite a
+different type from the courteous French peasants; and whilst in
+France not a single able-bodied civilian had been visible--all having
+joined the Army--in Belgium the streets were crowded with men who, we
+felt most strongly, ought to have been fighting in the ranks.
+
+There was a great block in Dour, which we reached after a
+fourteen-mile march, and in spite of all attempts at keeping the
+streets clear it was some time before we could get through. Part of
+the Division was halting there for the night, and the municipal
+authorities were extremely slow in allotting billets and keeping their
+civilian waggons in order.
+
+From Dour onwards it was a big straggling sort of suburban
+town--tramways down the side, dirty little houses lining the street,
+great chimneys belching (I believe that is the correct term) volumes
+of black smoke, huge mountains of slag in all directions, rusty
+brickfields littered with empty tins, old paper, and bits of iron, and
+other similarly unlovely views. The only thing to be said in favour of
+this industrial scrap-heap was that the smoke was not quite so sooty
+as it looked, and things one touched did not "come off" quite so black
+as might have been expected. Otherwise there was no attraction.
+
+Half a mile on or more was Bois de Boussu, and here we were halted to
+allow of a cavalry brigade moving down the street. We waited some
+time, and eventually it arrived, not coming down the street but across
+it from east to west. I am ashamed to say that I have forgotten which
+it was, but the 4th Dragoon Guards, I think, were in it. They crossed
+at a trot, men and horses both looking very fit and workmanlike, and
+disappeared westwards through the haze of the factories; any more
+impossible country for cavalry--except perhaps the London Docks--I
+have never seen.
+
+We shortly afterwards got orders to billet in Bois de Boussu and Dour,
+the real Boussu being another half mile on. But where the whole
+countryside was one vast straggling town, it was impossible to say
+where one town ended and the other began. Even the inhabitants didn't
+know.
+
+Moulton-Barrett and Saint André had already got to work on the
+billeting, and the Norfolks and Cheshires were shortly accommodated in
+some factories up the road, whilst the Bedfords and Dorsets were
+moved back nearly into Dour, into a brewery and some mine-offices
+respectively, if I remember rightly. Brigade Headquarters was
+installed in an ultra-modern Belgian house and garden belonging to one
+M. Durez, a very civil little man, head of some local mining concern.
+There was a Madame Durez too, plump and good-natured, and a girl and a
+boy, and they were profuse in their hospitality. The only drawback
+about the meals, excellent as they were, was the appalling length of
+time occupied in their preparation and consumption; it was almost
+impossible to get away from them, even though there was so much to do.
+
+So much was there to be done that I feel now as though we had been
+there a week, or at least three days; but on looking at my diary I
+find we arrived there at midday on Saturday the 22nd, and left at
+midnight on Sunday the 23rd.
+
+On the Saturday afternoon there were rumours of the Germans being on
+the other side of the Mons-Condé Canal, not far off. The 13th and 14th
+Brigades were in front of us, strung out and holding the Canal line,
+ourselves being in Divisional Reserve. Where the exact left of the 5th
+Division was I cannot remember at this moment, but I am sure that it
+was not farther west than Pommeroeul bridge, with, I believe, French
+or English cavalry on its left.
+
+Saturday afternoon was spent in studying the ground in our front and
+looking to the approaches and the arrangements for the Brigade. Our
+front was of course well covered, but there were numerous little
+matters to be seen to and a certain amount of confabulation with the
+Divisional Staff, which lived in the midst of a perpetual
+_va-et-vient_ at the railway station at Dour. Our horses were picketed
+out in M. Durez's garden and the grubby little fields close by, and
+the Signal section and all the vehicles were stowed away there as best
+could be arranged; but all was enclosed, cramped, and unhandy, and the
+difficulty was to get a clear space anywhere. I walked with M. Durez
+in the evening to a tiny mound in his garden, from which he assured me
+a good view could be got; but although the sunset and colouring
+through the haze was rather picturesque, one couldn't see much. Durez
+was very apprehensive about his family and himself, and was most
+urgent in his inquiries as to what was going to happen. I could not
+tell him much beyond the rumour that the German force in front was
+reported not to be very big, and I advised him to stick it out as long
+as he could; but he was restless, with good reason as it turned out,
+and settled next day to take himself and his family away whilst there
+was yet time.
+
+
+_Aug. 23rd._
+
+Next morning I got orders to go with Lieut.-Col. Tulloch, the
+Divisional Commanding Royal Engineer, to select a defensive position
+and entrench it. We got into a car, and went buzzing about in front of
+Boussu and round to the right as far as Wasmes; but I never saw such a
+hopeless place. There was no field of fire anywhere except to the
+left, just where the railway crossed the Boussu road, where, strange
+to say, the country opened out on to a "glacis-like" slope of stubble.
+Going was bad, up broken little roads over ground composed of a
+bewildering variety of slag-heaps 40 to 150 feet high, intersected
+with railway lines, mine heads, chimneys, industrial buildings,
+furnaces, and _usines_ of all sorts, and thickening into suburbs
+consisting of narrow winding little streets and grubby little
+workmen's houses. Here and there were open spaces and even green
+fields, but nowhere could a continuous field of fire be obtained. The
+only thing was to select various _points d'appui_ with some sort of
+command, and try and connect them up by patches of entrenchments; but
+even this was very difficult, as the line was so long and broken that
+no unity of command was possible, and the different patches were so
+separated and so uneven, some having to be in front of the general
+line and some in rear, that they often could not flank or even see
+each other.
+
+At about midday several cyclists came riding back in a great hurry
+from the Canal, saying they had been attacked by a big force of
+cavalry and been badly cut up; that they had lost all their officers
+and 20 or 30 men killed, and the rest taken prisoners. This was hardly
+a good beginning, but it eventually turned out that the grand total
+losses were 1 officer (Corah of the Bedfords) slightly wounded, 2 men
+killed, and 3 missing.
+
+Shortly after this the first German gun was heard--at 12.40 P.M. I
+timed it--and for the rest of the afternoon there was intermittent
+bombardment and numerous shell-bursts in the direction of the Canal,
+some of it our own Horse Artillery, but mostly German.
+
+When we had roughly settled on our line, I shouted to a crowd of
+curious natives who had come out to watch us, and did not seem
+particularly friendly--as they were not at all sure that we were not
+Germans--to get all their friends together with pickaxes and shovels
+and start digging entrenchments where we showed them. It was Sunday
+afternoon, and all the miners were loafing about with nothing to do.
+The idea rapidly caught on, and soon they were hurrying off home for
+their tools, whilst we got hold of the best-dressed and most
+authoritative-looking men and showed them what we wanted done. It was
+scratch work, in more senses than one, as we had no time to lose and
+could not superintend, but had to tear from one point to another,
+raising men and showing them where the lines were to go, how deep the
+trenches were to be made, which way the earth was to be thrown, and
+all the rest of it.
+
+On our way round we came also upon some batteries of field artillery,
+disconsolately wending their way through the narrow streets, and with
+their reconnoitring officers out in all directions looking for
+positions; but they found none, and the Artillery did but little in
+the way of shooting that night. With their present experience I expect
+they would have done a good deal more.
+
+Then we tore back, and I got the battalions out, or rather two
+companies of each battalion, set them to work, and sent out their
+other two companies to support them. The Norfolks were on the left, at
+the station, and eastwards down the line. Then came the Cheshires, a
+bit thrown back, in beastly enclosed country for the most part. One of
+the big slag-heaps had seemed to offer a good command, but to our
+disgust it was so hot that we could hardly stand on it, so that had to
+be given up. Other heaps again seemed to give a good position, and
+they were fairly cool; but when we scrambled up there was always
+something wrong--either there were more slag-heaps in front which
+blocked the view, or the heap ran to a point and there was not room
+for more than two men, or the slag-ridge faced the wrong way--it was a
+nightmare of a place.
+
+Beyond the Cheshires came the Dorsets and Bedfords, pretty well
+together, and occupying some trenches on a high railway embankment,
+&c., but the position was not really satisfactory, and if attacked in
+force at night it would be very difficult to see or guard against the
+approach of the enemy. Nor, as I heard afterwards, had the inhabitants
+dug the trenches anything like deep enough, so that they formed but
+poor protection against the rain of shells that began to pour on them
+at nightfall.
+
+All pointed to an attack by the enemy during the night or next day,
+but even then we had not the smallest idea of the enormous forces
+arrayed against us. We were told at first that there was perhaps a
+corps in front of us, but as a matter of fact there were three, if not
+four corps.
+
+Having distributed the battalions as ordered--I had no Brigade Reserve
+in hand, having to cover such a broad front (nearly three miles, when
+my normal front, according to the text-books, should have been about
+1000 yards)--myself and Brigade Headquarters were left rather "by our
+lone." M. and Madame Durez were packing up hard all, and disappeared
+with their friends and family before dinner in a big motor-car,
+making in the direction of Bavai St Waast, to the south, where they
+had friends; as, however, we retired through there next day I don't
+expect they stayed long, but continued their journey into France. I
+don't know what became of them. They had been most hospitable, and
+placed the house and everything in it, even a final dinner, at our
+disposal; but the poor people were, of course, in a great state of
+perturbation, and there was not much except the house itself that we
+could make use of.
+
+As we were finishing dinner further orders arrived from the Division.
+Weatherby and I cantered down to the Divisional Staff to learn
+details, and we got them shortly, to the effect that the Cheshires and
+Norfolks were to be left under direct command of the Divisional
+Commander, whilst Brigade Headquarters was to be at Pâturages by
+sunrise on the morrow, and to hold that with our other two battalions
+on the right.
+
+We "fell in" the Brigade Headquarters about midnight and, after some
+trouble in securing guides, moved off through a labyrinth of streets
+in the warm dark. Our guides were local men, and we did not take long
+to get to Warquignies, in the main street of which we met the
+Headquarters of the 13th Brigade, minus their Brigadier. Here also
+were the K.O.S.B.'s in bivouac, acting as Brigade Reserve to their
+(13th) Brigade. The night was peaceful, and we pushed on after a short
+rest, getting at dawn to a steep hill which led down into Pâturages.
+
+
+_Aug. 20th._
+
+The latter was a fine big town with paved streets and
+prosperous-looking houses, very different from the grubby streets of
+Boussu; but I was troubled about the hill street, as it was very steep
+and bad and narrow. How we should get the transport up it again in a
+hurry if it had to retire I did not know, and two eminently
+respectable inhabitants assured me that there was no other way back
+unless I went right up to Wasmes--from which direction firing was
+already beginning--and returned _viâ_ the north. That didn't look
+healthy for the transport, so I left most of the Brigade transport at
+the top of the hill and only brought down the Signal section.
+
+At the entrance into Pâturages we found Currie, Cuthbert's (13th
+Brigade) Brigade Major, but Cuthbert was not there, so it was a little
+difficult to combine any action. However, we learnt that the other
+three battalions of the 13th Brigade were distributed in front of us
+on the north, and I received a message that the Dorsets and Bedfords
+had been obliged to fall back during the night and were holding the
+railway station at Wasmes and a bit east of that. The 13th Brigade had
+been along the line of the Canal the previous day and had been driven
+back by superior numbers, but had blown up some of the bridges. I
+heard afterwards that young Pottinger, a subaltern of the 17th Co.
+R.E., had been entrusted with blowing up one bridge, and that the
+charge had failed to explode. Whereupon he advanced under heavy fire
+close to the charge and had gallantly fired his revolver at it, which
+of course, as he knew, would have blown him sky-high with the bridge
+had he hit it. But either he missed the shot altogether or he hit the
+wrong part, and the thing didn't explode. And then he found himself
+cut off by Germans who had crossed elsewhere, and he had to leg it.
+So, unfortunately, that bridge was left intact.
+
+[Illustration: Boussu-Wasmes.]
+
+I trotted ahead alone to try and find the Dorsets or the Bedfords,
+leaving Weatherby with other instructions. It was a long way to the
+station (Pâturages by name, but really in Wasmes), but I eventually
+found Griffith (O.C. Bedfords) and most of his men thereabouts. The
+Germans had apparently got round to the east, but we were holding
+them. The Dorsets were a bit further to the south-east, and I found
+them after a good many wrong turnings; and then there was little to do
+but pick up connection with whoever I could. By this time my staff
+had come up, and Weatherby and I cantered off to find General Haking,
+who, I understood, had brought up his 5th Brigade from the 2nd
+Division (1st Corps), and was somewhere towards Frameries. Him we
+found after some trouble, with only one battalion in action in fairly
+open country. It appeared that a message had been sent the night
+before from the 3rd Division that the Germans were threatening
+Pâturages and going to attack in force, and help was most urgently
+required; so General Haig had despatched Haking in a great hurry. The
+5th Brigade made a forced march and arrived at Pâturages at 2 A.M.,
+perspiring profusely. Not a sound. Fearing an ambush, they walked
+delicately, with scouts well out in front and to both flanks. Not a
+sign either of the British or the Germans,--empty streets, no one
+about, all quiet as death. So they bivouacked in the streets and were
+now thinking of falling back on their own corps, as there were only a
+few Germans in front of them and these wouldn't advance.
+
+Where the 3rd Division exactly were I could not at first find out,
+though I tried; but I knew that they were holding the country in the
+direction of Mons. Anyway, except for a good many shells flying about,
+there was very little of the enemy to see or hear, and Pâturages was
+safe at all events for the present.
+
+The Dorsets and Bedfords, however, had had a pretty bad time on the
+previous evening, and had lost a number of men, though they had given
+the Germans a good deal more than they got. The German shelling had
+been fairly accurate, and their infantry had pushed on between the
+slag-heaps and got their machine-guns to work under cover in a
+horribly efficient manner. Eventually our battalions had to evacuate
+their trenches as their right flank was being turned, and they fell
+back on Wasmes and Pâturages, leaving most of their packs behind them
+in the trenches. They had taken them off to dig, and, being hot, had
+fought without them, and then this sudden outflanking movement had
+necessitated a rapid falling back, so their packs and most of their
+shovels had been left behind. This was awkward, more especially
+hereafter, as, although the loss of the greatcoat did not matter much
+in this hot weather, and certainly added to their marching power,
+still, the loss of the pack meant loss of spare socks and spare
+shirt--besides other things.
+
+We snatched a little breakfast and coffee at an inn where the
+_patronne_ was still in possession, and then things began to get more
+lively. Shells began to knock corners off the houses close by, and
+reports kept coming in that the enemy appeared to be advancing, though
+the bulk of his infantry was still some way off to the east. The
+Dorsets were rearranging their line so as not to be cut off, and I was
+standing with Bols (commanding Dorsets) and a few of his officers by
+the _estaminet_ when a shrapnel burst with a tremendous crack close
+over our heads, bringing down branches and leaves in showers. Yet not
+a man or a horse was hit. The shrapnel bullets whizzed along the
+pavement in all directions, right among our feet, like hail it seemed;
+yet the only result was a lot of bad language from Saunders, who had
+got a nasty jar on the heel from one of the bullets: but it did not
+even cut the leather.
+
+It now became time to get the Dorset transport away, as things were
+getting rather hot, and the crackling of rifles was getting distinctly
+nearer. I thought of that horrible hill and I looked at my map.
+Yes--there certainly was a way round back by the south-east, _viâ_ the
+road along which Weatherby and I had just come back from interviewing
+Haking. So I directed the transport to move that way--there was a road
+branching off to the right only 400 yards on and quite safe, as I
+thought, for the firing was up north and north-east, and this road lay
+south-southeast.
+
+Roe covered the withdrawal with his company and was very anxious to
+lay an ambush for the enemy. But they did not seem inclined to oblige
+him, but kept heading off in a more southerly direction. There was no
+sign from the 3rd Division who, I knew, were on our right; so, as my
+scouts could not find them, I could only come to the conclusion that
+the enemy had got in between us, and if we didn't clear out soon we
+should be in a bad way.
+
+Suddenly there was a crackle of rifles down the road along which the
+Dorset transport had gone, and then nearly the whole of the transport
+came galloping back, a dead horse being dragged along in the shafts of
+one of the waggons. Margetts, the transport officer, rode past,
+revolver in hand, and streaming with blood from the shoulder, and one
+or two of the men and horses had obviously been hit. What had happened
+was that a few Germans had penetrated on to the road where Weatherby
+and I had passed in perfect safety only a short time before and
+ambushed the transport.
+
+Margetts had very gallantly ridden direct at the ambush with his
+revolver, shot down one or two and bewildered the rest, and thus given
+time for the transport to turn round on the (luckily) broad road and
+gallop back. The Pioneer Sergeant of the Dorsets was killed, and so
+was a Brigade Policeman who happened to be with the transport.
+Otherwise almost the only loss was an ammunition-cart with two horses
+killed, and some damage was done to a pole and wheel or two of the
+other vehicles. Poor Nicholson (my servant), who should, strictly
+speaking, have remained with the Brigade transport and not come up at
+all, had attached himself to the Dorset transport without
+orders--wishing, I suppose, to be handy in case he was required--and
+had been shot down with the two or three others. I believe he was
+killed; anyway, I never saw him again, poor fellow. Margetts was
+nearly falling off his horse with pain, so he dismounted and was
+bandaged by the Medical Officer. But by that time the transport
+vehicles had disappeared, and as he was fainting and was not in a fit
+state to be carried, he had to be left in the house of a Belgian
+doctor and was taken prisoner shortly afterwards. We heard of him
+later, and I am glad to say his gallant action gained him a D.S.O.
+
+Bols strung out half a company to defend the place where we thought
+the Germans would appear, but after waiting for ten minutes we found
+we were practically "in the air," as large forces of the enemy were
+reported coming round our right flank, and the firing on our left
+front got more and more to the left, thus proving that the Bedfords
+had been pushed back and were retiring _viâ_ Wasmes--as they had been
+told to do if overwhelmed. Weatherby, who had cantered off to get
+in touch with them, confirmed this; and as it was getting extremely
+"hot" (shells) where we were, I gave the order to withdraw--only just
+in time as it turned out.
+
+The Dorsets formed a proper rear-guard and held off the enemy, who
+were by this time trickling in large numbers into the town; but by
+good luck the Germans seemed to funk coming on in formation, and by
+the time we had got back to the foot of the steep hill they didn't
+bother us any more except by occasional shells. To my extreme
+annoyance (in one way) we found another track leading round the hill,
+towards Warquignies, not marked on the map; so those two wretched
+inhabitants had told us quite wrong, and we could have retired the
+transport this way after all. Of course we took advantage of it, and
+fell back slowly _viâ_ Warquignies on Blangies, where we arrived, with
+very few casualties, about two.
+
+Here we got orders at first to bivouac for the night, but hardly had
+the men had time to cook a meal and eat it than we were ordered to
+continue the retirement on Bavai St Waast, _viâ_ Athis. As we got on
+to the main road here we found a large column of our own troops moving
+down it, and there were German mounted patrols at a respectful
+distance on both sides. We fired at them occasionally, and they
+disappeared and then turned up again in twos and threes on the
+skyline, evidently keeping touch with us.
+
+Just beyond Athis we found the Norfolks, who had been fighting at
+Élouges all the morning, and then we came across the sad little
+remainder of the Cheshires--only about 200 left out of 891 who had
+gone into action that morning near Élouges. It was horrible to hear of
+this appalling loss. Shore was the only captain left, and he was in
+command, with two or three subalterns only. His story was that his
+company had been in reserve to the other three and had gone to occupy
+a farmhouse as told, that he had seen the three companies extending to
+his right, and then lost touch with them as they advanced rapidly over
+the brow of the low rolling ground. There was very heavy firing all
+along the line, and eventually a staff officer told him to fall back
+to his right rear and rejoin his battalion. This he tried to do, but
+he only came across a few wounded and stragglers of his regiment, who
+told him that the three companies had lost very heavily, including
+Boger (commanding) and all their officers, and that there was
+practically nobody left. Shore did his best to find out and help, but
+a general retirement took place, and he and his men were swept back
+with the rest. Tahourdin, Stapylton, Dyer, Dugmore, and lots of others
+were reported killed, and poor Shore was in a terrible state of mind.
+(It turned out afterwards that all these officers were alive and
+prisoners, with a great number of their men, but at the time I could
+not find out exactly how it happened that the battalion got so cut up
+and lost such a desperate number.)
+
+The Norfolks had lost poor Cresswell, their Adjutant--such a good
+fellow--and one or two other officers. But although their losses had
+been serious they were nothing like so bad as the Cheshires. It
+appears that our left about Élouges and to the west rear of Dour was
+heavily attacked by the enemy; that we were on the defensive with the
+14th Brigade (Rolt), and these two battalions of the 15th, and the 2nd
+Cavalry Brigade (De Lisle); and that Sir C. F. called on the Cavalry
+to assist at a certain moment. De Lisle thereupon very gallantly
+charged the German guns, but he started from some distance off, and
+not only were the horses blown before they got there, but there was a
+lot of wire between them and the Germans which they couldn't get
+through. So, after losing heavily, they wheeled to the right to get
+out of the way. What happened in detail to the 14th Brigade I frankly
+don't know, but I fear the guns of the 5th Division lost pretty
+heavily at this period.
+
+Two companies of the Bedfords had joined us by this time, but I was
+rather nervous about the rest, including Griffith, for I had had no
+word of him since Pâturages. However, as we passed through Houdain he
+turned up from a side road with the rest of his battalion, having had
+a pretty rough time in getting out of Wasmes.
+
+By dusk we had got on to the open country near St Waast, and here we
+found that the Division was bivouacking. Although it was nearly dark,
+and the Brigade had been scattered, with its transport, over a lot of
+country during the day, it all came together again, including its
+empty supply waggons, in a marvellous way, and managed to find its way
+through all the other troops in the dark to its rightful bivouac
+space--some fields covered with standing crops. Water was of course
+the difficulty, but some was discovered in the shape of a small stream
+half a mile off, over hedges and ditches; and after the Norfolks had
+been put out on outpost to cover our rear, and we had had some food,
+we slept the sleep of the dog-tired.
+
+I remember Cadell came out as cook that evening, for he fried a
+lugubrious mess of biscuits, jam, and sardines together in a mess-tin,
+and insisted on all of us having some. Up to this point our messing
+had not been entirely happy, for an old soldier whom I had taken on in
+Belfast, on his own statement that he had been second cook in his
+officers' mess, turned out an absolute fraud. He could hardly even
+poach an egg, and hadn't the smallest idea of cooking. I am sure he
+had never been inside an officers' mess either, for when he was
+deposed from the office of cook to that of mess waiter, he knew
+nothing about that either, and could not even wash up. Private Brown,
+who was supposed at first only to cook for the men of the Brigade
+Headquarters, was therefore elevated to the proud status of Officers'
+cook, and made a thundering good one (till he was wounded at Ypres);
+and the Belfast man was given the sack at the earliest opportunity and
+sent home,--only to appear later in the field as a corporal of the
+Irish Rifles!
+
+
+_Aug. 25th._
+
+Next morning the Brigade was on the move before daylight, and was told
+off as part of the main body of the Division, the 14th Brigade forming
+the rear-guard. We had not had much to eat the night before, or in
+fact the whole day, and as the rations had not come up during the
+night, the men had devilish little breakfast--nor we either.
+
+We were told to requisition what we could from the country, but though
+St André and myself did our best, and rode on ahead of the Brigade,
+routing out the dwellers of the farmhouses and buying chickens and
+cheese and oats wherever possible, there was very little to be had.
+
+There were already a great many inhabitants on the road fleeing
+south-westwards, pitiful crowds of women and old men and children,
+carrying bundles on their backs, or wheeling babies and more bundles
+in wheelbarrows, or perambulators, or broken-down carts. Some of the
+peasant women were wearing their best Sunday gowns of black bombazine
+and looked very hot and uncomfortable; children with their dolls or
+pet dogs, old women and men hobbling along, already very tired though
+the sun had not been up more than an hour or two, and sturdy young
+mothers carrying an extraordinary quantity of household stuff, trooped
+along, all of them anxiously asking how far off the Germans were, and
+whether we could hold them off, or whether they would all be killed by
+them,--it was a piteous sight. We warned all the people who were still
+in their cottages to stay there and not to run away, as their houses
+would only be pillaged if they were not there, but I fear that few
+took our advice.
+
+It seemed a very long march that day, down the perfectly straight road
+skirting the Mormal forest and on to Le Cateau. It was, as a matter of
+fact, only a little over twenty miles, but the hot day, with very
+little food, was most trying for the men. We had one good rest at
+Englefontaine, where we bought a lot of food--bread and cheese, and
+apples and plums, and a little meat--but it was not much. The rest of
+the road was bare and hot, leading over down-like country past the
+town of Le Cateau, and on to the heights to the west of it. Many
+aeroplanes, British, French, and German, were skimming about, and
+numerous bodies of French cavalry could be seen moving about the downs
+and the roads in the rear.
+
+We had received orders on the road to occupy part of an entrenched
+position to the west of Le Cateau, and Weatherby and I rode ahead to
+look at it and apportion it off as the battalions came up. The
+trenches, we considered, were quite well sited. They were about 3 feet
+deep, and had been dug by the inhabitants under, I think, French
+supervision; but, judging by our subsequent experience, they were
+nothing like deep enough and placed on much too exposed ground; and
+the artillery pits were far too close up--though correct according to
+the then text-books.
+
+I put a few men into the trenches as an observing line, and sent the
+commanding officers round to study them in case we had to hold them in
+force on the morrow, and bivouacked the rest of the Brigade half a
+mile behind them. Although we seemed to have done a good day's work
+already, it was then only about 3 P.M., for we had started about 3.30
+A.M. We got a good deal more food--bully beef and biscuits--here,
+besides a cart-load of very smelly cheeses and some hams and
+vegetables and fresh bread, and the men got their stomachs fairly full
+by sundown.
+
+The 13th Brigade came in a bit later and formed up on our right, but
+the 14th Brigade, who had been doing rear-guard, did not get in till
+nightfall, and were much exhausted.
+
+The enemy, however, bar cavalry, had not pressed on in any strength,
+and we were left fairly well alone during the night.
+
+It began to rain heavily in the evening, and we had a wet dinner in
+the open. There were various disturbances in the night, especially
+when some men in the trenches began firing at some probably imaginary
+Germans; but otherwise all ranks got a fair amount of sleep.
+
+
+_Aug. 26th._
+
+The orders overnight were that we were to continue the retirement
+first thing in the morning; but when morning came the Germans were so
+close that it was decided that it would be impossible to do so, and
+fresh orders were issued to hold the position we were in.
+
+Accordingly we took up our positions as we had settled overnight, and
+started all necessary preparations--deepening trenches, arranging
+telephone wires and communications, and putting the village of
+Troisvilles, on our left, in a state of defence.
+
+The Dorsets were to hold this village and several hundred yards of
+trenches to the east of it. On their right came the Bedfords in
+trenches, with of course a proportion in support, and the Cheshires
+were put in a dip of the ground in rear of them. The 13th Brigade was
+on the right of the Bedfords, with the K.O.S.B.'s touching them. The
+Norfolks I put in a second line, in rear of the right of the Bedfords
+and the left of the K.O.S.B.'s, mostly along a sunken road where they
+dug themselves well into the banks. The 27th Brigade of Artillery,
+under Onslow, was put under my orders; two batteries of it were in our
+right rear, and the third was taken away by Sir C. F., to strengthen
+the right I believe. A battery of the 15th Artillery Brigade was
+also put in close behind the Bedfords, in the dip of ground
+afore-mentioned, whence they did excellent execution without being
+seen by the enemy. Divisional Headquarters were at Reumont, a mile
+behind us, with a wood in between; but we were, of course, connected
+up by telephone with them, as well as with our battalions and our
+artillery. We--_i.e._, the Brigade Headquarters--sat in the
+continuation of the hollow sandy road, in rear of the Bedfords and on
+the left of the Norfolks.
+
+The morning was distinctly cool after the rain, and I remember that I
+wore my woolly till about 11 o'clock. Our horses were stowed away a
+few hundred yards to our left, in a hollow; and the extraordinary
+thing was that neither they nor ourselves got shelled as long as we
+were there, though some shrapnel burst occasionally only a hundred
+yards off or so in different directions.
+
+We were in position by 7 o'clock, as far as I can remember; but unless
+one keeps a record the whole time one is very liable to err--and I
+won't swear that it was not 8 o'clock. Some shells began to arrive
+about then, but did no harm. On our left was the 9th Brigade (3rd
+Division), and the shelling began to develop pretty heavily in their
+direction. Our guns were of course in action by this time, and for the
+first two or three hours the air was full of shells and very little
+Infantry fire was heard. The 4th Division had arrived only that
+morning, I believe by train, and was guarding the left flank of the
+line, assisted by our Cavalry. Behind the town of Le Cateau, on the
+extreme right, was the 19th Brigade. Then came the 14th Brigade, then
+the 13th, then ourselves, and then the 3rd Division; so we were about
+the right centre.
+
+The Dorsets were hard at work putting Troisvilles into a strong state
+of defence, and were helped by some of our Divisional Sappers, I
+believe the 59th Co. R.E. (but it might have been the 17th).
+
+There was a local French ambulance--civilian I think--in Troisvilles,
+and several of our own R.A.M.C. personnel there; but the Divisional
+ambulances were farther to the rear, and as the wounded began to come
+in from the right front we sent them back towards Reumont. St André
+was very useful in galloping backwards and forwards between
+Troisvilles and Brigade Headquarters--I kept him for that, as I
+wanted my proper staff for other staff work; but all of them paid a
+visit or two there once or twice. The enemy's shells were now falling
+fast on our left about Inchy, but seemed to do extraordinarily little
+damage there; and during the first hours it was really more of a
+spectacular piece for us than a battle. However, we were of course
+kept busy sending and receiving wires from all parts, and every now
+and then a few wounded came in from our front. We were also bucked up
+by hearing that a French Cavalry Division was coming to help us from
+Cambrai; but I don't know whether it ever materialised.
+
+As the day wore on, the Bedfords got engaged with infantry in their
+front, but neither they nor the Dorsets got anything very much to
+shoot at; and though a German machine-gun or two pushed pluckily
+forward and did a certain amount of damage from hidden folds in the
+ground, I think we accounted for them--anyway we stopped their
+shooting after a short time.
+
+Meanwhile the 13th Brigade and the guns on our right were catching it
+very hot. There seemed an enormous number of guns against us (I
+believe, as a matter of fact, there were nearer 700 than 600), and
+our batteries were suffering very heavily. So were the 14th and 19th
+Brigades--the latter being a scratch one composed of units from the
+lines of communication under Laurence Drummond.
+
+At one moment--it must have been about 12 o'clock or later--I saw to
+my horror the best part of a company of Bedfords leave their trenches
+in our front and retire slowly and in excellent order across the open.
+So I got on my horse and galloped out to see what they were doing and
+to send them back, as it seemed to me that some of the K.O.S.B.'s were
+falling back too, in sympathy. I'm afraid that my language was strong;
+but I made the Bedfords turn about again, although their officer
+explained that he was only withdrawing, by superior battalion orders,
+in order to take up an advanced position further on the right; and
+with some of the Cheshires, whom I picked up on the way, they advanced
+again in extended order.
+
+They got back again to their trenches without any casualties to speak
+of, and I was much gratified by a message I received shortly
+afterwards from my right (I think Cuthbert or the gunners) thanking
+me warmly for my most valuable counter-attack, which had considerably
+relieved the pressure in their front!
+
+On our immediate right the Norfolks were occupied for several hours in
+trying to cut down a very big tree, which was about the most
+conspicuous feature in the whole of our position, and formed an
+excellent object on which the enemy could range. It was all very well;
+but as soon as they had cut it half through, so as to fall to the
+south, the south wind, which was blowing pretty strongly, not only
+kept it upright but threatened to throw it over to the north. This
+would have been a real disaster, as it would have blocked completely
+the sunken road along which the ammunition carts, to say nothing of
+artillery and other waggons, would have had to come. So it had to be
+guyed up with ropes, with much difficulty; and even when teams hung on
+and hauled on the ropes, they could make little impression--the wind
+was so strong. Eventually they did manage to get it down, but even so
+it formed a fairly conspicuous mark. (It was so big that it was marked
+on the map.)
+
+Inchy was now the centre of an appalling bombardment. A crowd of
+Germans had got into it, it appeared, and the village was being
+heavily shelled by both sides--British and German. Several houses and
+haystacks caught fire, and the poor devils inside must have had a
+terrible time. The 3rd Division was holding its own, but was being
+heavily attacked by the enemy's infantry. However, we eventually got
+the better of it, and the 9th and 10th Brigades drove the Germans away
+from their trenches and pursued them some distance, much assisted by
+the fire of the Dorsets and the advance of one or two of their
+companies.
+
+Things went on hammer-and-tongs for another hour or two; more and more
+wounded began coming in from the 13th Brigade, including a lot of
+K.O.S.B.'s. We turned Beilby, our veterinary officer, on to "first
+aid" for many of them and sent them on; but some of the shrapnel
+wounds were appalling. One man I remember lying across a pony; I
+literally took him for a Frenchman, for his trousers were drenched red
+with blood, and not a patch of khaki showing. Another man had the
+whole of the back of his thigh torn away; yet, after being bandaged,
+he hobbled gaily off, smoking a pipe. What struck me as curious was
+the large number of men hit in the face or below the knee,--there
+seemed few body wounds in comparison; but that may of course have been
+because those badly hit in the body were killed or unmovable. But one
+would see men apparently at their last gasp, with gruesome wounds on
+them and no more stretchers available, and yet five minutes afterwards
+they had disappeared.
+
+Time was getting on, and the thunder and rain of German shells seemed
+unceasing; they appeared to come now not only from all along the front
+and the right front, but from our right as well, and our guns were
+replying less and less. Reports began to come in from the right of
+batteries wiped out (the 28th R.F.A. Brigade lost nearly all their
+guns here, for nearly all the detachments and horses were killed), and
+of a crushing attack on the 19th Brigade and penetration of our line
+thereabouts. And soon afterwards the movement itself became visible,
+for the 14th Brigade, and then the 13th, began to give way, and one
+could see the trenches being evacuated on the right. The Norfolks
+stuck well to it on the right, and covered the retirement that was
+beginning; but they were taken out of my hands by Sir C. F., and told
+off to act as rear-guard for the brigades on their right.
+
+The 15th Brigade had really been very lucky, and had neither been
+shelled nor attacked very heavily, and consequently we were pretty
+fresh and undamaged. I forget if we got any definite message to
+retire, and if so, when, but it was fairly obvious that we couldn't
+stay where we were much longer. The Dorsets were quite happy in
+Troisvilles and thereabouts, but the 9th Brigade on their left had had
+a very bad time, and were already beginning to withdraw, though in
+good order.
+
+This being so, I sent orders to the battery of the 15th R.F.A. Brigade
+in my front to retire before they got cut off; and they executed it
+grandly, bringing up the horses at a gallop, swinging round, hooking
+in, and starting off at a canter as if at an Aldershot field-day,
+though they were under heavy shell and rifle fire all the time.
+
+Only two horses and about two men were hit altogether, and though all
+these were apparently killed, the men got up after a little and were
+brought safely off with the Bedfords.
+
+The K.O.S.B.'s were now falling back on us from the right, and they
+were strung out along the Norfolks' late position, and almost at right
+angles to our line, for the Germans were pressing us there, and heavy
+rifle fire was breaking out there and nearly in our right rear. Then I
+ordered the Cheshires and after them the Bedfords to retire, which
+they did quite calmly and in good order; and lastly came the Dorsets,
+very well handled by Bols and forming a rear-guard to the rest of the
+troops hereabouts. His machine-guns under Lieut. Wodehouse had been
+doing excellent work, and the shooting of both Bedfords and Dorsets
+had had a great effect in keeping off the German attack hereabouts.
+
+By this time units had become a bit mixed, and lines of troops
+belonging to different battalions and even different brigades were
+retiring slowly over the open ground and under a heavy fire of
+shrapnel--which by the same token seemed to do extraordinarily little
+damage. It was difficult to give a definite point for all these troops
+to move on, for we had been warned against retiring through villages,
+as they were naturally made a cockshy of by the enemy's guns. Reumont
+was being already heavily bombarded, and though we had instructions to
+fall back south-westwards along the road to Estrées, this road passed
+through Reumont. I did not know how to get comfortably on to it
+without going through some village, so gave a general direction off
+the road, between it and Bertry, and struck across country, together
+with a number of troops on foot in various formations, all moving
+quite steadily and remarkably slowly.
+
+As the shrapnel were bursting in large numbers overhead, I got the men
+well extended, as best I could, but some of course were hit. Just as
+we left the road a man in charge of an ambulance-waggon full of
+wounded ran up and asked what he was to do, as some infernal civilian
+had unhitched and gone off with the horses whilst he was attending to
+the wounded. Stephenson, commanding K.O.S.B.'s, was lying wounded in
+the waggon, but this I did not hear till afterwards. Some of the
+K.O.S.B.'s thereupon very gallantly harnessed themselves to the waggon
+and towed it along the road.
+
+It was hard work making our way mounted across country, because of the
+numerous wire fences we came across, not to mention ditches and
+hedges. We worked rather towards Bertry, avoiding woods and boggy
+bits, but the line wasn't easy to keep. The Germans had an unpleasant
+habit of plugging bursts of four to a dozen shrapnel at one range,
+then another lot fifty yards on, and so on, so it was no good hurrying
+on, as you only came in for the next lot. Then they very nearly got us
+just when we had got to a hopeless-looking place--the railway, with
+thick fence and ditch on each side of the track and a barbed-wire
+fence as well, with signal wires knee high just where you expected to
+be able to jump down on to the track. Luckily Catley, my groom, had
+some wire nippers; but just as he was cutting at the wire, and we of
+the Brigade Staff were all standing round close by, trying to get over
+or through, whack came four shrapnel, one close after the other,
+bursting just short of us and above us--a very good shot if
+intentional, but I don't think they could possibly have seen us.
+Horses of course flew all over the place; Cadell and his horse came
+down, and I thought he was hit, but he only lost his cap, and his
+horse only got a nasty flesh wound from a bit of shrapnel in his
+hindquarters. Again, why none of these shrapnel hit us was most
+extraordinary: there we were, seven or eight of us mounted and close
+together, and the shells bursting beautifully with terrific and
+damnable cracks--yet not one of the Brigade Staff touched. Beilby's
+horse, by the way, also got a bullet in the quarter.
+
+These same shrapnel hit two or three infantry standing round us, and
+the next thing we saw was Dillon (of the Divisional Staff) dismounted
+and staggering along supporting two wounded privates and hoisting them
+over the obstacles on to the rail track, one man hanging heavily from
+his neck on either side. He was streaming with sweat, and said
+afterwards it was the hardest job he'd ever had. Others of course
+helped him and his men, and we wandered along over the grass, and
+skirting the little woods and coppices till we got to the main road
+again.
+
+As we proceeded along the road we did our best to get the troops
+collected into their units, getting single men together into bunches
+and the bunches into groups and platoons, and so on. But many of them
+were wounded and dog-tired, and it was hard work. Ballard and his
+Norfolks joined us in bits, and we heard that they had had a hard time
+falling back through Reumont and done very well as rear-guard. There
+were stories at first of their having suffered terribly and lost a lot
+of men; but it was not in the least true,--they had had comparatively
+few casualties.
+
+The country gradually grew more and more open till by dusk--somewhere
+about 7 o'clock--we were traversing a huge rolling plain with open
+fields and only occasional farmhouses visible. The troops on the road
+were terribly mixed, infantry and artillery and waggons and transport
+all jumbled up together, and belonging not only to different brigades
+but even to different divisions, the main ones being of course the 5th
+and 3rd Divisions.
+
+Darkness came on, and the night grew cooler and cooler, yet still we
+pushed on. As it got blacker, terrible blocks occurred and perpetual
+unintentional halts. In one place, somewhere near the Serains-Prémont
+road I think, we were halted for about three-quarters of an hour by a
+jam of waggons just ahead. I gave the Norfolks leave to worm their way
+through the press, but it was no use, for before they had got through
+the waggons moved on again and only divided the men more and more, so
+that they lost their formation again and were worse off than before.
+
+Companies or bits of companies of my battalions were pretty close
+together, and at one time the Brigade was pretty well cohesive, but as
+the night wore on they got separated again and mixed up with the
+transport till it was quite impossible to sort them out. It was a
+regular nightmare, and all one could look forward to was the halt at
+Estrées.
+
+The German guns had long ceased to fire, even before the sun went
+down, and there didn't seem to be any pursuit at all, as far as we
+could gather. Our men moved quite steadily and without the vestige of
+a sign of panic: in fact, they were much annoyed at having to fall
+back. But I expect the German infantry was even more tired than ours,
+for they had marched all through the previous night and certainly had
+frightfully heavy casualties during the day. Anyway they did not
+worry us, and we pursued our way in peace. But men and horses were
+desperately sleepy, and at these perpetual halts used to go to sleep
+and block up the road again when we moved on.
+
+Luckily the road was as straight as a die, and one could not possibly
+lose it; but it was difficult to know where we were, and occasional
+twinkling lights in houses and cottages on the road only made our
+whereabouts still more deceptive.
+
+At last we entered something that looked in the pitch darkness more
+like a town. It was Estrées right enough, but there were no signs of a
+halt, though it was 1 A.M. or so. We could not find any staff officers
+here, even at the solitary local inn, to give us any information, and
+the only rumour was that we were to march on as far as we could go. We
+had had no direct orders, and we did not know where the Divisional
+staff were, but as by this time we had pushed on and were, as far as
+we knew, ahead of most of the Brigade, Weatherby and I moved aside
+into a field full of corn stooks, unsaddled our horses, gave them a
+feed, and went fast asleep in the wet corn. We had meant to sleep only
+for half an hour, but were so dead tired that it must have been more
+like an hour and a half. And even then we were only awakened by a
+battalion (I think it was the Northumberland Fusiliers) irrupting into
+our field and pulling the stooks down for their own benefit. So we
+guiltily saddled up again, thinking that the whole Brigade must have
+passed us in the dark. But, as a matter of fact, it had not.
+
+
+_Aug. 27th._
+
+Daylight came at last through the damp grey mists, and we found
+ourselves still in open country, with the road thickly covered as
+before with troops of all arms and, in places by the roadside, the
+remains of bivouac fires and empty boxes and bully-beef tins, and
+hunks of raw meat; for the A.S.C. finding that it was impossible to
+supply the troops regularly, had wisely dumped down their stores at
+intervals alongside the road and let the men help themselves.
+
+This was all very well for the men in front, but by the time we in
+rear had got to the stores there was nothing left, and we had to go
+hungry.
+
+Somewhere about 4 A.M. I came on Sir C. F. standing at the
+cross-roads near Nauroy. I naturally asked him where we were to retire
+on; but he had not recently received any definite orders himself; so
+after talking it over we came to the conclusion that our best line
+would be on St Quentin, and we directed the men, as they came up--5th
+Division straight on, 4th Division to the right to Bellicourt, and 3rd
+to the left to Lehaucourt, for thus we should get the Divisions more
+or less in their right positions. Of course a vast quantity of troops
+had already preceded us, probably towards St Quentin, but that could
+not be helped.
+
+It was a long way yet to St Quentin, about eight miles, and on the
+road and off it were men, waggons, and stragglers in every direction.
+The jumble of the night had disintegrated most of the formed bodies,
+and the whole thing had the appearance of a vast _débâcle_. Men moving
+on singly but slowly, little bunches of three and four men together,
+sometimes of the same regiment, but oftener of odd ones; men lying
+exhausted or asleep by the roadside, or with their packs off and
+sitting on the grass, nibbling at a biscuit or looking hopelessly
+before them. It was a depressing sight, and I wondered how on earth
+the formations would ever come together again. Officers of course were
+doing their best to get their own men together, but the results were
+small. Whenever we passed men of the 15th Brigade we collected them as
+far as possible into bodies; but it was very difficult to know what
+units men belonged to without asking them, for very many of them had
+long ago, on arrival at Havre and elsewhere, given their cap-badges
+and shoulder-names as souvenirs to women and children, and they were
+most difficult to identify.
+
+A mile or two before getting into St Quentin I passed Laurence
+Drummond, commanding the 19th Brigade, hobbling along on foot, and
+offered him of course my second horse. He had got damaged somehow--by
+a fall, I think--and said he had his horse all right, but it hurt him
+less to walk than to ride.
+
+As we approached the town the entrance had got rather blocked with
+troops. This was rather a good thing, as it enabled the stragglers
+behind to close up and find other portions of their own regiments;
+and, extraordinary as it seemed, whole companies had now got together
+and in some cases had even coagulated into battalions. I found most of
+the Norfolks collected together in a field by the side of the road,
+and a stray Bedford company or two looking quite fresh and happy.
+
+As it was necessary to get further orders, I left Weatherby to do some
+more collecting and pushed on by myself into the town, where I found
+Rolt and some of his Staff; but he knew nothing. There was a hopeless
+block at this moment, so I slipped off my horse for ten minutes and
+had a bit of chocolate and biscuit, which were quite refreshing. Rolt
+was somewhat depressed, for his Brigade had lost heavily, but they too
+were gradually coming together. At last, in the middle of the town, I
+managed to collect some instructions, and was told that the 5th
+Division was to form up in a field near the railway station the other
+side of the town. There were also Staff officers at different points,
+calling out "5th Division this way, 3rd that," and so on; and as the
+men, now more or less in columns of fours, passed them, they perked up
+and swung along quite happily.
+
+We were now outside the region of our maps, so I asked my way to a
+stationer's, which luckily happened to be open, though it was barely
+7.30 A.M., and bought all the local maps I could get hold of: they
+were only paper, not linen, but they proved extremely useful. And then
+I bought some big rings of bread and some apples, and made Catley
+carry them strung on the little brigade flag that S. had embroidered,
+and we filled up our haversacks with as much food as we could buy and
+carry--for the benefit of the men.
+
+I found my way to the railway field all right, but none of the Brigade
+had yet arrived, so I went back to look for them. On the way I found
+that a number of the 13th Brigade had taken the wrong turning and were
+plodding right away from the town, so I had to canter after them a
+mile or more and turn them back. There was a lot of transport further
+on, on the move; and fearing that they might belong to us, whilst my
+horse was pretty tired, I begged a nice-looking Frenchman with a long
+beard--a doctor of sorts--in a motor-car, to lend me his car to catch
+them. This he willingly did, and drove me up to them, but they turned
+out to be field ambulances with orders of their own, so I came back
+to the railway field, leaving a man at the railway turning to turn the
+others and show them the way.
+
+Gradually bits of the 15th Brigade arrived--a few Dorsets, half the
+Bedfords, and a few Cheshires; and to these I imparted the Staff
+instructions that we were to bivouac here for the night. The men had
+already done twenty-four miles during the night, and lay about,
+thankful to get a little rest. Supplies, we were told, would be issued
+shortly at the station, but before they came I got peremptory orders
+to march off at 2 o'clock, and withdraw further south to a place
+called Ollizy, nine miles on.
+
+It was then 12.30 P.M., and the men had had no food since the previous
+morning; however, orders had to be obeyed. So I distributed my bread
+and apples, for which the men pressed round ravenously; and James,
+commanding the 2nd Manchesters, who had been in my Brigade two years
+previously, gave me a couple of most welcome big sandwiches and a
+drink. None of my staff had yet turned up; and though I was told that
+supplies were just going to arrive, none did arrive before we marched
+off. Five minutes before that time the Norfolks, who had had a rest
+the other side of the town, turned up; and as the rest of the Brigade
+marched off the rest of the Dorsets marched up--rather disappointed at
+having to go on at once without either rest or rations.
+
+Weatherby and the rest of Brigade Headquarters had trickled in by this
+time, and we moved off in rear of the 13th Brigade. The day was fairly
+hot by this time--luckily it had been cool all the morning--and I
+expected to see whole heaps of the men fall out exhausted; but devil a
+bit, they moved on, well closed up, good march discipline, and even
+whistling and singing; and for the rest of the march I don't believe
+that more than half a dozen fell out.
+
+We expected some more fighting near Ollizy, for a message had come
+through for the 13th to push on and collar a certain bridge before the
+Germans got it; but all was peaceful, and we got to Ollizy about five
+o'clock. There I had to tell off a battalion and some guns not
+belonging to me to take up a line of outposts to guard our rear (I
+quite forget what the troops were, or why they were put under me), and
+the Brigade pushed on over the bridge, and through the swampy, marshy
+country beyond.
+
+No halt yet, and I began to wonder whether we were expected to do yet
+another night march. However, after another two miles I was told to
+put the Brigade in bivouac round a farm and little village called
+Eaucourt, covering our rear with another line of outposts.
+
+There was some distant shelling during the evening; but we were too
+dog-tired to worry about it, though bursts of rifle fire did occur
+during the night, necessitating our jumping up once or twice to see
+what it was.
+
+The farm was quite a good one of the usual form--_i.e._, the
+living-house forming one end of a big oblong courtyard, whilst barns
+and lofts and cowsheds filled up the other three sides. In the middle,
+of course, was a mass of dirty straw and manure, and pools of stinking
+water in which ducks and pigs and chickens disported themselves. The
+people were most friendly, and supplied us with eggs and straw and a
+kitchen fire; but it was rather a squash, as the headquarters of an
+artillery brigade were already feeding there, and we didn't get dinner
+till very late. The men lay about in the lofts and sheds among the
+farm implements and sheep, and I should have expected them after a
+march of over thirty-five miles, and no food or sleep in the
+twenty-four hours, to curl up and go to sleep at once, but they
+didn't; they were quite happy and lively now that at last they'd got
+their rations, and made the most of them. I had a bed to lie on, and
+actually enjoyed a wash in a real basin, but the little bedroom was
+not very sweet or clean, and I'd as soon have slept with the others on
+straw in the kitchen and living-room.
+
+
+_Aug. 28th._
+
+Next morning we were off before the sun rose, with orders to proceed
+towards Noyon. We were well up to time as regards our place in the
+column, but some of the rest of the Division were very late--probably
+some counter-order had been given; anyway, we had to wait a good extra
+half-hour by the roadside. I remember that I occupied the time in
+shaving myself; and as there was no water handy, I moistened the brush
+in the dew on the grass. It did fairly well--though removing two days'
+growth was rather painful, I allow.
+
+We plodded on through the heat of the day, in rear of the 14th
+Brigade, and kept our march discipline without trouble, though the
+number of apple- and pear-trees on the road was a great temptation.
+What had happened or where we were going to was a complete mystery;
+all that we knew was that we had had to leg it at Le Cateau, but that
+we were distinctly _not_ downhearted; nor did the Germans seem to be
+pursuing. So we thought that we should probably soon get the order to
+turn and either take up a defensive position or advance again against
+the enemy--though we also knew that we must have lost a number of guns
+and a good many men.
+
+Soon after we started we were asked how many waggons we required to
+carry damaged and footsore men, and at a certain point there were some
+thirty or forty waggons drawn up for that purpose. I felt rather
+insulted, and said so, but eventually put my pride in my pocket and
+said I'd have one per battalion. The officer in charge at once offered
+ten, but I did not accept them, and I don't think we filled even one
+waggon all day.
+
+Somewhere about ten o'clock the message was passed down from the front
+that Sir John French was on the roadside and wanted to see battalion
+commanders. I cantered on, and found him under a tree with a few of
+his staff. I saluted and asked for orders, but he said he only wanted
+to see the C.O.'s. Then he took me aside and said that he wanted to
+compliment and congratulate the men on their magnificent work; that we
+had saved the left flank of the French army, and that Joffre had
+begged him to tell the troops that they had saved France for the time
+being, and more to the same effect. I hastened, of course, to tell
+everybody; I think the men got their tails up well in consequence. But
+the British are an undemonstrative lot, and Thomas never lets his
+feelings show on the surface. Anyway, we were all pleased that our
+sacrifices hadn't been for nothing, and hoped we'd soon stop and turn
+round.
+
+At Guiscard we turned into the main road to Noyon. It was very hot,
+and we had had no rest (except the regulation ten minutes per hour)
+since starting. So when we got to some nice shade on the left, and big
+spreading trees dotted over some fields, I turned the Brigade off the
+road, transport and all, and we halted for an hour and a half. We
+went to sleep after luncheon, of course, and when it was time to start
+I remember that Moulton-Barrett went up to St André, who was lying
+fast asleep, and shouted out, "The Germans are on us!" Poor St André
+jumped to his feet with a yell and seized his revolver; it was a
+wicked joke.
+
+The main road into Noyon was much crowded, not only with a lot of
+French cavalry going north, but a very large number of waggons full of
+our own men--of other brigades, mind you, for I don't think there were
+any 15th Brigade men there at all; but then the others had had a
+harder time.
+
+The French cavalry were a dragoon brigade--horses looking very fit and
+well, and wonderfully light equipment on them; they do not go in for
+carrying half so much on the saddle as we do--for one thing,
+apparently they don't consider it necessary to carry cleaning material
+on the horse.
+
+There was again a considerable squash in Noyon, and here St André was
+delighted to meet some spick-and-span young friends of his whom he
+affected to treat with great contempt, as not yet having seen a shot
+fired. Having to cross the railway line also delayed us still more, as
+a long supply-train was shunting and reshunting and keeping the gates
+shut.
+
+It was a lovely evening, and though progress was slow, we eventually
+reached Pontoise by about 7 P.M. The country was thickly wooded and
+very pretty, and the quarters into which we got after our sixteen-mile
+march were most acceptable. Here we were told we should probably be
+for several days--to rest and recuperate; but we were beginning to
+have doubts about these perpetually-promised rests which never came
+off.
+
+The Brigade Headquarters put up at a blacksmith's shop, and the old
+couple here received us with hospitality; but though there were beds
+and mattresses for most of us, there was very little to be had in the
+way of vegetables or eggs or other luxuries such as milk or butter.
+
+
+_Aug. 29th._
+
+Next morning and afternoon were devoted to a little rest and cleaning
+up; but I had little leisure myself, for I had to preside over a
+court of inquiry for several hot and weary hours.
+
+At 6 P.M. we suddenly received orders to move at once to Carlepont,
+only three miles back, and began to move by the shortest and most
+unblocked way. Just when we were moving off I received orders to move
+the other way, but with the sanction of the Divisional Staff I
+preferred going my own way, and went it.
+
+The detail of the map, however, turned out to be incorrect, and I
+found myself at the far, instead of the near, end of the village, with
+a lot of transport in the narrow street between ourselves and our
+billets. This was hopeless, and after a prolonged jam in the dark I
+gave it up, put the battalions on to the pavement and down a side
+street, and told them to bivouac and feed where they were.
+
+Meanwhile St André had got a kind Frenchman to give the staff some
+dinner, but I misunderstood the arrangement and could not find the
+place; so I insisted on digging out some food from our cook's waggon
+on the wet grass of a little park we found. And there we ate it about
+midnight and went to sleep in the sopping herbage. I fear my staff
+were not much pleased with the arrangement.
+
+
+_Aug. 30th._
+
+Off again at 2:20 A.M., we pushed on over pretty country _viâ_ Attichy
+to Croûtoy, a matter of eleven miles. It developed into a roasting-hot
+day, and the last two miles, up a very steep hill, were most trying
+for the transport. We were at the head of the column, and longed to
+stop in the shady little village of Croûtoy, but we had to move on
+beyond to some open stubble fields, where the heat was terrific. And
+there we bivouacked till about midday, when we were told we might go
+back to Croûtoy, and did. It was a very pretty little village with a
+magnificent view northwards over the Aisne. We were very comfortably
+put up in General de France's château, and enjoyed there a real big
+bath with taps and hot water, the first genuine bath we had had since
+arriving at Havre. My only _contretemps_ here was that, having when
+halfway to Croûtoy dismounted Catley and lent his horse to a Staff
+officer, I never saw the horse or my kit on him again. The Staff
+officer had duly sent the horse back by a sergeant of gunners, but the
+latter never materialized, and, strangely enough, was never heard of
+afterwards. So I thus lost my bivouac tent, mackintosh, lantern, and
+several other things, besides Catley's complete possessions, all of
+which were on the animal. Luckily the horse was not my own, but a
+spare one, as my mare Squeaky had had a sore back, and Catley was not
+riding her.
+
+
+_Aug. 31st._
+
+Next day was awfully hot again. We were off by 7.30, and were by way
+of billeting at a place called Béthisy, on the south-west edge of the
+forest of Compiègne. We passed by the eastern edge, close by the
+extraordinary château of Pierrefonds, built by Viollet le Duc to the
+exact model of the old castle of the thirteenth century, a huge pile
+of turrets and battlements, like one of Gustave Doré's nightmares; and
+then struck across the open towards Morienval. We were a long time on
+the march, largely owing to the necessary habit that the Artillery
+have of stopping to "feed and water" when they come to water,
+irrespective of the hourly ten-minute halt. Then, having thus stopped
+the Infantry column in rear for twenty minutes, they trot on and catch
+up the rest of the column in front, leaving the Infantry toiling
+hopelessly after them, trying to fill the gap the guns leave behind
+them. It is bad, of course, but it is a choice of evils, for one way
+the Artillery suffers, the other the Infantry; but they both arrive
+together in the end.
+
+I had trotted ahead to Morienval, to settle on the road, as there was
+a divergence of opinion on the subject, and there a kindly farmer
+asked me in to dinner with his family--an excellent _potage aux choux_
+and a succulent stew, with big juicy pears to follow, all washed down
+by remarkably good red _vin du pays_, I remember. There were perpetual
+halts on the road, which we did not understand, but soon after leaving
+Morienval we were abruptly ordered to turn sharp off to the left and
+make for Crépy. The fact was, a force of German cavalry had turned up
+at Béthisy, just as our billeting parties were entering it, and the
+latter had only just time to clear out.
+
+Our own cavalry cleared the Germans out of Béthisy for the time
+being, but we continued on to Crépy-en-Valois, and arrived there,
+rather done, at six o'clock--nearly eleven hours to go fifteen miles,
+just the sort of thing to tire troops on a very hot day,--and with
+numerous apparently unnecessary halts. However, we had few if any
+stragglers, and we made our way to some fields on the south-west of
+Crépy, St Agathe being the name of the district. I selected the
+bivouac myself, as I did not get billeting orders in time, and I
+preferred open fields on a hot night for the troops instead of stuffy
+billets in the town.
+
+The Brigade Staff, however, occupied a little house and grounds in the
+suburbs, and I shall never forget arriving there with St André after
+seeing to the bivouac of the Brigade. There were two wine-bottles and
+glasses on a table on the lawn, with comfortable chairs alongside.
+Nearly speechless with thirst, we rushed at them. They were empty!
+
+
+_Sept. 1st._
+
+The night was hot, and though I had an excellent bed I remember I
+could not get to sleep for ever so long. We were to have moved off
+early, but the sound of the guns not far to the north stopped us, and
+orders quickly arrived for the Brigade to go and occupy Duvy, a
+village a mile or so to the west, and give what help we could to
+General Pulteney's force of a Division and a brigade, who were being
+attacked on the north-west.
+
+So we moved out rapidly and pushed out two battalions to assist.
+Cavalry was reported everywhere, but it was difficult to know which
+was English and which German. The latter's patrols were fairly bold,
+and single horsemen got close up to us. Broadwood, of the Norfolks,
+bowled over one of them at 700 yards--with a rifle, it was reported,
+but it was probably his machine-gun. Meanwhile our guns on the plateau
+north of Crépy supporting the 13th Brigade did good execution, three
+consecutive shells of theirs falling respectively into a squadron of
+Uhlans, killing a whole gun-team, and smashing up a gun by direct hit
+(27th Brigade R.F.A.)
+
+The two battalions working up north-west from Duvy had just extended
+and were moving carefully across country, when I received word that a
+large force of the enemy's cavalry was moving on to my left rear. I
+did not like this, and pushed out another battalion (Norfolks) to
+guard my flank. But we need not have been worried, for shortly
+afterwards it appeared that the "hostile" cavalry was the North Irish
+Horse, turned up from goodness knows where.
+
+About the same time we got a message from General Pulteney thanking us
+for the assistance rendered, and another one from Sir C. Fergusson
+telling us to continue our retirement towards Ormoy Villers as
+flank-guard to the rest of the Division. This we did, across country
+and partly on the railway--very bad going this for horses, especially
+as we might any moment have come across a bridge or culvert with
+nothing but rails across it. It is true that, if we had, we might have
+slipped down into the turnip fields on either side, but there were
+ditches and wire alongside which would have proved awkward.
+
+We halted about Ormoy Villers station--in ruins almost, and with its
+big water-tank blown up,--and I put two battalions to guard the flank
+whilst the rest of us had a meal. Saint André had as usual managed to
+forage for us in the ruins, and produced a tin of sardines and some
+tomatoes and apples, which, with chocolate and biscuits and warm
+water--it was another roasting day--filled us well up. Then after a
+long and dusty walk through the woods we reached Nanteuil, where most
+of the Division had already arrived.
+
+We had to find outposts (Dorsets and Norfolks) that night, covering a
+huge bit of country. I borrowed a car in order to settle how they
+should be put out, and ran out much too far, nearly into the enemy. It
+was not easy to place them, as connection through the woods was most
+awkward. However, we were not attacked, the German cavalry and
+advanced guards not having apparently come up.
+
+I had sent Major Allason (of the Bedfords) out earlier in the day to
+scout northwards with a couple of mounted men, and he came back at
+eventide, having collared a German officer and his servant, but not
+brought them in. They had just been falling back at a walk with the
+information they had gathered, when they heard a clatter of hoofs
+behind them, and beheld a German cavalry officer and his man trying to
+gallop past them--not to attack them,--apparently bolting from some
+of our own cavalry. Allason, who was in front, stuck spurs into his
+horse and galloped after the officer and shot his horse, bringing the
+German down, the latter also being put out of action. Then they bound
+up the German's wound and took all his papers from him, which proved
+to be very useful, giving the location of the German cavalry and other
+troops. Meanwhile the officer's servant stood by, with his mouth open,
+doing nothing. As they couldn't carry the officer off, they left them
+both there and came on.
+
+Amongst other stories, we heard here that a squadron of one of our
+cavalry brigades had stopped to water in a wood. A lot of German
+cavalry bungled on top of them, and then bolted as if the devil were
+after them. The row stampeded our horses, and they dashed off through
+the wood in all directions, leaving many of our men on foot. But their
+steeds were soon recovered.
+
+
+_Sept. 2nd._
+
+Off again next morning at 4.15 A.M. We did rear-guard to the Division,
+but we had an easy time of it, the Dorsets being in rear. I had also
+the 27th Brigade R.F.A., the N.I. Horse under Massereene, and 70
+cyclists to help, but the Germans never pursued us or fired a shot. It
+was awfully hot again, but we had not far to go--only eleven
+miles--into Montgé. There we arrived at 10.45 A.M., and should have
+been there much sooner if it had not been for some of the Divisional
+Train halting to water on the way.
+
+Montgé is a nice little village on a hillside, almost within sight of
+Paris, which is only about twenty-five miles off; and on a clear day
+one can, I believe, see the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre. We could not
+make out why we were always thus retiring without fighting, and
+imagined it was some deep-laid plan of Joffre's that we perhaps were
+to garrison Paris whilst the French turned on the Germans. But no
+light was vouchsafed to us. Meanwhile the retirement was morally
+rather bad for our men, and the stragglers increased in numbers.
+
+The Brigade Headquarters billeted in a tiny house marked by two big
+poplars on the main road. The proprietor, a stout peasant--I think he
+was the Maire--received us very civilly, but his questions as to our
+retirement were difficult to answer. However, we didn't trouble him
+long, and were off next morning by 5.30 acting as flank-guard again.
+
+
+_Sept. 3rd._
+
+It was hotter than ever over those parched fields, and the march was
+complicated, for when we had reached Trilbardon down a narrow leafy
+path, past a bridge over the Marne which an R.E. officer was most
+anxious to blow up at once, we were told to act as rear-guard again.
+For this we had to wait till all the troops had passed through the
+little streets, and then we followed. We overtook a good many
+stragglers, and these we hustled along, insisting on their getting
+over the other side of the Marne before the main bridges were blown
+up. We were responsible for leaving no one behind, but I'm afraid that
+several were left, as they had fallen out and gone to sleep under
+hedges and were not seen; and one K.O.S.B. man was suffering so
+violently from pains in his tummy that he at first refused to stir,
+and said he didn't care if he _was_ taken prisoner. There were a
+considerable number of these tummy cases on the way--hot sun and
+unripe apples had, I fancy, a good deal to do with them.
+
+At Esbly we halted, gratefully, in the shade for an hour; it was a
+nice little town, but strangely empty, for nearly all the inhabitants
+had fled.
+
+We put up for the night round Mont Pichet, a beastly little hamlet,
+with the Cheshires and one company Bedfords finding the outposts. The
+Brigade Headquarters billeted round a horrible little house,
+surrounded by hundreds of ducks and chickens, which ran in and out all
+over the place till it stank most horribly. There was only one room
+which wasn't absolutely foul, and that I took. The others slept in the
+open. I wish I had.
+
+I went to visit the outposts by myself; and my wretched pony, Gay,
+refused to cross a little stream about two feet broad and two inches
+deep. Nothing would induce her to cross it, so I had to send her back
+and do it all on foot, beyond a village called Chevalrue and back. By
+the time I got back, late, hot, and hungry, I must have done four
+miles on foot.
+
+
+_Sept. 4th._
+
+Having been told we should be here for at least a day to rest, we
+received orders, I need hardly say, at 7 next morning, to be ready to
+move immediately. However, it was rather a false alarm, as, except for
+a Divisional "pow-wow" on general subjects, at 10 A.M. at Bouleurs, we
+had little to do all day, and did not move till 11.50 P.M. There had
+been an alarm in the afternoon, by the way, of German cavalry
+advancing, and I reinforced the Bedfords with another company, and got
+two howitzers ready to support, but the "Uhlans" did not materialize.
+
+I might here mention, by the way, that all German cavalry, whether
+Lancers or not, went by the generic name of Uhlans. But it was perhaps
+not surprising, as all the hostile cavalry, even Hussars, had lances.
+They were, however, extraordinarily unhandy with them, and our own
+cavalry had a very poor opinion of their prowess and dash.
+
+
+_Sept. 5th._
+
+The Divisional Orders for the march were complicated, and comprised
+marching in two columns from different points and meeting about ten
+miles off. Also, the collecting of my outposts and moving to a left
+flank was complicated. But it went off all right, and we marched
+gaily along in the cool night and effected the junction at Villeneuve.
+Thence on through a big wood with a network of rides, where the two
+officers who were acting as guides in front went hopelessly astray and
+took the wrong turning. The leading battalion was, however, very
+shortly extricated and put on the right road, and after passing
+Tournans we halted, after a sixteen-mile march, at a magnificent
+château near Gagny (Château de la Monture) at 7.30 A.M.
+
+Here we made ourselves extremely comfortable in the best bedrooms of
+M. Boquet, of the Assurance Maritime, Havre, and sent him a letter
+expressing our best thanks. Up to 6 P.M. we slept peacefully, with no
+orders to disturb us, but then they arrived and gave us great joy, for
+we were to march at 5 A.M., not southwards, but northwards again.
+
+
+_Sept. 6th._
+
+What had happened, or why we were suddenly to turn against the enemy
+after ten days of retreat, we could not conceive; but the fact was
+there, and the difference in the spirits of the men was enormous.
+They marched twice as well, whistling and singing, back through
+Tournans and on to Villeneuve. Here we had orders to halt and feed,
+but the halt did not last long, for a summons to the 5th Division
+Headquarters (in a hot and stuffy little pothouse) arrived at 1 P.M.,
+and by 2 we were marching on through the Forêt de Crécy to Mortcerf.
+It was frightfully hot and dusty, and the track through the forest was
+not easy to find. Although I had issued stringent orders about the
+rear of one unit always dropping a guide for the next unit (if not in
+sight) at any cross-roads we came to, something went astray this time,
+and half the Brigade turned up at one end of the village of Mortcerf,
+whilst the other half came in at the other. We were on advanced guard
+at the time, and so increasing the frontage like this did no harm; but
+it caused rather a complication in the billets we proceeded to allot.
+
+A delightful little village it was, and the Maire, in whose house we
+put up, was extremely kind; but by the time I had covered the front
+with outposts and ridden back, very hot and tired, General Smith
+Dorrien turned up, and announced that we were to push on in an hour.
+He was, by the way, very complimentary about the way in which the 15th
+Brigade had behaved all through, and cast dewdrops upon us with both
+hands. It was very pleasant, but I was rather taken aback, for I
+genuinely did not think that we had done anything particularly
+glorious in the retreat. However, it appeared that the authorities
+considered that the Brigade was extremely well disciplined and well in
+hand--for which the praise was due to the C.O.'s and not to me--and
+were accordingly well pleased.
+
+So we made a hurried little meal at the Maire's house, and Madame
+threw us delicious pears from a first-floor window as we rode away.
+
+We had not far to go in the dusk, only two or three miles on to the
+turning which led to La Celle. The Dorsets were pushed on into and
+beyond La Celle, in rather complicated country--for there was a deep
+valley and a twisting road beyond; but the few Uhlans in the village
+bolted as they entered it, and no further disturbances occurred in our
+front. On our right, however, there was heavy firing, for the 3rd
+Division had come across a good many of the enemy at Faremoutiers,
+and at 9.30, and again at 11.30, general actions seemed to be
+developing. But they died away, and we slept more or less peacefully
+on a stubble field with a few sheaves of straw to keep us warm.
+Perpetual messengers, however, kept on arriving with orders and
+queries all night long, and our sleep was a broken one.
+
+
+_Sept. 7th._
+
+We awoke with the sun, feeling--I speak for myself--rather touzled and
+chippy, and waited a long time for the orders to proceed. The cooks'
+waggon turned up with the Quartermaster-Sergeant and breakfast--and
+still we didn't move. Eventually we fell in and moved off at noon--a
+hot day again--very hot, in fact, as we strung along on a narrow road
+in the deep and wooded valley. Very pretty country it was; but what
+impressed itself still more on me was the gift of some most
+super-excellent "William" pears by a farmer's wife in a tiny village
+nestling in the depths--real joy on that thirsty day.
+
+There were still some Uhlans left in the woods, and I turned a couple
+of Norfolk companies off the road to drive them out. Some of our
+artillery had also heard of them, and a Horse battery dropped a few
+shells into the wood to expedite matters; but I regret to say the only
+bag, as far as we could tell, was one of our own men killed and
+another wounded by them.
+
+At Mouroux we halted for a time, and then pushed on, rather late, to
+Boissy le Châtel--the delay being caused by the motor-bikist carrying
+orders to us missing, by some mischance, our Headquarters
+altogether--though we were within a few hundred yards of Divisional
+Headquarters, and had reported our whereabouts--and going on several
+miles to look for us.
+
+We were now again the advanced guard of the Division, and had to find
+outposts for it a mile beyond. It is always rather a grind having to
+ride round the outposts after a long day, but one can't sleep in peace
+till one is satisfied that one's front is properly protected, so it
+has to be done; and as the Brigade Staff is limited, the Staff Captain
+allotting the billets, and the Brigade Major seeing that all the
+troops arrive safely, one generally has to do these little excursions
+by oneself. On the road I came across Hubert Gough, commanding the
+3rd Cavalry Brigade, in a motor, cheery as ever, with his cavalry
+somewhere on our right flank keeping touch with us. We put up in a
+little deserted château in Boissy le Châtel, but it was overcrowded
+with trees and bushes and very stuffy.
+
+
+_Sept. 8th._
+
+Next morning we had, before starting, the unpleasant duty to perform
+of detailing a firing-party to execute a deserter. I forget what
+regiment he belonged to (not in our brigade), but he had had rotten
+luck from his point of view. He had cleared out and managed to get
+hold of some civilian clothes, and, having lost himself, had asked the
+way of a gamekeeper he met. The gamekeeper happened to be an
+Englishman, and what was more, an old soldier, and he promptly gave
+him up to the authorities as a deserter.
+
+We left at 7.25 A.M. as the last brigade in the Division. I might
+mention here that, for billeting, the ground for the Division was
+divided into "Brigade Areas," each area to hold not only an Infantry
+Brigade but one or two Artillery Brigades, a Field Ambulance, and
+generally a company of R.E., and occasionally some other odds and
+ends, such as Divisional Ammunition Column, Train, Irish Horse,
+Cyclists, &c., and for all these we had to find billets. The troops
+billeted in these areas varied in composition nearly every day. It was
+very hard work for the Staff Captain (Moulton-Barrett), whose proper
+job would normally have been limited to the 15th Brigade; but he and
+Saint André, who both worked like niggers, somehow always managed to
+do it satisfactorily. It would have turned my hair grey, I know, to
+stuff away a conflicting crowd of troops of different arms into an
+area which was always too small for them. But M.-B. would sit calmly
+on his horse amid the clamour of inexperienced subalterns and grasping
+N.C.O.'s, and allot the farms and streets in such a way that they
+always managed to get in somehow--though occasionally I expect the
+conditions were not those of perfect comfort. We were lucky in the
+weather, however, and many times troops bivouacked in the open in
+comparative ease when a rainy night would have caused them extreme
+discomfort.
+
+It was not always easy to find billets even for our own Brigade
+Staff, for though we were a small unit, comparatively, we had a good
+number of horses and half a dozen vehicles; and besides this, we had
+to have a decent room or place for the Signal section, and rig up a
+wire for them to work in connection with the Divisional Headquarters
+or other troops. In this Cadell was excellent, and we rarely had
+a breakdown. Sometimes, of course, we were too far off to get
+a wire fixed in time, and then we had recourse to our Signal
+"push-bikists"--no motor cyclists being on our establishment. The
+Signal companies, by the way, had only been completely organized a
+month or two before the war, and what we should have done without them
+passes my imagination, for they were quite invaluable, and most
+excellently organized and trained.
+
+And sometimes when, after all this work, we had settled down into
+billets for the night, an order would come to move on at once. Fresh
+orders had then hurriedly to be written, and despatched by the orderly
+of each unit (who was attached to our headquarters) to his respective
+unit, giving the time at which the head of the unit was to pass a
+given point on the road so as to dovetail into its place in the
+column in the dark, and all with reference to what we were going to
+do, whether the artillery or part of it was to be in front or in rear,
+what rations were to be carried, arrangements for supply, position of
+the transport in the column, compositions of the advanced or
+rear-guard, &c., &c. It sounds very complicated, and still more so
+when you have to fit in not only your own brigade but all the
+miscellaneous troops of your "Brigade Area." But Weatherby had reduced
+this to a fine art, and, after all, we had had heaps of practice at
+it; so orders were short and to the point, and issued in really an
+extraordinarily short time.
+
+To return. Our march that day was through pretty country, with
+fighting always going on just ahead of us or on both flanks, but we
+were never actually engaged. At Doue we halted for an hour or so, and
+then received orders to push out a battalion to hold the high ground
+in front. But when we had got there we only found a panorama
+stretching out all round, dotted with troops, and our guns firing from
+all sorts of unseen hiding-places, with the enemy well on the run in
+front of us. Soon the order came for us to push on, and we moved
+forward through Mauroy, down a steep hill into St Cyr and St Ouen,
+pretty little villages in a cleft in the ground, across the Petit
+Morin river and up a beastly steep hill on the other side.
+
+Then came a "pow-wow" in a stiff shower of rain, and on again slowly
+over the plateau, in a curious position, for there was a big fight
+going on amid some burning villages in the plain far on our left--I
+don't know what Division--probably the 4th--and a smaller fight
+parallel to us on the right, not two miles off; and we were marching
+calmly along the road in column.
+
+Then a longer halt, whilst we got closer touch with the 14th Brigade
+on our right. It was a tangled fight there; for when we pushed forward
+some cyclists in that direction they were unintentionally fired on by
+the East Surrey; and the latter, who had rounded up and taken about
+100 of the enemy prisoners, mostly cavalry, were just resting whilst
+they counted them, when some of our own guns lobbed some shells right
+into the crowd, and five German officers and about fifty of the
+prisoners escaped in the confusion.
+
+A little farther on, near Charnesseuil, we got orders to billet for
+the night there, and the Brigade Headquarters moved on to Montapeine
+cross-roads. Here there was a good deal of confusion, stray units of
+several divisions trying to find their friends, and the cross-roads
+blocked by a small body of sixty-three German prisoners. We got the
+place cleared at last, and the Staff occupied an untidy, dirty,
+unfurnished house and grounds at the corner. It had been used by the
+enemy the night before, and they had luckily brought great masses of
+straw into the house.
+
+I stowed away the prisoners in the stables--great big, docile,
+sheepish-looking men of the Garde-Schützen-Bataillon (2nd and 4th
+companies) and machine-gun battery attached. I talked to several of
+them, and they said that the battalion had lost very heavily and there
+were hardly any officers left. One of the latter, Fritz Wrede by name,
+I found wounded and lying on the straw in a dark room in the basement.
+Other wounded were being brought in here, and all complained of
+feeling very cold, although the evening was quite warm. I made some
+men heap straw on them, which was an improvement--but I believe that
+wounded always do feel cold.
+
+Wrede had a bullet through the shoulder, but was not bad, so I got him
+to sign a paper to say he would not try to escape--otherwise he might
+have made trouble. Our men, as usual, were more than kind to the
+prisoners, and insisted on giving them their own bread and jam--though
+the Germans had already been given a lot of biscuit. I remember being
+struck with the extreme mild-seemingness of all the prisoners, and
+wondering how such men could have been capable of such frightful
+brutalities as they had been in Belgium--they looked and behaved as if
+they wouldn't have hurt a fly.
+
+
+_Sept. 9th._
+
+Next morning we moved off at 7.30 and went _viâ_ Saacy across the
+Marne to Merz, and thence up an extremely steep and bad road through
+the woods. It was a very hot day, and as there was no prospect of
+getting the transport up I left it behind at Merz, meaning to send it
+round another way when the road was clear. Firing was going on to the
+left front, and we halted for a council of war with the Divisional
+Staff, which was immediately in front of us.
+
+The 14th Brigade was apparently hung up somewhere to our left front
+and couldn't get on, so we were sent on to help them take the high
+ground towards the Montreuil road. They were, we were told, already in
+possession of Hill 189; but when we emerged from the woods there was a
+Prussian battery on the hill. There did not seem to be any men with
+it, as far as we could see, and it was not firing. But we made a good
+target, and not more than a battalion had got clear when the
+"deserted" battery opened fire and lobbed a shell or two into the
+Bedfords and Cheshires.
+
+They only lost a man or two killed and wounded; but a Howitzer battery
+with us, which was already on the lookout, came into action at once
+and speedily silenced the German guns for the time being.
+
+Bols, who was leading, reported that the hill was attackable--it was
+really only a rise in the ground,--and after a reconnaissance I gladly
+issued orders. So the Norfolks and Dorsets proceeded to attack in
+proper form, whilst I sent the Bedfords round to the right towards
+Bézu to try and take the rise in flank. The 14th Brigade were
+meanwhile somewhere on the left, and we got touch with them after a
+time; but they could not get forward, as a number of big guns from
+much further off kept up a heavy fire, and there was a body of
+infantry hidden somewhere as well, to judge from the number of bullets
+that came over and into us.
+
+That was rather a trying afternoon. Dorsets and Norfolks were held up
+about half a mile from Hill 189, and I went forward to Bézu with the
+Bedfords to try to get them on to the flank. Thorpe and his company
+got forward into a wood, but lost a number of men in getting there;
+and the lie of the ground did not seem to justify my sending many more
+to help him, as the space up to the wood was swept by a heavy fire.
+Just about this time poor Roe of the Dorsets, who had taken some of
+his company into this wood, was shot through the head--as was also
+George, one of his subalterns.
+
+Meanwhile those horrible big guns from somewhere near Sablonnières
+were giving us a lot of trouble, and knocked out also several of the
+Cheshires, who had been sent by the Divisional Commander towards the
+left to support the 14th Brigade. The latter--(I went to see Rolt, the
+Brigadier, but there was little we could combine)--seemed at one
+moment to be a little unhappy, as they were enfiladed from Chanoust on
+their left; but the Dorsets had worked carefully forward on their
+tummies, and with the Norfolks held a low ridge well to the front,
+whence, though they could not get forward themselves, they could do
+the enemy a good deal of damage. So the 14th Brigade stuck it out, and
+we kept up the game till dusk, when we dug ourselves in a little
+further back and posted outposts.
+
+I might add that when Weatherby and I went forward to see Bols and
+Ballard, Weatherby had bad luck, for his horse was shot in the body
+whilst he was leading him, and died that night.
+
+Meanwhile the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division was on our right, under
+Shaw, and although his Lincolns, or some of them, had got into the
+wood, and we tried a combined movement, they also got hung up there
+and we could not get on.
+
+The Germans certainly fought this rear-guard action remarkably well.
+We did not know at the time that it was a rear-guard action, for we
+thought a whole corps might be occupying a strong position here and
+intending to fight next day. But no more fighting took place that
+night, and by next morning they had cleared out.
+
+The Germans had evidently only just left Bézu, for on my going to see
+M'Cracken (commanding 7th Brigade) there, I found him in a house with
+the remains of an unfinished (German) meal, including many half-empty
+bottles, on the table. Then we managed to get some supper in another
+house, and were nearly turned out of it by a subaltern of General
+Hamilton's staff, who, seeing a light in the window, thought he would
+save himself the trouble of hunting for another house for his General,
+and announced that it was required for the 3rd Divisional Staff. I was
+inclined to demur at first and sit tight; but the ever-useful Saint
+André, to save trouble, hurried out and secured another house for us;
+as a matter of fact it was better and bigger than the first one, and
+would have suited the Divisional Staff much better.
+
+After issuing orders for to-morrow's attack or march we flung
+ourselves down dead tired, and were awakened ten minutes afterwards by
+a summons from General Hamilton to come and see him at once, as he
+was going to hold a pow-wow on the situation. I found him in a tiny,
+poky little attic, and there we waited for three-quarters of an hour
+whilst Rolt was being sent for. Two hours did this pow-wow last, and
+we had to write and issue fresh orders in consequence. Just as they
+had been sent out and we had flung ourselves down again for a little
+sleep, an entirely new set of orders arrived from the 5th Division,
+and for the third time we had to think out and write and distribute a
+fresh set of orders. By that time it was 12.30 A.M., and we were to
+move at 3.45 A.M., which meant getting up at 2.30. Two hours broken
+sleep that night was all we got--and lucky to get it.
+
+
+_Sept. 10th._
+
+Off at 3.45 A.M., we moved out in careful fashion towards Haloup, in
+the direction of Montreuil. But our scouts reported all clear, and in
+very truth the Germans had left. What was more, they had left that
+field battery on Hill 189 behind them, surrounded by about twenty or
+more corpses and a quantity of ammunition.
+
+It was a damp day, and progress was slow, as it was not at all certain
+where the enemy was. At Denizy, a small village on the way, we were
+told that a German general, with his staff, had received a severe
+shock there the day before by an unexpected British shell dropping on
+his headquarters whilst he was at luncheon. He had jumped up with a
+yell and bolted up the hill, but was driven down again by another
+shell which landed close by. He was reported to have died almost at
+once, but whether from fright or not was not quite clear.
+
+When near Germigny we espied a German column in the distance, and
+shelled it heavily with the 61st howitzer battery attached to us
+(Major Wilson), causing it to bolt in all directions. The 3rd Cavalry
+Brigade now turned up in our front (Hubert Gough's), and with the 5th
+(Chetwode's) hustled the enemy along. We were advanced guard again,
+and it was difficult to get on, for the Divisional Commander kept
+sending messages from behind asking me why the deuce I wasn't going
+faster, whilst Gough was sending me protests from the front that I was
+treading on his heels, and not giving him time to clear up the
+situation!
+
+We halted for some time the other side of Germigny, and then pushed on
+to Gandelu, a large village in a cleft of the hills, from the heights
+in front of which the German artillery might have made it extremely
+unpleasant for us. But none were there, nor were there any at Chézy,
+which would have made a perfect defensive position for them, with a
+glacis-like slope in all directions.
+
+On the other side of Gandelu, in the wood, we came across the first
+signs of the German bolt. A broken motor-car was lying in the stream,
+and dead horses and men were lying about, whilst every now and then we
+passed two or three of our troopers with a dozen German prisoners in
+tow.
+
+As we moved up the steep hill towards Chézy, we came across packs,
+rifles, and kit of all sorts flung away, broken-down waggons, more
+dead Germans, and, at last, on a whole convoy of smashed waggons,
+their contents mostly littered over the fields and road, and groups of
+our horsemen beaming with joy. The 3rd Cavalry Brigade had rounded up
+this convoy with their Horse Artillery, scuppered or bolted most of
+the escort, and captured the rest. Besides this, they had attacked a
+whole cavalry division and scattered it to the winds. Their first lot
+of prisoners numbered 348, and their second 172.
+
+We halted near the convoy for our usual ten minutes, and examined it
+with much satisfaction. There were all sorts of things in the
+waggons--food and corn, to which I allowed our men to help themselves,
+for our horses were short of oats and our men of rations, and some of
+the tinned meats, "gulasch" and "blutwurst," were quite excellent and
+savoury, much more so than our everlasting bully beef. Other waggons
+were full of all sorts of loot--cases of liqueur and wine, musical
+instruments, household goods, clothing, bedding, &c., trinkets,
+clocks, ribbons, and an infinite variety of knick-knacks, many of
+which one would hardly have thought worth taking. But the German is a
+robber at heart, and takes everything he can lay his hands on. There
+was also a first-rate motor-car, damaged, by the side of the road, and
+in it were a General's orders and decorations, and 100 rifle
+cartridges (Mauser) with soft-nosed bullets. To make certain of this I
+kept one of the cartridges and gave it to Sir C. Fergusson. I think
+these were about the only things (besides food) which we took from
+the whole convoy, though many of the other things would have been well
+worth taking. The men were very good, and did not attempt even to
+leave the ranks till allowed by me to take the corn and food.
+
+A short way on was the dirty village of Chézy, and here we found a
+heap of cavalry and many of the 3rd Division. So we branched off to
+the left in a frightfully heavy ten minutes' shower, and marched away
+to St Quentin--marked as a village, but really only a farmhouse in a
+big wood. As we approached the wood Headlam's guns began to shell it
+in order to clear it of possible hostile troops, and continued until I
+sent back to say that the shells were preventing us from going on;
+then he eased off.
+
+We halted near St Quentin for half an hour, and then came a message to
+say we were to billet there. It was impossible to billet a whole
+brigade in one farmhouse, and that none too large. So we told off
+different fields for the battalions to bivouac in, and occupied the
+farm ourselves, first sending out cyclists to clear the wood, as there
+were rumoured to be parties of Uhlans in it.
+
+It was a grubby farm with not much water, but we made the best of it,
+and settled down for the night. A starved-looking priest was also
+sleeping there, and he told me his story.
+
+He and a fellow-priest, an Aumônier from Paris, had been on their way
+to join the French unit to which they had been allotted for ambulance
+purposes, when they fell into German hands and were treated as
+prisoners. The priest was robbed by a sergeant of 1200 francs, his
+sole possessions, and both he and the Aumônier were beaten black and
+blue, forced to march carrying German knapsacks, and kept practically
+without food or drink. After three days the Aumônier succumbed to ill
+usage and died, and the priest only managed to escape because his
+captors were themselves on the run.
+
+The priest also told us that there were some British prisoners in the
+column, and that the Germans behaved perfectly brutally to them,
+kicking them, starving them, and forcing them to carry German
+knapsacks.
+
+
+_Sept. 11th._
+
+Next morning we did not move off till 9.25, for the supplies to the
+Brigades did not arrive as soon as we expected, and hence the column
+was late in starting. We dawdled along, forming the rear brigade, in
+cool weather, and nothing in particular happened beyond reports coming
+in from the front that the Germans were quite demoralised. It came on
+to pour as we left Chouy, and at Billy we parked the transport and
+prepared to billet there. But it was already chokeful of other troops,
+and more than half our brigade would have had to bivouac in the
+sopping fields. So we pushed on to St Remy, and, evacuating some
+cavalry and making them move on to some farms a bit ahead,--including
+Massereene and his North Irish Horse, who, I fear, were not much
+pleased at having to turn out of their comfortable barns,--we billeted
+there, headquarters being taken up in the Curé's house. Even here his
+poor little rooms had been ransacked, drawers and tables upset and
+their contents littered over the floor, and everything of the smallest
+value stolen by the Germans.
+
+
+_Sept. 12th._
+
+Off at 5 A.M., we did only a short march as far as the Ferme de
+l'Épitaphe, a huge farm standing by itself in a vast and dreary plain
+of ploughed fields. Here we halted in pouring rain all day, expecting
+orders to go on. But we eventually had to billet there, with the
+Divisional Headquarters, and though we could only put up the Bedfords
+and the Cheshires there was a terrific squash. The Dorsets and
+Norfolks were sent back to billet at Nampteuil, a village a mile or so
+back, but even here there was some confusion, as the 14th Brigade had
+meanwhile arrived and begun to billet there. They were, however, sent
+back likewise to Chrisy, and the whole Division passed a most
+uncomfortable night. The rain never ceased from pouring, and a gale
+sprang up, which made matters worse. We slept in a loft with a number
+of Cheshire and Bedford officers, and didn't get dinner till past
+nine. Some gunner officers turned up, with no food at all, and we fed
+them; but there wasn't much at the best of times, for we had no
+rations and had to depend on the contents of our Mess basket, which
+consisted only of Harvey sauce, knives and forks, an old ham-bone,
+sweet biscuits, and jam.
+
+
+_Sept. 13th._
+
+It was fine in the morning, but the farmyard was ankle-deep in water
+and slush, and the sky was leaden with lurid clouds in the east, when
+we started at 4.10 A.M. We pushed on slowly in column for the few
+miles to Serches, and there we halted at the cross-roads on the top of
+the plateau and parked the brigade whilst the situation was cleared up
+by troops in front. Shells began to drop unpleasantly near us, and a
+couple of field batteries which got into action just in front of us,
+together with a "cow-gun"[8] (60 lb.) battery, only drew the hostile
+fire still more. They were pretty big shells, Black Marias mostly, and
+the heavy battery being right out in the open suffered somewhat
+severely, losing eight horses and a few men killed and wounded by one
+shell alone.
+
+         [Footnote 8: So called because similar guns in the South
+         African war had been drawn by oxen.]
+
+So we prudently scattered the battalions a bit, and the field
+batteries limbered up and walked slowly back under cover of a slope.
+But the cow-guns had one gun disabled, and though they also moved back
+and got again into action they were evidently spotted and had rather
+a poor time.
+
+Just about then, too, the transport of the 13th Brigade, which was
+necessarily following the infantry over the crest towards Sermoise,
+were noticed by the enemy, and a few shells over them killed and
+disabled a number of waggon-horses and men, making a very nasty mess
+in the road.
+
+There we sat all day whilst the sun came out and dried us a bit. But
+we were not very happy at luncheon; for though hungry and with plenty
+to eat now, those beastly shells came nearer and nearer us, till our
+bully and biscuit lost their charm entirely. At last we got up, plates
+in hand, and moved with dignity out of range, or, rather, more under
+cover.
+
+The Cheshires had meanwhile discovered a curious cave in the hillside
+which sheltered the whole battalion (though, in truth, the latter was
+not large, only 450 men or so), whilst the other battalions were well
+out of sight in the folds of the ground.
+
+The shadows grew longer and longer, and we rigged up some comfortable
+little shelters in the coppice for the night, thinking we should
+bivouac where we were. But at 6 I was sent for to Divisional
+Headquarters at Serches, and told to reconnoitre the road towards the
+Aisne--only a mile or two ahead. This I did in a motor-car, and
+returned in time for dinner; but we had barely got through it, about
+8, when marching orders came to the effect that we were to push on and
+cross the Aisne by rafts to-night, and the sooner the better.
+
+So we moved off with some difficulty in the dark, for there were no
+connecting roads with the halting-places of the battalions, and got on
+to the main road, whence all was plain sailing, down to the Moulin des
+Roches, an imaginary mill on the river bank. Over some sloppy pasture
+fields in dead silence, and we found ourselves on the bank, with a
+darker shadow plashing backwards and forwards over the river in our
+front, and some R.E. officers talking in whispers.
+
+The actual crossing of the Brigade was a long job, and had to be
+carefully worked out. The raft held sixty men at a time, or thirty men
+and three horses; but as horses on a raft in the dead of night were
+likely to cause a fuss, we left them behind, to follow on in the
+morning, and crossed without them,--four and a half hours it took;
+and whilst the men were crossing we tried to get a bit of sleep on the
+wet bank. It was not very successful, as it was horribly cold and we
+had no blankets. The staff crossed last of all, and we landed in a
+wood on the far side, in a bog but thinly covered with cut brushwood,
+and full of irritating, sharp, and painful tree-stumps.
+
+
+_Sept. 14th._
+
+When we were across it was difficult to discover the battalions asleep
+in the fields, and when we had found them and it was time to start it
+was difficult to wake them. However, we moved off just as it was
+getting light; but it was not easy to find the way, for there was no
+path at first. We had orders to go _viâ_ Bucy-le-Long to Sainte
+Marguerite, and found the villages right enough, for they were close
+together. But as we moved into Sainte Marguerite, with a good many
+other troops in front of us, we became aware that there was an
+unnecessary number of bullets flying about, and that our fellows in
+front were being held up.
+
+The village was held by the 12th Brigade (4th Division), and the 14th
+Brigade was somewhere on our right. The Dorsets were our leading
+battalion, and they were pushed on to help the 12th, and filled a gap
+in their line on the hill above the village front at the eastern end.
+But there we stuck for a long time. The enemy's artillery had
+meanwhile opened on us, and shells began to crash overhead and played
+the devil with the tiles and the houses. But they did not do us much
+harm.
+
+We now received orders to move on to Missy (not a mile off to the
+right) and clear the Chivres ridge of the enemy and push on to Condé
+and take that if possible--rather a "large order." The difficulty was
+to get to Missy, for the road thither was spattered with bullets, and
+shells were bursting all along it. However, by dint of careful work we
+moved out bit by bit, cutting through the gardens and avoiding the
+road, and taking advantage of a slight slope in the ground by which we
+could sneak to the far side of the little railway embankment which led
+to Missy Station.
+
+It took a long time, and I made what proved to be the serious mistake
+of staying to the end in order to see the whole Brigade clear of
+Sainte Marguerite. I ought really to have gone ahead with the first
+party to reconnoitre; for just as we were starting after the rear
+company I stopped to write a message to the Division in answer to one
+which had just arrived, and at that moment a hellish shrapnel,
+machine-gun, and rifle fire was opened, not only on the village but on
+all the exits therefrom, and this fire lasted for nearly two hours.
+One simply could not make the attempt; it would have been certain
+death. And so we had to sit in the tiny courtyard of one of the
+houses, with our backs against the wall, and listen to the inferno
+overhead, whilst the proprietor's wife plied us with most acceptable
+roast potatoes and milk.
+
+I wrote a lot of messages during those two hours, but whether they all
+got through or not I do not know: some of the messengers never came
+back. Colonel Seely turned up at one moment--from General
+Headquarters, I think--demanding information. This I supplied, and
+made use of him to take some of my orders back; it really was quite a
+new sensation giving orders to a recent Secretary of State for War.
+
+At one time two or three artillery waggons appeared in the little
+main street and remained there quietly for a bit under a heavy fire,
+but only losing a man or two slightly wounded. Then suddenly there was
+a loud crack overhead, and half a dozen horses were lying struggling
+and kicking on the ground, with great pools of blood forming in the
+road and four or five prostrate men in them. It was a horrible sight
+for us, for the shell had burst just opposite the gate of our
+courtyard. But the gunners behaved magnificently, and a farrier
+sergeant gave out his orders as quietly and unconcernedly as if he had
+been on parade. I took his name with a view to recommendation, but
+regret that I have forgotten it by now.
+
+We also had some very unpleasant shaves at this time in our own
+courtyard. Twice did a shell burst just above the house and drive
+holes in the roof, bringing down showers of tiles; the second time
+practically all the tiles fell on me and nearly knocked me down. I do
+not know why they did not hurt me more--luckily the house was a low
+one; but they merely bruised my back.
+
+At last, in a lull, we managed to get away, and sneaked out at a
+run--through a yard and back garden, behind a farm, out at the back
+behind a fold in the ground, then across a wide open field and on to
+the low railway embankment, behind which we ducked, and made our way
+to the little station of Missy and up behind some scattered houses to
+near the church.
+
+Here, after some trouble, we got the commanding officers together, and
+arranged to push on and attack the wooded ridge above the town. The
+force was rather mixed. I had met Rolt (commanding the 14th Brigade)
+on the way, and we had settled that I should collect whatever of his
+men I could get together in Missy and join them to my attacking party.
+The difficulty was that it was already getting late--4.30 P.M.--and
+that there was insufficient time for a thorough reconnaissance, though
+we did what we could in that direction. However, my orders from the
+Divisional Commander had been to take the ridge, and I tried to do it.
+I had got together three companies of the Norfolks, three of the
+Bedfords, two Cheshires (in reserve), two East Surreys (14th Brigade),
+and two Cornwalls (13th Brigade, who had arrived _viâ_ the broken
+bridge at Missy and some rafts hastily constructed there)--twelve
+companies altogether.
+
+But when they pushed forward it became very difficult, for there
+turned out to be too many men for the space. What I had not known was
+that, though they could advance up a broad clearing to more than
+halfway up the hill, this clearing was bounded on both flanks, as it
+gradually drew to a point, by high 6-feet wire netting just inside the
+wood, so that the men could not get properly into the wood, but were
+gradually driven in towards the point, where the only entrance to the
+wood occurred.
+
+Luckily the Germans had not noticed this either--or there would have
+been many more casualties than there were. As it was, a company of the
+East Surrey and another one (Allason's) of the Bedfords did get
+through to the top of the wood and on to the edge of the open plateau;
+but this I did not hear of till later. When the greater part of the
+force had got through the opening into the wood they found a few
+Germans there and drove them back, killing some. Then they surged on
+to a horse-shoe-shaped road further on in the wood, and some men lost
+their direction and began firing in front of them at what they
+thought were Germans. But they were others of our own, and these began
+firing back, also without knowing that they were their friends.
+Consequently, although casualties were few, an unpleasant situation
+arose, and numbers of men turned about and retired down the hill into
+Missy, saying that our artillery was firing into them. This may have
+been true, for some shells were bursting over the wood; but whether
+they were English or German I do not know to this day.
+
+Anyhow, the stream of men coming back increased. They fell back into
+the village, and then came some certainly German shells after them.
+For an unpleasant quarter of an hour the little sloping village of
+Missy was heavily shelled by shrapnel; but the walls of the houses
+were thick, and though of course there were a certain number of
+casualties, they were not serious as long as the men kept close to the
+south side of the walls. Beilby (our Veterinary officer) for some
+reason would keep to the wrong side of the street and was very nearly
+killed, the fuse of a shell landing with a whump on a door not two
+feet in front of him, and a shrapnel bullet going through his skirt
+pocket; but he was not touched. The shrapnel were in bursts of four,
+and luckily Moulton-Barrett noticed it, for he calmly held up the
+stream of men till the fourth shell had burst, and then let as many as
+possible past the open space there till the next bunch arrived, when
+he stopped them behind cover,--just like a London policeman directing
+traffic.
+
+I remember one man falling, as we thought dead, close to where the
+Staff were standing. But he groaned, and Weatherby ran to pick him up.
+There was, however, no wound of any sort on him, and after a minute he
+got up and went on. I think he must have been knocked down by the wind
+of a shell--for he certainly was as much astonished as we were at
+finding no damage on himself.
+
+By this time I had given orders that the troops were to retire to
+their previous positions in and near the village, and it was getting
+dusk.
+
+Luard (Norfolks) and a party of twenty-five men were well ahead in the
+wood, and received the order to retire, for Luard was heard shouting
+it to his men. But nothing has since been heard of him, and I much
+regret to say that he was either taken prisoner with most of his men,
+or, more probably, killed.
+
+A message now came down from the plateau saying that some East Surreys
+and Bedfords were still up in the wood, and should they retire or hold
+on? As it was nearly dark and I consequently could not support
+them--for if the men could not get through the wire-netting in
+daylight they could hardly do so at night--I told them to retire. I
+gave this order after I had consulted Rolt, who was somewhere west of
+the village; but even if Rolt had not been there I should have given
+it, for it would have been impossible to reinforce them adequately in
+the circumstances.
+
+So I issued orders for an early reconnaissance and attack next
+morning, to be led by the Norfolks; and the troops covered their front
+with sentries and bivouacked in and round the village. We were all
+short of food that night, for none of our supply carts, and not even a
+riding-horse, had come with us. But all or most of the men had an
+"iron ration" on them, and this they consumed, with the "unexpired"
+portion of their previous day's ration.
+
+The Bedfords took up their position along the railway to the west,
+Cheshires on the right, Norfolks right front of village, D.C.L.I. left
+front.
+
+As for the Staff, we retired to a farm called La Bizaie,
+three-quarters of a mile south of Missy, and close to the river, and
+took up our quarters there. There was not a whole pane of glass in the
+house, for it had been heavily bombarded--being empty, except for a
+few wounded--during the day, and great craters had been formed close
+by the walls by the Black Marias. But except at one corner of the roof
+of an outhouse, no damage had been done to the buildings--except the
+broken glass.
+
+It was a very old farmhouse, as we found out afterwards, part of it
+dating back to 1200 and something. Curiously enough, there was a
+photograph of an English Colonel (of the R.A.M.C.) on the sideboard--a
+friend, so the farm servants told us, of the owner, whose name I have
+forgotten. The buildings were very superior to the ordinary farm type,
+and more like a comfortable country house than one would expect, but
+there were plenty of barns as well, and some pigs and chickens running
+about.
+
+We bought, murdered, and ate an elderly chicken, but otherwise there
+was devilish little to eat except a store of jam, and we had only a
+very few biscuits and no bread.
+
+
+_Sept. 15th._
+
+[Illustration: Missy-on-Aisne.]
+
+After writing out orders for the attack next day we went to bed,
+dog-tired; and I was routed out again at 12.45 A.M. by Malise Graham,
+who had come with a message from the Divisional Commander that he
+wanted to see me at once at the broken bridge at Missy, a mile off
+through long wet grass in pitch darkness. It was not good "going,"
+but we got there eventually and crossed the river, sliding down steep
+slippery banks into a punt, ferried across, and up the other side.
+Cuthbert eventually turned up from somewhere, and we had a pow-wow in
+the dark, resulting in fresh orders being given for the morrow's work.
+
+This involved new orders being written, and it was 4 A.M. by the time
+we turned in again for an hour's sleep.
+
+A careful reconnaissance was made by Done and some other Norfolk
+officers as soon as it was light; but the result was not promising.
+Fresh German trenches had been dug commanding the open space, and more
+wire had been put up during the night.
+
+The Norfolks were told off to lead the assault, with the Bedfords in
+support and the Cheshires in reserve. The Dorsets were still above
+Sainte Marguerite, helping the 12th Brigade, and were not available.
+
+We began by shelling that horrible Chivres Spur, but it produced
+little effect, as the Germans were in the wood and invisible. The
+Norfolks pushed on, but gradually came to a standstill in the wood,
+and the day wore on with little result, for the wood was desperately
+blind, and we were being heavily shelled at all points.
+
+The Brigade staff sat under a hedge halfway between La Bizaie farm and
+Missy; but it was not a very happy place, for the big shells fell
+nearer and nearer till we had to make a move forward at a run for the
+shelter of a big manure-heap. But even here the Black Marias found us
+out, and two of them fell within a few yards, their explosion covering
+us with dirt. We were also in view of German snipers halfway up the
+hill, and bullets came thick whenever we showed a cap or a leg beyond
+the muck-heap, which, besides being distinctly unsweet, was covered
+with disgusting-looking flies in large numbers.
+
+However, there we had to stay most of the day. The village of Missy
+was intermittently shelled by some huge howitzers, and bunches of
+their shells blew up several houses and nearly demolished the church,
+a fine old 14th century building. A few Norfolks were buried or killed
+by the falling houses, but otherwise extraordinarily little damage was
+done, and most of the shells fell in the open, where there was nobody
+worth mentioning.
+
+At 3 P.M. I got a summons to go to Rolt at his farm just outside
+Sainte Marguerite; and a most unpleasing journey it was for Weatherby
+and me. We separated, going across the open plough and cabbage fields,
+but snipers were on us the whole time, and several times missed us by
+only a few inches. We must have offered very sporting targets to the
+Germans on the hill, for we ran all the way, and--I speak for
+myself--we got extremely hot.
+
+I sprinted a good 400 yards under fire for the shelter of a thick
+hedge, and when I got there found to my disgust there was a young
+river to be got over before I could reach the cover. However, I
+squirmed along a fallen bough and struggled through the fence--to find
+myself face to face with Bols and his Dorsets, whom he was bringing
+along to hold the line of the fence. This gave a certain "moral
+relief," and from there it was easier going to Rolt's farm, all except
+one point where the railway cut through a hedge and crossed the
+stream. On this point a German machine-gun had been laid, and to cross
+it with a whole skin one had to hurry a bit. Our Brigade machine-gun
+officer, young D---- of the Bedfords, was subsequently hit here, in
+the back, but not very seriously.
+
+I concerted measures with Rolt for holding the line Missy-Sainte
+Marguerite, and we began to dig in places. But at 7.40 P.M. came
+orders for the 15th Brigade to evacuate the north bank _viâ_ a new
+bridge near the old raft one where we had crossed; so we issued fresh
+orders about the 14th Brigade taking over our line, and prepared for
+another night march,--no sleep again.
+
+I forgot to mention that our horses had arrived at La Bizaie early
+that morning, having crossed by the raft bridge the day before. Silver
+as usual made a desperate fuss, and was eventually knocked into the
+river by a mule who was crossing with him. He swam up and down the
+river for twenty-five minutes, refusing to come out--poor Catley in
+desperation all the time. But he was eventually hauled out, with my
+saddle and bags, of course, sopping wet. His stable shed was also
+shelled heavily during the day, but strange to say none of the horses
+or grooms were touched.
+
+It poured in buckets that night; and as the Bedfords were streaming
+past the farm in the dark about 11 P.M. a terrific fire broke out
+from the direction of Missy, accompanied by German flare-lights and
+searchlights. The word went round that it was a German counter-attack,
+and we ran out and halted the Bedfords and put them into some trenches
+covering the farm. But it turned out to be a false alarm; for the
+Germans, hearing troops moving in the dark, thought that they were
+going to be attacked, and opened a heavy fire on Missy, whilst the
+14th Brigade and the remainder of our men still there replied to it.
+It eventually died down, and we resumed our march in pitch darkness
+and mud up to the men's knees in the water meadows by the river.
+
+
+_Sept. 16th._
+
+The Cheshires came last, and we of the Brigade Staff followed them at
+4 A.M. through dripping fields and criss-cross hedges, coming across
+the Scottish Rifles lying asleep near the pontoon bridge. They
+belonged to the 19th Brigade, but where the rest of the Brigade was I
+do not know.
+
+On the other side of the river we found the Divisional Commander with
+a few of his staff. It was beastly cold and just getting light, about
+5 A.M., and why Sir Charles should be standing there I could not at
+first make out. However, it turned out that he had come down from
+Serches, being somewhat anxious as to what might be happening on the
+other side of the river--with considerable justification, for if we
+had been driven back on to the one bridge which crossed the river we
+might have been in a parlous state.
+
+Half an hour later we arrived in Jury, a tidy little village in and
+round which most of the Brigade was already billeting, and here, in a
+nice little house, belonging to a worthy old couple, we took our rest,
+thankful for a little peace and some sleep at last.
+
+And here we stayed for a week.
+
+Not that it was all beer and skittles even then. The 14th Brigade was
+still holding Missy over the river, and there were some serious alarms
+on one or two nights, necessitating troops being sent down to the
+river at Rupreux, in case they were wanted.
+
+Shells fell near Jury for a day or two, but they gradually died away,
+until some heavy guns of the 4th Division were brought up close by and
+began banging away again at the Chivres heights and beyond. Quite
+unnecessary we thought them, for they not only made a hideous noise
+day and night, but the enemy began searching for them with Black
+Marias, some of which fell unpleasantly close to us.
+
+It was a pretty little valley with wooded hills, running northwards to
+the Aisne, and on our right was a big plateau with huge haystacks
+dotted about the corn-fields, which served as excellent observing
+stations for our artillery, of which by this time we had a vast mass.
+The other (north) bank of the Aisne was clearly visible from here--in
+fact from the top of the biggest haystack there was a regular panorama
+to be seen, from the twin towers of Soissons Cathedral on the left to
+the enemy's trenches above Vailly and beyond--a beautiful landscape
+typical of La Belle France, even to the rows of poplars in the
+distance, marking the Routes Nationales from Soissons to other places
+of distinction.
+
+Our business was to hold the line of the river by digging a line of
+trenches from Sermoise to near Venizel, and to cover them with a line
+of outposts day and night. This took about four companies, and the
+rest were engaged in digging another series of trenches on the
+plateau as a supporting line to the first, flanking the Jury Valley on
+one side and the ruins of Sermoise and Ciry on the other. This was
+really the first serious digging of trenches we had had during the
+campaign, and I remember, in the light of after experiences, how
+futile they must have been at the time, for they were nothing like as
+deep as we subsequently found to be necessary, nor had they any wire
+entanglements or obstacles worth mentioning. However, I expect that
+the French improved them greatly during the subsequent winter.
+
+Sermoise had been desperately shelled; there were no inhabitants left,
+and practically every house was a heap of ruins; but though our
+outposts in front of it could not have been seen through the woods,
+the Germans continued to shell it most viciously.
+
+On the right of Sermoise was the 13th Brigade, extended towards the
+3rd Division, which had crossed the river at Vailly and was holding
+the slopes above it. I believe the 13th had a poor time of it, for
+they were scattered over open ground and in small woods which were
+perpetually being shelled, and they had, besides, to find a battalion
+or so to help the 14th Brigade in Missy.
+
+On our left we joined hands with the 4th Division, most of whom were
+on the other bank, running from St Marguerite westwards; on their left
+were, I believe, the French, in and round Soissons.
+
+It was a nice time for the Artillery; for guns were there in large
+numbers, and they had some good targets to shoot at, over Vregny and
+Chivres way, in the shape of the enemy's batteries and lines, when
+they could be seen.
+
+The weather was mostly fine during that week, but there were two
+horridly cold days on which the rain came down in torrents, and did
+not help us in our entrenching tasks.
+
+At last came the day which I had been expecting for some time; and I
+was ordered to send the Dorsets across, to begin relieving the 14th
+Brigade near Missy.
+
+
+_Sept. 24th._
+
+They left on the 23rd, and on the 24th the Bedfords went over,
+preceded by the Brigade Staff at 2.30 P.M. The Norfolks had been sent
+off three days before to strengthen the 3rd Division, so I had only
+three battalions, and of these the Cheshires were very weak. However,
+the K.O.Y.L.I., and West Kents (of the 13th Brigade), already holding
+the eastern edge of Missy, were put under my orders, besides the 15th
+Brigade R.F.A. under Charles Ballard (a cousin of Colin's[9]), and a
+Howitzer Battery (61st) of Duffus's 8th Brigade.
+
+         [Footnote 9: Commanding the Norfolk's.]
+
+Weatherby and I walked across to Rolt's farm, across a series of big
+fields, with only an occasional bullet or shell pitching in the
+distance. Lord, what a poor place it was; Rolt and his staff had lived
+there for the last week, all lying together on straw in one or two
+rooms: it must have been most uncomfortable. The windows towards the
+north-east had been plugged up with sandbags, so that the rooms were
+very dark, and the floors were deep in caked mud and dirt of all
+sorts. The only attraction in the main room was a big open fireplace
+with a huge sort of witches' cauldron standing over the hot ashes, and
+this was most useful in providing us with hot baths later on.
+
+
+_Sept. 25th._
+
+Rolt explained his position and the places which the different
+battalions were occupying; but beyond an occasional bombardment of
+Missy and losses from German snipers in trees and elsewhere, he had
+not suffered overmuch. However, he and his Brigade were not sorry to
+leave, and leave they did at 4 A.M. next morning. The awkward part of
+it was that one could never go out in the daytime, as the road in
+front of the farm leading towards Missy was under perpetual rifle-fire
+directly any one showed up, and several holes had been made in the
+farmyard gate, windows, and walls, not to mention bits of the roof
+taken off by shrapnel. Why they did not shell the farm more I cannot
+conceive. Perhaps the enemy thought it was deserted, but whilst we
+were there no shells fell within a couple of hundred yards of it,
+though some were pitched well over it, and exploded 500 yards to the
+rear.
+
+I had gone to see the Dorsets and 13th Brigade in Missy on the evening
+before, and found them fairly well ensconced. The Dorsets were in
+Missy itself, with their headquarters in a really nice house with
+carpets and big shaded lamps, and a cellar full of excellent wine,
+and a nice garden all complete, and charming bedrooms--infinitely
+superior to our pig-sty of a farm. I seriously thought of turning them
+out and taking the house for the Brigade Staff, especially as our farm
+was not at all central but quite on the left of our line; but all our
+cable-lines converged on to the farm, and, in addition, the Dorset
+house would have been impossible to get out of for further control if
+Missy were shelled; so I settled to remain at the farm. The 13th
+Brigade--_i.e._, K.O.Y.L.I., and West Kents, were further on, the
+K.O.Y.L.I., on the eastern outskirts, and the West Kents in trenches
+beyond them. The K.O.S.B.'s were still further south-eastwards, and
+reached back to the river, but there were only one or two weak
+companies of them.
+
+Before dawn, and just after Rolt had left, I went to inspect the
+Bedfords' position, which was close to Rolt's farm, in the wood in
+front of it, and a beastly position it was. The wood was very damp,
+and when one tried to dig trenches one struck water only a foot below
+ground, so most of the line had to be made of breastworks. There were
+German trenches within 20 yards of our advanced trench there, and ours
+was remarkably badly situated and liable to be rushed at a moment's
+notice; yet it was impossible from the lie of the ground to dig
+suitable ones unless we retired altogether for 200 yards, which of
+course was out of the question. So we chanced it and stuck it out, and
+luckily were never attacked there. The men suffered there from damp
+and cold, I'm afraid, for every morning a wet and freezing fog arose
+in the wood, although the weather was clear elsewhere; but it could
+not be helped.
+
+We stayed in Rolt's farm and in the positions described for just a
+week. On one day, the 27th, we had a false alarm, for the enemy was
+reported as crossing the Condé bridge at 4 A.M. in large numbers, and
+everybody was at once on the _qui vive_, the Cheshires, who were in
+bivouac behind Rolt's farm, being sent back (by Sir C. Fergusson's
+orders) to Rupreux, the other side of the river. We rather doubted the
+news from the start, as the Condé bridge had, we knew, been blown up,
+and there was only one girder left, by which a few men at a time
+could conceivably have crossed; but the information was so
+circumstantial that it sounded possible. Eventually it turned out all
+to be owing to the heated imagination of a Hibernian patrol officer of
+the West Kents, and we turned in again.
+
+Missy was shelled particularly heavily that day from 10 to 6, and it
+was painful to watch great bouquets of 8-in. H.E. shells exploding in
+the village, and whole houses coming down with a crash; it seemed as
+though there must be frightfully heavy casualties, and I trembled in
+anticipation of the casualty return that night.
+
+But the Dorsets and K.O.Y.L.I. had dug themselves in so thoroughly in
+deep funk-holes and cellars that they did not have a single casualty;
+and literally the only men wounded were three K.O.S.B.'s and six West
+Kents outside the village in a trench, who were hit by about the last
+shell of the day; whilst a Bedford sniper, an excellent shot, one
+Sergeant Hunt, unfortunately got a bullet through two fingers of his
+right hand.
+
+During that week it was moderately quiet, with nothing like so many
+casualties as we had expected. Our supply waggons rolled up after dark
+right into Missy village and never lost a man, whilst the village was
+so thoroughly barricaded and strengthened and scientifically
+defended--mostly Dorset work--that we could have held out against any
+number. The sappers too, 17th Co. R.E., worked like Trojans under
+young Pottinger, a most plucky and capable youth wearing the weirdest
+of clothes--a short and filthy mackintosh, ragged coat and breeches,
+and a huge revolver.[10]
+
+         [Footnote 10: I grieve very much to see that he was fatally
+         wounded outside Ypres (15th May 1916).]
+
+We put Rolt's farm and the mill (between that and Missy) and La Bizaie
+farm in a thorough state of defence, and dug hundreds of yards of
+trenches. In fact we should have welcomed an infantry attack, but it
+never came--only artillery long bowls.
+
+In this the two howitzer batteries, especially Wilson's 61st, were
+splendid, and spotted and knocked out gun after gun of the enemy. He
+had an observing station halfway up the hill above Ste Marguerite, to
+which I went occasionally, with a grand view up to Vregny and Chivres;
+but even here, although the O.P. was beautifully concealed, one had
+to be careful not to show a finger or a cap, for the German snipers in
+the wood below were excellent shots, and there were some narrow
+escapes.
+
+The worst of it was that we could take very little exercise. I used to
+go out nearly every morning before sunrise to visit the posts, but was
+often surprised by the sun before I'd finished my rounds, and had to
+bolt back under fire; and after sunset I'd go round to Missy, &c., and
+visit the troops there. Otherwise, we could not go out at all in the
+daytime--it was much too "unhealthy,"--and what with numerous meals
+and little movement we grew disgustingly fat. I put in a lot of time
+drawing careful maps of the position.
+
+The farm itself was cleaned up from roof to cellar by Moulton-Barrett
+and his myrmidons, but it was not perfect at first. My bed was a mass
+of stale blood-stains from the wounded who had lain there before we
+came, and St André, whose bed was not of the cleanest and exuded an
+odd and unpleasing smell, routed about below it, and extracted the
+corpse of a hen, which must have been there for ten days at least.
+
+We cleaned up the farmyard too--it was perfectly foul when we
+came--but we could not show much even there, although the gate was
+always kept closed, for any sign of life was generally greeted with a
+bullet. A man got one through the knee when just outside it, and the
+gate itself had several holes through it. The Bedfords used to send a
+company at a time there for hot tea in the mornings and evenings, for
+they could not light fires where they were, and shivered accordingly.
+
+Many were the schemes for improving their wood--trenches; and at last
+Orlebar (killed later near Wulverghem), who had been a civil engineer,
+drew up an arrangement for flooding the wood and retiring to a more
+satisfactory line. But before it could be put into practice we got
+orders to retire, and for the 12th Brigade on our left to relieve us.
+
+This meant, of course, thinning the line terribly, and we were, with
+the 12th Brigade, somewhat nervous about it, for we did not know what
+it portended. But we got away during the night in perfect safety; for
+although there was a full moon there was also a thick mist, and the
+Germans never seemed to notice the movement, which required most
+careful staff work on the part of both Brigades.
+
+Cuthbert, seedy, was relieved by Hickie in command of the 13th Brigade
+to-day.
+
+
+_Oct. 2nd._
+
+By some time in the early morning of the 2nd October--1.40 A.M. it
+was, to be accurate--the whole Brigade had got back to Jury, and there
+we were told, as usual, that we were to rest and recuperate for a
+week; so we were not surprised at getting orders in the afternoon to
+move out at 6.30 P.M., our destination being a place called Droizy. I
+had caught a bad cold that day, due solely, I believe, to taking a
+"woolly" into wear for the first time; and the cold fog in which we
+marched did nothing to improve it. Above us was a bright clear moon,
+but the fog clung heavily to the valleys, and we marched in it most of
+the time. Desperate secrecy and quiet was observed, for we were
+evidently doing secret marching at night for some great object; though
+what it was we could only conjecture. But orders came that for the
+next few days we were to march at night, and during the daytime were
+to lie "doggo" and not show ourselves for fear of the enemy's
+aeroplanes.
+
+We reached Droizy at about 11 P.M. and there found the Norfolks, who
+had been taken away from us at Jury ten days before and attached to
+the 3rd Division on our right in the direction of Vailly. Much pleased
+we were to see them again. They had not suffered many casualties,
+though they had had a stiff time at their château of Chassemy, filling
+the gap between the 3rd and 5th Divisions, and had been attacked
+several times.
+
+The Dorsets in arriving here managed to take a wrong turn in the
+village and went careering off into the fog in the opposite direction
+to where their billets had been told off for them; but they were
+shortly retrieved and put on the right track. A brigade of artillery,
+by the way--I forget which--was attached to our brigade area that
+night, and distinguished itself next day by taking up a position in
+some open fields; which led to trouble.
+
+Our headquarters were at a curious old castle-farm belonging to one M.
+Choron, right in the middle of the village, and looked after by his
+father, a vice-admiral, late a director of naval construction, a nice
+old fellow, who had been brutally treated by the Germans in their
+retreat. There was a very old tower to the place, no surroundings
+except a farmyard, and a little old kitchen of most antique aspect, in
+which we had our meals.
+
+
+_Oct. 3rd._
+
+For most of the next day we had a good rest, and I stayed in bed to
+doctor my cold; but orders soon came to move on, and the Brigade
+started in the evening for Long Pont, a village about twelve miles
+off, getting there about 11. The Divisional Commander had kindly sent
+a motor-car for me; and Done, of the Norfolks (who was also rather
+seedy), and Tandy, R.A., a person of large knowledge and always
+interesting, accompanied me; so we arrived at Long Pont a long time
+ahead of the troops.
+
+A great big château was gleaming in the moonlight as we drove up, and
+I determined that we should spend the night there, in spite of the
+fact that the Divisional staff had also that intention. But when I
+introduced myself to the proprietor, a courteous and frail old
+gentleman, the Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac, he bewailed the fact
+that there was no room available, and this in spite of the fact that
+there were dozens of big windows outside, and long corridors inside,
+with heaps of rooms opening off them.
+
+A visit to the village in search of a lodging revealed its true
+state--_i.e._, that it was choke-full and dirty. But even then it
+required a good deal of persuasion before the old gentleman at last
+grasped the fact that I was not demanding twenty bedrooms, but only
+one or two empty rooms in which twenty men could lie for the night.
+Then he kindly produced mattresses and straw, and all was well. As for
+myself, he was good enough to lead me to the chamber of his late
+mother, a curious little room with a four-poster and locks and hasps
+and cupboards of Louis XIII. times, and bundles of magnificent old
+embroideries. As for washing apparatus--that also was almost of that
+date.
+
+Next day, being Sunday, we had Divine Service in the ruins of a grand
+old fourteenth-century abbey which adjoined the château--wrecked in
+the French Revolution and again in 1830. The park also was most
+attractive, rather of the Trianon surroundings style; but several
+brigades of artillery which had to be tucked away under the trees for
+fear of aeroplanes rather spoilt the turf, I fear. We did, of course,
+as little damage as we could, and after a friendly farewell to the old
+couple I drove off, again in a motor, with Henvey (A.P.M. of 5th
+Division), and preceded the Brigade to a place called Pontdron. Here I
+arrived at 10 P.M.; but the Brigade, which had been heavily held up by
+French troops on the march, did not turn up till nearly 4 A.M.
+
+Meanwhile I amused myself by getting the château ready. It had, of
+course, been occupied by Germans, and, equally of course, it had been
+ransacked and partly wrecked by them--though a good deal of furniture
+had been left. There were even candles and oil-lamps available, and of
+these we made full use, as well as of the bedrooms. I chose the lady's
+(Comtesse de Coupigny, with husband in the 21st Dragoons) bedroom. The
+counterpane was full of mud and sand, through some beastly German
+having slept on it without taking his boots off, but there was
+actually a satin coverlet left, and pillows. All the stud- and
+jewellery-cases had been opened and their contents stolen, and Madame
+de C.'s writing-table had also been forced open, and papers and the
+contents of the drawers scattered on the floor. Other unmentionable
+crimes had also been committed.
+
+Here we stayed for nearly two days, cleaning up the château, picking
+up a lot of stores in the shape of boots and caps and clothing of all
+sorts--not to mention some heavy mails from home,--and actually
+playing lawn-tennis. At least I played with Cadell two sets, each
+winning one, on a sand court with an improvised net, and racquets and
+balls somewhat the worse for wear, with a lovely big hot bath to
+follow.
+
+It was gradually borne in on us that we were going to be moved off by
+train to take part in a different theatre of the fighting altogether;
+but where we should find ourselves we had not the least idea. What
+caused us much joy to hear was that we had intercepted a German
+wireless message, two days after four out of the six Divisions had
+left the Aisne, to say that it was "all right, all six British
+Divisions were still on the Aisne!"
+
+
+_Oct. 6th._
+
+On the 6th we moved off at 2.15 P.M. and pushed on to Béthisy St
+Pierre, where the Bedfords and Norfolks and ourselves halted, whilst
+the Dorsets and Cheshires pushed on to Verberies, so as to save time
+for the entraining on the morrow. We got our time-table that night,
+and found that we were to entrain at four stations--_i.e._, Compiègne,
+Le Meux, Longueil Ste Marie, and Pont Sainte Maxence--on the
+following day. Very careful arrangements and calculations had to be
+made, so that the whole thing should go without a hitch, and we sat up
+for some time at the Convent, a sort of educational establishment
+where Brigade Headquarters was quartered, making out the orders.
+
+A "Brigade Area" command was allotted to me, including, besides my own
+Brigade, the 8th Brigade R.F.A. (howitzers), 59th Co. R.E., 15th Field
+Ambulance, and 4th Co. of 5th Div. Train.
+
+
+_Oct. 7th._
+
+Then off at 5 A.M. next morning, ourselves for Pont Ste Maxence.
+Major Vandeleur of the Scottish Rifles had just arrived to take
+command of the Cheshires, who had had nothing but a captain to command
+them since Lt.-Col. Boger was taken prisoner on the 24th August. He
+seemed to me a first-rate sensible fellow, but we were not destined to
+keep him for long.
+
+As the Brigade was still rather short of socks, I bought as many as I
+could here for the men, but not many were available. It was a nice
+little town with a blown-up stone bridge, but the French R.E. had
+already constructed another of wood.
+
+The French entraining orders are that all troops have to be at the
+station four blessed hours before the train starts, so as to give time
+to load up properly. We thus arrived at 8, and did not start till 12;
+but the actual entraining of the Cheshires--the only battalion with
+Brigade Headquarters--took only one hour and a quarter,--not bad at
+all considering that there were no ramps or decent accessories, and
+all the vehicles had to be man-handled into the trucks.
+
+There were two sorts of trains--one mostly for men, the other mostly
+for horses and vehicles; but although they were very long--thirty-four
+to forty cars if I remember right--they were not quite long enough for
+us, and several men and vehicles had to be left behind and brought on
+by other trains, resulting in slight incompleteness for a few days.
+
+We rapidly reached Creil, where we were to get our final orders. What
+on earth would our destination be? Rumour had it that we should go to
+Calais, or even to Bruges; but we had no such journey after all, for
+we were only intended to go to Abbeville as it turned out--rather a
+disappointment, as we hoped it would be further afield.
+
+Abbeville--a two hours' journey as a rule in peace time--was not
+reached till 8 P.M., although we were due there at 6.30 P.M. We halted
+by the way, for half an hour or more, at Amiens, where we made the
+acquaintance of a cheery crowd of "Fusiliers Marins," sturdy naval
+reservists from Normandy and Brittany, who covered themselves with
+glory later on amid the Belgian dunes.
+
+
+_Oct. 8th._
+
+We were not allowed to detrain at Abbeville till 9.30 P.M., as the
+platforms were already occupied by other troops. It was wretchedly
+cold and pitch-dark by the time we had got away from the station, and
+we marched in dead silence through the town at 12.30 A.M. Not a soul
+was in the streets, not even a policeman from whom to ask the way, and
+we nearly lost our direction twice.
+
+Our orders, which we received from Dunlop (5th Divisional staff), who
+was ensconced in a red-hot waiting-room in the goods yard, were to the
+effect that we were to billet near Neuilly, a village about six miles
+off. Done (Norfolks) had been sent ahead on the previous day to
+prepare the billets, but when we got near the village, after a cold
+march with a clear moon, Done was nowhere to be seen; and I nearly
+ordered the battalion to "doss down" in the road, as all the houses
+near were full of men of other brigades. However, Weatherby rode on,
+and eventually found Done in bed at the Mairie, he having been
+officially told that the Brigade would not be in till the following
+day. He had had a trying time, having been deposited by his train at a
+station about ten miles off, and having to make his way across country
+(riding) without a map and with very vague ideas of where he was to
+go. However, he had already told off billets for all the Brigade Area,
+and the troops trickled in independently by battalions and batteries,
+arriving by different trains and even at different stations, up to 10
+A.M. in the morning. I thought it showed distinctly good work on the
+part of all concerned that we concentrated our "Brigade Area" so
+quickly and without being deficient of anything except the few
+vehicles which had perforce been left behind for want of trucks; but
+they turned up all right a day or two after. The Brigade staff
+billeted at the château (as usual!), a strangely ruined-looking little
+place belonging to the Comte de Belleville, now at the wars. We turned
+up there about 4 A.M., and were guided thither by an old gardener, who
+thumped at the door and shouted loudly for "Madame." A woman soon
+appeared, and showed us most civilly to our rooms--very plain and bare
+but very clean. I could not quite make her out, for though she was
+dressed in the plainest of print clothes she did not talk like a
+servant--in fact she talked like a lady; so I put her down as some
+relation perhaps who was helping Mme de Belleville. But later in the
+morning I discovered that she was Madame la Comtesse herself, who had
+kindly risen at that unearthly hour to let us in, and that there were
+no servants in the establishment at all except the old gardener and a
+nurse.
+
+Our movements were still by way of being kept a dead secret, so we
+went off in the afternoon at 6 P.M., reinforced now by some divisional
+cavalry and divisional cyclists. The road, in the dark, was an
+extremely complicated one, as it involved about twenty turnings and
+movement along narrow lanes with high hedges and big trees, making it
+quite impossible to see for more than a few yards. So I took the
+guiding of the column into my own hands, and distributed the rest of
+my staff along it to see that the different units did not miss the way
+and kept well closed up. The result was good, and after 5 hours march,
+_viâ_ Agenvilliers and Gueschard, we reached the little village of
+Boufflers about 11 P.M. Here, at an odd little Nouvel Art "Château"--or
+rather small country house, empty of its owners--belonging to M.
+Sagebien, Préfet de Niort, we of the Brigade staff put up, the rest of
+the command being billeted in the tiny villages lining each bank of
+the tiny stream near--I have forgotten its name.
+
+
+_Oct. 9th._
+
+It was a nice sunny day on the morrow, and we got our orders by midday
+that we were to move off at 2 P.M. We wrote out Brigade orders and
+prepared to start, when suddenly post-haste came some orders
+cancelling these, and telling us that we were to drop our transport
+and be moved off at once in a series of motor-buses to a place called
+Diéval.
+
+And then began a lovely jumble, which resulted (not our own fault) in
+getting to Diéval rather later than we should have done had we trusted
+to our own unaided powers of locomotion.
+
+We moved off at 2 P.M., only taking blanket-waggons which were to dump
+blankets and supplies into the buses. These were to have turned up on
+the Haravesnes-Fillièvres road at 7 P.M.; in any case it would have
+been a complicated job getting into them in the dark, but they did not
+arrive till midnight, owing to some mechanical breakdowns in the
+column. The first lot of "camions" were to have taken six
+battalions--_i.e._, the 14th Brigade, which was just ahead of us, and
+half of the 15th Brigade. But when they did arrive, there were only
+enough for three and three-quarter battalions; so we bivouacked in
+more or less peace by the roadside until this bunch had moved off and
+returned from Diéval to fetch us. Horribly cold it was too, and we
+only kept moderately warm by pulling down several straw stacks--which
+we carefully put together again next day--and covering ourselves up in
+the straw.
+
+I had, by the way, an extremely narrow escape from being killed that
+night. I had been lying down just off the road, when it struck me that
+I should find out more of what was happening and going to happen if I
+went to the head of the camion column and interviewed the officer in
+charge. It was a tramp of a mile or more through the 14th Brigade, and
+I found out something of what I wanted; but when I returned to the
+bivouac I heard that, not two minutes after I had started, a motor-bus
+had swerved off the road and passed exactly over the place where my
+head had been. It very nearly went over St André and Moulton-Barrett,
+who were lying a few feet away, as it was. Of course the driver could
+not see any one lying down in the dark.
+
+
+_Oct. 10th._
+
+Next morning we had breakfast at 7.30 in the field, and still the
+buses had not returned. We waited in that place till 11 o'clock before
+they turned up, and then clambered into them as quickly as we
+could--twenty-two men to a bus, sixteen buses to 300 metres being the
+allowance. Even then we had to leave about two battalions behind for a
+third trip.
+
+I got into the first bus--a very fast one,--and reached Diéval some
+time before the rest of the Brigade; but there was no room in the town
+for another Brigade, as it was already full of the 14th.
+
+I went to see Rolt, and got into telephone communication with
+Divisional Headquarters on the subject, and they gave me leave to
+billet at La Thieuloye, one and a half miles back and off the road. So
+W. and I walked back and turned the buses off there just as they were
+arriving.
+
+A curious sight were the hundreds, or even thousands, of French
+civilians whom we met--all men of military age, whom the French Army
+was sending away westwards out of Lille; for it was likely that Lille
+would shortly be invested by the Germans, and they did not want this
+large batch of recruits and reservists to be interned in Germany.
+
+The rest of the Brigade--transport, horses, and all--rolled up by 6
+P.M., the horses being very tired after their long night march.
+
+From what I could gather German cavalry was trying to get round our
+north-west flank, whilst a big fight was going on at Arras. Lille,
+with a few Territorial battalions in it, was still holding out, but
+was surrounded by the enemy. Hence the hurry. But we ought to have
+plenty of troops now to keep the Germans off. It was very puzzling to
+make out what was happening, for we had not even the vaguest idea
+where the rest of our own Army was, let alone the French or Germans.
+Nobody seemed to know anything, except that we should probably soon be
+fighting again.
+
+Our quarters that night were a horrid little château--empty, damp, and
+desolate, in a deserted wilderness of a place, with no furniture
+except some straw, a mattress or two, and some packing-cases. So here
+we tried to make ourselves comfortable, and succeeded in lighting a
+fire and settling down. But it was beastly cold and damp.
+
+
+_Oct. 11th._
+
+We marched at 7.20 A.M. in a thick damp mist, myself being in charge
+of the right column of the Division, consisting of the Brigade, the
+15th Brigade R.F.A., 108th heavy battery (under Tyrrell, late Military
+Attaché at Constantinople), 17th R.E. Fd. Co., and cyclists (who, by
+the way, did not turn up, having been sent ahead). On the way to
+Béthune we were evidently coming into touch with the enemy, for I
+received orders to detach two companies (Cheshires) to our right flank
+at Fonquières Verquin to support the French. But they returned in the
+course of the afternoon, not being wanted.
+
+Outside Béthune we halted for some time, and were regaled with soup
+and pears by some hospitable ladies at luncheon-time. And then we
+received orders to push through the town and cover it along the bend
+of the canal and across the arc of it (from Essars due east) with
+three battalions, the Norfolks being sent away to the east to help the
+French about Annequin.
+
+It was perfectly flat country and difficult to defend, as it was so
+cut up by high hedges and suburbs; but I went round it in the
+afternoon, inspected it carefully, and posted the battalions. Towards
+evening, however, we had orders to fall back into the town--the French
+taking over the outposts--and billet there, our Headquarters being in
+the Grande Place--a large square with a curious old belfry in the
+middle--at a wine-shop, No. 34. Here we were well looked after, and
+had each of us a lovely hot bath, provided by a marvellous system of
+gas-jets which heated the water in about five minutes.
+
+
+_Oct. 12th._
+
+Off eastwards next morning at 8.30 A.M. through a freezing thick
+fog--so thick that one could not see twenty yards in front of one. The
+big open space in the town through which we passed was occupied with
+masses of Spahis, Moorish troops, and Algerians of all sorts, looking
+miserably cold in their scarlet jackets and white burnouses. The idea
+was that we were to push forward to Festubert and act as a pivot, with
+our right near the canal at Rue de l'Épinette, to the 3rd Division and
+the remainder of the Corps, which were swinging slowly round to their
+right so as eventually to face south-east and take La Bassée.
+
+At first my orders directed me to leave a gap between myself and the
+canal, the gap being filled by French troops; but shortly afterwards I
+was told that the Brigade was to hold from Festubert to the canal,
+relieving the French cavalry here, who were to hold on till we got
+there; and I paid a visit to the French cavalry General at Gorre to
+make sure that this would be done. The line was a horribly extended
+one--about two miles; and the prospect was not entrancing. However, I
+detached the Dorsets to move along the canal bank from Gorre and get
+in touch with the French. Very glad I was that I had done so, for they
+had severe fighting there that day against a strong force of the
+enemy, who tried to get in between us and the French.
+
+The Bedfords I ordered to hold Givenchy. The first rumour was that the
+French had evacuated Givenchy before we could come up, and that the
+Germans had occupied it; but this turned out not to be true after all.
+The Cheshires held Festubert, and the Norfolks were in Divisional
+reserve somewhere in rear.
+
+Meanwhile the Germans were attacking along the canal; but the Dorsets
+checked them most gallantly, losing poor Roper, killed in leading a
+charge, and a number of men. Lilly was wounded at the same time.
+
+The Headquarters passed most of that day--and an extremely busy Staff
+day it was--in a little pothouse in Festubert, and we slept in a tiny
+house put at our disposal by one Masse, gendarme, a gallant old
+soldier, who was the only representative of civilian authority in the
+place, the Maire having bolted, and his second in command being sick
+unto death in his own house.
+
+
+_Oct. 13th._
+
+The night went off fairly peaceably, but early next morning we had a
+nasty jar, for it was reported at 8 A.M. that Majors Vandeleur
+(commanding) and Young (2nd in command) of the Cheshires, together
+with a company and a half, had all been made prisoners or killed by
+the Germans about Rue d'Ouvert. The circumstantial story was that the
+early morning patrols had reported that Rue d'Ouvert (about a mile in
+front of Festubert) was free of Germans; that Vandeleur and Young had
+gone out with two platoons to make sure of it, had got into Rue
+d'Ouvert and found it empty at first, but had been subsequently fired
+at from the houses, surrounded by superior numbers, and had been taken
+prisoners after losing half their men. As for Shore's company, who
+were supporting them, they had disappeared completely and had
+apparently suffered the same fate.
+
+I immediately sent out scouts to find out the truth; but a very heavy
+fire was by this time opened on the remainder of the Cheshires, and
+the scouts could not get through. No further news even came in of
+Shore's company, but we could not believe that it had really been
+scuppered, or else there would have been much more firing, and we must
+have had some news of the disaster, if it had occurred.
+
+And so it was. Towards 3 o'clock we had news that the company was
+safely tucked away in some ditches, holding its front, and had had
+practically no losses, although it could not move out without
+attracting a heavy artillery fire.
+
+Not till long afterwards did I hear what had really happened to
+Vandeleur, and then it was from his own lips in January 1915, he
+having escaped from Crefeld just before Christmas. It appeared that he
+and Young had gone up with about half a company in support of some
+scouts who had reported Rue d'Ouvert clear. The half company did not,
+however, go into Rue d'Ouvert, for they were violently attacked by
+superior forces before they got there. They lost heavily, but
+succeeded in getting into a farmhouse, which they held all day against
+the enemy, hoping that we should move out and rescue them. But we, of
+course, had been told circumstantially that they were already
+prisoners at 8 A.M., so knew nothing of it and took no action.
+
+The enemy set the house on fire, and the gallant little garrison put
+it out with wine from the cellars, for they were cut off from the
+water-supply. Their numbers were reduced to about thirty, when they
+were again attacked in overwhelming force at 9 P.M., and many of the
+remainder (including Vandeleur) wounded. Then there was no choice, and
+they surrendered, being complimented on their gallantry by the German
+General in command at La Bassée. They were then sent off to Germany
+_viâ_ Douai, and were most abominably treated on the journey, wounded
+and all being pigged together in a filthy cattle-truck three inches
+deep in manure for thirty hours without food or water, insulted and
+kicked by the German escort and a brute of a lieutenant at Douai, and
+finally sent to Crefeld, where they were again ill-treated, starved,
+and left in tents with no covering--their greatcoats, and even their
+tunics, having been taken away,--nothing to lie on except damp and
+verminous straw, on muddy wet ground. Many men died of this treatment.
+The officers were treated somewhat better, but very harshly, and were
+never given enough to eat. Vandeleur's escape is "another story."
+
+That day was a terrible day: Givenchy was bombarded heavily by the
+Germans for hours, and rendered absolutely untenable. The Bedfords
+held out there gallantly, and stuck to one end of the village whilst
+the enemy was in possession of the other; but the heavy artillery was
+too much for them, and after losing about sixty casualties, many of
+them killed by falling houses, they gradually fell back to trenches in
+rear of the village. Griffith (commanding) and Macready (Adjutant)
+came to see me about 3 P.M., their clothes and faces a mass of white
+dust and plaster, and explained the situation; but there was nothing
+to be done, as we had no reserves, and had to stick it out as best we
+could.
+
+But by far the worst was what happened to the Dorsets. The account of
+what happened was rather confused, but it appears that, depending on
+their left being supported by the Bedfords at Givenchy, and their
+right by the K.O.S.B.'s (13th Brigade) on the south side of the Canal,
+they pushed forward for some distance and dug themselves roughly in,
+after driving the Germans back. Then suddenly their front trench was
+attacked from the left rear, and a heavy fire poured upon their men as
+they retired on their supports. They were also shot down from the
+embankment on the south of the Canal--from just where they had
+expected the K.O.S.B.'s to be.
+
+At one place about twenty Germans advanced and held up their hands.
+The Dorsets then advanced to take their surrender, when suddenly the
+twenty fell down flat, and about 100 more who had come close up under
+cover of the incident opened a heavy fire on our men and killed a
+lot. The battalion retired slowly, in admirable order, to Pont Fixe
+and the trenches covering it, and put a big factory there in a state
+of defence. But they had lost very heavily: thirteen officers killed
+(including Pitt and Davidson), wounded (including Bols and Rathbone),
+and missing; and 112 men killed and wounded, and 284 missing--most of
+these, I fear, being killed, for numbers of bodies were discovered
+later on between the lines. Bols was at first reported killed, but he
+only had a bullet through his back, narrowly missing the spine, and
+another through his arm. He fell unseen and had to be left behind when
+the battalion retired, and was found and stripped of all his kit by
+the Germans; but he recovered in the darkness, and managed to scramble
+and crawl back to the English lines. (From here he was sent to London,
+arriving there only two days later.)
+
+We also lost two guns there, which had been brought up from the 15th
+R.F.A. Brigade and could not be got away in time. A gallant attempt
+was made by volunteers to recover them next day, but it was useless
+and only cost more lives.
+
+The Dorsets as well as the Bedfords also lost one of their
+machine-guns. Altogether it was a damnable day, and we on the staff
+were also pretty well exhausted by the amount of staff work and
+telegrams and messages going through all day. The 2nd Devons (or
+rather two companies of them) were sent to the assistance of the
+Dorsets in the evening; but it was a difficult thing to carry out, as
+the banks of the Canal, along which they had to go, were soft and
+boggy, and they had much difficulty in getting their S.A.A. carts
+along.
+
+The Brigade Headquarters withdrew in the evening from Festubert to a
+foul big farm about half a mile back. This, from a particularly
+offensive big cesspool in the middle of the yard, we labelled Stink
+Farm (it had 1897 in big red tiles on the roof). It was a beastly
+place, and W. and I had to sleep in a tiny room on a couple of beds
+which had not seen clean mattresses or coverings for certainly ten
+years or more. There were, however, plenty of barns and clean straw
+for the men.
+
+
+_Oct. 14th._
+
+The general idea was to continue to push forward, with our right on
+the Canal, to let the 3rd Division swing round. But though we did our
+best, we could not get forward as long as the 13th Brigade on our
+right, on the other side of the Canal, were held up--for if we
+advanced that would merely mean getting our right flank exposed and
+enfiladed by the enemy.
+
+[Illustration: Givenchy-Violaines.]
+
+Two more companies of the Devons arrived, to support the remains of
+the Dorsets, from the 14th Brigade, the battalion being under
+Lieutenant-Colonel Gloster. But we could not do any good, and except
+for an immense number of messages we did little all day. The enemy was
+in some strength in our front, but did not attack.
+
+There was very heavy firing at 6.30 P.M. and again at 9 P.M. all along
+our line of outposts, and we thought at first it was a night attack;
+but it was only a case of false alarm on the part of the Dorsets on
+the right and the 14th Brigade on our left.
+
+I forgot to mention that we were told to advance with the 13th Brigade
+at 3 P.M., but the latter were held up, and relieved in the evening by
+the 58th French Brigade. What immediately happened to the 13th I do
+not remember; but they were eventually sent round on to the left of
+the 11th Brigade, I believe.
+
+
+_Oct. 15th._
+
+The French were meanwhile heavily attacking Vermelles, and we were to
+be ready to advance alongside them if they succeeded. I sent
+Moulton-Barrett to the Canal to receive the message from the French
+through Chapman (our Divisional Intelligence officer) when it came.
+But it never came, for the French made no progress; so we did nothing
+except dig proper trenches and strengthen our positions.
+
+In the evening came in reports that the Germans were withdrawing and
+evacuating posts in our front. The remains of the Dorsets were
+withdrawn into reserve, and the Devons came under my orders in their
+place.
+
+
+_Oct. 16th._
+
+There was a dripping thick mist nearly all day, and we pushed on under
+its cover--the Bedfords into Givenchy (losing poor Rendall, killed by
+the retiring Germans), and the Norfolks into Rue d'Ouvert and St
+Roch, whilst the Devons, ordered to make the footbridge to Canteleux
+road "good," pushed on in the afternoon. But it got so absolutely
+pitch-dark that it was impossible to make a cohesive advance; so after
+getting close to the footbridge and coming under a heavy fire thence,
+the Devons fell back again, all the more justified since Canteleux was
+reported still occupied by the enemy on their left flank. A vast
+amount of staff work all day. We returned to the Festubert pothouse in
+the evening.
+
+
+_Oct. 17th._
+
+The first question was, Was Canteleux occupied by the enemy?
+Preparations were made to shell it at 6 A.M., but figures were seen
+strolling about there which did not look very German. Shortly
+afterwards the Norfolks reported that they had about sixty men in it
+who had penetrated thither during the night. The Bedfords at first
+were still convinced that the men in Canteleux were German, but we
+disabused them as soon as we heard the truth for certain, and for a
+change shelled some farms to our front whence hostile machine-gun fire
+was proceeding, setting one on fire.
+
+In the afternoon we were ordered to advance to the line:
+bridge--Canteleux--Violaines; and again the Devons pushed on, slowly,
+in connection with the French, but were again obliged to retire from
+the vicinity of the bridge by heavy fire, and took up their position
+in the advanced position that the Dorsets had occupied on the 13th.
+
+The Cheshires, under the three gallant captains, Shore, Mahony, and
+Rich, meanwhile worked well forward and reported their arrival at
+Violaines at 4 P.M., having reached it _viâ_ Rue du Marais.
+
+A desperate amount of work again, 5 A.M. to 11 P.M. I only got out of
+the pothouse for twenty minutes all day, and that was at 5 P.M.
+
+Thus we had pushed forward some way on our line by the evening, and
+the 14th Brigade was in touch with the Cheshires and moving slowly
+forward--but very slowly.
+
+
+_Oct. 18th._
+
+Next day the usual "general advance" was ordered for 6 A.M., and the
+artillery loosed off a lot of shells on to where we thought the enemy
+were. But it was really quite useless our advancing on the right
+unless the French did also, for the Germans held the south bank of
+the Canal in front of the latter, and any advance by us merely exposed
+our right flank to a terrible enfilade fire.
+
+Major-General Morland, who had succeeded Sir C. Fergusson in command
+of the Division, now turned up, and to him I explained these things.
+The Railway Triangle was the worst place, for it was heavily held by
+Germans, who had dug themselves in behind stockades of rails and
+trucks and defied even our howitzers; but it was difficult, very
+difficult, for the latter to make good practice at them here, as the
+country was so flat, yet so cut up with high trees and fences that it
+was almost impossible to get an observing station or to see what one
+was firing at.
+
+I shifted Brigade Headquarters about 1 P.M. to a nice little house
+with garden, close behind the cross-roads half a mile west of
+Givenchy, and here we stayed for four unpleasant days. We had to be
+very careful, after dark, not to show a light of any sort towards the
+enemy, and had to plaster up the windows with blankets and things
+which every now and then came down with a run, causing rapid
+transition to total darkness and discomfort. But it was a good little
+place on the whole, and quite decently furnished.
+
+In the afternoon I went to observe what I could from Givenchy. The
+village was already in ruins, with most of the church blown down,
+whilst the only place to observe from was from between the rafters of
+a barn on the eastern outskirts--most of the roof having been carried
+away by shrapnel. There was not much to see; for although Givenchy
+stood on the only little rise in the country, a tree in one direction
+and a chapel in the other blocked most of the view towards La Bassée.
+In front of us lay the Bedford trenches, with the Devons on their
+right and the French on their right again. One could just see the farm
+buildings of Canteleux, and the spires of part of La Bassée, but St
+Roch was invisible, and so were the Norfolk trenches.
+
+Later on I went to interview Gloster, commanding the Devons; but I did
+not find him. With a French orderly and a Devon officer I rode through
+Pont Fixe and turned to the left along the Canal. Then we had to
+dismount at a bend of the Canal, which brought us into view of the
+enemy, and we bolted across bullet-swept ground into the right of the
+Devon trenches. Here I waited about an hour; but Gloster did not turn
+up, and meanwhile a heavy hostile fusillade went on which effectually
+prevented my putting my nose above ground. I don't know whether they
+had spotted me going into that trench, but I do know the parapet
+received an unfair share of bullets.
+
+When it was nearly dark I cleared out and went to the Canal and
+whistled for my mare (I had been riding Squeaky). The French orderly
+turned up leading her, but his own horse had gone,--as he ruefully
+explained, "à cause d'un obus qui a éclaté tout près dans l'eau." He
+was a good youth: he had stuck to my mare and let his own go, as he
+could not manage both. However, virtue was rewarded, and he found his
+horse peacefully grazing in the outskirts of Pont Fixe.
+
+When I reached Headquarters I found Gloster there, for he had come to
+look for me; so I had the required interview with him and settled
+about a rearrangement of his trenches.
+
+
+_Oct. 19th._
+
+We actually had a quiet night--six and a half hours' sleep without
+being disturbed at all.
+
+[Illustration: The Footbridge over the Canal.]
+
+An attack was ordered for 7 A.M. in conjunction with the French. But
+the French were not ready at that hour. I was told that the 6th
+battalion of the 295th Regiment, which had now been brought over to
+the north of the Canal, was to be under my orders; but hardly had I
+heard this when I received a message at 9.25 A.M. that the French were
+going to attack at 9.30. At noon they did so, and very pluckily. It
+was, however, impossible to assist them, for they (the 6/295) ran
+forward and attacked the Canal and footbridge obliquely, completely
+masking any action possible by the Devons They lost heavily, I fear,
+but it really was not our fault, though at one time they seemed to
+think it was.
+
+I went to talk to Lieut.-Col. Perron, who commanded the detachment
+(6/295 and a few Chasseurs à Cheval), in the afternoon; but the
+interview did not enlighten me very much. The commander of the 6/295,
+however, one Baron d'Oullenbourg, was most intelligent, and a gallant
+fellow with plenty of _nous_. He was badly wounded two days afterwards
+in another attempt.
+
+I was so much struck with the plucky way in which the 6/295 pushed on
+under heavy fire that I sent a complimentary note both to the
+battalion and to General Joubert, commanding the 58th Brigade on the
+other side of the Canal--for the battalion belonged (to start with) to
+his brigade. They published both my notes in the _Ordre du Jour_ of
+the Division, and d'Oullenbourg received a Légion d'Honneur in
+consequence (so St André told me). Anyway, he thoroughly deserved it.
+
+Meanwhile we heard that the Cheshires, Manchesters, and K.O.S.B.'s
+were all held up near Violaines by a beastly sugar factory which the
+Germans occupied on the road north of La Bassée, and they could not
+get on at all.
+
+Generals Morland and Franklin turned up in the afternoon. We were
+perpetually being urged to advance and attack, but how could we? There
+was nothing to attack in front of us except La Bassée, a couple of
+miles off, and we could not advance a yard in that direction without
+exposing our right flank to a deadly enfilade fire from across the
+Canal, for the Germans were still strongly holding that infernal
+railway triangle, and nothing availed to get them out of it.[11]
+General Morland wisely, therefore, ordered me not to advance in force.
+
+         [Footnote 11: They are still there (August 1917)!]
+
+Later on we heard that the Cheshires had made a gain of 800 yards, but
+had got so extended that they asked for a Bedford company to support
+them, and this I sent.
+
+In the evening I went to examine a French 75 mm. battery, and had the
+whole thing explained to me. The gun is simply marvellous, slides
+horizontally on its own axle, never budges however much it fires, and
+has all sorts of patent dodges besides: but it is no use painting the
+lily!
+
+Wilson, of the 61st Howitzers, was, by the way, a little aggrieved by
+this French battery coming and taking up its position close alongside
+him and invading his observing stations. The captain also got on his
+nerves, for he was somewhat excitable, and his shells were numerous
+that burst prematurely, whilst a house only 100 yards off, which
+should have been well under the trajectory of his shells, was several
+times hit by them. However, he doubtless caused much damage to the
+enemy.
+
+On the 20th and 21st the Germans kept us fairly busy with threatened
+attacks, especially on the Cheshires at Violaines; but nothing
+definite happened, although we were kept on the perpetual _qui vive_,
+and could not relieve our feelings by attacking, for we had orders to
+"consolidate our position."
+
+By this time we occupied a line as follows:--
+
+  Canal from crossed swords (_v._ map) to 300 yards North (French).
+  Thence to Canteleux (excl.) (Devons).
+  Canteleux to Pt. 21[12](Norfolks).
+  Pt. 21 to Violaines (Do. patrols).
+  Violaines (Cheshires and one company Bedfords).
+  Givenchy, in reserve (three companies Bedfords).
+
+         [Footnote 12: Nearly halfway to Violaines.]
+
+On the evening of the 21st there was serious news on our left.
+Although the Cheshires were still in occupation of Violaines, it
+looked as if they might have to retire from it very soon, as the right
+of the 14th Brigade, on the Cheshires' left, was being driven back.
+Violaines, however, was very important, and to let the Germans get a
+footing here was most dangerous. So, with General Morland's sanction,
+and after communicating with the Cheshires, who cheerily said they
+could hold out all right, I told the Cheshires to stick to Violaines,
+throwing their left flank back in case the line to their left was
+penetrated.
+
+
+_Oct. 22nd._
+
+A very anxious day ensued. At 6 A.M. the Cheshires were invaded in
+front and flank by a surprise attack of the enemy in great force, and
+had to fall back towards Rue du Marais, losing heavily. Some Dorsets
+(who had been for the last three days at Stink Farm and were sent as
+a support to the 13th Brigade) were supporting them, but they could
+not do much, and they also lost a number of men. From what I could
+gather, the Cheshires had been digging in the dark round the southern
+and eastern flank of the village, and had their sentries out, but
+apparently not quite far enough out for such thick weather, and when
+the Germans appeared rushing through the fog they were taken at a
+disadvantage, for they had cast their equipment in order to dig, and
+the covering party was quickly cut down.
+
+This, at all events, was what I made out from the surviving officers,
+of whom one, 2nd Lieut. Pogson, was the senior. Mahony and Rich,
+fighting gallantly, had been killed, and Shore wounded and taken
+prisoner. About 200 men were also killed and wounded out of about 600,
+and a good many of the Bedfords with them, including poor Coventry
+(late Transport officer) killed.
+
+At 8.30 A.M. I was ordered to send my three companies of Bedfords from
+Givenchy to St Roch, to support the 13th Brigade, who were hanging on
+about Rue du Marais. But, besides thus depriving me of my only
+reserve, these companies had great difficulty in getting to their
+places, as the country over which they had to pass was heavily shelled
+by the enemy, and they took a long time getting there.
+
+I heard that the combined 13th and 14th Brigades were to make a
+counter-attack on Rue du Marais in the afternoon, and this was
+certainly attempted. But owing to the mix-up of their battalions in
+the enclosed country it was impossible to arrange a combined movement
+under the heavy fire, and it was eventually given up--merely confused
+fighting taking place during the afternoon. It was, however,
+sufficient to stop the Germans for the time being. One reason for the
+difficulty--as I afterwards heard--was that the officer temporarily
+commanding the 13th Brigade had, by some mischance, got stuck right in
+the firing line with his staff and signal section, and could not be
+got at, nor could he move himself or issue orders,--a useful though
+unhappy warning to Brigadiers.
+
+I moved with the Brigade Staff from my house at Givenchy to another
+house about 600 yards west of Festubert, so as to be more behind the
+centre of my Brigade.
+
+During the night, in pursuance of orders from the Division, we fell
+back on to a somewhat undefined line of defence covering the front of
+Festubert-Givenchy, and proceeded to dig ourselves in along a line
+entirely in the open fields, and very visible, I fear, to the enemy.
+Some battalions could not get sufficient tools, and were not half dug
+in by daylight. However, the Germans must have suffered considerably
+themselves, for they did not attack us in the morning, although their
+Field Artillery kept up a heavy shrapnel fire. The West Ridings (13th
+Brigade) were put under my orders.
+
+
+_Oct. 23rd._
+
+We were shelled all the morning, but had no serious casualties.
+
+My Brigade now consisted of the Devons (14th Brigade), West Ridings
+(13th Brigade), and the Norfolks (15th Brigade). The remains of the
+Cheshires and Dorsets were withdrawn and put into the Rue de Béthune
+hamlet in rear of Festubert, under orders of the 13th Brigade as their
+reserve, whilst the Bedfords were attached to, I think, the 14th
+Brigade, somewhere Quinque Rue way. It was a glorious jumble, and what
+happened to the rest of the 13th Brigade I do not know. I believe
+they combined in some way with the 14th, but I know that two days
+afterwards the Brigadier was left with only one fighting battalion,
+the West Kents, I think.
+
+However, my command was shortly increased considerably by the arrival
+of Commandant Blanchard with the 2nd Battalion of the 70th Infanterie
+de Ligne (Regulars). Blanchard was a good solid man, and I put him to
+hold Givenchy in conjunction with the Devons, who were now occupying
+the Bedford trenches there. The French on the right of the 70th gave
+us acute reason for anxiety by retiring calmly from their trenches
+when they were shelled; but it was only their way, for half an hour
+afterwards they trotted back into them quite happily, much to the
+relief of the Devons and their exposed flank.
+
+I rode down to Givenchy in the afternoon to see Blanchard and make
+arrangements for holding the village, and here I met Williams (now
+commanding the Devons since his C.O., Gloster, had been hit two days
+before, not very seriously) and talked matters over with him.
+
+We expected a night attack, and were certainly not in a strong
+position to resist it. Had we been driven in we should have been
+jammed into the swamp in rear, between the Canal and the
+Gorre-Festubert road, which would have been extremely unpleasant. So I
+issued orders to hold tight at all costs, besides secret orders to
+certain C.O.'s as to what they were to do if we were badly mauled and
+had to fall back.
+
+Luckily no attack took place, and we had a fairly quiet night.
+
+
+_Oct. 24th._
+
+At 7 A.M. I received the encouraging news (from the 2nd corps) that we
+were going to be heavily attacked to-day, and what certainly gave
+colour to it was the arrival of a large number of Black Marias during
+breakfast, which exploded within an unpleasantly narrow radius of our
+house. It is quite conceivable that the position of our Headquarters
+had been given away by some spy. Anyhow, it looked like it, and we
+decamped at 9.30 to a cottage half a mile back. Perhaps it is as well
+that we did so, for at 9.40 a big shell arrived through the roof and
+exploded in my late bedroom, tearing out the corner of the house wall
+and wrecking the stable; whilst nearly at the same moment another
+shell completely wrecked the house just opposite, where Ballard
+(commanding 15th Brigade R.F.A.) had been spending the night. He also
+had cleared out about an hour before.
+
+Before I went I sent my senior officer, Ballard (Norfolks), down to
+Givenchy to take local command over the French and English troops
+there, and am glad I did so, for it introduced unity of command and
+satisfaction. The Devons down there were meanwhile getting exhausted
+after their long spell in the trenches; but I had no troops to relieve
+them with, nor any reserve.
+
+The "attack" did not materialize, and we had a fairly quiet afternoon,
+the Germans limiting their activities to digging themselves in and
+sniping perpetually.
+
+It was an extraordinarily warm day, and we sat in the cottage with
+windows and doors wide open till long after dark. An attack was made
+about 10 P.M. on the French the other side of the Canal, but it was
+too far off to interest us much.
+
+
+_Oct. 25th._
+
+Another lovely warm day of Indian summer. Also of many shells, some
+falling pretty close to our cottage. The Germans were seen making
+splendid use of the folds in the ground for driving saps and
+connecting up their heads into trenches getting nearer and nearer to
+our lines. And we could do nothing but shell them and snipe them as
+best we could, but with little result, for artillery observation-posts
+were almost impossible, and snap-shooting at an occasional head or
+shovel appearing above ground produced but small results.
+
+Three French batteries arrived during the morning and were put under
+Blanchard's orders in the swampy wood behind Givenchy. Some spasmodic
+attacks occurred on the trenches east of the village, and the French
+lost rather heavily; for the Germans got into some of their evacuated
+trenches and killed the wounded there. A speedy counter-attack,
+however, drove them out again. The Devons lost two officers (Besley
+and Quick) and ten men killed and thirty-eight wounded.
+
+At 4.50 P.M. I got a message saying large columns of the enemy had
+been seen by the French issuing from La Bassée and Violaines, and I
+was ordered peremptorily to be ready to counter-attack at once, with
+my whole force if required.
+
+Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien arrived alone an hour or so afterwards, and I
+pointed out our situation to him; he entirely concurred in my view,
+and heartened me up considerably by quite recognising the state of
+affairs and congratulating us, and especially the Devons, on sticking
+it out so well.
+
+Maynard (Major in the Devons) arrived about midnight and took over
+command of the battalion, he having been on the staff of the 2nd
+Corps.
+
+
+_Oct. 26th._
+
+Next morning I rode out again to Givenchy to see Ballard and my fresh
+French troops; for the 6/285th (Captain Gigot), the 5/290th
+(Commandant Ferracci--a typical little Corsican and a good soldier),
+and a squadron of Chasseurs à Cheval had arrived to strengthen us,
+besides the three batteries aforesaid (under Commandant Menuan). The
+2/70th (now under Captain de Ferron) and the 6/295th (lately under
+Baron d'Oullenbourg, now wounded; I have, I fear, forgotten his
+successor's name) were, of course, also under me; so I had a nice
+little command now of three English and four French battalions, four
+English and three French batteries, and a French squadron. St André as
+liaison officer was of the greatest possible use to me, being both
+tactful and suggestive as to dealing with my new command, and keeping
+up splendid communication.
+
+I then relieved the Devons by the 6/295th--and well they deserved it
+after their bad time for the last week,--and put the 296th in reserve
+at various points during the night, sending the Devons as reserve to
+the Norfolks and West Ridings at Les Plantins, between Givenchy and
+Festubert.
+
+There was practically no shelling at all during the whole day--I
+wonder why; nor did the enemy make any movement. But we heard of their
+bringing big guns on to the rising ground at Billy and Haisnes, to the
+south of La Bassée, and tried to "find" them with our howitzers and
+heavy artillery battery.
+
+
+_Oct. 27th._
+
+The reliefs were not finished till 2.30 A.M.--largely owing to some
+idiots, French or English, loosing off their rifles as they left the
+trench, which brought a heavy fire on us from the enemy and delayed
+matters for a long time. It was also not easy--although we had made
+elaborate and detailed arrangements--to relieve British by French
+troops in pitch darkness, for, interpreters being scarce, they could
+not understand each other when they met.
+
+We heard that there was an attack on the 14th Brigade on our left
+about 1 A.M., and that 200 Germans had got in behind the K.O.Y.L.I.
+and were still there; what happened to them I do not know. The 7th
+Brigade, on the left of the 14th, had also been driven in, and the
+14th Brigade received orders to make a counter-attack in the evening,
+with the Devons held ready to help them if required.
+
+During the day one Captain Pigeonne and his batch of gendarmerie
+arrived, with orders to clear Festubert of its civilian inhabitants.
+This was necessary, as the Germans were pretty close up to it and
+there were undoubtedly spies, and even snipers were reported in and
+about the village. But hardly any people were found except the lunatic
+inhabitants of a small asylum, together with their staff, who had
+stayed there, both men and women, most devotedly for the last week,
+with practically nothing to eat in the whole place. The inhabitants
+were ordered to clear out, and some of them did. But others hid, and
+yet others crept back again by night, so the result was practically
+_nil_. One poor old woman was hunted out three times, but she returned
+yet once more, piteously saying that she had nowhere to go to, and
+wanted to die in her own house.
+
+During the evening General Joubert, commanding the 58th Brigade,
+arrived with orders to take over command of all French troops north of
+the Canal. So my international command had not lasted long. But they
+sent me a liaison N.C.O. of their artillery--a most intelligent man
+with a yellow beard--and I was still allowed to call on the French
+batteries for assistance whenever I needed them.
+
+
+_Oct. 28th._
+
+Joubert was a typical French General, white-moustached, short,
+courteous, gallant, and altogether charming and practical, and I went
+again to see and consult him next morning at Givenchy, cantering
+through the swampy woods at the back, where most of our seven
+batteries were posted under excellent cover. I also, before going to
+bid him adieu, had written him what I thought was a charming letter,
+congratulating him on the "galanterie de ses troupes." Alas, St André
+was out when I wrote the letter, or probably I should have expressed
+it differently; I hear it was subsequently published in orders, but I
+trust it was edited first!
+
+The night had been extraordinarily quiet, and after my visit to
+Joubert the situation was so peaceful that I walked back a bit to
+inspect a third line of trenches that were being dug by civilians and
+spare troops under R.E. supervision. I was not much edified at the
+portion that the 15th Brigade had been told off to, for it was within
+150 yards of a bunch of houses in front, under cover of which the
+Germans could have come up quite close; and if they had put a
+selection of their snipers into them, we should have had a poor time.
+But I quite allow that I was at a loss, owing to the awkward ground,
+to suggest anything better. We had also a mile of front to cover, with
+three weak battalions and a difficult line, whilst the four French
+battalions had been allotted altogether only half a mile of excellent
+natural trenches behind the Canal, or rather behind a broad
+water-ditch which ran into the Canal.
+
+The 2nd Manchesters, under Strickland,[13] late of the Norfolks, a
+first-rate battalion just arrived from India, had now been attached to
+the 14th Brigade--where their own 1st battalion were also--and had had
+very heavy fighting during the last few days just north of Festubert.
+The Devons were therefore sent to relieve them,--rather rough on them
+after barely forty-eight hours out of the trenches.
+
+         [Footnote 13: Who had been with me as a Major in Belfast--a
+         most capable officer, now (1917) commanding a Division.]
+
+
+_Oct. 29th._
+
+We had an extraordinarily quiet night--a full eight hours' sleep
+without any disturbance,--and we were consequently feeling much
+fitter. But the ball began full early by a violent attack on the
+Devons at dawn, and another at 7 on the 2nd Manchesters, both hard
+pressed, but both repulsed--the Manchesters, who were short of
+ammunition, getting well in with the bayonet.
+
+I sent one company of the Norfolks to support the Devons, but I could
+barely afford even that. The enemy was entrenching within 200 to 400
+yards of all my battalions, pushing out saps from their trenches along
+the ditches and folds of the ground, and connecting up their heads in
+a most ingenious and hidden manner. The French were not attacked, so
+they sent a couple of companies at my request to Les Plantins, behind
+the Norfolks. However, after another attack between 9 and 10 A.M. the
+Germans dried up for the present.
+
+We knew that the Indian Divisions from Lahore and Meerut were shortly
+coming to strengthen this part of the line, and I was therefore not
+surprised to hear that Macbean, commanding one of their Brigades,
+wanted to see Martyn[14] and me about the relief of our respective
+Brigades. This was distinctly satisfactory from our point of view; but
+I was not entirely happy, for I was very doubtful how far these
+untried Indian troops would stand up to what was evidently going to be
+a very difficult situation if the Germans went on attacking as they
+had been doing. Fresh troops, it is true. But they had had no
+experience of this sort of fighting, nor of trenches, nor of cold wet
+weather: and they were going to have all three.
+
+         [Footnote 14: Temporarily commanding 13th Brigade.]
+
+The relief of the West Ridings by the Black Watch battalion of the
+Indian Division was carried out on the same evening. The relief of the
+Bedfords, Cheshires, and Dorsets was also arranged for, but the
+Norfolks could not be relieved till the morrow. The 2nd Manchesters
+were relieved, however, by the 2/8th Gurkhas, who looked very much out
+of place with their big hats and tiny, sturdy Mongolian physique.
+
+
+_Oct. 30th._
+
+After a very quiet night--except for French guns which started
+shelling heavily about 4 A.M., and kept us awake till daylight--we had
+another unpleasant day.
+
+There were repeated attacks on the Devons and Gurkhas all day, and at
+3 P.M. Maynard reported that the Gurkhas had lost all their British
+officers and were being driven out of their trenches, and that support
+was badly wanted.
+
+The first story about the Gurkhas was that they had come to an end of
+their ammunition and were fighting with the bayonet, but were driven
+back by superior numbers. But it turned out later that they lost very
+heavily from shell fire, and, the trenches being too deep for the
+little men, they could produce no effect with their rifles, and could
+see nothing. So, having lost all their English officers, and being
+bewildered by the heavy fire and totally new conditions, and having no
+chance of getting in with the bayonet, they cleared out one by one, so
+as to get together into formation. The Devons' last man was in the
+firing line by this time, and so two Bedford companies and the West
+Ridings, no longer under my command, were ordered to retake some
+Gurkha trenches, into which the Germans had already penetrated,
+alongside ours.
+
+It was frightfully difficult to make out what was happening, as not
+only were our troops in process of being relieved by the Indians, but
+there was very heavy fire as well on all our supports and on the roads
+leading up to the trenches, so that communication was all but
+impossible, most telephone wires having been broken long ago and found
+impossible to repair under such fire.
+
+The 58th (Wilde's) Rifles had arrived, and were by way of relieving
+the Norfolks; but owing to this attack they were deflected in rear of
+the Devons. Then we were called on to send two companies to support
+the Devons. But, considering that they now had already two Bedford
+companies, four of West Ridings, and four of the 58th Rifles, to
+support them in enclosed country where they could hardly move, and
+that to weaken my already very thin line of Norfolks and Black Watch
+meant leaving me no supports at all, I respectfully protested, and
+gained my point.
+
+Elaborate arrangements were made by the authorities for retaking the
+lost trenches by the Bedfords, &c., at nightfall; then the movement
+was deferred till 1.30 A.M., and then till dawn; but nothing happened
+at all during the night except occasional fire-bursts, which sounded
+like general attacks.
+
+I might mention that during these "quiet" nights there were numerous
+fire-bursts at intervals, which used to bring me out of, or rather
+off, my bed three or four times a night, for the sentry on our cottage
+had strict orders to call me in case anything alarming occurred in our
+front. But they always slacked off after 5 or 10 minutes of my
+waiting in the cold, wet, muddy road, and I crept to bed again till
+the next one woke me.
+
+It was a tiny cottage that we lived in during those days, belonging to
+a poor woman who, with her child, had been turned out by some one else
+and sent to another house half a mile off. She was perpetually coming
+back and weeping to be readmitted, but there really was not room, and
+we had to soothe her with promises, and eventually with cash in order
+to get rid of her. After all, she was living with her friends, though
+doubtless they were a bit crowded, and she returned to her cottage
+when we left it.
+
+Everything in that country was mud, thick clay mud, black and greasy,
+and the country flat and hideous. And it rained perpetually and was
+getting beastly cold. Altogether it was a nightmare of a place, even
+without the fighting thrown in, and we prayed to be delivered from it,
+and go and fight somewhere else.
+
+Our prayers were destined to be answered, for on this morning we were
+ordered, in spite of the desultory fighting going on, to hand over
+to Macbean's Brigade and go north. This only meant the Brigade Staff,
+two companies Bedfords, and about 300 Cheshires and 300 Dorsets who
+had been in reserve to the 14th Brigade; but they were not in a very
+happy condition, for they had hardly any officers left and had been
+extremely uncomfortable for the last week, being hauled out of their
+barns on most nights and made to sleep in the wet open as supports in
+case of attack.
+
+Our orders were, together with the 15th R.F.A. Brigade, to move north
+and concentrate near Strazeele and Pradelles, where we were to go into
+rest for five or six days.
+
+I knew those rests.
+
+So after handing over to Macbean at 10.30 A.M., and talking to General
+Anderson (commanding the Indian Division) and the Maharajah of
+Bikanir,[15] we made devoutly thankful tracks in the direction of
+Locon and Merville.
+
+         [Footnote 15: I was struck with his wonderful command of
+         English--not the trace of any accent.]
+
+We were but a small part of the 15th Brigade after all who left the
+environs of Festubert on that morning--only Headquarters, a very weak
+battalion of Cheshires--not more than 300 all told--and two companies
+of Bedfords. The remains of the Dorsets had been ordered to join us
+about Strazeele, and the whole of the Norfolks and half the Bedfords
+were left in the trenches to give a bit of moral and physical support
+to the Indians. I did not at all like being parted from them, but
+there was no help for it. The West Ridings (Duke of Wellington's) were
+attached to me from the 13th Brigade, but that did not make up for the
+absence of one and a half of my own beloved battalions.
+
+Nevertheless it was with a feeling of extreme thankfulness that we
+left the horrible mud-plain of Festubert and Givenchy, with its cold
+wet climate and its swampy surroundings and its dismal memories, for
+both Dorsets and Cheshires had suffered terribly in the fighting here.
+And the pleasantest feeling was to hear the noise of the bursting
+shells grow less and ever less as we worked north-westwards, and to
+realise that for the present, at all events, we need not worry about
+Jack Johnsons or Black Marias and all their numerous smaller brethren,
+nor to keep our attention on the tense strain for bad news from the
+firing trenches, but that we could, for several days to come, sleep
+quietly, not fully dressed and on our beds or straw with one eye on
+the wake all night, but in our blessed beds and in our still more
+beloved pyjamas.
+
+We trotted on ahead over the cold, wet, muddy, level roads of those
+parts, with a welcome break for luncheon at a real live estaminet,
+till we got to Merville, and then we slowed down.
+
+Merville is a nice prosperous little town, with canals and parks and a
+distinctly good modern statue of a French soldier in the middle--by
+whom, and of whom, I have forgotten. It was, oddly enough, almost like
+an extra-European bit of civilisation, for the streets were swarming
+with Indians and Africans of both armies--tall, solemn, handsome Sikhs
+and Rajputs in khaki; Spahis, Algerians, and Moors in every variety of
+kit--red jackets, cummerbunds, and baggy breeches, bright blue
+jackets, white breeches, blue breeches, khaki breeches, dark blue
+_vareuses_, white burnouses, Arab corded turbans, baggy crimson
+trousers, &c., &c., even to Senegalese as black as night, and Berbers
+from Mauritania and the Atlas. I tried to talk to some of the latter,
+but it was not a success, for they did not understand my Arabic, and
+I did not understand their Shlukh.
+
+And so on _viâ_ Strazeele--where Saunders and his Dorsets had already
+arrived--contentedly to Pradelles, in which neighbourhood we billeted,
+and were met by a staff officer, Cameron of the 5th Divisional Staff,
+who gave us the welcome news that we were to rest and recuperate for
+at least a week--really and truly this time.
+
+We put up at a nice, bright, ugly little château belonging to an
+elderly lady who was most civil and told us stories of what the
+Germans had done when they passed through a week or two ago on their
+retreat eastwards. Amongst other abominations, they had, on arrival,
+demanded of the old curé the key of the church tower, on which they
+wished to put a Maxim. The old man, not having the key, had hobbled
+off to get it from the garde champêtre, who happened to be in
+possession of it for the time being. He could not, however, find him,
+and the officer in command, being in a diabolical temper, put the poor
+old priest up against a wall and shot him dead on the spot. This was
+recounted by the curé's sister, and there was not a shadow of doubt
+on the matter, for it was confirmed by all.
+
+
+_Oct. 31st._
+
+Next day was a clear bright Sunday, and before we had come down to
+breakfast, looking forward to a nice lazy day, we were ordered to send
+the Dorsets away in motor-buses to Wulverghem (opposite Messines),
+where heavy fighting was going on. So much for our promised week's
+rest! And before 11 o'clock we had received another urgent telegram
+telling us to fall in at once and march eastwards through Bailleul.
+
+I was deputed to command the whole of the remaining troops of the
+Division on this march, and by a complicated series of moves from
+their billets we got them strung out on the road, and pushed on by
+12.30. The troops were mostly artillery, engineers, and train, and the
+only other infantry that joined me were the West Kent, now under their
+own C.O., Martyn.
+
+Other troops were also on the move through Bailleul, and we had a
+weary time of it getting through. It was dark before we had filed
+through the big market-square with its old brick church tower and
+Town Hall; and even then, though billets had been arranged for in the
+country beyond for the rest of the troops, we had the devil's own job
+before our own headquarters could find a resting-place. We wanted to
+put up at Dranoutre village, but the village was full of the 3rd
+Cavalry Brigade, and we should have been in front of our own lot; so
+after a depressing wait in a tiny pothouse near Dranoutre, whilst St
+André and Weatherby and Moulton-Barrett scoured the country, we
+eventually settled down in a little farmhouse at Hille, a few hundred
+yards inside the Belgian border. Not so bad, but tiny, and crowded
+with not only the proprietor and his numerous family, but with a
+number of refugees from further east. My own bedroom was about 6 feet
+square and full of stinking old clothes, but I was lucky to get one at
+all.
+
+It seemed curious being amongst inhabitants many of whom understood no
+French, but only talked Wallon or Flemish. I found my reminiscences of
+the South African Taal came in quite usefully; but the best
+communicators were the Lowland Scots, who, thanks to their own strange
+dialect, managed to make themselves quite decently understood by the
+natives.
+
+Here we stayed for a few days--to be accurate, until the morning of
+the 5th November. My own "outfit" consisted of the West Kent,
+Cheshires, and two companies Bedfords, and the West Ridings were
+subsequently added. At one period I was given the K.O.S.B.'s as well,
+who were in Neuve Église; but they were taken away from me on the same
+day, and so were the West Kent. There was, in fact, a glorious jumble,
+battalions and batteries being added and taken away as the
+circumstances demanded. Even the two companies Bedfords were spirited
+away for forty-eight hours, leaving me with the decimated Cheshires as
+the only representatives of the 15th Brigade, but with two battalions
+of the 13th and one of the 14th superadded, as well as an R.E. company
+(17th). Meanwhile the 5th Divisional Staff was stranded and almost
+troopless, for all the other battalions of the Division were scattered
+among other divisions--some even under the command of the Cavalry
+Division; and guns were pushed up, almost piecemeal, as they were
+wanted, to help in the attempt to retake Messines, out of which our
+cavalry had been driven some days before. French troops were also
+there, in lumps. One morning the country would be brilliant with the
+white horses, sky-blue tunics and red trousers, of the Chasseurs
+d'Afrique, and the roads impassable with French infantry and transport
+moving towards Ypres; and by the next evening nothing but khaki-clad
+British were seen, besides patches of Belgian infantry, largely
+stragglers and mostly unarmed.
+
+Meanwhile rumours of desperate fighting up north came through--the
+critical time when the 7th Division stuck heroically to their crippled
+trenches and withstood the ponderous attacks of the German masses; but
+it was difficult to make out what was occurring, for one only gathered
+bits of news here and there and could not piece them together as a
+whole, for the links were missing.
+
+On the 4th November we received orders that Sir Horace would inspect
+us on the following morning, and we made preparations to turn out as
+clean as we could in the ever-prevailing mud. But in the evening more
+important work was at hand, for we were notified to be ready to march
+on the following morning to Ypres. So the inspection fell through.
+
+The idea was that we--that is, two companies Bedfords (450 men),
+Cheshires (550), and West Ridings (700)--were to combine as the 15th
+Brigade with M'Cracken's 7th Brigade (Wiltshires, Gordons, Irish
+Rifles, and another battalion), and go to relieve the 7th Division,
+which had, we heard, been getting some terrific knocks. With us were
+to go the two R.E. companies, the 17th and 59th, belonging to the 5th
+Division.
+
+
+_Nov. 5th._
+
+We marched at 7.20 A.M. _viâ_ Locre and Dickebusch, on the main
+Bailleul-Ypres road, passing through many French troops on the way.
+Not far on the other side of Dickebusch we heard that the road was
+being shelled by the enemy; so M'Cracken ordered the whole force to
+park in the fields some distance down a road to the west, whilst he
+went on to Ypres for instructions.
+
+We had our midday meal whilst we waited there, but it was not pleasant
+for the men, for the fields were dripping wet and very muddy; they
+had, therefore, to sit on their kits, whilst the transport had to
+remain on the road, the fields being so deep.
+
+McCracken came back at 3.30 P.M. with instructions, and we moved on,
+myself being in charge of the movement. We managed to get to Ypres all
+right along the main road, as the shells were rather diminishing and
+not reaching so far, and we pushed through the town, entering it by a
+bridge over the nearly dry canal. Why the Germans had not shot this
+bridge to pieces before I cannot imagine, as it was well within their
+range. There were numerous big shell-holes in the open space near the
+railway station; one or two houses were smouldering; there were heaps
+of bricks and stones from damaged houses in the streets, and the
+extreme roof corner of the Cloth Hall had been knocked off, but
+otherwise the town was fairly normal-looking, except, of course, that
+hardly any civilians were visible.
+
+At the other end of the town I came across General Haig, and rode
+ahead with him down the Menin road as far as the village of Hooge,
+where the Headquarters of the 1st Division were, under General Landon.
+(He had succeeded General Lomax, who had been badly wounded by a
+shell exploding at his headquarters, and subsequently died, 15th
+April.) Here we had a cup of tea in a dirty little estaminet crowded
+with Staff officers whilst awaiting the arrival of the Brigade.
+
+No part of this Menin road was, in fact, "healthy," and at night it
+was generally subject to a searching fire by German shells. The
+wonder, indeed, was that more casualties did not occur here, for after
+dark the road was packed with transport and ration and ambulance
+parties moving slowly and silently back and forth. But the hostile
+shelling was not accurate, and for one "crumper" that burst in or over
+the road twenty exploded in the fields alongside.
+
+Only a day or two before, a couple of heavy shells had burst just
+outside General Haig's Headquarters at the entrance to Ypres. Luckily
+the General himself had just left, but poor "Conky" Marker of the
+Coldstream had been fatally wounded, and several other officers,
+signallers, and clerks had been killed.
+
+My Brigade arrived in the dark by the time that I had received further
+instructions in detail, and was parked off the road (south side)
+half a mile further on, whilst Weatherby went on to make arrangements
+for their taking up the line, taking representatives of the battalions
+with him. I met General Capper (commanding 7th Division) at his
+dug-out in the wood close by, and he told me that his Division had
+been reduced to barely 3000 men and a very few officers, after an
+appalling amount of severe fighting.
+
+Weatherby came back after a time, and the battalions and ourselves
+moved off along the road and branched off into the grounds of
+Herenthage Château--deep mud, broken trees, and hardly rideable. Here
+we bade adieu to our horses, who were, with the transport, to stay in
+the same place where we had had our dinners, right the other side of
+Ypres and out of shell-range, whilst we kept a few ammunition-carts
+and horses hidden near Hooge village. All the rest of our supplies and
+stuff had to be brought up every night under cover of darkness to near
+Herenthage, and there be unloaded and carried by hand into the
+trenches.
+
+In the château itself who should we come across but Drysdale,[16]
+Brigade-Major now of the 22nd Brigade, the one which, by the law of
+chances, we were now relieving; and, still more oddly, the other
+battalion (2nd) of the Bedfords was in his Brigade. It was a cheerless
+place, this château--every single pane of glass in it shivered, and
+lying, crunched at our every step, on the floor.
+
+         [Footnote 16: My late Brigade-Major at Belfast, now, alas!
+         killed (on the Somme, 1916).]
+
+We pushed on over the grass of the park, through the scattered trees,
+and into the wood, and so into the trenches. Even then, as far as one
+could judge in the darkness, the ground was a regular rabbit-warren.
+By the time we had finished with the district the ground was even more
+so; there seemed to be more trenches and fallen trees and wire
+entanglements than there was level ground to walk on.
+
+Our own Headquarters were in a poky little dug-out[17] in a wood, not
+200 yards from our firing trenches. There was just room for
+two--Weatherby and St André (Moulton-Barrett having gone to settle
+about transport and supplies, Cadell being away sick, and Beilby being
+left with the transport the other side of Ypres)--to lie down in it,
+and there was a little tunnel out of it, 6 feet long and 2 broad and
+2 high, into which I crept and where I slept; but I was not very happy
+in it, as the roof-logs had sagged with the weight of the earth on
+them, and threatened every moment to fall in whilst I was inside.
+
+         [Footnote 17: Really only a half roofed-in little trench,
+         marked H on the map.]
+
+[Illustration: Beukenhorst (near Ypres).]
+
+The Bedfords were put into the trenches on the eastern edge of the
+wood, the Cheshires continued the line to the south and for a couple
+of hundred yards outside the wood, and the West Ridings were in
+reserve at the back of the wood, in rear of our dug-out.
+
+I did not like our place at all, for it seemed to me that, being so
+close to the firing line, I should not be able to get out or control
+the little force if there were heavy operations on; and this was
+exactly what did happen.
+
+We had been told that the 6th Cavalry Brigade was in trenches on our
+left, and the 7th Infantry Brigade in ditto on our right, and that was
+about all we knew of the situation.
+
+
+_Nov. 6th._
+
+Next morning there was a thick mist till 10 A.M., and I took advantage
+of it to visit the trenches in detail. The left of the Cheshires was
+within 40 yards of the enemy, who were hidden in the wood in front of
+them, so, there being no communication trenches, we had to be fairly
+careful hereabouts. But it was desperately difficult to make one's way
+about, what with the fallen trees and telephone wires, and little
+patches of open ground on the slopes, and long, wet, yellow grass and
+tangled heather in parts, not to mention the criss-cross of trenches,
+occupied and unoccupied, in all directions. Difficult enough to find
+one's way in daylight, it was infinitely worse in pitch darkness. No
+wonder that our reliefs had not been accomplished till nearly 3
+o'clock that morning!
+
+We were shelled pretty heavily all the morning, and two of the shells
+burst so close that they covered us with dirt. Two officers--Langdale
+and O'Kelly, of the West Ridings--had their legs broken by their
+dug-out being blown in upon them, and three Cheshires were buried by
+an exploding shell and dug out dead. Another dozen were killed or
+wounded in their trenches, which were nothing like deep enough, and
+could not be further deepened because of the water which lay there
+only just below the ground. About twenty Cheshires were moved back to
+escape the shell fire, and taken to a rather less-exposed place. At
+4.30 the Bedfords reported a heavy attack on their front; but it was
+confined to rifle fire, and nothing serious happened there.
+
+The remainder of the Bedfords, under Griffith, consisting of two
+strong companies, turned up at 6 P.M., and the West Ridings were taken
+away from me, so that my command was now reduced to two battalions,
+one rather strong (1100--just reinforced by a big fresh draft), and
+the other, Cheshires, only about half that number.
+
+On further consideration of the situation, I settled to make Brigade
+Headquarters at the Beukenhorst Château,[18] half a mile farther back,
+and started the R.E. and a strange fatigue party to dig a funk-hole
+for us in front of it in case it were badly shelled; but I remember as
+a particular grievance that when the foreign fatigue party heard they
+were to go somewhere else, they went off, leaving their work half
+undone, and with our Brigade tools, though I had given them distinct
+orders to do neither of these things. But they were now out of my
+jurisdiction, so nothing could be done except to send them a message
+to return our tools--which they never did.
+
+         [Footnote 18: "Stirling Castle" on our present maps.]
+
+Moulton-Barrett turned up in the afternoon with a basket of cold food
+for us, and took St André away; it was not the least necessary for him
+to stay, as the dug-out was really only big enough for two, so
+Weatherby and I settled down for the night. We had wanted to move
+into the château at 7 P.M., but we could not. For it was not advisable
+as long as an attack was imminent; also, M. B. had not got our message
+of that morning saying we wanted him to clean up the château for us;
+and thirdly, the Bedford relief was taking place. So we settled to
+move next day instead.
+
+But it was not very attractive living in the tiny dug-out. We had no
+servants, we had to prepare our own food and wash up afterwards; it
+was frightfully cramped, and we were always getting half-empty
+sardine-tins oozing over official documents, and knives and forks lost
+in the mud and straw at the bottom, and bread-crumbs and fragments of
+bully beef and jam mixed up with our orders and papers; and it was not
+at all healthy going for a stroll as long as the sun was up because of
+the bullets and shells fizzing about. Altogether, although it was no
+worse, except as regards size, than other dug-outs, it was not
+luxurious; and as for washing, a little water in the bottom of a
+biscuit-tin was about all we could manage, whilst a shave was a matter
+of pain and difficulty.
+
+
+_Nov. 7th._
+
+We had now come under the 3rd Division (under General Wing
+temporarily--a very good and charming fellow, a gunner, who had taken
+over General Hubert Hamilton's command, the latter having been killed,
+I forgot to mention, some time previously), whilst the 9th Brigade had
+relieved the 6th Cavalry on the previous day. The Division, therefore,
+now consisted of the 7th, 15th, and 9th Brigades (the latter
+comprising the Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Fusiliers, Lincolns,
+and Scots Fusiliers)--in that order from right to left. It looked,
+therefore, as if we ought to be soon relieved by the 8th Brigade and
+return to our own Division. Vain hope! We were not destined to be
+relieved for another fortnight.
+
+There was a good deal of shelling of the 9th Brigade during the
+morning, but we personally had not many shells into us, and were
+fairly quiet till past 2 o'clock.
+
+Suddenly, about 3, a hellish hostile fire broke out in the wood--not
+in our front, but close on our left. A hail of bullets whizzed over
+our heads, responded to by our fire trenches; and then, to our horror,
+we saw our Bedford supports, to our left front, retiring slowly, but
+in some confusion, on top of us--many of the men only half-dressed,
+and buckling on their kits as they moved. We jumped out of our
+dug-out, and with the assistance of their officers stopped and rallied
+them. They were certainly not running, and were in no sort of panic;
+but they all said that the word had been passed from the right front
+that the Bedfords were to retire, so they had done so--half of them
+being asleep or feeding at the time the fire began.
+
+We made them advance again, which they were more than willing to do,
+and then there was a cheer from the Bedfords in front. Upon which the
+supports pricked up their ears, rallied to the sound, and charged
+forward like hounds rallying to the horn.
+
+Violent firing and confused fighting and yelling in the wood for a
+space, and some wounded began to come back. Then some Germans, both
+wounded and prisoners, in small batches, and at last the news that the
+Bedfords had completely repulsed the attack and taken about 25
+prisoners, driving the enemy back with the bayonet at the run.
+
+Who it was that started the order to retire we could never find out.
+It certainly was not Milling, who was commanding in the front trench,
+nor was it any officer. Quite conceivably it may have been started by
+the enemy themselves.
+
+What happened, as far as I could make out, was that the right centre
+of the Northumberland Fusiliers on our left had been pressed back and
+the Germans had poured through the opening. The right flank of the
+Northumberlands had sat tight, so the Bedfords in our front line had
+known nothing of the German success till they were fired at by the
+enemy in the wood on their left rear. I do not fancy, however, from
+what the prisoners told me, that the attack was a very strong one--not
+more, I expect, than three or four companies.
+
+These belonged to the Frankfurt-am-Main Corps (VII.). I examined one
+prisoner, a regular "Schwabe" from Heilbronn, a jolly man with a red
+beard, who told me that his company was commanded by a cavalry
+captain, who considered it beneath his dignity to charge with
+infantry, and remained snugly ensconced behind a wall whilst he
+shouted encouragement to his men.
+
+The Bedfords retook three of the Northumberlands' trenches with them,
+but failed to retake one of their own--together with two machine-guns
+in it--that they had lost, although they tried hard, A Company
+(Milling's) making three bayonet charges. They behaved devilish well,
+in spite of heavy losses both in officers and men. Macready, their
+Adjutant, was shot through the liver (but recovered eventually);
+Allason (Major) was hit twice--once through the shoulder, and again,
+on returning after getting his wound dressed, through the thigh;
+Davenport was shot through the left elbow (we looked after him in our
+dug-out); and two subalterns were killed, besides twenty-four men
+killed and fifty-three wounded. Of the Cheshires, Pollok, Hodson, and
+Anderson (the latter a fine runner and very plucky chap) were killed,
+besides five men killed, nineteen wounded, and eight missing.
+Altogether the losses were rather heavy. The men were particularly
+good to the wounded Germans; I remember especially one man, a
+black-bearded evil-looking scoundrel, who had been shot through the
+lungs, and rolled about in the mud at my feet, and him they looked
+after carefully. The last glimpse I caught of him was being helped to
+a stretcher by two of our own men, also wounded.
+
+There was again no chance of our getting to the château to-night, so
+another basket of food arrived, and we fed with what comfort we could.
+
+We worked all night at strengthening our lines, but the Germans had
+got up so close to our weakest salient that I was a bit anxious on the
+subject of a renewed attack by night.
+
+
+_Nov. 8th._
+
+A small reinforcement arrived at 7 A.M., in the shape of the
+Divisional Mounted Troops of the 3rd and 5th Divisions--about 250 men
+altogether, consisting of 70 of the 15th Hussars and 60 cyclists from
+the 3rd, and 50 of the 19th Hussars and 70 cyclists from the 5th
+Divisions, under Courage and Parsons respectively.
+
+These were distributed in rear of our dug-out.
+
+We had a fairly quiet day as far as we ourselves were concerned, but
+both Brigades on our flanks were heavily shelled. The French on our
+right were attacking in force, but although they were being supported
+by their 16th Corps, I do not think there was much result about Klein
+Zillebeke.
+
+At last, at 5.30 P.M., we started for our château, and hardly had we
+gone 150 yards when a terrific fire broke out. We got behind a little
+ruined hut to escape the bullets, and I made ready to return in case
+it was a serious attack. But it died down in ten minutes, and we
+pursued our way in more or less peace, for it was only a case of
+firing at reliefs, and I think the Germans were rather jumpy.
+
+The Château of Beukenhorst was a square white block of a place, and
+merits perhaps some description, as we were there for a most
+uncomfortable fortnight--uncomfortable as far as events and fighting
+went, though not so as regards living.
+
+It belonged to some people whose name I have forgotten--Baron
+something (Belgian) and his German wife, and it was due to this lady's
+nationality--so the story went--that the place had suffered so little.
+Personally I think that it was due to the house only being indicated
+on the map, whilst the stables, 200 yards off, which were perpetually
+being shelled, were marked in heavy black, and were a cockshy for the
+German guns, which were evidently laid by map and not by sight; yet
+the house was on a fair elevation, and must have been visible from
+certain points on the German side. By the same token, General Capper
+had had his Headquarters there for a few days, but had cleared out, I
+believe, because of shells. Half a dozen shrapnel had certainly hit
+it, but they had only chipped off some bits of stone and broken all
+the windows at the eastern end.
+
+We lived in a room half below ground at the western end, which must
+evidently have been the housekeeper's room or servants' hall, next to
+the kitchen. About half the Signal Section lived in some sort of
+cellars close by, the other half being away with the transport. Two of
+these cellars were also used as a dressing station for the 7th
+Brigade, and wounded used to be brought in here frequently and tended
+by a sanitary Highlander, a corporal whose exact functions I could
+never discover, but who worked like a Trojan. The wounded were visited
+by a medical officer in the evening, and removed on stretchers every
+night to the ambulances who came to fetch them. Our own wounded did
+not come here, but were looked after just behind the trenches near the
+Herenthage Château, and taken away from there at night by our own 15th
+Field Ambulance, who worked all night in circumstances of much danger,
+but were luckily hardly ever hit.
+
+The owners had evidently had plenty of notice before clearing out, for
+they had removed all the smaller articles and most of the furniture,
+and had rolled up the carpets and curtains and blinds, leaving only
+big cupboards and bare bedsteads and larger bits of furniture. These
+were, oddly enough, in very good taste--Louis XV. style--and only
+sand-papered and not polished or painted. There was a good bathroom
+too, and a lavatory with big basins, but much of it had been smashed
+by shrapnel, as it was at the east end. Our bedrooms were on the first
+floor, and most of them had good beds and washhand-stands, but no
+linen or blankets. I need hardly say that we carefully selected those
+at the western end of the house, whither few bullets had penetrated.
+But the windows there were mostly untouched, and consisted of good
+plate glass. Altogether the whole place gave one the idea of comfort,
+money, and good taste, and was an eminently satisfactory abode--bar
+the shells.
+
+I know that, as far as looking after the Brigade was concerned, we got
+through three times as much satisfactory work in the morning after we
+arrived as we did during all the three days we were in the little
+dug-out. For we could now communicate not only by wire but by
+messenger and by personal contact with the authorities and commanders
+in our rear and on our flanks, and could discuss matters _re_
+artillery and defences and plans in a way which had been quite
+impossible in our advanced position.
+
+General Wing[19] used to come and see us most evenings, and I used to
+communicate personally with Shaw (9th Brigade), and Fanshawe
+(Artillery), and M'Cracken (7th Brigade), about combined movements,
+&c. Every morning before daylight, and at a good many other times
+besides, I, or Weatherby, or Moulton-Barrett, used to go down to the
+trenches and confabulate with Griffith--always cool and resourceful,
+who was in immediate command--or Frost and Burfeild, who were running
+the Cheshires excellently between them. It was not always a very easy
+business getting down to the trenches, for there were nearly always
+shells bursting in the woods and on the open field which lay between
+us and the trench wood; and we had generally to hurry in order to
+leave the château precincts unperceived by the beastly Taubes who
+hovered overhead, always on the lookout for headquarters to shell; so
+we cut down orderlies and staff to a minimum, and absolutely forbade
+any hanging about outside.
+
+         [Footnote 19: To everybody's great regret, he was killed in
+         October 1915.]
+
+It is no use going into or describing our proceedings day by day:
+"Plus ça changeait, plus c'était la même chose." I have the detail of
+it day by day in my diary, but it was always, in the main, the same
+thing--minds and bodies at high tension throughout the day and most of
+the night; perpetual artillery fire--if not by the enemy then by
+ourselves; shells bursting round the château and hardly ever into it,
+mostly shrapnel near the house and Black Marias a bit further
+off--chiefly into a walled garden 200 yards off which, for some
+unknown reason, the Germans were convinced held some of our guns,
+though, as a matter of fact, our batteries were in our right rear, in
+well-covered positions just inside (or even outside, in some cases)
+the woods. But we got shells on the other side of the house as well,
+over the bare half-grown lawn and flower-beds between the château and
+the Hooge-Menin road.
+
+It was rarely "healthy" to take a stroll in the grounds, however much
+we might be in want of fresh air. Even on days which were
+exceptionally quiet--and there were not many of them,--when one would
+move out to look at the grounds with a view to future defences in case
+we were driven back, or with a desire to ease a torpid liver, suddenly
+there would be a loudening swish in the air and a crash which would
+send one of the tall pine-trees into smithereens, with a shower of
+broken branches in all directions, followed by another, or half a
+dozen more; and we would retire gracefully--sometimes even
+rapidly--behind the shelter of our house.
+
+There were some late roses in the garden, or rather in the scattered
+flower-beds near the house, which lasted out even when the snow was
+on them; but about the only live beings who took any interest in them
+were three or four goats, who haunted the precincts of the château,
+and were everlastingly trying to get inside. Indeed, when
+Moulton-Barrett first came to take possession, there were two goats in
+the best bedrooms upstairs, who peered out of the windows at the
+undesired visitors, and had to be evicted after a display of
+considerable force.
+
+Also pigs; for half a dozen great raw-boned pink and dirty swine
+rootled about in the woods near by for sustenance. They were, however,
+shy, and did not seek the shelter of the château. Stray cattle there
+were too; but neither these nor the pigs paid any attention to the
+shells which fell near them with impartial regularity, but did them,
+as far as I could see, no damage whatever.
+
+There was a stable a couple of hundred yards in rear of the house, and
+here at first we put what horses there were in the neighbourhood.
+Having Squeaky and Silver there one night--I forget why, but I know
+they were there--I put them into a couple of loose-boxes. Silver went
+in all right, but Squeaky, generally a most sensible mare, shivered
+and sweated with terror, had almost to be forced in, and refused to
+feed when there. So I let her out again, and picketed her outside. Two
+nights after, a doctor's horse which was in there was all but killed,
+for a shrapnel burst through the window and drove fourteen bullets
+into his head and neck. They wanted leave to kill the poor beast, but
+I refused permission, as he was not hit in any vital spot, and he
+recovered, more or less, in a few days.
+
+As mentioned above, this stable was marked in black on the map, whilst
+the château--a far bigger building, of course--was hardly indicated. I
+take it that this accounted for our comparative immunity, for the
+stable was shelled (and hit) with great regularity, whilst the château
+was hardly ever touched. We had, however, a couple of small H.E. shell
+through the eastern end whilst we were in the western; one of these
+bored clean through the wall of a room where there was a big cupboard
+against it on the far side and exploded forthwith. But the cupboard
+was not even scratched; it was blown into the middle of the room and a
+table or two upset, but, strange to relate, nothing serious in the way
+of damage was done.[20] On another occasion, however, a few shrapnel
+exploded just outside the kitchen window. At the sound of the first we
+all bolted to the other side of the house, and called to the servants
+to do the same. They came out; but Brown, our excellent cook, who had
+come out in his shirt-sleeves, must needs go back, without orders, to
+fetch his coat: for which he promptly received a jagged piece of shell
+in his left arm, which put a stop, alas, to his cooking for good and
+all, as far as we were concerned, for he was sent away, and, although
+he recovered, never came back to us.
+
+         [Footnote 20: This is a fact, though I cannot explain it.]
+
+During the chief hours of the day, when not (or whilst) being shelled,
+we were pretty busy with telegrams and reports and queries and
+excursions and alarums. We were comfortable enough in the
+housekeeper's room, and got our meals "reg'lar," and we even had two
+or three arm-chairs, and newspapers and mails fairly well, and news
+from outside, which used to arrive with our rations at 9 P.M. or
+thereabouts. But a minor trial was the fact that two out of our five
+panes of glass had been blown in by shell, and let in an icy draught
+on most days. So we got some partially-oiled paper, and made some
+paste, and stuck up the panes.
+
+The first shell explosion made the paper sag, the second made it
+shiver, and the third blew it out. The paste would not stick--it was
+the wrong sort of flour or something.
+
+Then we used jam--that glutinous saccharine mess known as "best plum
+jam"--and blue sugar paper, and it stuck quite fairly well. But it
+wouldn't dry; and tears of jam used to trickle down the paper panes
+and mingle with the tin-tacks and the bread-crumbs on the sill.
+
+The room was even then fairly dark, but the shell-bursts again
+shivered the jam paper and burst it, and we had to take to cardboard
+and drawing-boards. This made it still darker, and was not even then
+successful, for the explosions still shook the boards down and
+eventually broke another pane: it was most trying. On the last day but
+one four panes had been broken, and on the last day, as will be
+recounted, all were broken and the whole window blown in. Then we
+left.
+
+But what was of much vaster interest, of course, than these trifles,
+was the desperate fighting which was being waged along our front,
+not 1000 yards from the château. Our two battalions, being entrenched
+in the wood, did not receive such a severe hammering as the brigades
+on either side--the 7th and 9th respectively on our right and
+left,--who were more in the open. And the shelling and attacks on them
+were incessant, as well as on troops still further off on the other
+side of them.
+
+The 11th November was a typically unpleasant day. It started with a
+touch of comedy, Weatherby arriving stark naked in my room at 6.30
+A.M., just when I was shaving, saying, "I say, sir, may I finish my
+dressing in here? They're shelling the bathroom!" He had a towel and a
+few clothes on his arm, _et præterea nihil_. (He, M.-B., and St André,
+though sleeping in different rooms, used to dress in the bathroom,
+where there were excellent taps and basins, though no water was
+running.)
+
+The shelling continued till 10. It was on this morning that Brown was
+damaged and lots of windows blown in.
+
+About that time I saw, to my consternation, a number of British
+soldiers retiring towards the walled garden. I sent out at once to
+stop them and turn them back, thinking they were Cheshires or
+Bedfords. To my relief they were neither, but belonged to a brigade on
+our right. They had been heavily shelled, and, though in no sort of
+panic, were falling back deliberately, though without orders. There
+were no officers with them--all killed or wounded, I believe. My
+efforts were successful, though I grieve to say that a nice boy,
+Kershaw of the Signallers, who volunteered to carry a message to them,
+was hit by shrapnel in the thigh and brought in by our clerk, Sergeant
+Hutchison, and another, bleeding profusely. Burnett, commanding the
+Cyclist Corps, had been knocked down by a falling tree and his back
+damaged--also internal damage, I believe (for he was not really fit a
+year afterwards); he also was brought in, as well as Cooper of the
+Royal Fusiliers. A number of Zouaves and some more troops also
+trickled slowly back from the left with stories of appalling losses
+(mostly untrue) and disaster to the trenches (ditto). They were also
+stopped--the Zouaves by St André--and sent back. Certainly the
+Frenchmen's nerve was not damaged, for I remember that several had
+playing-cards in their hands, and when they got to what they
+considered a fairly quiet spot they stopped, sat down, and went on
+with their game. Norman M'Mahon, commanding Royal Fusiliers, had,
+however, been killed, just as he had been appointed Brigadier to
+another Brigade, besides a lot more good men of the 9th Brigade. Shaw,
+commanding the Brigade, had also been wounded, and Douglas Smith
+succeeded him. Both the 1st and 9th Brigades had lost several
+trenches, and intended to try and retake them at night, but both had
+been pushed back some distance.
+
+A company of Wiltshires was sent to reinforce us in case we were
+seriously attacked. But they were not used by us for fighting--only
+for digging extra trenches near the château in case the front
+battalions had to fall back. But the front battalions had no intention
+of falling back, and the Cheshires got in a very heavy fire on the
+flank of some Germans who were attacking the 7th Brigade, and,
+together with the Gordons on our right, killed a great number. The
+Cheshires reported afterwards that the Germans walked slowly forward
+to the attack without enthusiasm and in a sort of dazed way, with
+their rifles under their arms, as if they were drugged. I wonder
+whether they were: we several times received reports to the same
+effect.
+
+A particularly cheery item of intelligence, on good authority, was
+that fifteen German Guards battalions were being specially brought up
+in order to break through our line here at all costs. I thought at the
+time that this was false news, and that nothing like so many would be
+available, but it was not far out. As part confirmation, some papers
+taken off a dead German officer were brought in; they belonged to A.
+von Obernitz, 2nd Garde Grenadier Regiment, 2nd Division Guard Corps,
+but there was nothing of interest in them.
+
+About that date Weatherby, who had been seedy for several days, became
+seriously ill with a sort of light typhoid fever, and had to be
+evacuated. Moulton-Barrett therefore added the duties of Brigade-Major
+to his already heavy ones as Staff Captain, and did excellently well
+in the double capacity.
+
+To finish up with, the weather, which had been calm and fine up to
+date, broke that evening, and there were violent rain-storms from the
+south-west all night.
+
+We went to bed in no very happy state of mind, expecting a serious
+night attack by overwhelming forces. But no attack came, for probably
+the enemy was as exhausted as ourselves. All the same we had to fall
+back by order, on the following night, for many trenches on our right
+and left had been driven in, and we did not want to be cut off.
+
+So we fell back about 200 yards through the wood, and straightened up
+our line--in a much worse defensive position as regards our own bit,
+but it could not be helped. My suggestions as to the line were
+overruled, and we took up our second line of trenches and constructed
+a little réduit in the wood, ringed around with barbed wire and
+holding about twenty-five men, who would--we were sanguine enough to
+expect--hold off any serious rush that came.
+
+I forgot to mention that Singer, commanding the 17th Fd. Co. R.E., had
+arrived, and did an extraordinary amount of good work with his company
+in circumstances of the greatest difficulty and danger. He told me
+that the first night he went out, in order to put up some wire
+entanglement in a dangerous place, it was as black as pitch. He made
+his sections hold on to each other's coats, but within ten minutes
+they had not only lost each other in the dense black woods--chiefly
+through tumbling into trenches and falling over telephone wires,--but
+Singer had lost the whole company, and after wandering helplessly in
+what he thought the right direction for some time, he discovered that
+he had lost himself as well. He said he felt inclined to sit down and
+have a good cry, so utterly miserable did he feel!
+
+In falling back to the second line we had a fairly easy job, but for
+the 9th Brigade it was a regular Chinese puzzle, for by this time some
+of their trenches were in German hands at one end and English at the
+other, whilst Northumberland Fusiliers, Lincolns, Sussex, West
+Ridings, Cavalry, and even part of the 2nd Grenadiers,[21] who had
+turned up from goodness knows where, were inextricably tangled up; not
+to mention that a party of Northumberlands, numbering about 120, under
+one gallant subaltern called Brown, had been holding out for three
+days in front of our line, with no food or drink, and Germans in
+trenches only 30 yards off them. I believe this lot eventually got
+away in safety, but the retirement of all was about as difficult as
+it could be. This was on the 13th.
+
+         [Footnote 21: My old battalion.]
+
+On the 14th the Bedfords were heavily attacked, and the Germans pushed
+a machine-gun right forward through the wood and enfiladed the
+Cheshire left. These stood it for some time and then retired further
+down their trench, being unable to let the Bedfords know. Consequently
+this beastly gun got in a heavy fire on the Bedfords right as well and
+forced them to retire. The réduit was no good--the wood was too
+thick--and some of the garrison were captured. So the Bedfords had to
+fall back, fighting, on to their third line 50 yards back, where they
+held the enemy.
+
+Edwards, who commanded the advanced Bedford company, came up to the
+château to report, and gave a most cheery and amusing account of the
+whole thing, but the result was not at all amusing, as we had lost
+ground and a lot of men.
+
+Meanwhile the big attack by the German Guards was being made on the
+brigades on our flanks, but, as all the world knows, it was completely
+repulsed, though the 15th Brigade was not very heavily engaged as a
+whole. The fighting was terribly confused in the woods, and nothing
+but the individual grit of our men held the line, for it was
+practically impossible to give directions or exercise control in this
+horrible terrain.
+
+During this period we got much "mixed" as regards our machine-guns. We
+took over some from the 7th Division and lost some of those. Then we
+borrowed some more from other units in rear and recovered some of the
+lost ones. Sergeant Mart of the Bedfords did a splendid thing, and
+recovered two of the lost Bedford guns practically by himself,
+stalking the Germans with only one other man and rushing their trench,
+killing the few men in it. I wanted to recommend him for the V.C., but
+had such difficulty in getting sufficient evidence about it that an
+official recommendation would not have held water. Meanwhile poor Mart
+was shot through the neck. I got him a D.C.M., but do not know whether
+he lived to receive it.
+
+Then three out of our five guns got damaged by shells and bullets and
+mud and stopped work. So we borrowed some more, and had some
+difficulty in working them, as they were a new pattern. By the time we
+understood them two other guns were _hors de combat_,--it was a real
+nightmare, and it needed strenuous efforts to keep even one or two
+guns[22] going; yet they were of enormous importance, and accounted
+for a lot of the enemy, especially on the right flank of the
+Cheshires.
+
+         [Footnote 22: It does indeed seem extraordinary now that in
+         those strenuous days of 1914 we only had about three
+         machine-guns to two battalions. Nowadays we should have at
+         least twenty!]
+
+Meanwhile the weather had turned beastly cold--snowstorms and sleet
+during the day and a hard frost at night. The men suffered terribly in
+the trenches--especially the Cheshires, whose trenches were very wet.
+Although we kept the wet ones occupied as lightly as possible, we
+could not abandon them altogether and dig others further forward or
+back, as there was water everywhere only a foot below the ground.
+Breastworks were attempted, but they were very visible and attracted
+large numbers of shells: altogether the Cheshires had a very poor
+time, I fear. The Bedfords were rather better off, their trenches in
+the wood being on rather higher and sandy ground, but they were not
+dry by any means.
+
+It was very awkward getting to the trenches, even in broad daylight,
+by this time, for such numbers of trees had been blown down by the
+shells, there were so many shell-holes and so much wire about, and the
+mud and pools of water so universal, that it was really quite a
+physical effort to get through at all.
+
+About this time--the 17th--the Germans in our immediate front appeared
+to have retired a bit, but they certainly had not gone far, for our
+scouts on pushing on for 50 yards or so were greeted with a heavy
+fire, so we were unable to get on as much as we wanted. But though the
+rifle-bullets were rarer for a day or two, shells certainly were not,
+and continued with the utmost regularity.
+
+On the evening of the 17th, by the way, the enemy, annoyed perhaps at
+our scouts pushing on, made what was probably meant to be a
+counter-attack. It was not made in much strength, and we repelled it
+with ease. But it appeared to us at the château to be more serious
+than it was, for a messenger from the trenches arrived with the
+information that the Bedfords were being very severely pressed, and
+the Cheshires had had very heavy losses, and could not hold their
+trenches for more than ten minutes unless they were supported at
+once. I had no supports to send them. A message to Griffith by
+telephone for confirmation of this alarm produced no result, for the
+wires were, of course, broken at that critical moment. So I wired to
+General Wing asking him to send me some supports if he could, and got
+200 Royal Fusiliers shortly afterwards. But I did not use them, for
+the news of the messenger--who protested that he had been sent with a
+verbal message (not likely) by an officer whose name he did not
+know--turned out to be grossly exaggerated, and by the time the
+Fusiliers arrived the fighting was over. I never could trace whether
+any officer was responsible for the original message: I believe not.
+Anyhow, there was trouble for the messenger.
+
+On the 18th and 19th we had comparatively quiet days--except for
+nervousness about our left flank, where certain troops who had joined
+the 9th Brigade were very heavily shelled and lost one or two of their
+trenches. They managed, indeed, to get most of the lost ground back,
+but I was not entirely happy about it, for the ground between us and
+them was extremely difficult and could not be properly covered by
+either of us. There was a pond hereabouts, with a little island on it
+with a summer-house; and we found, on extending our left to take it
+over, that there must have been a German sniper there for several
+nights, for many empty Mauser cartridge-cases were found in the
+summer-house, and a very dicky punt was discovered in the rushes. This
+latter we sank, and were no more troubled; but it shows the cool pluck
+of the enemy's snipers in getting right into our lines by themselves
+(and also--I regret to add--certain other things as well).
+
+Rumours now came of an approaching relief, and certainly troops had
+rarely been more in want of it, for our two battalions had been in the
+trenches for fourteen days, with pretty stiff fighting--and nervous,
+jumpy fighting in the dark at that--all the time, and no chance of
+being comfortable or quiet during the whole of this period. Each
+battalion had had to find its own supports or reserves; but even the
+latter had to be pretty close up to the firing line, for in such
+cramped country one could not afford the risk of a sudden rush which
+might have succeeded before the reserves could get up. Our line, it is
+true, was not a particularly long one; but it was awkward, and the
+troops were much cramped and confined by nearly all being obliged to
+take cover in the wood, which gradually grew too small to hold them.
+
+
+_Nov. 19th._
+
+On the 19th General Wing arrived and told us that, after settling to
+relieve us to-day, the French had been unable to find the men and
+could not do it. This was a disappointment; but a later message
+arrived to say that the Worcesters, coming from the 5th Brigade, would
+arrive that afternoon and relieve both of our battalions, who by that
+time were reduced to 540 Bedfords and 220 Cheshires altogether (the
+Bedfords having started with 1100 and the Cheshires with 600 odd).
+
+In the evening a battalion of Worcesters--from goodness knows
+where--turned up and announced that they were to relieve us. We had
+already, as above mentioned, heard that they were coming, and were
+ready for them; but it was funny that they should arrive for only
+twenty-four hours, for the French were going to occupy our trenches on
+the morrow.
+
+Anyhow, by midnight or so the Bedfords and Cheshires had cleared out,
+thankful to leave the horrible rabbit-warren where they had been stuck
+for nearly three wet, cold, and beastly weeks; and they retired to the
+wood and dug-outs close behind our château, so as to be in reserve in
+case of necessity.
+
+
+_Nov. 20th._
+
+But they were not wanted as such, and the following day was fairly
+quiet as far as trench fighting was concerned.
+
+But not so for the staff. We were sitting in the housekeeper's room
+after breakfast working out our orders for the withdrawal that night,
+when there was a terrific bang just outside the château--nearer than
+ever before. We looked at each other, and would, I verily believe,
+have settled down again to our work, so accustomed were we to shells
+of all sorts, had not Naylor, who had joined us two days before as
+temporary signal officer (_vice_ Cadell, gone sick with light typhoid
+at Hille eighteen days before), jumped up and run outside in order to
+see where it had gone. Being Divisional signal officer, he had not,
+perhaps, had quite so much experience of shells as we had, and he
+wanted to get into closer touch. The example was infectious, and we
+also strolled out to see where the shell had fallen. Hardly had we got
+outside into the passage, and halfway up the basement steps into the
+fresh air, when there was a roar and an appalling crash which shook
+the building. The concussion made me stagger, and blew my cap off. St
+André's hat fizzed away into the bushes, and, surrounded by a cloud of
+red dust and stones and chips of balustrades and hunks of wood and
+branches, we held on to anything we could. No damage to ourselves; but
+a glance down the passage showed us that the shell, or most of it, had
+exploded in or just outside the kitchen, and blown that chamber, as
+well as the housekeeper's room, which we had just left, into absolute
+smithereens.
+
+No time to look into further details; a hurried issue of orders, and
+we legged it for all we were worth across the open and into our
+funk-hole in the shrubbery 300 yards off, whilst the signal section
+and servants and orderlies made a bolt for the stables in the opposite
+direction.
+
+But the Germans seem to have been satisfied with this little
+exhibition of "hate," and bombarded us no more--except casually, with
+shrapnel, as usual. We crept back to the château at intervals during
+the morning, and removed various possessions and chairs and tables to
+our dug-out, which was not a very luxurious abode, though dry and
+fairly deep. Poor Conway, Weatherby's servant, whom he had left
+behind, was the only casualty; his dead body was found, with both legs
+broken and an arm off, blown down a cellar passage at the back. The
+next most serious casualty was Moulton-Barrett's new pair of breeches,
+arrived that morning from England, and driven full of holes like a
+sugar-sifter. Our late room was a mass of wreckage--half the outer
+wall and most of the inner one blown down, tables and chairs and
+things overturned and broken, and the floor knee-deep in plaster and
+rubbish. Of the kitchen there was still less; and nothing was to be
+rescued from the debris except one tin plate and one tin mustard-pot.
+It would have taken days to clear it, for a good deal of the room
+above seemed to have fallen into it as well, and one could hardly get
+in at the door, so full was the place of plaster, wreckage, and
+stones, and hot-water pipes and bits of iron and twisted rails, and
+dust and earth and broken laths and rafters. Luckily the concussion
+put the fire out, or there might have been still more damage.
+
+We spent our day somewhat uncomfortably in the dug-out, for there was
+a hard frost and very little room to turn round in, and though we had
+a brazier, its charcoal fumes in the confined space nearly poisoned
+us. In the middle of the day three French officers turned up, and we
+made mutual arrangements for the taking over by them of this portion
+of the line, Milling (of the Bedfords) guiding one party and St André
+the other.
+
+Food was rather a difficulty, for the mess servants had disappeared,
+and had last been seen hastening in the direction of Ypres--for which
+we cursed them loud and long. We did our best with small hunks of
+bully and odd bits of chocolate and a modicum of tea and biscuits in
+our haversacks--for all the rest of our food had been buried by that
+infernal shell,--but it was neither comfortable nor filling; and, in
+truth, as the dark winter evening came on with only one or two
+candle-stumps between us, we were not as happy as we should otherwise
+have been.
+
+Help was, however, at hand; for our servants, Inskip and Stairs, who
+we thought had ignominiously run away, suddenly turned up with heaps
+of food. They had gone all the way to our cook's waggon three miles
+the other side of Ypres for comestibles, and whilst we were d--ing
+their eyes for bolting, were trudging, heavily laden, along the road
+back to us--good youths.
+
+It was a lengthy business getting the relief through. The French
+troops, due at 7.30 P.M., did not arrive till 9.15 P.M., and even then
+it was difficult to pilot a lot of troops, fresh to the ground, in
+pitch darkness, over shell-holes and wires and broken trees and
+stumps, and through mud and undergrowth and dead horses, &c., &c.,
+into the trenches destined for them. The details had to be very
+carefully arranged indeed, and it was not till nearly 2 A.M. that we
+had got the French into the trenches, the Worcesters into reserve, and
+the Bedfords and Cheshires on their way back to Ypres.
+
+Then, with a sigh of some thankfulness apiece, we stumbled back in the
+darkness to the château, where we waited to collect the remains of the
+Signal Section and staff, and then moved off, mounted this time, down
+the Menin-Ypres road.
+
+It was freezing very hard--as I think I remarked before--and the road
+was frightfully slippery. Trotting was almost out of the question, but
+I tried it on Squeaky for a few yards, on a dry broken bit. She pulled
+back on to the slippery part, slid up, and sat down heavily, whilst I
+fell gracefully off on to my shoulder. And she repeated the
+performance the other side of the town. Ypres, in the bright
+starlight, was still quite impressive, and the Cloth Hall was still
+almost intact. But there were many shell-holes about, and some of the
+houses were still smouldering. The town happened to be respited from
+shells for the actual moment, but I believe that the very next day a
+heavy bombardment began again, and the Cloth Hall was destroyed till
+hardly the skeleton thereof was left.
+
+
+_Nov. 21st._
+
+We were due to billet in Locre, and there we arrived at about 7 A.M.
+It was frightfully cold, but, after we had seen the two battalions
+billeted, the military policeman who had been told to turn up and show
+us to our billets was nowhere to be found, so we wandered on as far
+as the Convent, staggering and slipping on the snowy ice and blowing
+on our fingers as we went. The thermometer must have shown ten degrees
+of frost or more, but I only know that I was very glad to reach our
+little house at last (having passed it already once half a mile
+before) and get in between the sheets of an ancient but respectably
+clean bed, covered by all the mackintoshes, blankets, and rugs I could
+get hold of.
+
+The Cheshires were billeted on the Mont Rouge close by, and the
+Bedfords near us, at the corner of the Westoutre road. They had all
+struggled over the fourteen miles or so that divided them from their
+trenches, but having arrived and their feet having swollen terribly
+during the long march, any number of them could not get their boots on
+again, and they went to hospital by twenties and thirties, hobbling
+along the road with their feet tied up in rags or socks, for they were
+deformed with rheumatism and swollen joints,[23] and would not fit any
+boot. The Cheshires, as I expected, were much the worse of the two
+battalions, for their trenches had been very wet, and most of the men
+had sat with cold feet in water for many days; yet there was not a
+single case of pulmonary complaint amongst them, and hardly even a
+cough or a cold.
+
+         [Footnote 23: What would now be known as "trench feet."]
+
+Here we stayed, at Locre, till the 25th, the men enjoying a most
+well-earned rest, and filling up with hot baths, warm clothes, socks,
+parcels from home, and comforts of all sorts. The Divisional
+Headquarters were in the Convent, a clean huge building which did very
+well for the purpose, and here we went almost daily, either on
+business or on a meal intent. The Cheshires--only 230 of them
+left--were of no practical value, alas, with their bad feet; so they
+were sent in to 2nd Corps Headquarters (Sir H. S.-D.) at Bailleul,
+nominally to "find" the Headquarters Guard, but in reality to
+convalesce.
+
+On the 25th we--that is, Headquarters and the Bedfords, for that was
+all there was left of the 15th for the moment--moved to St Jan's
+Cappel, a nice little village only a few miles behind Locre. We lived
+in the Curé's (M. de Vos) house, clean and pleasant; and the Curé, who
+liked the good things of this world, brought his stout person to
+coffee every evening, and did not disdain to make the acquaintance of
+an occasional tot of British rum or whisky, except on Fridays.
+
+Two days afterwards we were inspected both by Sir Horace and, half an
+hour later, by Sir John French, who were both pleased to say
+complimentary things of the Brigade. It did us good. The Bedfords
+again put me to confusion by calling out "'Ear! 'ear!" at telling
+points of the speeches--curious folk,--the only battalion I ever heard
+do so. 587 men and 8 officers on parade, not one of the latter of
+whom, except the Quartermaster, had come out with the battalion.
+Griffith was on leave, his place being taken by Major Mackenzie, V.C.,
+who had just joined. All the other officers who had left Ireland with
+me in August were either killed, wounded, or sick.
+
+We were under orders to go into the trenches again shortly, taking
+over from Maude,[24] now commanding the 14th Brigade; he also had the
+Dorsets and Norfolks, scraped up from various places, attached to him.
+His line was in front of Dranoutre.
+
+         [Footnote 24: The victor of Baghdad.]
+
+On the 29th November we took over there, a most complicated
+arrangement which only evolved itself clearly during the next week. I
+had the East Surreys and Manchesters under me for a time, and then the
+K.O.S.B.'s, all interchanging and intershuffling with my battalions,
+the main reason being that I had not got the Cheshires, so had to
+shift as best I could without them, picking up a battalion of the 13th
+or 14th Brigade when one was available.
+
+The line was not exactly nice. We had, it is true, got rid of the
+worst bit, Hill 73, on to the 3rd Division, which was next door on the
+left; but it extended all the same for an unpleasant length on our
+right, which was south of the Wulverghem-Messines road, the right of
+the Brigade on our right being on the Douve. At the longest--the
+length that the Brigade had to defend varied according to
+circumstances--the line was just over 2500 yards; at its shortest it
+was about 2200. Considering that the normal frontage (defensive) of
+the Brigade at full strength was 900 to 1300 yards, this was a bit
+"thin" in more senses than one.
+
+As we were here for three months, off and on--from the beginning of
+December to the end of February,--it may be worth while trying to
+describe it, if I can.
+
+[Illustration: The Messines Front.]
+
+Imagine a bit of rolling country--rather like parts of
+Leicestershire,--fair-sized fields, separated mostly by straggling
+fences interspersed with wire (largely barbed), and punctuated by tall
+trees. Patches of wood in places, spinney size for the most part. Low
+hills here and there--Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Ploegsteert Wood,--but all
+outside our area. For villages, Dranoutre, Neuve Église, Wulverghem,
+and Lindenhoek, of which the two last were already more than half shot
+to pieces and almost deserted. Opposite our right was Messines--a mile
+and a half in front of our line,--its big, square, old church tower
+still standing; it may have had a spire on the top, but if so it had
+disappeared before we came. Nearly opposite our extreme left, but out
+of our jurisdiction and in the sphere of the Division on our left, was
+Wytschaete (pronounce Wich Khâte), one and a half miles off. The
+cavalry had held both Messines[25] and Wytschaete at the end of
+October, but had been overwhelmingly attacked here and driven out of
+them, so that the two villages formed a hostile bulge into our line.
+We had been in hopes of driving attacks into the base of the bulge and
+thus forcing a retirement. But the Germans reinforced the bulge and
+entrenched it heavily, and instead of our cutting off the bulge, it
+became flatter and flatter, without giving way at the point, so that
+we had to retire slightly, on either side, and not they.
+
+         [Footnote 25: Locally pronounced Mersé.]
+
+Farms, nearly all of them roofless and half-ruined, were dotted about
+over the country. Small ones for the most part they were, and of the
+usual type--a liquid and stinking manure-heap surrounded on three
+sides by a living-house and barns. Of the roads, those from Dranoutre
+to Lindenhoek, Dranoutre to Neuve Église, and Neuve Église _viâ_
+Wulverghem to Messines, were _pavé_--_i.e._, cobble-stones down the
+centre and mud on both sides. Those joining Lindenhoek to Neuve Église
+and Wulverghem were also mostly _pavé_. The remainder were mere field
+tracks for the most part, rarely metalled, and in wet weather almost
+impassable for mud.
+
+O that mud! We have heard lots about Flanders mud, but the reality
+transcends imagination, especially in winter. Greasy, slippery,
+holding clay, over your toes in most places and over your ankles in
+all the rest--where it is not over your knees,--it is the most
+horrible "going" I know anywhere. Whether you are moving across plough
+or grass fields, or along lanes, you are perpetually skating about and
+slipping up on the firmer bits and held fast by the ankles in the
+softer ones. There is no stone in the district, nothing but rich loamy
+clay, _alias_ mud. However much you dig, you never come across stone,
+nothing but sticky mud which clings to your shovel and refuses to be
+parted from it--mud that has to be scraped off at almost every stroke,
+mud that absorbs water like a sponge yet refuses to give it up again.
+Every little puddle and rut, every hoof-depression full of rain,
+remains like that for weeks; even when the weather is fine the water
+does not seem to evaporate, but remains on the surface.
+
+And when it rains, as it did all that winter (except when it snowed),
+the state of the trenches is indescribable. Some were, frankly, so
+full of water that they had to be abandoned, and a breastwork erected
+behind. But a breastwork is slow work, especially if you are less than
+100 yards from the enemy. For weeks, indeed, the garrison of one
+particular trench had to lie out on the mud, or on what waterproofs
+they could get, behind a shelter two to three feet high--always
+growing a little, yet never to be made to a real six feet height for
+reason of conspicuousness and consequent clusters of Black Marias.
+
+Other trenches varied from five inches to five feet deep in mud; in
+one a Dorset man was literally almost drowned and drawn forth with
+great difficulty. Many cases occurred of semi-submersion, and as for
+moving up the communication trenches during the winter, it was
+generally an impossibility, for they were either knee-deep in water or
+in mud, and simply refused to be drained. So men preferred the risk of
+a stray bullet to the certainty of liquid mud to the knees and
+consequent icy discomfort for twenty-four hours and more. And as for
+the unfortunate ration-parties and men bringing up heavy trench
+stores, their task was really one of frightful labour, for, for two
+men to cross a large and slippery muddy series of fields carrying a
+100 lb. box between them was no joke. First one would slide up and
+skate off in one direction whilst the other did his best to hold on,
+generally resulting in dropping his end of the box or finding himself
+on the flat of his back. Then the parts would be reversed, but they
+always slid up in opposite directions--the mud saw to that,--and they
+would arrive in the trenches, after their stroll of a mile or less,
+absolutely exhausted and dripping with sweat. It was difficult enough,
+over much of the ground, to avoid slipping up even when burdened by
+nothing more than a walking-stick; that I know from personal
+experience. Yet for many weeks the men had to do this and suffer, for
+fascines and bricks, besides sandbags, were only just beginning to
+make their appearance in December; and floor-boards and gratings and
+gravel and trench stores and wire-netting, and revetments and planks
+and iron sheeting and trestles and hurdles of all sorts, did not
+really materialize in anything like sufficient numbers till March.
+
+The draining of the trenches was heartbreaking. After a heavy day or
+two of rain the parapets would fall down in hunks into the foot of
+water or so in the trenches, and would churn up into liquid mud, only
+to be removed by large spoons, of which we had none, or buckets, of
+which we had but very few. It was too thick to drain off down the
+very, very gradual slopes which were the best we could do, and too
+liquid to be shovelled away; so there it would remain, and our
+strenuous efforts in rebuilding the parapets (for at this period we
+had no revetting material) would only result, a night or two later, in
+still further collapses.
+
+The R.E. companies, both 17th and 59th, worked like heroes, and so
+particularly did the Norfolks and Bedfords; but it was most
+disheartening work. No sooner was one parapet fairly complete than
+another fell in; and when this was mended the first one would collapse
+again under the incessant downpour. And all this time wire
+entanglements had to be put up in front under hostile fire, trenches
+connected up and drained, support trenches dug, communication trenches
+improved, loopholes made, defences thickened and strengthened, saps
+pushed out, all under the fire of an enemy anything from 60 to 200
+yards off, and always on rather higher ground than ourselves, worse
+luck, so that he had the whip-hand.
+
+Soon came the period of hand grenades, in which he had six to one the
+best of us in numbers; and then in rifle grenades ditto ditto; and
+then in trench mortars, flare-lights, searchlights, and
+rockets--wherein we followed him feebly and at a great distance; for
+where he sent up 100 (say) light balls at night, we could only afford
+five or six; and other things in proportion. Later on came the
+Minenwerfer, an expanded type of trench mortar, and its bomb, but up
+to the end of February his efforts in this direction were not very
+serious, though I allow that he did us more harm thereby than we him.
+For our trench mortars were in an experimental stage, made locally by
+the R.E., and constructed of thin gas-pipe iron and home-made jam-pot
+bombs, whose behaviour was always erratic, and sometimes, I regret to
+say, fatal to the mortarist. (Poor Rogers, R.E., a capital subaltern,
+was killed thus, besides others, I fear.)
+
+Our reliefs varied. Normally the Brigade was supposed to be, at first,
+eight days in and four days out. Then this was rapidly changed to
+twelve days in and six days out; then, as the 14th Brigade suggested
+that it should hold Neuve Église, a quite short front, in perpetuity,
+whilst the 13th and 15th Brigades relieved each other alternate eight
+days along the long front, it was changed nominally to eight in and
+eight out. But it was not always possible, and our last tour lasted
+twenty days in and only three out.
+
+The reliefs made one's head whirl. It was all right to start with, two
+battalions in the trenches (_i.e._, fire-trenches, support-trenches,
+and reserve-trenches), and two battalions in reserve at Dranoutre or
+thereabouts--four days about, each battalion, in eight-day reliefs, or
+three days about in twelve-day reliefs. This was simple. But when our
+line was lengthened to a three-battalion length it became much more
+difficult, especially when one battalion was much weaker than the
+other three. And when, eventually, the brigade was presented with a
+Territorial battalion of great strength but no experience, making five
+battalions of varying strengths to occupy a three-battalion length,
+whilst one could only put the Territorial one (at first) into a
+comparatively safe place in the line which did not fit it, then the
+problem of the wolf, the goat, and the cabbage faded into complete
+insignificance.
+
+It was very difficult to fit everything in so that each battalion had
+its fair share of duty and of rest. Even with the best intentions
+matters did not always pan out straight, for considerations of
+strength, of comparative excellence, of dangerous and of safe
+localities, of moral, of comfortable or uncomfortable trenches, of
+spade-work and of a dozen other things, had to be fitted together like
+a Chinese puzzle.
+
+There was a particularly dangerous and uncomfortable length which was
+given to the best battalion to hold. On its relief, who should hold
+it? the next best, who was badly wanted somewhere else, or another one
+weak in numbers and consequently unfit? And when the relief came
+again, was the best battalion always to be doomed to the worst and
+most dangerous trenches, merely because it _was_ the best? Hardly an
+incitement to good work. And when the battalions did not fit their
+length, were you to add or subtract a company from somebody else, or
+would you put some in reserve out of their turn, thereby inflicting
+unfair hardship on another battalion? And would you like to reinforce
+one battalion, in case of attack, by another battalion? or would you
+like to make it thin in front and deep behind, and support itself? If
+the other thing was necessary, how could you do it when the two
+battalions were accustomed to relieve their companies, internally, in
+different ways, when perhaps the transport of one was deficient, or
+one battalion preferred sandbags, whilst the other cherished hurdles,
+as revetting material?--for I always found that giving the commanding
+officer his head in such small internal matters produced the best
+work. It was a matter for deep study and wet towels, and there let it
+rest.
+
+We had much difficulty about quarters outside the trenches, for all
+the farmhouses anywhere within two miles of the enemy were shelled
+pretty regularly as regards quantity of explosive material devoted to
+them--though, as regards dates, they varied considerably. Battalion
+headquarters had to be dumped down in farms half shot to pieces, with
+all windows broken and howling icy draughts tearing through the
+shell-holed walls. If you did not like this, you could go and dig a
+big hole in the side of a road or a turnip-field and live in that. The
+reserves were always the difficulty, and so, for a long time, were
+even the supports. For whatever and wherever the trenches that we
+dug for them, the rain came steadily down and broke away the sides of
+the dug-outs and provided wet legs for those that sat therein. Later
+on, more timber being available, as well as iron sheeting, hurdles and
+other things, they became a good deal more weather-proof; but at first
+the men as well as the officers were, I fear, very uncomfortable.
+
+In those days one could not dream of going up to or into a trench
+except in the dark, or, indeed, of moving about anywhere near there
+except at night. Nowadays one can visit all one's trenches in broad
+daylight, and never care a rap for the occasional bullets which
+whistle over the comfortable deep communication trenches; but up to
+the spring of 1915 it was very different almost throughout.
+
+I used to visit the trenches every third night or so; at least I tried
+to, but it was not by any means always possible. It meant a three-mile
+ride there, putting up the horses in Wulverghem or Lindenhoek, and a
+walk of a mile or so to the trenches, then a mile or less along the
+trenches. It was lucky for you if there was any light of moon or stars
+to see by, and lucky if you did not go over your knees in mud in the
+dark. On one occasion it came down a pitchy dead blackness just as I
+was arriving at the trenches, so that you literally could not see your
+hand in front, or the road, or anything else; so I gave it up and went
+back. Other nights were impossible for the same reason; and
+occasionally the brilliance of the moon was in fault, though not
+often. So we had to select our nights carefully.
+
+Johnston, V.C.,[26] R.E., was in R.E. charge of our trenches. (Poor
+fellow, he was killed by a sniper near St Éloi on April 15.) He must
+have worked something like eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. For
+by 9 A.M. he was collecting material near Dranoutre and receiving
+reports, and settling his company administrative work. At 11.30 he
+came to see me, and we discussed and settled the ensuing night's task.
+Then back to his farm to give out instructions to his sappers, and
+fifty other things to do before he rode out about 6 P.M. to the
+trenches, remaining there till 3 A.M. or even 6 A.M.--to superintend
+the work and struggle about in the mud all night. He never spared
+himself an ounce. He was occasionally so nearly dead with want of
+sleep that I once or twice ordered him to take a night's sleep; but he
+always got out of it on some pretext or other.
+
+         [Footnote 26: He had received the V.C. for a particularly
+         plucky piece of raft work under heavy fire at Missy.]
+
+And with it all he was as plucky as the devil--he seemed to like
+getting shot at. One night he got a ricochet bullet over his heart,
+but this only put him in a furious rage (if you can use the word about
+such a seeming mild person), and spent the next twenty-four hours in
+collecting ammunition and bombs and extra trench-mortars and firing
+them himself; this seemed to soothe him. He was a wonderful fellow all
+round, always full of expedients and never disheartened by the cruel
+collapse of all his plans caused by the wet weather; and if there was
+a dangerous piece of work on hand, he was always first in giving the
+lead. One very nasty place on the left there was which was commanded
+by the enemy at short range, yet we could not dig in it, as the water
+was only a foot below the ground, and breastworks there were
+practically impossible; yet if the enemy had seized this bit they
+would have enfiladed the rest of the line; why they did not do so I do
+not know. He was always pressing me to attack the Germans at this
+point and seize a bit of false crest that they held; but my better
+judgment was against it, as, if we had taken the bit, we should have
+been commanded there from three sides instead of one, and could not
+have held it for half an hour. I know Johnston's private opinion of me
+in this matter was that I was a funk, but he was too polite to say so.
+After I left, the following Brigade not only did not attack the point,
+but fell back some distance here, "on its own"; and I am sure they
+were right.
+
+Poor Johnston--he became Brigade-Major after Weatherby left for the
+5th Divisional Staff (some time in April 1915, I think), and, as I
+remarked, was killed shortly afterwards. His death was a very heavy
+loss to the Brigade.
+
+At Dranoutre we--that is, the Brigade staff--lived in a perpetual
+atmosphere of mud and draughts. The Curé's house was very small and
+very dirty, and was not improved by the pounds of mud which every one
+brought in on his boots at all hours of the day and left on our best
+drugget--a cheap, thin thing which I bought in Bailleul (they had not
+such a thing as a carpet in the whole town) wherewith to cover the
+nakedness of the brick floor of the one tiny room in which we all
+worked and ate.
+
+Weatherby and I slept in the house, and the others were billeted
+outside, but the quarters were none of them more than passable--poor
+villagers' rooms, with a frowzy though comfortable bed, a rickety
+washhand-stand, if you were lucky (I did not even have that), no
+carpet on the dirty wooden floor, and one small hard-backed chair,
+generally minus a portion of a leg; never any chest of drawers or
+anywhere to put your things, as if there by any chance was such a
+thing in the room, it was sure to be full of the inhabitants' rusty
+old black clothes and dirty blue flannel shirts, and petticoats, thick
+and musty, by the ton,--I never saw so many petticoats per inhabitant.
+
+Our mess had only had one change since the beginning of the war, and
+that was in the signal officer. Cadell had gone sick in November, and
+Miles had replaced him in December. For about a month, including all
+the period at Ypres, we had had no signal officer (except Naylor for
+two days), nor any Brigade-Major from about the 12th November (at
+Ypres) till the beginning of December; so Sergeant King, a first-rate
+signaller, though not the senior, had carried on for Cadell, and
+Moulton-Barrett had added the duties of Brigade-Major to his own. But
+by the middle of December we were complete again. Weatherby had
+returned from his sick leave, and Miles, of the K.O.S.B.'s, was now
+signalling officer. A quite excellent one he was, too--very silent,
+always an hour or two late for dinner (owing to strenuous night work),
+never asking questions, but always doing things before they were even
+suggested, and very thoroughly at that; he was a great acquisition.
+Moulton-Barrett was still Staff Captain--very hard-working and
+conscientious, and very thorough; Weatherby was still Brigade-Major--keen
+and resourceful; Beilby was still veterinary officer--capable and
+helpful; and St André was still interpreter and billeting
+officer--cheerful and most willing. His duties were mostly to
+investigate the numerous cases of natives who wanted to go somewhere
+or do something--generally to fetch their cows off a shell-swept
+field, or to rescue their furniture from a burnt village, or to fetch
+or buy something from Bailleul--and recommend them (or otherwise) to
+me for passes--a most trying duty, wearing to the temper; but he was
+angelic in patience, and, as a light recreation, used to accompany me
+to the trenches fairly often.
+
+One case there was where, for three nights running, great fids of wire
+were cut out of some artillery cables connecting them with their
+observers--a most reprehensible deed. So I had patrols out to spy
+along the lines,--no result, except that next morning another 100
+yards had gone. So I made St André publish a blood-and-thunder
+proclamation threatening death to any one found tampering with our
+wires. Spies were plentiful, and a gap in our wires might be fatal.
+
+And then the culprit owned up. It was an old woman near whose cottage
+the wires passed, and her fences required mending.
+
+Neuve Église, which we inhabited for a fortnight or more, and where we
+spent Xmas Day, was a good cut above Dranoutre. Except for the first
+three days, when we lived with a doctor,--and his stove smoked
+frightfully till we discovered a dead starling in the pipe,--we dwelt
+in exceeding comfort, comparatively speaking. It was a brewer's house,
+about the biggest in the village--which was three times the size of
+Dranoutre,--with real furniture in it, a real dining-room (horribly
+cold, as the stove refused to work), and a most comfortable series of
+highly civilized bedrooms. (Last time I was in the neighbourhood--August
+1915--there was long grass in the streets, not a soul in the place,
+half the houses in absolute ruins, and our late quarters with one side
+missing and three parts of the house as well.) The trenches were much
+less pestered with shells and bullets than the Dranoutre lot, and it
+was easier work altogether for the men. We quite enjoyed it, and on
+Xmas Day so did the Germans. For they came out of their trenches and
+walked across unarmed, with boxes of cigars and seasonable remarks.
+What were our men to do? Shoot? You could not shoot unarmed men. Let
+them come? You could not let them come into your trenches; so the only
+thing feasible at the moment was done--and some of our men met them
+halfway and began talking to them.
+
+We got into trouble for doing it. But, after all, it is difficult to
+see what we could otherwise have done, unless we shot the very first
+unarmed man who showed himself--_pour encourager les autres_; but we
+did not know what he was going to do. Meanwhile our officers got
+excellent close views of the German trenches, and we profited
+accordingly; the Boche did not, for he was not allowed close enough to
+ours.
+
+Which reminds me that on one occasion, when going round the trenches,
+I asked a man whether he had had any shots at the Germans. He
+responded that there was an elderly gentleman with a bald head and a
+long beard who often showed himself over the parapet.
+
+"Well, why didn't you shoot him?"
+
+"Shoot him?" said the man; "why, Lor' bless you, sir, 'e's never done
+_me_ no 'arm!" A case of "live and let live," which is certainly not
+to be encouraged. But cold-blooded murder is never popular with our
+men.
+
+Talking of anecdotes, and the trend of our men's minds, I heard that
+on another occasion a groom, an otherwise excellent creature, wrote
+home to his "girl" thus: "Me and the master rode out to the trenches
+last night. We was attacked by a strong German patrol. I nips off me
+horse, pulls out my rifle and shoots two of them, and the rest
+bolted." Not a single atom of truth in the story, except that he was
+nestling in a warm stable at an advanced village, whilst his master
+was shivering in the mud of the trenches that night.
+
+Another gem was a statement by a Transport officer's servant that he
+had shot 1200 Germans himself with a machine-gun. This was a man who,
+I verily believe, had never even been within earshot of a gun, much
+less seen a German, his duties being exclusively several miles in rear
+of the firing line. And, being a civilian up till quite recently, I am
+sure he did not know the muzzle of a maxim from its breech.
+
+During our tours in "Divisional reserve" we generally spent the time
+in St Jan's Cappel (already described) or Bailleul. The latter town,
+with its rather quaint old brick fourteenth-century church, porched _à
+la_ Louis Quinze, was tolerable rather than admirable. Nothing of
+civil interest, and hardly anything to buy except magnificent grapes
+from the "Grapperies," even in November. We housed a battalion or
+more in the man's series of greenhouses, and he responded--after
+several more battalions had been quartered there--with a claim for
+2,000,000 francs. He could not prove that a single pane of glass or
+any of his vines had been broken, nor any grapes stolen, for indeed
+they had not been, but he based his claim on the damage done to them
+by tobacco smoke (which I always thought was particularly good for
+them), and by the report of the big guns, which shattered the vines'
+nerves so that he was sure they would not produce again (also a
+fallacy, for I had some more excellent grapes there nearly a year
+afterwards--September '15). I did not hear what compensation he got,
+but he would have been lucky to get 20 francs.
+
+I once went into a poorly furnished watchmaker's shop, but the lady
+there could do nothing for my watch. She told me that, being an
+optician in a small way as well, she had had a whole stock of
+spectacles and glasses. When the Germans came through the town in
+October, they demanded fieldglasses. The few ones she had they stole,
+and then because she had no more they stole her watchmaker's tools,
+and swept all the spectacles and glasses and watches on to the floor
+and stamped them to powder.
+
+There is really little more to relate about our time at Dranoutre and
+neighbourhood. It was a time of a certain amount of nerve-strain, for
+we all knew that our trenches were by no means perfect, and that if
+the enemy did attack us we should have great difficulty in bringing up
+reserves in time to beat them off; for we could not keep them under
+cover within decent range--there were no billets or houses,--and if we
+dug trenches for them they were not only exposed to the enemy's shell
+fire but were certain to be half full of water in two days; whilst we
+could not get anything like enough trench stores and timber, and what
+we did get we had enormous difficulty in bringing up to the trenches.
+
+During all this time the artillery helped us all they knew, and were
+extremely well run, first by Ballard, then Saunders, and then Sandys,
+as Brigade Commanders. But they were badly handicapped by want of
+shells, especially howitzer high explosives, and we had to suffer a
+great deal of shell fire without returning it.
+
+We used to average about four casualties a day in each battalion, say
+fifteen to twenty a day in the Brigade, which made a big hole in the
+strengths. Officers were always getting killed--often, alas, their own
+fault, through excess of zeal; and men used perpetually to lose their
+lives through getting out of the trenches in order to stretch their
+half-frozen limbs. Sickness was, strange to say, almost negligible.
+There were far more cases of arthritis and other things due to cold
+wet feet than anything else; and the men were extraordinarily healthy,
+comparatively speaking, considering the desperately uncomfortable hard
+life.
+
+General Morland was, of course, commanding the Division during this
+time, and used to come nearly every morning in his car to see us; also
+Sir C. Fergusson, now Corps Commander, often came.
+
+But during the whole of that winter there was very little for the
+higher commands to do, except to collect and send up material for the
+trenches, and to try and keep pace with the German developments--for
+we could do little or nothing in the way of offensive action.
+
+I tried to get the thing neatly organised, as to stores and times and
+amounts and transport for taking the things up to the trenches; but
+it was very difficult, as sometimes there were no engineer stores to
+be had, or the wires got broken by shell fire and took a long time to
+repair, or it was more urgent to bring up rations or water or
+ammunition, and the requisite transport for all was not available. But
+all the same, the trenches gradually improved.
+
+At last, on the 18th February, we got news that there was to be a move
+from our present line. The fact was that the 28th Division (also the
+27th), composed of white troops from India and other tropical places,
+had had an exceedingly nasty time. Many of the men were rotten with
+fever, and the cold wet weather had sent scores and scores into
+hospital. They had been put into the trenches round St Éloi to relieve
+the French, who had held all the line round here chiefly with their
+field artillery and a very few men; and the trenches were,
+consequently, most sketchy, according to British ideas, and the
+approaches under heavy fire. The French did not mind, for, if they
+were shelled out of their trenches, as often happened, they just
+skipped out of them and turned their guns on till the Germans were
+cleared out; and then they went back again. But this sort of thing did
+not suit us; and when the Germans did attack our trenches here they
+took a good many and we lost a lot of men, especially when we tried to
+counter-attack and retake them. So the 28th Division was _hors de
+combat_ for the moment, and was sent down to recuperate in a quieter
+area--which was that of the 5th Division.
+
+Our orders were for the 13th and 15th Brigades to move north to St
+Éloi and be replaced by the 83rd and 84th Brigades. This was done,--a
+most complicated move, for the 84th Brigade, which fell to our lot,
+was composed of four very weak battalions, and we had five battalions,
+mostly rather strong; and by the 24th February we had six battalions,
+including the 9th Londons (an excellent battalion) and 6th Cheshires
+(a strong and hard-working one).
+
+We ought to have been relieved, in the normal state of affairs, on the
+17th February, but we were kept on, as a matter of fact, till the
+27th, because of this new arrangement.
+
+On that morning I received word that an extraordinary lamp message
+had been read during the night in the enemy's lines by a signaller of
+the 6th Cheshires. It was a long, confused message in English,
+repeating that "the hill" was going to be attacked at noon on that
+day, with messages about "B.C. codes"--whatever that may be,--trumpery
+wire entanglements, the unready English, good leading essential, &c.,
+and a lot of other undecipherable nonsense. The whole message had
+lasted nearly two hours, with interruptions and repetitions. I did not
+know what to make of it. It was probably a "leg-pull," or somebody
+practising his English; but as there was a 1000 to 1 chance of its
+being sent by some sympathiser in our front, and of the projected
+"attack" being a real one, I sent two companies down as a reserve to
+the Bus Farm in our reserve line, and held a battery ready before its
+time. But nothing happened, and we were relieved without incident.
+
+Bols, by the way, had, from commanding the Dorsets, been appointed to
+command the 84th Brigade, and he took over before leaving, on the day
+before we left. I was very sorry indeed to lose him, but knew that,
+once his foot was well on the ladder, he would go right ahead--as he
+has.[27] The same applied to Ballard, who also had been given a
+Brigade--the 7th.
+
+         [Footnote 27: He is now (1917) Major-General.]
+
+The 15th Brigade thereupon retired into billets at Bailleul, with
+orders to stay there for three days only, and then to go straight to
+St Éloi and take over these trenches of the 28th Division. Not much
+rest--twenty days in the trenches, three out, and then trenches again.
+
+As regards myself, however, my days of connection with the Brigade
+were numbered. I had heard, with mixed but pleasant feelings, that I
+had been promoted Major-General "for distinguished service" on the
+18th February (Weatherby got a brevet majority in the same 'Gazette'),
+and I was now ordered to go home and report myself in London. My
+successor was to be Northey, of the 60th Rifles, from Givenchy way,
+and he turned up on the 2nd March at our Headquarters, which were then
+at 28 Rue de Lille. I at once recognised that he would carry on
+excellently well, and had no compunction in leaving the command in his
+hands. All that was left for me to do was to take a tender farewell
+of the officers of the Brigade and of my staff, and to publish a final
+farewell order to the old Brigade. I was very sad at leaving, and had
+I known what an awful time they were going to have at St Éloi and Hill
+60, I should have been sadder still.[28] Of all the regimental
+officers and men who had left Ireland with me on the 14th August 1914,
+six and a half months previously, I could count on my ten fingers the
+number of officers left:--
+
+  Norfolks--Done[29] and Bruce (both ill in hospital from strenuous
+    overwork), Megaw (killed later), Paterson.
+  Dorsets--Ransome, Partridge.
+  Bedfords--Griffith[29] (trustiest of C.O.'s, who had been under
+    heavier fire than almost any one in the Brigade, yet never
+    touched), Allason (thrice wounded), Gledstanes (killed later).
+  Cheshires--Frost (killed later).
+
+         [Footnote 28: They lost 2400 men out of not quite 4000 in a
+         fortnight in April.]
+
+         [Footnote 29: Now (1917) commanding a Brigade.]
+
+I do not think there was another officer except the
+quartermasters--Smith (Norfolks), Sproule (Cheshires), and Pearce
+(Bedfords)[30]; and as for the men, there may have been ten or so per
+battalion, but I really do not think there were more.
+
+I took the evening train at Bailleul and spent an agreeable evening
+with Ker Seymer, the train officer. I got to Boulogne and on board the
+boat at midnight, and next day, the 3rd March, saw me arrive at 8.30
+A.M. in London.
+
+         [Footnote 30: The Dorset one had been promoted.]
+
+
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH INFANTRY
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+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade,
+by Edward Lord Gleichen</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade</p>
+<p>       August 1914 to March 1915</p>
+<p>Author: Edward Lord Gleichen</p>
+<p>Release Date: July 14, 2007  [eBook #22074]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH INFANTRY BRIGADE***</p>
+<br><br><center><h4 class="pg">E-text prepared by David Clarke, Christine P. Travers,<br>
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br>
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br>
+    from digital material generously made available by<br>
+    Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries<br>
+    (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/toronto">http://www.archive.org/details/toronto</a>)</h4></center><br><br>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>
+<table border=0 bgcolor="ccccff" cellpadding=10 width="80%">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/fifteenthbrigad00gleiuoft">
+	  http://www.archive.org/details/fifteenthbrigad00gleiuoft</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="smaller">
+<p class="center">Transcriber's note:</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. All other
+inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's
+spelling has been preserved.</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">The missing word "in" has been added in the sentence:<br>
+<br>
+<p class="ind2">However, I detached the Dorsets to move along the canal bank
+from <span lang="fr">Gorre</span> and get in touch with the French.
+
+<p class="ind2">Weatherby, who had cantered off to get in touch with them,...</p>
+
+<p class="noindent"><strong>Accessibility:</strong> Expansions of abbreviations have been provided using the &lt;abbr&gt; tag, and changes in language are marked.
+Speech rendering will be improved if voices for the following languages are available: fr, de, nl.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full">
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>The Doings of the<br>
+Fifteenth Infantry Brigade<br>
+August 1914 to March 1915</h1>
+
+<a id="img001" name="img001"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img001.jpg" width="500" height="322" alt="Some of brigade headquarters." title="">
+<p><span class="smcap" lang="fr">L. de <abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> A.</span> <span class="add2em smcap">J. T. W.</span>
+<span class="add2em smcap">G.</span> <span class="add2em smcap">A. L. M.-B.</span> <span class="add2em smcap">R. E. B.</span><br>
+<i>photo by</i> <i>Lieut. H. M. Cadell, <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr></i><br> SOME OF BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h1>The Doings of the<br>
+Fifteenth Infantry Brigade<br>
+August 1914 to March 1915</h1>
+
+<p class="center">BY</p>
+
+<h2>ITS COMMANDER</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Brigadier-General COUNT GLEICHEN,</span><br>
+(now Major-General <span class="smcap">Lord Edward Gleichen</span>),<br>
+<span class="smcap"><abbr title="Knight commander of the Royal Victorian Order">K.C.V.O.</abbr>, <abbr title="Companion of the Order of the Bath">C.B.</abbr>,
+<abbr title="Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George">C.M.G.</abbr>, <abbr title="Distinguished Service Order">D.S.O.</abbr></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="p4 center">William Blackwood &amp; Sons<br>
+Edinburgh and London<br>
+1917</p>
+
+<h2>NOTE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The following pages&mdash;not in the first instance intended for
+publication&mdash;contain an expanded version of the very scrappy Diary
+which I kept in France from day to day.</p>
+
+<p>The version was intended for private home consumption only, and has
+necessarily had to be pruned of certain personal matters before being
+allowed to make its bow to the public. I have purposely refrained from
+adding to it in the light of subsequent events.</p>
+
+<p>I trust that the reader will consequently bear in mind the essentially
+individual and impressionist aspects of this little work, and will not
+expect to find either rigidly historical, professional, or critical
+matter therein.</p>
+
+<p><span class="left60">G.</span><br>
+<i>14th August 1917.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="smcap">
+<ul class="toc">
+<li><a href="#page001">UP TO THE EVE OF <span lang="fr">MONS</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">1-21</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page022">THE BATTLE OF <span lang="fr">MONS</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">22-38</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page039"><span lang="fr">MONS</span> TO <span lang="fr">LE CATEAU</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">39-43</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page044"><span lang="fr">LE CATEAU</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">44-56</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page057">THE RETREAT</a>
+<span class="ralign">57-86</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page087">THE ADVANCE</a>
+<span class="ralign">87-93</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page094">THE <span lang="fr">MARNE</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">94-102</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page103">TO THE <span lang="fr">AISNE</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">103-111</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page112">THE <span lang="fr">AISNE</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">112-140</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page141">WESTWARD HO!</a>
+<span class="ralign">141-149</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page150"><span lang="fr">ABBEVILLE</span> TO <span lang="fr">BÉTHUNE</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">150-157</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page158"><span lang="fr">GIVENCHY</span> AND <span lang="fr">FESTUBERT</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">158-198</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page199">TO <span lang="fr">BAILLEUL</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">199-205</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page206">TO <span lang="fr">YPRES</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">206-208</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page209">THE FIRST BATTLE OF <span lang="fr">YPRES</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">209-248</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page249">BACK TO <span lang="fr">LOCRE</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">249-251</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page252">TRENCH LIFE OPPOSITE <span lang="fr">MESSINES</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">252-280</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#page281">GIVING UP COMMAND</a>
+<span class="ralign">281-283</span></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h2>SKETCH-MAPS.</h2>
+
+<div class="smcap">
+<ul class="toc">
+<li><a href="#img002"><span lang="fr">BOUSSU-WASMES</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">28</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#img003"><span lang="fr">MISSY-ON-AISNE</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">123</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#img004"><span lang="fr">GIVENCHY-VIOLAINES</span></a>
+<span class="ralign">167</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#img005">THE FOOTBRIDGE OVER THE CANAL</a>
+<span class="ralign">175</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#img006"><span lang="nl">BEUKENHORST</span> (NEAR <span lang="fr">YPRES</span>)</a>
+<span class="ralign">211</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#img007">THE <span lang="fr">MESSINES</span> FRONT</a>
+<span class="ralign">255</span></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATION.</h2>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#img001">SOME OF BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS</a></span>
+<span class="ralign"><i>Frontispiece</i></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page001" name="page001"></a>(p. 001)</span> <h1>The Doings of the<br>
+Fifteenth Infantry Brigade.<br>
+August 1914 to March 1915.</h1>
+
+
+<p>In accordance with the order received at Belfast at 5.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> on the
+4th, the 15th Brigade started mobilizing on the 5th August 1914, and
+by the 10th was complete in all respects. We were practically ready by
+the 9th, but a machine-gun or two and some harness were a bit late
+arriving from Dublin&mdash;not our fault. Everything had already been
+rehearsed at mobilization inspections, held as usual in the early
+summer, and all went like clock-work. On the 8th we got our final
+orders to embark on the 14th, and on the 11th the embarkation orders
+arrived in detail.</p>
+
+<p>Brigade Headquarters consisted of myself, Captain Weatherby (Oxford
+<abbr title="Light Infantry">L.I.</abbr>) as Brigade <span class="pagenum"><a id="page002" name="page002"></a>(p. 002)</span> Major, Captain Moulton-Barrett (Dorsets),
+Staff Captain, Captain Roe (Dorsets), Brigade Machine-Gun Officer,
+Lieutenant Cadell, <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, Signalling Officer, and Lieutenant Beilby,
+Brigade Veterinary Officer. Military Police, <abbr title="Army service corps">A.S.C.</abbr> drivers, postmen,
+and all sorts of odds and ends arrived from apparently nowhere in
+particular, and fitted together with extraordinary little effort. The
+battalions grew to unheard-of sizes, and by the time that all was
+complete the Brigade numbered 127 officers, 3958 men, 258 horses, and
+74 vehicles.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 14th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The Cheshires<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1">[1]</a> and Bedfords<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2">[2]</a> arrived by train in the early morning
+of the 14th from 'Derry and Mullingar and went straight on board their
+ships&mdash;Brigade Headquarters, Dorsets,<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3">[3]</a> and half the Norfolks<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4">[4]</a>
+being in one, Cheshires and the other half of the Norfolks in another,
+and the Bedfords in a third.</p>
+
+<p>Great waving of handkerchiefs and cheering <span class="pagenum"><a id="page003" name="page003"></a>(p. 003)</span> as we warped
+slowly out of Belfast docks at 3 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> and moved slowly down the
+channel.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 16th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The weather was beautifully fine on the passage, and on the 16th we
+all arrived at our destination.</p>
+
+<p>The Bedfords had arrived on the previous tide to ourselves, and were
+already fast alongside the quay. Orders were received from the
+Disembarking Officer, and we disembarked and formed up independently
+and marched off to Rest Camp No. 8, six miles off on the hills above
+Havre.</p>
+
+<p>It had been pouring heavily on shore for two days, though it was quite
+fine when we landed; so the ground where we were to encamp was mostly
+sopping. It was not easy to find in the dark, especially as the
+sketch-maps with which we were provided most distinctly acted up to
+their names. Added to these difficulties, a motor-lorry had stuck on
+the way up and blocked our transport for the night. I rode ahead
+alone, but had immense difficulty in finding the Brigade Headquarters
+Camp, which was quite a long way from the other battalion <span class="pagenum"><a id="page004" name="page004"></a>(p. 004)</span>
+camps. These were dotted on the open fields at some distance from each
+other, and pitched in no particular order, so that by the time I had
+got my bearings and brought in the battalions, it was about 11 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>
+There was of course no baggage, nor anything to sleep on except the
+bare ground under the tents, with our saddles for pillows; and as a
+pleasant excitement nearly all our horses stampeded about 2 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, tore
+up their picketing-pegs from the soft ground, and disappeared into the
+darkness in different directions.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 17th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Daylight, however, brought relief, and a certain amount of our
+transport; and all the horses were discovered in course of time and
+brought back. Most of the morning was spent, unsuccessfully, in trying
+to bring up the remaining transport up a steep and narrow road which
+was the only alternative to the blocked one. But some of the horses
+jibbed, and we had eventually to give it up and bring up supplies by
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>The battalions were comfortably settled down under the expectation of
+another night there; but at 2.15 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> we got orders to move off by
+train at night. This we did <span class="pagenum"><a id="page005" name="page005"></a>(p. 005)</span> from three different stations,
+at times varying from 12 midnight to 5.45 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, having arrived
+according to order at the stations four hours previously. This is the
+French system, allowing four hours for the entraining of a unit.
+Although a lot of manhandling had to be done, and the trucks were not
+what we had been accustomed to, we all entrained in about forty
+minutes, so had any amount of time to spare.</p>
+
+<p>Silver (my first charger) was very bobbery as usual, and it took a
+good half-hour to persuade him to enter his truck. Once in, he slept
+like a lamb.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 18th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We were comfortable enough, though packed like sardines, and with
+three-quarters of an hour's rest at <span lang="fr">Rouen</span> for coffee, and another rest
+at <span lang="fr">Amiens</span>&mdash;where we heard that poor General Grierson, our Corps
+Commander, was dead&mdash;broke a blood-vessel in the train&mdash;we arrived at
+<span lang="fr">Busigny</span> at 2.15 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> Here we found Captain Hyslop<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5">[5]</a> (Dorsets), who
+had been sent ahead from Belfast, and who gave us orders to detrain at
+<span lang="fr">Le Cateau</span>, a few miles farther on. I <span class="pagenum"><a id="page006" name="page006"></a>(p. 006)</span> must say that all these
+disembarking and training arrangements were extraordinarily well done,
+and reflected great credit on the Allied staffs combined. No hitch, no
+fuss, no worry, everybody got their orders in time, and all necessary
+arrangements had been carefully thought out beforehand.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived at <span lang="fr">Le Cateau</span> at 3.10 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, and detrained in half an hour,
+baggage and all. The battalions marched off to their billets,&mdash;Dorsets
+and Headquarters to <span lang="fr">Ors</span>, the other three battalions to <span lang="fr">Pommereuil</span>:
+nice clean little villages both of them.</p>
+
+<p>When about halfway out to <span lang="fr">Ors</span>&mdash;I was riding on ahead of the Brigade
+with only Weatherby&mdash;we were met by a motor bikist with a cypher
+telegram for me. This stumped us completely, as, not yet having
+reported to the Division, we had not yet received the local field
+cypher-word; so, seeing a car approaching with some "brass hats" in
+it, I rode across the road and stopped it, with a view to getting the
+key. To my horror, Sir John French and Sir A. Murray descended from
+the car and demanded to know why I had stopped them. I explained and
+apologised, and they were very pleasant about it; but on looking at
+the wire they <span class="pagenum"><a id="page007" name="page007"></a>(p. 007)</span> said that I could disregard it, as they knew
+what it was about, and it was of no particular importance by this
+time; so we pursued our way in peace.</p>
+
+<p>The billeting had already been done for us by our (5th) Divisional
+Staff, and we found no difficulty in shaking down.</p>
+
+<p>I was billeted on a small elderly lady of the name of <span lang="fr">Madame W</span>&mdash;&mdash;,
+who was kindness itself, and placed herself and her house at our
+disposal; but I regret to say that when our men, in search of
+firewood, picked up some old bits of plank lying about in the garden,
+she at first made a shocking fuss, tried to make out that it was a
+whole timber stack of new wood, and demanded fifty francs
+compensation. She eventually took two francs and was quite content.</p>
+
+<p>Here it was that <span lang="fr">Saint André</span> joined us, having been cast off by the
+5th Divisional Staff at Landrecies as a superfluous interpreter.
+Looking like an ordinary French subaltern with a <span lang="fr">pince-nez</span>, he was in
+fact a Protestant pastor from <span lang="fr">Tours</span>, son of the <span lang="fr">Vicomte de Saint
+André</span>, very intelligent and "cultured," with a great sense of humour
+and extremely keen. I really cannot speak too highly of him, for he
+was a most useful <span class="pagenum"><a id="page008" name="page008"></a>(p. 008)</span> addition to the Staff. In billeting and
+requisitioning, and in all matters requiring tact in connection with
+the inhabitants or the French Army, he was invaluable. I used him
+later as <abbr title="Aide-de-camp">A.D.C.</abbr> in action, and as <span lang="fr"><i>Officier de liaison</i></span> with the
+French troops. I don't know what his knowledge of divinity may have
+been, but if it was anything like equal to his military knowledge it
+must have been considerable. He had studied theology at Edinburgh, and
+his English was very fluent, luckily untouched by a Scottish accent.
+He was always bubbling over with vitality and go, and plunged into
+English with the recklessness of his race; when he couldn't express
+himself clearly he invented words which were the joy of the
+Mess,&mdash;"pilliate," "whizzle," "contemporative," and dozens of others
+that I can't remember; and what used to charm us particularly was that
+he so often went out of his way to put the accent on the wrong
+syllable, such as in bilyétting, brígade, áttack, ambassádor, &amp;c. He
+was, indeed, a great acquisition to the Brigade.<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6">[6]</a></p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page009" name="page009"></a>(p. 009)</span> <p class="p2"><i>Aug. 19th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning I rode across to have a look at the other battalions. The
+transport horses of the Cheshires were perhaps not all they might have
+been, but it was the particular stamp of Derry horse that was at
+fault, and not the battalion arrangements. Otherwise we were ready for
+the fray.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 20th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We had arrived on the Tuesday (18th), and on the Thursday Sir C.
+Fergusson (commanding 5th Division) paraded the Brigade by battalions
+and made them a short speech, telling us we were to move on the
+morrow, and giving us a few technical tips about the Germans and how
+to meet their various wiles, largely about machine-guns and their
+methods of attack in large numbers. The Bedfords were the most
+interested audience, and interrupted him every now and then with
+"'Ear, 'ear," and a little handclapping at important points. I think
+the General was a little nonplussed at this attention: I know I was.
+Whether it was due or not to the audience being accustomed to
+attending <span class="pagenum"><a id="page010" name="page010"></a>(p. 010)</span> political meetings at home, or to the air of
+Bedfordshire being extremely vitalising I don't know, but once or
+twice afterwards when the battalion was addressed by General Smith
+Dorrien,<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7">[7]</a> and even by Sir J. French, they showed their approbation
+in the manner above set forth&mdash;somewhat to my confusion.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 21st.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next day we moved off early. I already found myself overburdened with
+kit&mdash;although I had not even as much as the regulation 150 lb.&mdash;and I
+left a camp-bed and a thick waistcoat and various odds and ends behind
+in <span lang="fr">Madame W</span>&mdash;&mdash;'s cupboard, under the firm belief that I might at
+some future period send for it if I wanted it. Alas! the Germans have
+now been at <span lang="fr">Ors</span> for close on three years.</p>
+
+<p>A hot march of about fifteen miles brought us to <span lang="fr">Gommignies</span>.
+Stragglers, I regret to say, were already many&mdash;all of them
+reservists, who had not carried a pack for years. They had every
+intention of keeping up, of course, but simply could not. I talked to
+several of them and urged <span class="pagenum"><a id="page011" name="page011"></a>(p. 011)</span> them along, but the answer was
+always the same&mdash;"Oh, I'll get along all right, sir, after a bit of
+rest; but I ain't accustomed to carrying a big weight like this on a
+hot day," and their scarlet streaming faces certainly bore out their
+views. To do them justice, they practically all did turn up. I was
+afraid that, in spite of great care and the numerous orders I had
+issued about the fitting and greasing of new boots, it was the boots
+which were at fault; but it was not so, except in a very few cases.</p>
+
+<p>Our billeting parties had, of course, been sent ahead and started on
+their work. It was naturally quite new work to them, and it took a lot
+of time at first&mdash;two and three hours&mdash;before the men were settled.
+Nowadays it takes half an hour, or at most an hour, as everybody knows
+his job, and also takes what is given him at once, squash or no
+squash. After a little campaigning men very quickly find out that it
+is better to shake down at once, even in uncomfortable billets, than
+to hang about and try to get better ones. Here we got first touch,
+though very indirectly, with the enemy, in the shape of a French
+patrol of <span lang="fr"><i>Chasseurs à Cheval</i></span> (in extraordinarily <span class="pagenum"><a id="page012" name="page012"></a>(p. 012)</span> <i>voyant</i>
+light-blue tunics and shakos), who had come in from somewhere north
+after having seen some "Uhlans" and hunted them off. I sent the news,
+such as it was, on to the Division.</p>
+
+<p>And here I must lay stress on the fact that throughout the campaign we
+did not know in the least what was happening elsewhere. Beyond the
+fact that the 3rd Division was somewhere on our right, and that the
+French cavalry was believed to be covering our left front, we did not
+know at this period what the movement was about or where the Germans
+were supposed to be. We trusted to our superiors to do what was
+necessary, and plunged blindly into the "fog of war."</p>
+
+<p>The usual proceedings on the ordinary line of march were that, on
+receiving "Divisional Orders," which arrived at any time in the
+afternoon, or often at night, we compiled "Brigade Orders" on them.
+Divisional Orders give one first of all any information about the
+enemy which it is advisable to impart, then the intention of the
+Divisional General&mdash;whether he means to fight on the morrow, or march,
+or stay where he is, &amp;c., &amp;c.; and if he means to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page013" name="page013"></a>(p. 013)</span> march he
+gives the direction in which the Division is to proceed, the order of
+march, by brigades, artillery, divisional troops such as <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, heavy
+batteries, divisional cavalry, &amp;c., &amp;c., and generally says where and
+how the transport is to march, whether with its own troops or some way
+behind, and if so, where; and gives directions as to the supplies,
+where the refilling-point, rendezvous for supply carts, and railhead
+are, and many other odds and ends, especially as to which brigade is
+to provide the advanced- or rear-guard, who is to command it, at what
+time the head of the column and the heads of all the formations are to
+pass a given point, and so on. On receiving these orders we have to
+make out and issue similarly composed Brigade Orders in detail, giving
+the order of march of the battalions and Brigade Headquarters, how
+much rations are to be carried on the men and in the cook-waggons,
+what is to happen to the supply and baggage waggons, whether B
+transport (vehicles not absolutely necessary in the fighting line) are
+to be with the A transport in rear of their respective battalions, or
+to be bunched up by themselves behind the Brigade, with <span class="pagenum"><a id="page014" name="page014"></a>(p. 014)</span>
+similar detailed orders about the advanced-guard or rear-guard, and
+the time to a minute as to when each detail is to pass a given point,
+the position of the Brigadier in the column, the point to which
+reports are to be sent, &amp;c., &amp;c. These orders might be written in
+anything from fifteen to fifty minutes according to the movement
+required, and then had to be quadruplicated and sent out to the
+battalions by their respective orderlies, or by wire. By the time the
+battalions had written out and transmitted their own orders to their
+companies it was sometimes very late indeed; but as the campaign went
+on, orders got more and more simplified somehow, and things got done
+quicker than at the beginning of the <span lang="fr"><i>premier pas</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>The country through which we were passing was that technically
+described by novelists as "smiling." That is to say, it was pretty, in
+a mild sort of way, clean, green, with tidy farmhouses and cottages,
+and fields about ripe for the harvest. Plenty of orchards there were
+too, with lots of fruit-trees alongside the roads, and the people were
+most kind in offering us fruit and milk and water and coffee and even
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page015" name="page015"></a>(p. 015)</span> wine as we went along. But this could not be allowed on the
+march, as it would have led to men falling out without permission, and
+also to drinking more than was good for them whilst marching. Except,
+therefore, occasionally, and then only during the ten minutes' halt
+that we had in each hour, I did not allow these luxuries to be
+accepted.</p>
+
+<p><span lang="fr">Gommignies</span> was a nice shady little town, and the <span lang="fr">Notaire</span> gave me an
+excellent bedroom in his big house; whilst I remember that I made
+acquaintance there with the excellent penny cigar of the country.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 22nd.</i></p>
+
+<p>Off at cock-crow next day, the country got uglier, blacker, more
+industrial, and more thickly populated as we pushed on through the
+heat, and by the time we crossed the Belgian frontier we felt indeed
+that we were in another land.</p>
+
+<p>The beastly paved road with cobbles, just broad enough for one vehicle
+and extremely painful to the feet, whilst the remainder of the road on
+both sides was deep in dust or caked mud, was a most offensive
+feature; the people staring and crowding round the troops were quite a
+different type from the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page016" name="page016"></a>(p. 016)</span> courteous French peasants; and
+whilst in France not a single able-bodied civilian had been
+visible&mdash;all having joined the Army&mdash;in Belgium the streets were
+crowded with men who, we felt most strongly, ought to have been
+fighting in the ranks.</p>
+
+<p>There was a great block in <span lang="fr">Dour</span>, which we reached after a
+fourteen-mile march, and in spite of all attempts at keeping the
+streets clear it was some time before we could get through. Part of
+the Division was halting there for the night, and the municipal
+authorities were extremely slow in allotting billets and keeping their
+civilian waggons in order.</p>
+
+<p>From <span lang="fr">Dour</span> onwards it was a big straggling sort of suburban
+town&mdash;tramways down the side, dirty little houses lining the street,
+great chimneys belching (I believe that is the correct term) volumes
+of black smoke, huge mountains of slag in all directions, rusty
+brickfields littered with empty tins, old paper, and bits of iron, and
+other similarly unlovely views. The only thing to be said in favour of
+this industrial scrap-heap was that the smoke was not quite so sooty
+as it looked, and things one touched did not "come off" quite so black
+as might <span class="pagenum"><a id="page017" name="page017"></a>(p. 017)</span> have been expected. Otherwise there was no
+attraction.</p>
+
+<p>Half a mile on or more was <span lang="fr">Bois de Boussu</span>, and here we were halted to
+allow of a cavalry brigade moving down the street. We waited some
+time, and eventually it arrived, not coming down the street but across
+it from east to west. I am ashamed to say that I have forgotten which
+it was, but the 4th Dragoon Guards, I think, were in it. They crossed
+at a trot, men and horses both looking very fit and workmanlike, and
+disappeared westwards through the haze of the factories; any more
+impossible country for cavalry&mdash;except perhaps the London Docks&mdash;I
+have never seen.</p>
+
+<p>We shortly afterwards got orders to billet in <span lang="fr">Bois de Boussu</span> and <span lang="fr">Dour</span>,
+the real <span lang="fr">Boussu</span> being another half mile on. But where the whole
+countryside was one vast straggling town, it was impossible to say
+where one town ended and the other began. Even the inhabitants didn't
+know.</p>
+
+<p>Moulton-Barrett and <span lang="fr">Saint André</span> had already got to work on the
+billeting, and the Norfolks and Cheshires were shortly accommodated in
+some factories up the road, whilst the Bedfords and Dorsets were
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page018" name="page018"></a>(p. 018)</span> moved back nearly into <span lang="fr">Dour</span>, into a brewery and some
+mine-offices respectively, if I remember rightly. Brigade Headquarters
+was installed in an ultra-modern Belgian house and garden belonging to
+one M. <span lang="fr">Durez</span>, a very civil little man, head of some local mining
+concern. There was a <span lang="fr">Madame Durez</span> too, plump and good-natured, and a
+girl and a boy, and they were profuse in their hospitality. The only
+drawback about the meals, excellent as they were, was the appalling
+length of time occupied in their preparation and consumption; it was
+almost impossible to get away from them, even though there was so much
+to do.</p>
+
+<p>So much was there to be done that I feel now as though we had been
+there a week, or at least three days; but on looking at my diary I
+find we arrived there at midday on Saturday the 22nd, and left at
+midnight on Sunday the 23rd.</p>
+
+<p>On the Saturday afternoon there were rumours of the Germans being on
+the other side of the <span lang="fr">Mons-Condé</span> Canal, not far off. The 13th and 14th
+Brigades were in front of us, strung out and holding the Canal line,
+ourselves being in Divisional Reserve. Where the exact left of the 5th
+Division <span class="pagenum"><a id="page019" name="page019"></a>(p. 019)</span> was I cannot remember at this moment, but I am sure
+that it was not farther west than <span lang="fr">Pommeroeul</span> bridge, with, I believe,
+French or English cavalry on its left.</p>
+
+<p>Saturday afternoon was spent in studying the ground in our front and
+looking to the approaches and the arrangements for the Brigade. Our
+front was of course well covered, but there were numerous little
+matters to be seen to and a certain amount of confabulation with the
+Divisional Staff, which lived in the midst of a perpetual
+<span lang="fr"><i>va-et-vient</i></span> at the railway station at <span lang="fr">Dour</span>. Our horses were picketed
+out in M. Durez's garden and the grubby little fields close by, and
+the Signal section and all the vehicles were stowed away there as best
+could be arranged; but all was enclosed, cramped, and unhandy, and the
+difficulty was to get a clear space anywhere. I walked with M. Durez
+in the evening to a tiny mound in his garden, from which he assured me
+a good view could be got; but although the sunset and colouring
+through the haze was rather picturesque, one couldn't see much. Durez
+was very apprehensive about his family and himself, and was most
+urgent in his inquiries as to what was going to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page020" name="page020"></a>(p. 020)</span> happen. I
+could not tell him much beyond the rumour that the German force in
+front was reported not to be very big, and I advised him to stick it
+out as long as he could; but he was restless, with good reason as it
+turned out, and settled next day to take himself and his family away
+whilst there was yet time.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 23rd.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning I got orders to go with Lieut.-Col. Tulloch, the
+Divisional Commanding Royal Engineer, to select a defensive position
+and entrench it. We got into a car, and went buzzing about in front of
+<span lang="fr">Boussu</span> and round to the right as far as <span lang="fr">Wasmes</span>; but I never saw such a
+hopeless place. There was no field of fire anywhere except to the
+left, just where the railway crossed the <span lang="fr">Boussu</span> road, where, strange
+to say, the country opened out on to a "glacis-like" slope of stubble.
+Going was bad, up broken little roads over ground composed of a
+bewildering variety of slag-heaps 40 to 150 feet high, intersected
+with railway lines, mine heads, chimneys, industrial buildings,
+furnaces, and <i>usines</i> of all sorts, and thickening into suburbs
+consisting of narrow winding <span class="pagenum"><a id="page021" name="page021"></a>(p. 021)</span> little streets and grubby
+little workmen's houses. Here and there were open spaces and even
+green fields, but nowhere could a continuous field of fire be
+obtained. The only thing was to select various <span lang="fr"><i>points d'appui</i></span> with
+some sort of command, and try and connect them up by patches of
+entrenchments; but even this was very difficult, as the line was so
+long and broken that no unity of command was possible, and the
+different patches were so separated and so uneven, some having to be
+in front of the general line and some in rear, that they often could
+not flank or even see each other.</p>
+
+<p>At about midday several cyclists came riding back in a great hurry
+from the Canal, saying they had been attacked by a big force of
+cavalry and been badly cut up; that they had lost all their officers
+and 20 or 30 men killed, and the rest taken prisoners. This was hardly
+a good beginning, but it eventually turned out that the grand total
+losses were 1 officer (Corah of the Bedfords) slightly wounded, 2 men
+killed, and 3 missing.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after this the first German gun was heard&mdash;at 12.40 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> I
+timed it&mdash;and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page022" name="page022"></a>(p. 022)</span> for the rest of the afternoon there was
+intermittent bombardment and numerous shell-bursts in the direction of
+the Canal, some of it our own Horse Artillery, but mostly German.</p>
+
+<p>When we had roughly settled on our line, I shouted to a crowd of
+curious natives who had come out to watch us, and did not seem
+particularly friendly&mdash;as they were not at all sure that we were not
+Germans&mdash;to get all their friends together with pickaxes and shovels
+and start digging entrenchments where we showed them. It was Sunday
+afternoon, and all the miners were loafing about with nothing to do.
+The idea rapidly caught on, and soon they were hurrying off home for
+their tools, whilst we got hold of the best-dressed and most
+authoritative-looking men and showed them what we wanted done. It was
+scratch work, in more senses than one, as we had no time to lose and
+could not superintend, but had to tear from one point to another,
+raising men and showing them where the lines were to go, how deep the
+trenches were to be made, which way the earth was to be thrown, and
+all the rest of it.</p>
+
+<p>On our way round we came also upon some <span class="pagenum"><a id="page023" name="page023"></a>(p. 023)</span> batteries of field
+artillery, disconsolately wending their way through the narrow
+streets, and with their reconnoitring officers out in all directions
+looking for positions; but they found none, and the Artillery did but
+little in the way of shooting that night. With their present
+experience I expect they would have done a good deal more.</p>
+
+<p>Then we tore back, and I got the battalions out, or rather two
+companies of each battalion, set them to work, and sent out their
+other two companies to support them. The Norfolks were on the left, at
+the station, and eastwards down the line. Then came the Cheshires, a
+bit thrown back, in beastly enclosed country for the most part. One of
+the big slag-heaps had seemed to offer a good command, but to our
+disgust it was so hot that we could hardly stand on it, so that had to
+be given up. Other heaps again seemed to give a good position, and
+they were fairly cool; but when we scrambled up there was always
+something wrong&mdash;either there were more slag-heaps in front which
+blocked the view, or the heap ran to a point and there was not room
+for more than two men, or the slag-ridge faced the wrong way&mdash;it was a
+nightmare of a place.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page024" name="page024"></a>(p. 024)</span> <p>Beyond the Cheshires came the Dorsets and Bedfords, pretty
+well together, and occupying some trenches on a high railway
+embankment, &amp;c., but the position was not really satisfactory, and if
+attacked in force at night it would be very difficult to see or guard
+against the approach of the enemy. Nor, as I heard afterwards, had the
+inhabitants dug the trenches anything like deep enough, so that they
+formed but poor protection against the rain of shells that began to
+pour on them at nightfall.</p>
+
+<p>All pointed to an attack by the enemy during the night or next day,
+but even then we had not the smallest idea of the enormous forces
+arrayed against us. We were told at first that there was perhaps a
+corps in front of us, but as a matter of fact there were three, if not
+four corps.</p>
+
+<p>Having distributed the battalions as ordered&mdash;I had no Brigade Reserve
+in hand, having to cover such a broad front (nearly three miles, when
+my normal front, according to the text-books, should have been about
+1000 yards)&mdash;myself and Brigade Headquarters were left rather "by our
+lone." M. and <span lang="fr">Madame Durez</span> were packing up hard all, and disappeared
+with their <span class="pagenum"><a id="page025" name="page025"></a>(p. 025)</span> friends and family before dinner in a big
+motor-car, making in the direction of <span lang="fr">Bavai <abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Waast</span>, to the south,
+where they had friends; as, however, we retired through there next day
+I don't expect they stayed long, but continued their journey into
+France. I don't know what became of them. They had been most
+hospitable, and placed the house and everything in it, even a final
+dinner, at our disposal; but the poor people were, of course, in a
+great state of perturbation, and there was not much except the house
+itself that we could make use of.</p>
+
+<p>As we were finishing dinner further orders arrived from the Division.
+Weatherby and I cantered down to the Divisional Staff to learn
+details, and we got them shortly, to the effect that the Cheshires and
+Norfolks were to be left under direct command of the Divisional
+Commander, whilst Brigade Headquarters was to be at <span lang="fr">Pâturages</span> by
+sunrise on the morrow, and to hold that with our other two battalions
+on the right.</p>
+
+<p>We "fell in" the Brigade Headquarters about midnight and, after some
+trouble in securing guides, moved off through a labyrinth of streets
+in the warm dark. Our <span class="pagenum"><a id="page026" name="page026"></a>(p. 026)</span> guides were local men, and we did not
+take long to get to Warquignies, in the main street of which we met
+the Headquarters of the 13th Brigade, minus their Brigadier. Here also
+were the <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s in bivouac, acting as Brigade Reserve to their
+(13th) Brigade. The night was peaceful, and we pushed on after a short
+rest, getting at dawn to a steep hill which led down into <span lang="fr">Pâturages</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 20th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The latter was a fine big town with paved streets and
+prosperous-looking houses, very different from the grubby streets of
+<span lang="fr">Boussu</span>; but I was troubled about the hill street, as it was very steep
+and bad and narrow. How we should get the transport up it again in a
+hurry if it had to retire I did not know, and two eminently
+respectable inhabitants assured me that there was no other way back
+unless I went right up to <span lang="fr">Wasmes</span>&mdash;from which direction firing was
+already beginning&mdash;and returned <i>viâ</i> the north. That didn't look
+healthy for the transport, so I left most of the Brigade transport at
+the top of the hill and only brought down the Signal section.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page027" name="page027"></a>(p. 027)</span> <p>At the entrance into <span lang="fr">Pâturages</span> we found Currie, Cuthbert's
+(13th Brigade) Brigade Major, but Cuthbert was not there, so it was a
+little difficult to combine any action. However, we learnt that the
+other three battalions of the 13th Brigade were distributed in front
+of us on the north, and I received a message that the Dorsets and
+Bedfords had been obliged to fall back during the night and were
+holding the railway station at <span lang="fr">Wasmes</span> and a bit east of that. The 13th
+Brigade had been along the line of the Canal the previous day and had
+been driven back by superior numbers, but had blown up some of the
+bridges. I heard afterwards that young Pottinger, a subaltern of the
+17th Co. <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, had been entrusted with blowing up one bridge, and that
+the charge had failed to explode. Whereupon he advanced under heavy
+fire close to the charge and had gallantly fired his revolver at it,
+which of course, as he knew, would have blown him sky-high with the
+bridge had he hit it. But either he missed the shot altogether or he
+hit the wrong part, and the thing didn't explode. And then he found
+himself cut off by Germans who had crossed elsewhere, and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page028" name="page028"></a>(p. 028)</span> he
+had to leg it. So, unfortunately, that bridge was left intact.</p>
+
+<a id="img002" name="img002"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img002.jpg" width="500" height="323" alt="Map." title="">
+</div>
+
+<p>I trotted ahead alone to try and find the Dorsets or the Bedfords,
+leaving Weatherby with other instructions. It was a long way to the
+station (<span lang="fr">Pâturages</span> by name, but really in <span lang="fr">Wasmes</span>), but I eventually
+found Griffith (<abbr title="Officer in Command">O.C.</abbr> Bedfords) and most of his men thereabouts. The
+Germans had apparently got round to the east, but we were holding
+them. The Dorsets were a bit further to the south-east, and I found
+them after a good many wrong turnings; and then there was little to do
+but pick up <span class="pagenum"><a id="page029" name="page029"></a>(p. 029)</span> connection with whoever I could. By this time my
+staff had come up, and Weatherby and I cantered off to find General
+Haking, who, I understood, had brought up his 5th Brigade from the 2nd
+Division (1st Corps), and was somewhere towards Frameries. Him we
+found after some trouble, with only one battalion in action in fairly
+open country. It appeared that a message had been sent the night
+before from the 3rd Division that the Germans were threatening
+<span lang="fr">Pâturages</span> and going to attack in force, and help was most urgently
+required; so General Haig had despatched Haking in a great hurry. The
+5th Brigade made a forced march and arrived at <span lang="fr">Pâturages</span> at 2 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>,
+perspiring profusely. Not a sound. Fearing an ambush, they walked
+delicately, with scouts well out in front and to both flanks. Not a
+sign either of the British or the Germans,&mdash;empty streets, no one
+about, all quiet as death. So they bivouacked in the streets and were
+now thinking of falling back on their own corps, as there were only a
+few Germans in front of them and these wouldn't advance.</p>
+
+<p>Where the 3rd Division exactly were I <span class="pagenum"><a id="page030" name="page030"></a>(p. 030)</span> could not at first
+find out, though I tried; but I knew that they were holding the
+country in the direction of <span lang="fr">Mons</span>. Anyway, except for a good many
+shells flying about, there was very little of the enemy to see or
+hear, and <span lang="fr">Pâturages</span> was safe at all events for the present.</p>
+
+<p>The Dorsets and Bedfords, however, had had a pretty bad time on the
+previous evening, and had lost a number of men, though they had given
+the Germans a good deal more than they got. The German shelling had
+been fairly accurate, and their infantry had pushed on between the
+slag-heaps and got their machine-guns to work under cover in a
+horribly efficient manner. Eventually our battalions had to evacuate
+their trenches as their right flank was being turned, and they fell
+back on <span lang="fr">Wasmes</span> and <span lang="fr">Pâturages</span>, leaving most of their packs behind them
+in the trenches. They had taken them off to dig, and, being hot, had
+fought without them, and then this sudden outflanking movement had
+necessitated a rapid falling back, so their packs and most of their
+shovels had been left behind. This was awkward, more especially
+hereafter, as, although the loss of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page031" name="page031"></a>(p. 031)</span> the greatcoat did not
+matter much in this hot weather, and certainly added to their marching
+power, still, the loss of the pack meant loss of spare socks and spare
+shirt&mdash;besides other things.</p>
+
+<p>We snatched a little breakfast and coffee at an inn where the
+<span lang="fr"><i>patronne</i></span> was still in possession, and then things began to get more
+lively. Shells began to knock corners off the houses close by, and
+reports kept coming in that the enemy appeared to be advancing, though
+the bulk of his infantry was still some way off to the east. The
+Dorsets were rearranging their line so as not to be cut off, and I was
+standing with Bols (commanding Dorsets) and a few of his officers by
+the <span lang="fr"><i>estaminet</i></span> when a shrapnel burst with a tremendous crack close
+over our heads, bringing down branches and leaves in showers. Yet not
+a man or a horse was hit. The shrapnel bullets whizzed along the
+pavement in all directions, right among our feet, like hail it seemed;
+yet the only result was a lot of bad language from Saunders, who had
+got a nasty jar on the heel from one of the bullets: but it did not
+even cut the leather.</p>
+
+<p>It now became time to get the Dorset <span class="pagenum"><a id="page032" name="page032"></a>(p. 032)</span> transport away, as
+things were getting rather hot, and the crackling of rifles was
+getting distinctly nearer. I thought of that horrible hill and I
+looked at my map. Yes&mdash;there certainly was a way round back by the
+south-east, <i>viâ</i> the road along which Weatherby and I had just come
+back from interviewing Haking. So I directed the transport to move
+that way&mdash;there was a road branching off to the right only 400 yards
+on and quite safe, as I thought, for the firing was up north and
+north-east, and this road lay south-southeast.</p>
+
+<p>Roe covered the withdrawal with his company and was very anxious to
+lay an ambush for the enemy. But they did not seem inclined to oblige
+him, but kept heading off in a more southerly direction. There was no
+sign from the 3rd Division who, I knew, were on our right; so, as my
+scouts could not find them, I could only come to the conclusion that
+the enemy had got in between us, and if we didn't clear out soon we
+should be in a bad way.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there was a crackle of rifles down the road along which the
+Dorset transport had gone, and then nearly the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page033" name="page033"></a>(p. 033)</span> whole of the
+transport came galloping back, a dead horse being dragged along in the
+shafts of one of the waggons. Margetts, the transport officer, rode
+past, revolver in hand, and streaming with blood from the shoulder,
+and one or two of the men and horses had obviously been hit. What had
+happened was that a few Germans had penetrated on to the road where
+Weatherby and I had passed in perfect safety only a short time before
+and ambushed the transport.</p>
+
+<p>Margetts had very gallantly ridden direct at the ambush with his
+revolver, shot down one or two and bewildered the rest, and thus given
+time for the transport to turn round on the (luckily) broad road and
+gallop back. The Pioneer Sergeant of the Dorsets was killed, and so
+was a Brigade Policeman who happened to be with the transport.
+Otherwise almost the only loss was an ammunition-cart with two horses
+killed, and some damage was done to a pole and wheel or two of the
+other vehicles. Poor Nicholson (my servant), who should, strictly
+speaking, have remained with the Brigade transport and not come up at
+all, had attached himself to the Dorset transport <span class="pagenum"><a id="page034" name="page034"></a>(p. 034)</span> without
+orders&mdash;wishing, I suppose, to be handy in case he was required&mdash;and
+had been shot down with the two or three others. I believe he was
+killed; anyway, I never saw him again, poor fellow. Margetts was
+nearly falling off his horse with pain, so he dismounted and was
+bandaged by the Medical Officer. But by that time the transport
+vehicles had disappeared, and as he was fainting and was not in a fit
+state to be carried, he had to be left in the house of a Belgian
+doctor and was taken prisoner shortly afterwards. We heard of him
+later, and I am glad to say his gallant action gained him a <abbr title="Distinguished Service Order">D.S.O.</abbr></p>
+
+<p>Bols strung out half a company to defend the place where we thought
+the Germans would appear, but after waiting for ten minutes we found
+we were practically "in the air," as large forces of the enemy were
+reported coming round our right flank, and the firing on our left
+front got more and more to the left, thus proving that the Bedfords
+had been pushed back and were retiring <i>viâ</i> <span lang="fr">Wasmes</span>&mdash;as they had been
+told to do if overwhelmed. Weatherby, who had cantered off to get in
+touch with them, confirmed this; and as it was getting extremely
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page035" name="page035"></a>(p. 035)</span> "hot" (shells) where we were, I gave the order to
+withdraw&mdash;only just in time as it turned out.</p>
+
+<p>The Dorsets formed a proper rear-guard and held off the enemy, who
+were by this time trickling in large numbers into the town; but by
+good luck the Germans seemed to funk coming on in formation, and by
+the time we had got back to the foot of the steep hill they didn't
+bother us any more except by occasional shells. To my extreme
+annoyance (in one way) we found another track leading round the hill,
+towards Warquignies, not marked on the map; so those two wretched
+inhabitants had told us quite wrong, and we could have retired the
+transport this way after all. Of course we took advantage of it, and
+fell back slowly <i>viâ</i> Warquignies on Blangies, where we arrived, with
+very few casualties, about two.</p>
+
+<p>Here we got orders at first to bivouac for the night, but hardly had
+the men had time to cook a meal and eat it than we were ordered to
+continue the retirement on <span lang="fr">Bavai <abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Waast</span>, <i>viâ</i> <span lang="fr">Athis</span>. As we got on
+to the main road here we found a large column of our own troops moving
+down it, and there were German mounted patrols <span class="pagenum"><a id="page036" name="page036"></a>(p. 036)</span> at a
+respectful distance on both sides. We fired at them occasionally, and
+they disappeared and then turned up again in twos and threes on the
+skyline, evidently keeping touch with us.</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond <span lang="fr">Athis</span> we found the Norfolks, who had been fighting at
+<span lang="fr">Élouges</span> all the morning, and then we came across the sad little
+remainder of the Cheshires&mdash;only about 200 left out of 891 who had
+gone into action that morning near <span lang="fr">Élouges</span>. It was horrible to hear of
+this appalling loss. Shore was the only captain left, and he was in
+command, with two or three subalterns only. His story was that his
+company had been in reserve to the other three and had gone to occupy
+a farmhouse as told, that he had seen the three companies extending to
+his right, and then lost touch with them as they advanced rapidly over
+the brow of the low rolling ground. There was very heavy firing all
+along the line, and eventually a staff officer told him to fall back
+to his right rear and rejoin his battalion. This he tried to do, but
+he only came across a few wounded and stragglers of his regiment, who
+told him that the three companies had lost very <span class="pagenum"><a id="page037" name="page037"></a>(p. 037)</span> heavily,
+including Boger (commanding) and all their officers, and that there
+was practically nobody left. Shore did his best to find out and help,
+but a general retirement took place, and he and his men were swept
+back with the rest. Tahourdin, Stapylton, Dyer, Dugmore, and lots of
+others were reported killed, and poor Shore was in a terrible state of
+mind. (It turned out afterwards that all these officers were alive and
+prisoners, with a great number of their men, but at the time I could
+not find out exactly how it happened that the battalion got so cut up
+and lost such a desperate number.)</p>
+
+<p>The Norfolks had lost poor Cresswell, their Adjutant&mdash;such a good
+fellow&mdash;and one or two other officers. But although their losses had
+been serious they were nothing like so bad as the Cheshires. It
+appears that our left about <span lang="fr">Élouges</span> and to the west rear of <span lang="fr">Dour</span> was
+heavily attacked by the enemy; that we were on the defensive with the
+14th Brigade (Rolt), and these two battalions of the 15th, and the 2nd
+Cavalry Brigade (<span lang="fr">De Lisle</span>); and that Sir C. F. called on the Cavalry
+to assist at a certain moment. <span lang="fr">De Lisle</span> thereupon very <span class="pagenum"><a id="page038" name="page038"></a>(p. 038)</span>
+gallantly charged the German guns, but he started from some distance
+off, and not only were the horses blown before they got there, but
+there was a lot of wire between them and the Germans which they
+couldn't get through. So, after losing heavily, they wheeled to the
+right to get out of the way. What happened in detail to the 14th
+Brigade I frankly don't know, but I fear the guns of the 5th Division
+lost pretty heavily at this period.</p>
+
+<p>Two companies of the Bedfords had joined us by this time, but I was
+rather nervous about the rest, including Griffith, for I had had no
+word of him since <span lang="fr">Pâturages</span>. However, as we passed through <span lang="fr">Houdain</span> he
+turned up from a side road with the rest of his battalion, having had
+a pretty rough time in getting out of <span lang="fr">Wasmes</span>.</p>
+
+<p>By dusk we had got on to the open country near <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Waast</span>, and here we
+found that the Division was bivouacking. Although it was nearly dark,
+and the Brigade had been scattered, with its transport, over a lot of
+country during the day, it all came together again, including its
+empty supply waggons, in a marvellous way, and managed to find its way
+through <span class="pagenum"><a id="page039" name="page039"></a>(p. 039)</span> all the other troops in the dark to its rightful
+bivouac space&mdash;some fields covered with standing crops. Water was of
+course the difficulty, but some was discovered in the shape of a small
+stream half a mile off, over hedges and ditches; and after the
+Norfolks had been put out on outpost to cover our rear, and we had had
+some food, we slept the sleep of the dog-tired.</p>
+
+<p>I remember Cadell came out as cook that evening, for he fried a
+lugubrious mess of biscuits, jam, and sardines together in a mess-tin,
+and insisted on all of us having some. Up to this point our messing
+had not been entirely happy, for an old soldier whom I had taken on in
+Belfast, on his own statement that he had been second cook in his
+officers' mess, turned out an absolute fraud. He could hardly even
+poach an egg, and hadn't the smallest idea of cooking. I am sure he
+had never been inside an officers' mess either, for when he was
+deposed from the office of cook to that of mess waiter, he knew
+nothing about that either, and could not even wash up. Private Brown,
+who was supposed at first only to cook for the men of the Brigade
+Headquarters, was therefore elevated to the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page040" name="page040"></a>(p. 040)</span> proud status of
+Officers' cook, and made a thundering good one (till he was wounded at
+<span lang="fr">Ypres</span>); and the Belfast man was given the sack at the earliest
+opportunity and sent home,&mdash;only to appear later in the field as a
+corporal of the Irish Rifles!</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 25th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning the Brigade was on the move before daylight, and was told
+off as part of the main body of the Division, the 14th Brigade forming
+the rear-guard. We had not had much to eat the night before, or in
+fact the whole day, and as the rations had not come up during the
+night, the men had devilish little breakfast&mdash;nor we either.</p>
+
+<p>We were told to requisition what we could from the country, but though
+<span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> and myself did our best, and rode on ahead of the Brigade,
+routing out the dwellers of the farmhouses and buying chickens and
+cheese and oats wherever possible, there was very little to be had.</p>
+
+<p>There were already a great many inhabitants on the road fleeing
+south-westwards, pitiful crowds of women and old men and children,
+carrying bundles on their backs, or wheeling babies and more bundles
+in wheelbarrows, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page041" name="page041"></a>(p. 041)</span> or perambulators, or broken-down carts.
+Some of the peasant women were wearing their best Sunday gowns of
+black bombazine and looked very hot and uncomfortable; children with
+their dolls or pet dogs, old women and men hobbling along, already
+very tired though the sun had not been up more than an hour or two,
+and sturdy young mothers carrying an extraordinary quantity of
+household stuff, trooped along, all of them anxiously asking how far
+off the Germans were, and whether we could hold them off, or whether
+they would all be killed by them,&mdash;it was a piteous sight. We warned
+all the people who were still in their cottages to stay there and not
+to run away, as their houses would only be pillaged if they were not
+there, but I fear that few took our advice.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed a very long march that day, down the perfectly straight road
+skirting the <span lang="fr">Mormal</span> forest and on to <span lang="fr">Le Cateau</span>. It was, as a matter of
+fact, only a little over twenty miles, but the hot day, with very
+little food, was most trying for the men. We had one good rest at
+<span lang="fr">Englefontaine</span>, where we bought a lot of food&mdash;bread and cheese, and
+apples and plums, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page042" name="page042"></a>(p. 042)</span> and a little meat&mdash;but it was not much.
+The rest of the road was bare and hot, leading over down-like country
+past the town of <span lang="fr">Le Cateau</span>, and on to the heights to the west of it.
+Many aeroplanes, British, French, and German, were skimming about, and
+numerous bodies of French cavalry could be seen moving about the downs
+and the roads in the rear.</p>
+
+<p>We had received orders on the road to occupy part of an entrenched
+position to the west of <span lang="fr">Le Cateau</span>, and Weatherby and I rode ahead to
+look at it and apportion it off as the battalions came up. The
+trenches, we considered, were quite well sited. They were about 3 feet
+deep, and had been dug by the inhabitants under, I think, French
+supervision; but, judging by our subsequent experience, they were
+nothing like deep enough and placed on much too exposed ground; and
+the artillery pits were far too close up&mdash;though correct according to
+the then text-books.</p>
+
+<p>I put a few men into the trenches as an observing line, and sent the
+commanding officers round to study them in case we had to hold them in
+force on the morrow, and bivouacked the rest of the Brigade <span class="pagenum"><a id="page043" name="page043"></a>(p. 043)</span>
+half a mile behind them. Although we seemed to have done a good day's
+work already, it was then only about 3 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, for we had started about
+3.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> We got a good deal more food&mdash;bully beef and biscuits&mdash;here,
+besides a cart-load of very smelly cheeses and some hams and
+vegetables and fresh bread, and the men got their stomachs fairly full
+by sundown.</p>
+
+<p>The 13th Brigade came in a bit later and formed up on our right, but
+the 14th Brigade, who had been doing rear-guard, did not get in till
+nightfall, and were much exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy, however, bar cavalry, had not pressed on in any strength,
+and we were left fairly well alone during the night.</p>
+
+<p>It began to rain heavily in the evening, and we had a wet dinner in
+the open. There were various disturbances in the night, especially
+when some men in the trenches began firing at some probably imaginary
+Germans; but otherwise all ranks got a fair amount of sleep.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 26th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The orders overnight were that we were to continue the retirement
+first thing in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page044" name="page044"></a>(p. 044)</span> the morning; but when morning came the
+Germans were so close that it was decided that it would be impossible
+to do so, and fresh orders were issued to hold the position we were
+in.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly we took up our positions as we had settled overnight, and
+started all necessary preparations&mdash;deepening trenches, arranging
+telephone wires and communications, and putting the village of
+<span lang="fr">Troisvilles</span>, on our left, in a state of defence.</p>
+
+<p>The Dorsets were to hold this village and several hundred yards of
+trenches to the east of it. On their right came the Bedfords in
+trenches, with of course a proportion in support, and the Cheshires
+were put in a dip of the ground in rear of them. The 13th Brigade was
+on the right of the Bedfords, with the <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s touching them. The
+Norfolks I put in a second line, in rear of the right of the Bedfords
+and the left of the <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s, mostly along a sunken road where they
+dug themselves well into the banks. The 27th Brigade of Artillery,
+under Onslow, was put under my orders; two batteries of it were in our
+right rear, and the third was taken away by Sir C. F., to strengthen
+the right I believe. A battery <span class="pagenum"><a id="page045" name="page045"></a>(p. 045)</span> of the 15th Artillery Brigade
+was also put in close behind the Bedfords, in the dip of ground
+afore-mentioned, whence they did excellent execution without being
+seen by the enemy. Divisional Headquarters were at <span lang="fr">Reumont</span>, a mile
+behind us, with a wood in between; but we were, of course, connected
+up by telephone with them, as well as with our battalions and our
+artillery. We&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, the Brigade Headquarters&mdash;sat in the
+continuation of the hollow sandy road, in rear of the Bedfords and on
+the left of the Norfolks.</p>
+
+<p>The morning was distinctly cool after the rain, and I remember that I
+wore my woolly till about 11 o'clock. Our horses were stowed away a
+few hundred yards to our left, in a hollow; and the extraordinary
+thing was that neither they nor ourselves got shelled as long as we
+were there, though some shrapnel burst occasionally only a hundred
+yards off or so in different directions.</p>
+
+<p>We were in position by 7 o'clock, as far as I can remember; but unless
+one keeps a record the whole time one is very liable to err&mdash;and I
+won't swear that it was not 8 o'clock. Some shells began to arrive
+about then, but did no harm. On our left was the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page046" name="page046"></a>(p. 046)</span> 9th Brigade
+(3rd Division), and the shelling began to develop pretty heavily in
+their direction. Our guns were of course in action by this time, and
+for the first two or three hours the air was full of shells and very
+little Infantry fire was heard. The 4th Division had arrived only that
+morning, I believe by train, and was guarding the left flank of the
+line, assisted by our Cavalry. Behind the town of <span lang="fr">Le Cateau</span>, on the
+extreme right, was the 19th Brigade. Then came the 14th Brigade, then
+the 13th, then ourselves, and then the 3rd Division; so we were about
+the right centre.</p>
+
+<p>The Dorsets were hard at work putting <span lang="fr">Troisvilles</span> into a strong state
+of defence, and were helped by some of our Divisional Sappers, I
+believe the 59th Co. <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> (but it might have been the 17th).</p>
+
+<p>There was a local French ambulance&mdash;civilian I think&mdash;in <span lang="fr">Troisvilles</span>,
+and several of our own <abbr title="Royal Army Medical Corps">R.A.M.C.</abbr> personnel there; but the Divisional
+ambulances were farther to the rear, and as the wounded began to come
+in from the right front we sent them back towards <span lang="fr">Reumont</span>. <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span>
+was very useful in galloping backwards and forwards between
+<span lang="fr">Troisvilles</span> and Brigade Headquarters&mdash;I <span class="pagenum"><a id="page047" name="page047"></a>(p. 047)</span> kept him for that,
+as I wanted my proper staff for other staff work; but all of them paid
+a visit or two there once or twice. The enemy's shells were now
+falling fast on our left about Inchy, but seemed to do extraordinarily
+little damage there; and during the first hours it was really more of
+a spectacular piece for us than a battle. However, we were of course
+kept busy sending and receiving wires from all parts, and every now
+and then a few wounded came in from our front. We were also bucked up
+by hearing that a French Cavalry Division was coming to help us from
+<span lang="fr">Cambrai</span>; but I don't know whether it ever materialised.</p>
+
+<p>As the day wore on, the Bedfords got engaged with infantry in their
+front, but neither they nor the Dorsets got anything very much to
+shoot at; and though a German machine-gun or two pushed pluckily
+forward and did a certain amount of damage from hidden folds in the
+ground, I think we accounted for them&mdash;anyway we stopped their
+shooting after a short time.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the 13th Brigade and the guns on our right were catching it
+very hot. There seemed an enormous number of guns against us (I
+believe, as a matter <span class="pagenum"><a id="page048" name="page048"></a>(p. 048)</span> of fact, there were nearer 700 than
+600), and our batteries were suffering very heavily. So were the 14th
+and 19th Brigades&mdash;the latter being a scratch one composed of units
+from the lines of communication under Laurence Drummond.</p>
+
+<p>At one moment&mdash;it must have been about 12 o'clock or later&mdash;I saw to
+my horror the best part of a company of Bedfords leave their trenches
+in our front and retire slowly and in excellent order across the open.
+So I got on my horse and galloped out to see what they were doing and
+to send them back, as it seemed to me that some of the <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s were
+falling back too, in sympathy. I'm afraid that my language was strong;
+but I made the Bedfords turn about again, although their officer
+explained that he was only withdrawing, by superior battalion orders,
+in order to take up an advanced position further on the right; and
+with some of the Cheshires, whom I picked up on the way, they advanced
+again in extended order.</p>
+
+<p>They got back again to their trenches without any casualties to speak
+of, and I was much gratified by a message I received shortly
+afterwards from my right (I think <span class="pagenum"><a id="page049" name="page049"></a>(p. 049)</span> Cuthbert or the gunners)
+thanking me warmly for my most valuable counter-attack, which had
+considerably relieved the pressure in their front!</p>
+
+<p>On our immediate right the Norfolks were occupied for several hours in
+trying to cut down a very big tree, which was about the most
+conspicuous feature in the whole of our position, and formed an
+excellent object on which the enemy could range. It was all very well;
+but as soon as they had cut it half through, so as to fall to the
+south, the south wind, which was blowing pretty strongly, not only
+kept it upright but threatened to throw it over to the north. This
+would have been a real disaster, as it would have blocked completely
+the sunken road along which the ammunition carts, to say nothing of
+artillery and other waggons, would have had to come. So it had to be
+guyed up with ropes, with much difficulty; and even when teams hung on
+and hauled on the ropes, they could make little impression&mdash;the wind
+was so strong. Eventually they did manage to get it down, but even so
+it formed a fairly conspicuous mark. (It was so big that it was marked
+on the map.)</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page050" name="page050"></a>(p. 050)</span> <p>Inchy was now the centre of an appalling bombardment. A crowd
+of Germans had got into it, it appeared, and the village was being
+heavily shelled by both sides&mdash;British and German. Several houses and
+haystacks caught fire, and the poor devils inside must have had a
+terrible time. The 3rd Division was holding its own, but was being
+heavily attacked by the enemy's infantry. However, we eventually got
+the better of it, and the 9th and 10th Brigades drove the Germans away
+from their trenches and pursued them some distance, much assisted by
+the fire of the Dorsets and the advance of one or two of their
+companies.</p>
+
+<p>Things went on hammer-and-tongs for another hour or two; more and more
+wounded began coming in from the 13th Brigade, including a lot of
+<abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s. We turned Beilby, our veterinary officer, on to "first
+aid" for many of them and sent them on; but some of the shrapnel
+wounds were appalling. One man I remember lying across a pony; I
+literally took him for a Frenchman, for his trousers were drenched red
+with blood, and not a patch of khaki showing. Another man had the
+whole of the back of his thigh torn away; yet, after <span class="pagenum"><a id="page051" name="page051"></a>(p. 051)</span> being
+bandaged, he hobbled gaily off, smoking a pipe. What struck me as
+curious was the large number of men hit in the face or below the
+knee,&mdash;there seemed few body wounds in comparison; but that may of
+course have been because those badly hit in the body were killed or
+unmovable. But one would see men apparently at their last gasp, with
+gruesome wounds on them and no more stretchers available, and yet five
+minutes afterwards they had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Time was getting on, and the thunder and rain of German shells seemed
+unceasing; they appeared to come now not only from all along the front
+and the right front, but from our right as well, and our guns were
+replying less and less. Reports began to come in from the right of
+batteries wiped out (the 28th <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr> Brigade lost nearly all their
+guns here, for nearly all the detachments and horses were killed), and
+of a crushing attack on the 19th Brigade and penetration of our line
+thereabouts. And soon afterwards the movement itself became visible,
+for the 14th Brigade, and then the 13th, began to give way, and one
+could see the trenches being evacuated on the right. The Norfolks
+stuck well to it on <span class="pagenum"><a id="page052" name="page052"></a>(p. 052)</span> the right, and covered the retirement
+that was beginning; but they were taken out of my hands by Sir C. F.,
+and told off to act as rear-guard for the brigades on their right.</p>
+
+<p>The 15th Brigade had really been very lucky, and had neither been
+shelled nor attacked very heavily, and consequently we were pretty
+fresh and undamaged. I forget if we got any definite message to
+retire, and if so, when, but it was fairly obvious that we couldn't
+stay where we were much longer. The Dorsets were quite happy in
+<span lang="fr">Troisvilles</span> and thereabouts, but the 9th Brigade on their left had had
+a very bad time, and were already beginning to withdraw, though in
+good order.</p>
+
+<p>This being so, I sent orders to the battery of the 15th <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr> Brigade
+in my front to retire before they got cut off; and they executed it
+grandly, bringing up the horses at a gallop, swinging round, hooking
+in, and starting off at a canter as if at an Aldershot field-day,
+though they were under heavy shell and rifle fire all the time.</p>
+
+<p>Only two horses and about two men were hit altogether, and though all
+these were apparently killed, the men got up after a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page053" name="page053"></a>(p. 053)</span> little
+and were brought safely off with the Bedfords.</p>
+
+<p>The <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s were now falling back on us from the right, and they
+were strung out along the Norfolks' late position, and almost at right
+angles to our line, for the Germans were pressing us there, and heavy
+rifle fire was breaking out there and nearly in our right rear. Then I
+ordered the Cheshires and after them the Bedfords to retire, which
+they did quite calmly and in good order; and lastly came the Dorsets,
+very well handled by Bols and forming a rear-guard to the rest of the
+troops hereabouts. His machine-guns under Lieut. Wodehouse had been
+doing excellent work, and the shooting of both Bedfords and Dorsets
+had had a great effect in keeping off the German attack hereabouts.</p>
+
+<p>By this time units had become a bit mixed, and lines of troops
+belonging to different battalions and even different brigades were
+retiring slowly over the open ground and under a heavy fire of
+shrapnel&mdash;which by the same token seemed to do extraordinarily little
+damage. It was difficult to give a definite point for all these troops
+to move on, for we had been warned against retiring <span class="pagenum"><a id="page054" name="page054"></a>(p. 054)</span> through
+villages, as they were naturally made a cockshy of by the enemy's
+guns. <span lang="fr">Reumont</span> was being already heavily bombarded, and though we had
+instructions to fall back south-westwards along the road to <span lang="fr">Estrées</span>,
+this road passed through <span lang="fr">Reumont</span>. I did not know how to get
+comfortably on to it without going through some village, so gave a
+general direction off the road, between it and Bertry, and struck
+across country, together with a number of troops on foot in various
+formations, all moving quite steadily and remarkably slowly.</p>
+
+<p>As the shrapnel were bursting in large numbers overhead, I got the men
+well extended, as best I could, but some of course were hit. Just as
+we left the road a man in charge of an ambulance-waggon full of
+wounded ran up and asked what he was to do, as some infernal civilian
+had unhitched and gone off with the horses whilst he was attending to
+the wounded. Stephenson, commanding <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s, was lying wounded in
+the waggon, but this I did not hear till afterwards. Some of the
+<abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s thereupon very gallantly harnessed themselves to the waggon
+and towed it along the road.</p>
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page055" name="page055"></a>(p. 055)</span> <p>It was hard work making our way mounted across country,
+because of the numerous wire fences we came across, not to mention
+ditches and hedges. We worked rather towards Bertry, avoiding woods
+and boggy bits, but the line wasn't easy to keep. The Germans had an
+unpleasant habit of plugging bursts of four to a dozen shrapnel at one
+range, then another lot fifty yards on, and so on, so it was no good
+hurrying on, as you only came in for the next lot. Then they very
+nearly got us just when we had got to a hopeless-looking place&mdash;the
+railway, with thick fence and ditch on each side of the track and a
+barbed-wire fence as well, with signal wires knee high just where you
+expected to be able to jump down on to the track. Luckily Catley, my
+groom, had some wire nippers; but just as he was cutting at the wire,
+and we of the Brigade Staff were all standing round close by, trying
+to get over or through, whack came four shrapnel, one close after the
+other, bursting just short of us and above us&mdash;a very good shot if
+intentional, but I don't think they could possibly have seen us.
+Horses of course flew all over the place; Cadell and his horse
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page056" name="page056"></a>(p. 056)</span> came down, and I thought he was hit, but he only lost his
+cap, and his horse only got a nasty flesh wound from a bit of shrapnel
+in his hindquarters. Again, why none of these shrapnel hit us was most
+extraordinary: there we were, seven or eight of us mounted and close
+together, and the shells bursting beautifully with terrific and
+damnable cracks&mdash;yet not one of the Brigade Staff touched. Beilby's
+horse, by the way, also got a bullet in the quarter.</p>
+
+<p>These same shrapnel hit two or three infantry standing round us, and
+the next thing we saw was Dillon (of the Divisional Staff) dismounted
+and staggering along supporting two wounded privates and hoisting them
+over the obstacles on to the rail track, one man hanging heavily from
+his neck on either side. He was streaming with sweat, and said
+afterwards it was the hardest job he'd ever had. Others of course
+helped him and his men, and we wandered along over the grass, and
+skirting the little woods and coppices till we got to the main road
+again.</p>
+
+<p>As we proceeded along the road we did our best to get the troops
+collected into their units, getting single men together into <span class="pagenum"><a id="page057" name="page057"></a>(p. 057)</span>
+bunches and the bunches into groups and platoons, and so on. But many
+of them were wounded and dog-tired, and it was hard work. Ballard and
+his Norfolks joined us in bits, and we heard that they had had a hard
+time falling back through <span lang="fr">Reumont</span> and done very well as rear-guard.
+There were stories at first of their having suffered terribly and lost
+a lot of men; but it was not in the least true,&mdash;they had had
+comparatively few casualties.</p>
+
+<p>The country gradually grew more and more open till by dusk&mdash;somewhere
+about 7 o'clock&mdash;we were traversing a huge rolling plain with open
+fields and only occasional farmhouses visible. The troops on the road
+were terribly mixed, infantry and artillery and waggons and transport
+all jumbled up together, and belonging not only to different brigades
+but even to different divisions, the main ones being of course the 5th
+and 3rd Divisions.</p>
+
+<p>Darkness came on, and the night grew cooler and cooler, yet still we
+pushed on. As it got blacker, terrible blocks occurred and perpetual
+unintentional halts. In one place, somewhere near the <span lang="fr">Serains-Prémont</span>
+road I think, we were halted for about three-quarters <span class="pagenum"><a id="page058" name="page058"></a>(p. 058)</span> of an
+hour by a jam of waggons just ahead. I gave the Norfolks leave to worm
+their way through the press, but it was no use, for before they had
+got through the waggons moved on again and only divided the men more
+and more, so that they lost their formation again and were worse off
+than before.</p>
+
+<p>Companies or bits of companies of my battalions were pretty close
+together, and at one time the Brigade was pretty well cohesive, but as
+the night wore on they got separated again and mixed up with the
+transport till it was quite impossible to sort them out. It was a
+regular nightmare, and all one could look forward to was the halt at
+<span lang="fr">Estrées</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The German guns had long ceased to fire, even before the sun went
+down, and there didn't seem to be any pursuit at all, as far as we
+could gather. Our men moved quite steadily and without the vestige of
+a sign of panic: in fact, they were much annoyed at having to fall
+back. But I expect the German infantry was even more tired than ours,
+for they had marched all through the previous night and certainly had
+frightfully heavy casualties during the day. Anyway <span class="pagenum"><a id="page059" name="page059"></a>(p. 059)</span> they did
+not worry us, and we pursued our way in peace. But men and horses were
+desperately sleepy, and at these perpetual halts used to go to sleep
+and block up the road again when we moved on.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily the road was as straight as a die, and one could not possibly
+lose it; but it was difficult to know where we were, and occasional
+twinkling lights in houses and cottages on the road only made our
+whereabouts still more deceptive.</p>
+
+<p>At last we entered something that looked in the pitch darkness more
+like a town. It was <span lang="fr">Estrées</span> right enough, but there were no signs of a
+halt, though it was 1 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> or so. We could not find any staff officers
+here, even at the solitary local inn, to give us any information, and
+the only rumour was that we were to march on as far as we could go. We
+had had no direct orders, and we did not know where the Divisional
+staff were, but as by this time we had pushed on and were, as far as
+we knew, ahead of most of the Brigade, Weatherby and I moved aside
+into a field full of corn stooks, unsaddled our horses, gave them a
+feed, and went fast asleep in the wet corn. We had meant to sleep only
+for half an hour, but were so <span class="pagenum"><a id="page060" name="page060"></a>(p. 060)</span> dead tired that it must have
+been more like an hour and a half. And even then we were only awakened
+by a battalion (I think it was the Northumberland Fusiliers) irrupting
+into our field and pulling the stooks down for their own benefit. So
+we guiltily saddled up again, thinking that the whole Brigade must
+have passed us in the dark. But, as a matter of fact, it had not.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 27th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Daylight came at last through the damp grey mists, and we found
+ourselves still in open country, with the road thickly covered as
+before with troops of all arms and, in places by the roadside, the
+remains of bivouac fires and empty boxes and bully-beef tins, and
+hunks of raw meat; for the <abbr title="Army service corps">A.S.C.</abbr> finding that it was impossible to
+supply the troops regularly, had wisely dumped down their stores at
+intervals alongside the road and let the men help themselves.</p>
+
+<p>This was all very well for the men in front, but by the time we in
+rear had got to the stores there was nothing left, and we had to go
+hungry.</p>
+
+<p>Somewhere about 4 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> I came on Sir <span class="pagenum"><a id="page061" name="page061"></a>(p. 061)</span> C. F. standing at the
+cross-roads near <span lang="fr">Nauroy</span>. I naturally asked him where we were to retire
+on; but he had not recently received any definite orders himself; so
+after talking it over we came to the conclusion that our best line
+would be on <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Quentin</span>, and we directed the men, as they came up&mdash;5th
+Division straight on, 4th Division to the right to <span lang="fr">Bellicourt</span>, and 3rd
+to the left to <span lang="fr">Lehaucourt</span>, for thus we should get the Divisions more
+or less in their right positions. Of course a vast quantity of troops
+had already preceded us, probably towards <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Quentin</span>, but that could
+not be helped.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long way yet to <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Quentin</span>, about eight miles, and on the
+road and off it were men, waggons, and stragglers in every direction.
+The jumble of the night had disintegrated most of the formed bodies,
+and the whole thing had the appearance of a vast <span lang="fr"><i>débâcle</i></span>. Men moving
+on singly but slowly, little bunches of three and four men together,
+sometimes of the same regiment, but oftener of odd ones; men lying
+exhausted or asleep by the roadside, or with their packs off and
+sitting on the grass, nibbling at a biscuit or looking hopelessly
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page062" name="page062"></a>(p. 062)</span> before them. It was a depressing sight, and I wondered how
+on earth the formations would ever come together again. Officers of
+course were doing their best to get their own men together, but the
+results were small. Whenever we passed men of the 15th Brigade we
+collected them as far as possible into bodies; but it was very
+difficult to know what units men belonged to without asking them, for
+very many of them had long ago, on arrival at Havre and elsewhere,
+given their cap-badges and shoulder-names as souvenirs to women and
+children, and they were most difficult to identify.</p>
+
+<p>A mile or two before getting into <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Quentin</span> I passed Laurence
+Drummond, commanding the 19th Brigade, hobbling along on foot, and
+offered him of course my second horse. He had got damaged somehow&mdash;by
+a fall, I think&mdash;and said he had his horse all right, but it hurt him
+less to walk than to ride.</p>
+
+<p>As we approached the town the entrance had got rather blocked with
+troops. This was rather a good thing, as it enabled the stragglers
+behind to close up and find other portions of their own regiments;
+and, extraordinary as it seemed, whole companies had <span class="pagenum"><a id="page063" name="page063"></a>(p. 063)</span> now got
+together and in some cases had even coagulated into battalions. I
+found most of the Norfolks collected together in a field by the side
+of the road, and a stray Bedford company or two looking quite fresh
+and happy.</p>
+
+<p>As it was necessary to get further orders, I left Weatherby to do some
+more collecting and pushed on by myself into the town, where I found
+Rolt and some of his Staff; but he knew nothing. There was a hopeless
+block at this moment, so I slipped off my horse for ten minutes and
+had a bit of chocolate and biscuit, which were quite refreshing. Rolt
+was somewhat depressed, for his Brigade had lost heavily, but they too
+were gradually coming together. At last, in the middle of the town, I
+managed to collect some instructions, and was told that the 5th
+Division was to form up in a field near the railway station the other
+side of the town. There were also Staff officers at different points,
+calling out "5th Division this way, 3rd that," and so on; and as the
+men, now more or less in columns of fours, passed them, they perked up
+and swung along quite happily.</p>
+
+<p>We were now outside the region of our <span class="pagenum"><a id="page064" name="page064"></a>(p. 064)</span> maps, so I asked my
+way to a stationer's, which luckily happened to be open, though it was
+barely 7.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and bought all the local maps I could get hold of:
+they were only paper, not linen, but they proved extremely useful. And
+then I bought some big rings of bread and some apples, and made Catley
+carry them strung on the little brigade flag that S. had embroidered,
+and we filled up our haversacks with as much food as we could buy and
+carry&mdash;for the benefit of the men.</p>
+
+<p>I found my way to the railway field all right, but none of the Brigade
+had yet arrived, so I went back to look for them. On the way I found
+that a number of the 13th Brigade had taken the wrong turning and were
+plodding right away from the town, so I had to canter after them a
+mile or more and turn them back. There was a lot of transport further
+on, on the move; and fearing that they might belong to us, whilst my
+horse was pretty tired, I begged a nice-looking Frenchman with a long
+beard&mdash;a doctor of sorts&mdash;in a motor-car, to lend me his car to catch
+them. This he willingly did, and drove me up to them, but they turned
+out to be field <span class="pagenum"><a id="page065" name="page065"></a>(p. 065)</span> ambulances with orders of their own, so I
+came back to the railway field, leaving a man at the railway turning
+to turn the others and show them the way.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually bits of the 15th Brigade arrived&mdash;a few Dorsets, half the
+Bedfords, and a few Cheshires; and to these I imparted the Staff
+instructions that we were to bivouac here for the night. The men had
+already done twenty-four miles during the night, and lay about,
+thankful to get a little rest. Supplies, we were told, would be issued
+shortly at the station, but before they came I got peremptory orders
+to march off at 2 o'clock, and withdraw further south to a place
+called <span lang="fr">Ollizy</span>, nine miles on.</p>
+
+<p>It was then 12.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, and the men had had no food since the previous
+morning; however, orders had to be obeyed. So I distributed my bread
+and apples, for which the men pressed round ravenously; and James,
+commanding the 2nd Manchesters, who had been in my Brigade two years
+previously, gave me a couple of most welcome big sandwiches and a
+drink. None of my staff had yet turned up; and though I was told that
+supplies were just going to arrive, none did arrive before we marched
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page066" name="page066"></a>(p. 066)</span> off. Five minutes before that time the Norfolks, who had had
+a rest the other side of the town, turned up; and as the rest of the
+Brigade marched off the rest of the Dorsets marched up&mdash;rather
+disappointed at having to go on at once without either rest or
+rations.</p>
+
+<p>Weatherby and the rest of Brigade Headquarters had trickled in by this
+time, and we moved off in rear of the 13th Brigade. The day was fairly
+hot by this time&mdash;luckily it had been cool all the morning&mdash;and I
+expected to see whole heaps of the men fall out exhausted; but devil a
+bit, they moved on, well closed up, good march discipline, and even
+whistling and singing; and for the rest of the march I don't believe
+that more than half a dozen fell out.</p>
+
+<p>We expected some more fighting near <span lang="fr">Ollizy</span>, for a message had come
+through for the 13th to push on and collar a certain bridge before the
+Germans got it; but all was peaceful, and we got to <span lang="fr">Ollizy</span> about five
+o'clock. There I had to tell off a battalion and some guns not
+belonging to me to take up a line of outposts to guard our rear (I
+quite forget what the troops were, or why they were put under me), and
+the Brigade <span class="pagenum"><a id="page067" name="page067"></a>(p. 067)</span> pushed on over the bridge, and through the
+swampy, marshy country beyond.</p>
+
+<p>No halt yet, and I began to wonder whether we were expected to do yet
+another night march. However, after another two miles I was told to
+put the Brigade in bivouac round a farm and little village called
+<span lang="fr">Eaucourt</span>, covering our rear with another line of outposts.</p>
+
+<p>There was some distant shelling during the evening; but we were too
+dog-tired to worry about it, though bursts of rifle fire did occur
+during the night, necessitating our jumping up once or twice to see
+what it was.</p>
+
+<p>The farm was quite a good one of the usual form&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, the
+living-house forming one end of a big oblong courtyard, whilst barns
+and lofts and cowsheds filled up the other three sides. In the middle,
+of course, was a mass of dirty straw and manure, and pools of stinking
+water in which ducks and pigs and chickens disported themselves. The
+people were most friendly, and supplied us with eggs and straw and a
+kitchen fire; but it was rather a squash, as the headquarters of an
+artillery brigade were already feeding there, and we didn't get dinner
+till very late. The men lay about in the lofts and sheds <span class="pagenum"><a id="page068" name="page068"></a>(p. 068)</span>
+among the farm implements and sheep, and I should have expected them
+after a march of over thirty-five miles, and no food or sleep in the
+twenty-four hours, to curl up and go to sleep at once, but they
+didn't; they were quite happy and lively now that at last they'd got
+their rations, and made the most of them. I had a bed to lie on, and
+actually enjoyed a wash in a real basin, but the little bedroom was
+not very sweet or clean, and I'd as soon have slept with the others on
+straw in the kitchen and living-room.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 28th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning we were off before the sun rose, with orders to proceed
+towards <span lang="fr">Noyon</span>. We were well up to time as regards our place in the
+column, but some of the rest of the Division were very late&mdash;probably
+some counter-order had been given; anyway, we had to wait a good extra
+half-hour by the roadside. I remember that I occupied the time in
+shaving myself; and as there was no water handy, I moistened the brush
+in the dew on the grass. It did fairly well&mdash;though removing two days'
+growth was rather painful, I allow.</p>
+
+<p>We plodded on through the heat of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page069" name="page069"></a>(p. 069)</span> day, in rear of the
+14th Brigade, and kept our march discipline without trouble, though
+the number of apple- and pear-trees on the road was a great temptation.
+What had happened or where we were going to was a complete mystery;
+all that we knew was that we had had to leg it at <span lang="fr">Le Cateau</span>, but that
+we were distinctly <i>not</i> downhearted; nor did the Germans seem to be
+pursuing. So we thought that we should probably soon get the order to
+turn and either take up a defensive position or advance again against
+the enemy&mdash;though we also knew that we must have lost a number of guns
+and a good many men.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after we started we were asked how many waggons we required to
+carry damaged and footsore men, and at a certain point there were some
+thirty or forty waggons drawn up for that purpose. I felt rather
+insulted, and said so, but eventually put my pride in my pocket and
+said I'd have one per battalion. The officer in charge at once offered
+ten, but I did not accept them, and I don't think we filled even one
+waggon all day.</p>
+
+<p>Somewhere about ten o'clock the message was passed down from the front
+that Sir <span class="pagenum"><a id="page070" name="page070"></a>(p. 070)</span> John French was on the roadside and wanted to see
+battalion commanders. I cantered on, and found him under a tree with a
+few of his staff. I saluted and asked for orders, but he said he only
+wanted to see the <abbr title="Commanding Officer">C.O.</abbr>'s. Then he took me aside and said that he
+wanted to compliment and congratulate the men on their magnificent
+work; that we had saved the left flank of the French army, and that
+<span lang="fr">Joffre</span> had begged him to tell the troops that they had saved France
+for the time being, and more to the same effect. I hastened, of
+course, to tell everybody; I think the men got their tails up well in
+consequence. But the British are an undemonstrative lot, and Thomas
+never lets his feelings show on the surface. Anyway, we were all
+pleased that our sacrifices hadn't been for nothing, and hoped we'd
+soon stop and turn round.</p>
+
+<p>At <span lang="fr">Guiscard</span> we turned into the main road to <span lang="fr">Noyon</span>. It was very hot,
+and we had had no rest (except the regulation ten minutes per hour)
+since starting. So when we got to some nice shade on the left, and big
+spreading trees dotted over some fields, I turned the Brigade off the
+road, transport <span class="pagenum"><a id="page071" name="page071"></a>(p. 071)</span> and all, and we halted for an hour and a
+half. We went to sleep after luncheon, of course, and when it was time
+to start I remember that Moulton-Barrett went up to <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span>, who was
+lying fast asleep, and shouted out, "The Germans are on us!" Poor <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr>
+André</span> jumped to his feet with a yell and seized his revolver; it was a
+wicked joke.</p>
+
+<p>The main road into <span lang="fr">Noyon</span> was much crowded, not only with a lot of
+French cavalry going north, but a very large number of waggons full of
+our own men&mdash;of other brigades, mind you, for I don't think there were
+any 15th Brigade men there at all; but then the others had had a
+harder time.</p>
+
+<p>The French cavalry were a dragoon brigade&mdash;horses looking very fit and
+well, and wonderfully light equipment on them; they do not go in for
+carrying half so much on the saddle as we do&mdash;for one thing,
+apparently they don't consider it necessary to carry cleaning material
+on the horse.</p>
+
+<p>There was again a considerable squash in <span lang="fr">Noyon</span>, and here <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> was
+delighted to meet some spick-and-span young friends of his whom he
+affected to treat with <span class="pagenum"><a id="page072" name="page072"></a>(p. 072)</span> great contempt, as not yet having
+seen a shot fired. Having to cross the railway line also delayed us
+still more, as a long supply-train was shunting and reshunting and
+keeping the gates shut.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely evening, and though progress was slow, we eventually
+reached <span lang="fr">Pontoise</span> by about 7 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> The country was thickly wooded and
+very pretty, and the quarters into which we got after our sixteen-mile
+march were most acceptable. Here we were told we should probably be
+for several days&mdash;to rest and recuperate; but we were beginning to
+have doubts about these perpetually-promised rests which never came
+off.</p>
+
+<p>The Brigade Headquarters put up at a blacksmith's shop, and the old
+couple here received us with hospitality; but though there were beds
+and mattresses for most of us, there was very little to be had in the
+way of vegetables or eggs or other luxuries such as milk or butter.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 29th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning and afternoon were devoted to a little rest and cleaning
+up; but I had little leisure myself, for I had <span class="pagenum"><a id="page073" name="page073"></a>(p. 073)</span> to preside
+over a court of inquiry for several hot and weary hours.</p>
+
+<p>At 6 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> we suddenly received orders to move at once to <span lang="fr">Carlepont</span>,
+only three miles back, and began to move by the shortest and most
+unblocked way. Just when we were moving off I received orders to move
+the other way, but with the sanction of the Divisional Staff I
+preferred going my own way, and went it.</p>
+
+<p>The detail of the map, however, turned out to be incorrect, and I
+found myself at the far, instead of the near, end of the village, with
+a lot of transport in the narrow street between ourselves and our
+billets. This was hopeless, and after a prolonged jam in the dark I
+gave it up, put the battalions on to the pavement and down a side
+street, and told them to bivouac and feed where they were.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> had got a kind Frenchman to give the staff some
+dinner, but I misunderstood the arrangement and could not find the
+place; so I insisted on digging out some food from our cook's waggon
+on the wet grass of a little park we found. And there we ate it about
+midnight and went to sleep <span class="pagenum"><a id="page074" name="page074"></a>(p. 074)</span> in the sopping herbage. I fear my
+staff were not much pleased with the arrangement.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 30th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Off again at 2:20 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, we pushed on over pretty country <i>viâ</i> <span lang="fr">Attichy</span>
+to <span lang="fr">Croûtoy</span>, a matter of eleven miles. It developed into a roasting-hot
+day, and the last two miles, up a very steep hill, were most trying
+for the transport. We were at the head of the column, and longed to
+stop in the shady little village of <span lang="fr">Croûtoy</span>, but we had to move on
+beyond to some open stubble fields, where the heat was terrific. And
+there we bivouacked till about midday, when we were told we might go
+back to <span lang="fr">Croûtoy</span>, and did. It was a very pretty little village with a
+magnificent view northwards over the <span lang="fr">Aisne</span>. We were very comfortably
+put up in <span lang="fr">General de France</span>'s château, and enjoyed there a real big
+bath with taps and hot water, the first genuine bath we had had since
+arriving at Havre. My only <i>contretemps</i> here was that, having when
+halfway to <span lang="fr">Croûtoy</span> dismounted Catley and lent his horse to a Staff
+officer, I never saw the horse or my kit on him again. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page075" name="page075"></a>(p. 075)</span> The
+Staff officer had duly sent the horse back by a sergeant of gunners,
+but the latter never materialized, and, strangely enough, was never
+heard of afterwards. So I thus lost my bivouac tent, mackintosh,
+lantern, and several other things, besides Catley's complete
+possessions, all of which were on the animal. Luckily the horse was
+not my own, but a spare one, as my mare Squeaky had had a sore back,
+and Catley was not riding her.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Aug. 31st.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next day was awfully hot again. We were off by 7.30, and were by way
+of billeting at a place called <span lang="fr">Béthisy</span>, on the south-west edge of the
+forest of <span lang="fr">Compiègne</span>. We passed by the eastern edge, close by the
+extraordinary château of <span lang="fr">Pierrefonds</span>, built by <span lang="fr">Viollet le Duc</span> to the
+exact model of the old castle of the thirteenth century, a huge pile
+of turrets and battlements, like one of <span lang="fr">Gustave Doré</span>'s nightmares; and
+then struck across the open towards <span lang="fr">Morienval</span>. We were a long time on
+the march, largely owing to the necessary habit that the Artillery
+have of stopping to "feed and water" when they come to water,
+irrespective <span class="pagenum"><a id="page076" name="page076"></a>(p. 076)</span> of the hourly ten-minute halt. Then, having
+thus stopped the Infantry column in rear for twenty minutes, they trot
+on and catch up the rest of the column in front, leaving the Infantry
+toiling hopelessly after them, trying to fill the gap the guns leave
+behind them. It is bad, of course, but it is a choice of evils, for
+one way the Artillery suffers, the other the Infantry; but they both
+arrive together in the end.</p>
+
+<p>I had trotted ahead to <span lang="fr">Morienval</span>, to settle on the road, as there was
+a divergence of opinion on the subject, and there a kindly farmer
+asked me in to dinner with his family&mdash;an excellent <span lang="fr"><i>potage aux choux</i></span>
+and a succulent stew, with big juicy pears to follow, all washed down
+by remarkably good red <span lang="fr"><i>vin du pays</i></span>, I remember. There were perpetual
+halts on the road, which we did not understand, but soon after leaving
+<span lang="fr">Morienval</span> we were abruptly ordered to turn sharp off to the left and
+make for <span lang="fr">Crépy</span>. The fact was, a force of German cavalry had turned up
+at <span lang="fr">Béthisy</span>, just as our billeting parties were entering it, and the
+latter had only just time to clear out.</p>
+
+<p>Our own cavalry cleared the Germans out <span class="pagenum"><a id="page077" name="page077"></a>(p. 077)</span> of <span lang="fr">Béthisy</span> for the
+time being, but we continued on to <span lang="fr">Crépy-en-Valois</span>, and arrived there,
+rather done, at six o'clock&mdash;nearly eleven hours to go fifteen miles,
+just the sort of thing to tire troops on a very hot day,&mdash;and with
+numerous apparently unnecessary halts. However, we had few if any
+stragglers, and we made our way to some fields on the south-west of
+<span lang="fr">Crépy</span>, <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Agathe</span> being the name of the district. I selected the
+bivouac myself, as I did not get billeting orders in time, and I
+preferred open fields on a hot night for the troops instead of stuffy
+billets in the town.</p>
+
+<p>The Brigade Staff, however, occupied a little house and grounds in the
+suburbs, and I shall never forget arriving there with <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> after
+seeing to the bivouac of the Brigade. There were two wine-bottles and
+glasses on a table on the lawn, with comfortable chairs alongside.
+Nearly speechless with thirst, we rushed at them. They were empty!</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 1st.</i></p>
+
+<p>The night was hot, and though I had an excellent bed I remember I
+could not get to sleep for ever so long. We were to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page078" name="page078"></a>(p. 078)</span> have
+moved off early, but the sound of the guns not far to the north
+stopped us, and orders quickly arrived for the Brigade to go and
+occupy <span lang="fr">Duvy</span>, a village a mile or so to the west, and give what help we
+could to General Pulteney's force of a Division and a brigade, who
+were being attacked on the north-west.</p>
+
+<p>So we moved out rapidly and pushed out two battalions to assist.
+Cavalry was reported everywhere, but it was difficult to know which
+was English and which German. The latter's patrols were fairly bold,
+and single horsemen got close up to us. Broadwood, of the Norfolks,
+bowled over one of them at 700 yards&mdash;with a rifle, it was reported,
+but it was probably his machine-gun. Meanwhile our guns on the plateau
+north of <span lang="fr">Crépy</span> supporting the 13th Brigade did good execution, three
+consecutive shells of theirs falling respectively into a squadron of
+Uhlans, killing a whole gun-team, and smashing up a gun by direct hit
+(27th Brigade <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr>)</p>
+
+<p>The two battalions working up north-west from <span lang="fr">Duvy</span> had just extended
+and were moving carefully across country, when I received word that a
+large force of the enemy's <span class="pagenum"><a id="page079" name="page079"></a>(p. 079)</span> cavalry was moving on to my left
+rear. I did not like this, and pushed out another battalion (Norfolks)
+to guard my flank. But we need not have been worried, for shortly
+afterwards it appeared that the "hostile" cavalry was the North Irish
+Horse, turned up from goodness knows where.</p>
+
+<p>About the same time we got a message from General Pulteney thanking us
+for the assistance rendered, and another one from Sir C. Fergusson
+telling us to continue our retirement towards <span lang="fr">Ormoy Villers</span> as
+flank-guard to the rest of the Division. This we did, across country
+and partly on the railway&mdash;very bad going this for horses, especially
+as we might any moment have come across a bridge or culvert with
+nothing but rails across it. It is true that, if we had, we might have
+slipped down into the turnip fields on either side, but there were
+ditches and wire alongside which would have proved awkward.</p>
+
+<p>We halted about <span lang="fr">Ormoy Villers</span> station&mdash;in ruins almost, and with its
+big water-tank blown up,&mdash;and I put two battalions to guard the flank
+whilst the rest of us had a meal. <span lang="fr">Saint André</span> had as usual managed to
+forage for us in the ruins, and produced a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page080" name="page080"></a>(p. 080)</span> tin of sardines
+and some tomatoes and apples, which, with chocolate and biscuits and
+warm water&mdash;it was another roasting day&mdash;filled us well up. Then after
+a long and dusty walk through the woods we reached <span lang="fr">Nanteuil</span>, where
+most of the Division had already arrived.</p>
+
+<p>We had to find outposts (Dorsets and Norfolks) that night, covering a
+huge bit of country. I borrowed a car in order to settle how they
+should be put out, and ran out much too far, nearly into the enemy. It
+was not easy to place them, as connection through the woods was most
+awkward. However, we were not attacked, the German cavalry and
+advanced guards not having apparently come up.</p>
+
+<p>I had sent Major Allason (of the Bedfords) out earlier in the day to
+scout northwards with a couple of mounted men, and he came back at
+eventide, having collared a German officer and his servant, but not
+brought them in. They had just been falling back at a walk with the
+information they had gathered, when they heard a clatter of hoofs
+behind them, and beheld a German cavalry officer and his man trying to
+gallop past them&mdash;not to attack them,&mdash;apparently bolting from
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page081" name="page081"></a>(p. 081)</span> some of our own cavalry. Allason, who was in front, stuck
+spurs into his horse and galloped after the officer and shot his
+horse, bringing the German down, the latter also being put out of
+action. Then they bound up the German's wound and took all his papers
+from him, which proved to be very useful, giving the location of the
+German cavalry and other troops. Meanwhile the officer's servant stood
+by, with his mouth open, doing nothing. As they couldn't carry the
+officer off, they left them both there and came on.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst other stories, we heard here that a squadron of one of our
+cavalry brigades had stopped to water in a wood. A lot of German
+cavalry bungled on top of them, and then bolted as if the devil were
+after them. The row stampeded our horses, and they dashed off through
+the wood in all directions, leaving many of our men on foot. But their
+steeds were soon recovered.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 2nd.</i></p>
+
+<p>Off again next morning at 4.15 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> We did rear-guard to the Division,
+but we had an easy time of it, the Dorsets being in rear. I had also
+the 27th Brigade <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr>, the <abbr title="North Irish">N.I.</abbr>
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page082" name="page082"></a>(p. 082)</span> Horse
+under Massereene, and 70 cyclists to help, but the Germans never pursued us or fired a
+shot. It was awfully hot again, but we had not far to go&mdash;only eleven
+miles&mdash;into <span lang="fr">Montgé</span>. There we arrived at 10.45 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and should have
+been there much sooner if it had not been for some of the Divisional
+Train halting to water on the way.</p>
+
+<p><span lang="fr">Montgé</span> is a nice little village on a hillside, almost within sight of
+<span lang="fr">Paris</span>, which is only about twenty-five miles off; and on a clear day
+one can, I believe, see the Eiffel Tower and <span lang="fr">Montmartre</span>. We could not
+make out why we were always thus retiring without fighting, and
+imagined it was some deep-laid plan of <span lang="fr">Joffre</span>'s that we perhaps were
+to garrison <span lang="fr">Paris</span> whilst the French turned on the Germans. But no
+light was vouchsafed to us. Meanwhile the retirement was morally
+rather bad for our men, and the stragglers increased in numbers.</p>
+
+<p>The Brigade Headquarters billeted in a tiny house marked by two big
+poplars on the main road. The proprietor, a stout peasant&mdash;I think he
+was the Maire&mdash;received us very civilly, but his questions as to our
+retirement were difficult to answer. However, we didn't trouble him
+long, and were <span class="pagenum"><a id="page083" name="page083"></a>(p. 083)</span> off next morning by 5.30 acting as
+flank-guard again.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 3rd.</i></p>
+
+<p>It was hotter than ever over those parched fields, and the march was
+complicated, for when we had reached Trilbardon down a narrow leafy
+path, past a bridge over the <span lang="fr">Marne</span> which an <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> officer was most
+anxious to blow up at once, we were told to act as rear-guard again.
+For this we had to wait till all the troops had passed through the
+little streets, and then we followed. We overtook a good many
+stragglers, and these we hustled along, insisting on their getting
+over the other side of the <span lang="fr">Marne</span> before the main bridges were blown
+up. We were responsible for leaving no one behind, but I'm afraid that
+several were left, as they had fallen out and gone to sleep under
+hedges and were not seen; and one <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr> man was suffering so
+violently from pains in his tummy that he at first refused to stir,
+and said he didn't care if he <i>was</i> taken prisoner. There were a
+considerable number of these tummy cases on the way&mdash;hot sun and
+unripe apples had, I fancy, a good deal to do with them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page084" name="page084"></a>(p. 084)</span> At <span lang="fr">Esbly</span> we halted, gratefully, in the shade for an hour; it
+was a nice little town, but strangely empty, for nearly all the
+inhabitants had fled.</p>
+
+<p>We put up for the night round <span lang="fr">Mont Pichet</span>, a beastly little hamlet,
+with the Cheshires and one company Bedfords finding the outposts. The
+Brigade Headquarters billeted round a horrible little house,
+surrounded by hundreds of ducks and chickens, which ran in and out all
+over the place till it stank most horribly. There was only one room
+which wasn't absolutely foul, and that I took. The others slept in the
+open. I wish I had.</p>
+
+<p>I went to visit the outposts by myself; and my wretched pony, Gay,
+refused to cross a little stream about two feet broad and two inches
+deep. Nothing would induce her to cross it, so I had to send her back
+and do it all on foot, beyond a village called <span lang="fr">Chevalrue</span> and back. By
+the time I got back, late, hot, and hungry, I must have done four
+miles on foot.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 4th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Having been told we should be here for at least a day to rest, we
+received orders, I <span class="pagenum"><a id="page085" name="page085"></a>(p. 085)</span> need hardly say, at 7 next morning, to be
+ready to move immediately. However, it was rather a false alarm, as,
+except for a Divisional "pow-wow" on general subjects, at 10 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> at
+<span lang="fr">Bouleurs</span>, we had little to do all day, and did not move till 11.50
+<span class="smcap">P.M.</span> There had been an alarm in the afternoon, by the way, of German
+cavalry advancing, and I reinforced the Bedfords with another company,
+and got two howitzers ready to support, but the "Uhlans" did not
+materialize.</p>
+
+<p>I might here mention, by the way, that all German cavalry, whether
+Lancers or not, went by the generic name of Uhlans. But it was perhaps
+not surprising, as all the hostile cavalry, even Hussars, had lances.
+They were, however, extraordinarily unhandy with them, and our own
+cavalry had a very poor opinion of their prowess and dash.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 5th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The Divisional Orders for the march were complicated, and comprised
+marching in two columns from different points and meeting about ten
+miles off. Also, the collecting of my outposts and moving to a left
+flank was complicated. But it went <span class="pagenum"><a id="page086" name="page086"></a>(p. 086)</span> off all right, and we
+marched gaily along in the cool night and effected the junction at
+<span lang="fr">Villeneuve</span>. Thence on through a big wood with a network of rides,
+where the two officers who were acting as guides in front went
+hopelessly astray and took the wrong turning. The leading battalion
+was, however, very shortly extricated and put on the right road, and
+after passing <span lang="fr">Tournans</span> we halted, after a sixteen-mile march, at a
+magnificent château near <span lang="fr">Gagny</span> (<span lang="fr">Château de la Monture</span>) at 7.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span></p>
+
+<p>Here we made ourselves extremely comfortable in the best bedrooms of
+M. <span lang="fr">Boquet</span>, of the <span lang="fr">Assurance Maritime</span>, <span lang="fr">Havre</span>, and sent him a letter
+expressing our best thanks. Up to 6 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> we slept peacefully, with no
+orders to disturb us, but then they arrived and gave us great joy, for
+we were to march at 5 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, not southwards, but northwards again.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 6th.</i></p>
+
+<p>What had happened, or why we were suddenly to turn against the enemy
+after ten days of retreat, we could not conceive; but the fact was
+there, and the difference in the spirits of the men was enormous.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page087" name="page087"></a>(p. 087)</span> They marched twice as well, whistling and singing, back
+through <span lang="fr">Tournans</span> and on to <span lang="fr">Villeneuve</span>. Here we had orders to halt and
+feed, but the halt did not last long, for a summons to the 5th
+Division Headquarters (in a hot and stuffy little pothouse) arrived
+at 1 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, and by 2 we were marching on through the <span lang="fr">Forêt de Crécy</span> to
+<span lang="fr">Mortcerf</span>. It was frightfully hot and dusty, and the track through the
+forest was not easy to find. Although I had issued stringent orders
+about the rear of one unit always dropping a guide for the next unit
+(if not in sight) at any cross-roads we came to, something went astray
+this time, and half the Brigade turned up at one end of the village of
+<span lang="fr">Mortcerf</span>, whilst the other half came in at the other. We were on
+advanced guard at the time, and so increasing the frontage like this
+did no harm; but it caused rather a complication in the billets we
+proceeded to allot.</p>
+
+<p>A delightful little village it was, and the Maire, in whose house we
+put up, was extremely kind; but by the time I had covered the front
+with outposts and ridden back, very hot and tired, General Smith
+Dorrien turned up, and announced that <span class="pagenum"><a id="page088" name="page088"></a>(p. 088)</span> we were to push on in
+an hour. He was, by the way, very complimentary about the way in which
+the 15th Brigade had behaved all through, and cast dewdrops upon us
+with both hands. It was very pleasant, but I was rather taken aback,
+for I genuinely did not think that we had done anything particularly
+glorious in the retreat. However, it appeared that the authorities
+considered that the Brigade was extremely well disciplined and well in
+hand&mdash;for which the praise was due to the <abbr title="Commanding Officer">C.O.</abbr>'s and not to me&mdash;and
+were accordingly well pleased.</p>
+
+<p>So we made a hurried little meal at the Maire's house, and Madame
+threw us delicious pears from a first-floor window as we rode away.</p>
+
+<p>We had not far to go in the dusk, only two or three miles on to the
+turning which led to <span lang="fr">La Celle</span>. The Dorsets were pushed on into and
+beyond <span lang="fr">La Celle</span>, in rather complicated country&mdash;for there was a deep
+valley and a twisting road beyond; but the few Uhlans in the village
+bolted as they entered it, and no further disturbances occurred in our
+front. On our right, however, there was heavy firing, for the 3rd
+Division had come across a good many <span class="pagenum"><a id="page089" name="page089"></a>(p. 089)</span> of the enemy at
+<span lang="fr">Faremoutiers</span>, and at 9.30, and again at 11.30, general actions seemed
+to be developing. But they died away, and we slept more or less
+peacefully on a stubble field with a few sheaves of straw to keep us
+warm. Perpetual messengers, however, kept on arriving with orders and
+queries all night long, and our sleep was a broken one.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 7th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We awoke with the sun, feeling&mdash;I speak for myself&mdash;rather touzled and
+chippy, and waited a long time for the orders to proceed. The cooks'
+waggon turned up with the Quartermaster-Sergeant and breakfast&mdash;and
+still we didn't move. Eventually we fell in and moved off at noon&mdash;a
+hot day again&mdash;very hot, in fact, as we strung along on a narrow road
+in the deep and wooded valley. Very pretty country it was; but what
+impressed itself still more on me was the gift of some most
+super-excellent "William" pears by a farmer's wife in a tiny village
+nestling in the depths&mdash;real joy on that thirsty day.</p>
+
+<p>There were still some Uhlans left in the woods, and I turned a couple
+of Norfolk <span class="pagenum"><a id="page090" name="page090"></a>(p. 090)</span> companies off the road to drive them out. Some of
+our artillery had also heard of them, and a Horse battery dropped a
+few shells into the wood to expedite matters; but I regret to say the
+only bag, as far as we could tell, was one of our own men killed and
+another wounded by them.</p>
+
+<p>At <span lang="fr">Mouroux</span> we halted for a time, and then pushed on, rather late, to
+<span lang="fr">Boissy le Châtel</span>&mdash;the delay being caused by the motor-bikist carrying
+orders to us missing, by some mischance, our Headquarters
+altogether&mdash;though we were within a few hundred yards of Divisional
+Headquarters, and had reported our whereabouts&mdash;and going on several
+miles to look for us.</p>
+
+<p>We were now again the advanced guard of the Division, and had to find
+outposts for it a mile beyond. It is always rather a grind having to
+ride round the outposts after a long day, but one can't sleep in peace
+till one is satisfied that one's front is properly protected, so it
+has to be done; and as the Brigade Staff is limited, the Staff Captain
+allotting the billets, and the Brigade Major seeing that all the
+troops arrive safely, one generally has to do these little excursions
+by oneself. On the road <span class="pagenum"><a id="page091" name="page091"></a>(p. 091)</span> I came across Hubert Gough,
+commanding the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, in a motor, cheery as ever, with
+his cavalry somewhere on our right flank keeping touch with us. We put
+up in a little deserted château in <span lang="fr">Boissy le Châtel</span>, but it was
+overcrowded with trees and bushes and very stuffy.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 8th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning we had, before starting, the unpleasant duty to perform
+of detailing a firing-party to execute a deserter. I forget what
+regiment he belonged to (not in our brigade), but he had had rotten
+luck from his point of view. He had cleared out and managed to get
+hold of some civilian clothes, and, having lost himself, had asked the
+way of a gamekeeper he met. The gamekeeper happened to be an
+Englishman, and what was more, an old soldier, and he promptly gave
+him up to the authorities as a deserter.</p>
+
+<p>We left at 7.25 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> as the last brigade in the Division. I might
+mention here that, for billeting, the ground for the Division was
+divided into "Brigade Areas," each area to hold not only an Infantry
+Brigade but one or two Artillery Brigades, a Field <span class="pagenum"><a id="page092" name="page092"></a>(p. 092)</span>
+Ambulance, and generally a company of <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, and occasionally some
+other odds and ends, such as Divisional Ammunition Column, Train,
+Irish Horse, Cyclists, &amp;c., and for all these we had to find billets.
+The troops billeted in these areas varied in composition nearly every
+day. It was very hard work for the Staff Captain (Moulton-Barrett),
+whose proper job would normally have been limited to the 15th Brigade;
+but he and <span lang="fr">Saint André</span>, who both worked like niggers, somehow always
+managed to do it satisfactorily. It would have turned my hair grey, I
+know, to stuff away a conflicting crowd of troops of different arms
+into an area which was always too small for them. But M.-B. would sit
+calmly on his horse amid the clamour of inexperienced subalterns and
+grasping <abbr title="Non-commissioned Officer">N.C.O.</abbr>'s, and allot the farms and streets in such a way that
+they always managed to get in somehow&mdash;though occasionally I expect
+the conditions were not those of perfect comfort. We were lucky in the
+weather, however, and many times troops bivouacked in the open in
+comparative ease when a rainy night would have caused them extreme
+discomfort.</p>
+
+<p>It was not always easy to find billets even <span class="pagenum"><a id="page093" name="page093"></a>(p. 093)</span> for our own
+Brigade Staff, for though we were a small unit, comparatively, we had
+a good number of horses and half a dozen vehicles; and besides this,
+we had to have a decent room or place for the Signal section, and rig
+up a wire for them to work in connection with the Divisional
+Headquarters or other troops. In this Cadell was excellent, and we
+rarely had a breakdown. Sometimes, of course, we were too far off to
+get a wire fixed in time, and then we had recourse to our Signal
+"push-bikists"&mdash;no motor cyclists being on our establishment. The
+Signal companies, by the way, had only been completely organized a
+month or two before the war, and what we should have done without them
+passes my imagination, for they were quite invaluable, and most
+excellently organized and trained.</p>
+
+<p>And sometimes when, after all this work, we had settled down into
+billets for the night, an order would come to move on at once. Fresh
+orders had then hurriedly to be written, and despatched by the orderly
+of each unit (who was attached to our headquarters) to his respective
+unit, giving the time at which the head of the unit was to pass a
+given point on the road so as to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page094" name="page094"></a>(p. 094)</span> dovetail into its place in
+the column in the dark, and all with reference to what we were going
+to do, whether the artillery or part of it was to be in front or in
+rear, what rations were to be carried, arrangements for supply,
+position of the transport in the column, compositions of the advanced
+or rear-guard, &amp;c., &amp;c. It sounds very complicated, and still more so
+when you have to fit in not only your own brigade but all the
+miscellaneous troops of your "Brigade Area." But Weatherby had reduced
+this to a fine art, and, after all, we had had heaps of practice at
+it; so orders were short and to the point, and issued in really an
+extraordinarily short time.</p>
+
+<p>To return. Our march that day was through pretty country, with
+fighting always going on just ahead of us or on both flanks, but we
+were never actually engaged. At <span lang="fr">Doue</span> we halted for an hour or so, and
+then received orders to push out a battalion to hold the high ground
+in front. But when we had got there we only found a panorama
+stretching out all round, dotted with troops, and our guns firing from
+all sorts of unseen hiding-places, with the enemy well on the run in
+front of us. Soon the order came <span class="pagenum"><a id="page095" name="page095"></a>(p. 095)</span> for us to push on, and we
+moved forward through <span lang="fr">Mauroy</span>, down a steep hill into <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Cyr</span> and <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr>
+Ouen</span>, pretty little villages in a cleft in the ground, across the
+<span lang="fr">Petit Morin</span> river and up a beastly steep hill on the other side.</p>
+
+<p>Then came a "pow-wow" in a stiff shower of rain, and on again slowly
+over the plateau, in a curious position, for there was a big fight
+going on amid some burning villages in the plain far on our left&mdash;I
+don't know what Division&mdash;probably the 4th&mdash;and a smaller fight
+parallel to us on the right, not two miles off; and we were marching
+calmly along the road in column.</p>
+
+<p>Then a longer halt, whilst we got closer touch with the 14th Brigade
+on our right. It was a tangled fight there; for when we pushed forward
+some cyclists in that direction they were unintentionally fired on by
+the East Surrey; and the latter, who had rounded up and taken about
+100 of the enemy prisoners, mostly cavalry, were just resting whilst
+they counted them, when some of our own guns lobbed some shells right
+into the crowd, and five German officers and about fifty of the
+prisoners escaped in the confusion.</p>
+
+<p>A little farther on, near <span lang="fr">Charnesseuil</span>, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page096" name="page096"></a>(p. 096)</span> we got orders to
+billet for the night there, and the Brigade Headquarters moved on to
+<span lang="fr">Montapeine</span> cross-roads. Here there was a good deal of confusion, stray
+units of several divisions trying to find their friends, and the
+cross-roads blocked by a small body of sixty-three German prisoners.
+We got the place cleared at last, and the Staff occupied an untidy,
+dirty, unfurnished house and grounds at the corner. It had been used
+by the enemy the night before, and they had luckily brought great
+masses of straw into the house.</p>
+
+<p>I stowed away the prisoners in the stables&mdash;great big, docile,
+sheepish-looking men of the Garde-Schützen-Bataillon (2nd and 4th
+companies) and machine-gun battery attached. I talked to several of
+them, and they said that the battalion had lost very heavily and there
+were hardly any officers left. One of the latter, Fritz Wrede by name,
+I found wounded and lying on the straw in a dark room in the basement.
+Other wounded were being brought in here, and all complained of
+feeling very cold, although the evening was quite warm. I made some
+men heap straw on them, which was an improvement&mdash;but I believe that
+wounded always do feel cold.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page097" name="page097"></a>(p. 097)</span> Wrede had a bullet through the shoulder, but was not bad, so
+I got him to sign a paper to say he would not try to escape&mdash;otherwise
+he might have made trouble. Our men, as usual, were more than kind to
+the prisoners, and insisted on giving them their own bread and
+jam&mdash;though the Germans had already been given a lot of biscuit. I
+remember being struck with the extreme mild-seemingness of all the
+prisoners, and wondering how such men could have been capable of such
+frightful brutalities as they had been in Belgium&mdash;they looked and
+behaved as if they wouldn't have hurt a fly.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 9th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning we moved off at 7.30 and went <i>viâ</i> <span lang="fr">Saacy</span> across the
+<span lang="fr">Marne</span> to <span lang="fr">Merz</span>, and thence up an extremely steep and bad road through
+the woods. It was a very hot day, and as there was no prospect of
+getting the transport up I left it behind at <span lang="fr">Merz</span>, meaning to send it
+round another way when the road was clear. Firing was going on to the
+left front, and we halted for a council of war with the Divisional
+Staff, which was immediately in front of us.</p>
+
+<p>The 14th Brigade was apparently hung up <span class="pagenum"><a id="page098" name="page098"></a>(p. 098)</span> somewhere to our
+left front and couldn't get on, so we were sent on to help them take
+the high ground towards the <span lang="fr">Montreuil</span> road. They were, we were told,
+already in possession of Hill 189; but when we emerged from the woods
+there was a Prussian battery on the hill. There did not seem to be any
+men with it, as far as we could see, and it was not firing. But we
+made a good target, and not more than a battalion had got clear when
+the "deserted" battery opened fire and lobbed a shell or two into the
+Bedfords and Cheshires.</p>
+
+<p>They only lost a man or two killed and wounded; but a Howitzer battery
+with us, which was already on the lookout, came into action at once
+and speedily silenced the German guns for the time being.</p>
+
+<p>Bols, who was leading, reported that the hill was attackable&mdash;it was
+really only a rise in the ground,&mdash;and after a reconnaissance I gladly
+issued orders. So the Norfolks and Dorsets proceeded to attack in
+proper form, whilst I sent the Bedfords round to the right towards
+<span lang="fr">Bézu</span> to try and take the rise in flank. The 14th Brigade were
+meanwhile somewhere on the left, and we got touch with them after a
+time; but they <span class="pagenum"><a id="page099" name="page099"></a>(p. 099)</span> could not get forward, as a number of big
+guns from much further off kept up a heavy fire, and there was a body
+of infantry hidden somewhere as well, to judge from the number of
+bullets that came over and into us.</p>
+
+<p>That was rather a trying afternoon. Dorsets and Norfolks were held up
+about half a mile from Hill 189, and I went forward to <span lang="fr">Bézu</span> with the
+Bedfords to try to get them on to the flank. Thorpe and his company
+got forward into a wood, but lost a number of men in getting there;
+and the lie of the ground did not seem to justify my sending many more
+to help him, as the space up to the wood was swept by a heavy fire.
+Just about this time poor Roe of the Dorsets, who had taken some of
+his company into this wood, was shot through the head&mdash;as was also
+George, one of his subalterns.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile those horrible big guns from somewhere near <span lang="fr">Sablonnières</span>
+were giving us a lot of trouble, and knocked out also several of the
+Cheshires, who had been sent by the Divisional Commander towards the
+left to support the 14th Brigade. The latter&mdash;(I went to see Rolt, the
+Brigadier, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>(p. 100)</span> but there was little we could combine)&mdash;seemed at
+one moment to be a little unhappy, as they were enfiladed from
+<span lang="fr">Chanoust</span> on their left; but the Dorsets had worked carefully forward
+on their tummies, and with the Norfolks held a low ridge well to the
+front, whence, though they could not get forward themselves, they
+could do the enemy a good deal of damage. So the 14th Brigade stuck it
+out, and we kept up the game till dusk, when we dug ourselves in a
+little further back and posted outposts.</p>
+
+<p>I might add that when Weatherby and I went forward to see Bols and
+Ballard, Weatherby had bad luck, for his horse was shot in the body
+whilst he was leading him, and died that night.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division was on our right, under
+Shaw, and although his Lincolns, or some of them, had got into the
+wood, and we tried a combined movement, they also got hung up there
+and we could not get on.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans certainly fought this rear-guard action remarkably well.
+We did not know at the time that it was a rear-guard action, for we
+thought a whole corps might be occupying a strong position here and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>(p. 101)</span> intending to fight next day. But no more fighting took place
+that night, and by next morning they had cleared out.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans had evidently only just left <span lang="fr">Bézu</span>, for on my going to see
+M'Cracken (commanding 7th Brigade) there, I found him in a house with
+the remains of an unfinished (German) meal, including many half-empty
+bottles, on the table. Then we managed to get some supper in another
+house, and were nearly turned out of it by a subaltern of General
+Hamilton's staff, who, seeing a light in the window, thought he would
+save himself the trouble of hunting for another house for his General,
+and announced that it was required for the 3rd Divisional Staff. I was
+inclined to demur at first and sit tight; but the ever-useful <span lang="fr">Saint
+André</span>, to save trouble, hurried out and secured another house for us;
+as a matter of fact it was better and bigger than the first one, and
+would have suited the Divisional Staff much better.</p>
+
+<p>After issuing orders for to-morrow's attack or march we flung
+ourselves down dead tired, and were awakened ten minutes afterwards by
+a summons from General Hamilton to come and see him at once, as
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>(p. 102)</span> he was going to hold a pow-wow on the situation. I found him
+in a tiny, poky little attic, and there we waited for three-quarters
+of an hour whilst Rolt was being sent for. Two hours did this pow-wow
+last, and we had to write and issue fresh orders in consequence. Just
+as they had been sent out and we had flung ourselves down again for a
+little sleep, an entirely new set of orders arrived from the 5th
+Division, and for the third time we had to think out and write and
+distribute a fresh set of orders. By that time it was 12.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and
+we were to move at 3.45 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, which meant getting up at 2.30. Two
+hours broken sleep that night was all we got&mdash;and lucky to get it.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 10th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Off at 3.45 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, we moved out in careful fashion towards Haloup, in
+the direction of <span lang="fr">Montreuil</span>. But our scouts reported all clear, and in
+very truth the Germans had left. What was more, they had left that
+field battery on Hill 189 behind them, surrounded by about twenty or
+more corpses and a quantity of ammunition.</p>
+
+<p>It was a damp day, and progress was slow, as it was not at all certain
+where <span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>(p. 103)</span> the enemy was. At <span lang="fr">Denizy</span>, a small village on the way,
+we were told that a German general, with his staff, had received a
+severe shock there the day before by an unexpected British shell
+dropping on his headquarters whilst he was at luncheon. He had jumped
+up with a yell and bolted up the hill, but was driven down again by
+another shell which landed close by. He was reported to have died
+almost at once, but whether from fright or not was not quite clear.</p>
+
+<p>When near <span lang="fr">Germigny</span> we espied a German column in the distance, and
+shelled it heavily with the 61st howitzer battery attached to us
+(Major Wilson), causing it to bolt in all directions. The 3rd Cavalry
+Brigade now turned up in our front (Hubert Gough's), and with the 5th
+(Chetwode's) hustled the enemy along. We were advanced guard again,
+and it was difficult to get on, for the Divisional Commander kept
+sending messages from behind asking me why the deuce I wasn't going
+faster, whilst Gough was sending me protests from the front that I was
+treading on his heels, and not giving him time to clear up the
+situation!</p>
+
+<p>We halted for some time the other side of <span lang="fr">Germigny</span>, and then pushed on
+to Gandelu, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>(p. 104)</span> a large village in a cleft of the hills, from
+the heights in front of which the German artillery might have made it
+extremely unpleasant for us. But none were there, nor were there any
+at <span lang="fr">Chézy</span>, which would have made a perfect defensive position for them,
+with a glacis-like slope in all directions.</p>
+
+<p>On the other side of Gandelu, in the wood, we came across the first
+signs of the German bolt. A broken motor-car was lying in the stream,
+and dead horses and men were lying about, whilst every now and then we
+passed two or three of our troopers with a dozen German prisoners in
+tow.</p>
+
+<p>As we moved up the steep hill towards <span lang="fr">Chézy</span>, we came across packs,
+rifles, and kit of all sorts flung away, broken-down waggons, more
+dead Germans, and, at last, on a whole convoy of smashed waggons,
+their contents mostly littered over the fields and road, and groups of
+our horsemen beaming with joy. The 3rd Cavalry Brigade had rounded up
+this convoy with their Horse Artillery, scuppered or bolted most of
+the escort, and captured the rest. Besides this, they had attacked a
+whole cavalry division and scattered it to the winds. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>(p. 105)</span> Their
+first lot of prisoners numbered 348, and their second 172.</p>
+
+<p>We halted near the convoy for our usual ten minutes, and examined it
+with much satisfaction. There were all sorts of things in the
+waggons&mdash;food and corn, to which I allowed our men to help themselves,
+for our horses were short of oats and our men of rations, and some of
+the tinned meats, <span lang="de">"gulasch"</span> and <span lang="de">"blutwurst,"</span> were quite excellent and
+savoury, much more so than our everlasting bully beef. Other waggons
+were full of all sorts of loot&mdash;cases of liqueur and wine, musical
+instruments, household goods, clothing, bedding, &amp;c., trinkets,
+clocks, ribbons, and an infinite variety of knick-knacks, many of
+which one would hardly have thought worth taking. But the German is a
+robber at heart, and takes everything he can lay his hands on. There
+was also a first-rate motor-car, damaged, by the side of the road, and
+in it were a General's orders and decorations, and 100 rifle
+cartridges (Mauser) with soft-nosed bullets. To make certain of this I
+kept one of the cartridges and gave it to Sir C. Fergusson. I think
+these were about the only things (besides food) which we took
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>(p. 106)</span> from the whole convoy, though many of the other things would
+have been well worth taking. The men were very good, and did not
+attempt even to leave the ranks till allowed by me to take the corn
+and food.</p>
+
+<p>A short way on was the dirty village of <span lang="fr">Chézy</span>, and here we found a
+heap of cavalry and many of the 3rd Division. So we branched off to
+the left in a frightfully heavy ten minutes' shower, and marched away
+to <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Quentin</span>&mdash;marked as a village, but really only a farmhouse in a
+big wood. As we approached the wood Headlam's guns began to shell it
+in order to clear it of possible hostile troops, and continued until I
+sent back to say that the shells were preventing us from going on;
+then he eased off.</p>
+
+<p>We halted near <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Quentin</span> for half an hour, and then came a message to
+say we were to billet there. It was impossible to billet a whole
+brigade in one farmhouse, and that none too large. So we told off
+different fields for the battalions to bivouac in, and occupied the
+farm ourselves, first sending out cyclists to clear the wood, as there
+were rumoured to be parties of Uhlans in it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>(p. 107)</span> It was a grubby farm with not much water, but we made the
+best of it, and settled down for the night. A starved-looking priest
+was also sleeping there, and he told me his story.</p>
+
+<p>He and a fellow-priest, an Aumônier from <span lang="fr">Paris</span>, had been on their way
+to join the French unit to which they had been allotted for ambulance
+purposes, when they fell into German hands and were treated as
+prisoners. The priest was robbed by a sergeant of 1200 francs, his
+sole possessions, and both he and the Aumônier were beaten black and
+blue, forced to march carrying German knapsacks, and kept practically
+without food or drink. After three days the Aumônier succumbed to ill
+usage and died, and the priest only managed to escape because his
+captors were themselves on the run.</p>
+
+<p>The priest also told us that there were some British prisoners in the
+column, and that the Germans behaved perfectly brutally to them,
+kicking them, starving them, and forcing them to carry German
+knapsacks.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 11th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning we did not move off till 9.25, for the supplies to the
+Brigades did not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>(p. 108)</span> arrive as soon as we expected, and hence
+the column was late in starting. We dawdled along, forming the rear
+brigade, in cool weather, and nothing in particular happened beyond
+reports coming in from the front that the Germans were quite
+demoralised. It came on to pour as we left Chouy, and at Billy we
+parked the transport and prepared to billet there. But it was already
+chokeful of other troops, and more than half our brigade would have
+had to bivouac in the sopping fields. So we pushed on to <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Remy</span>, and,
+evacuating some cavalry and making them move on to some farms a bit
+ahead,&mdash;including Massereene and his North Irish Horse, who, I fear,
+were not much pleased at having to turn out of their comfortable
+barns,&mdash;we billeted there, headquarters being taken up in the <span lang="fr">Curé</span>'s
+house. Even here his poor little rooms had been ransacked, drawers and
+tables upset and their contents littered over the floor, and
+everything of the smallest value stolen by the Germans.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 12th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Off at 5 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, we did only a short march as far as the <span lang="fr">Ferme de
+l'Épitaphe</span>, a huge <span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>(p. 109)</span> farm standing by itself in a vast and
+dreary plain of ploughed fields. Here we halted in pouring rain all
+day, expecting orders to go on. But we eventually had to billet there,
+with the Divisional Headquarters, and though we could only put up the
+Bedfords and the Cheshires there was a terrific squash. The Dorsets
+and Norfolks were sent back to billet at <span lang="fr">Nampteuil</span>, a village a mile
+or so back, but even here there was some confusion, as the 14th
+Brigade had meanwhile arrived and begun to billet there. They were,
+however, sent back likewise to <span lang="fr">Chrisy</span>, and the whole Division passed a
+most uncomfortable night. The rain never ceased from pouring, and a
+gale sprang up, which made matters worse. We slept in a loft with a
+number of Cheshire and Bedford officers, and didn't get dinner till
+past nine. Some gunner officers turned up, with no food at all, and we
+fed them; but there wasn't much at the best of times, for we had no
+rations and had to depend on the contents of our Mess basket, which
+consisted only of Harvey sauce, knives and forks, an old ham-bone,
+sweet biscuits, and jam.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>(p. 110)</span> <i>Sept. 13th.</i></p>
+
+<p>It was fine in the morning, but the farmyard was ankle-deep in water
+and slush, and the sky was leaden with lurid clouds in the east, when
+we started at 4.10 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> We pushed on slowly in column for the few
+miles to Serches, and there we halted at the cross-roads on the top of
+the plateau and parked the brigade whilst the situation was cleared up
+by troops in front. Shells began to drop unpleasantly near us, and a
+couple of field batteries which got into action just in front of us,
+together with a "cow-gun"<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8">[8]</a> (60 lb.) battery, only drew the hostile
+fire still more. They were pretty big shells, Black Marias mostly, and
+the heavy battery being right out in the open suffered somewhat
+severely, losing eight horses and a few men killed and wounded by one
+shell alone.</p>
+
+<p>So we prudently scattered the battalions a bit, and the field
+batteries limbered up and walked slowly back under cover of a slope.
+But the cow-guns had one gun disabled, and though they also moved back
+and got again <span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>(p. 111)</span> into action they were evidently spotted and
+had rather a poor time.</p>
+
+<p>Just about then, too, the transport of the 13th Brigade, which was
+necessarily following the infantry over the crest towards Sermoise,
+were noticed by the enemy, and a few shells over them killed and
+disabled a number of waggon-horses and men, making a very nasty mess
+in the road.</p>
+
+<p>There we sat all day whilst the sun came out and dried us a bit. But
+we were not very happy at luncheon; for though hungry and with plenty
+to eat now, those beastly shells came nearer and nearer us, till our
+bully and biscuit lost their charm entirely. At last we got up, plates
+in hand, and moved with dignity out of range, or, rather, more under
+cover.</p>
+
+<p>The Cheshires had meanwhile discovered a curious cave in the hillside
+which sheltered the whole battalion (though, in truth, the latter was
+not large, only 450 men or so), whilst the other battalions were well
+out of sight in the folds of the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The shadows grew longer and longer, and we rigged up some comfortable
+little shelters in the coppice for the night, thinking we should
+bivouac where we were. But at 6 I <span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>(p. 112)</span> was sent for to Divisional
+Headquarters at Serches, and told to reconnoitre the road towards the
+<span lang="fr">Aisne</span>&mdash;only a mile or two ahead. This I did in a motor-car, and
+returned in time for dinner; but we had barely got through it, about
+8, when marching orders came to the effect that we were to push on and
+cross the <span lang="fr">Aisne</span> by rafts to-night, and the sooner the better.</p>
+
+<p>So we moved off with some difficulty in the dark, for there were no
+connecting roads with the halting-places of the battalions, and got on
+to the main road, whence all was plain sailing, down to the <span lang="fr">Moulin des
+Roches</span>, an imaginary mill on the river bank. Over some sloppy pasture
+fields in dead silence, and we found ourselves on the bank, with a
+darker shadow plashing backwards and forwards over the river in our
+front, and some <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> officers talking in whispers.</p>
+
+<p>The actual crossing of the Brigade was a long job, and had to be
+carefully worked out. The raft held sixty men at a time, or thirty men
+and three horses; but as horses on a raft in the dead of night were
+likely to cause a fuss, we left them behind, to follow on in the
+morning, and crossed without them,&mdash;four and a half hours it <span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>(p. 113)</span>
+took; and whilst the men were crossing we tried to get a bit of sleep
+on the wet bank. It was not very successful, as it was horribly cold
+and we had no blankets. The staff crossed last of all, and we landed
+in a wood on the far side, in a bog but thinly covered with cut
+brushwood, and full of irritating, sharp, and painful tree-stumps.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 14th.</i></p>
+
+<p>When we were across it was difficult to discover the battalions asleep
+in the fields, and when we had found them and it was time to start it
+was difficult to wake them. However, we moved off just as it was
+getting light; but it was not easy to find the way, for there was no
+path at first. We had orders to go <i>viâ</i> <span lang="fr">Bucy-le-Long</span> to <span lang="fr">Sainte
+Marguerite</span>, and found the villages right enough, for they were close
+together. But as we moved into <span lang="fr">Sainte Marguerite</span>, with a good many
+other troops in front of us, we became aware that there was an
+unnecessary number of bullets flying about, and that our fellows in
+front were being held up.</p>
+
+<p>The village was held by the 12th Brigade <span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>(p. 114)</span> (4th Division), and
+the 14th Brigade was somewhere on our right. The Dorsets were our
+leading battalion, and they were pushed on to help the 12th, and
+filled a gap in their line on the hill above the village front at the
+eastern end. But there we stuck for a long time. The enemy's artillery
+had meanwhile opened on us, and shells began to crash overhead and
+played the devil with the tiles and the houses. But they did not do us
+much harm.</p>
+
+<p>We now received orders to move on to <span lang="fr">Missy</span> (not a mile off to the
+right) and clear the <span lang="fr">Chivres</span> ridge of the enemy and push on to <span lang="fr">Condé</span>
+and take that if possible&mdash;rather a "large order." The difficulty was
+to get to <span lang="fr">Missy</span>, for the road thither was spattered with bullets, and
+shells were bursting all along it. However, by dint of careful work we
+moved out bit by bit, cutting through the gardens and avoiding the
+road, and taking advantage of a slight slope in the ground by which we
+could sneak to the far side of the little railway embankment which led
+to <span lang="fr">Missy</span> Station.</p>
+
+<p>It took a long time, and I made what proved to be the serious mistake
+of staying to the end in order to see the whole <span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>(p. 115)</span> Brigade
+clear of <span lang="fr">Sainte Marguerite</span>. I ought really to have gone ahead with the
+first party to reconnoitre; for just as we were starting after the
+rear company I stopped to write a message to the Division in answer to
+one which had just arrived, and at that moment a hellish shrapnel,
+machine-gun, and rifle fire was opened, not only on the village but on
+all the exits therefrom, and this fire lasted for nearly two hours.
+One simply could not make the attempt; it would have been certain
+death. And so we had to sit in the tiny courtyard of one of the
+houses, with our backs against the wall, and listen to the inferno
+overhead, whilst the proprietor's wife plied us with most acceptable
+roast potatoes and milk.</p>
+
+<p>I wrote a lot of messages during those two hours, but whether they all
+got through or not I do not know: some of the messengers never came
+back. Colonel Seely turned up at one moment&mdash;from General
+Headquarters, I think&mdash;demanding information. This I supplied, and
+made use of him to take some of my orders back; it really was quite a
+new sensation giving orders to a recent Secretary of State for War.</p>
+
+<p>At one time two or three artillery waggons <span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>(p. 116)</span> appeared in the
+little main street and remained there quietly for a bit under a heavy
+fire, but only losing a man or two slightly wounded. Then suddenly
+there was a loud crack overhead, and half a dozen horses were lying
+struggling and kicking on the ground, with great pools of blood
+forming in the road and four or five prostrate men in them. It was a
+horrible sight for us, for the shell had burst just opposite the gate
+of our courtyard. But the gunners behaved magnificently, and a farrier
+sergeant gave out his orders as quietly and unconcernedly as if he had
+been on parade. I took his name with a view to recommendation, but
+regret that I have forgotten it by now.</p>
+
+<p>We also had some very unpleasant shaves at this time in our own
+courtyard. Twice did a shell burst just above the house and drive
+holes in the roof, bringing down showers of tiles; the second time
+practically all the tiles fell on me and nearly knocked me down. I do
+not know why they did not hurt me more&mdash;luckily the house was a low
+one; but they merely bruised my back.</p>
+
+<p>At last, in a lull, we managed to get away, and sneaked out at a
+run&mdash;through a yard <span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>(p. 117)</span> and back garden, behind a farm, out at
+the back behind a fold in the ground, then across a wide open field
+and on to the low railway embankment, behind which we ducked, and made
+our way to the little station of <span lang="fr">Missy</span> and up behind some scattered
+houses to near the church.</p>
+
+<p>Here, after some trouble, we got the commanding officers together, and
+arranged to push on and attack the wooded ridge above the town. The
+force was rather mixed. I had met Rolt (commanding the 14th Brigade)
+on the way, and we had settled that I should collect whatever of his
+men I could get together in <span lang="fr">Missy</span> and join them to my attacking party.
+The difficulty was that it was already getting late&mdash;4.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>&mdash;and
+that there was insufficient time for a thorough reconnaissance, though
+we did what we could in that direction. However, my orders from the
+Divisional Commander had been to take the ridge, and I tried to do it.
+I had got together three companies of the Norfolks, three of the
+Bedfords, two Cheshires (in reserve), two East Surreys (14th Brigade),
+and two Cornwalls (13th Brigade, who had arrived <i>viâ</i> the broken
+bridge at <span lang="fr">Missy</span> and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>(p. 118)</span> some rafts hastily constructed
+there)&mdash;twelve companies altogether.</p>
+
+<p>But when they pushed forward it became very difficult, for there
+turned out to be too many men for the space. What I had not known was
+that, though they could advance up a broad clearing to more than
+halfway up the hill, this clearing was bounded on both flanks, as it
+gradually drew to a point, by high 6-feet wire netting just inside the
+wood, so that the men could not get properly into the wood, but were
+gradually driven in towards the point, where the only entrance to the
+wood occurred.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily the Germans had not noticed this either&mdash;or there would have
+been many more casualties than there were. As it was, a company of the
+East Surrey and another one (Allason's) of the Bedfords did get
+through to the top of the wood and on to the edge of the open plateau;
+but this I did not hear of till later. When the greater part of the
+force had got through the opening into the wood they found a few
+Germans there and drove them back, killing some. Then they surged on
+to a horse-shoe-shaped road further on in the wood, and some men lost
+their direction and began firing in front <span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>(p. 119)</span> of them at what
+they thought were Germans. But they were others of our own, and these
+began firing back, also without knowing that they were their friends.
+Consequently, although casualties were few, an unpleasant situation
+arose, and numbers of men turned about and retired down the hill into
+<span lang="fr">Missy</span>, saying that our artillery was firing into them. This may have
+been true, for some shells were bursting over the wood; but whether
+they were English or German I do not know to this day.</p>
+
+<p>Anyhow, the stream of men coming back increased. They fell back into
+the village, and then came some certainly German shells after them.
+For an unpleasant quarter of an hour the little sloping village of
+<span lang="fr">Missy</span> was heavily shelled by shrapnel; but the walls of the houses
+were thick, and though of course there were a certain number of
+casualties, they were not serious as long as the men kept close to the
+south side of the walls. Beilby (our Veterinary officer) for some
+reason would keep to the wrong side of the street and was very nearly
+killed, the fuse of a shell landing with a whump on a door not two
+feet in front of him, and a shrapnel bullet going through <span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>(p. 120)</span>
+his skirt pocket; but he was not touched. The shrapnel were in bursts
+of four, and luckily Moulton-Barrett noticed it, for he calmly held up
+the stream of men till the fourth shell had burst, and then let as
+many as possible past the open space there till the next bunch
+arrived, when he stopped them behind cover,&mdash;just like a London
+policeman directing traffic.</p>
+
+<p>I remember one man falling, as we thought dead, close to where the
+Staff were standing. But he groaned, and Weatherby ran to pick him up.
+There was, however, no wound of any sort on him, and after a minute he
+got up and went on. I think he must have been knocked down by the wind
+of a shell&mdash;for he certainly was as much astonished as we were at
+finding no damage on himself.</p>
+
+<p>By this time I had given orders that the troops were to retire to
+their previous positions in and near the village, and it was getting
+dusk.</p>
+
+<p>Luard (Norfolks) and a party of twenty-five men were well ahead in the
+wood, and received the order to retire, for Luard was heard shouting
+it to his men. But nothing has since been heard of him, and I much
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>(p. 121)</span> regret to say that he was either taken prisoner with most of
+his men, or, more probably, killed.</p>
+
+<p>A message now came down from the plateau saying that some East Surreys
+and Bedfords were still up in the wood, and should they retire or hold
+on? As it was nearly dark and I consequently could not support
+them&mdash;for if the men could not get through the wire-netting in
+daylight they could hardly do so at night&mdash;I told them to retire. I
+gave this order after I had consulted Rolt, who was somewhere west of
+the village; but even if Rolt had not been there I should have given
+it, for it would have been impossible to reinforce them adequately in
+the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>So I issued orders for an early reconnaissance and attack next
+morning, to be led by the Norfolks; and the troops covered their front
+with sentries and bivouacked in and round the village. We were all
+short of food that night, for none of our supply carts, and not even a
+riding-horse, had come with us. But all or most of the men had an
+"iron ration" on them, and this they consumed, with the "unexpired"
+portion of their previous day's ration.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>(p. 122)</span> The Bedfords took up their position along the railway to the
+west, Cheshires on the right, Norfolks right front of village,
+<abbr title="Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry">D.C.L.I.</abbr> left front.</p>
+
+<p>As for the Staff, we retired to a farm called <span lang="fr">La Bizaie</span>,
+three-quarters of a mile south of <span lang="fr">Missy</span>, and close to the river, and
+took up our quarters there. There was not a whole pane of glass in the
+house, for it had been heavily bombarded&mdash;being empty, except for a
+few wounded&mdash;during the day, and great craters had been formed close
+by the walls by the Black Marias. But except at one corner of the roof
+of an outhouse, no damage had been done to the buildings&mdash;except the
+broken glass.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very old farmhouse, as we found out afterwards, part of it
+dating back to 1200 and something. Curiously enough, there was a
+photograph of an English Colonel (of the <abbr title="Royal Army Medical Corps">R.A.M.C.</abbr>) on the sideboard&mdash;a
+friend, so the farm servants told us, of the owner, whose name I have
+forgotten. The buildings were very superior to the ordinary farm type,
+and more like a comfortable country house than one would expect, but
+there were plenty of barns as well, and some pigs and chickens running
+about.</p>
+
+<p>We bought, murdered, and ate an elderly <span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>(p. 123)</span> chicken, but
+otherwise there was devilish little to eat except a store of jam, and
+we had only a very few biscuits and no bread.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 15th.</i></p>
+
+<a id="img003" name="img003"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img003.jpg" width="500" height="386" alt="Map." title="">
+</div>
+
+<p>After writing out orders for the attack next day we went to bed,
+dog-tired; and I was routed out again at 12.45 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> by Malise Graham,
+who had come with a message from the Divisional Commander that he
+wanted to see me at once at the broken bridge at <span lang="fr">Missy</span>, a mile off
+through long wet grass in pitch darkness. It was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>(p. 124)</span> not good
+"going," but we got there eventually and crossed the river, sliding
+down steep slippery banks into a punt, ferried across, and up the
+other side. Cuthbert eventually turned up from somewhere, and we had a
+pow-wow in the dark, resulting in fresh orders being given for the
+morrow's work.</p>
+
+<p>This involved new orders being written, and it was 4 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> by the time
+we turned in again for an hour's sleep.</p>
+
+<p>A careful reconnaissance was made by Done and some other Norfolk
+officers as soon as it was light; but the result was not promising.
+Fresh German trenches had been dug commanding the open space, and more
+wire had been put up during the night.</p>
+
+<p>The Norfolks were told off to lead the assault, with the Bedfords in
+support and the Cheshires in reserve. The Dorsets were still above
+<span lang="fr">Sainte Marguerite</span>, helping the 12th Brigade, and were not available.</p>
+
+<p>We began by shelling that horrible <span lang="fr">Chivres</span> Spur, but it produced
+little effect, as the Germans were in the wood and invisible. The
+Norfolks pushed on, but gradually came to a standstill in the wood,
+and the day wore on with little result, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>(p. 125)</span> for the wood was
+desperately blind, and we were being heavily shelled at all points.</p>
+
+<p>The Brigade staff sat under a hedge halfway between <span lang="fr">La Bizaie</span> farm and
+<span lang="fr">Missy</span>; but it was not a very happy place, for the big shells fell
+nearer and nearer till we had to make a move forward at a run for the
+shelter of a big manure-heap. But even here the Black Marias found us
+out, and two of them fell within a few yards, their explosion covering
+us with dirt. We were also in view of German snipers halfway up the
+hill, and bullets came thick whenever we showed a cap or a leg beyond
+the muck-heap, which, besides being distinctly unsweet, was covered
+with disgusting-looking flies in large numbers.</p>
+
+<p>However, there we had to stay most of the day. The village of <span lang="fr">Missy</span>
+was intermittently shelled by some huge howitzers, and bunches of
+their shells blew up several houses and nearly demolished the church,
+a fine old 14th century building. A few Norfolks were buried or killed
+by the falling houses, but otherwise extraordinarily little damage was
+done, and most of the shells fell in the open, where there was nobody
+worth mentioning.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>(p. 126)</span> At 3 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> I got a summons to go to Rolt at his farm just
+outside <span lang="fr">Sainte Marguerite</span>; and a most unpleasing journey it was for
+Weatherby and me. We separated, going across the open plough and
+cabbage fields, but snipers were on us the whole time, and several
+times missed us by only a few inches. We must have offered very
+sporting targets to the Germans on the hill, for we ran all the way,
+and&mdash;I speak for myself&mdash;we got extremely hot.</p>
+
+<p>I sprinted a good 400 yards under fire for the shelter of a thick
+hedge, and when I got there found to my disgust there was a young
+river to be got over before I could reach the cover. However, I
+squirmed along a fallen bough and struggled through the fence&mdash;to find
+myself face to face with Bols and his Dorsets, whom he was bringing
+along to hold the line of the fence. This gave a certain "moral
+relief," and from there it was easier going to Rolt's farm, all except
+one point where the railway cut through a hedge and crossed the
+stream. On this point a German machine-gun had been laid, and to cross
+it with a whole skin one had to hurry a bit. Our Brigade machine-gun
+officer, young D&mdash;&mdash; of the Bedfords, was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>(p. 127)</span> subsequently hit
+here, in the back, but not very seriously.</p>
+
+<p>I concerted measures with Rolt for holding the line <span lang="fr">Missy-Sainte
+Marguerite</span>, and we began to dig in places. But at 7.40 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> came
+orders for the 15th Brigade to evacuate the north bank <i>viâ</i> a new
+bridge near the old raft one where we had crossed; so we issued fresh
+orders about the 14th Brigade taking over our line, and prepared for
+another night march,&mdash;no sleep again.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot to mention that our horses had arrived at <span lang="fr">La Bizaie</span> early
+that morning, having crossed by the raft bridge the day before. Silver
+as usual made a desperate fuss, and was eventually knocked into the
+river by a mule who was crossing with him. He swam up and down the
+river for twenty-five minutes, refusing to come out&mdash;poor Catley in
+desperation all the time. But he was eventually hauled out, with my
+saddle and bags, of course, sopping wet. His stable shed was also
+shelled heavily during the day, but strange to say none of the horses
+or grooms were touched.</p>
+
+<p>It poured in buckets that night; and as the Bedfords were streaming
+past the farm in the dark about 11 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> a terrific fire <span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>(p. 128)</span>
+broke out from the direction of <span lang="fr">Missy</span>, accompanied by German
+flare-lights and searchlights. The word went round that it was a German
+counter-attack, and we ran out and halted the Bedfords and put them
+into some trenches covering the farm. But it turned out to be a false
+alarm; for the Germans, hearing troops moving in the dark, thought
+that they were going to be attacked, and opened a heavy fire on <span lang="fr">Missy</span>,
+whilst the 14th Brigade and the remainder of our men still there
+replied to it. It eventually died down, and we resumed our march in
+pitch darkness and mud up to the men's knees in the water meadows by
+the river.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 16th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The Cheshires came last, and we of the Brigade Staff followed them at
+4 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> through dripping fields and criss-cross hedges, coming across
+the Scottish Rifles lying asleep near the pontoon bridge. They
+belonged to the 19th Brigade, but where the rest of the Brigade was I
+do not know.</p>
+
+<p>On the other side of the river we found the Divisional Commander with
+a few of his staff. It was beastly cold and just getting light, about
+5 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and why Sir <span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129"></a>(p. 129)</span> Charles should be standing there I could
+not at first make out. However, it turned out that he had come down
+from Serches, being somewhat anxious as to what might be happening on
+the other side of the river&mdash;with considerable justification, for if
+we had been driven back on to the one bridge which crossed the river
+we might have been in a parlous state.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later we arrived in Jury, a tidy little village in and
+round which most of the Brigade was already billeting, and here, in a
+nice little house, belonging to a worthy old couple, we took our rest,
+thankful for a little peace and some sleep at last.</p>
+
+<p>And here we stayed for a week.</p>
+
+<p>Not that it was all beer and skittles even then. The 14th Brigade was
+still holding <span lang="fr">Missy</span> over the river, and there were some serious alarms
+on one or two nights, necessitating troops being sent down to the
+river at <span lang="fr">Rupreux</span>, in case they were wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Shells fell near Jury for a day or two, but they gradually died away,
+until some heavy guns of the 4th Division were brought up close by and
+began banging away again at the <span lang="fr">Chivres</span> heights and beyond. Quite
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130"></a>(p. 130)</span> unnecessary we thought them, for they not only made a
+hideous noise day and night, but the enemy began searching for them
+with Black Marias, some of which fell unpleasantly close to us.</p>
+
+<p>It was a pretty little valley with wooded hills, running northwards to
+the <span lang="fr">Aisne</span>, and on our right was a big plateau with huge haystacks
+dotted about the corn-fields, which served as excellent observing
+stations for our artillery, of which by this time we had a vast mass.
+The other (north) bank of the <span lang="fr">Aisne</span> was clearly visible from here&mdash;in
+fact from the top of the biggest haystack there was a regular panorama
+to be seen, from the twin towers of <span lang="fr">Soissons</span> Cathedral on the left to
+the enemy's trenches above <span lang="fr">Vailly</span> and beyond&mdash;a beautiful landscape
+typical of <span lang="fr">La Belle France</span>, even to the rows of poplars in the
+distance, marking the <span lang="fr">Routes Nationales</span> from <span lang="fr">Soissons</span> to other places
+of distinction.</p>
+
+<p>Our business was to hold the line of the river by digging a line of
+trenches from <span lang="fr">Sermoise</span> to near <span lang="fr">Venizel</span>, and to cover them with a line
+of outposts day and night. This took about four companies, and the
+rest were engaged in digging another <span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131"></a>(p. 131)</span> series of trenches on
+the plateau as a supporting line to the first, flanking the Jury
+Valley on one side and the ruins of <span lang="fr">Sermoise</span> and <span lang="fr">Ciry</span> on the other.
+This was really the first serious digging of trenches we had had
+during the campaign, and I remember, in the light of after
+experiences, how futile they must have been at the time, for they were
+nothing like as deep as we subsequently found to be necessary, nor had
+they any wire entanglements or obstacles worth mentioning. However, I
+expect that the French improved them greatly during the subsequent
+winter.</p>
+
+<p>Sermoise had been desperately shelled; there were no inhabitants left,
+and practically every house was a heap of ruins; but though our
+outposts in front of it could not have been seen through the woods,
+the Germans continued to shell it most viciously.</p>
+
+<p>On the right of Sermoise was the 13th Brigade, extended towards the
+3rd Division, which had crossed the river at <span lang="fr">Vailly</span> and was holding
+the slopes above it. I believe the 13th had a poor time of it, for
+they were scattered over open ground and in small woods which were
+perpetually being <span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132"></a>(p. 132)</span> shelled, and they had, besides, to find a
+battalion or so to help the 14th Brigade in <span lang="fr">Missy</span>.</p>
+
+<p>On our left we joined hands with the 4th Division, most of whom were
+on the other bank, running from <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Marguerite</span> westwards; on their left
+were, I believe, the French, in and round <span lang="fr">Soissons</span>.</p>
+
+<p>It was a nice time for the Artillery; for guns were there in large
+numbers, and they had some good targets to shoot at, over <span lang="fr">Vregny</span> and
+<span lang="fr">Chivres</span> way, in the shape of the enemy's batteries and lines, when
+they could be seen.</p>
+
+<p>The weather was mostly fine during that week, but there were two
+horridly cold days on which the rain came down in torrents, and did
+not help us in our entrenching tasks.</p>
+
+<p>At last came the day which I had been expecting for some time; and I
+was ordered to send the Dorsets across, to begin relieving the 14th
+Brigade near <span lang="fr">Missy</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Sept. 24th.</i></p>
+
+<p>They left on the 23rd, and on the 24th the Bedfords went over,
+preceded by the Brigade Staff at 2.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> The Norfolks <span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133"></a>(p. 133)</span> had
+been sent off three days before to strengthen the 3rd Division, so I
+had only three battalions, and of these the Cheshires were very weak.
+However, the <abbr title="King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry">K.O.Y.L.I.</abbr>, and West Kents (of the 13th Brigade), already
+holding the eastern edge of <span lang="fr">Missy</span>, were put under my orders, besides
+the 15th Brigade <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr> under Charles Ballard (a cousin of
+Colin's<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9">[9]</a>), and a Howitzer Battery (61st) of Duffus's 8th Brigade.</p>
+
+<p>Weatherby and I walked across to Rolt's farm, across a series of big
+fields, with only an occasional bullet or shell pitching in the
+distance. Lord, what a poor place it was; Rolt and his staff had lived
+there for the last week, all lying together on straw in one or two
+rooms: it must have been most uncomfortable. The windows towards the
+north-east had been plugged up with sandbags, so that the rooms were
+very dark, and the floors were deep in caked mud and dirt of all
+sorts. The only attraction in the main room was a big open fireplace
+with a huge sort of witches' cauldron standing over the hot ashes, and
+this was most useful in providing us with hot baths later on.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134"></a>(p. 134)</span> <i>Sept. 25th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Rolt explained his position and the places which the different
+battalions were occupying; but beyond an occasional bombardment of
+<span lang="fr">Missy</span> and losses from German snipers in trees and elsewhere, he had
+not suffered overmuch. However, he and his Brigade were not sorry to
+leave, and leave they did at 4 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> next morning. The awkward part of
+it was that one could never go out in the daytime, as the road in
+front of the farm leading towards <span lang="fr">Missy</span> was under perpetual rifle-fire
+directly any one showed up, and several holes had been made in the
+farmyard gate, windows, and walls, not to mention bits of the roof
+taken off by shrapnel. Why they did not shell the farm more I cannot
+conceive. Perhaps the enemy thought it was deserted, but whilst we
+were there no shells fell within a couple of hundred yards of it,
+though some were pitched well over it, and exploded 500 yards to the
+rear.</p>
+
+<p>I had gone to see the Dorsets and 13th Brigade in <span lang="fr">Missy</span> on the evening
+before, and found them fairly well ensconced. The Dorsets were in
+<span lang="fr">Missy</span> itself, with their headquarters in a really nice house with
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135"></a>(p. 135)</span> carpets and big shaded lamps, and a cellar full of excellent
+wine, and a nice garden all complete, and charming
+bedrooms&mdash;infinitely superior to our pig-sty of a farm. I seriously
+thought of turning them out and taking the house for the Brigade
+Staff, especially as our farm was not at all central but quite on the
+left of our line; but all our cable-lines converged on to the farm,
+and, in addition, the Dorset house would have been impossible to get
+out of for further control if <span lang="fr">Missy</span> were shelled; so I settled to
+remain at the farm. The 13th Brigade&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, <abbr title="King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry">K.O.Y.L.I.</abbr>, and West
+Kents, were further on, the <abbr title="King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry">K.O.Y.L.I.</abbr>, on the eastern outskirts, and
+the West Kents in trenches beyond them. The <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s were still
+further south-eastwards, and reached back to the river, but there were
+only one or two weak companies of them.</p>
+
+<p>Before dawn, and just after Rolt had left, I went to inspect the
+Bedfords' position, which was close to Rolt's farm, in the wood in
+front of it, and a beastly position it was. The wood was very damp,
+and when one tried to dig trenches one struck water only a foot below
+ground, so most of the line had to be made of breastworks. There
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136"></a>(p. 136)</span> were German trenches within 20 yards of our advanced trench
+there, and ours was remarkably badly situated and liable to be rushed
+at a moment's notice; yet it was impossible from the lie of the ground
+to dig suitable ones unless we retired altogether for 200 yards, which
+of course was out of the question. So we chanced it and stuck it out,
+and luckily were never attacked there. The men suffered there from
+damp and cold, I'm afraid, for every morning a wet and freezing fog
+arose in the wood, although the weather was clear elsewhere; but it
+could not be helped.</p>
+
+<p>We stayed in Rolt's farm and in the positions described for just a
+week. On one day, the 27th, we had a false alarm, for the enemy was
+reported as crossing the Condé bridge at 4 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> in large numbers, and
+everybody was at once on the <span lang="fr"><i>qui vive</i></span>, the Cheshires, who were in
+bivouac behind Rolt's farm, being sent back (by Sir C. Fergusson's
+orders) to <span lang="fr">Rupreux</span>, the other side of the river. We rather doubted the
+news from the start, as the <span lang="fr">Condé</span> bridge had, we knew, been blown up,
+and there was only one girder left, by which a few <span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137"></a>(p. 137)</span> men at a
+time could conceivably have crossed; but the information was so
+circumstantial that it sounded possible. Eventually it turned out all
+to be owing to the heated imagination of a Hibernian patrol officer of
+the West Kents, and we turned in again.</p>
+
+<p><span lang="fr">Missy</span> was shelled particularly heavily that day from 10 to 6, and it
+was painful to watch great bouquets of 8-in. <abbr title="High Explosive">H.E.</abbr> shells exploding in
+the village, and whole houses coming down with a crash; it seemed as
+though there must be frightfully heavy casualties, and I trembled in
+anticipation of the casualty return that night.</p>
+
+<p>But the Dorsets and <abbr title="King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry">K.O.Y.L.I.</abbr> had dug themselves in so thoroughly in
+deep funk-holes and cellars that they did not have a single casualty;
+and literally the only men wounded were three <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s and six West
+Kents outside the village in a trench, who were hit by about the last
+shell of the day; whilst a Bedford sniper, an excellent shot, one
+Sergeant Hunt, unfortunately got a bullet through two fingers of his
+right hand.</p>
+
+<p>During that week it was moderately quiet, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138"></a>(p. 138)</span> with nothing like
+so many casualties as we had expected. Our supply waggons rolled up
+after dark right into <span lang="fr">Missy</span> village and never lost a man, whilst the
+village was so thoroughly barricaded and strengthened and
+scientifically defended&mdash;mostly Dorset work&mdash;that we could have held
+out against any number. The sappers too, 17th Co. <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, worked like
+Trojans under young Pottinger, a most plucky and capable youth wearing
+the weirdest of clothes&mdash;a short and filthy mackintosh, ragged coat
+and breeches, and a huge revolver.<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>We put Rolt's farm and the mill (between that and <span lang="fr">Missy</span>) and <span lang="fr">La Bizaie</span>
+farm in a thorough state of defence, and dug hundreds of yards of
+trenches. In fact we should have welcomed an infantry attack, but it
+never came&mdash;only artillery long bowls.</p>
+
+<p>In this the two howitzer batteries, especially Wilson's 61st, were
+splendid, and spotted and knocked out gun after gun of the enemy. He
+had an observing station halfway up the hill above <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Sainte">Ste</abbr> Marguerite</span>,
+to which I went occasionally, with a grand view up to <span lang="fr">Vregny</span> and
+<span lang="fr">Chivres</span>; but even <span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139"></a>(p. 139)</span> here,
+although the <abbr title="Observation Post">O.P.</abbr> was beautifully
+concealed, one had to be careful not to show a finger or a cap, for
+the German snipers in the wood below were excellent shots, and there
+were some narrow escapes.</p>
+
+<p>The worst of it was that we could take very little exercise. I used to
+go out nearly every morning before sunrise to visit the posts, but was
+often surprised by the sun before I'd finished my rounds, and had to
+bolt back under fire; and after sunset I'd go round to <span lang="fr">Missy</span>, &amp;c., and
+visit the troops there. Otherwise, we could not go out at all in the
+daytime&mdash;it was much too "unhealthy,"&mdash;and what with numerous meals
+and little movement we grew disgustingly fat. I put in a lot of time
+drawing careful maps of the position.</p>
+
+<p>The farm itself was cleaned up from roof to cellar by Moulton-Barrett
+and his myrmidons, but it was not perfect at first. My bed was a mass
+of stale blood-stains from the wounded who had lain there before we
+came, and <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span>, whose bed was not of the cleanest and exuded an
+odd and unpleasing smell, routed about below it, and extracted the
+corpse of a hen, which must have been there for ten days at least.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140"></a>(p. 140)</span> We cleaned up the farmyard too&mdash;it was perfectly foul when we
+came&mdash;but we could not show much even there, although the gate was
+always kept closed, for any sign of life was generally greeted with a
+bullet. A man got one through the knee when just outside it, and the
+gate itself had several holes through it. The Bedfords used to send a
+company at a time there for hot tea in the mornings and evenings, for
+they could not light fires where they were, and shivered accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>Many were the schemes for improving their wood&mdash;trenches; and at last
+Orlebar (killed later near <span lang="nl">Wulverghem</span>), who had been a civil engineer,
+drew up an arrangement for flooding the wood and retiring to a more
+satisfactory line. But before it could be put into practice we got
+orders to retire, and for the 12th Brigade on our left to relieve us.</p>
+
+<p>This meant, of course, thinning the line terribly, and we were, with
+the 12th Brigade, somewhat nervous about it, for we did not know what
+it portended. But we got away during the night in perfect safety; for
+although there was a full moon there was also a thick mist, and the
+Germans never <span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141"></a>(p. 141)</span> seemed to notice the movement, which required
+most careful staff work on the part of both Brigades.</p>
+
+<p>Cuthbert, seedy, was relieved by Hickie in command of the 13th Brigade
+to-day.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 2nd.</i></p>
+
+<p>By some time in the early morning of the 2nd October&mdash;1.40 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> it
+was, to be accurate&mdash;the whole Brigade had got back to Jury, and there
+we were told, as usual, that we were to rest and recuperate for a
+week; so we were not surprised at getting orders in the afternoon to
+move out at 6.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, our destination being a place called <span lang="fr">Droizy</span>. I
+had caught a bad cold that day, due solely, I believe, to taking a
+"woolly" into wear for the first time; and the cold fog in which we
+marched did nothing to improve it. Above us was a bright clear moon,
+but the fog clung heavily to the valleys, and we marched in it most of
+the time. Desperate secrecy and quiet was observed, for we were
+evidently doing secret marching at night for some great object; though
+what it was we could only conjecture. But orders came that for the
+next few days we were to march at night, and during the daytime
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142"></a>(p. 142)</span> were to lie "doggo" and not show ourselves for fear of the
+enemy's aeroplanes.</p>
+
+<p>We reached <span lang="fr">Droizy</span> at about 11 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> and there found the Norfolks, who
+had been taken away from us at Jury ten days before and attached to
+the 3rd Division on our right in the direction of <span lang="fr">Vailly</span>. Much pleased
+we were to see them again. They had not suffered many casualties,
+though they had had a stiff time at their château of <span lang="fr">Chassemy</span>, filling
+the gap between the 3rd and 5th Divisions, and had been attacked
+several times.</p>
+
+<p>The Dorsets in arriving here managed to take a wrong turn in the
+village and went careering off into the fog in the opposite direction
+to where their billets had been told off for them; but they were
+shortly retrieved and put on the right track. A brigade of artillery,
+by the way&mdash;I forget which&mdash;was attached to our brigade area that
+night, and distinguished itself next day by taking up a position in
+some open fields; which led to trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Our headquarters were at a curious old castle-farm belonging to one M.
+<span lang="fr">Choron</span>, right in the middle of the village, and looked after by his
+father, a vice-admiral, late a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143"></a>(p. 143)</span> director of naval
+construction, a nice old fellow, who had been brutally treated by the
+Germans in their retreat. There was a very old tower to the place, no
+surroundings except a farmyard, and a little old kitchen of most
+antique aspect, in which we had our meals.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 3rd.</i></p>
+
+<p>For most of the next day we had a good rest, and I stayed in bed to
+doctor my cold; but orders soon came to move on, and the Brigade
+started in the evening for <span lang="fr">Long Pont</span>, a village about twelve miles
+off, getting there about 11. The Divisional Commander had kindly sent
+a motor-car for me; and Done, of the Norfolks (who was also rather
+seedy), and Tandy, <abbr title="Royal Artillery">R.A.</abbr>, a person of large knowledge and always
+interesting, accompanied me; so we arrived at <span lang="fr">Long Pont</span> a long time
+ahead of the troops.</p>
+
+<p>A great big château was gleaming in the moonlight as we drove up, and
+I determined that we should spend the night there, in spite of the
+fact that the Divisional staff had also that intention. But when I
+introduced myself to the proprietor, a courteous and frail old
+gentleman, the <span lang="fr">Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac</span>, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144"></a>(p. 144)</span> he bewailed
+the fact that there was no room available, and this in spite of the
+fact that there were dozens of big windows outside, and long corridors
+inside, with heaps of rooms opening off them.</p>
+
+<p>A visit to the village in search of a lodging revealed its true
+state&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, that it was choke-full and dirty. But even then it
+required a good deal of persuasion before the old gentleman at last
+grasped the fact that I was not demanding twenty bedrooms, but only
+one or two empty rooms in which twenty men could lie for the night.
+Then he kindly produced mattresses and straw, and all was well. As for
+myself, he was good enough to lead me to the chamber of his late
+mother, a curious little room with a four-poster and locks and hasps
+and cupboards of Louis <abbr title="13th">XIII.</abbr> times, and bundles of magnificent old
+embroideries. As for washing apparatus&mdash;that also was almost of that
+date.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, being Sunday, we had Divine Service in the ruins of a grand
+old fourteenth-century abbey which adjoined the château&mdash;wrecked in
+the French Revolution and again in 1830. The park also was most
+attractive, rather of the Trianon surroundings style; but several
+brigades of artillery <span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>(p. 145)</span> which had to be tucked away under the
+trees for fear of aeroplanes rather spoilt the turf, I fear. We did,
+of course, as little damage as we could, and after a friendly farewell
+to the old couple I drove off, again in a motor, with Henvey (<abbr title="Assistant Provost Marshall">A.P.M.</abbr>
+of 5th Division), and preceded the Brigade to a place called <span lang="fr">Pontdron</span>.
+Here I arrived at 10 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>; but the Brigade, which had been heavily
+held up by French troops on the march, did not turn up till nearly 4
+<span class="smcap">A.M.</span></p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile I amused myself by getting the château ready. It had, of
+course, been occupied by Germans, and, equally of course, it had been
+ransacked and partly wrecked by them&mdash;though a good deal of furniture
+had been left. There were even candles and oil-lamps available, and of
+these we made full use, as well as of the bedrooms. I chose the lady's
+(<span lang="fr">Comtesse de Coupigny</span>, with husband in the 21st Dragoons) bedroom. The
+counterpane was full of mud and sand, through some beastly German
+having slept on it without taking his boots off, but there was
+actually a satin coverlet left, and pillows. All the stud- and
+jewellery-cases had been opened and their contents stolen, and <span lang="fr">Madame
+de C.</span>'s writing-table had also <span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146"></a>(p. 146)</span> been forced open, and papers
+and the contents of the drawers scattered on the floor. Other
+unmentionable crimes had also been committed.</p>
+
+<p>Here we stayed for nearly two days, cleaning up the château, picking
+up a lot of stores in the shape of boots and caps and clothing of all
+sorts&mdash;not to mention some heavy mails from home,&mdash;and actually
+playing lawn-tennis. At least I played with Cadell two sets, each
+winning one, on a sand court with an improvised net, and racquets and
+balls somewhat the worse for wear, with a lovely big hot bath to
+follow.</p>
+
+<p>It was gradually borne in on us that we were going to be moved off by
+train to take part in a different theatre of the fighting altogether;
+but where we should find ourselves we had not the least idea. What
+caused us much joy to hear was that we had intercepted a German
+wireless message, two days after four out of the six Divisions had
+left the <span lang="fr">Aisne</span>, to say that it was "all right, all six British
+Divisions were still on the <span lang="fr">Aisne!</span>"</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 6th.</i></p>
+
+<p>On the 6th we moved off at 2.15 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>(p. 147)</span> pushed on to
+<span lang="fr">Béthisy <abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Pierre</span>, where the Bedfords and Norfolks and ourselves
+halted, whilst the Dorsets and Cheshires pushed on to <span lang="fr">Verberies</span>, so as
+to save time for the entraining on the morrow. We got our time-table
+that night, and found that we were to entrain at four
+stations&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, <span lang="fr">Compiègne</span>, <span lang="fr">Le Meux</span>,
+<span lang="fr">Longueil <abbr title="Sainte">Ste</abbr> Marie</span>, and <span lang="fr">Pont
+Sainte Maxence</span>&mdash;on the following day. Very careful arrangements and
+calculations had to be made, so that the whole thing should go without
+a hitch, and we sat up for some time at the Convent, a sort of
+educational establishment where Brigade Headquarters was quartered,
+making out the orders.</p>
+
+<p>A "Brigade Area" command was allotted to me, including, besides my
+own Brigade, the 8th Brigade <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr> (howitzers), 59th Co. <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, 15th
+Field Ambulance, and 4th Co. of 5th Div. Train.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 7th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Then off at 5 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> next morning, ourselves for
+<span lang="fr">Pont <abbr title="Sainte">Ste</abbr> Maxence</span>.
+Major Vandeleur of the Scottish Rifles had just arrived to take
+command of the Cheshires, who had had nothing but a captain to command
+them <span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148"></a>(p. 148)</span> since Lt.-Col. Boger was taken prisoner on the 24th
+August. He seemed to me a first-rate sensible fellow, but we were not
+destined to keep him for long.</p>
+
+<p>As the Brigade was still rather short of socks, I bought as many as I
+could here for the men, but not many were available. It was a nice
+little town with a blown-up stone bridge, but the French <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> had
+already constructed another of wood.</p>
+
+<p>The French entraining orders are that all troops have to be at the
+station four blessed hours before the train starts, so as to give time
+to load up properly. We thus arrived at 8, and did not start till 12;
+but the actual entraining of the Cheshires&mdash;the only battalion with
+Brigade Headquarters&mdash;took only one hour and a quarter,&mdash;not bad at
+all considering that there were no ramps or decent accessories, and
+all the vehicles had to be man-handled into the trucks.</p>
+
+<p>There were two sorts of trains&mdash;one mostly for men, the other mostly
+for horses and vehicles; but although they were very long&mdash;thirty-four
+to forty cars if I remember right&mdash;they were not quite long enough for
+us, and several men and vehicles had <span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>(p. 149)</span> to be left behind and
+brought on by other trains, resulting in slight incompleteness for a
+few days.</p>
+
+<p>We rapidly reached <span lang="fr">Creil</span>, where we were to get our final orders. What
+on earth would our destination be? Rumour had it that we should go to
+<span lang="fr">Calais</span>, or even to <span lang="fr">Bruges</span>; but we had no such journey after all, for
+we were only intended to go to <span lang="fr">Abbeville</span> as it turned out&mdash;rather a
+disappointment, as we hoped it would be further afield.</p>
+
+<p><span lang="fr">Abbeville</span>&mdash;a two hours' journey as a rule in peace time&mdash;was not
+reached till 8 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, although we were due there at 6.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> We halted
+by the way, for half an hour or more, at <span lang="fr">Amiens</span>, where we made the
+acquaintance of a cheery crowd of <span lang="fr">"Fusiliers Marins,"</span> sturdy naval
+reservists from Normandy and Brittany, who covered themselves with
+glory later on amid the Belgian dunes.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 8th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We were not allowed to detrain at <span lang="fr">Abbeville</span> till 9.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, as the
+platforms were already occupied by other troops. It was wretchedly
+cold and pitch-dark by the time we had got away from the station, and
+we <span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>(p. 150)</span> marched in dead silence through the town at 12.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>
+Not a soul was in the streets, not even a policeman from whom to ask
+the way, and we nearly lost our direction twice.</p>
+
+<p>Our orders, which we received from Dunlop (5th Divisional staff), who
+was ensconced in a red-hot waiting-room in the goods yard, were to the
+effect that we were to billet near <span lang="fr">Neuilly</span>, a village about six miles
+off. Done (Norfolks) had been sent ahead on the previous day to
+prepare the billets, but when we got near the village, after a cold
+march with a clear moon, Done was nowhere to be seen; and I nearly
+ordered the battalion to "doss down" in the road, as all the houses
+near were full of men of other brigades. However, Weatherby rode on,
+and eventually found Done in bed at the <span lang="fr">Mairie</span>, he having been
+officially told that the Brigade would not be in till the following
+day. He had had a trying time, having been deposited by his train at a
+station about ten miles off, and having to make his way across country
+(riding) without a map and with very vague ideas of where he was to
+go. However, he had already told off billets for all the Brigade Area,
+and the troops trickled in independently by battalions and batteries,
+arriving <span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151"></a>(p. 151)</span> by different trains and even at different stations,
+up to 10 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> in the morning. I thought it showed distinctly good work
+on the part of all concerned that we concentrated our "Brigade Area"
+so quickly and without being deficient of anything except the few
+vehicles which had perforce been left behind for want of trucks; but
+they turned up all right a day or two after. The Brigade staff
+billeted at the château (as usual!), a strangely ruined-looking little
+place belonging to the <span lang="fr">Comte de Belleville</span>, now at the wars. We turned
+up there about 4 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and were guided thither by an old gardener, who
+thumped at the door and shouted loudly for <span lang="fr">"Madame."</span> A woman soon
+appeared, and showed us most civilly to our rooms&mdash;very plain and bare
+but very clean. I could not quite make her out, for though she was
+dressed in the plainest of print clothes she did not talk like a
+servant&mdash;in fact she talked like a lady; so I put her down as some
+relation perhaps who was helping <span lang="fr">Mme de Belleville</span>. But later in the
+morning I discovered that she was <span lang="fr">Madame la Comtesse</span> herself, who had
+kindly risen at that unearthly hour to let us in, and that there were
+no servants in the establishment <span class="pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152"></a>(p. 152)</span> at all except the old
+gardener and a nurse.</p>
+
+<p>Our movements were still by way of being kept a dead secret, so we
+went off in the afternoon at 6 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, reinforced now by some divisional
+cavalry and divisional cyclists. The road, in the dark, was an
+extremely complicated one, as it involved about twenty turnings and
+movement along narrow lanes with high hedges and big trees, making it
+quite impossible to see for more than a few yards. So I took the
+guiding of the column into my own hands, and distributed the rest of
+my staff along it to see that the different units did not miss the way
+and kept well closed up. The result was good, and after 5 hours march,
+<i>viâ</i> <span lang="fr">Agenvilliers</span> and <span lang="fr">Gueschard</span>, we reached the little village of
+<span lang="fr">Boufflers</span> about 11 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> Here, at an odd little <span lang="fr">Nouvel Art</span>
+"Château"&mdash;or rather small country house, empty of its
+owners&mdash;belonging to M. <span lang="fr">Sagebien</span>, <span lang="fr">Préfet de Niort</span>, we of the Brigade
+staff put up, the rest of the command being billeted in the tiny
+villages lining each bank of the tiny stream near&mdash;I have forgotten
+its name.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153"></a>(p. 153)</span> <i>Oct. 9th.</i></p>
+
+<p>It was a nice sunny day on the morrow, and we got our orders by midday
+that we were to move off at 2 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> We wrote out Brigade orders and
+prepared to start, when suddenly post-haste came some orders
+cancelling these, and telling us that we were to drop our transport
+and be moved off at once in a series of motor-buses to a place called
+<span lang="fr">Diéval</span>.</p>
+
+<p>And then began a lovely jumble, which resulted (not our own fault) in
+getting to <span lang="fr">Diéval</span> rather later than we should have done had we trusted
+to our own unaided powers of locomotion.</p>
+
+<p>We moved off at 2 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, only taking blanket-waggons which were to dump
+blankets and supplies into the buses. These were to have turned up on
+the <span lang="fr">Haravesnes-Fillièvres</span> road at 7 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>; in any case it would have
+been a complicated job getting into them in the dark, but they did not
+arrive till midnight, owing to some mechanical breakdowns in the
+column. The first lot of <span lang="fr">"camions"</span> were to have taken six
+battalions&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, the 14th Brigade, which was just ahead of us, and
+half of the 15th Brigade. But when they did arrive, there were only
+enough for <span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154"></a>(p. 154)</span> three and three-quarter battalions; so we
+bivouacked in more or less peace by the roadside until this bunch had
+moved off and returned from <span lang="fr">Diéval</span> to fetch us. Horribly cold it was
+too, and we only kept moderately warm by pulling down several straw
+stacks&mdash;which we carefully put together again next day&mdash;and covering
+ourselves up in the straw.</p>
+
+<p>I had, by the way, an extremely narrow escape from being killed that
+night. I had been lying down just off the road, when it struck me that
+I should find out more of what was happening and going to happen if I
+went to the head of the <span lang="fr">camion</span> column and interviewed the officer in
+charge. It was a tramp of a mile or more through the 14th Brigade, and
+I found out something of what I wanted; but when I returned to the
+bivouac I heard that, not two minutes after I had started, a motor-bus
+had swerved off the road and passed exactly over the place where my
+head had been. It very nearly went over <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> and Moulton-Barrett,
+who were lying a few feet away, as it was. Of course the driver could
+not see any one lying down in the dark.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name="page155"></a>(p. 155)</span> <i>Oct. 10th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning we had breakfast at 7.30 in the field, and still the
+buses had not returned. We waited in that place till 11 o'clock before
+they turned up, and then clambered into them as quickly as we
+could&mdash;twenty-two men to a bus, sixteen buses to 300 metres being the
+allowance. Even then we had to leave about two battalions behind for a
+third trip.</p>
+
+<p>I got into the first bus&mdash;a very fast one,&mdash;and reached <span lang="fr">Diéval</span> some
+time before the rest of the Brigade; but there was no room in the town
+for another Brigade, as it was already full of the 14th.</p>
+
+<p>I went to see Rolt, and got into telephone communication with
+Divisional Headquarters on the subject, and they gave me leave to
+billet at <span lang="fr">La Thieuloye</span>, one and a half miles back and off the road. So
+W. and I walked back and turned the buses off there just as they were
+arriving.</p>
+
+<p>A curious sight were the hundreds, or even thousands, of French
+civilians whom we met&mdash;all men of military age, whom the French Army
+was sending away westwards out of <span lang="fr">Lille</span>; for it was likely that <span lang="fr">Lille</span>
+would shortly be invested by the Germans, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156"></a>(p. 156)</span> and they did not
+want this large batch of recruits and reservists to be interned in
+Germany.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the Brigade&mdash;transport, horses, and all&mdash;rolled up by 6
+<span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, the horses being very tired after their long night march.</p>
+
+<p>From what I could gather German cavalry was trying to get round our
+north-west flank, whilst a big fight was going on at <span lang="fr">Arras</span>. <span lang="fr">Lille</span>,
+with a few Territorial battalions in it, was still holding out, but
+was surrounded by the enemy. Hence the hurry. But we ought to have
+plenty of troops now to keep the Germans off. It was very puzzling to
+make out what was happening, for we had not even the vaguest idea
+where the rest of our own Army was, let alone the French or Germans.
+Nobody seemed to know anything, except that we should probably soon be
+fighting again.</p>
+
+<p>Our quarters that night were a horrid little château&mdash;empty, damp, and
+desolate, in a deserted wilderness of a place, with no furniture
+except some straw, a mattress or two, and some packing-cases. So here
+we tried to make ourselves comfortable, and succeeded in lighting a
+fire and settling down. But it was beastly cold and damp.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157"></a>(p. 157)</span> <i>Oct. 11th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We marched at 7.20 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> in a thick damp mist, myself being in charge
+of the right column of the Division, consisting of the Brigade, the
+15th Brigade <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr>, 108th heavy battery (under Tyrrell, late Military
+<span lang="fr">Attaché</span> at Constantinople), 17th <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> Fd. Co., and cyclists (who, by
+the way, did not turn up, having been sent ahead). On the way to
+<span lang="fr">Béthune</span> we were evidently coming into touch with the enemy, for I
+received orders to detach two companies (Cheshires) to our right flank
+at <span lang="fr">Fonquières Verquin</span> to support the French. But they returned in the
+course of the afternoon, not being wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Outside <span lang="fr">Béthune</span> we halted for some time, and were regaled with soup
+and pears by some hospitable ladies at luncheon-time. And then we
+received orders to push through the town and cover it along the bend
+of the canal and across the arc of it (from <span lang="fr">Essars</span> due east) with
+three battalions, the Norfolks being sent away to the east to help the
+French about <span lang="fr">Annequin</span>.</p>
+
+<p>It was perfectly flat country and difficult to defend, as it was so
+cut up by high hedges and suburbs; but I went round it in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page158" name="page158"></a>(p. 158)</span> afternoon, inspected it carefully, and posted the
+battalions. Towards evening, however, we had orders to fall back into
+the town&mdash;the French taking over the outposts&mdash;and billet there, our
+Headquarters being in the <span lang="fr">Grande Place</span>&mdash;a large square with a curious
+old belfry in the middle&mdash;at a wine-shop, No. 34. Here we were well
+looked after, and had each of us a lovely hot bath, provided by a
+marvellous system of gas-jets which heated the water in about five
+minutes.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 12th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Off eastwards next morning at 8.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> through a freezing thick
+fog&mdash;so thick that one could not see twenty yards in front of one. The
+big open space in the town through which we passed was occupied with
+masses of Spahis, Moorish troops, and Algerians of all sorts, looking
+miserably cold in their scarlet jackets and white burnouses. The idea
+was that we were to push forward to <span lang="fr">Festubert</span> and act as a pivot, with
+our right near the canal at <span lang="fr">Rue de l'Épinette</span>, to the 3rd Division and
+the remainder of the Corps, which were swinging slowly round to their
+right so as eventually to face south-east and take <span lang="fr">La Bassée</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page159" name="page159"></a>(p. 159)</span> At first my orders directed me to leave a gap between myself
+and the canal, the gap being filled by French troops; but shortly
+afterwards I was told that the Brigade was to hold from <span lang="fr">Festubert</span> to
+the canal, relieving the French cavalry here, who were to hold on till
+we got there; and I paid a visit to the French cavalry General at
+<span lang="fr">Gorre</span> to make sure that this would be done. The line was a horribly
+extended one&mdash;about two miles; and the prospect was not entrancing.
+However, I detached the Dorsets to move along the canal bank from
+<span lang="fr">Gorre</span> and get in touch with the French. Very glad I was that I had
+done so, for they had severe fighting there that day against a strong
+force of the enemy, who tried to get in between us and the French.</p>
+
+<p>The Bedfords I ordered to hold <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>. The first rumour was that the
+French had evacuated <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> before we could come up, and that the
+Germans had occupied it; but this turned out not to be true after all.
+The Cheshires held <span lang="fr">Festubert</span>, and the Norfolks were in Divisional
+reserve somewhere in rear.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Germans were attacking <span class="pagenum"><a id="page160" name="page160"></a>(p. 160)</span> along the canal; but
+the Dorsets checked them most gallantly, losing poor Roper, killed in
+leading a charge, and a number of men. Lilly was wounded at the same
+time.</p>
+
+<p>The Headquarters passed most of that day&mdash;and an extremely busy Staff
+day it was&mdash;in a little pothouse in <span lang="fr">Festubert</span>, and we slept in a tiny
+house put at our disposal by one <span lang="fr">Masse</span>, <span lang="fr">gendarme</span>, a gallant old
+soldier, who was the only representative of civilian authority in the
+place, the Maire having bolted, and his second in command being sick
+unto death in his own house.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 13th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The night went off fairly peaceably, but early next morning we had a
+nasty jar, for it was reported at 8 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> that Majors Vandeleur
+(commanding) and Young (2nd in command) of the Cheshires, together
+with a company and a half, had all been made prisoners or killed by
+the Germans about <span lang="fr">Rue d'Ouvert</span>. The circumstantial story was that the
+early morning patrols had reported that <span lang="fr">Rue d'Ouvert</span> (about a mile in
+front of <span lang="fr">Festubert</span>) was free of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>(p. 161)</span> Germans; that Vandeleur and
+Young had gone out with two platoons to make sure of it, had got into
+<span lang="fr">Rue d'Ouvert</span> and found it empty at first, but had been subsequently
+fired at from the houses, surrounded by superior numbers, and had been
+taken prisoners after losing half their men. As for Shore's company,
+who were supporting them, they had disappeared completely and had
+apparently suffered the same fate.</p>
+
+<p>I immediately sent out scouts to find out the truth; but a very heavy
+fire was by this time opened on the remainder of the Cheshires, and
+the scouts could not get through. No further news even came in of
+Shore's company, but we could not believe that it had really been
+scuppered, or else there would have been much more firing, and we must
+have had some news of the disaster, if it had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>And so it was. Towards 3 o'clock we had news that the company was
+safely tucked away in some ditches, holding its front, and had had
+practically no losses, although it could not move out without
+attracting a heavy artillery fire.</p>
+
+<p>Not till long afterwards did I hear what had really happened to
+Vandeleur, and then <span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>(p. 162)</span> it was from his own lips in January
+1915, he having escaped from Crefeld just before Christmas. It
+appeared that he and Young had gone up with about half a company in
+support of some scouts who had reported <span lang="fr">Rue d'Ouvert</span> clear. The half
+company did not, however, go into <span lang="fr">Rue d'Ouvert</span>, for they were
+violently attacked by superior forces before they got there. They lost
+heavily, but succeeded in getting into a farmhouse, which they held
+all day against the enemy, hoping that we should move out and rescue
+them. But we, of course, had been told circumstantially that they were
+already prisoners at 8 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, so knew nothing of it and took no action.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy set the house on fire, and the gallant little garrison put
+it out with wine from the cellars, for they were cut off from the
+water-supply. Their numbers were reduced to about thirty, when they
+were again attacked in overwhelming force at 9 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, and many of the
+remainder (including Vandeleur) wounded. Then there was no choice, and
+they surrendered, being complimented on their gallantry by the German
+General in command at <span lang="fr">La Bassée</span>. They were then sent off to Germany
+<i>viâ</i> <span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>(p. 163)</span> <span lang="fr">Douai</span>, and were most abominably treated on the
+journey, wounded and all being pigged together in a filthy
+cattle-truck three inches deep in manure for thirty hours without food
+or water, insulted and kicked by the German escort and a brute of a
+lieutenant at <span lang="fr">Douai</span>, and finally sent to Crefeld, where they were
+again ill-treated, starved, and left in tents with no covering&mdash;their
+greatcoats, and even their tunics, having been taken away,&mdash;nothing to
+lie on except damp and verminous straw, on muddy wet ground. Many men
+died of this treatment. The officers were treated somewhat better, but
+very harshly, and were never given enough to eat. Vandeleur's escape
+is "another story."</p>
+
+<p>That day was a terrible day: <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> was bombarded heavily by the
+Germans for hours, and rendered absolutely untenable. The Bedfords
+held out there gallantly, and stuck to one end of the village whilst
+the enemy was in possession of the other; but the heavy artillery was
+too much for them, and after losing about sixty casualties, many of
+them killed by falling houses, they gradually fell back to trenches in
+rear of the village. Griffith (commanding) and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>(p. 164)</span> Macready
+(Adjutant) came to see me about 3 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, their clothes and faces a mass
+of white dust and plaster, and explained the situation; but there was
+nothing to be done, as we had no reserves, and had to stick it out as
+best we could.</p>
+
+<p>But by far the worst was what happened to the Dorsets. The account of
+what happened was rather confused, but it appears that, depending on
+their left being supported by the Bedfords at <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>, and their
+right by the <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s (13th Brigade) on the south side of the Canal,
+they pushed forward for some distance and dug themselves roughly in,
+after driving the Germans back. Then suddenly their front trench was
+attacked from the left rear, and a heavy fire poured upon their men as
+they retired on their supports. They were also shot down from the
+embankment on the south of the Canal&mdash;from just where they had
+expected the <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s to be.</p>
+
+<p>At one place about twenty Germans advanced and held up their hands.
+The Dorsets then advanced to take their surrender, when suddenly the
+twenty fell down flat, and about 100 more who had come close up under
+cover of the incident opened <span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>(p. 165)</span> a heavy fire on our men and
+killed a lot. The battalion retired slowly, in admirable order, to
+<span lang="fr">Pont Fixe</span> and the trenches covering it, and put a big factory there in
+a state of defence. But they had lost very heavily: thirteen officers
+killed (including Pitt and Davidson), wounded (including Bols and
+Rathbone), and missing; and 112 men killed and wounded, and 284
+missing&mdash;most of these, I fear, being killed, for numbers of bodies
+were discovered later on between the lines. Bols was at first reported
+killed, but he only had a bullet through his back, narrowly missing
+the spine, and another through his arm. He fell unseen and had to be
+left behind when the battalion retired, and was found and stripped of
+all his kit by the Germans; but he recovered in the darkness, and
+managed to scramble and crawl back to the English lines. (From here he
+was sent to London, arriving there only two days later.)</p>
+
+<p>We also lost two guns there, which had been brought up from the 15th
+<abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr> Brigade and could not be got away in time. A gallant attempt
+was made by volunteers to recover them next day, but it was useless
+and only cost more lives.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>(p. 166)</span> The Dorsets as well as the Bedfords also lost one of their
+machine-guns. Altogether it was a damnable day, and we on the staff
+were also pretty well exhausted by the amount of staff work and
+telegrams and messages going through all day. The 2nd Devons (or
+rather two companies of them) were sent to the assistance of the
+Dorsets in the evening; but it was a difficult thing to carry out, as
+the banks of the Canal, along which they had to go, were soft and
+boggy, and they had much difficulty in getting their <abbr title="Small Arms Ammunition">S.A.A.</abbr> carts
+along.</p>
+
+<p>The Brigade Headquarters withdrew in the evening from <span lang="fr">Festubert</span> to a
+foul big farm about half a mile back. This, from a particularly
+offensive big cesspool in the middle of the yard, we labelled Stink
+Farm (it had 1897 in big red tiles on the roof). It was a beastly
+place, and W. and I had to sleep in a tiny room on a couple of beds
+which had not seen clean mattresses or coverings for certainly ten
+years or more. There were, however, plenty of barns and clean straw
+for the men.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 14th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The general idea was to continue to push <span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>(p. 168)</span> forward, with our
+right on the Canal, to let the 3rd Division swing round. But though we
+did our best, we could not get forward as long as the 13th Brigade on
+our right, on the other side of the Canal, were held up&mdash;for if we
+advanced that would merely mean getting our right flank exposed and
+enfiladed by the enemy.</p>
+
+<a id="img004" name="img004"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img004.jpg" width="500" height="705" alt="Map." title="">
+</div>
+
+<p>Two more companies of the Devons arrived, to support the remains of
+the Dorsets, from the 14th Brigade, the battalion being under
+Lieutenant-Colonel Gloster. But we could not do any good, and except
+for an immense number of messages we did little all day. The enemy was
+in some strength in our front, but did not attack.</p>
+
+<p>There was very heavy firing at 6.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> and again at 9 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> all along
+our line of outposts, and we thought at first it was a night attack;
+but it was only a case of false alarm on the part of the Dorsets on
+the right and the 14th Brigade on our left.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot to mention that we were told to advance with the 13th Brigade
+at 3 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, but the latter were held up, and relieved in the evening by
+the 58th French Brigade. What immediately happened to the 13th I
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>(p. 169)</span> do not remember; but they were eventually sent round on to
+the left of the 11th Brigade, I believe.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 15th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The French were meanwhile heavily attacking <span lang="fr">Vermelles</span>, and we were to
+be ready to advance alongside them if they succeeded. I sent
+Moulton-Barrett to the Canal to receive the message from the French
+through Chapman (our Divisional Intelligence officer) when it came.
+But it never came, for the French made no progress; so we did nothing
+except dig proper trenches and strengthen our positions.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening came in reports that the Germans were withdrawing and
+evacuating posts in our front. The remains of the Dorsets were
+withdrawn into reserve, and the Devons came under my orders in their
+place.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 16th.</i></p>
+
+<p>There was a dripping thick mist nearly all day, and we pushed on under
+its cover&mdash;the Bedfords into <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> (losing poor Rendall, killed by
+the retiring Germans), and the Norfolks into <span lang="fr">Rue d'Ouvert</span> and <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr>
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>(p. 170)</span> Roch</span>, whilst the Devons, ordered to make the footbridge to
+<span lang="fr">Canteleux</span> road "good," pushed on in the afternoon. But it got so
+absolutely pitch-dark that it was impossible to make a cohesive
+advance; so after getting close to the footbridge and coming under a
+heavy fire thence, the Devons fell back again, all the more justified
+since <span lang="fr">Canteleux</span> was reported still occupied by the enemy on their left
+flank. A vast amount of staff work all day. We returned to the
+<span lang="fr">Festubert</span> pothouse in the evening.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 17th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The first question was, Was <span lang="fr">Canteleux</span> occupied by the enemy?
+Preparations were made to shell it at 6 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, but figures were seen
+strolling about there which did not look very German. Shortly
+afterwards the Norfolks reported that they had about sixty men in it
+who had penetrated thither during the night. The Bedfords at first
+were still convinced that the men in <span lang="fr">Canteleux</span> were German, but we
+disabused them as soon as we heard the truth for certain, and for a
+change shelled some farms to our front whence hostile machine-gun fire
+was proceeding, setting one on fire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>(p. 171)</span> In the afternoon we were ordered to advance to the line:
+bridge&mdash;<span lang="fr">Canteleux</span>&mdash;Violaines; and again the Devons pushed on, slowly,
+in connection with the French, but were again obliged to retire from
+the vicinity of the bridge by heavy fire, and took up their position
+in the advanced position that the Dorsets had occupied on the 13th.</p>
+
+<p>The Cheshires, under the three gallant captains, Shore, Mahony, and
+Rich, meanwhile worked well forward and reported their arrival at
+<span lang="fr">Violaines</span> at 4 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, having reached it <i>viâ</i> <span lang="fr">Rue du Marais</span>.</p>
+
+<p>A desperate amount of work again, 5 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> to 11 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> I only got out of
+the pothouse for twenty minutes all day, and that was at 5 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span></p>
+
+<p>Thus we had pushed forward some way on our line by the evening, and
+the 14th Brigade was in touch with the Cheshires and moving slowly
+forward&mdash;but very slowly.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 18th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next day the usual "general advance" was ordered for 6 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and the
+artillery loosed off a lot of shells on to where we thought the enemy
+were. But it was really quite useless our advancing on the right
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>(p. 172)</span> unless the French did also, for the Germans held the south
+bank of the Canal in front of the latter, and any advance by us merely
+exposed our right flank to a terrible enfilade fire.</p>
+
+<p>Major-General Morland, who had succeeded Sir C. Fergusson in command
+of the Division, now turned up, and to him I explained these things.
+The Railway Triangle was the worst place, for it was heavily held by
+Germans, who had dug themselves in behind stockades of rails and
+trucks and defied even our howitzers; but it was difficult, very
+difficult, for the latter to make good practice at them here, as the
+country was so flat, yet so cut up with high trees and fences that it
+was almost impossible to get an observing station or to see what one
+was firing at.</p>
+
+<p>I shifted Brigade Headquarters about 1 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> to a nice little house
+with garden, close behind the cross-roads half a mile west of
+<span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>, and here we stayed for four unpleasant days. We had to be
+very careful, after dark, not to show a light of any sort towards the
+enemy, and had to plaster up the windows with blankets and things
+which every now and then came down with a run, causing rapid
+transition to total darkness <span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>(p. 173)</span> and discomfort. But it was a
+good little place on the whole, and quite decently furnished.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon I went to observe what I could from <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>. The
+village was already in ruins, with most of the church blown down,
+whilst the only place to observe from was from between the rafters of
+a barn on the eastern outskirts&mdash;most of the roof having been carried
+away by shrapnel. There was not much to see; for although <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>
+stood on the only little rise in the country, a tree in one direction
+and a chapel in the other blocked most of the view towards <span lang="fr">La Bassée</span>.
+In front of us lay the Bedford trenches, with the Devons on their
+right and the French on their right again. One could just see the farm
+buildings of <span lang="fr">Canteleux</span>, and the spires of part of <span lang="fr">La Bassée</span>, but <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr>
+Roch</span> was invisible, and so were the Norfolk trenches.</p>
+
+<p>Later on I went to interview Gloster, commanding the Devons; but I did
+not find him. With a French orderly and a Devon officer I rode through
+<span lang="fr">Pont Fixe</span> and turned to the left along the Canal. Then we had to
+dismount at a bend of the Canal, which brought us into view of the
+enemy, and we <span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>(p. 174)</span> bolted across bullet-swept ground into the
+right of the Devon trenches. Here I waited about an hour; but Gloster
+did not turn up, and meanwhile a heavy hostile fusillade went on which
+effectually prevented my putting my nose above ground. I don't know
+whether they had spotted me going into that trench, but I do know the
+parapet received an unfair share of bullets.</p>
+
+<p>When it was nearly dark I cleared out and went to the Canal and
+whistled for my mare (I had been riding Squeaky). The French orderly
+turned up leading her, but his own horse had gone,&mdash;as he ruefully
+explained, <span lang="fr">"à cause d'un obus qui a éclaté tout près dans l'eau."</span> He
+was a good youth: he had stuck to my mare and let his own go, as he
+could not manage both. However, virtue was rewarded, and he found his
+horse peacefully grazing in the outskirts of <span lang="fr">Pont Fixe</span>.</p>
+
+<p>When I reached Headquarters I found Gloster there, for he had come to
+look for me; so I had the required interview with him and settled
+about a rearrangement of his trenches.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>(p. 175)</span> <i>Oct. 19th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We actually had a quiet night&mdash;six and a half hours' sleep without
+being disturbed at all.</p>
+
+<a id="img005" name="img005"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img005.jpg" width="500" height="257" alt="Map." title="">
+</div>
+
+<p>An attack was ordered for 7 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> in conjunction with the French. But
+the French were not ready at that hour. I was told that the 6th
+battalion of the 295th Regiment, which had now been brought over to
+the north of the Canal, was to be under my orders; but hardly had I
+heard this when I received a message at 9.25 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> that the French were
+going to attack at 9.30. At noon they did so, and very pluckily. It
+was, however, impossible to assist them, for they (the 6/295) ran
+forward and attacked the Canal and footbridge obliquely, completely
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>(p. 176)</span> masking any action possible by the Devons They lost heavily,
+I fear, but it really was not our fault, though at one time they
+seemed to think it was.</p>
+
+<p>I went to talk to Lieut.-Col. <span lang="fr">Perron</span>, who commanded the detachment
+(6/295 and a few <span lang="fr">Chasseurs à Cheval</span>), in the afternoon; but the
+interview did not enlighten me very much. The commander of the 6/295,
+however, one <span lang="fr">Baron d'Oullenbourg</span>, was most intelligent, and a gallant
+fellow with plenty of <span lang="fr"><i>nous</i></span>. He was badly wounded two days afterwards
+in another attempt.</p>
+
+<p>I was so much struck with the plucky way in which the 6/295 pushed on
+under heavy fire that I sent a complimentary note both to the
+battalion and to General Joubert, commanding the 58th Brigade on the
+other side of the Canal&mdash;for the battalion belonged (to start with) to
+his brigade. They published both my notes in the <span lang="fr"><i>Ordre du Jour</i></span> of
+the Division, and <span lang="fr">d'Oullenbourg</span> received a <span lang="fr">Légion d'Honneur</span> in
+consequence (so <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> told me). Anyway, he thoroughly deserved it.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile we heard that the Cheshires, Manchesters, and <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s
+were all held up near <span lang="fr">Violaines</span> by a beastly sugar factory <span class="pagenum"><a id="page177" name="page177"></a>(p. 177)</span>
+which the Germans occupied on the road north of <span lang="fr">La Bassée</span>, and they
+could not get on at all.</p>
+
+<p>Generals Morland and Franklin turned up in the afternoon. We were
+perpetually being urged to advance and attack, but how could we? There
+was nothing to attack in front of us except <span lang="fr">La Bassée</span>, a couple of
+miles off, and we could not advance a yard in that direction without
+exposing our right flank to a deadly enfilade fire from across the
+Canal, for the Germans were still strongly holding that infernal
+railway triangle, and nothing availed to get them out of it.<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11">[11]</a>
+General Morland wisely, therefore, ordered me not to advance in force.</p>
+
+<p>Later on we heard that the Cheshires had made a gain of 800 yards, but
+had got so extended that they asked for a Bedford company to support
+them, and this I sent.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening I went to examine a French 75 mm. battery, and had the
+whole thing explained to me. The gun is simply marvellous, slides
+horizontally on its own axle, never budges however much it fires,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page178" name="page178"></a>(p. 178)</span> and has all sorts of patent dodges besides: but it is no use
+painting the lily!</p>
+
+<p>Wilson, of the 61st Howitzers, was, by the way, a little aggrieved by
+this French battery coming and taking up its position close alongside
+him and invading his observing stations. The captain also got on his
+nerves, for he was somewhat excitable, and his shells were numerous
+that burst prematurely, whilst a house only 100 yards off, which
+should have been well under the trajectory of his shells, was several
+times hit by them. However, he doubtless caused much damage to the
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>On the 20th and 21st the Germans kept us fairly busy with threatened
+attacks, especially on the Cheshires at <span lang="fr">Violaines</span>; but nothing
+definite happened, although we were kept on the perpetual <span lang="fr"><i>qui vive</i></span>,
+and could not relieve our feelings by attacking, for we had orders to
+"consolidate our position."</p>
+
+<p>By this time we occupied a line as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<ul class="text">
+<li>Canal from crossed swords (<i>v.</i> map) to 300 yards North (French).</li>
+<li>Thence to <span lang="fr">Canteleux</span> (excl.) (Devons).</li>
+<li><span lang="fr">Canteleux</span> to Pt. 21<a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12">[12]</a>(Norfolks).</li>
+<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page179" name="page179"></a>(p. 179)</span> Pt. 21 to <span lang="fr">Violaines</span> (Do. patrols).</li>
+<li><span lang="fr">Violaines</span> (Cheshires and one company Bedfords).</li>
+<li><span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>, in reserve (three companies Bedfords).</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>On the evening of the 21st there was serious news on our left.
+Although the Cheshires were still in occupation of <span lang="fr">Violaines</span>, it
+looked as if they might have to retire from it very soon, as the right
+of the 14th Brigade, on the Cheshires' left, was being driven back.
+<span lang="fr">Violaines</span>, however, was very important, and to let the Germans get a
+footing here was most dangerous. So, with General Morland's sanction,
+and after communicating with the Cheshires, who cheerily said they
+could hold out all right, I told the Cheshires to stick to <span lang="fr">Violaines</span>,
+throwing their left flank back in case the line to their left was
+penetrated.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 22nd.</i></p>
+
+<p>A very anxious day ensued. At 6 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> the Cheshires were invaded in
+front and flank by a surprise attack of the enemy in great force, and
+had to fall back towards <span lang="fr">Rue du Marais</span>, losing heavily. Some Dorsets
+(who had been for the last three <span class="pagenum"><a id="page180" name="page180"></a>(p. 180)</span> days at Stink Farm and were
+sent as a support to the 13th Brigade) were supporting them, but they
+could not do much, and they also lost a number of men. From what I
+could gather, the Cheshires had been digging in the dark round the
+southern and eastern flank of the village, and had their sentries out,
+but apparently not quite far enough out for such thick weather, and
+when the Germans appeared rushing through the fog they were taken at a
+disadvantage, for they had cast their equipment in order to dig, and
+the covering party was quickly cut down.</p>
+
+<p>This, at all events, was what I made out from the surviving officers,
+of whom one, 2nd Lieut. Pogson, was the senior. Mahony and Rich,
+fighting gallantly, had been killed, and Shore wounded and taken
+prisoner. About 200 men were also killed and wounded out of about 600,
+and a good many of the Bedfords with them, including poor Coventry
+(late Transport officer) killed.</p>
+
+<p>At 8.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> I was ordered to send my three companies of Bedfords from
+<span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> to <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Roch</span>, to support the 13th Brigade, who were hanging on
+about <span lang="fr">Rue du Marais</span>. But, besides thus depriving me of my only
+reserve, these companies had great difficulty in getting <span class="pagenum"><a id="page181" name="page181"></a>(p. 181)</span> to
+their places, as the country over which they had to pass was heavily
+shelled by the enemy, and they took a long time getting there.</p>
+
+<p>I heard that the combined 13th and 14th Brigades were to make a
+counter-attack on <span lang="fr">Rue du Marais</span> in the afternoon, and this was
+certainly attempted. But owing to the mix-up of their battalions in
+the enclosed country it was impossible to arrange a combined movement
+under the heavy fire, and it was eventually given up&mdash;merely confused
+fighting taking place during the afternoon. It was, however,
+sufficient to stop the Germans for the time being. One reason for the
+difficulty&mdash;as I afterwards heard&mdash;was that the officer temporarily
+commanding the 13th Brigade had, by some mischance, got stuck right in
+the firing line with his staff and signal section, and could not be
+got at, nor could he move himself or issue orders,&mdash;a useful though
+unhappy warning to Brigadiers.</p>
+
+<p>I moved with the Brigade Staff from my house at <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> to another
+house about 600 yards west of <span lang="fr">Festubert</span>, so as to be more behind the
+centre of my Brigade.</p>
+
+<p>During the night, in pursuance of orders <span class="pagenum"><a id="page182" name="page182"></a>(p. 182)</span> from the Division,
+we fell back on to a somewhat undefined line of defence covering the
+front of <span lang="fr">Festubert-Givenchy</span>, and proceeded to dig ourselves in along
+a line entirely in the open fields, and very visible, I fear, to the
+enemy. Some battalions could not get sufficient tools, and were not
+half dug in by daylight. However, the Germans must have suffered
+considerably themselves, for they did not attack us in the morning,
+although their Field Artillery kept up a heavy shrapnel fire. The West
+Ridings (13th Brigade) were put under my orders.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 23rd.</i></p>
+
+<p>We were shelled all the morning, but had no serious casualties.</p>
+
+<p>My Brigade now consisted of the Devons (14th Brigade), West Ridings
+(13th Brigade), and the Norfolks (15th Brigade). The remains of the
+Cheshires and Dorsets were withdrawn and put into the <span lang="fr">Rue de Béthune</span>
+hamlet in rear of <span lang="fr">Festubert</span>, under orders of the 13th Brigade as their
+reserve, whilst the Bedfords were attached to, I think, the 14th
+Brigade, somewhere <span lang="fr">Quinque Rue</span> way. It was a glorious jumble, and what
+happened to the rest of the 13th Brigade I do not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page183" name="page183"></a>(p. 183)</span> know. I
+believe they combined in some way with the 14th, but I know that two
+days afterwards the Brigadier was left with only one fighting
+battalion, the West Kents, I think.</p>
+
+<p>However, my command was shortly increased considerably by the arrival
+of Commandant <span lang="fr">Blanchard</span> with the 2nd Battalion of the 70th <span lang="fr">Infanterie
+de Ligne</span> (Regulars). <span lang="fr">Blanchard</span> was a good solid man, and I put him to
+hold <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> in conjunction with the Devons, who were now occupying
+the Bedford trenches there. The French on the right of the 70th gave
+us acute reason for anxiety by retiring calmly from their trenches
+when they were shelled; but it was only their way, for half an hour
+afterwards they trotted back into them quite happily, much to the
+relief of the Devons and their exposed flank.</p>
+
+<p>I rode down to <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> in the afternoon to see <span lang="fr">Blanchard</span> and make
+arrangements for holding the village, and here I met Williams (now
+commanding the Devons since his <abbr title="Commanding Officer">C.O.</abbr>, Gloster, had been hit two days
+before, not very seriously) and talked matters over with him.</p>
+
+<p>We expected a night attack, and were <span class="pagenum"><a id="page184" name="page184"></a>(p. 184)</span> certainly not in a
+strong position to resist it. Had we been driven in we should have
+been jammed into the swamp in rear, between the Canal and the
+<span lang="fr">Gorre-Festubert</span> road, which would have been extremely unpleasant. So I
+issued orders to hold tight at all costs, besides secret orders to
+certain <abbr title="Commanding Officer">C.O.</abbr>'s as to what they were to do if we were badly mauled and
+had to fall back.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily no attack took place, and we had a fairly quiet night.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 24th.</i></p>
+
+<p>At 7 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> I received the encouraging news (from the 2nd corps) that we
+were going to be heavily attacked to-day, and what certainly gave
+colour to it was the arrival of a large number of Black Marias during
+breakfast, which exploded within an unpleasantly narrow radius of our
+house. It is quite conceivable that the position of our Headquarters
+had been given away by some spy. Anyhow, it looked like it, and we
+decamped at 9.30 to a cottage half a mile back. Perhaps it is as well
+that we did so, for at 9.40 a big shell arrived through the roof and
+exploded in my late bedroom, tearing out the corner of the house wall
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page185" name="page185"></a>(p. 185)</span> and wrecking the stable; whilst nearly at the same moment
+another shell completely wrecked the house just opposite, where
+Ballard (commanding 15th Brigade <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr>) had been spending the night.
+He also had cleared out about an hour before.</p>
+
+<p>Before I went I sent my senior officer, Ballard (Norfolks), down to
+<span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> to take local command over the French and English troops
+there, and am glad I did so, for it introduced unity of command and
+satisfaction. The Devons down there were meanwhile getting exhausted
+after their long spell in the trenches; but I had no troops to relieve
+them with, nor any reserve.</p>
+
+<p>The "attack" did not materialize, and we had a fairly quiet afternoon,
+the Germans limiting their activities to digging themselves in and
+sniping perpetually.</p>
+
+<p>It was an extraordinarily warm day, and we sat in the cottage with
+windows and doors wide open till long after dark. An attack was made
+about 10 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> on the French the other side of the Canal, but it was
+too far off to interest us much.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 25th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Another lovely warm day of Indian <span class="pagenum"><a id="page186" name="page186"></a>(p. 186)</span> summer. Also of many
+shells, some falling pretty close to our cottage. The Germans were
+seen making splendid use of the folds in the ground for driving saps
+and connecting up their heads into trenches getting nearer and nearer
+to our lines. And we could do nothing but shell them and snipe them as
+best we could, but with little result, for artillery observation-posts
+were almost impossible, and snap-shooting at an occasional head or
+shovel appearing above ground produced but small results.</p>
+
+<p>Three French batteries arrived during the morning and were put under
+<span lang="fr">Blanchard</span>'s orders in the swampy wood behind <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>. Some spasmodic
+attacks occurred on the trenches east of the village, and the French
+lost rather heavily; for the Germans got into some of their evacuated
+trenches and killed the wounded there. A speedy counter-attack,
+however, drove them out again. The Devons lost two officers (Besley
+and Quick) and ten men killed and thirty-eight wounded.</p>
+
+<p>At 4.50 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> I got a message saying large columns of the enemy had
+been seen by the French issuing from <span lang="fr">La Bassée</span> and <span lang="fr">Violaines</span>, and I
+was ordered peremptorily <span class="pagenum"><a id="page187" name="page187"></a>(p. 187)</span> to be ready to counter-attack at
+once, with my whole force if required.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien arrived alone an hour or so afterwards, and
+I pointed out our situation to him; he entirely concurred in my view,
+and heartened me up considerably by quite recognising the state of
+affairs and congratulating us, and especially the Devons, on sticking
+it out so well.</p>
+
+<p>Maynard (Major in the Devons) arrived about midnight and took over
+command of the battalion, he having been on the staff of the 2nd
+Corps.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 26th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning I rode out again to <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> to see Ballard and my fresh
+French troops; for the 6/285th (Captain <span lang="fr">Gigot</span>), the 5/290th
+(Commandant <span lang="it">Ferracci</span>&mdash;a typical little Corsican and a good soldier),
+and a squadron of <span lang="fr">Chasseurs à Cheval</span> had arrived to strengthen us,
+besides the three batteries aforesaid (under Commandant <span lang="fr">Menuan</span>). The
+2/70th (now under Captain <span lang="fr">de Ferron</span>) and the 6/295th (lately under
+<span lang="fr">Baron d'Oullenbourg</span>, now wounded; I have, I fear, forgotten his
+successor's name) were, of course, also under me; so I had a nice
+little command <span class="pagenum"><a id="page188" name="page188"></a>(p. 188)</span> now of three English and four French
+battalions, four English and three French batteries, and a French
+squadron. <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> as liaison officer was of the greatest possible use
+to me, being both tactful and suggestive as to dealing with my new
+command, and keeping up splendid communication.</p>
+
+<p>I then relieved the Devons by the 6/295th&mdash;and well they deserved it
+after their bad time for the last week,&mdash;and put the 296th in reserve
+at various points during the night, sending the Devons as reserve to
+the Norfolks and West Ridings at <span lang="fr">Les Plantins</span>, between <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> and
+<span lang="fr">Festubert</span>.</p>
+
+<p>There was practically no shelling at all during the whole day&mdash;I
+wonder why; nor did the enemy make any movement. But we heard of their
+bringing big guns on to the rising ground at Billy and Haisnes, to the
+south of <span lang="fr">La Bassée</span>, and tried to "find" them with our howitzers and
+heavy artillery battery.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 27th.</i></p>
+
+<p>The reliefs were not finished till 2.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>&mdash;largely owing to some
+idiots, French or English, loosing off their rifles as they left the
+trench, which brought a heavy fire on us <span class="pagenum"><a id="page189" name="page189"></a>(p. 189)</span> from the enemy and
+delayed matters for a long time. It was also not easy&mdash;although we had
+made elaborate and detailed arrangements&mdash;to relieve British by French
+troops in pitch darkness, for, interpreters being scarce, they could
+not understand each other when they met.</p>
+
+<p>We heard that there was an attack on the 14th Brigade on our left
+about 1 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and that 200 Germans had got in behind the <abbr title="King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry">K.O.Y.L.I.</abbr>
+and were still there; what happened to them I do not know. The 7th
+Brigade, on the left of the 14th, had also been driven in, and the
+14th Brigade received orders to make a counter-attack in the evening,
+with the Devons held ready to help them if required.</p>
+
+<p>During the day one Captain <span lang="fr">Pigeonne</span> and his batch of <span lang="fr">gendarmerie</span>
+arrived, with orders to clear <span lang="fr">Festubert</span> of its civilian inhabitants.
+This was necessary, as the Germans were pretty close up to it and
+there were undoubtedly spies, and even snipers were reported in and
+about the village. But hardly any people were found except the lunatic
+inhabitants of a small asylum, together with their staff, who had
+stayed there, both men and women, most <span class="pagenum"><a id="page190" name="page190"></a>(p. 190)</span> devotedly for the
+last week, with practically nothing to eat in the whole place. The
+inhabitants were ordered to clear out, and some of them did. But
+others hid, and yet others crept back again by night, so the result
+was practically <i>nil</i>. One poor old woman was hunted out three times,
+but she returned yet once more, piteously saying that she had nowhere
+to go to, and wanted to die in her own house.</p>
+
+<p>During the evening General Joubert, commanding the 58th Brigade,
+arrived with orders to take over command of all French troops north of
+the Canal. So my international command had not lasted long. But they
+sent me a liaison <abbr title="Non-commissioned Officer">N.C.O.</abbr> of their artillery&mdash;a most intelligent man
+with a yellow beard&mdash;and I was still allowed to call on the French
+batteries for assistance whenever I needed them.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 28th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Joubert was a typical French General, white-moustached, short,
+courteous, gallant, and altogether charming and practical, and I went
+again to see and consult him next morning at <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>, cantering
+through the swampy woods at the back, where most <span class="pagenum"><a id="page191" name="page191"></a>(p. 191)</span> of our
+seven batteries were posted under excellent cover. I also, before
+going to bid him adieu, had written him what I thought was a charming
+letter, congratulating him on the <span lang="fr">"galanterie de ses troupes."</span> Alas,
+<span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> was out when I wrote the letter, or probably I should have
+expressed it differently; I hear it was subsequently published in
+orders, but I trust it was edited first!</p>
+
+<p>The night had been extraordinarily quiet, and after my visit to
+Joubert the situation was so peaceful that I walked back a bit to
+inspect a third line of trenches that were being dug by civilians and
+spare troops under <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> supervision. I was not much edified at the
+portion that the 15th Brigade had been told off to, for it was within
+150 yards of a bunch of houses in front, under cover of which the
+Germans could have come up quite close; and if they had put a
+selection of their snipers into them, we should have had a poor time.
+But I quite allow that I was at a loss, owing to the awkward ground,
+to suggest anything better. We had also a mile of front to cover, with
+three weak battalions and a difficult line, whilst the four French
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page192" name="page192"></a>(p. 192)</span> battalions had been allotted altogether only half a mile of
+excellent natural trenches behind the Canal, or rather behind a broad
+water-ditch which ran into the Canal.</p>
+
+<p>The 2nd Manchesters, under Strickland,<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13">[13]</a> late of the Norfolks, a
+first-rate battalion just arrived from India, had now been attached to
+the 14th Brigade&mdash;where their own 1st battalion were also&mdash;and had had
+very heavy fighting during the last few days just north of <span lang="fr">Festubert</span>.
+The Devons were therefore sent to relieve them,&mdash;rather rough on them
+after barely forty-eight hours out of the trenches.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 29th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We had an extraordinarily quiet night&mdash;a full eight hours' sleep
+without any disturbance,&mdash;and we were consequently feeling much
+fitter. But the ball began full early by a violent attack on the
+Devons at dawn, and another at 7 on the 2nd Manchesters, both hard
+pressed, but both repulsed&mdash;the Manchesters, who were short of
+ammunition, getting well in with the bayonet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page193" name="page193"></a>(p. 193)</span> I sent one company of the Norfolks to support the Devons, but
+I could barely afford even that. The enemy was entrenching within 200
+to 400 yards of all my battalions, pushing out saps from their
+trenches along the ditches and folds of the ground, and connecting up
+their heads in a most ingenious and hidden manner. The French were not
+attacked, so they sent a couple of companies at my request to <span lang="fr">Les
+Plantins</span>, behind the Norfolks. However, after another attack between 9
+and 10 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> the Germans dried up for the present.</p>
+
+<p>We knew that the Indian Divisions from Lahore and Meerut were shortly
+coming to strengthen this part of the line, and I was therefore not
+surprised to hear that Macbean, commanding one of their Brigades,
+wanted to see Martyn<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14">[14]</a> and me about the relief of our respective
+Brigades. This was distinctly satisfactory from our point of view; but
+I was not entirely happy, for I was very doubtful how far these
+untried Indian troops would stand up to what was evidently going to be
+a very difficult situation if the Germans went on attacking as
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page194" name="page194"></a>(p. 194)</span> they had been doing. Fresh troops, it is true. But they had
+had no experience of this sort of fighting, nor of trenches, nor of
+cold wet weather: and they were going to have all three.</p>
+
+<p>The relief of the West Ridings by the Black Watch battalion of the
+Indian Division was carried out on the same evening. The relief of the
+Bedfords, Cheshires, and Dorsets was also arranged for, but the
+Norfolks could not be relieved till the morrow. The 2nd Manchesters
+were relieved, however, by the 2/8th Gurkhas, who looked very much out
+of place with their big hats and tiny, sturdy Mongolian physique.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 30th.</i></p>
+
+<p>After a very quiet night&mdash;except for French guns which started
+shelling heavily about 4 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and kept us awake till daylight&mdash;we had
+another unpleasant day.</p>
+
+<p>There were repeated attacks on the Devons and Gurkhas all day, and at
+3 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> Maynard reported that the Gurkhas had lost all their British
+officers and were being driven out of their trenches, and that support
+was badly wanted.</p>
+
+<p>The first story about the Gurkhas was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page195" name="page195"></a>(p. 195)</span> that they had come to
+an end of their ammunition and were fighting with the bayonet, but
+were driven back by superior numbers. But it turned out later that
+they lost very heavily from shell fire, and, the trenches being too
+deep for the little men, they could produce no effect with their
+rifles, and could see nothing. So, having lost all their English
+officers, and being bewildered by the heavy fire and totally new
+conditions, and having no chance of getting in with the bayonet, they
+cleared out one by one, so as to get together into formation. The
+Devons' last man was in the firing line by this time, and so two
+Bedford companies and the West Ridings, no longer under my command,
+were ordered to retake some Gurkha trenches, into which the Germans
+had already penetrated, alongside ours.</p>
+
+<p>It was frightfully difficult to make out what was happening, as not
+only were our troops in process of being relieved by the Indians, but
+there was very heavy fire as well on all our supports and on the roads
+leading up to the trenches, so that communication was all but
+impossible, most telephone wires having been broken long ago and found
+impossible to repair under such fire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page196" name="page196"></a>(p. 196)</span> The 58th (Wilde's) Rifles had arrived, and were by way of
+relieving the Norfolks; but owing to this attack they were deflected
+in rear of the Devons. Then we were called on to send two companies to
+support the Devons. But, considering that they now had already two
+Bedford companies, four of West Ridings, and four of the 58th Rifles,
+to support them in enclosed country where they could hardly move, and
+that to weaken my already very thin line of Norfolks and Black Watch
+meant leaving me no supports at all, I respectfully protested, and
+gained my point.</p>
+
+<p>Elaborate arrangements were made by the authorities for retaking the
+lost trenches by the Bedfords, &amp;c., at nightfall; then the movement
+was deferred till 1.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and then till dawn; but nothing happened
+at all during the night except occasional fire-bursts, which sounded
+like general attacks.</p>
+
+<p>I might mention that during these "quiet" nights there were numerous
+fire-bursts at intervals, which used to bring me out of, or rather
+off, my bed three or four times a night, for the sentry on our cottage
+had strict orders to call me in case anything alarming occurred in our
+front. But they <span class="pagenum"><a id="page197" name="page197"></a>(p. 197)</span> always slacked off after 5 or 10 minutes of
+my waiting in the cold, wet, muddy road, and I crept to bed again till
+the next one woke me.</p>
+
+<p>It was a tiny cottage that we lived in during those days, belonging to
+a poor woman who, with her child, had been turned out by some one else
+and sent to another house half a mile off. She was perpetually coming
+back and weeping to be readmitted, but there really was not room, and
+we had to soothe her with promises, and eventually with cash in order
+to get rid of her. After all, she was living with her friends, though
+doubtless they were a bit crowded, and she returned to her cottage
+when we left it.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in that country was mud, thick clay mud, black and greasy,
+and the country flat and hideous. And it rained perpetually and was
+getting beastly cold. Altogether it was a nightmare of a place, even
+without the fighting thrown in, and we prayed to be delivered from it,
+and go and fight somewhere else.</p>
+
+<p>Our prayers were destined to be answered, for on this morning we were
+ordered, in spite of the desultory fighting going on, to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page198" name="page198"></a>(p. 198)</span>
+hand over to Macbean's Brigade and go north. This only meant the
+Brigade Staff, two companies Bedfords, and about 300 Cheshires and 300
+Dorsets who had been in reserve to the 14th Brigade; but they were not
+in a very happy condition, for they had hardly any officers left and
+had been extremely uncomfortable for the last week, being hauled out
+of their barns on most nights and made to sleep in the wet open as
+supports in case of attack.</p>
+
+<p>Our orders were, together with the 15th <abbr title="Royal Field Artillery">R.F.A.</abbr> Brigade, to move north
+and concentrate near <span lang="nl">Strazeele</span> and <span lang="fr">Pradelles</span>, where we were to go into
+rest for five or six days.</p>
+
+<p>I knew those rests.</p>
+
+<p>So after handing over to Macbean at 10.30 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and talking to General
+Anderson (commanding the Indian Division) and the Maharajah of
+Bikanir,<a id="footnotetag15" name="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15">[15]</a> we made devoutly thankful tracks in the direction of
+<span lang="fr">Locon</span> and <span lang="fr">Merville</span>.</p>
+
+<p>We were but a small part of the 15th Brigade after all who left the
+<span lang="fr">environs</span> of <span lang="fr">Festubert</span> on that morning&mdash;only Headquarters, a very weak
+battalion of Cheshires&mdash;not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page199" name="page199"></a>(p. 199)</span> more than 300 all told&mdash;and two
+companies of Bedfords. The remains of the Dorsets had been ordered to
+join us about <span lang="nl">Strazeele</span>, and the whole of the Norfolks and half the
+Bedfords were left in the trenches to give a bit of moral and physical
+support to the Indians. I did not at all like being parted from them,
+but there was no help for it. The West Ridings (Duke of Wellington's)
+were attached to me from the 13th Brigade, but that did not make up
+for the absence of one and a half of my own beloved battalions.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless it was with a feeling of extreme thankfulness that we
+left the horrible mud-plain of <span lang="fr">Festubert</span> and <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span>, with its cold
+wet climate and its swampy surroundings and its dismal memories, for
+both Dorsets and Cheshires had suffered terribly in the fighting here.
+And the pleasantest feeling was to hear the noise of the bursting
+shells grow less and ever less as we worked north-westwards, and to
+realise that for the present, at all events, we need not worry about
+Jack Johnsons or Black Marias and all their numerous smaller brethren,
+nor to keep our attention on the tense strain for bad news from the
+firing trenches, but that we could, for <span class="pagenum"><a id="page200" name="page200"></a>(p. 200)</span> several days to
+come, sleep quietly, not fully dressed and on our beds or straw with
+one eye on the wake all night, but in our blessed beds and in our
+still more beloved pyjamas.</p>
+
+<p>We trotted on ahead over the cold, wet, muddy, level roads of those
+parts, with a welcome break for luncheon at a real live <span lang="fr">estaminet</span>,
+till we got to <span lang="fr">Merville</span>, and then we slowed down.</p>
+
+<p><span lang="fr">Merville</span> is a nice prosperous little town, with canals and parks and a
+distinctly good modern statue of a French soldier in the middle&mdash;by
+whom, and of whom, I have forgotten. It was, oddly enough, almost like
+an extra-European bit of civilisation, for the streets were swarming
+with Indians and Africans of both armies&mdash;tall, solemn, handsome Sikhs
+and Rajputs in khaki; Spahis, Algerians, and Moors in every variety of
+kit&mdash;red jackets, cummerbunds, and baggy breeches, bright blue
+jackets, white breeches, blue breeches, khaki breeches, dark blue
+<span lang="fr"><i>vareuses</i></span>, white burnouses, Arab corded turbans, baggy crimson
+trousers, &amp;c., &amp;c., even to Senegalese as black as night, and Berbers
+from Mauritania and the Atlas. I tried to talk to some of the latter,
+but it <span class="pagenum"><a id="page201" name="page201"></a>(p. 201)</span> was not a success, for they did not understand my
+Arabic, and I did not understand their Shlukh.</p>
+
+<p>And so on <i>viâ</i> <span lang="nl">Strazeele</span>&mdash;where Saunders and his Dorsets had already
+arrived&mdash;contentedly to <span lang="fr">Pradelles</span>, in which neighbourhood we billeted,
+and were met by a staff officer, Cameron of the 5th Divisional Staff,
+who gave us the welcome news that we were to rest and recuperate for
+at least a week&mdash;really and truly this time.</p>
+
+<p>We put up at a nice, bright, ugly little château belonging to an
+elderly lady who was most civil and told us stories of what the
+Germans had done when they passed through a week or two ago on their
+retreat eastwards. Amongst other abominations, they had, on arrival,
+demanded of the old <span lang="fr">curé</span> the key of the church tower, on which they
+wished to put a Maxim. The old man, not having the key, had hobbled
+off to get it from the <span lang="fr">garde champêtre</span>, who happened to be in
+possession of it for the time being. He could not, however, find him,
+and the officer in command, being in a diabolical temper, put the poor
+old priest up against a wall and shot him dead on the spot. This was
+recounted by the <span lang="fr">curé</span>'s sister, and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page202" name="page202"></a>(p. 202)</span> there was not a shadow
+of doubt on the matter, for it was confirmed by all.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Oct. 31st.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next day was a clear bright Sunday, and before we had come down to
+breakfast, looking forward to a nice lazy day, we were ordered to send
+the Dorsets away in motor-buses to <span lang="nl">Wulverghem</span> (opposite <span lang="fr">Messines</span>),
+where heavy fighting was going on. So much for our promised week's
+rest! And before 11 o'clock we had received another urgent telegram
+telling us to fall in at once and march eastwards through <span lang="fr">Bailleul</span>.</p>
+
+<p>I was deputed to command the whole of the remaining troops of the
+Division on this march, and by a complicated series of moves from
+their billets we got them strung out on the road, and pushed on by
+12.30. The troops were mostly artillery, engineers, and train, and the
+only other infantry that joined me were the West Kent, now under their
+own <abbr title="Commanding Officer">C.O.</abbr>, Martyn.</p>
+
+<p>Other troops were also on the move through <span lang="fr">Bailleul</span>, and we had a
+weary time of it getting through. It was dark before we had filed
+through the big market-square <span class="pagenum"><a id="page203" name="page203"></a>(p. 203)</span> with its old brick church
+tower and Town Hall; and even then, though billets had been arranged
+for in the country beyond for the rest of the troops, we had the
+devil's own job before our own headquarters could find a
+resting-place. We wanted to put up at <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span> village, but the
+village was full of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, and we should have been
+in front of our own lot; so after a depressing wait in a tiny pothouse
+near <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span>, whilst <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> and Weatherby and Moulton-Barrett
+scoured the country, we eventually settled down in a little farmhouse
+at Hille, a few hundred yards inside the Belgian border. Not so bad,
+but tiny, and crowded with not only the proprietor and his numerous
+family, but with a number of refugees from further east. My own
+bedroom was about 6 feet square and full of stinking old clothes, but
+I was lucky to get one at all.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed curious being amongst inhabitants many of whom understood no
+French, but only talked Wallon or Flemish. I found my reminiscences of
+the South African Taal came in quite usefully; but the best
+communicators were the Lowland Scots, who, thanks to their own strange
+dialect, managed <span class="pagenum"><a id="page204" name="page204"></a>(p. 204)</span> to make themselves quite decently
+understood by the natives.</p>
+
+<p>Here we stayed for a few days&mdash;to be accurate, until the morning of
+the 5th November. My own "outfit" consisted of the West Kent,
+Cheshires, and two companies Bedfords, and the West Ridings were
+subsequently added. At one period I was given the <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s as well,
+who were in <span lang="fr">Neuve Église</span>; but they were taken away from me on the same
+day, and so were the West Kent. There was, in fact, a glorious jumble,
+battalions and batteries being added and taken away as the
+circumstances demanded. Even the two companies Bedfords were spirited
+away for forty-eight hours, leaving me with the decimated Cheshires as
+the only representatives of the 15th Brigade, but with two battalions
+of the 13th and one of the 14th superadded, as well as an <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> company
+(17th). Meanwhile the 5th Divisional Staff was stranded and almost
+troopless, for all the other battalions of the Division were scattered
+among other divisions&mdash;some even under the command of the Cavalry
+Division; and guns were pushed up, almost piecemeal, as they were
+wanted, to help in the attempt to retake <span class="pagenum"><a id="page205" name="page205"></a>(p. 205)</span> <span lang="fr">Messines</span>, out of
+which our cavalry had been driven some days before. French troops were
+also there, in lumps. One morning the country would be brilliant with
+the white horses, sky-blue tunics and red trousers, of the <span lang="fr">Chasseurs
+d'Afrique</span>, and the roads impassable with French infantry and transport
+moving towards <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>; and by the next evening nothing but khaki-clad
+British were seen, besides patches of Belgian infantry, largely
+stragglers and mostly unarmed.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile rumours of desperate fighting up north came through&mdash;the
+critical time when the 7th Division stuck heroically to their crippled
+trenches and withstood the ponderous attacks of the German masses; but
+it was difficult to make out what was occurring, for one only gathered
+bits of news here and there and could not piece them together as a
+whole, for the links were missing.</p>
+
+<p>On the 4th November we received orders that Sir Horace would inspect
+us on the following morning, and we made preparations to turn out as
+clean as we could in the ever-prevailing mud. But in the evening more
+important work was at hand, for <span class="pagenum"><a id="page206" name="page206"></a>(p. 206)</span> we were notified to be ready
+to march on the following morning to <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>. So the inspection fell
+through.</p>
+
+<p>The idea was that we&mdash;that is, two companies Bedfords (450 men),
+Cheshires (550), and West Ridings (700)&mdash;were to combine as the 15th
+Brigade with M'Cracken's 7th Brigade (Wiltshires, Gordons, Irish
+Rifles, and another battalion), and go to relieve the 7th Division,
+which had, we heard, been getting some terrific knocks. With us were
+to go the two <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> companies, the 17th and 59th, belonging to the 5th
+Division.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Nov. 5th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We marched at 7.20 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> <i>viâ</i> <span lang="fr">Locre</span> and <span lang="de">Dickebusch</span>, on the main
+<span lang="fr">Bailleul-Ypres</span> road, passing through many French troops on the way.
+Not far on the other side of <span lang="de">Dickebusch</span> we heard that the road was
+being shelled by the enemy; so M'Cracken ordered the whole force to
+park in the fields some distance down a road to the west, whilst he
+went on to <span lang="fr">Ypres</span> for instructions.</p>
+
+<p>We had our midday meal whilst we waited there, but it was not pleasant
+for the men, for the fields were dripping wet and very muddy; they
+had, therefore, to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page207" name="page207"></a>(p. 207)</span> sit on their kits, whilst the transport
+had to remain on the road, the fields being so deep.</p>
+
+<p>McCracken came back at 3.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> with instructions, and we moved on,
+myself being in charge of the movement. We managed to get to <span lang="fr">Ypres</span> all
+right along the main road, as the shells were rather diminishing and
+not reaching so far, and we pushed through the town, entering it by a
+bridge over the nearly dry canal. Why the Germans had not shot this
+bridge to pieces before I cannot imagine, as it was well within their
+range. There were numerous big shell-holes in the open space near the
+railway station; one or two houses were smouldering; there were heaps
+of bricks and stones from damaged houses in the streets, and the
+extreme roof corner of the Cloth Hall had been knocked off, but
+otherwise the town was fairly normal-looking, except, of course, that
+hardly any civilians were visible.</p>
+
+<p>At the other end of the town I came across General Haig, and rode
+ahead with him down the <span lang="fr">Menin</span> road as far as the village of Hooge,
+where the Headquarters of the 1st Division were, under General Landon.
+(He had succeeded General Lomax, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page208" name="page208"></a>(p. 208)</span> who had been badly wounded
+by a shell exploding at his headquarters, and subsequently died, 15th
+April.) Here we had a cup of tea in a dirty little <span lang="fr">estaminet</span> crowded
+with Staff officers whilst awaiting the arrival of the Brigade.</p>
+
+<p>No part of this <span lang="fr">Menin</span> road was, in fact, "healthy," and at night it
+was generally subject to a searching fire by German shells. The
+wonder, indeed, was that more casualties did not occur here, for after
+dark the road was packed with transport and ration and ambulance
+parties moving slowly and silently back and forth. But the hostile
+shelling was not accurate, and for one "crumper" that burst in or over
+the road twenty exploded in the fields alongside.</p>
+
+<p>Only a day or two before, a couple of heavy shells had burst just
+outside General Haig's Headquarters at the entrance to <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>. Luckily
+the General himself had just left, but poor "Conky" Marker of the
+Coldstream had been fatally wounded, and several other officers,
+signallers, and clerks had been killed.</p>
+
+<p>My Brigade arrived in the dark by the time that I had received further
+instructions in detail, and was parked off the road (south <span class="pagenum"><a id="page209" name="page209"></a>(p. 209)</span>
+side) half a mile further on, whilst Weatherby went on to make
+arrangements for their taking up the line, taking representatives of
+the battalions with him. I met General Capper (commanding 7th
+Division) at his dug-out in the wood close by, and he told me that his
+Division had been reduced to barely 3000 men and a very few officers,
+after an appalling amount of severe fighting.</p>
+
+<p>Weatherby came back after a time, and the battalions and ourselves
+moved off along the road and branched off into the grounds of
+Herenthage Château&mdash;deep mud, broken trees, and hardly rideable. Here
+we bade adieu to our horses, who were, with the transport, to stay in
+the same place where we had had our dinners, right the other side of
+<span lang="fr">Ypres</span> and out of shell-range, whilst we kept a few ammunition-carts
+and horses hidden near Hooge village. All the rest of our supplies and
+stuff had to be brought up every night under cover of darkness to near
+Herenthage, and there be unloaded and carried by hand into the
+trenches.</p>
+
+<p>In the château itself who should we come across but Drysdale,<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16">[16]</a>
+Brigade-Major now <span class="pagenum"><a id="page210" name="page210"></a>(p. 210)</span> of the 22nd Brigade, the one which, by the
+law of chances, we were now relieving; and, still more oddly, the
+other battalion (2nd) of the Bedfords was in his Brigade. It was a
+cheerless place, this château&mdash;every single pane of glass in it
+shivered, and lying, crunched at our every step, on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>We pushed on over the grass of the park, through the scattered trees,
+and into the wood, and so into the trenches. Even then, as far as one
+could judge in the darkness, the ground was a regular rabbit-warren.
+By the time we had finished with the district the ground was even more
+so; there seemed to be more trenches and fallen trees and wire
+entanglements than there was level ground to walk on.</p>
+
+<p>Our own Headquarters were in a poky little dug-out<a id="footnotetag17" name="footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17">[17]</a> in a wood, not
+200 yards from our firing trenches. There was just room for
+two&mdash;Weatherby and <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> (Moulton-Barrett having gone to settle
+about transport and supplies, Cadell being away sick, and Beilby being
+left with the transport the other side of <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>)&mdash;to lie down in it,
+and there was a little tunnel out of it, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page211" name="page211"></a>(p. 211)</span> 6 feet long and 2
+broad and 2 high, into which I crept and where I slept; but I was not
+very happy in it, as the roof-logs had sagged with the weight of the
+earth on them, and threatened every moment to fall in whilst I was
+inside.</p>
+
+<a id="img006" name="img006"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img006.jpg" width="500" height="386" alt="Map." title="">
+</div>
+
+<p>The Bedfords were put into the trenches on the eastern edge of the
+wood, the Cheshires continued the line to the south and for a couple
+of hundred yards outside the wood, and the West Ridings were in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page212" name="page212"></a>(p. 212)</span> reserve at the back of the wood, in rear of our dug-out.</p>
+
+<p>I did not like our place at all, for it seemed to me that, being so
+close to the firing line, I should not be able to get out or control
+the little force if there were heavy operations on; and this was
+exactly what did happen.</p>
+
+<p>We had been told that the 6th Cavalry Brigade was in trenches on our
+left, and the 7th Infantry Brigade in ditto on our right, and that was
+about all we knew of the situation.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Nov. 6th.</i></p>
+
+<p>Next morning there was a thick mist till 10 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and I took advantage
+of it to visit the trenches in detail. The left of the Cheshires was
+within 40 yards of the enemy, who were hidden in the wood in front of
+them, so, there being no communication trenches, we had to be fairly
+careful hereabouts. But it was desperately difficult to make one's way
+about, what with the fallen trees and telephone wires, and little
+patches of open ground on the slopes, and long, wet, yellow grass and
+tangled heather in parts, not to mention <span class="pagenum"><a id="page213" name="page213"></a>(p. 213)</span> the criss-cross of
+trenches, occupied and unoccupied, in all directions. Difficult enough
+to find one's way in daylight, it was infinitely worse in pitch
+darkness. No wonder that our reliefs had not been accomplished till
+nearly 3 o'clock that morning!</p>
+
+<p>We were shelled pretty heavily all the morning, and two of the shells
+burst so close that they covered us with dirt. Two officers&mdash;Langdale
+and O'Kelly, of the West Ridings&mdash;had their legs broken by their
+dug-out being blown in upon them, and three Cheshires were buried by
+an exploding shell and dug out dead. Another dozen were killed or
+wounded in their trenches, which were nothing like deep enough, and
+could not be further deepened because of the water which lay there
+only just below the ground. About twenty Cheshires were moved back to
+escape the shell fire, and taken to a rather less-exposed place. At
+4.30 the Bedfords reported a heavy attack on their front; but it was
+confined to rifle fire, and nothing serious happened there.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of the Bedfords, under Griffith, consisting of two
+strong companies, turned up at 6 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, and the West Ridings were taken
+away from me, so that my <span class="pagenum"><a id="page214" name="page214"></a>(p. 214)</span> command was now reduced to two
+battalions, one rather strong (1100&mdash;just reinforced by a big fresh
+draft), and the other, Cheshires, only about half that number.</p>
+
+<p>On further consideration of the situation, I settled to make Brigade
+Headquarters at the <span lang="de">Beukenhorst</span> Château,<a id="footnotetag18" name="footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18">[18]</a> half a mile farther back,
+and started the <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> and a strange fatigue party to dig a funk-hole
+for us in front of it in case it were badly shelled; but I remember as
+a particular grievance that when the foreign fatigue party heard they
+were to go somewhere else, they went off, leaving their work half
+undone, and with our Brigade tools, though I had given them distinct
+orders to do neither of these things. But they were now out of my
+jurisdiction, so nothing could be done except to send them a message
+to return our tools&mdash;which they never did.</p>
+
+<p>Moulton-Barrett turned up in the afternoon with a basket of cold food
+for us, and took <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> away; it was not the least necessary for him
+to stay, as the dug-out was really only big enough for two, so
+Weatherby and I settled down for the night. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page215" name="page215"></a>(p. 215)</span> We had wanted to
+move into the château at 7 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, but we could not. For it was not
+advisable as long as an attack was imminent; also, M. B. had not got
+our message of that morning saying we wanted him to clean up the
+château for us; and thirdly, the Bedford relief was taking place. So
+we settled to move next day instead.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not very attractive living in the tiny dug-out. We had no
+servants, we had to prepare our own food and wash up afterwards; it
+was frightfully cramped, and we were always getting half-empty
+sardine-tins oozing over official documents, and knives and forks lost
+in the mud and straw at the bottom, and bread-crumbs and fragments of
+bully beef and jam mixed up with our orders and papers; and it was not
+at all healthy going for a stroll as long as the sun was up because of
+the bullets and shells fizzing about. Altogether, although it was no
+worse, except as regards size, than other dug-outs, it was not
+luxurious; and as for washing, a little water in the bottom of a
+biscuit-tin was about all we could manage, whilst a shave was a matter
+of pain and difficulty.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page216" name="page216"></a>(p. 216)</span> <i>Nov. 7th.</i></p>
+
+<p>We had now come under the 3rd Division (under General Wing
+temporarily&mdash;a very good and charming fellow, a gunner, who had taken
+over General Hubert Hamilton's command, the latter having been killed,
+I forgot to mention, some time previously), whilst the 9th Brigade had
+relieved the 6th Cavalry on the previous day. The Division, therefore,
+now consisted of the 7th, 15th, and 9th Brigades (the latter
+comprising the Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Fusiliers, Lincolns,
+and Scots Fusiliers)&mdash;in that order from right to left. It looked,
+therefore, as if we ought to be soon relieved by the 8th Brigade and
+return to our own Division. Vain hope! We were not destined to be
+relieved for another fortnight.</p>
+
+<p>There was a good deal of shelling of the 9th Brigade during the
+morning, but we personally had not many shells into us, and were
+fairly quiet till past 2 o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, about 3, a hellish hostile fire broke out in the wood&mdash;not
+in our front, but close on our left. A hail of bullets whizzed over
+our heads, responded to by our fire trenches; and then, to our horror,
+we saw our Bedford supports, to our left <span class="pagenum"><a id="page217" name="page217"></a>(p. 217)</span> front, retiring
+slowly, but in some confusion, on top of us&mdash;many of the men only
+half-dressed, and buckling on their kits as they moved. We jumped out
+of our dug-out, and with the assistance of their officers stopped and
+rallied them. They were certainly not running, and were in no sort of
+panic; but they all said that the word had been passed from the right
+front that the Bedfords were to retire, so they had done so&mdash;half of
+them being asleep or feeding at the time the fire began.</p>
+
+<p>We made them advance again, which they were more than willing to do,
+and then there was a cheer from the Bedfords in front. Upon which the
+supports pricked up their ears, rallied to the sound, and charged
+forward like hounds rallying to the horn.</p>
+
+<p>Violent firing and confused fighting and yelling in the wood for a
+space, and some wounded began to come back. Then some Germans, both
+wounded and prisoners, in small batches, and at last the news that the
+Bedfords had completely repulsed the attack and taken about 25
+prisoners, driving the enemy back with the bayonet at the run.</p>
+
+<p>Who it was that started the order to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page218" name="page218"></a>(p. 218)</span> retire we could never
+find out. It certainly was not Milling, who was commanding in the
+front trench, nor was it any officer. Quite conceivably it may have
+been started by the enemy themselves.</p>
+
+<p>What happened, as far as I could make out, was that the right centre
+of the Northumberland Fusiliers on our left had been pressed back and
+the Germans had poured through the opening. The right flank of the
+Northumberlands had sat tight, so the Bedfords in our front line had
+known nothing of the German success till they were fired at by the
+enemy in the wood on their left rear. I do not fancy, however, from
+what the prisoners told me, that the attack was a very strong one&mdash;not
+more, I expect, than three or four companies.</p>
+
+<p>These belonged to the <span lang="de">Frankfurt-am-Main</span> Corps (<abbr title="7th">VII.</abbr>). I examined one
+prisoner, a regular <span lang="de">"Schwabe"</span> from <span lang="de">Heilbronn</span>, a jolly man with a red
+beard, who told me that his company was commanded by a cavalry
+captain, who considered it beneath his dignity to charge with
+infantry, and remained snugly ensconced behind a wall whilst he
+shouted encouragement to his men.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page219" name="page219"></a>(p. 219)</span> The Bedfords retook three of the Northumberlands' trenches
+with them, but failed to retake one of their own&mdash;together with two
+machine-guns in it&mdash;that they had lost, although they tried hard, A
+Company (Milling's) making three bayonet charges. They behaved
+devilish well, in spite of heavy losses both in officers and men.
+Macready, their Adjutant, was shot through the liver (but recovered
+eventually); Allason (Major) was hit twice&mdash;once through the shoulder,
+and again, on returning after getting his wound dressed, through the
+thigh; Davenport was shot through the left elbow (we looked after him
+in our dug-out); and two subalterns were killed, besides twenty-four
+men killed and fifty-three wounded. Of the Cheshires, Pollok, Hodson,
+and Anderson (the latter a fine runner and very plucky chap) were
+killed, besides five men killed, nineteen wounded, and eight missing.
+Altogether the losses were rather heavy. The men were particularly
+good to the wounded Germans; I remember especially one man, a
+black-bearded evil-looking scoundrel, who had been shot through the
+lungs, and rolled about in the mud at my feet, and him they <span class="pagenum"><a id="page220" name="page220"></a>(p. 220)</span>
+looked after carefully. The last glimpse I caught of him was being
+helped to a stretcher by two of our own men, also wounded.</p>
+
+<p>There was again no chance of our getting to the château to-night, so
+another basket of food arrived, and we fed with what comfort we could.</p>
+
+<p>We worked all night at strengthening our lines, but the Germans had
+got up so close to our weakest salient that I was a bit anxious on the
+subject of a renewed attack by night.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Nov. 8th.</i></p>
+
+<p>A small reinforcement arrived at 7 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, in the shape of the
+Divisional Mounted Troops of the 3rd and 5th Divisions&mdash;about 250 men
+altogether, consisting of 70 of the 15th Hussars and 60 cyclists from
+the 3rd, and 50 of the 19th Hussars and 70 cyclists from the 5th
+Divisions, under Courage and Parsons respectively.</p>
+
+<p>These were distributed in rear of our dug-out.</p>
+
+<p>We had a fairly quiet day as far as we ourselves were concerned, but
+both Brigades on our flanks were heavily shelled. The <span class="pagenum"><a id="page221" name="page221"></a>(p. 221)</span> French
+on our right were attacking in force, but although they were being
+supported by their 16th Corps, I do not think there was much result
+about <span lang="de">Klein Zillebeke</span>.</p>
+
+<p>At last, at 5.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, we started for our château, and hardly had we
+gone 150 yards when a terrific fire broke out. We got behind a little
+ruined hut to escape the bullets, and I made ready to return in case
+it was a serious attack. But it died down in ten minutes, and we
+pursued our way in more or less peace, for it was only a case of
+firing at reliefs, and I think the Germans were rather jumpy.</p>
+
+<p>The Château of <span lang="de">Beukenhorst</span> was a square white block of a place, and
+merits perhaps some description, as we were there for a most
+uncomfortable fortnight&mdash;uncomfortable as far as events and fighting
+went, though not so as regards living.</p>
+
+<p>It belonged to some people whose name I have forgotten&mdash;<span lang="fr">Baron</span>
+something (Belgian) and his German wife, and it was due to this lady's
+nationality&mdash;so the story went&mdash;that the place had suffered so little.
+Personally I think that it was due to the house only being indicated
+on the map, whilst the stables, 200 yards off, which were perpetually
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page222" name="page222"></a>(p. 222)</span> being shelled, were marked in heavy black, and were a
+cockshy for the German guns, which were evidently laid by map and not
+by sight; yet the house was on a fair elevation, and must have been
+visible from certain points on the German side. By the same token,
+General Capper had had his Headquarters there for a few days, but had
+cleared out, I believe, because of shells. Half a dozen shrapnel had
+certainly hit it, but they had only chipped off some bits of stone and
+broken all the windows at the eastern end.</p>
+
+<p>We lived in a room half below ground at the western end, which must
+evidently have been the housekeeper's room or servants' hall, next to
+the kitchen. About half the Signal Section lived in some sort of
+cellars close by, the other half being away with the transport. Two of
+these cellars were also used as a dressing station for the 7th
+Brigade, and wounded used to be brought in here frequently and tended
+by a sanitary Highlander, a corporal whose exact functions I could
+never discover, but who worked like a Trojan. The wounded were visited
+by a medical officer in the evening, and removed on stretchers every
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page223" name="page223"></a>(p. 223)</span> night to the ambulances who came to fetch them. Our own
+wounded did not come here, but were looked after just behind the
+trenches near the Herenthage Château, and taken away from there at
+night by our own 15th Field Ambulance, who worked all night in
+circumstances of much danger, but were luckily hardly ever hit.</p>
+
+<p>The owners had evidently had plenty of notice before clearing out, for
+they had removed all the smaller articles and most of the furniture,
+and had rolled up the carpets and curtains and blinds, leaving only
+big cupboards and bare bedsteads and larger bits of furniture. These
+were, oddly enough, in very good taste&mdash;Louis <abbr title="15">XV.</abbr> style&mdash;and only
+sand-papered and not polished or painted. There was a good bathroom
+too, and a lavatory with big basins, but much of it had been smashed
+by shrapnel, as it was at the east end. Our bedrooms were on the first
+floor, and most of them had good beds and washhand-stands, but no
+linen or blankets. I need hardly say that we carefully selected those
+at the western end of the house, whither few bullets had penetrated.
+But the windows there were mostly untouched, and consisted <span class="pagenum"><a id="page224" name="page224"></a>(p. 224)</span>
+of good plate glass. Altogether the whole place gave one the idea of
+comfort, money, and good taste, and was an eminently satisfactory
+abode&mdash;bar the shells.</p>
+
+<p>I know that, as far as looking after the Brigade was concerned, we got
+through three times as much satisfactory work in the morning after we
+arrived as we did during all the three days we were in the little
+dug-out. For we could now communicate not only by wire but by
+messenger and by personal contact with the authorities and commanders
+in our rear and on our flanks, and could discuss matters <i>re</i>
+artillery and defences and plans in a way which had been quite
+impossible in our advanced position.</p>
+
+<p>General Wing<a id="footnotetag19" name="footnotetag19"></a><a href="#footnote19">[19]</a> used to come and see us most evenings, and I used to
+communicate personally with Shaw (9th Brigade), and Fanshawe
+(Artillery), and M'Cracken (7th Brigade), about combined movements,
+&amp;c. Every morning before daylight, and at a good many other times
+besides, I, or Weatherby, or Moulton-Barrett, used to go down to the
+trenches and confabulate with <span class="pagenum"><a id="page225" name="page225"></a>(p. 225)</span> Griffith&mdash;always cool and
+resourceful, who was in immediate command&mdash;or Frost and Burfeild, who
+were running the Cheshires excellently between them. It was not always
+a very easy business getting down to the trenches, for there were
+nearly always shells bursting in the woods and on the open field which
+lay between us and the trench wood; and we had generally to hurry in
+order to leave the château precincts unperceived by the beastly Taubes
+who hovered overhead, always on the lookout for headquarters to shell;
+so we cut down orderlies and staff to a minimum, and absolutely
+forbade any hanging about outside.</p>
+
+<p>It is no use going into or describing our proceedings day by day:
+<span lang="fr">"Plus ça changeait, plus c'était la même chose."</span> I have the detail of
+it day by day in my diary, but it was always, in the main, the same
+thing&mdash;minds and bodies at high tension throughout the day and most of
+the night; perpetual artillery fire&mdash;if not by the enemy then by
+ourselves; shells bursting round the château and hardly ever into it,
+mostly shrapnel near the house and Black Marias a bit further
+off&mdash;chiefly into a walled garden 200 yards off which, for some
+unknown <span class="pagenum"><a id="page226" name="page226"></a>(p. 226)</span> reason, the Germans were convinced held some of our
+guns, though, as a matter of fact, our batteries were in our right
+rear, in well-covered positions just inside (or even outside, in some
+cases) the woods. But we got shells on the other side of the house as
+well, over the bare half-grown lawn and flower-beds between the
+château and the <span lang="fr">Hooge-Menin</span> road.</p>
+
+<p>It was rarely "healthy" to take a stroll in the grounds, however much
+we might be in want of fresh air. Even on days which were
+exceptionally quiet&mdash;and there were not many of them,&mdash;when one would
+move out to look at the grounds with a view to future defences in case
+we were driven back, or with a desire to ease a torpid liver, suddenly
+there would be a loudening swish in the air and a crash which would
+send one of the tall pine-trees into smithereens, with a shower of
+broken branches in all directions, followed by another, or half a
+dozen more; and we would retire gracefully&mdash;sometimes even
+rapidly&mdash;behind the shelter of our house.</p>
+
+<p>There were some late roses in the garden, or rather in the scattered
+flower-beds near the house, which lasted out even when the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page227" name="page227"></a>(p. 227)</span>
+snow was on them; but about the only live beings who took any interest
+in them were three or four goats, who haunted the precincts of the
+château, and were everlastingly trying to get inside. Indeed, when
+Moulton-Barrett first came to take possession, there were two goats in
+the best bedrooms upstairs, who peered out of the windows at the
+undesired visitors, and had to be evicted after a display of
+considerable force.</p>
+
+<p>Also pigs; for half a dozen great raw-boned pink and dirty swine
+rootled about in the woods near by for sustenance. They were, however,
+shy, and did not seek the shelter of the château. Stray cattle there
+were too; but neither these nor the pigs paid any attention to the
+shells which fell near them with impartial regularity, but did them,
+as far as I could see, no damage whatever.</p>
+
+<p>There was a stable a couple of hundred yards in rear of the house, and
+here at first we put what horses there were in the neighbourhood.
+Having Squeaky and Silver there one night&mdash;I forget why, but I know
+they were there&mdash;I put them into a couple of loose-boxes. Silver went
+in all right, but Squeaky, generally a most sensible <span class="pagenum"><a id="page228" name="page228"></a>(p. 228)</span> mare,
+shivered and sweated with terror, had almost to be forced in, and
+refused to feed when there. So I let her out again, and picketed her
+outside. Two nights after, a doctor's horse which was in there was all
+but killed, for a shrapnel burst through the window and drove fourteen
+bullets into his head and neck. They wanted leave to kill the poor
+beast, but I refused permission, as he was not hit in any vital spot,
+and he recovered, more or less, in a few days.</p>
+
+<p>As mentioned above, this stable was marked in black on the map, whilst
+the château&mdash;a far bigger building, of course&mdash;was hardly indicated. I
+take it that this accounted for our comparative immunity, for the
+stable was shelled (and hit) with great regularity, whilst the château
+was hardly ever touched. We had, however, a couple of small <abbr title="High Explosive">H.E.</abbr> shell
+through the eastern end whilst we were in the western; one of these
+bored clean through the wall of a room where there was a big cupboard
+against it on the far side and exploded forthwith. But the cupboard
+was not even scratched; it was blown into the middle of the room and a
+table or two upset, but, strange to relate, nothing serious in the way
+of damage <span class="pagenum"><a id="page229" name="page229"></a>(p. 229)</span> was done.<a id="footnotetag20" name="footnotetag20"></a><a href="#footnote20">[20]</a> On another occasion, however, a few
+shrapnel exploded just outside the kitchen window. At the sound of the
+first we all bolted to the other side of the house, and called to the
+servants to do the same. They came out; but Brown, our excellent cook,
+who had come out in his shirt-sleeves, must needs go back, without
+orders, to fetch his coat: for which he promptly received a jagged
+piece of shell in his left arm, which put a stop, alas, to his cooking
+for good and all, as far as we were concerned, for he was sent away,
+and, although he recovered, never came back to us.</p>
+
+<p>During the chief hours of the day, when not (or whilst) being shelled,
+we were pretty busy with telegrams and reports and queries and
+excursions and alarums. We were comfortable enough in the
+housekeeper's room, and got our meals "reg'lar," and we even had two
+or three arm-chairs, and newspapers and mails fairly well, and news
+from outside, which used to arrive with our rations at 9 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> or
+thereabouts. But a minor trial was the fact that two out of our five
+panes of glass had been blown in by shell, and let in an icy draught
+on most days. So we got <span class="pagenum"><a id="page230" name="page230"></a>(p. 230)</span> some partially-oiled paper, and made
+some paste, and stuck up the panes.</p>
+
+<p>The first shell explosion made the paper sag, the second made it
+shiver, and the third blew it out. The paste would not stick&mdash;it was
+the wrong sort of flour or something.</p>
+
+<p>Then we used jam&mdash;that glutinous saccharine mess known as "best plum
+jam"&mdash;and blue sugar paper, and it stuck quite fairly well. But it
+wouldn't dry; and tears of jam used to trickle down the paper panes
+and mingle with the tin-tacks and the bread-crumbs on the sill.</p>
+
+<p>The room was even then fairly dark, but the shell-bursts again
+shivered the jam paper and burst it, and we had to take to cardboard
+and drawing-boards. This made it still darker, and was not even then
+successful, for the explosions still shook the boards down and
+eventually broke another pane: it was most trying. On the last day but
+one four panes had been broken, and on the last day, as will be
+recounted, all were broken and the whole window blown in. Then we
+left.</p>
+
+<p>But what was of much vaster interest, of course, than these trifles,
+was the desperate fighting which was being waged along our <span class="pagenum"><a id="page231" name="page231"></a>(p. 231)</span>
+front, not 1000 yards from the château. Our two battalions, being
+entrenched in the wood, did not receive such a severe hammering as the
+brigades on either side&mdash;the 7th and 9th respectively on our right and
+left,&mdash;who were more in the open. And the shelling and attacks on them
+were incessant, as well as on troops still further off on the other
+side of them.</p>
+
+<p>The 11th November was a typically unpleasant day. It started with a
+touch of comedy, Weatherby arriving stark naked in my room at 6.30
+<span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, just when I was shaving, saying, "I say, sir, may I finish my
+dressing in here? They're shelling the bathroom!" He had a towel and a
+few clothes on his arm, <i>et præterea nihil</i>. (He, M.-B., and <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span>,
+though sleeping in different rooms, used to dress in the bathroom,
+where there were excellent taps and basins, though no water was
+running.)</p>
+
+<p>The shelling continued till 10. It was on this morning that Brown was
+damaged and lots of windows blown in.</p>
+
+<p>About that time I saw, to my consternation, a number of British
+soldiers retiring towards the walled garden. I sent out at once to
+stop them and turn them back, thinking <span class="pagenum"><a id="page232" name="page232"></a>(p. 232)</span> they were Cheshires
+or Bedfords. To my relief they were neither, but belonged to a brigade
+on our right. They had been heavily shelled, and, though in no sort of
+panic, were falling back deliberately, though without orders. There
+were no officers with them&mdash;all killed or wounded, I believe. My
+efforts were successful, though I grieve to say that a nice boy,
+Kershaw of the Signallers, who volunteered to carry a message to them,
+was hit by shrapnel in the thigh and brought in by our clerk, Sergeant
+Hutchison, and another, bleeding profusely. Burnett, commanding the
+Cyclist Corps, had been knocked down by a falling tree and his back
+damaged&mdash;also internal damage, I believe (for he was not really fit a
+year afterwards); he also was brought in, as well as Cooper of the
+Royal Fusiliers. A number of Zouaves and some more troops also
+trickled slowly back from the left with stories of appalling losses
+(mostly untrue) and disaster to the trenches (ditto). They were also
+stopped&mdash;the Zouaves by <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span>&mdash;and sent back. Certainly the
+Frenchmen's nerve was not damaged, for I remember that several had
+playing-cards in their hands, and when they got to what <span class="pagenum"><a id="page233" name="page233"></a>(p. 233)</span> they
+considered a fairly quiet spot they stopped, sat down, and went on
+with their game. Norman M'Mahon, commanding Royal Fusiliers, had,
+however, been killed, just as he had been appointed Brigadier to
+another Brigade, besides a lot more good men of the 9th Brigade. Shaw,
+commanding the Brigade, had also been wounded, and Douglas Smith
+succeeded him. Both the 1st and 9th Brigades had lost several
+trenches, and intended to try and retake them at night, but both had
+been pushed back some distance.</p>
+
+<p>A company of Wiltshires was sent to reinforce us in case we were
+seriously attacked. But they were not used by us for fighting&mdash;only
+for digging extra trenches near the château in case the front
+battalions had to fall back. But the front battalions had no intention
+of falling back, and the Cheshires got in a very heavy fire on the
+flank of some Germans who were attacking the 7th Brigade, and,
+together with the Gordons on our right, killed a great number. The
+Cheshires reported afterwards that the Germans walked slowly forward
+to the attack without enthusiasm and in a sort of dazed way, with
+their rifles under their <span class="pagenum"><a id="page234" name="page234"></a>(p. 234)</span> arms, as if they were drugged. I
+wonder whether they were: we several times received reports to the
+same effect.</p>
+
+<p>A particularly cheery item of intelligence, on good authority, was
+that fifteen German Guards battalions were being specially brought up
+in order to break through our line here at all costs. I thought at the
+time that this was false news, and that nothing like so many would be
+available, but it was not far out. As part confirmation, some papers
+taken off a dead German officer were brought in; they belonged to A.
+<span lang="de">von Obernitz</span>, 2nd Garde Grenadier Regiment, 2nd Division Guard Corps,
+but there was nothing of interest in them.</p>
+
+<p>About that date Weatherby, who had been seedy for several days, became
+seriously ill with a sort of light typhoid fever, and had to be
+evacuated. Moulton-Barrett therefore added the duties of Brigade-Major
+to his already heavy ones as Staff Captain, and did excellently well
+in the double capacity.</p>
+
+<p>To finish up with, the weather, which had been calm and fine up to
+date, broke that evening, and there were violent rain-storms from the
+south-west all night.</p>
+
+<p>We went to bed in no very happy state of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page235" name="page235"></a>(p. 235)</span> mind, expecting a
+serious night attack by overwhelming forces. But no attack came, for
+probably the enemy was as exhausted as ourselves. All the same we had
+to fall back by order, on the following night, for many trenches on
+our right and left had been driven in, and we did not want to be cut
+off.</p>
+
+<p>So we fell back about 200 yards through the wood, and straightened up
+our line&mdash;in a much worse defensive position as regards our own bit,
+but it could not be helped. My suggestions as to the line were
+overruled, and we took up our second line of trenches and constructed
+a little <span lang="fr">réduit</span> in the wood, ringed around with barbed wire and
+holding about twenty-five men, who would&mdash;we were sanguine enough to
+expect&mdash;hold off any serious rush that came.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot to mention that Singer, commanding the 17th Fd. Co. <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, had
+arrived, and did an extraordinary amount of good work with his company
+in circumstances of the greatest difficulty and danger. He told me
+that the first night he went out, in order to put up some wire
+entanglement in a dangerous place, it was as black as pitch. He made
+his sections hold on to each other's coats, but <span class="pagenum"><a id="page236" name="page236"></a>(p. 236)</span> within ten
+minutes they had not only lost each other in the dense black
+woods&mdash;chiefly through tumbling into trenches and falling over
+telephone wires,&mdash;but Singer had lost the whole company, and after
+wandering helplessly in what he thought the right direction for some
+time, he discovered that he had lost himself as well. He said he felt
+inclined to sit down and have a good cry, so utterly miserable did he
+feel!</p>
+
+<p>In falling back to the second line we had a fairly easy job, but for
+the 9th Brigade it was a regular Chinese puzzle, for by this time some
+of their trenches were in German hands at one end and English at the
+other, whilst Northumberland Fusiliers, Lincolns, Sussex, West
+Ridings, Cavalry, and even part of the 2nd Grenadiers,<a id="footnotetag21" name="footnotetag21"></a><a href="#footnote21">[21]</a> who had
+turned up from goodness knows where, were inextricably tangled up; not
+to mention that a party of Northumberlands, numbering about 120, under
+one gallant subaltern called Brown, had been holding out for three
+days in front of our line, with no food or drink, and Germans in
+trenches only 30 yards off them. I believe this lot eventually got
+away in safety, but the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page237" name="page237"></a>(p. 237)</span> retirement of all was about as
+difficult as it could be. This was on the 13th.</p>
+
+<p>On the 14th the Bedfords were heavily attacked, and the Germans pushed
+a machine-gun right forward through the wood and enfiladed the
+Cheshire left. These stood it for some time and then retired further
+down their trench, being unable to let the Bedfords know. Consequently
+this beastly gun got in a heavy fire on the Bedfords right as well and
+forced them to retire. The <span lang="fr">réduit</span> was no good&mdash;the wood was too
+thick&mdash;and some of the garrison were captured. So the Bedfords had to
+fall back, fighting, on to their third line 50 yards back, where they
+held the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Edwards, who commanded the advanced Bedford company, came up to the
+château to report, and gave a most cheery and amusing account of the
+whole thing, but the result was not at all amusing, as we had lost
+ground and a lot of men.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the big attack by the German Guards was being made on the
+brigades on our flanks, but, as all the world knows, it was completely
+repulsed, though the 15th Brigade was not very heavily engaged as a
+whole. The fighting was terribly confused <span class="pagenum"><a id="page238" name="page238"></a>(p. 238)</span> in the woods, and
+nothing but the individual grit of our men held the line, for it was
+practically impossible to give directions or exercise control in this
+horrible terrain.</p>
+
+<p>During this period we got much "mixed" as regards our machine-guns. We
+took over some from the 7th Division and lost some of those. Then we
+borrowed some more from other units in rear and recovered some of the
+lost ones. Sergeant Mart of the Bedfords did a splendid thing, and
+recovered two of the lost Bedford guns practically by himself,
+stalking the Germans with only one other man and rushing their trench,
+killing the few men in it. I wanted to recommend him for the <abbr title="Victoria Cross">V.C.</abbr>, but
+had such difficulty in getting sufficient evidence about it that an
+official recommendation would not have held water. Meanwhile poor Mart
+was shot through the neck. I got him a <abbr title="Distinguished Conduct Medal">D.C.M.</abbr>, but do not know whether
+he lived to receive it.</p>
+
+<p>Then three out of our five guns got damaged by shells and bullets and
+mud and stopped work. So we borrowed some more, and had some
+difficulty in working them, as they were a new pattern. By the time we
+understood them two other guns were <i>hors de combat</i>,&mdash;it was a real
+nightmare, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page239" name="page239"></a>(p. 239)</span> and it needed strenuous efforts to keep even one
+or two guns<a id="footnotetag22" name="footnotetag22"></a><a href="#footnote22">[22]</a> going; yet they were of enormous importance, and
+accounted for a lot of the enemy, especially on the right flank of the
+Cheshires.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the weather had turned beastly cold&mdash;snowstorms and sleet
+during the day and a hard frost at night. The men suffered terribly in
+the trenches&mdash;especially the Cheshires, whose trenches were very wet.
+Although we kept the wet ones occupied as lightly as possible, we
+could not abandon them altogether and dig others further forward or
+back, as there was water everywhere only a foot below the ground.
+Breastworks were attempted, but they were very visible and attracted
+large numbers of shells: altogether the Cheshires had a very poor
+time, I fear. The Bedfords were rather better off, their trenches in
+the wood being on rather higher and sandy ground, but they were not
+dry by any means.</p>
+
+<p>It was very awkward getting to the trenches, even in broad daylight,
+by this time, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page240" name="page240"></a>(p. 240)</span> for such numbers of trees had been blown down
+by the shells, there were so many shell-holes and so much wire about,
+and the mud and pools of water so universal, that it was really quite
+a physical effort to get through at all.</p>
+
+<p>About this time&mdash;the 17th&mdash;the Germans in our immediate front appeared
+to have retired a bit, but they certainly had not gone far, for our
+scouts on pushing on for 50 yards or so were greeted with a heavy
+fire, so we were unable to get on as much as we wanted. But though the
+rifle-bullets were rarer for a day or two, shells certainly were not,
+and continued with the utmost regularity.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the 17th, by the way, the enemy, annoyed perhaps at
+our scouts pushing on, made what was probably meant to be a
+counter-attack. It was not made in much strength, and we repelled it
+with ease. But it appeared to us at the château to be more serious
+than it was, for a messenger from the trenches arrived with the
+information that the Bedfords were being very severely pressed, and
+the Cheshires had had very heavy losses, and could not hold their
+trenches for more than <span class="pagenum"><a id="page241" name="page241"></a>(p. 241)</span> ten minutes unless they were
+supported at once. I had no supports to send them. A message to
+Griffith by telephone for confirmation of this alarm produced no
+result, for the wires were, of course, broken at that critical moment.
+So I wired to General Wing asking him to send me some supports if he
+could, and got 200 Royal Fusiliers shortly afterwards. But I did not
+use them, for the news of the messenger&mdash;who protested that he had
+been sent with a verbal message (not likely) by an officer whose name
+he did not know&mdash;turned out to be grossly exaggerated, and by the time
+the Fusiliers arrived the fighting was over. I never could trace
+whether any officer was responsible for the original message: I
+believe not. Anyhow, there was trouble for the messenger.</p>
+
+<p>On the 18th and 19th we had comparatively quiet days&mdash;except for
+nervousness about our left flank, where certain troops who had joined
+the 9th Brigade were very heavily shelled and lost one or two of their
+trenches. They managed, indeed, to get most of the lost ground back,
+but I was not entirely happy about it, for the ground between us and
+them was extremely difficult and could not be properly covered by
+either <span class="pagenum"><a id="page242" name="page242"></a>(p. 242)</span> of us. There was a pond hereabouts, with a little
+island on it with a summer-house; and we found, on extending our left
+to take it over, that there must have been a German sniper there for
+several nights, for many empty Mauser cartridge-cases were found in
+the summer-house, and a very dicky punt was discovered in the rushes.
+This latter we sank, and were no more troubled; but it shows the cool
+pluck of the enemy's snipers in getting right into our lines by
+themselves (and also&mdash;I regret to add&mdash;certain other things as well).</p>
+
+<p>Rumours now came of an approaching relief, and certainly troops had
+rarely been more in want of it, for our two battalions had been in the
+trenches for fourteen days, with pretty stiff fighting&mdash;and nervous,
+jumpy fighting in the dark at that&mdash;all the time, and no chance of
+being comfortable or quiet during the whole of this period. Each
+battalion had had to find its own supports or reserves; but even the
+latter had to be pretty close up to the firing line, for in such
+cramped country one could not afford the risk of a sudden rush which
+might have succeeded before the reserves could get up. Our line, it is
+true, was not a particularly <span class="pagenum"><a id="page243" name="page243"></a>(p. 243)</span> long one; but it was awkward,
+and the troops were much cramped and confined by nearly all being
+obliged to take cover in the wood, which gradually grew too small to
+hold them.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Nov. 19th.</i></p>
+
+<p>On the 19th General Wing arrived and told us that, after settling to
+relieve us to-day, the French had been unable to find the men and
+could not do it. This was a disappointment; but a later message
+arrived to say that the Worcesters, coming from the 5th Brigade, would
+arrive that afternoon and relieve both of our battalions, who by that
+time were reduced to 540 Bedfords and 220 Cheshires altogether (the
+Bedfords having started with 1100 and the Cheshires with 600 odd).</p>
+
+<p>In the evening a battalion of Worcesters&mdash;from goodness knows
+where&mdash;turned up and announced that they were to relieve us. We had
+already, as above mentioned, heard that they were coming, and were
+ready for them; but it was funny that they should arrive for only
+twenty-four hours, for the French were going to occupy our trenches on
+the morrow.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page244" name="page244"></a>(p. 244)</span> Anyhow, by midnight or so the Bedfords and Cheshires had
+cleared out, thankful to leave the horrible rabbit-warren where they
+had been stuck for nearly three wet, cold, and beastly weeks; and they
+retired to the wood and dug-outs close behind our château, so as to be
+in reserve in case of necessity.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Nov. 20th.</i></p>
+
+<p>But they were not wanted as such, and the following day was fairly
+quiet as far as trench fighting was concerned.</p>
+
+<p>But not so for the staff. We were sitting in the housekeeper's room
+after breakfast working out our orders for the withdrawal that night,
+when there was a terrific bang just outside the château&mdash;nearer than
+ever before. We looked at each other, and would, I verily believe,
+have settled down again to our work, so accustomed were we to shells
+of all sorts, had not Naylor, who had joined us two days before as
+temporary signal officer (<i>vice</i> Cadell, gone sick with light typhoid
+at Hille eighteen days before), jumped up and run outside in order to
+see where it had gone. Being Divisional signal officer, he had not,
+perhaps, had quite so much experience of shells as we <span class="pagenum"><a id="page245" name="page245"></a>(p. 245)</span> had,
+and he wanted to get into closer touch. The example was infectious,
+and we also strolled out to see where the shell had fallen. Hardly had
+we got outside into the passage, and halfway up the basement steps
+into the fresh air, when there was a roar and an appalling crash which
+shook the building. The concussion made me stagger, and blew my cap
+off. <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span>'s hat fizzed away into the bushes, and, surrounded by a
+cloud of red dust and stones and chips of balustrades and hunks of
+wood and branches, we held on to anything we could. No damage to
+ourselves; but a glance down the passage showed us that the shell, or
+most of it, had exploded in or just outside the kitchen, and blown
+that chamber, as well as the housekeeper's room, which we had just
+left, into absolute smithereens.</p>
+
+<p>No time to look into further details; a hurried issue of orders, and
+we legged it for all we were worth across the open and into our
+funk-hole in the shrubbery 300 yards off, whilst the signal section
+and servants and orderlies made a bolt for the stables in the opposite
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>But the Germans seem to have been satisfied with this little
+exhibition of "hate," <span class="pagenum"><a id="page246" name="page246"></a>(p. 246)</span> and bombarded us no more&mdash;except
+casually, with shrapnel, as usual. We crept back to the château at
+intervals during the morning, and removed various possessions and
+chairs and tables to our dug-out, which was not a very luxurious
+abode, though dry and fairly deep. Poor Conway, Weatherby's servant,
+whom he had left behind, was the only casualty; his dead body was
+found, with both legs broken and an arm off, blown down a cellar
+passage at the back. The next most serious casualty was
+Moulton-Barrett's new pair of breeches, arrived that morning from
+England, and driven full of holes like a sugar-sifter. Our late room
+was a mass of wreckage&mdash;half the outer wall and most of the inner one
+blown down, tables and chairs and things overturned and broken, and
+the floor knee-deep in plaster and rubbish. Of the kitchen there was
+still less; and nothing was to be rescued from the debris except one
+tin plate and one tin mustard-pot. It would have taken days to clear
+it, for a good deal of the room above seemed to have fallen into it as
+well, and one could hardly get in at the door, so full was the place
+of plaster, wreckage, and stones, and hot-water pipes and bits of iron
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page247" name="page247"></a>(p. 247)</span> and twisted rails, and dust and earth and broken laths and
+rafters. Luckily the concussion put the fire out, or there might have
+been still more damage.</p>
+
+<p>We spent our day somewhat uncomfortably in the dug-out, for there was
+a hard frost and very little room to turn round in, and though we had
+a brazier, its charcoal fumes in the confined space nearly poisoned
+us. In the middle of the day three French officers turned up, and we
+made mutual arrangements for the taking over by them of this portion
+of the line, Milling (of the Bedfords) guiding one party and <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span>
+the other.</p>
+
+<p>Food was rather a difficulty, for the mess servants had disappeared,
+and had last been seen hastening in the direction of <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>&mdash;for which
+we cursed them loud and long. We did our best with small hunks of
+bully and odd bits of chocolate and a modicum of tea and biscuits in
+our haversacks&mdash;for all the rest of our food had been buried by that
+infernal shell,&mdash;but it was neither comfortable nor filling; and, in
+truth, as the dark winter evening came on with only one or two
+candle-stumps between us, we were not as happy as we should otherwise
+have been.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page248" name="page248"></a>(p. 248)</span> Help was, however, at hand; for our servants, Inskip and
+Stairs, who we thought had ignominiously run away, suddenly turned up
+with heaps of food. They had gone all the way to our cook's waggon
+three miles the other side of <span lang="fr">Ypres</span> for comestibles, and whilst we
+were d&mdash;ing their eyes for bolting, were trudging, heavily laden,
+along the road back to us&mdash;good youths.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lengthy business getting the relief through. The French
+troops, due at 7.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, did not arrive till 9.15 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, and even then
+it was difficult to pilot a lot of troops, fresh to the ground, in
+pitch darkness, over shell-holes and wires and broken trees and
+stumps, and through mud and undergrowth and dead horses, &amp;c., &amp;c.,
+into the trenches destined for them. The details had to be very
+carefully arranged indeed, and it was not till nearly 2 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> that we
+had got the French into the trenches, the Worcesters into reserve, and
+the Bedfords and Cheshires on their way back to <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Then, with a sigh of some thankfulness apiece, we stumbled back in the
+darkness to the château, where we waited to collect the remains of the
+Signal Section and staff, and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page249" name="page249"></a>(p. 249)</span> then moved off, mounted this
+time, down the <span lang="fr">Menin-Ypres</span> road.</p>
+
+<p>It was freezing very hard&mdash;as I think I remarked before&mdash;and the road
+was frightfully slippery. Trotting was almost out of the question, but
+I tried it on Squeaky for a few yards, on a dry broken bit. She pulled
+back on to the slippery part, slid up, and sat down heavily, whilst I
+fell gracefully off on to my shoulder. And she repeated the
+performance the other side of the town. <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>, in the bright
+starlight, was still quite impressive, and the Cloth Hall was still
+almost intact. But there were many shell-holes about, and some of the
+houses were still smouldering. The town happened to be respited from
+shells for the actual moment, but I believe that the very next day a
+heavy bombardment began again, and the Cloth Hall was destroyed till
+hardly the skeleton thereof was left.</p>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Nov. 21st.</i></p>
+
+<p>We were due to billet in Locre, and there we arrived at about 7 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>
+It was frightfully cold, but, after we had seen the two battalions
+billeted, the military policeman who had been told to turn up and show
+us <span class="pagenum"><a id="page250" name="page250"></a>(p. 250)</span> to our billets was nowhere to be found, so we wandered on
+as far as the Convent, staggering and slipping on the snowy ice and
+blowing on our fingers as we went. The thermometer must have shown ten
+degrees of frost or more, but I only know that I was very glad to
+reach our little house at last (having passed it already once half a
+mile before) and get in between the sheets of an ancient but
+respectably clean bed, covered by all the mackintoshes, blankets, and
+rugs I could get hold of.</p>
+
+<p>The Cheshires were billeted on the <span lang="fr">Mont Rouge</span> close by, and the
+Bedfords near us, at the corner of the <span lang="fr">Westoutre road</span>. They had all
+struggled over the fourteen miles or so that divided them from their
+trenches, but having arrived and their feet having swollen terribly
+during the long march, any number of them could not get their boots on
+again, and they went to hospital by twenties and thirties, hobbling
+along the road with their feet tied up in rags or socks, for they were
+deformed with rheumatism and swollen joints,<a id="footnotetag23" name="footnotetag23"></a><a href="#footnote23">[23]</a> and would not fit any
+boot. The Cheshires, as I expected, were much the worse of the two
+battalions, for <span class="pagenum"><a id="page251" name="page251"></a>(p. 251)</span> their trenches had been very wet, and most
+of the men had sat with cold feet in water for many days; yet there
+was not a single case of pulmonary complaint amongst them, and hardly
+even a cough or a cold.</p>
+
+<p>Here we stayed, at Locre, till the 25th, the men enjoying a most
+well-earned rest, and filling up with hot baths, warm clothes, socks,
+parcels from home, and comforts of all sorts. The Divisional
+Headquarters were in the Convent, a clean huge building which did very
+well for the purpose, and here we went almost daily, either on
+business or on a meal intent. The Cheshires&mdash;only 230 of them
+left&mdash;were of no practical value, alas, with their bad feet; so they
+were sent in to 2nd Corps Headquarters (Sir H. S.-D.) at <span lang="fr">Bailleul</span>,
+nominally to "find" the Headquarters Guard, but in reality to
+convalesce.</p>
+
+<p>On the 25th we&mdash;that is, Headquarters and the Bedfords, for that was
+all there was left of the 15th for the moment&mdash;moved to <span lang="nl"><abbr title="Sint">St</abbr> Jan's
+Cappel</span>, a nice little village only a few miles behind Locre. We lived
+in the <span lang="fr">Curé</span>'s (<span lang="fr">M. de Vos</span>) house, clean and pleasant; and the <span lang="fr">Curé</span>, who
+liked the good things of this world, brought his stout person to
+coffee every evening, and did not disdain to make <span class="pagenum"><a id="page252" name="page252"></a>(p. 252)</span> the
+acquaintance of an occasional tot of British rum or whisky, except on
+Fridays.</p>
+
+<p>Two days afterwards we were inspected both by Sir Horace and, half an
+hour later, by Sir John French, who were both pleased to say
+complimentary things of the Brigade. It did us good. The Bedfords
+again put me to confusion by calling out "'Ear! 'ear!" at telling
+points of the speeches&mdash;curious folk,&mdash;the only battalion I ever heard
+do so. 587 men and 8 officers on parade, not one of the latter of
+whom, except the Quartermaster, had come out with the battalion.
+Griffith was on leave, his place being taken by Major Mackenzie, <abbr title="Victoria Cross">V.C.</abbr>,
+who had just joined. All the other officers who had left Ireland with
+me in August were either killed, wounded, or sick.</p>
+
+<p>We were under orders to go into the trenches again shortly, taking
+over from Maude,<a id="footnotetag24" name="footnotetag24"></a><a href="#footnote24">[24]</a> now commanding the 14th Brigade; he also had the
+Dorsets and Norfolks, scraped up from various places, attached to him.
+His line was in front of <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span>.</p>
+
+<p>On the 29th November we took over there, a most complicated
+arrangement which only evolved itself clearly during the next week.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page253" name="page253"></a>(p. 253)</span> I had the East Surreys and Manchesters under me for a time,
+and then the <abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s, all interchanging and intershuffling with my
+battalions, the main reason being that I had not got the Cheshires, so
+had to shift as best I could without them, picking up a battalion of
+the 13th or 14th Brigade when one was available.</p>
+
+<p>The line was not exactly nice. We had, it is true, got rid of the
+worst bit, Hill 73, on to the 3rd Division, which was next door on the
+left; but it extended all the same for an unpleasant length on our
+right, which was south of the <span lang="nl">Wulverghem</span>-<span lang="fr">Messines</span> road, the right of
+the Brigade on our right being on the <span lang="fr">Douve</span>. At the longest&mdash;the
+length that the Brigade had to defend varied according to
+circumstances&mdash;the line was just over 2500 yards; at its shortest it
+was about 2200. Considering that the normal frontage (defensive) of
+the Brigade at full strength was 900 to 1300 yards, this was a bit
+"thin" in more senses than one.</p>
+
+<p>As we were here for three months, off and on&mdash;from the beginning of
+December to the end of February,&mdash;it may be worth while trying to
+describe it, if I can.</p>
+
+<a id="img007" name="img007"></a>
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img007.jpg" width="500" height="345" alt="Map." title="">
+</div>
+
+<p>Imagine a bit of rolling country&mdash;rather <span class="pagenum"><a id="page254" name="page254"></a>(p. 254)</span> like parts of
+Leicestershire,&mdash;fair-sized fields, separated mostly by straggling
+fences interspersed with wire (largely barbed), and punctuated by tall
+trees. Patches of wood in places, spinney size for the most part. Low
+hills here and there&mdash;<span lang="de">;Kemmel</span>, <span lang="de">Scherpenberg</span>, <span lang="nl">Ploegsteert</span> Wood,&mdash;but all
+outside our area. For villages, <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span>, <span lang="fr">Neuve Église</span>, <span lang="de">Wulverghem</span>,
+and <span lang="nl">Lindenhoek</span>, of which the two last were already more than half shot
+to pieces and almost deserted. Opposite our right was <span lang="fr">Messines</span>&mdash;a mile
+and a half in front of our line,&mdash;its big, square, old church tower
+still standing; it may have had a spire on the top, but if so it had
+disappeared before we came. Nearly opposite our extreme left, but out
+of our jurisdiction and in the sphere of the Division on our left, was
+<span lang="nl">Wytschaete</span> (pronounce Wich Khâte), one and a half miles off. The
+cavalry had held both <span lang="fr">Messines</span><a id="footnotetag25" name="footnotetag25"></a><a href="#footnote25">[25]</a>
+and <span lang="nl">Wytschaete</span> at the end of
+October, but had been overwhelmingly attacked here and driven out of
+them, so that the two villages formed a hostile bulge into our line.
+We had been in hopes of driving attacks into the base of the bulge and
+thus forcing a retirement. But the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page256" name="page256"></a>(p. 256)</span> Germans reinforced the
+bulge and entrenched it heavily, and instead of our cutting off the
+bulge, it became flatter and flatter, without giving way at the point,
+so that we had to retire slightly, on either side, and not they.</p>
+
+<p>Farms, nearly all of them roofless and half-ruined, were dotted about
+over the country. Small ones for the most part they were, and of the
+usual type&mdash;a liquid and stinking manure-heap surrounded on three
+sides by a living-house and barns. Of the roads, those from <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span>
+to <span lang="nl">Lindenhoek</span>, <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span> to <span lang="fr">Neuve Église</span>,
+and <span lang="fr">Neuve Église</span> <i>viâ</i>
+<span lang="de">Wulverghem</span> to <span lang="fr">Messines</span>, were <span lang="fr"><i>pavé</i></span>&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, cobble-stones down the
+centre and mud on both sides. Those joining <span lang="nl">Lindenhoek</span> to <span lang="fr">Neuve Église</span>
+and <span lang="de">Wulverghem</span> were also mostly <span lang="fr"><i>pavé</i></span>. The remainder were mere field
+tracks for the most part, rarely metalled, and in wet weather almost
+impassable for mud.</p>
+
+<p>O that mud! We have heard lots about Flanders mud, but the reality
+transcends imagination, especially in winter. Greasy, slippery,
+holding clay, over your toes in most places and over your ankles in
+all the rest&mdash;where it is not over your knees,&mdash;it is <span class="pagenum"><a id="page257" name="page257"></a>(p. 257)</span> the
+most horrible "going" I know anywhere. Whether you are moving across
+plough or grass fields, or along lanes, you are perpetually skating
+about and slipping up on the firmer bits and held fast by the ankles
+in the softer ones. There is no stone in the district, nothing but
+rich loamy clay, <i>alias</i> mud. However much you dig, you never come
+across stone, nothing but sticky mud which clings to your shovel and
+refuses to be parted from it&mdash;mud that has to be scraped off at almost
+every stroke, mud that absorbs water like a sponge yet refuses to give
+it up again. Every little puddle and rut, every hoof-depression full
+of rain, remains like that for weeks; even when the weather is fine
+the water does not seem to evaporate, but remains on the surface.</p>
+
+<p>And when it rains, as it did all that winter (except when it snowed),
+the state of the trenches is indescribable. Some were, frankly, so
+full of water that they had to be abandoned, and a breastwork erected
+behind. But a breastwork is slow work, especially if you are less than
+100 yards from the enemy. For weeks, indeed, the garrison of one
+particular trench had to lie out on the mud, or on what waterproofs
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page258" name="page258"></a>(p. 258)</span> they could get, behind a shelter two to three feet
+high&mdash;always growing a little, yet never to be made to a real six feet
+height for reason of conspicuousness and consequent clusters of Black
+Marias.</p>
+
+<p>Other trenches varied from five inches to five feet deep in mud; in
+one a Dorset man was literally almost drowned and drawn forth with
+great difficulty. Many cases occurred of semi-submersion, and as for
+moving up the communication trenches during the winter, it was
+generally an impossibility, for they were either knee-deep in water or
+in mud, and simply refused to be drained. So men preferred the risk of
+a stray bullet to the certainty of liquid mud to the knees and
+consequent icy discomfort for twenty-four hours and more. And as for
+the unfortunate ration-parties and men bringing up heavy trench
+stores, their task was really one of frightful labour, for, for two
+men to cross a large and slippery muddy series of fields carrying a
+100 lb. box between them was no joke. First one would slide up and
+skate off in one direction whilst the other did his best to hold on,
+generally resulting in dropping his end of the box or finding himself
+on the flat of his back. Then <span class="pagenum"><a id="page259" name="page259"></a>(p. 259)</span> the parts would be reversed,
+but they always slid up in opposite directions&mdash;the mud saw to
+that,&mdash;and they would arrive in the trenches, after their stroll of a
+mile or less, absolutely exhausted and dripping with sweat. It was
+difficult enough, over much of the ground, to avoid slipping up even
+when burdened by nothing more than a walking-stick; that I know from
+personal experience. Yet for many weeks the men had to do this and
+suffer, for fascines and bricks, besides sandbags, were only just
+beginning to make their appearance in December; and floor-boards and
+gratings and gravel and trench stores and wire-netting, and revetments
+and planks and iron sheeting and trestles and hurdles of all sorts,
+did not really materialize in anything like sufficient numbers till
+March.</p>
+
+<p>The draining of the trenches was heartbreaking. After a heavy day or
+two of rain the parapets would fall down in hunks into the foot of
+water or so in the trenches, and would churn up into liquid mud, only
+to be removed by large spoons, of which we had none, or buckets, of
+which we had but very few. It was too thick to drain off down the
+very, very gradual slopes which <span class="pagenum"><a id="page260" name="page260"></a>(p. 260)</span> were the best we could do,
+and too liquid to be shovelled away; so there it would remain, and our
+strenuous efforts in rebuilding the parapets (for at this period we
+had no revetting material) would only result, a night or two later, in
+still further collapses.</p>
+
+<p>The <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> companies, both 17th and 59th, worked like heroes, and so
+particularly did the Norfolks and Bedfords; but it was most
+disheartening work. No sooner was one parapet fairly complete than
+another fell in; and when this was mended the first one would collapse
+again under the incessant downpour. And all this time wire
+entanglements had to be put up in front under hostile fire, trenches
+connected up and drained, support trenches dug, communication trenches
+improved, loopholes made, defences thickened and strengthened, saps
+pushed out, all under the fire of an enemy anything from 60 to 200
+yards off, and always on rather higher ground than ourselves, worse
+luck, so that he had the whip-hand.</p>
+
+<p>Soon came the period of hand grenades, in which he had six to one the
+best of us in numbers; and then in rifle grenades <span class="pagenum"><a id="page261" name="page261"></a>(p. 261)</span> ditto
+ditto; and then in trench mortars, flare-lights, searchlights, and
+rockets&mdash;wherein we followed him feebly and at a great distance; for
+where he sent up 100 (say) light balls at night, we could only afford
+five or six; and other things in proportion. Later on came the
+<span lang="de">Minenwerfer</span>, an expanded type of trench mortar, and its bomb, but up
+to the end of February his efforts in this direction were not very
+serious, though I allow that he did us more harm thereby than we him.
+For our trench mortars were in an experimental stage, made locally by
+the <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, and constructed of thin gas-pipe iron and home-made jam-pot
+bombs, whose behaviour was always erratic, and sometimes, I regret to
+say, fatal to the mortarist. (Poor Rogers, <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>, a capital subaltern,
+was killed thus, besides others, I fear.)</p>
+
+<p>Our reliefs varied. Normally the Brigade was supposed to be, at first,
+eight days in and four days out. Then this was rapidly changed to
+twelve days in and six days out; then, as the 14th Brigade suggested
+that it should hold <span lang="fr">Neuve Église</span>, a quite short front, in perpetuity,
+whilst the 13th and 15th Brigades relieved each other alternate
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page262" name="page262"></a>(p. 262)</span> eight days along the long front, it was changed nominally to
+eight in and eight out. But it was not always possible, and our last
+tour lasted twenty days in and only three out.</p>
+
+<p>The reliefs made one's head whirl. It was all right to start with, two
+battalions in the trenches (<i>i.e.</i>, fire-trenches, support-trenches,
+and reserve-trenches), and two battalions in reserve at <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span> or
+thereabouts&mdash;four days about, each battalion, in eight-day reliefs,
+or three days about in twelve-day reliefs. This was simple. But when
+our line was lengthened to a three-battalion length it became much
+more difficult, especially when one battalion was much weaker than the
+other three. And when, eventually, the brigade was presented with a
+Territorial battalion of great strength but no experience, making five
+battalions of varying strengths to occupy a three-battalion length,
+whilst one could only put the Territorial one (at first) into a
+comparatively safe place in the line which did not fit it, then the
+problem of the wolf, the goat, and the cabbage faded into complete
+insignificance.</p>
+
+<p>It was very difficult to fit everything in so that each battalion had
+its fair share of duty <span class="pagenum"><a id="page263" name="page263"></a>(p. 263)</span> and of rest. Even with the best
+intentions matters did not always pan out straight, for considerations
+of strength, of comparative excellence, of dangerous and of safe
+localities, of moral, of comfortable or uncomfortable trenches, of
+spade-work and of a dozen other things, had to be fitted together like
+a Chinese puzzle.</p>
+
+<p>There was a particularly dangerous and uncomfortable length which was
+given to the best battalion to hold. On its relief, who should hold
+it? the next best, who was badly wanted somewhere else, or another one
+weak in numbers and consequently unfit? And when the relief came
+again, was the best battalion always to be doomed to the worst and
+most dangerous trenches, merely because it <i>was</i> the best? Hardly an
+incitement to good work. And when the battalions did not fit their
+length, were you to add or subtract a company from somebody else, or
+would you put some in reserve out of their turn, thereby inflicting
+unfair hardship on another battalion? And would you like to reinforce
+one battalion, in case of attack, by another battalion? or would you
+like to make it thin in front and deep behind, and support itself? If
+the other <span class="pagenum"><a id="page264" name="page264"></a>(p. 264)</span> thing was necessary, how could you do it when the
+two battalions were accustomed to relieve their companies, internally,
+in different ways, when perhaps the transport of one was deficient, or
+one battalion preferred sandbags, whilst the other cherished hurdles,
+as revetting material?&mdash;for I always found that giving the commanding
+officer his head in such small internal matters produced the best
+work. It was a matter for deep study and wet towels, and there let it
+rest.</p>
+
+<p>We had much difficulty about quarters outside the trenches, for all
+the farmhouses anywhere within two miles of the enemy were shelled
+pretty regularly as regards quantity of explosive material devoted to
+them&mdash;though, as regards dates, they varied considerably. Battalion
+headquarters had to be dumped down in farms half shot to pieces, with
+all windows broken and howling icy draughts tearing through the
+shell-holed walls. If you did not like this, you could go and dig a
+big hole in the side of a road or a turnip-field and live in that. The
+reserves were always the difficulty, and so, for a long time, were
+even the supports. For whatever and wherever the trenches <span class="pagenum"><a id="page265" name="page265"></a>(p. 265)</span>
+that we dug for them, the rain came steadily down and broke away the
+sides of the dug-outs and provided wet legs for those that sat therein.
+Later on, more timber being available, as well as iron sheeting,
+hurdles and other things, they became a good deal more weather-proof;
+but at first the men as well as the officers were, I fear, very
+uncomfortable.</p>
+
+<p>In those days one could not dream of going up to or into a trench
+except in the dark, or, indeed, of moving about anywhere near there
+except at night. Nowadays one can visit all one's trenches in broad
+daylight, and never care a rap for the occasional bullets which
+whistle over the comfortable deep communication trenches; but up to
+the spring of 1915 it was very different almost throughout.</p>
+
+<p>I used to visit the trenches every third night or so; at least I tried
+to, but it was not by any means always possible. It meant a three-mile
+ride there, putting up the horses in <span lang="de">Wulverghem</span> or <span lang="nl">Lindenhoek</span>, and a
+walk of a mile or so to the trenches, then a mile or less along the
+trenches. It was lucky for you if there was any light of moon or stars
+to see by, and lucky if you did not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page266" name="page266"></a>(p. 266)</span> go over your knees in
+mud in the dark. On one occasion it came down a pitchy dead blackness
+just as I was arriving at the trenches, so that you literally could
+not see your hand in front, or the road, or anything else; so I gave
+it up and went back. Other nights were impossible for the same reason;
+and occasionally the brilliance of the moon was in fault, though not
+often. So we had to select our nights carefully.</p>
+
+<p>Johnston, <abbr title="Victoria Cross">V.C.</abbr>,<a id="footnotetag26" name="footnotetag26"></a><a href="#footnote26">[26]</a> <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr>,
+was in <abbr title="Royal Engineers">R.E.</abbr> charge of our trenches. (Poor
+fellow, he was killed by a sniper near <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Éloi</span> on April 15.) He must
+have worked something like eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. For
+by 9 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> he was collecting material near <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span> and receiving
+reports, and settling his company administrative work. At 11.30 he
+came to see me, and we discussed and settled the ensuing night's task.
+Then back to his farm to give out instructions to his sappers, and
+fifty other things to do before he rode out about 6 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> to the
+trenches, remaining there till 3 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> or even 6 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>&mdash;to superintend
+the work and struggle about in the mud all night. He never <span class="pagenum"><a id="page267" name="page267"></a>(p. 267)</span>
+spared himself an ounce. He was occasionally so nearly dead with want
+of sleep that I once or twice ordered him to take a night's sleep; but
+he always got out of it on some pretext or other.</p>
+
+<p>And with it all he was as plucky as the devil&mdash;he seemed to like
+getting shot at. One night he got a ricochet bullet over his heart,
+but this only put him in a furious rage (if you can use the word about
+such a seeming mild person), and spent the next twenty-four hours in
+collecting ammunition and bombs and extra trench-mortars and firing
+them himself; this seemed to soothe him. He was a wonderful fellow all
+round, always full of expedients and never disheartened by the cruel
+collapse of all his plans caused by the wet weather; and if there was
+a dangerous piece of work on hand, he was always first in giving the
+lead. One very nasty place on the left there was which was commanded
+by the enemy at short range, yet we could not dig in it, as the water
+was only a foot below the ground, and breastworks there were
+practically impossible; yet if the enemy had seized this bit they
+would have enfiladed the rest of the line; why they did not do so I do
+not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page268" name="page268"></a>(p. 268)</span> know. He was always pressing me to attack the Germans at
+this point and seize a bit of false crest that they held; but my
+better judgment was against it, as, if we had taken the bit, we should
+have been commanded there from three sides instead of one, and could
+not have held it for half an hour. I know Johnston's private opinion
+of me in this matter was that I was a funk, but he was too polite to
+say so. After I left, the following Brigade not only did not attack
+the point, but fell back some distance here, "on its own"; and I am
+sure they were right.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Johnston&mdash;he became Brigade-Major after Weatherby left for the
+5th Divisional Staff (some time in April 1915, I think), and, as I
+remarked, was killed shortly afterwards. His death was a very heavy
+loss to the Brigade.</p>
+
+<p>At <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span> we&mdash;that is, the Brigade staff&mdash;lived in a perpetual
+atmosphere of mud and draughts. The <span lang="fr">Curé</span>'s house was very small and
+very dirty, and was not improved by the pounds of mud which every one
+brought in on his boots at all hours of the day and left on our best
+drugget&mdash;a cheap, thin thing which I <span class="pagenum"><a id="page269" name="page269"></a>(p. 269)</span> bought in <span lang="fr">Bailleul</span>
+(they had not such a thing as a carpet in the whole town) wherewith to
+cover the nakedness of the brick floor of the one tiny room in which
+we all worked and ate.</p>
+
+<p>Weatherby and I slept in the house, and the others were billeted
+outside, but the quarters were none of them more than passable&mdash;poor
+villagers' rooms, with a frowzy though comfortable bed, a rickety
+washhand-stand, if you were lucky (I did not even have that), no
+carpet on the dirty wooden floor, and one small hard-backed chair,
+generally minus a portion of a leg; never any chest of drawers or
+anywhere to put your things, as if there by any chance was such a
+thing in the room, it was sure to be full of the inhabitants' rusty
+old black clothes and dirty blue flannel shirts, and petticoats, thick
+and musty, by the ton,&mdash;I never saw so many petticoats per inhabitant.</p>
+
+<p>Our mess had only had one change since the beginning of the war, and
+that was in the signal officer. Cadell had gone sick in November, and
+Miles had replaced him in December. For about a month, including all
+the period at <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>, we had had no signal officer (except Naylor for
+two days), <span class="pagenum"><a id="page270" name="page270"></a>(p. 270)</span> nor any Brigade-Major from about the 12th
+November (at <span lang="fr">Ypres</span>) till the beginning of December; so Sergeant King,
+a first-rate signaller, though not the senior, had carried on for
+Cadell, and Moulton-Barrett had added the duties of Brigade-Major to
+his own. But by the middle of December we were complete again.
+Weatherby had returned from his sick leave, and Miles, of the
+<abbr title="King's Own Scottish Borderers">K.O.S.B.</abbr>'s, was now signalling officer. A quite excellent one he was,
+too&mdash;very silent, always an hour or two late for dinner (owing to
+strenuous night work), never asking questions, but always doing things
+before they were even suggested, and very thoroughly at that; he was a
+great acquisition. Moulton-Barrett was still Staff Captain&mdash;very
+hard-working and conscientious, and very thorough; Weatherby was still
+Brigade-Major&mdash;keen and resourceful; Beilby was still veterinary
+officer&mdash;capable and helpful; and <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> was still interpreter and
+billeting officer&mdash;cheerful and most willing. His duties were mostly
+to investigate the numerous cases of natives who wanted to go
+somewhere or do something&mdash;generally to fetch their cows off a
+shell-swept field, or to rescue <span class="pagenum"><a id="page271" name="page271"></a>(p. 271)</span> their furniture from a burnt
+village, or to fetch or buy something from <span lang="fr">Bailleul</span>&mdash;and recommend
+them (or otherwise) to me for passes&mdash;a most trying duty, wearing to
+the temper; but he was angelic in patience, and, as a light
+recreation, used to accompany me to the trenches fairly often.</p>
+
+<p>One case there was where, for three nights running, great fids of wire
+were cut out of some artillery cables connecting them with their
+observers&mdash;a most reprehensible deed. So I had patrols out to spy
+along the lines,&mdash;no result, except that next morning another 100
+yards had gone. So I made <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> André</span> publish a blood-and-thunder
+proclamation threatening death to any one found tampering with our
+wires. Spies were plentiful, and a gap in our wires might be fatal.</p>
+
+<p>And then the culprit owned up. It was an old woman near whose cottage
+the wires passed, and her fences required mending.</p>
+
+<p><span lang="fr">Neuve Église</span>, which we inhabited for a fortnight or more, and where we
+spent Xmas Day, was a good cut above <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span>. Except for the first
+three days, when we lived with a doctor,&mdash;and his stove <span class="pagenum"><a id="page272" name="page272"></a>(p. 272)</span>
+smoked frightfully till we discovered a dead starling in the pipe,&mdash;we
+dwelt in exceeding comfort, comparatively speaking. It was a brewer's
+house, about the biggest in the village&mdash;which was three times the
+size of <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span>,&mdash;with real furniture in it, a real dining-room
+(horribly cold, as the stove refused to work), and a most comfortable
+series of highly civilized bedrooms. (Last time I was in the
+neighbourhood&mdash;August 1915&mdash;there was long grass in the streets, not a
+soul in the place, half the houses in absolute ruins, and our late
+quarters with one side missing and three parts of the house as well.)
+The trenches were much less pestered with shells and bullets than the
+<span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span> lot, and it was easier work altogether for the men. We quite
+enjoyed it, and on Xmas Day so did the Germans. For they came out of
+their trenches and walked across unarmed, with boxes of cigars and
+seasonable remarks. What were our men to do? Shoot? You could not
+shoot unarmed men. Let them come? You could not let them come into
+your trenches; so the only thing feasible at the moment was done&mdash;and
+some of our men met them halfway and began talking to them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page273" name="page273"></a>(p. 273)</span> We got into trouble for doing it. But, after all, it is
+difficult to see what we could otherwise have done, unless we shot the
+very first unarmed man who showed himself&mdash;<span lang="fr"><i>pour encourager les
+autres</i></span>; but we did not know what he was going to do. Meanwhile our
+officers got excellent close views of the German trenches, and we
+profited accordingly; the <span lang="fr">Boche</span> did not, for he was not allowed close
+enough to ours.</p>
+
+<p>Which reminds me that on one occasion, when going round the trenches,
+I asked a man whether he had had any shots at the Germans. He
+responded that there was an elderly gentleman with a bald head and a
+long beard who often showed himself over the parapet.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, why didn't you shoot him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot him?" said the man; "why, Lor' bless you, sir, 'e's never done
+<i>me</i> no 'arm!" A case of "live and let live," which is certainly not
+to be encouraged. But cold-blooded murder is never popular with our
+men.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of anecdotes, and the trend of our men's minds, I heard that
+on another occasion a groom, an otherwise excellent creature, wrote
+home to his "girl" thus: "Me and the master rode out to the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page274" name="page274"></a>(p. 274)</span>
+trenches last night. We was attacked by a strong German patrol. I nips
+off me horse, pulls out my rifle and shoots two of them, and the rest
+bolted." Not a single atom of truth in the story, except that he was
+nestling in a warm stable at an advanced village, whilst his master
+was shivering in the mud of the trenches that night.</p>
+
+<p>Another gem was a statement by a Transport officer's servant that he
+had shot 1200 Germans himself with a machine-gun. This was a man who,
+I verily believe, had never even been within earshot of a gun, much
+less seen a German, his duties being exclusively several miles in rear
+of the firing line. And, being a civilian up till quite recently, I am
+sure he did not know the muzzle of a maxim from its breech.</p>
+
+<p>During our tours in "Divisional reserve" we generally spent the time
+in <span lang="nl"><abbr title="Sint">St</abbr> Jan's Cappel</span> (already described) or <span lang="fr">Bailleul</span>. The latter town,
+with its rather quaint old brick fourteenth-century church, porched <span lang="fr"><i>à
+la</i> Louis Quinze</span>, was tolerable rather than admirable. Nothing of
+civil interest, and hardly anything to buy except magnificent grapes
+from the <span lang="fr">"Grapperies,"</span> even in <span class="pagenum"><a id="page275" name="page275"></a>(p. 275)</span> November. We housed a
+battalion or more in the man's series of greenhouses, and he
+responded&mdash;after several more battalions had been quartered
+there&mdash;with a claim for 2,000,000 francs. He could not prove that a
+single pane of glass or any of his vines had been broken, nor any
+grapes stolen, for indeed they had not been, but he based his claim on
+the damage done to them by tobacco smoke (which I always thought was
+particularly good for them), and by the report of the big guns, which
+shattered the vines' nerves so that he was sure they would not produce
+again (also a fallacy, for I had some more excellent grapes there
+nearly a year afterwards&mdash;September '15). I did not hear what
+compensation he got, but he would have been lucky to get 20 francs.</p>
+
+<p>I once went into a poorly furnished watchmaker's shop, but the lady
+there could do nothing for my watch. She told me that, being an
+optician in a small way as well, she had had a whole stock of
+spectacles and glasses. When the Germans came through the town in
+October, they demanded fieldglasses. The few ones she had they stole,
+and then because she had no more they stole her watchmaker's tools,
+and swept all <span class="pagenum"><a id="page276" name="page276"></a>(p. 276)</span> the spectacles and glasses and watches on to
+the floor and stamped them to powder.</p>
+
+<p>There is really little more to relate about our time at <span lang="fr">Dranoutre</span> and
+neighbourhood. It was a time of a certain amount of nerve-strain, for
+we all knew that our trenches were by no means perfect, and that if
+the enemy did attack us we should have great difficulty in bringing up
+reserves in time to beat them off; for we could not keep them under
+cover within decent range&mdash;there were no billets or houses,&mdash;and if we
+dug trenches for them they were not only exposed to the enemy's shell
+fire but were certain to be half full of water in two days; whilst we
+could not get anything like enough trench stores and timber, and what
+we did get we had enormous difficulty in bringing up to the trenches.</p>
+
+<p>During all this time the artillery helped us all they knew, and were
+extremely well run, first by Ballard, then Saunders, and then Sandys,
+as Brigade Commanders. But they were badly handicapped by want of
+shells, especially howitzer high explosives, and we had to suffer a
+great deal of shell fire without returning it.</p>
+
+<p>We used to average about four casualties <span class="pagenum"><a id="page277" name="page277"></a>(p. 277)</span> a day in each
+battalion, say fifteen to twenty a day in the Brigade, which made a
+big hole in the strengths. Officers were always getting killed&mdash;often,
+alas, their own fault, through excess of zeal; and men used
+perpetually to lose their lives through getting out of the trenches in
+order to stretch their half-frozen limbs. Sickness was, strange to
+say, almost negligible. There were far more cases of arthritis and
+other things due to cold wet feet than anything else; and the men were
+extraordinarily healthy, comparatively speaking, considering the
+desperately uncomfortable hard life.</p>
+
+<p>General Morland was, of course, commanding the Division during this
+time, and used to come nearly every morning in his car to see us; also
+Sir C. Fergusson, now Corps Commander, often came.</p>
+
+<p>But during the whole of that winter there was very little for the
+higher commands to do, except to collect and send up material for the
+trenches, and to try and keep pace with the German developments&mdash;for
+we could do little or nothing in the way of offensive action.</p>
+
+<p>I tried to get the thing neatly organised, as to stores and times and
+amounts and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page278" name="page278"></a>(p. 278)</span> transport for taking the things up to the
+trenches; but it was very difficult, as sometimes there were no
+engineer stores to be had, or the wires got broken by shell fire and
+took a long time to repair, or it was more urgent to bring up rations
+or water or ammunition, and the requisite transport for all was not
+available. But all the same, the trenches gradually improved.</p>
+
+<p>At last, on the 18th February, we got news that there was to be a move
+from our present line. The fact was that the 28th Division (also the
+27th), composed of white troops from India and other tropical places,
+had had an exceedingly nasty time. Many of the men were rotten with
+fever, and the cold wet weather had sent scores and scores into
+hospital. They had been put into the trenches round <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Éloi</span> to relieve
+the French, who had held all the line round here chiefly with their
+field artillery and a very few men; and the trenches were,
+consequently, most sketchy, according to British ideas, and the
+approaches under heavy fire. The French did not mind, for, if they
+were shelled out of their trenches, as often happened, they just
+skipped out of them and turned their <span class="pagenum"><a id="page279" name="page279"></a>(p. 279)</span> guns on till the
+Germans were cleared out; and then they went back again. But this sort
+of thing did not suit us; and when the Germans did attack our trenches
+here they took a good many and we lost a lot of men, especially when
+we tried to counter-attack and retake them. So the 28th Division was
+<i>hors de combat</i> for the moment, and was sent down to recuperate in a
+quieter area&mdash;which was that of the 5th Division.</p>
+
+<p>Our orders were for the 13th and 15th Brigades to move north to <span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr>
+Éloi</span> and be replaced by the 83rd and 84th Brigades. This was done,&mdash;a
+most complicated move, for the 84th Brigade, which fell to our lot,
+was composed of four very weak battalions, and we had five battalions,
+mostly rather strong; and by the 24th February we had six battalions,
+including the 9th Londons (an excellent battalion) and 6th Cheshires
+(a strong and hard-working one).</p>
+
+<p>We ought to have been relieved, in the normal state of affairs, on the
+17th February, but we were kept on, as a matter of fact, till the
+27th, because of this new arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>On that morning I received word that <span class="pagenum"><a id="page280" name="page280"></a>(p. 280)</span> an extraordinary lamp
+message had been read during the night in the enemy's lines by a
+signaller of the 6th Cheshires. It was a long, confused message in
+English, repeating that "the hill" was going to be attacked at noon on
+that day, with messages about "B.C. codes"&mdash;whatever that may
+be,&mdash;trumpery wire entanglements, the unready English, good leading
+essential, &amp;c., and a lot of other undecipherable nonsense. The whole
+message had lasted nearly two hours, with interruptions and
+repetitions. I did not know what to make of it. It was probably a
+"leg-pull," or somebody practising his English; but as there was a
+1000 to 1 chance of its being sent by some sympathiser in our front,
+and of the projected "attack" being a real one, I sent two companies
+down as a reserve to the Bus Farm in our reserve line, and held a
+battery ready before its time. But nothing happened, and we were
+relieved without incident.</p>
+
+<p>Bols, by the way, had, from commanding the Dorsets, been appointed to
+command the 84th Brigade, and he took over before leaving, on the day
+before we left. I was very sorry indeed to lose him, but knew
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="page281" name="page281"></a>(p. 281)</span> that, once his foot was well on the ladder, he would go
+right ahead&mdash;as he has.<a id="footnotetag27" name="footnotetag27"></a><a href="#footnote27">[27]</a> The same applied to Ballard, who also had
+been given a Brigade&mdash;the 7th.</p>
+
+<p>The 15th Brigade thereupon retired into billets at <span lang="fr">Bailleul</span>, with
+orders to stay there for three days only, and then to go straight to
+<span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Éloi</span> and take over these trenches of the 28th Division. Not much
+rest&mdash;twenty days in the trenches, three out, and then trenches again.</p>
+
+<p>As regards myself, however, my days of connection with the Brigade
+were numbered. I had heard, with mixed but pleasant feelings, that I
+had been promoted Major-General "for distinguished service" on the
+18th February (Weatherby got a brevet majority in the same 'Gazette'),
+and I was now ordered to go home and report myself in London. My
+successor was to be Northey, of the 60th Rifles, from <span lang="fr">Givenchy</span> way,
+and he turned up on the 2nd March at our Headquarters, which were then
+at 28 <span lang="fr">Rue de Lille</span>. I at once recognised that he would carry on
+excellently well, and had no compunction in leaving the command in his
+hands. All <span class="pagenum"><a id="page282" name="page282"></a>(p. 282)</span> that was left for me to do was to take a tender
+farewell of the officers of the Brigade and of my staff, and to
+publish a final farewell order to the old Brigade. I was very sad at
+leaving, and had I known what an awful time they were going to have at
+<span lang="fr"><abbr title="Saint">St</abbr> Éloi</span> and Hill 60, I should have been sadder still.<a id="footnotetag28" name="footnotetag28"></a><a href="#footnote28">[28]</a> Of all the
+regimental officers and men who had left Ireland with me on the 14th
+August 1914, six and a half months previously, I could count on my ten
+fingers the number of officers left:&mdash;</p>
+
+<ul class="text">
+<li>Norfolks&mdash;Done<a id="footnotetag29" name="footnotetag29"></a><a href="#footnote29">[29]</a> and Bruce (both ill in
+    hospital from strenuous overwork),
+    Megaw (killed later), Paterson.</li>
+
+<li>Dorsets&mdash;Ransome, Partridge.</li>
+
+<li>Bedfords&mdash;Griffith<a href="#footnote29">[29]</a> (trustiest of <abbr title="Commanding Officer">C.O.</abbr>'s,
+    who had been under heavier fire than
+    almost any one in the Brigade, yet never
+    touched), Allason (thrice wounded), Gledstanes
+    (killed later).</li>
+
+<li>Cheshires&mdash;Frost (killed later).</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>I do not think there was another officer except the
+quartermasters&mdash;Smith (Norfolks), <span class="pagenum"><a id="page283" name="page283"></a>(p. 283)</span> Sproule (Cheshires), and
+Pearce (Bedfords)<a id="footnotetag30" name="footnotetag30"></a><a href="#footnote30">[30]</a>; and as for the men, there may have been ten or
+so per battalion, but I really do not think there were more.</p>
+
+<p>I took the evening train at <span lang="fr">Bailleul</span> and spent an agreeable evening
+with Ker Seymer, the train officer. I got to <span lang="fr">Boulogne</span> and on board the
+boat at midnight, and next day, the 3rd March, saw me arrive at 8.30
+<span class="smcap">A.M.</span> in London.</p>
+
+<h4>PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.</h4>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a>
+<b>Footnote 1:</b> 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. D. C.
+Boger).<a href="#footnotetag1">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a>
+<b>Footnote 2:</b> 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Griffith,
+<abbr title="Distinguished Service Order">D.S.O.</abbr>).<a href="#footnotetag2">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a>
+<b>Footnote 3:</b> 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. L. J. Bols,
+<abbr title="Distinguished Service Order">D.S.O.</abbr>).<a href="#footnotetag3">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a>
+<b>Footnote 4:</b> 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R.
+Ballard).<a href="#footnotetag4">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a>
+<b>Footnote 5:</b> Hyslop was very severely wounded six days afterwards and
+taken prisoner, but exchanged later on.<a href="#footnotetag5">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a>
+<b>Footnote 6:</b> He was subsequently awarded the <abbr title="Distinguished Service Order">D.S.O.</abbr> and <span lang="fr">Croix de
+Guerre (aux Palmes)</span> for excellent and gallant work achieved under
+fire.<a href="#footnotetag6">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a>
+<b>Footnote 7:</b> Commanding of course the 2nd Corps (composed of the 3rd
+and 5th Divisions).<a href="#footnotetag7">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a>
+<b>Footnote 8:</b> So called because similar guns in the South African war
+had been drawn by oxen.<a href="#footnotetag8">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a>
+<b>Footnote 9:</b> Commanding the Norfolk's.<a href="#footnotetag9">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a>
+<b>Footnote 10:</b> I grieve very much to see that he was fatally wounded
+outside <span lang="fr">Ypres</span> (15th May 1916).<a href="#footnotetag10">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a>
+<b>Footnote 11:</b> They are still there (August 1917)!<a href="#footnotetag11">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a>
+<b>Footnote 12:</b> Nearly halfway to <span lang="fr">Violaines</span>.<a href="#footnotetag12">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a>
+<b>Footnote 13:</b> Who had been with me as a Major in Belfast&mdash;a most
+capable officer, now (1917) commanding a Division.<a href="#footnotetag13">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a>
+<b>Footnote 14:</b> Temporarily commanding 13th Brigade.<a href="#footnotetag14">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote15" name="footnote15"></a>
+<b>Footnote 15:</b> I was struck with his wonderful command of English&mdash;not
+the trace of any accent.<a href="#footnotetag15">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote16" name="footnote16"></a>
+<b>Footnote 16:</b> My late Brigade-Major at Belfast, now, alas! killed (on
+the <span lang="fr">Somme</span>, 1916).<a href="#footnotetag16">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote17" name="footnote17"></a>
+<b>Footnote 17:</b> Really only a half roofed-in little trench, marked H on
+the map.<a href="#footnotetag17">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote18" name="footnote18"></a>
+<b>Footnote 18:</b> "Stirling Castle" on our present maps.<a href="#footnotetag18">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote19" name="footnote19"></a>
+<b>Footnote 19:</b> To everybody's great regret, he was killed in October
+1915.<a href="#footnotetag19">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote20" name="footnote20"></a>
+<b>Footnote 20:</b> This is a fact, though I cannot explain it.<a href="#footnotetag20">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote21" name="footnote21"></a>
+<b>Footnote 21:</b> My old battalion.<a href="#footnotetag21">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote22" name="footnote22"></a>
+<b>Footnote 22:</b> It does indeed seem extraordinary now that in those
+strenuous days of 1914 we only had about three machine-guns to two
+battalions. Nowadays we should have at least twenty!<a href="#footnotetag22">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote23" name="footnote23"></a>
+<b>Footnote 23:</b> What would now be known as "trench feet."<a href="#footnotetag23">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote24" name="footnote24"></a>
+<b>Footnote 24:</b> The victor of Baghdad.<a href="#footnotetag24">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote25" name="footnote25"></a>
+<b>Footnote 25:</b> Locally pronounced <span lang="fr">Mersé</span>.<a href="#footnotetag25">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote26" name="footnote26"></a>
+<b>Footnote 26:</b> He had received the <abbr title="Victoria Cross">V.C.</abbr> for a particularly plucky piece
+of raft work under heavy fire at <span lang="fr">Missy</span>.<a href="#footnotetag26">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote27" name="footnote27"></a>
+<b>Footnote 27:</b> He is now (1917) Major-General.<a href="#footnotetag27">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote28" name="footnote28"></a>
+<b>Footnote 28:</b> They lost 2400 men out of not quite 4000 in a fortnight
+in April.<a href="#footnotetag28">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote29" name="footnote29"></a>
+<b>Footnote 29:</b> Now (1917) commanding a Brigade.<a href="#footnotetag29">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p class="footnote"><a id="footnote30" name="footnote30"></a>
+<b>Footnote 30:</b> The Dorset one had been promoted.<a href="#footnotetag30">(Back to main text)</a></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH INFANTRY BRIGADE***</p>
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@@ -0,0 +1,6190 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade,
+by Edward Lord Gleichen
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade
+       August 1914 to March 1915
+
+
+Author: Edward Lord Gleichen
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 14, 2007  [eBook #22074]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH
+INFANTRY BRIGADE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Clarke, Christine P. Travers, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from
+digital material generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian
+Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/toronto)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 22074-h.htm or 22074-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/7/22074/22074-h/22074-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/7/22074/22074-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/fifteenthbrigad00gleiuoft
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. All other
+      inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's
+      spelling has been preserved.
+
+      The missing word "in" has been added in the sentence:
+         However, I detached the Dorsets to move along the
+         canal bank from Gorre and get in touch with the French.
+
+         Weatherby, who had cantered off to get in touch with them,...
+
+
+
+
+
+THE DOINGS OF THE
+FIFTEENTH INFANTRY BRIGADE
+AUGUST 1914 TO MARCH 1915
+
+
+
+[Illustration: L. de St. A. -- J. T. W. -- G. -- A. L. M.-B. -- R. E. B.
+_photo by Lieut. H. M. Cadell, R.E._ Some Of Brigade Headquarters.]
+
+
+
+
+THE DOINGS OF THE
+FIFTEENTH INFANTRY BRIGADE
+AUGUST 1914 TO MARCH 1915
+
+by
+
+Its Commander
+
+Brigadier-General COUNT GLEICHEN,
+(now Major-General Lord Edward Gleichen),
+K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+William Blackwood & Sons
+Edinburgh and London
+1917
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+
+The following pages--not in the first instance intended for
+publication--contain an expanded version of the very scrappy Diary
+which I kept in France from day to day.
+
+The version was intended for private home consumption only, and has
+necessarily had to be pruned of certain personal matters before being
+allowed to make its bow to the public. I have purposely refrained from
+adding to it in the light of subsequent events.
+
+I trust that the reader will consequently bear in mind the essentially
+individual and impressionist aspects of this little work, and will not
+expect to find either rigidly historical, professional, or critical
+matter therein.
+
+                                        G.
+  _14th August 1917._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                       Pages
+  Up to the Eve of Mons................................ 1-21
+
+  The Battle of Mons.................................. 22-38
+
+  Mons to Le Cateau................................... 39-43
+
+  Le Cateau........................................... 44-56
+
+  The Retreat......................................... 57-86
+
+  The Advance......................................... 87-93
+
+  The Marne.......................................... 94-102
+
+  To the Aisne...................................... 103-111
+
+  The Aisne......................................... 112-140
+
+  Westward Ho!...................................... 141-149
+
+  Abbeville to Bethune.............................. 150-157
+
+  Givenchy and Festubert............................ 158-198
+
+  To Bailleul....................................... 199-205
+
+  To Ypres.......................................... 206-208
+
+  The First Battle of Ypres......................... 209-248
+
+  Back to Locre..................................... 249-251
+
+  Trench Life Opposite Messines..................... 252-280
+
+  Giving Up Command................................. 281-283
+
+
+SKETCH-MAPS.
+
+                                                        Page
+  Boussu-Wasmes.......................................... 28
+
+  Missy-on-Aisne........................................ 123
+
+  Givenchy-Violaines.................................... 167
+
+  The Footbridge over the Canal......................... 175
+
+  Beukenhorst (near Ypres).............................. 211
+
+  The Messines Front.................................... 255
+
+
+ILLUSTRATION.
+
+
+  Some of Brigade Headquarters                _Frontispiece_
+
+
+
+
+The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade.
+
+August 1914 to March 1915.
+
+
+In accordance with the order received at Belfast at 5.30 P.M. on the
+4th, the 15th Brigade started mobilizing on the 5th August 1914, and
+by the 10th was complete in all respects. We were practically ready by
+the 9th, but a machine-gun or two and some harness were a bit late
+arriving from Dublin--not our fault. Everything had already been
+rehearsed at mobilization inspections, held as usual in the early
+summer, and all went like clock-work. On the 8th we got our final
+orders to embark on the 14th, and on the 11th the embarkation orders
+arrived in detail.
+
+Brigade Headquarters consisted of myself, Captain Weatherby (Oxford
+L.I.) as Brigade Major, Captain Moulton-Barrett (Dorsets), Staff
+Captain, Captain Roe (Dorsets), Brigade Machine-Gun Officer,
+Lieutenant Cadell, R.E., Signalling Officer, and Lieutenant Beilby,
+Brigade Veterinary Officer. Military Police, A.S.C. drivers, postmen,
+and all sorts of odds and ends arrived from apparently nowhere in
+particular, and fitted together with extraordinary little effort. The
+battalions grew to unheard-of sizes, and by the time that all was
+complete the Brigade numbered 127 officers, 3958 men, 258 horses, and
+74 vehicles.
+
+
+_Aug. 14th._
+
+The Cheshires[1] and Bedfords[2] arrived by train in the early morning
+of the 14th from 'Derry and Mullingar and went straight on board their
+ships--Brigade Headquarters, Dorsets,[3] and half the Norfolks[4]
+being in one, Cheshires and the other half of the Norfolks in another,
+and the Bedfords in a third.
+
+         [Footnote 1: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. D. C. Boger).]
+
+         [Footnote 2: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Griffith, D.S.O.).]
+
+         [Footnote 3: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. L. J. Bols, D.S.O.).]
+
+         [Footnote 4: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Ballard).]
+
+Great waving of handkerchiefs and cheering as we warped slowly out of
+Belfast docks at 3 P.M. and moved slowly down the channel.
+
+
+_Aug. 16th._
+
+The weather was beautifully fine on the passage, and on the 16th we
+all arrived at our destination.
+
+The Bedfords had arrived on the previous tide to ourselves, and were
+already fast alongside the quay. Orders were received from the
+Disembarking Officer, and we disembarked and formed up independently
+and marched off to Rest Camp No. 8, six miles off on the hills above
+Havre.
+
+It had been pouring heavily on shore for two days, though it was quite
+fine when we landed; so the ground where we were to encamp was mostly
+sopping. It was not easy to find in the dark, especially as the
+sketch-maps with which we were provided most distinctly acted up to
+their names. Added to these difficulties, a motor-lorry had stuck on
+the way up and blocked our transport for the night. I rode ahead
+alone, but had immense difficulty in finding the Brigade Headquarters
+Camp, which was quite a long way from the other battalion camps.
+These were dotted on the open fields at some distance from each other,
+and pitched in no particular order, so that by the time I had got my
+bearings and brought in the battalions, it was about 11 P.M. There was
+of course no baggage, nor anything to sleep on except the bare ground
+under the tents, with our saddles for pillows; and as a pleasant
+excitement nearly all our horses stampeded about 2 A.M., tore up their
+picketing-pegs from the soft ground, and disappeared into the darkness
+in different directions.
+
+
+_Aug. 17th._
+
+Daylight, however, brought relief, and a certain amount of our
+transport; and all the horses were discovered in course of time and
+brought back. Most of the morning was spent, unsuccessfully, in trying
+to bring up the remaining transport up a steep and narrow road which
+was the only alternative to the blocked one. But some of the horses
+jibbed, and we had eventually to give it up and bring up supplies by
+hand.
+
+The battalions were comfortably settled down under the expectation of
+another night there; but at 2.15 P.M. we got orders to move off by
+train at night. This we did from three different stations, at times
+varying from 12 midnight to 5.45 A.M., having arrived according to
+order at the stations four hours previously. This is the French
+system, allowing four hours for the entraining of a unit. Although a
+lot of manhandling had to be done, and the trucks were not what we had
+been accustomed to, we all entrained in about forty minutes, so had
+any amount of time to spare.
+
+Silver (my first charger) was very bobbery as usual, and it took a
+good half-hour to persuade him to enter his truck. Once in, he slept
+like a lamb.
+
+
+_Aug. 18th._
+
+We were comfortable enough, though packed like sardines, and with
+three-quarters of an hour's rest at Rouen for coffee, and another rest
+at Amiens--where we heard that poor General Grierson, our Corps
+Commander, was dead--broke a blood-vessel in the train--we arrived at
+Busigny at 2.15 P.M. Here we found Captain Hyslop[5] (Dorsets), who
+had been sent ahead from Belfast, and who gave us orders to detrain at
+Le Cateau, a few miles farther on. I must say that all these
+disembarking and training arrangements were extraordinarily well done,
+and reflected great credit on the Allied staffs combined. No hitch, no
+fuss, no worry, everybody got their orders in time, and all necessary
+arrangements had been carefully thought out beforehand.
+
+         [Footnote 5: Hyslop was very severely wounded six days
+         afterwards and taken prisoner, but exchanged later on.]
+
+We arrived at Le Cateau at 3.10 P.M., and detrained in half an hour,
+baggage and all. The battalions marched off to their billets,--Dorsets
+and Headquarters to Ors, the other three battalions to Pommereuil:
+nice clean little villages both of them.
+
+When about halfway out to Ors--I was riding on ahead of the Brigade
+with only Weatherby--we were met by a motor bikist with a cypher
+telegram for me. This stumped us completely, as, not yet having
+reported to the Division, we had not yet received the local field
+cypher-word; so, seeing a car approaching with some "brass hats" in
+it, I rode across the road and stopped it, with a view to getting the
+key. To my horror, Sir John French and Sir A. Murray descended from
+the car and demanded to know why I had stopped them. I explained and
+apologised, and they were very pleasant about it; but on looking at
+the wire they said that I could disregard it, as they knew what it
+was about, and it was of no particular importance by this time; so we
+pursued our way in peace.
+
+The billeting had already been done for us by our (5th) Divisional
+Staff, and we found no difficulty in shaking down.
+
+I was billeted on a small elderly lady of the name of Madame W----,
+who was kindness itself, and placed herself and her house at our
+disposal; but I regret to say that when our men, in search of
+firewood, picked up some old bits of plank lying about in the garden,
+she at first made a shocking fuss, tried to make out that it was a
+whole timber stack of new wood, and demanded fifty francs
+compensation. She eventually took two francs and was quite content.
+
+Here it was that Saint Andre joined us, having been cast off by the
+5th Divisional Staff at Landrecies as a superfluous interpreter.
+Looking like an ordinary French subaltern with a pince-nez, he was in
+fact a Protestant pastor from Tours, son of the Vicomte de Saint
+Andre, very intelligent and "cultured," with a great sense of humour
+and extremely keen. I really cannot speak too highly of him, for he
+was a most useful addition to the Staff. In billeting and
+requisitioning, and in all matters requiring tact in connection with
+the inhabitants or the French Army, he was invaluable. I used him
+later as A.D.C. in action, and as _Officier de liaison_ with the
+French troops. I don't know what his knowledge of divinity may have
+been, but if it was anything like equal to his military knowledge it
+must have been considerable. He had studied theology at Edinburgh, and
+his English was very fluent, luckily untouched by a Scottish accent.
+He was always bubbling over with vitality and go, and plunged into
+English with the recklessness of his race; when he couldn't express
+himself clearly he invented words which were the joy of the
+Mess,--"pilliate," "whizzle," "contemporative," and dozens of others
+that I can't remember; and what used to charm us particularly was that
+he so often went out of his way to put the accent on the wrong
+syllable, such as in bilyetting, brigade, attack, ambassador, &c. He
+was, indeed, a great acquisition to the Brigade.[6]
+
+         [Footnote 6: He was subsequently awarded the D.S.O. and Croix
+         de Guerre (aux Palmes) for excellent and gallant work
+         achieved under fire.]
+
+
+_Aug. 19th._
+
+Next morning I rode across to have a look at the other battalions. The
+transport horses of the Cheshires were perhaps not all they might have
+been, but it was the particular stamp of Derry horse that was at
+fault, and not the battalion arrangements. Otherwise we were ready for
+the fray.
+
+
+_Aug. 20th._
+
+We had arrived on the Tuesday (18th), and on the Thursday Sir C.
+Fergusson (commanding 5th Division) paraded the Brigade by battalions
+and made them a short speech, telling us we were to move on the
+morrow, and giving us a few technical tips about the Germans and how
+to meet their various wiles, largely about machine-guns and their
+methods of attack in large numbers. The Bedfords were the most
+interested audience, and interrupted him every now and then with
+"'Ear, 'ear," and a little handclapping at important points. I think
+the General was a little nonplussed at this attention: I know I was.
+Whether it was due or not to the audience being accustomed to
+attending political meetings at home, or to the air of Bedfordshire
+being extremely vitalising I don't know, but once or twice afterwards
+when the battalion was addressed by General Smith Dorrien,[7] and even
+by Sir J. French, they showed their approbation in the manner above
+set forth--somewhat to my confusion.
+
+         [Footnote 7: Commanding of course the 2nd Corps (composed of
+         the 3rd and 5th Divisions).]
+
+
+_Aug. 21st._
+
+Next day we moved off early. I already found myself overburdened with
+kit--although I had not even as much as the regulation 150 lb.--and I
+left a camp-bed and a thick waistcoat and various odds and ends behind
+in Madame W----'s cupboard, under the firm belief that I might at some
+future period send for it if I wanted it. Alas! the Germans have now
+been at Ors for close on three years.
+
+A hot march of about fifteen miles brought us to Gommignies.
+Stragglers, I regret to say, were already many--all of them
+reservists, who had not carried a pack for years. They had every
+intention of keeping up, of course, but simply could not. I talked to
+several of them and urged them along, but the answer was always the
+same--"Oh, I'll get along all right, sir, after a bit of rest; but I
+ain't accustomed to carrying a big weight like this on a hot day," and
+their scarlet streaming faces certainly bore out their views. To do
+them justice, they practically all did turn up. I was afraid that, in
+spite of great care and the numerous orders I had issued about the
+fitting and greasing of new boots, it was the boots which were at
+fault; but it was not so, except in a very few cases.
+
+Our billeting parties had, of course, been sent ahead and started on
+their work. It was naturally quite new work to them, and it took a lot
+of time at first--two and three hours--before the men were settled.
+Nowadays it takes half an hour, or at most an hour, as everybody knows
+his job, and also takes what is given him at once, squash or no
+squash. After a little campaigning men very quickly find out that it
+is better to shake down at once, even in uncomfortable billets, than
+to hang about and try to get better ones. Here we got first touch,
+though very indirectly, with the enemy, in the shape of a French
+patrol of _Chasseurs a Cheval_ (in extraordinarily _voyant_
+light-blue tunics and shakos), who had come in from somewhere north
+after having seen some "Uhlans" and hunted them off. I sent the news,
+such as it was, on to the Division.
+
+And here I must lay stress on the fact that throughout the campaign we
+did not know in the least what was happening elsewhere. Beyond the
+fact that the 3rd Division was somewhere on our right, and that the
+French cavalry was believed to be covering our left front, we did not
+know at this period what the movement was about or where the Germans
+were supposed to be. We trusted to our superiors to do what was
+necessary, and plunged blindly into the "fog of war."
+
+The usual proceedings on the ordinary line of march were that, on
+receiving "Divisional Orders," which arrived at any time in the
+afternoon, or often at night, we compiled "Brigade Orders" on them.
+Divisional Orders give one first of all any information about the
+enemy which it is advisable to impart, then the intention of the
+Divisional General--whether he means to fight on the morrow, or march,
+or stay where he is, &c., &c.; and if he means to march he gives the
+direction in which the Division is to proceed, the order of march, by
+brigades, artillery, divisional troops such as R.E., heavy batteries,
+divisional cavalry, &c., &c., and generally says where and how the
+transport is to march, whether with its own troops or some way behind,
+and if so, where; and gives directions as to the supplies, where the
+refilling-point, rendezvous for supply carts, and railhead are, and
+many other odds and ends, especially as to which brigade is to provide
+the advanced- or rear-guard, who is to command it, at what time the
+head of the column and the heads of all the formations are to pass a
+given point, and so on. On receiving these orders we have to make out
+and issue similarly composed Brigade Orders in detail, giving the
+order of march of the battalions and Brigade Headquarters, how much
+rations are to be carried on the men and in the cook-waggons, what is
+to happen to the supply and baggage waggons, whether B transport
+(vehicles not absolutely necessary in the fighting line) are to be
+with the A transport in rear of their respective battalions, or to be
+bunched up by themselves behind the Brigade, with similar detailed
+orders about the advanced-guard or rear-guard, and the time to a
+minute as to when each detail is to pass a given point, the position
+of the Brigadier in the column, the point to which reports are to be
+sent, &c., &c. These orders might be written in anything from fifteen
+to fifty minutes according to the movement required, and then had to
+be quadruplicated and sent out to the battalions by their respective
+orderlies, or by wire. By the time the battalions had written out and
+transmitted their own orders to their companies it was sometimes very
+late indeed; but as the campaign went on, orders got more and more
+simplified somehow, and things got done quicker than at the beginning
+of the _premier pas_.
+
+The country through which we were passing was that technically
+described by novelists as "smiling." That is to say, it was pretty, in
+a mild sort of way, clean, green, with tidy farmhouses and cottages,
+and fields about ripe for the harvest. Plenty of orchards there were
+too, with lots of fruit-trees alongside the roads, and the people were
+most kind in offering us fruit and milk and water and coffee and even
+wine as we went along. But this could not be allowed on the march, as
+it would have led to men falling out without permission, and also to
+drinking more than was good for them whilst marching. Except,
+therefore, occasionally, and then only during the ten minutes' halt
+that we had in each hour, I did not allow these luxuries to be
+accepted.
+
+Gommignies was a nice shady little town, and the Notaire gave me an
+excellent bedroom in his big house; whilst I remember that I made
+acquaintance there with the excellent penny cigar of the country.
+
+
+_Aug. 22nd._
+
+Off at cock-crow next day, the country got uglier, blacker, more
+industrial, and more thickly populated as we pushed on through the
+heat, and by the time we crossed the Belgian frontier we felt indeed
+that we were in another land.
+
+The beastly paved road with cobbles, just broad enough for one vehicle
+and extremely painful to the feet, whilst the remainder of the road on
+both sides was deep in dust or caked mud, was a most offensive
+feature; the people staring and crowding round the troops were quite a
+different type from the courteous French peasants; and whilst in
+France not a single able-bodied civilian had been visible--all having
+joined the Army--in Belgium the streets were crowded with men who, we
+felt most strongly, ought to have been fighting in the ranks.
+
+There was a great block in Dour, which we reached after a
+fourteen-mile march, and in spite of all attempts at keeping the
+streets clear it was some time before we could get through. Part of
+the Division was halting there for the night, and the municipal
+authorities were extremely slow in allotting billets and keeping their
+civilian waggons in order.
+
+From Dour onwards it was a big straggling sort of suburban
+town--tramways down the side, dirty little houses lining the street,
+great chimneys belching (I believe that is the correct term) volumes
+of black smoke, huge mountains of slag in all directions, rusty
+brickfields littered with empty tins, old paper, and bits of iron, and
+other similarly unlovely views. The only thing to be said in favour of
+this industrial scrap-heap was that the smoke was not quite so sooty
+as it looked, and things one touched did not "come off" quite so black
+as might have been expected. Otherwise there was no attraction.
+
+Half a mile on or more was Bois de Boussu, and here we were halted to
+allow of a cavalry brigade moving down the street. We waited some
+time, and eventually it arrived, not coming down the street but across
+it from east to west. I am ashamed to say that I have forgotten which
+it was, but the 4th Dragoon Guards, I think, were in it. They crossed
+at a trot, men and horses both looking very fit and workmanlike, and
+disappeared westwards through the haze of the factories; any more
+impossible country for cavalry--except perhaps the London Docks--I
+have never seen.
+
+We shortly afterwards got orders to billet in Bois de Boussu and Dour,
+the real Boussu being another half mile on. But where the whole
+countryside was one vast straggling town, it was impossible to say
+where one town ended and the other began. Even the inhabitants didn't
+know.
+
+Moulton-Barrett and Saint Andre had already got to work on the
+billeting, and the Norfolks and Cheshires were shortly accommodated in
+some factories up the road, whilst the Bedfords and Dorsets were
+moved back nearly into Dour, into a brewery and some mine-offices
+respectively, if I remember rightly. Brigade Headquarters was
+installed in an ultra-modern Belgian house and garden belonging to one
+M. Durez, a very civil little man, head of some local mining concern.
+There was a Madame Durez too, plump and good-natured, and a girl and a
+boy, and they were profuse in their hospitality. The only drawback
+about the meals, excellent as they were, was the appalling length of
+time occupied in their preparation and consumption; it was almost
+impossible to get away from them, even though there was so much to do.
+
+So much was there to be done that I feel now as though we had been
+there a week, or at least three days; but on looking at my diary I
+find we arrived there at midday on Saturday the 22nd, and left at
+midnight on Sunday the 23rd.
+
+On the Saturday afternoon there were rumours of the Germans being on
+the other side of the Mons-Conde Canal, not far off. The 13th and 14th
+Brigades were in front of us, strung out and holding the Canal line,
+ourselves being in Divisional Reserve. Where the exact left of the 5th
+Division was I cannot remember at this moment, but I am sure that it
+was not farther west than Pommeroeul bridge, with, I believe, French
+or English cavalry on its left.
+
+Saturday afternoon was spent in studying the ground in our front and
+looking to the approaches and the arrangements for the Brigade. Our
+front was of course well covered, but there were numerous little
+matters to be seen to and a certain amount of confabulation with the
+Divisional Staff, which lived in the midst of a perpetual
+_va-et-vient_ at the railway station at Dour. Our horses were picketed
+out in M. Durez's garden and the grubby little fields close by, and
+the Signal section and all the vehicles were stowed away there as best
+could be arranged; but all was enclosed, cramped, and unhandy, and the
+difficulty was to get a clear space anywhere. I walked with M. Durez
+in the evening to a tiny mound in his garden, from which he assured me
+a good view could be got; but although the sunset and colouring
+through the haze was rather picturesque, one couldn't see much. Durez
+was very apprehensive about his family and himself, and was most
+urgent in his inquiries as to what was going to happen. I could not
+tell him much beyond the rumour that the German force in front was
+reported not to be very big, and I advised him to stick it out as long
+as he could; but he was restless, with good reason as it turned out,
+and settled next day to take himself and his family away whilst there
+was yet time.
+
+
+_Aug. 23rd._
+
+Next morning I got orders to go with Lieut.-Col. Tulloch, the
+Divisional Commanding Royal Engineer, to select a defensive position
+and entrench it. We got into a car, and went buzzing about in front of
+Boussu and round to the right as far as Wasmes; but I never saw such a
+hopeless place. There was no field of fire anywhere except to the
+left, just where the railway crossed the Boussu road, where, strange
+to say, the country opened out on to a "glacis-like" slope of stubble.
+Going was bad, up broken little roads over ground composed of a
+bewildering variety of slag-heaps 40 to 150 feet high, intersected
+with railway lines, mine heads, chimneys, industrial buildings,
+furnaces, and _usines_ of all sorts, and thickening into suburbs
+consisting of narrow winding little streets and grubby little
+workmen's houses. Here and there were open spaces and even green
+fields, but nowhere could a continuous field of fire be obtained. The
+only thing was to select various _points d'appui_ with some sort of
+command, and try and connect them up by patches of entrenchments; but
+even this was very difficult, as the line was so long and broken that
+no unity of command was possible, and the different patches were so
+separated and so uneven, some having to be in front of the general
+line and some in rear, that they often could not flank or even see
+each other.
+
+At about midday several cyclists came riding back in a great hurry
+from the Canal, saying they had been attacked by a big force of
+cavalry and been badly cut up; that they had lost all their officers
+and 20 or 30 men killed, and the rest taken prisoners. This was hardly
+a good beginning, but it eventually turned out that the grand total
+losses were 1 officer (Corah of the Bedfords) slightly wounded, 2 men
+killed, and 3 missing.
+
+Shortly after this the first German gun was heard--at 12.40 P.M. I
+timed it--and for the rest of the afternoon there was intermittent
+bombardment and numerous shell-bursts in the direction of the Canal,
+some of it our own Horse Artillery, but mostly German.
+
+When we had roughly settled on our line, I shouted to a crowd of
+curious natives who had come out to watch us, and did not seem
+particularly friendly--as they were not at all sure that we were not
+Germans--to get all their friends together with pickaxes and shovels
+and start digging entrenchments where we showed them. It was Sunday
+afternoon, and all the miners were loafing about with nothing to do.
+The idea rapidly caught on, and soon they were hurrying off home for
+their tools, whilst we got hold of the best-dressed and most
+authoritative-looking men and showed them what we wanted done. It was
+scratch work, in more senses than one, as we had no time to lose and
+could not superintend, but had to tear from one point to another,
+raising men and showing them where the lines were to go, how deep the
+trenches were to be made, which way the earth was to be thrown, and
+all the rest of it.
+
+On our way round we came also upon some batteries of field artillery,
+disconsolately wending their way through the narrow streets, and with
+their reconnoitring officers out in all directions looking for
+positions; but they found none, and the Artillery did but little in
+the way of shooting that night. With their present experience I expect
+they would have done a good deal more.
+
+Then we tore back, and I got the battalions out, or rather two
+companies of each battalion, set them to work, and sent out their
+other two companies to support them. The Norfolks were on the left, at
+the station, and eastwards down the line. Then came the Cheshires, a
+bit thrown back, in beastly enclosed country for the most part. One of
+the big slag-heaps had seemed to offer a good command, but to our
+disgust it was so hot that we could hardly stand on it, so that had to
+be given up. Other heaps again seemed to give a good position, and
+they were fairly cool; but when we scrambled up there was always
+something wrong--either there were more slag-heaps in front which
+blocked the view, or the heap ran to a point and there was not room
+for more than two men, or the slag-ridge faced the wrong way--it was a
+nightmare of a place.
+
+Beyond the Cheshires came the Dorsets and Bedfords, pretty well
+together, and occupying some trenches on a high railway embankment,
+&c., but the position was not really satisfactory, and if attacked in
+force at night it would be very difficult to see or guard against the
+approach of the enemy. Nor, as I heard afterwards, had the inhabitants
+dug the trenches anything like deep enough, so that they formed but
+poor protection against the rain of shells that began to pour on them
+at nightfall.
+
+All pointed to an attack by the enemy during the night or next day,
+but even then we had not the smallest idea of the enormous forces
+arrayed against us. We were told at first that there was perhaps a
+corps in front of us, but as a matter of fact there were three, if not
+four corps.
+
+Having distributed the battalions as ordered--I had no Brigade Reserve
+in hand, having to cover such a broad front (nearly three miles, when
+my normal front, according to the text-books, should have been about
+1000 yards)--myself and Brigade Headquarters were left rather "by our
+lone." M. and Madame Durez were packing up hard all, and disappeared
+with their friends and family before dinner in a big motor-car,
+making in the direction of Bavai St Waast, to the south, where they
+had friends; as, however, we retired through there next day I don't
+expect they stayed long, but continued their journey into France. I
+don't know what became of them. They had been most hospitable, and
+placed the house and everything in it, even a final dinner, at our
+disposal; but the poor people were, of course, in a great state of
+perturbation, and there was not much except the house itself that we
+could make use of.
+
+As we were finishing dinner further orders arrived from the Division.
+Weatherby and I cantered down to the Divisional Staff to learn
+details, and we got them shortly, to the effect that the Cheshires and
+Norfolks were to be left under direct command of the Divisional
+Commander, whilst Brigade Headquarters was to be at Paturages by
+sunrise on the morrow, and to hold that with our other two battalions
+on the right.
+
+We "fell in" the Brigade Headquarters about midnight and, after some
+trouble in securing guides, moved off through a labyrinth of streets
+in the warm dark. Our guides were local men, and we did not take long
+to get to Warquignies, in the main street of which we met the
+Headquarters of the 13th Brigade, minus their Brigadier. Here also
+were the K.O.S.B.'s in bivouac, acting as Brigade Reserve to their
+(13th) Brigade. The night was peaceful, and we pushed on after a short
+rest, getting at dawn to a steep hill which led down into Paturages.
+
+
+_Aug. 20th._
+
+The latter was a fine big town with paved streets and
+prosperous-looking houses, very different from the grubby streets of
+Boussu; but I was troubled about the hill street, as it was very steep
+and bad and narrow. How we should get the transport up it again in a
+hurry if it had to retire I did not know, and two eminently
+respectable inhabitants assured me that there was no other way back
+unless I went right up to Wasmes--from which direction firing was
+already beginning--and returned _via_ the north. That didn't look
+healthy for the transport, so I left most of the Brigade transport at
+the top of the hill and only brought down the Signal section.
+
+At the entrance into Paturages we found Currie, Cuthbert's (13th
+Brigade) Brigade Major, but Cuthbert was not there, so it was a little
+difficult to combine any action. However, we learnt that the other
+three battalions of the 13th Brigade were distributed in front of us
+on the north, and I received a message that the Dorsets and Bedfords
+had been obliged to fall back during the night and were holding the
+railway station at Wasmes and a bit east of that. The 13th Brigade had
+been along the line of the Canal the previous day and had been driven
+back by superior numbers, but had blown up some of the bridges. I
+heard afterwards that young Pottinger, a subaltern of the 17th Co.
+R.E., had been entrusted with blowing up one bridge, and that the
+charge had failed to explode. Whereupon he advanced under heavy fire
+close to the charge and had gallantly fired his revolver at it, which
+of course, as he knew, would have blown him sky-high with the bridge
+had he hit it. But either he missed the shot altogether or he hit the
+wrong part, and the thing didn't explode. And then he found himself
+cut off by Germans who had crossed elsewhere, and he had to leg it.
+So, unfortunately, that bridge was left intact.
+
+[Illustration: Boussu-Wasmes.]
+
+I trotted ahead alone to try and find the Dorsets or the Bedfords,
+leaving Weatherby with other instructions. It was a long way to the
+station (Paturages by name, but really in Wasmes), but I eventually
+found Griffith (O.C. Bedfords) and most of his men thereabouts. The
+Germans had apparently got round to the east, but we were holding
+them. The Dorsets were a bit further to the south-east, and I found
+them after a good many wrong turnings; and then there was little to do
+but pick up connection with whoever I could. By this time my staff
+had come up, and Weatherby and I cantered off to find General Haking,
+who, I understood, had brought up his 5th Brigade from the 2nd
+Division (1st Corps), and was somewhere towards Frameries. Him we
+found after some trouble, with only one battalion in action in fairly
+open country. It appeared that a message had been sent the night
+before from the 3rd Division that the Germans were threatening
+Paturages and going to attack in force, and help was most urgently
+required; so General Haig had despatched Haking in a great hurry. The
+5th Brigade made a forced march and arrived at Paturages at 2 A.M.,
+perspiring profusely. Not a sound. Fearing an ambush, they walked
+delicately, with scouts well out in front and to both flanks. Not a
+sign either of the British or the Germans,--empty streets, no one
+about, all quiet as death. So they bivouacked in the streets and were
+now thinking of falling back on their own corps, as there were only a
+few Germans in front of them and these wouldn't advance.
+
+Where the 3rd Division exactly were I could not at first find out,
+though I tried; but I knew that they were holding the country in the
+direction of Mons. Anyway, except for a good many shells flying about,
+there was very little of the enemy to see or hear, and Paturages was
+safe at all events for the present.
+
+The Dorsets and Bedfords, however, had had a pretty bad time on the
+previous evening, and had lost a number of men, though they had given
+the Germans a good deal more than they got. The German shelling had
+been fairly accurate, and their infantry had pushed on between the
+slag-heaps and got their machine-guns to work under cover in a
+horribly efficient manner. Eventually our battalions had to evacuate
+their trenches as their right flank was being turned, and they fell
+back on Wasmes and Paturages, leaving most of their packs behind them
+in the trenches. They had taken them off to dig, and, being hot, had
+fought without them, and then this sudden outflanking movement had
+necessitated a rapid falling back, so their packs and most of their
+shovels had been left behind. This was awkward, more especially
+hereafter, as, although the loss of the greatcoat did not matter much
+in this hot weather, and certainly added to their marching power,
+still, the loss of the pack meant loss of spare socks and spare
+shirt--besides other things.
+
+We snatched a little breakfast and coffee at an inn where the
+_patronne_ was still in possession, and then things began to get more
+lively. Shells began to knock corners off the houses close by, and
+reports kept coming in that the enemy appeared to be advancing, though
+the bulk of his infantry was still some way off to the east. The
+Dorsets were rearranging their line so as not to be cut off, and I was
+standing with Bols (commanding Dorsets) and a few of his officers by
+the _estaminet_ when a shrapnel burst with a tremendous crack close
+over our heads, bringing down branches and leaves in showers. Yet not
+a man or a horse was hit. The shrapnel bullets whizzed along the
+pavement in all directions, right among our feet, like hail it seemed;
+yet the only result was a lot of bad language from Saunders, who had
+got a nasty jar on the heel from one of the bullets: but it did not
+even cut the leather.
+
+It now became time to get the Dorset transport away, as things were
+getting rather hot, and the crackling of rifles was getting distinctly
+nearer. I thought of that horrible hill and I looked at my map.
+Yes--there certainly was a way round back by the south-east, _via_ the
+road along which Weatherby and I had just come back from interviewing
+Haking. So I directed the transport to move that way--there was a road
+branching off to the right only 400 yards on and quite safe, as I
+thought, for the firing was up north and north-east, and this road lay
+south-southeast.
+
+Roe covered the withdrawal with his company and was very anxious to
+lay an ambush for the enemy. But they did not seem inclined to oblige
+him, but kept heading off in a more southerly direction. There was no
+sign from the 3rd Division who, I knew, were on our right; so, as my
+scouts could not find them, I could only come to the conclusion that
+the enemy had got in between us, and if we didn't clear out soon we
+should be in a bad way.
+
+Suddenly there was a crackle of rifles down the road along which the
+Dorset transport had gone, and then nearly the whole of the transport
+came galloping back, a dead horse being dragged along in the shafts of
+one of the waggons. Margetts, the transport officer, rode past,
+revolver in hand, and streaming with blood from the shoulder, and one
+or two of the men and horses had obviously been hit. What had happened
+was that a few Germans had penetrated on to the road where Weatherby
+and I had passed in perfect safety only a short time before and
+ambushed the transport.
+
+Margetts had very gallantly ridden direct at the ambush with his
+revolver, shot down one or two and bewildered the rest, and thus given
+time for the transport to turn round on the (luckily) broad road and
+gallop back. The Pioneer Sergeant of the Dorsets was killed, and so
+was a Brigade Policeman who happened to be with the transport.
+Otherwise almost the only loss was an ammunition-cart with two horses
+killed, and some damage was done to a pole and wheel or two of the
+other vehicles. Poor Nicholson (my servant), who should, strictly
+speaking, have remained with the Brigade transport and not come up at
+all, had attached himself to the Dorset transport without
+orders--wishing, I suppose, to be handy in case he was required--and
+had been shot down with the two or three others. I believe he was
+killed; anyway, I never saw him again, poor fellow. Margetts was
+nearly falling off his horse with pain, so he dismounted and was
+bandaged by the Medical Officer. But by that time the transport
+vehicles had disappeared, and as he was fainting and was not in a fit
+state to be carried, he had to be left in the house of a Belgian
+doctor and was taken prisoner shortly afterwards. We heard of him
+later, and I am glad to say his gallant action gained him a D.S.O.
+
+Bols strung out half a company to defend the place where we thought
+the Germans would appear, but after waiting for ten minutes we found
+we were practically "in the air," as large forces of the enemy were
+reported coming round our right flank, and the firing on our left
+front got more and more to the left, thus proving that the Bedfords
+had been pushed back and were retiring _via_ Wasmes--as they had been
+told to do if overwhelmed. Weatherby, who had cantered off to get
+in touch with them, confirmed this; and as it was getting extremely
+"hot" (shells) where we were, I gave the order to withdraw--only just
+in time as it turned out.
+
+The Dorsets formed a proper rear-guard and held off the enemy, who
+were by this time trickling in large numbers into the town; but by
+good luck the Germans seemed to funk coming on in formation, and by
+the time we had got back to the foot of the steep hill they didn't
+bother us any more except by occasional shells. To my extreme
+annoyance (in one way) we found another track leading round the hill,
+towards Warquignies, not marked on the map; so those two wretched
+inhabitants had told us quite wrong, and we could have retired the
+transport this way after all. Of course we took advantage of it, and
+fell back slowly _via_ Warquignies on Blangies, where we arrived, with
+very few casualties, about two.
+
+Here we got orders at first to bivouac for the night, but hardly had
+the men had time to cook a meal and eat it than we were ordered to
+continue the retirement on Bavai St Waast, _via_ Athis. As we got on
+to the main road here we found a large column of our own troops moving
+down it, and there were German mounted patrols at a respectful
+distance on both sides. We fired at them occasionally, and they
+disappeared and then turned up again in twos and threes on the
+skyline, evidently keeping touch with us.
+
+Just beyond Athis we found the Norfolks, who had been fighting at
+Elouges all the morning, and then we came across the sad little
+remainder of the Cheshires--only about 200 left out of 891 who had
+gone into action that morning near Elouges. It was horrible to hear of
+this appalling loss. Shore was the only captain left, and he was in
+command, with two or three subalterns only. His story was that his
+company had been in reserve to the other three and had gone to occupy
+a farmhouse as told, that he had seen the three companies extending to
+his right, and then lost touch with them as they advanced rapidly over
+the brow of the low rolling ground. There was very heavy firing all
+along the line, and eventually a staff officer told him to fall back
+to his right rear and rejoin his battalion. This he tried to do, but
+he only came across a few wounded and stragglers of his regiment, who
+told him that the three companies had lost very heavily, including
+Boger (commanding) and all their officers, and that there was
+practically nobody left. Shore did his best to find out and help, but
+a general retirement took place, and he and his men were swept back
+with the rest. Tahourdin, Stapylton, Dyer, Dugmore, and lots of others
+were reported killed, and poor Shore was in a terrible state of mind.
+(It turned out afterwards that all these officers were alive and
+prisoners, with a great number of their men, but at the time I could
+not find out exactly how it happened that the battalion got so cut up
+and lost such a desperate number.)
+
+The Norfolks had lost poor Cresswell, their Adjutant--such a good
+fellow--and one or two other officers. But although their losses had
+been serious they were nothing like so bad as the Cheshires. It
+appears that our left about Elouges and to the west rear of Dour was
+heavily attacked by the enemy; that we were on the defensive with the
+14th Brigade (Rolt), and these two battalions of the 15th, and the 2nd
+Cavalry Brigade (De Lisle); and that Sir C. F. called on the Cavalry
+to assist at a certain moment. De Lisle thereupon very gallantly
+charged the German guns, but he started from some distance off, and
+not only were the horses blown before they got there, but there was a
+lot of wire between them and the Germans which they couldn't get
+through. So, after losing heavily, they wheeled to the right to get
+out of the way. What happened in detail to the 14th Brigade I frankly
+don't know, but I fear the guns of the 5th Division lost pretty
+heavily at this period.
+
+Two companies of the Bedfords had joined us by this time, but I was
+rather nervous about the rest, including Griffith, for I had had no
+word of him since Paturages. However, as we passed through Houdain he
+turned up from a side road with the rest of his battalion, having had
+a pretty rough time in getting out of Wasmes.
+
+By dusk we had got on to the open country near St Waast, and here we
+found that the Division was bivouacking. Although it was nearly dark,
+and the Brigade had been scattered, with its transport, over a lot of
+country during the day, it all came together again, including its
+empty supply waggons, in a marvellous way, and managed to find its way
+through all the other troops in the dark to its rightful bivouac
+space--some fields covered with standing crops. Water was of course
+the difficulty, but some was discovered in the shape of a small stream
+half a mile off, over hedges and ditches; and after the Norfolks had
+been put out on outpost to cover our rear, and we had had some food,
+we slept the sleep of the dog-tired.
+
+I remember Cadell came out as cook that evening, for he fried a
+lugubrious mess of biscuits, jam, and sardines together in a mess-tin,
+and insisted on all of us having some. Up to this point our messing
+had not been entirely happy, for an old soldier whom I had taken on in
+Belfast, on his own statement that he had been second cook in his
+officers' mess, turned out an absolute fraud. He could hardly even
+poach an egg, and hadn't the smallest idea of cooking. I am sure he
+had never been inside an officers' mess either, for when he was
+deposed from the office of cook to that of mess waiter, he knew
+nothing about that either, and could not even wash up. Private Brown,
+who was supposed at first only to cook for the men of the Brigade
+Headquarters, was therefore elevated to the proud status of Officers'
+cook, and made a thundering good one (till he was wounded at Ypres);
+and the Belfast man was given the sack at the earliest opportunity and
+sent home,--only to appear later in the field as a corporal of the
+Irish Rifles!
+
+
+_Aug. 25th._
+
+Next morning the Brigade was on the move before daylight, and was told
+off as part of the main body of the Division, the 14th Brigade forming
+the rear-guard. We had not had much to eat the night before, or in
+fact the whole day, and as the rations had not come up during the
+night, the men had devilish little breakfast--nor we either.
+
+We were told to requisition what we could from the country, but though
+St Andre and myself did our best, and rode on ahead of the Brigade,
+routing out the dwellers of the farmhouses and buying chickens and
+cheese and oats wherever possible, there was very little to be had.
+
+There were already a great many inhabitants on the road fleeing
+south-westwards, pitiful crowds of women and old men and children,
+carrying bundles on their backs, or wheeling babies and more bundles
+in wheelbarrows, or perambulators, or broken-down carts. Some of the
+peasant women were wearing their best Sunday gowns of black bombazine
+and looked very hot and uncomfortable; children with their dolls or
+pet dogs, old women and men hobbling along, already very tired though
+the sun had not been up more than an hour or two, and sturdy young
+mothers carrying an extraordinary quantity of household stuff, trooped
+along, all of them anxiously asking how far off the Germans were, and
+whether we could hold them off, or whether they would all be killed by
+them,--it was a piteous sight. We warned all the people who were still
+in their cottages to stay there and not to run away, as their houses
+would only be pillaged if they were not there, but I fear that few
+took our advice.
+
+It seemed a very long march that day, down the perfectly straight road
+skirting the Mormal forest and on to Le Cateau. It was, as a matter of
+fact, only a little over twenty miles, but the hot day, with very
+little food, was most trying for the men. We had one good rest at
+Englefontaine, where we bought a lot of food--bread and cheese, and
+apples and plums, and a little meat--but it was not much. The rest of
+the road was bare and hot, leading over down-like country past the
+town of Le Cateau, and on to the heights to the west of it. Many
+aeroplanes, British, French, and German, were skimming about, and
+numerous bodies of French cavalry could be seen moving about the downs
+and the roads in the rear.
+
+We had received orders on the road to occupy part of an entrenched
+position to the west of Le Cateau, and Weatherby and I rode ahead to
+look at it and apportion it off as the battalions came up. The
+trenches, we considered, were quite well sited. They were about 3 feet
+deep, and had been dug by the inhabitants under, I think, French
+supervision; but, judging by our subsequent experience, they were
+nothing like deep enough and placed on much too exposed ground; and
+the artillery pits were far too close up--though correct according to
+the then text-books.
+
+I put a few men into the trenches as an observing line, and sent the
+commanding officers round to study them in case we had to hold them in
+force on the morrow, and bivouacked the rest of the Brigade half a
+mile behind them. Although we seemed to have done a good day's work
+already, it was then only about 3 P.M., for we had started about 3.30
+A.M. We got a good deal more food--bully beef and biscuits--here,
+besides a cart-load of very smelly cheeses and some hams and
+vegetables and fresh bread, and the men got their stomachs fairly full
+by sundown.
+
+The 13th Brigade came in a bit later and formed up on our right, but
+the 14th Brigade, who had been doing rear-guard, did not get in till
+nightfall, and were much exhausted.
+
+The enemy, however, bar cavalry, had not pressed on in any strength,
+and we were left fairly well alone during the night.
+
+It began to rain heavily in the evening, and we had a wet dinner in
+the open. There were various disturbances in the night, especially
+when some men in the trenches began firing at some probably imaginary
+Germans; but otherwise all ranks got a fair amount of sleep.
+
+
+_Aug. 26th._
+
+The orders overnight were that we were to continue the retirement
+first thing in the morning; but when morning came the Germans were so
+close that it was decided that it would be impossible to do so, and
+fresh orders were issued to hold the position we were in.
+
+Accordingly we took up our positions as we had settled overnight, and
+started all necessary preparations--deepening trenches, arranging
+telephone wires and communications, and putting the village of
+Troisvilles, on our left, in a state of defence.
+
+The Dorsets were to hold this village and several hundred yards of
+trenches to the east of it. On their right came the Bedfords in
+trenches, with of course a proportion in support, and the Cheshires
+were put in a dip of the ground in rear of them. The 13th Brigade was
+on the right of the Bedfords, with the K.O.S.B.'s touching them. The
+Norfolks I put in a second line, in rear of the right of the Bedfords
+and the left of the K.O.S.B.'s, mostly along a sunken road where they
+dug themselves well into the banks. The 27th Brigade of Artillery,
+under Onslow, was put under my orders; two batteries of it were in our
+right rear, and the third was taken away by Sir C. F., to strengthen
+the right I believe. A battery of the 15th Artillery Brigade was
+also put in close behind the Bedfords, in the dip of ground
+afore-mentioned, whence they did excellent execution without being
+seen by the enemy. Divisional Headquarters were at Reumont, a mile
+behind us, with a wood in between; but we were, of course, connected
+up by telephone with them, as well as with our battalions and our
+artillery. We--_i.e._, the Brigade Headquarters--sat in the
+continuation of the hollow sandy road, in rear of the Bedfords and on
+the left of the Norfolks.
+
+The morning was distinctly cool after the rain, and I remember that I
+wore my woolly till about 11 o'clock. Our horses were stowed away a
+few hundred yards to our left, in a hollow; and the extraordinary
+thing was that neither they nor ourselves got shelled as long as we
+were there, though some shrapnel burst occasionally only a hundred
+yards off or so in different directions.
+
+We were in position by 7 o'clock, as far as I can remember; but unless
+one keeps a record the whole time one is very liable to err--and I
+won't swear that it was not 8 o'clock. Some shells began to arrive
+about then, but did no harm. On our left was the 9th Brigade (3rd
+Division), and the shelling began to develop pretty heavily in their
+direction. Our guns were of course in action by this time, and for the
+first two or three hours the air was full of shells and very little
+Infantry fire was heard. The 4th Division had arrived only that
+morning, I believe by train, and was guarding the left flank of the
+line, assisted by our Cavalry. Behind the town of Le Cateau, on the
+extreme right, was the 19th Brigade. Then came the 14th Brigade, then
+the 13th, then ourselves, and then the 3rd Division; so we were about
+the right centre.
+
+The Dorsets were hard at work putting Troisvilles into a strong state
+of defence, and were helped by some of our Divisional Sappers, I
+believe the 59th Co. R.E. (but it might have been the 17th).
+
+There was a local French ambulance--civilian I think--in Troisvilles,
+and several of our own R.A.M.C. personnel there; but the Divisional
+ambulances were farther to the rear, and as the wounded began to come
+in from the right front we sent them back towards Reumont. St Andre
+was very useful in galloping backwards and forwards between
+Troisvilles and Brigade Headquarters--I kept him for that, as I
+wanted my proper staff for other staff work; but all of them paid a
+visit or two there once or twice. The enemy's shells were now falling
+fast on our left about Inchy, but seemed to do extraordinarily little
+damage there; and during the first hours it was really more of a
+spectacular piece for us than a battle. However, we were of course
+kept busy sending and receiving wires from all parts, and every now
+and then a few wounded came in from our front. We were also bucked up
+by hearing that a French Cavalry Division was coming to help us from
+Cambrai; but I don't know whether it ever materialised.
+
+As the day wore on, the Bedfords got engaged with infantry in their
+front, but neither they nor the Dorsets got anything very much to
+shoot at; and though a German machine-gun or two pushed pluckily
+forward and did a certain amount of damage from hidden folds in the
+ground, I think we accounted for them--anyway we stopped their
+shooting after a short time.
+
+Meanwhile the 13th Brigade and the guns on our right were catching it
+very hot. There seemed an enormous number of guns against us (I
+believe, as a matter of fact, there were nearer 700 than 600), and
+our batteries were suffering very heavily. So were the 14th and 19th
+Brigades--the latter being a scratch one composed of units from the
+lines of communication under Laurence Drummond.
+
+At one moment--it must have been about 12 o'clock or later--I saw to
+my horror the best part of a company of Bedfords leave their trenches
+in our front and retire slowly and in excellent order across the open.
+So I got on my horse and galloped out to see what they were doing and
+to send them back, as it seemed to me that some of the K.O.S.B.'s were
+falling back too, in sympathy. I'm afraid that my language was strong;
+but I made the Bedfords turn about again, although their officer
+explained that he was only withdrawing, by superior battalion orders,
+in order to take up an advanced position further on the right; and
+with some of the Cheshires, whom I picked up on the way, they advanced
+again in extended order.
+
+They got back again to their trenches without any casualties to speak
+of, and I was much gratified by a message I received shortly
+afterwards from my right (I think Cuthbert or the gunners) thanking
+me warmly for my most valuable counter-attack, which had considerably
+relieved the pressure in their front!
+
+On our immediate right the Norfolks were occupied for several hours in
+trying to cut down a very big tree, which was about the most
+conspicuous feature in the whole of our position, and formed an
+excellent object on which the enemy could range. It was all very well;
+but as soon as they had cut it half through, so as to fall to the
+south, the south wind, which was blowing pretty strongly, not only
+kept it upright but threatened to throw it over to the north. This
+would have been a real disaster, as it would have blocked completely
+the sunken road along which the ammunition carts, to say nothing of
+artillery and other waggons, would have had to come. So it had to be
+guyed up with ropes, with much difficulty; and even when teams hung on
+and hauled on the ropes, they could make little impression--the wind
+was so strong. Eventually they did manage to get it down, but even so
+it formed a fairly conspicuous mark. (It was so big that it was marked
+on the map.)
+
+Inchy was now the centre of an appalling bombardment. A crowd of
+Germans had got into it, it appeared, and the village was being
+heavily shelled by both sides--British and German. Several houses and
+haystacks caught fire, and the poor devils inside must have had a
+terrible time. The 3rd Division was holding its own, but was being
+heavily attacked by the enemy's infantry. However, we eventually got
+the better of it, and the 9th and 10th Brigades drove the Germans away
+from their trenches and pursued them some distance, much assisted by
+the fire of the Dorsets and the advance of one or two of their
+companies.
+
+Things went on hammer-and-tongs for another hour or two; more and more
+wounded began coming in from the 13th Brigade, including a lot of
+K.O.S.B.'s. We turned Beilby, our veterinary officer, on to "first
+aid" for many of them and sent them on; but some of the shrapnel
+wounds were appalling. One man I remember lying across a pony; I
+literally took him for a Frenchman, for his trousers were drenched red
+with blood, and not a patch of khaki showing. Another man had the
+whole of the back of his thigh torn away; yet, after being bandaged,
+he hobbled gaily off, smoking a pipe. What struck me as curious was
+the large number of men hit in the face or below the knee,--there
+seemed few body wounds in comparison; but that may of course have been
+because those badly hit in the body were killed or unmovable. But one
+would see men apparently at their last gasp, with gruesome wounds on
+them and no more stretchers available, and yet five minutes afterwards
+they had disappeared.
+
+Time was getting on, and the thunder and rain of German shells seemed
+unceasing; they appeared to come now not only from all along the front
+and the right front, but from our right as well, and our guns were
+replying less and less. Reports began to come in from the right of
+batteries wiped out (the 28th R.F.A. Brigade lost nearly all their
+guns here, for nearly all the detachments and horses were killed), and
+of a crushing attack on the 19th Brigade and penetration of our line
+thereabouts. And soon afterwards the movement itself became visible,
+for the 14th Brigade, and then the 13th, began to give way, and one
+could see the trenches being evacuated on the right. The Norfolks
+stuck well to it on the right, and covered the retirement that was
+beginning; but they were taken out of my hands by Sir C. F., and told
+off to act as rear-guard for the brigades on their right.
+
+The 15th Brigade had really been very lucky, and had neither been
+shelled nor attacked very heavily, and consequently we were pretty
+fresh and undamaged. I forget if we got any definite message to
+retire, and if so, when, but it was fairly obvious that we couldn't
+stay where we were much longer. The Dorsets were quite happy in
+Troisvilles and thereabouts, but the 9th Brigade on their left had had
+a very bad time, and were already beginning to withdraw, though in
+good order.
+
+This being so, I sent orders to the battery of the 15th R.F.A. Brigade
+in my front to retire before they got cut off; and they executed it
+grandly, bringing up the horses at a gallop, swinging round, hooking
+in, and starting off at a canter as if at an Aldershot field-day,
+though they were under heavy shell and rifle fire all the time.
+
+Only two horses and about two men were hit altogether, and though all
+these were apparently killed, the men got up after a little and were
+brought safely off with the Bedfords.
+
+The K.O.S.B.'s were now falling back on us from the right, and they
+were strung out along the Norfolks' late position, and almost at right
+angles to our line, for the Germans were pressing us there, and heavy
+rifle fire was breaking out there and nearly in our right rear. Then I
+ordered the Cheshires and after them the Bedfords to retire, which
+they did quite calmly and in good order; and lastly came the Dorsets,
+very well handled by Bols and forming a rear-guard to the rest of the
+troops hereabouts. His machine-guns under Lieut. Wodehouse had been
+doing excellent work, and the shooting of both Bedfords and Dorsets
+had had a great effect in keeping off the German attack hereabouts.
+
+By this time units had become a bit mixed, and lines of troops
+belonging to different battalions and even different brigades were
+retiring slowly over the open ground and under a heavy fire of
+shrapnel--which by the same token seemed to do extraordinarily little
+damage. It was difficult to give a definite point for all these troops
+to move on, for we had been warned against retiring through villages,
+as they were naturally made a cockshy of by the enemy's guns. Reumont
+was being already heavily bombarded, and though we had instructions to
+fall back south-westwards along the road to Estrees, this road passed
+through Reumont. I did not know how to get comfortably on to it
+without going through some village, so gave a general direction off
+the road, between it and Bertry, and struck across country, together
+with a number of troops on foot in various formations, all moving
+quite steadily and remarkably slowly.
+
+As the shrapnel were bursting in large numbers overhead, I got the men
+well extended, as best I could, but some of course were hit. Just as
+we left the road a man in charge of an ambulance-waggon full of
+wounded ran up and asked what he was to do, as some infernal civilian
+had unhitched and gone off with the horses whilst he was attending to
+the wounded. Stephenson, commanding K.O.S.B.'s, was lying wounded in
+the waggon, but this I did not hear till afterwards. Some of the
+K.O.S.B.'s thereupon very gallantly harnessed themselves to the waggon
+and towed it along the road.
+
+It was hard work making our way mounted across country, because of the
+numerous wire fences we came across, not to mention ditches and
+hedges. We worked rather towards Bertry, avoiding woods and boggy
+bits, but the line wasn't easy to keep. The Germans had an unpleasant
+habit of plugging bursts of four to a dozen shrapnel at one range,
+then another lot fifty yards on, and so on, so it was no good hurrying
+on, as you only came in for the next lot. Then they very nearly got us
+just when we had got to a hopeless-looking place--the railway, with
+thick fence and ditch on each side of the track and a barbed-wire
+fence as well, with signal wires knee high just where you expected to
+be able to jump down on to the track. Luckily Catley, my groom, had
+some wire nippers; but just as he was cutting at the wire, and we of
+the Brigade Staff were all standing round close by, trying to get over
+or through, whack came four shrapnel, one close after the other,
+bursting just short of us and above us--a very good shot if
+intentional, but I don't think they could possibly have seen us.
+Horses of course flew all over the place; Cadell and his horse came
+down, and I thought he was hit, but he only lost his cap, and his
+horse only got a nasty flesh wound from a bit of shrapnel in his
+hindquarters. Again, why none of these shrapnel hit us was most
+extraordinary: there we were, seven or eight of us mounted and close
+together, and the shells bursting beautifully with terrific and
+damnable cracks--yet not one of the Brigade Staff touched. Beilby's
+horse, by the way, also got a bullet in the quarter.
+
+These same shrapnel hit two or three infantry standing round us, and
+the next thing we saw was Dillon (of the Divisional Staff) dismounted
+and staggering along supporting two wounded privates and hoisting them
+over the obstacles on to the rail track, one man hanging heavily from
+his neck on either side. He was streaming with sweat, and said
+afterwards it was the hardest job he'd ever had. Others of course
+helped him and his men, and we wandered along over the grass, and
+skirting the little woods and coppices till we got to the main road
+again.
+
+As we proceeded along the road we did our best to get the troops
+collected into their units, getting single men together into bunches
+and the bunches into groups and platoons, and so on. But many of them
+were wounded and dog-tired, and it was hard work. Ballard and his
+Norfolks joined us in bits, and we heard that they had had a hard time
+falling back through Reumont and done very well as rear-guard. There
+were stories at first of their having suffered terribly and lost a lot
+of men; but it was not in the least true,--they had had comparatively
+few casualties.
+
+The country gradually grew more and more open till by dusk--somewhere
+about 7 o'clock--we were traversing a huge rolling plain with open
+fields and only occasional farmhouses visible. The troops on the road
+were terribly mixed, infantry and artillery and waggons and transport
+all jumbled up together, and belonging not only to different brigades
+but even to different divisions, the main ones being of course the 5th
+and 3rd Divisions.
+
+Darkness came on, and the night grew cooler and cooler, yet still we
+pushed on. As it got blacker, terrible blocks occurred and perpetual
+unintentional halts. In one place, somewhere near the Serains-Premont
+road I think, we were halted for about three-quarters of an hour by a
+jam of waggons just ahead. I gave the Norfolks leave to worm their way
+through the press, but it was no use, for before they had got through
+the waggons moved on again and only divided the men more and more, so
+that they lost their formation again and were worse off than before.
+
+Companies or bits of companies of my battalions were pretty close
+together, and at one time the Brigade was pretty well cohesive, but as
+the night wore on they got separated again and mixed up with the
+transport till it was quite impossible to sort them out. It was a
+regular nightmare, and all one could look forward to was the halt at
+Estrees.
+
+The German guns had long ceased to fire, even before the sun went
+down, and there didn't seem to be any pursuit at all, as far as we
+could gather. Our men moved quite steadily and without the vestige of
+a sign of panic: in fact, they were much annoyed at having to fall
+back. But I expect the German infantry was even more tired than ours,
+for they had marched all through the previous night and certainly had
+frightfully heavy casualties during the day. Anyway they did not
+worry us, and we pursued our way in peace. But men and horses were
+desperately sleepy, and at these perpetual halts used to go to sleep
+and block up the road again when we moved on.
+
+Luckily the road was as straight as a die, and one could not possibly
+lose it; but it was difficult to know where we were, and occasional
+twinkling lights in houses and cottages on the road only made our
+whereabouts still more deceptive.
+
+At last we entered something that looked in the pitch darkness more
+like a town. It was Estrees right enough, but there were no signs of a
+halt, though it was 1 A.M. or so. We could not find any staff officers
+here, even at the solitary local inn, to give us any information, and
+the only rumour was that we were to march on as far as we could go. We
+had had no direct orders, and we did not know where the Divisional
+staff were, but as by this time we had pushed on and were, as far as
+we knew, ahead of most of the Brigade, Weatherby and I moved aside
+into a field full of corn stooks, unsaddled our horses, gave them a
+feed, and went fast asleep in the wet corn. We had meant to sleep only
+for half an hour, but were so dead tired that it must have been more
+like an hour and a half. And even then we were only awakened by a
+battalion (I think it was the Northumberland Fusiliers) irrupting into
+our field and pulling the stooks down for their own benefit. So we
+guiltily saddled up again, thinking that the whole Brigade must have
+passed us in the dark. But, as a matter of fact, it had not.
+
+
+_Aug. 27th._
+
+Daylight came at last through the damp grey mists, and we found
+ourselves still in open country, with the road thickly covered as
+before with troops of all arms and, in places by the roadside, the
+remains of bivouac fires and empty boxes and bully-beef tins, and
+hunks of raw meat; for the A.S.C. finding that it was impossible to
+supply the troops regularly, had wisely dumped down their stores at
+intervals alongside the road and let the men help themselves.
+
+This was all very well for the men in front, but by the time we in
+rear had got to the stores there was nothing left, and we had to go
+hungry.
+
+Somewhere about 4 A.M. I came on Sir C. F. standing at the
+cross-roads near Nauroy. I naturally asked him where we were to retire
+on; but he had not recently received any definite orders himself; so
+after talking it over we came to the conclusion that our best line
+would be on St Quentin, and we directed the men, as they came up--5th
+Division straight on, 4th Division to the right to Bellicourt, and 3rd
+to the left to Lehaucourt, for thus we should get the Divisions more
+or less in their right positions. Of course a vast quantity of troops
+had already preceded us, probably towards St Quentin, but that could
+not be helped.
+
+It was a long way yet to St Quentin, about eight miles, and on the
+road and off it were men, waggons, and stragglers in every direction.
+The jumble of the night had disintegrated most of the formed bodies,
+and the whole thing had the appearance of a vast _debacle_. Men moving
+on singly but slowly, little bunches of three and four men together,
+sometimes of the same regiment, but oftener of odd ones; men lying
+exhausted or asleep by the roadside, or with their packs off and
+sitting on the grass, nibbling at a biscuit or looking hopelessly
+before them. It was a depressing sight, and I wondered how on earth
+the formations would ever come together again. Officers of course were
+doing their best to get their own men together, but the results were
+small. Whenever we passed men of the 15th Brigade we collected them as
+far as possible into bodies; but it was very difficult to know what
+units men belonged to without asking them, for very many of them had
+long ago, on arrival at Havre and elsewhere, given their cap-badges
+and shoulder-names as souvenirs to women and children, and they were
+most difficult to identify.
+
+A mile or two before getting into St Quentin I passed Laurence
+Drummond, commanding the 19th Brigade, hobbling along on foot, and
+offered him of course my second horse. He had got damaged somehow--by
+a fall, I think--and said he had his horse all right, but it hurt him
+less to walk than to ride.
+
+As we approached the town the entrance had got rather blocked with
+troops. This was rather a good thing, as it enabled the stragglers
+behind to close up and find other portions of their own regiments;
+and, extraordinary as it seemed, whole companies had now got together
+and in some cases had even coagulated into battalions. I found most of
+the Norfolks collected together in a field by the side of the road,
+and a stray Bedford company or two looking quite fresh and happy.
+
+As it was necessary to get further orders, I left Weatherby to do some
+more collecting and pushed on by myself into the town, where I found
+Rolt and some of his Staff; but he knew nothing. There was a hopeless
+block at this moment, so I slipped off my horse for ten minutes and
+had a bit of chocolate and biscuit, which were quite refreshing. Rolt
+was somewhat depressed, for his Brigade had lost heavily, but they too
+were gradually coming together. At last, in the middle of the town, I
+managed to collect some instructions, and was told that the 5th
+Division was to form up in a field near the railway station the other
+side of the town. There were also Staff officers at different points,
+calling out "5th Division this way, 3rd that," and so on; and as the
+men, now more or less in columns of fours, passed them, they perked up
+and swung along quite happily.
+
+We were now outside the region of our maps, so I asked my way to a
+stationer's, which luckily happened to be open, though it was barely
+7.30 A.M., and bought all the local maps I could get hold of: they
+were only paper, not linen, but they proved extremely useful. And then
+I bought some big rings of bread and some apples, and made Catley
+carry them strung on the little brigade flag that S. had embroidered,
+and we filled up our haversacks with as much food as we could buy and
+carry--for the benefit of the men.
+
+I found my way to the railway field all right, but none of the Brigade
+had yet arrived, so I went back to look for them. On the way I found
+that a number of the 13th Brigade had taken the wrong turning and were
+plodding right away from the town, so I had to canter after them a
+mile or more and turn them back. There was a lot of transport further
+on, on the move; and fearing that they might belong to us, whilst my
+horse was pretty tired, I begged a nice-looking Frenchman with a long
+beard--a doctor of sorts--in a motor-car, to lend me his car to catch
+them. This he willingly did, and drove me up to them, but they turned
+out to be field ambulances with orders of their own, so I came back
+to the railway field, leaving a man at the railway turning to turn the
+others and show them the way.
+
+Gradually bits of the 15th Brigade arrived--a few Dorsets, half the
+Bedfords, and a few Cheshires; and to these I imparted the Staff
+instructions that we were to bivouac here for the night. The men had
+already done twenty-four miles during the night, and lay about,
+thankful to get a little rest. Supplies, we were told, would be issued
+shortly at the station, but before they came I got peremptory orders
+to march off at 2 o'clock, and withdraw further south to a place
+called Ollizy, nine miles on.
+
+It was then 12.30 P.M., and the men had had no food since the previous
+morning; however, orders had to be obeyed. So I distributed my bread
+and apples, for which the men pressed round ravenously; and James,
+commanding the 2nd Manchesters, who had been in my Brigade two years
+previously, gave me a couple of most welcome big sandwiches and a
+drink. None of my staff had yet turned up; and though I was told that
+supplies were just going to arrive, none did arrive before we marched
+off. Five minutes before that time the Norfolks, who had had a rest
+the other side of the town, turned up; and as the rest of the Brigade
+marched off the rest of the Dorsets marched up--rather disappointed at
+having to go on at once without either rest or rations.
+
+Weatherby and the rest of Brigade Headquarters had trickled in by this
+time, and we moved off in rear of the 13th Brigade. The day was fairly
+hot by this time--luckily it had been cool all the morning--and I
+expected to see whole heaps of the men fall out exhausted; but devil a
+bit, they moved on, well closed up, good march discipline, and even
+whistling and singing; and for the rest of the march I don't believe
+that more than half a dozen fell out.
+
+We expected some more fighting near Ollizy, for a message had come
+through for the 13th to push on and collar a certain bridge before the
+Germans got it; but all was peaceful, and we got to Ollizy about five
+o'clock. There I had to tell off a battalion and some guns not
+belonging to me to take up a line of outposts to guard our rear (I
+quite forget what the troops were, or why they were put under me), and
+the Brigade pushed on over the bridge, and through the swampy, marshy
+country beyond.
+
+No halt yet, and I began to wonder whether we were expected to do yet
+another night march. However, after another two miles I was told to
+put the Brigade in bivouac round a farm and little village called
+Eaucourt, covering our rear with another line of outposts.
+
+There was some distant shelling during the evening; but we were too
+dog-tired to worry about it, though bursts of rifle fire did occur
+during the night, necessitating our jumping up once or twice to see
+what it was.
+
+The farm was quite a good one of the usual form--_i.e._, the
+living-house forming one end of a big oblong courtyard, whilst barns
+and lofts and cowsheds filled up the other three sides. In the middle,
+of course, was a mass of dirty straw and manure, and pools of stinking
+water in which ducks and pigs and chickens disported themselves. The
+people were most friendly, and supplied us with eggs and straw and a
+kitchen fire; but it was rather a squash, as the headquarters of an
+artillery brigade were already feeding there, and we didn't get dinner
+till very late. The men lay about in the lofts and sheds among the
+farm implements and sheep, and I should have expected them after a
+march of over thirty-five miles, and no food or sleep in the
+twenty-four hours, to curl up and go to sleep at once, but they
+didn't; they were quite happy and lively now that at last they'd got
+their rations, and made the most of them. I had a bed to lie on, and
+actually enjoyed a wash in a real basin, but the little bedroom was
+not very sweet or clean, and I'd as soon have slept with the others on
+straw in the kitchen and living-room.
+
+
+_Aug. 28th._
+
+Next morning we were off before the sun rose, with orders to proceed
+towards Noyon. We were well up to time as regards our place in the
+column, but some of the rest of the Division were very late--probably
+some counter-order had been given; anyway, we had to wait a good extra
+half-hour by the roadside. I remember that I occupied the time in
+shaving myself; and as there was no water handy, I moistened the brush
+in the dew on the grass. It did fairly well--though removing two days'
+growth was rather painful, I allow.
+
+We plodded on through the heat of the day, in rear of the 14th
+Brigade, and kept our march discipline without trouble, though the
+number of apple- and pear-trees on the road was a great temptation.
+What had happened or where we were going to was a complete mystery;
+all that we knew was that we had had to leg it at Le Cateau, but that
+we were distinctly _not_ downhearted; nor did the Germans seem to be
+pursuing. So we thought that we should probably soon get the order to
+turn and either take up a defensive position or advance again against
+the enemy--though we also knew that we must have lost a number of guns
+and a good many men.
+
+Soon after we started we were asked how many waggons we required to
+carry damaged and footsore men, and at a certain point there were some
+thirty or forty waggons drawn up for that purpose. I felt rather
+insulted, and said so, but eventually put my pride in my pocket and
+said I'd have one per battalion. The officer in charge at once offered
+ten, but I did not accept them, and I don't think we filled even one
+waggon all day.
+
+Somewhere about ten o'clock the message was passed down from the front
+that Sir John French was on the roadside and wanted to see battalion
+commanders. I cantered on, and found him under a tree with a few of
+his staff. I saluted and asked for orders, but he said he only wanted
+to see the C.O.'s. Then he took me aside and said that he wanted to
+compliment and congratulate the men on their magnificent work; that we
+had saved the left flank of the French army, and that Joffre had
+begged him to tell the troops that they had saved France for the time
+being, and more to the same effect. I hastened, of course, to tell
+everybody; I think the men got their tails up well in consequence. But
+the British are an undemonstrative lot, and Thomas never lets his
+feelings show on the surface. Anyway, we were all pleased that our
+sacrifices hadn't been for nothing, and hoped we'd soon stop and turn
+round.
+
+At Guiscard we turned into the main road to Noyon. It was very hot,
+and we had had no rest (except the regulation ten minutes per hour)
+since starting. So when we got to some nice shade on the left, and big
+spreading trees dotted over some fields, I turned the Brigade off the
+road, transport and all, and we halted for an hour and a half. We
+went to sleep after luncheon, of course, and when it was time to start
+I remember that Moulton-Barrett went up to St Andre, who was lying
+fast asleep, and shouted out, "The Germans are on us!" Poor St Andre
+jumped to his feet with a yell and seized his revolver; it was a
+wicked joke.
+
+The main road into Noyon was much crowded, not only with a lot of
+French cavalry going north, but a very large number of waggons full of
+our own men--of other brigades, mind you, for I don't think there were
+any 15th Brigade men there at all; but then the others had had a
+harder time.
+
+The French cavalry were a dragoon brigade--horses looking very fit and
+well, and wonderfully light equipment on them; they do not go in for
+carrying half so much on the saddle as we do--for one thing,
+apparently they don't consider it necessary to carry cleaning material
+on the horse.
+
+There was again a considerable squash in Noyon, and here St Andre was
+delighted to meet some spick-and-span young friends of his whom he
+affected to treat with great contempt, as not yet having seen a shot
+fired. Having to cross the railway line also delayed us still more, as
+a long supply-train was shunting and reshunting and keeping the gates
+shut.
+
+It was a lovely evening, and though progress was slow, we eventually
+reached Pontoise by about 7 P.M. The country was thickly wooded and
+very pretty, and the quarters into which we got after our sixteen-mile
+march were most acceptable. Here we were told we should probably be
+for several days--to rest and recuperate; but we were beginning to
+have doubts about these perpetually-promised rests which never came
+off.
+
+The Brigade Headquarters put up at a blacksmith's shop, and the old
+couple here received us with hospitality; but though there were beds
+and mattresses for most of us, there was very little to be had in the
+way of vegetables or eggs or other luxuries such as milk or butter.
+
+
+_Aug. 29th._
+
+Next morning and afternoon were devoted to a little rest and cleaning
+up; but I had little leisure myself, for I had to preside over a
+court of inquiry for several hot and weary hours.
+
+At 6 P.M. we suddenly received orders to move at once to Carlepont,
+only three miles back, and began to move by the shortest and most
+unblocked way. Just when we were moving off I received orders to move
+the other way, but with the sanction of the Divisional Staff I
+preferred going my own way, and went it.
+
+The detail of the map, however, turned out to be incorrect, and I
+found myself at the far, instead of the near, end of the village, with
+a lot of transport in the narrow street between ourselves and our
+billets. This was hopeless, and after a prolonged jam in the dark I
+gave it up, put the battalions on to the pavement and down a side
+street, and told them to bivouac and feed where they were.
+
+Meanwhile St Andre had got a kind Frenchman to give the staff some
+dinner, but I misunderstood the arrangement and could not find the
+place; so I insisted on digging out some food from our cook's waggon
+on the wet grass of a little park we found. And there we ate it about
+midnight and went to sleep in the sopping herbage. I fear my staff
+were not much pleased with the arrangement.
+
+
+_Aug. 30th._
+
+Off again at 2:20 A.M., we pushed on over pretty country _via_ Attichy
+to Croutoy, a matter of eleven miles. It developed into a roasting-hot
+day, and the last two miles, up a very steep hill, were most trying
+for the transport. We were at the head of the column, and longed to
+stop in the shady little village of Croutoy, but we had to move on
+beyond to some open stubble fields, where the heat was terrific. And
+there we bivouacked till about midday, when we were told we might go
+back to Croutoy, and did. It was a very pretty little village with a
+magnificent view northwards over the Aisne. We were very comfortably
+put up in General de France's chateau, and enjoyed there a real big
+bath with taps and hot water, the first genuine bath we had had since
+arriving at Havre. My only _contretemps_ here was that, having when
+halfway to Croutoy dismounted Catley and lent his horse to a Staff
+officer, I never saw the horse or my kit on him again. The Staff
+officer had duly sent the horse back by a sergeant of gunners, but the
+latter never materialized, and, strangely enough, was never heard of
+afterwards. So I thus lost my bivouac tent, mackintosh, lantern, and
+several other things, besides Catley's complete possessions, all of
+which were on the animal. Luckily the horse was not my own, but a
+spare one, as my mare Squeaky had had a sore back, and Catley was not
+riding her.
+
+
+_Aug. 31st._
+
+Next day was awfully hot again. We were off by 7.30, and were by way
+of billeting at a place called Bethisy, on the south-west edge of the
+forest of Compiegne. We passed by the eastern edge, close by the
+extraordinary chateau of Pierrefonds, built by Viollet le Duc to the
+exact model of the old castle of the thirteenth century, a huge pile
+of turrets and battlements, like one of Gustave Dore's nightmares; and
+then struck across the open towards Morienval. We were a long time on
+the march, largely owing to the necessary habit that the Artillery
+have of stopping to "feed and water" when they come to water,
+irrespective of the hourly ten-minute halt. Then, having thus stopped
+the Infantry column in rear for twenty minutes, they trot on and catch
+up the rest of the column in front, leaving the Infantry toiling
+hopelessly after them, trying to fill the gap the guns leave behind
+them. It is bad, of course, but it is a choice of evils, for one way
+the Artillery suffers, the other the Infantry; but they both arrive
+together in the end.
+
+I had trotted ahead to Morienval, to settle on the road, as there was
+a divergence of opinion on the subject, and there a kindly farmer
+asked me in to dinner with his family--an excellent _potage aux choux_
+and a succulent stew, with big juicy pears to follow, all washed down
+by remarkably good red _vin du pays_, I remember. There were perpetual
+halts on the road, which we did not understand, but soon after leaving
+Morienval we were abruptly ordered to turn sharp off to the left and
+make for Crepy. The fact was, a force of German cavalry had turned up
+at Bethisy, just as our billeting parties were entering it, and the
+latter had only just time to clear out.
+
+Our own cavalry cleared the Germans out of Bethisy for the time
+being, but we continued on to Crepy-en-Valois, and arrived there,
+rather done, at six o'clock--nearly eleven hours to go fifteen miles,
+just the sort of thing to tire troops on a very hot day,--and with
+numerous apparently unnecessary halts. However, we had few if any
+stragglers, and we made our way to some fields on the south-west of
+Crepy, St Agathe being the name of the district. I selected the
+bivouac myself, as I did not get billeting orders in time, and I
+preferred open fields on a hot night for the troops instead of stuffy
+billets in the town.
+
+The Brigade Staff, however, occupied a little house and grounds in the
+suburbs, and I shall never forget arriving there with St Andre after
+seeing to the bivouac of the Brigade. There were two wine-bottles and
+glasses on a table on the lawn, with comfortable chairs alongside.
+Nearly speechless with thirst, we rushed at them. They were empty!
+
+
+_Sept. 1st._
+
+The night was hot, and though I had an excellent bed I remember I
+could not get to sleep for ever so long. We were to have moved off
+early, but the sound of the guns not far to the north stopped us, and
+orders quickly arrived for the Brigade to go and occupy Duvy, a
+village a mile or so to the west, and give what help we could to
+General Pulteney's force of a Division and a brigade, who were being
+attacked on the north-west.
+
+So we moved out rapidly and pushed out two battalions to assist.
+Cavalry was reported everywhere, but it was difficult to know which
+was English and which German. The latter's patrols were fairly bold,
+and single horsemen got close up to us. Broadwood, of the Norfolks,
+bowled over one of them at 700 yards--with a rifle, it was reported,
+but it was probably his machine-gun. Meanwhile our guns on the plateau
+north of Crepy supporting the 13th Brigade did good execution, three
+consecutive shells of theirs falling respectively into a squadron of
+Uhlans, killing a whole gun-team, and smashing up a gun by direct hit
+(27th Brigade R.F.A.)
+
+The two battalions working up north-west from Duvy had just extended
+and were moving carefully across country, when I received word that a
+large force of the enemy's cavalry was moving on to my left rear. I
+did not like this, and pushed out another battalion (Norfolks) to
+guard my flank. But we need not have been worried, for shortly
+afterwards it appeared that the "hostile" cavalry was the North Irish
+Horse, turned up from goodness knows where.
+
+About the same time we got a message from General Pulteney thanking us
+for the assistance rendered, and another one from Sir C. Fergusson
+telling us to continue our retirement towards Ormoy Villers as
+flank-guard to the rest of the Division. This we did, across country
+and partly on the railway--very bad going this for horses, especially
+as we might any moment have come across a bridge or culvert with
+nothing but rails across it. It is true that, if we had, we might have
+slipped down into the turnip fields on either side, but there were
+ditches and wire alongside which would have proved awkward.
+
+We halted about Ormoy Villers station--in ruins almost, and with its
+big water-tank blown up,--and I put two battalions to guard the flank
+whilst the rest of us had a meal. Saint Andre had as usual managed to
+forage for us in the ruins, and produced a tin of sardines and some
+tomatoes and apples, which, with chocolate and biscuits and warm
+water--it was another roasting day--filled us well up. Then after a
+long and dusty walk through the woods we reached Nanteuil, where most
+of the Division had already arrived.
+
+We had to find outposts (Dorsets and Norfolks) that night, covering a
+huge bit of country. I borrowed a car in order to settle how they
+should be put out, and ran out much too far, nearly into the enemy. It
+was not easy to place them, as connection through the woods was most
+awkward. However, we were not attacked, the German cavalry and
+advanced guards not having apparently come up.
+
+I had sent Major Allason (of the Bedfords) out earlier in the day to
+scout northwards with a couple of mounted men, and he came back at
+eventide, having collared a German officer and his servant, but not
+brought them in. They had just been falling back at a walk with the
+information they had gathered, when they heard a clatter of hoofs
+behind them, and beheld a German cavalry officer and his man trying to
+gallop past them--not to attack them,--apparently bolting from some
+of our own cavalry. Allason, who was in front, stuck spurs into his
+horse and galloped after the officer and shot his horse, bringing the
+German down, the latter also being put out of action. Then they bound
+up the German's wound and took all his papers from him, which proved
+to be very useful, giving the location of the German cavalry and other
+troops. Meanwhile the officer's servant stood by, with his mouth open,
+doing nothing. As they couldn't carry the officer off, they left them
+both there and came on.
+
+Amongst other stories, we heard here that a squadron of one of our
+cavalry brigades had stopped to water in a wood. A lot of German
+cavalry bungled on top of them, and then bolted as if the devil were
+after them. The row stampeded our horses, and they dashed off through
+the wood in all directions, leaving many of our men on foot. But their
+steeds were soon recovered.
+
+
+_Sept. 2nd._
+
+Off again next morning at 4.15 A.M. We did rear-guard to the Division,
+but we had an easy time of it, the Dorsets being in rear. I had also
+the 27th Brigade R.F.A., the N.I. Horse under Massereene, and 70
+cyclists to help, but the Germans never pursued us or fired a shot. It
+was awfully hot again, but we had not far to go--only eleven
+miles--into Montge. There we arrived at 10.45 A.M., and should have
+been there much sooner if it had not been for some of the Divisional
+Train halting to water on the way.
+
+Montge is a nice little village on a hillside, almost within sight of
+Paris, which is only about twenty-five miles off; and on a clear day
+one can, I believe, see the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre. We could not
+make out why we were always thus retiring without fighting, and
+imagined it was some deep-laid plan of Joffre's that we perhaps were
+to garrison Paris whilst the French turned on the Germans. But no
+light was vouchsafed to us. Meanwhile the retirement was morally
+rather bad for our men, and the stragglers increased in numbers.
+
+The Brigade Headquarters billeted in a tiny house marked by two big
+poplars on the main road. The proprietor, a stout peasant--I think he
+was the Maire--received us very civilly, but his questions as to our
+retirement were difficult to answer. However, we didn't trouble him
+long, and were off next morning by 5.30 acting as flank-guard again.
+
+
+_Sept. 3rd._
+
+It was hotter than ever over those parched fields, and the march was
+complicated, for when we had reached Trilbardon down a narrow leafy
+path, past a bridge over the Marne which an R.E. officer was most
+anxious to blow up at once, we were told to act as rear-guard again.
+For this we had to wait till all the troops had passed through the
+little streets, and then we followed. We overtook a good many
+stragglers, and these we hustled along, insisting on their getting
+over the other side of the Marne before the main bridges were blown
+up. We were responsible for leaving no one behind, but I'm afraid that
+several were left, as they had fallen out and gone to sleep under
+hedges and were not seen; and one K.O.S.B. man was suffering so
+violently from pains in his tummy that he at first refused to stir,
+and said he didn't care if he _was_ taken prisoner. There were a
+considerable number of these tummy cases on the way--hot sun and
+unripe apples had, I fancy, a good deal to do with them.
+
+At Esbly we halted, gratefully, in the shade for an hour; it was a
+nice little town, but strangely empty, for nearly all the inhabitants
+had fled.
+
+We put up for the night round Mont Pichet, a beastly little hamlet,
+with the Cheshires and one company Bedfords finding the outposts. The
+Brigade Headquarters billeted round a horrible little house,
+surrounded by hundreds of ducks and chickens, which ran in and out all
+over the place till it stank most horribly. There was only one room
+which wasn't absolutely foul, and that I took. The others slept in the
+open. I wish I had.
+
+I went to visit the outposts by myself; and my wretched pony, Gay,
+refused to cross a little stream about two feet broad and two inches
+deep. Nothing would induce her to cross it, so I had to send her back
+and do it all on foot, beyond a village called Chevalrue and back. By
+the time I got back, late, hot, and hungry, I must have done four
+miles on foot.
+
+
+_Sept. 4th._
+
+Having been told we should be here for at least a day to rest, we
+received orders, I need hardly say, at 7 next morning, to be ready to
+move immediately. However, it was rather a false alarm, as, except for
+a Divisional "pow-wow" on general subjects, at 10 A.M. at Bouleurs, we
+had little to do all day, and did not move till 11.50 P.M. There had
+been an alarm in the afternoon, by the way, of German cavalry
+advancing, and I reinforced the Bedfords with another company, and got
+two howitzers ready to support, but the "Uhlans" did not materialize.
+
+I might here mention, by the way, that all German cavalry, whether
+Lancers or not, went by the generic name of Uhlans. But it was perhaps
+not surprising, as all the hostile cavalry, even Hussars, had lances.
+They were, however, extraordinarily unhandy with them, and our own
+cavalry had a very poor opinion of their prowess and dash.
+
+
+_Sept. 5th._
+
+The Divisional Orders for the march were complicated, and comprised
+marching in two columns from different points and meeting about ten
+miles off. Also, the collecting of my outposts and moving to a left
+flank was complicated. But it went off all right, and we marched
+gaily along in the cool night and effected the junction at Villeneuve.
+Thence on through a big wood with a network of rides, where the two
+officers who were acting as guides in front went hopelessly astray and
+took the wrong turning. The leading battalion was, however, very
+shortly extricated and put on the right road, and after passing
+Tournans we halted, after a sixteen-mile march, at a magnificent
+chateau near Gagny (Chateau de la Monture) at 7.30 A.M.
+
+Here we made ourselves extremely comfortable in the best bedrooms of
+M. Boquet, of the Assurance Maritime, Havre, and sent him a letter
+expressing our best thanks. Up to 6 P.M. we slept peacefully, with no
+orders to disturb us, but then they arrived and gave us great joy, for
+we were to march at 5 A.M., not southwards, but northwards again.
+
+
+_Sept. 6th._
+
+What had happened, or why we were suddenly to turn against the enemy
+after ten days of retreat, we could not conceive; but the fact was
+there, and the difference in the spirits of the men was enormous.
+They marched twice as well, whistling and singing, back through
+Tournans and on to Villeneuve. Here we had orders to halt and feed,
+but the halt did not last long, for a summons to the 5th Division
+Headquarters (in a hot and stuffy little pothouse) arrived at 1 P.M.,
+and by 2 we were marching on through the Foret de Crecy to Mortcerf.
+It was frightfully hot and dusty, and the track through the forest was
+not easy to find. Although I had issued stringent orders about the
+rear of one unit always dropping a guide for the next unit (if not in
+sight) at any cross-roads we came to, something went astray this time,
+and half the Brigade turned up at one end of the village of Mortcerf,
+whilst the other half came in at the other. We were on advanced guard
+at the time, and so increasing the frontage like this did no harm; but
+it caused rather a complication in the billets we proceeded to allot.
+
+A delightful little village it was, and the Maire, in whose house we
+put up, was extremely kind; but by the time I had covered the front
+with outposts and ridden back, very hot and tired, General Smith
+Dorrien turned up, and announced that we were to push on in an hour.
+He was, by the way, very complimentary about the way in which the 15th
+Brigade had behaved all through, and cast dewdrops upon us with both
+hands. It was very pleasant, but I was rather taken aback, for I
+genuinely did not think that we had done anything particularly
+glorious in the retreat. However, it appeared that the authorities
+considered that the Brigade was extremely well disciplined and well in
+hand--for which the praise was due to the C.O.'s and not to me--and
+were accordingly well pleased.
+
+So we made a hurried little meal at the Maire's house, and Madame
+threw us delicious pears from a first-floor window as we rode away.
+
+We had not far to go in the dusk, only two or three miles on to the
+turning which led to La Celle. The Dorsets were pushed on into and
+beyond La Celle, in rather complicated country--for there was a deep
+valley and a twisting road beyond; but the few Uhlans in the village
+bolted as they entered it, and no further disturbances occurred in our
+front. On our right, however, there was heavy firing, for the 3rd
+Division had come across a good many of the enemy at Faremoutiers,
+and at 9.30, and again at 11.30, general actions seemed to be
+developing. But they died away, and we slept more or less peacefully
+on a stubble field with a few sheaves of straw to keep us warm.
+Perpetual messengers, however, kept on arriving with orders and
+queries all night long, and our sleep was a broken one.
+
+
+_Sept. 7th._
+
+We awoke with the sun, feeling--I speak for myself--rather touzled and
+chippy, and waited a long time for the orders to proceed. The cooks'
+waggon turned up with the Quartermaster-Sergeant and breakfast--and
+still we didn't move. Eventually we fell in and moved off at noon--a
+hot day again--very hot, in fact, as we strung along on a narrow road
+in the deep and wooded valley. Very pretty country it was; but what
+impressed itself still more on me was the gift of some most
+super-excellent "William" pears by a farmer's wife in a tiny village
+nestling in the depths--real joy on that thirsty day.
+
+There were still some Uhlans left in the woods, and I turned a couple
+of Norfolk companies off the road to drive them out. Some of our
+artillery had also heard of them, and a Horse battery dropped a few
+shells into the wood to expedite matters; but I regret to say the only
+bag, as far as we could tell, was one of our own men killed and
+another wounded by them.
+
+At Mouroux we halted for a time, and then pushed on, rather late, to
+Boissy le Chatel--the delay being caused by the motor-bikist carrying
+orders to us missing, by some mischance, our Headquarters
+altogether--though we were within a few hundred yards of Divisional
+Headquarters, and had reported our whereabouts--and going on several
+miles to look for us.
+
+We were now again the advanced guard of the Division, and had to find
+outposts for it a mile beyond. It is always rather a grind having to
+ride round the outposts after a long day, but one can't sleep in peace
+till one is satisfied that one's front is properly protected, so it
+has to be done; and as the Brigade Staff is limited, the Staff Captain
+allotting the billets, and the Brigade Major seeing that all the
+troops arrive safely, one generally has to do these little excursions
+by oneself. On the road I came across Hubert Gough, commanding the
+3rd Cavalry Brigade, in a motor, cheery as ever, with his cavalry
+somewhere on our right flank keeping touch with us. We put up in a
+little deserted chateau in Boissy le Chatel, but it was overcrowded
+with trees and bushes and very stuffy.
+
+
+_Sept. 8th._
+
+Next morning we had, before starting, the unpleasant duty to perform
+of detailing a firing-party to execute a deserter. I forget what
+regiment he belonged to (not in our brigade), but he had had rotten
+luck from his point of view. He had cleared out and managed to get
+hold of some civilian clothes, and, having lost himself, had asked the
+way of a gamekeeper he met. The gamekeeper happened to be an
+Englishman, and what was more, an old soldier, and he promptly gave
+him up to the authorities as a deserter.
+
+We left at 7.25 A.M. as the last brigade in the Division. I might
+mention here that, for billeting, the ground for the Division was
+divided into "Brigade Areas," each area to hold not only an Infantry
+Brigade but one or two Artillery Brigades, a Field Ambulance, and
+generally a company of R.E., and occasionally some other odds and
+ends, such as Divisional Ammunition Column, Train, Irish Horse,
+Cyclists, &c., and for all these we had to find billets. The troops
+billeted in these areas varied in composition nearly every day. It was
+very hard work for the Staff Captain (Moulton-Barrett), whose proper
+job would normally have been limited to the 15th Brigade; but he and
+Saint Andre, who both worked like niggers, somehow always managed to
+do it satisfactorily. It would have turned my hair grey, I know, to
+stuff away a conflicting crowd of troops of different arms into an
+area which was always too small for them. But M.-B. would sit calmly
+on his horse amid the clamour of inexperienced subalterns and grasping
+N.C.O.'s, and allot the farms and streets in such a way that they
+always managed to get in somehow--though occasionally I expect the
+conditions were not those of perfect comfort. We were lucky in the
+weather, however, and many times troops bivouacked in the open in
+comparative ease when a rainy night would have caused them extreme
+discomfort.
+
+It was not always easy to find billets even for our own Brigade
+Staff, for though we were a small unit, comparatively, we had a good
+number of horses and half a dozen vehicles; and besides this, we had
+to have a decent room or place for the Signal section, and rig up a
+wire for them to work in connection with the Divisional Headquarters
+or other troops. In this Cadell was excellent, and we rarely had
+a breakdown. Sometimes, of course, we were too far off to get
+a wire fixed in time, and then we had recourse to our Signal
+"push-bikists"--no motor cyclists being on our establishment. The
+Signal companies, by the way, had only been completely organized a
+month or two before the war, and what we should have done without them
+passes my imagination, for they were quite invaluable, and most
+excellently organized and trained.
+
+And sometimes when, after all this work, we had settled down into
+billets for the night, an order would come to move on at once. Fresh
+orders had then hurriedly to be written, and despatched by the orderly
+of each unit (who was attached to our headquarters) to his respective
+unit, giving the time at which the head of the unit was to pass a
+given point on the road so as to dovetail into its place in the
+column in the dark, and all with reference to what we were going to
+do, whether the artillery or part of it was to be in front or in rear,
+what rations were to be carried, arrangements for supply, position of
+the transport in the column, compositions of the advanced or
+rear-guard, &c., &c. It sounds very complicated, and still more so
+when you have to fit in not only your own brigade but all the
+miscellaneous troops of your "Brigade Area." But Weatherby had reduced
+this to a fine art, and, after all, we had had heaps of practice at
+it; so orders were short and to the point, and issued in really an
+extraordinarily short time.
+
+To return. Our march that day was through pretty country, with
+fighting always going on just ahead of us or on both flanks, but we
+were never actually engaged. At Doue we halted for an hour or so, and
+then received orders to push out a battalion to hold the high ground
+in front. But when we had got there we only found a panorama
+stretching out all round, dotted with troops, and our guns firing from
+all sorts of unseen hiding-places, with the enemy well on the run in
+front of us. Soon the order came for us to push on, and we moved
+forward through Mauroy, down a steep hill into St Cyr and St Ouen,
+pretty little villages in a cleft in the ground, across the Petit
+Morin river and up a beastly steep hill on the other side.
+
+Then came a "pow-wow" in a stiff shower of rain, and on again slowly
+over the plateau, in a curious position, for there was a big fight
+going on amid some burning villages in the plain far on our left--I
+don't know what Division--probably the 4th--and a smaller fight
+parallel to us on the right, not two miles off; and we were marching
+calmly along the road in column.
+
+Then a longer halt, whilst we got closer touch with the 14th Brigade
+on our right. It was a tangled fight there; for when we pushed forward
+some cyclists in that direction they were unintentionally fired on by
+the East Surrey; and the latter, who had rounded up and taken about
+100 of the enemy prisoners, mostly cavalry, were just resting whilst
+they counted them, when some of our own guns lobbed some shells right
+into the crowd, and five German officers and about fifty of the
+prisoners escaped in the confusion.
+
+A little farther on, near Charnesseuil, we got orders to billet for
+the night there, and the Brigade Headquarters moved on to Montapeine
+cross-roads. Here there was a good deal of confusion, stray units of
+several divisions trying to find their friends, and the cross-roads
+blocked by a small body of sixty-three German prisoners. We got the
+place cleared at last, and the Staff occupied an untidy, dirty,
+unfurnished house and grounds at the corner. It had been used by the
+enemy the night before, and they had luckily brought great masses of
+straw into the house.
+
+I stowed away the prisoners in the stables--great big, docile,
+sheepish-looking men of the Garde-Schuetzen-Bataillon (2nd and 4th
+companies) and machine-gun battery attached. I talked to several of
+them, and they said that the battalion had lost very heavily and there
+were hardly any officers left. One of the latter, Fritz Wrede by name,
+I found wounded and lying on the straw in a dark room in the basement.
+Other wounded were being brought in here, and all complained of
+feeling very cold, although the evening was quite warm. I made some
+men heap straw on them, which was an improvement--but I believe that
+wounded always do feel cold.
+
+Wrede had a bullet through the shoulder, but was not bad, so I got him
+to sign a paper to say he would not try to escape--otherwise he might
+have made trouble. Our men, as usual, were more than kind to the
+prisoners, and insisted on giving them their own bread and jam--though
+the Germans had already been given a lot of biscuit. I remember being
+struck with the extreme mild-seemingness of all the prisoners, and
+wondering how such men could have been capable of such frightful
+brutalities as they had been in Belgium--they looked and behaved as if
+they wouldn't have hurt a fly.
+
+
+_Sept. 9th._
+
+Next morning we moved off at 7.30 and went _via_ Saacy across the
+Marne to Merz, and thence up an extremely steep and bad road through
+the woods. It was a very hot day, and as there was no prospect of
+getting the transport up I left it behind at Merz, meaning to send it
+round another way when the road was clear. Firing was going on to the
+left front, and we halted for a council of war with the Divisional
+Staff, which was immediately in front of us.
+
+The 14th Brigade was apparently hung up somewhere to our left front
+and couldn't get on, so we were sent on to help them take the high
+ground towards the Montreuil road. They were, we were told, already in
+possession of Hill 189; but when we emerged from the woods there was a
+Prussian battery on the hill. There did not seem to be any men with
+it, as far as we could see, and it was not firing. But we made a good
+target, and not more than a battalion had got clear when the
+"deserted" battery opened fire and lobbed a shell or two into the
+Bedfords and Cheshires.
+
+They only lost a man or two killed and wounded; but a Howitzer battery
+with us, which was already on the lookout, came into action at once
+and speedily silenced the German guns for the time being.
+
+Bols, who was leading, reported that the hill was attackable--it was
+really only a rise in the ground,--and after a reconnaissance I gladly
+issued orders. So the Norfolks and Dorsets proceeded to attack in
+proper form, whilst I sent the Bedfords round to the right towards
+Bezu to try and take the rise in flank. The 14th Brigade were
+meanwhile somewhere on the left, and we got touch with them after a
+time; but they could not get forward, as a number of big guns from
+much further off kept up a heavy fire, and there was a body of
+infantry hidden somewhere as well, to judge from the number of bullets
+that came over and into us.
+
+That was rather a trying afternoon. Dorsets and Norfolks were held up
+about half a mile from Hill 189, and I went forward to Bezu with the
+Bedfords to try to get them on to the flank. Thorpe and his company
+got forward into a wood, but lost a number of men in getting there;
+and the lie of the ground did not seem to justify my sending many more
+to help him, as the space up to the wood was swept by a heavy fire.
+Just about this time poor Roe of the Dorsets, who had taken some of
+his company into this wood, was shot through the head--as was also
+George, one of his subalterns.
+
+Meanwhile those horrible big guns from somewhere near Sablonnieres
+were giving us a lot of trouble, and knocked out also several of the
+Cheshires, who had been sent by the Divisional Commander towards the
+left to support the 14th Brigade. The latter--(I went to see Rolt, the
+Brigadier, but there was little we could combine)--seemed at one
+moment to be a little unhappy, as they were enfiladed from Chanoust on
+their left; but the Dorsets had worked carefully forward on their
+tummies, and with the Norfolks held a low ridge well to the front,
+whence, though they could not get forward themselves, they could do
+the enemy a good deal of damage. So the 14th Brigade stuck it out, and
+we kept up the game till dusk, when we dug ourselves in a little
+further back and posted outposts.
+
+I might add that when Weatherby and I went forward to see Bols and
+Ballard, Weatherby had bad luck, for his horse was shot in the body
+whilst he was leading him, and died that night.
+
+Meanwhile the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division was on our right, under
+Shaw, and although his Lincolns, or some of them, had got into the
+wood, and we tried a combined movement, they also got hung up there
+and we could not get on.
+
+The Germans certainly fought this rear-guard action remarkably well.
+We did not know at the time that it was a rear-guard action, for we
+thought a whole corps might be occupying a strong position here and
+intending to fight next day. But no more fighting took place that
+night, and by next morning they had cleared out.
+
+The Germans had evidently only just left Bezu, for on my going to see
+M'Cracken (commanding 7th Brigade) there, I found him in a house with
+the remains of an unfinished (German) meal, including many half-empty
+bottles, on the table. Then we managed to get some supper in another
+house, and were nearly turned out of it by a subaltern of General
+Hamilton's staff, who, seeing a light in the window, thought he would
+save himself the trouble of hunting for another house for his General,
+and announced that it was required for the 3rd Divisional Staff. I was
+inclined to demur at first and sit tight; but the ever-useful Saint
+Andre, to save trouble, hurried out and secured another house for us;
+as a matter of fact it was better and bigger than the first one, and
+would have suited the Divisional Staff much better.
+
+After issuing orders for to-morrow's attack or march we flung
+ourselves down dead tired, and were awakened ten minutes afterwards by
+a summons from General Hamilton to come and see him at once, as he
+was going to hold a pow-wow on the situation. I found him in a tiny,
+poky little attic, and there we waited for three-quarters of an hour
+whilst Rolt was being sent for. Two hours did this pow-wow last, and
+we had to write and issue fresh orders in consequence. Just as they
+had been sent out and we had flung ourselves down again for a little
+sleep, an entirely new set of orders arrived from the 5th Division,
+and for the third time we had to think out and write and distribute a
+fresh set of orders. By that time it was 12.30 A.M., and we were to
+move at 3.45 A.M., which meant getting up at 2.30. Two hours broken
+sleep that night was all we got--and lucky to get it.
+
+
+_Sept. 10th._
+
+Off at 3.45 A.M., we moved out in careful fashion towards Haloup, in
+the direction of Montreuil. But our scouts reported all clear, and in
+very truth the Germans had left. What was more, they had left that
+field battery on Hill 189 behind them, surrounded by about twenty or
+more corpses and a quantity of ammunition.
+
+It was a damp day, and progress was slow, as it was not at all certain
+where the enemy was. At Denizy, a small village on the way, we were
+told that a German general, with his staff, had received a severe
+shock there the day before by an unexpected British shell dropping on
+his headquarters whilst he was at luncheon. He had jumped up with a
+yell and bolted up the hill, but was driven down again by another
+shell which landed close by. He was reported to have died almost at
+once, but whether from fright or not was not quite clear.
+
+When near Germigny we espied a German column in the distance, and
+shelled it heavily with the 61st howitzer battery attached to us
+(Major Wilson), causing it to bolt in all directions. The 3rd Cavalry
+Brigade now turned up in our front (Hubert Gough's), and with the 5th
+(Chetwode's) hustled the enemy along. We were advanced guard again,
+and it was difficult to get on, for the Divisional Commander kept
+sending messages from behind asking me why the deuce I wasn't going
+faster, whilst Gough was sending me protests from the front that I was
+treading on his heels, and not giving him time to clear up the
+situation!
+
+We halted for some time the other side of Germigny, and then pushed on
+to Gandelu, a large village in a cleft of the hills, from the heights
+in front of which the German artillery might have made it extremely
+unpleasant for us. But none were there, nor were there any at Chezy,
+which would have made a perfect defensive position for them, with a
+glacis-like slope in all directions.
+
+On the other side of Gandelu, in the wood, we came across the first
+signs of the German bolt. A broken motor-car was lying in the stream,
+and dead horses and men were lying about, whilst every now and then we
+passed two or three of our troopers with a dozen German prisoners in
+tow.
+
+As we moved up the steep hill towards Chezy, we came across packs,
+rifles, and kit of all sorts flung away, broken-down waggons, more
+dead Germans, and, at last, on a whole convoy of smashed waggons,
+their contents mostly littered over the fields and road, and groups of
+our horsemen beaming with joy. The 3rd Cavalry Brigade had rounded up
+this convoy with their Horse Artillery, scuppered or bolted most of
+the escort, and captured the rest. Besides this, they had attacked a
+whole cavalry division and scattered it to the winds. Their first lot
+of prisoners numbered 348, and their second 172.
+
+We halted near the convoy for our usual ten minutes, and examined it
+with much satisfaction. There were all sorts of things in the
+waggons--food and corn, to which I allowed our men to help themselves,
+for our horses were short of oats and our men of rations, and some of
+the tinned meats, "gulasch" and "blutwurst," were quite excellent and
+savoury, much more so than our everlasting bully beef. Other waggons
+were full of all sorts of loot--cases of liqueur and wine, musical
+instruments, household goods, clothing, bedding, &c., trinkets,
+clocks, ribbons, and an infinite variety of knick-knacks, many of
+which one would hardly have thought worth taking. But the German is a
+robber at heart, and takes everything he can lay his hands on. There
+was also a first-rate motor-car, damaged, by the side of the road, and
+in it were a General's orders and decorations, and 100 rifle
+cartridges (Mauser) with soft-nosed bullets. To make certain of this I
+kept one of the cartridges and gave it to Sir C. Fergusson. I think
+these were about the only things (besides food) which we took from
+the whole convoy, though many of the other things would have been well
+worth taking. The men were very good, and did not attempt even to
+leave the ranks till allowed by me to take the corn and food.
+
+A short way on was the dirty village of Chezy, and here we found a
+heap of cavalry and many of the 3rd Division. So we branched off to
+the left in a frightfully heavy ten minutes' shower, and marched away
+to St Quentin--marked as a village, but really only a farmhouse in a
+big wood. As we approached the wood Headlam's guns began to shell it
+in order to clear it of possible hostile troops, and continued until I
+sent back to say that the shells were preventing us from going on;
+then he eased off.
+
+We halted near St Quentin for half an hour, and then came a message to
+say we were to billet there. It was impossible to billet a whole
+brigade in one farmhouse, and that none too large. So we told off
+different fields for the battalions to bivouac in, and occupied the
+farm ourselves, first sending out cyclists to clear the wood, as there
+were rumoured to be parties of Uhlans in it.
+
+It was a grubby farm with not much water, but we made the best of it,
+and settled down for the night. A starved-looking priest was also
+sleeping there, and he told me his story.
+
+He and a fellow-priest, an Aumonier from Paris, had been on their way
+to join the French unit to which they had been allotted for ambulance
+purposes, when they fell into German hands and were treated as
+prisoners. The priest was robbed by a sergeant of 1200 francs, his
+sole possessions, and both he and the Aumonier were beaten black and
+blue, forced to march carrying German knapsacks, and kept practically
+without food or drink. After three days the Aumonier succumbed to ill
+usage and died, and the priest only managed to escape because his
+captors were themselves on the run.
+
+The priest also told us that there were some British prisoners in the
+column, and that the Germans behaved perfectly brutally to them,
+kicking them, starving them, and forcing them to carry German
+knapsacks.
+
+
+_Sept. 11th._
+
+Next morning we did not move off till 9.25, for the supplies to the
+Brigades did not arrive as soon as we expected, and hence the column
+was late in starting. We dawdled along, forming the rear brigade, in
+cool weather, and nothing in particular happened beyond reports coming
+in from the front that the Germans were quite demoralised. It came on
+to pour as we left Chouy, and at Billy we parked the transport and
+prepared to billet there. But it was already chokeful of other troops,
+and more than half our brigade would have had to bivouac in the
+sopping fields. So we pushed on to St Remy, and, evacuating some
+cavalry and making them move on to some farms a bit ahead,--including
+Massereene and his North Irish Horse, who, I fear, were not much
+pleased at having to turn out of their comfortable barns,--we billeted
+there, headquarters being taken up in the Cure's house. Even here his
+poor little rooms had been ransacked, drawers and tables upset and
+their contents littered over the floor, and everything of the smallest
+value stolen by the Germans.
+
+
+_Sept. 12th._
+
+Off at 5 A.M., we did only a short march as far as the Ferme de
+l'Epitaphe, a huge farm standing by itself in a vast and dreary plain
+of ploughed fields. Here we halted in pouring rain all day, expecting
+orders to go on. But we eventually had to billet there, with the
+Divisional Headquarters, and though we could only put up the Bedfords
+and the Cheshires there was a terrific squash. The Dorsets and
+Norfolks were sent back to billet at Nampteuil, a village a mile or so
+back, but even here there was some confusion, as the 14th Brigade had
+meanwhile arrived and begun to billet there. They were, however, sent
+back likewise to Chrisy, and the whole Division passed a most
+uncomfortable night. The rain never ceased from pouring, and a gale
+sprang up, which made matters worse. We slept in a loft with a number
+of Cheshire and Bedford officers, and didn't get dinner till past
+nine. Some gunner officers turned up, with no food at all, and we fed
+them; but there wasn't much at the best of times, for we had no
+rations and had to depend on the contents of our Mess basket, which
+consisted only of Harvey sauce, knives and forks, an old ham-bone,
+sweet biscuits, and jam.
+
+
+_Sept. 13th._
+
+It was fine in the morning, but the farmyard was ankle-deep in water
+and slush, and the sky was leaden with lurid clouds in the east, when
+we started at 4.10 A.M. We pushed on slowly in column for the few
+miles to Serches, and there we halted at the cross-roads on the top of
+the plateau and parked the brigade whilst the situation was cleared up
+by troops in front. Shells began to drop unpleasantly near us, and a
+couple of field batteries which got into action just in front of us,
+together with a "cow-gun"[8] (60 lb.) battery, only drew the hostile
+fire still more. They were pretty big shells, Black Marias mostly, and
+the heavy battery being right out in the open suffered somewhat
+severely, losing eight horses and a few men killed and wounded by one
+shell alone.
+
+         [Footnote 8: So called because similar guns in the South
+         African war had been drawn by oxen.]
+
+So we prudently scattered the battalions a bit, and the field
+batteries limbered up and walked slowly back under cover of a slope.
+But the cow-guns had one gun disabled, and though they also moved back
+and got again into action they were evidently spotted and had rather
+a poor time.
+
+Just about then, too, the transport of the 13th Brigade, which was
+necessarily following the infantry over the crest towards Sermoise,
+were noticed by the enemy, and a few shells over them killed and
+disabled a number of waggon-horses and men, making a very nasty mess
+in the road.
+
+There we sat all day whilst the sun came out and dried us a bit. But
+we were not very happy at luncheon; for though hungry and with plenty
+to eat now, those beastly shells came nearer and nearer us, till our
+bully and biscuit lost their charm entirely. At last we got up, plates
+in hand, and moved with dignity out of range, or, rather, more under
+cover.
+
+The Cheshires had meanwhile discovered a curious cave in the hillside
+which sheltered the whole battalion (though, in truth, the latter was
+not large, only 450 men or so), whilst the other battalions were well
+out of sight in the folds of the ground.
+
+The shadows grew longer and longer, and we rigged up some comfortable
+little shelters in the coppice for the night, thinking we should
+bivouac where we were. But at 6 I was sent for to Divisional
+Headquarters at Serches, and told to reconnoitre the road towards the
+Aisne--only a mile or two ahead. This I did in a motor-car, and
+returned in time for dinner; but we had barely got through it, about
+8, when marching orders came to the effect that we were to push on and
+cross the Aisne by rafts to-night, and the sooner the better.
+
+So we moved off with some difficulty in the dark, for there were no
+connecting roads with the halting-places of the battalions, and got on
+to the main road, whence all was plain sailing, down to the Moulin des
+Roches, an imaginary mill on the river bank. Over some sloppy pasture
+fields in dead silence, and we found ourselves on the bank, with a
+darker shadow plashing backwards and forwards over the river in our
+front, and some R.E. officers talking in whispers.
+
+The actual crossing of the Brigade was a long job, and had to be
+carefully worked out. The raft held sixty men at a time, or thirty men
+and three horses; but as horses on a raft in the dead of night were
+likely to cause a fuss, we left them behind, to follow on in the
+morning, and crossed without them,--four and a half hours it took;
+and whilst the men were crossing we tried to get a bit of sleep on the
+wet bank. It was not very successful, as it was horribly cold and we
+had no blankets. The staff crossed last of all, and we landed in a
+wood on the far side, in a bog but thinly covered with cut brushwood,
+and full of irritating, sharp, and painful tree-stumps.
+
+
+_Sept. 14th._
+
+When we were across it was difficult to discover the battalions asleep
+in the fields, and when we had found them and it was time to start it
+was difficult to wake them. However, we moved off just as it was
+getting light; but it was not easy to find the way, for there was no
+path at first. We had orders to go _via_ Bucy-le-Long to Sainte
+Marguerite, and found the villages right enough, for they were close
+together. But as we moved into Sainte Marguerite, with a good many
+other troops in front of us, we became aware that there was an
+unnecessary number of bullets flying about, and that our fellows in
+front were being held up.
+
+The village was held by the 12th Brigade (4th Division), and the 14th
+Brigade was somewhere on our right. The Dorsets were our leading
+battalion, and they were pushed on to help the 12th, and filled a gap
+in their line on the hill above the village front at the eastern end.
+But there we stuck for a long time. The enemy's artillery had
+meanwhile opened on us, and shells began to crash overhead and played
+the devil with the tiles and the houses. But they did not do us much
+harm.
+
+We now received orders to move on to Missy (not a mile off to the
+right) and clear the Chivres ridge of the enemy and push on to Conde
+and take that if possible--rather a "large order." The difficulty was
+to get to Missy, for the road thither was spattered with bullets, and
+shells were bursting all along it. However, by dint of careful work we
+moved out bit by bit, cutting through the gardens and avoiding the
+road, and taking advantage of a slight slope in the ground by which we
+could sneak to the far side of the little railway embankment which led
+to Missy Station.
+
+It took a long time, and I made what proved to be the serious mistake
+of staying to the end in order to see the whole Brigade clear of
+Sainte Marguerite. I ought really to have gone ahead with the first
+party to reconnoitre; for just as we were starting after the rear
+company I stopped to write a message to the Division in answer to one
+which had just arrived, and at that moment a hellish shrapnel,
+machine-gun, and rifle fire was opened, not only on the village but on
+all the exits therefrom, and this fire lasted for nearly two hours.
+One simply could not make the attempt; it would have been certain
+death. And so we had to sit in the tiny courtyard of one of the
+houses, with our backs against the wall, and listen to the inferno
+overhead, whilst the proprietor's wife plied us with most acceptable
+roast potatoes and milk.
+
+I wrote a lot of messages during those two hours, but whether they all
+got through or not I do not know: some of the messengers never came
+back. Colonel Seely turned up at one moment--from General
+Headquarters, I think--demanding information. This I supplied, and
+made use of him to take some of my orders back; it really was quite a
+new sensation giving orders to a recent Secretary of State for War.
+
+At one time two or three artillery waggons appeared in the little
+main street and remained there quietly for a bit under a heavy fire,
+but only losing a man or two slightly wounded. Then suddenly there was
+a loud crack overhead, and half a dozen horses were lying struggling
+and kicking on the ground, with great pools of blood forming in the
+road and four or five prostrate men in them. It was a horrible sight
+for us, for the shell had burst just opposite the gate of our
+courtyard. But the gunners behaved magnificently, and a farrier
+sergeant gave out his orders as quietly and unconcernedly as if he had
+been on parade. I took his name with a view to recommendation, but
+regret that I have forgotten it by now.
+
+We also had some very unpleasant shaves at this time in our own
+courtyard. Twice did a shell burst just above the house and drive
+holes in the roof, bringing down showers of tiles; the second time
+practically all the tiles fell on me and nearly knocked me down. I do
+not know why they did not hurt me more--luckily the house was a low
+one; but they merely bruised my back.
+
+At last, in a lull, we managed to get away, and sneaked out at a
+run--through a yard and back garden, behind a farm, out at the back
+behind a fold in the ground, then across a wide open field and on to
+the low railway embankment, behind which we ducked, and made our way
+to the little station of Missy and up behind some scattered houses to
+near the church.
+
+Here, after some trouble, we got the commanding officers together, and
+arranged to push on and attack the wooded ridge above the town. The
+force was rather mixed. I had met Rolt (commanding the 14th Brigade)
+on the way, and we had settled that I should collect whatever of his
+men I could get together in Missy and join them to my attacking party.
+The difficulty was that it was already getting late--4.30 P.M.--and
+that there was insufficient time for a thorough reconnaissance, though
+we did what we could in that direction. However, my orders from the
+Divisional Commander had been to take the ridge, and I tried to do it.
+I had got together three companies of the Norfolks, three of the
+Bedfords, two Cheshires (in reserve), two East Surreys (14th Brigade),
+and two Cornwalls (13th Brigade, who had arrived _via_ the broken
+bridge at Missy and some rafts hastily constructed there)--twelve
+companies altogether.
+
+But when they pushed forward it became very difficult, for there
+turned out to be too many men for the space. What I had not known was
+that, though they could advance up a broad clearing to more than
+halfway up the hill, this clearing was bounded on both flanks, as it
+gradually drew to a point, by high 6-feet wire netting just inside the
+wood, so that the men could not get properly into the wood, but were
+gradually driven in towards the point, where the only entrance to the
+wood occurred.
+
+Luckily the Germans had not noticed this either--or there would have
+been many more casualties than there were. As it was, a company of the
+East Surrey and another one (Allason's) of the Bedfords did get
+through to the top of the wood and on to the edge of the open plateau;
+but this I did not hear of till later. When the greater part of the
+force had got through the opening into the wood they found a few
+Germans there and drove them back, killing some. Then they surged on
+to a horse-shoe-shaped road further on in the wood, and some men lost
+their direction and began firing in front of them at what they
+thought were Germans. But they were others of our own, and these began
+firing back, also without knowing that they were their friends.
+Consequently, although casualties were few, an unpleasant situation
+arose, and numbers of men turned about and retired down the hill into
+Missy, saying that our artillery was firing into them. This may have
+been true, for some shells were bursting over the wood; but whether
+they were English or German I do not know to this day.
+
+Anyhow, the stream of men coming back increased. They fell back into
+the village, and then came some certainly German shells after them.
+For an unpleasant quarter of an hour the little sloping village of
+Missy was heavily shelled by shrapnel; but the walls of the houses
+were thick, and though of course there were a certain number of
+casualties, they were not serious as long as the men kept close to the
+south side of the walls. Beilby (our Veterinary officer) for some
+reason would keep to the wrong side of the street and was very nearly
+killed, the fuse of a shell landing with a whump on a door not two
+feet in front of him, and a shrapnel bullet going through his skirt
+pocket; but he was not touched. The shrapnel were in bursts of four,
+and luckily Moulton-Barrett noticed it, for he calmly held up the
+stream of men till the fourth shell had burst, and then let as many as
+possible past the open space there till the next bunch arrived, when
+he stopped them behind cover,--just like a London policeman directing
+traffic.
+
+I remember one man falling, as we thought dead, close to where the
+Staff were standing. But he groaned, and Weatherby ran to pick him up.
+There was, however, no wound of any sort on him, and after a minute he
+got up and went on. I think he must have been knocked down by the wind
+of a shell--for he certainly was as much astonished as we were at
+finding no damage on himself.
+
+By this time I had given orders that the troops were to retire to
+their previous positions in and near the village, and it was getting
+dusk.
+
+Luard (Norfolks) and a party of twenty-five men were well ahead in the
+wood, and received the order to retire, for Luard was heard shouting
+it to his men. But nothing has since been heard of him, and I much
+regret to say that he was either taken prisoner with most of his men,
+or, more probably, killed.
+
+A message now came down from the plateau saying that some East Surreys
+and Bedfords were still up in the wood, and should they retire or hold
+on? As it was nearly dark and I consequently could not support
+them--for if the men could not get through the wire-netting in
+daylight they could hardly do so at night--I told them to retire. I
+gave this order after I had consulted Rolt, who was somewhere west of
+the village; but even if Rolt had not been there I should have given
+it, for it would have been impossible to reinforce them adequately in
+the circumstances.
+
+So I issued orders for an early reconnaissance and attack next
+morning, to be led by the Norfolks; and the troops covered their front
+with sentries and bivouacked in and round the village. We were all
+short of food that night, for none of our supply carts, and not even a
+riding-horse, had come with us. But all or most of the men had an
+"iron ration" on them, and this they consumed, with the "unexpired"
+portion of their previous day's ration.
+
+The Bedfords took up their position along the railway to the west,
+Cheshires on the right, Norfolks right front of village, D.C.L.I. left
+front.
+
+As for the Staff, we retired to a farm called La Bizaie,
+three-quarters of a mile south of Missy, and close to the river, and
+took up our quarters there. There was not a whole pane of glass in the
+house, for it had been heavily bombarded--being empty, except for a
+few wounded--during the day, and great craters had been formed close
+by the walls by the Black Marias. But except at one corner of the roof
+of an outhouse, no damage had been done to the buildings--except the
+broken glass.
+
+It was a very old farmhouse, as we found out afterwards, part of it
+dating back to 1200 and something. Curiously enough, there was a
+photograph of an English Colonel (of the R.A.M.C.) on the sideboard--a
+friend, so the farm servants told us, of the owner, whose name I have
+forgotten. The buildings were very superior to the ordinary farm type,
+and more like a comfortable country house than one would expect, but
+there were plenty of barns as well, and some pigs and chickens running
+about.
+
+We bought, murdered, and ate an elderly chicken, but otherwise there
+was devilish little to eat except a store of jam, and we had only a
+very few biscuits and no bread.
+
+
+_Sept. 15th._
+
+[Illustration: Missy-on-Aisne.]
+
+After writing out orders for the attack next day we went to bed,
+dog-tired; and I was routed out again at 12.45 A.M. by Malise Graham,
+who had come with a message from the Divisional Commander that he
+wanted to see me at once at the broken bridge at Missy, a mile off
+through long wet grass in pitch darkness. It was not good "going,"
+but we got there eventually and crossed the river, sliding down steep
+slippery banks into a punt, ferried across, and up the other side.
+Cuthbert eventually turned up from somewhere, and we had a pow-wow in
+the dark, resulting in fresh orders being given for the morrow's work.
+
+This involved new orders being written, and it was 4 A.M. by the time
+we turned in again for an hour's sleep.
+
+A careful reconnaissance was made by Done and some other Norfolk
+officers as soon as it was light; but the result was not promising.
+Fresh German trenches had been dug commanding the open space, and more
+wire had been put up during the night.
+
+The Norfolks were told off to lead the assault, with the Bedfords in
+support and the Cheshires in reserve. The Dorsets were still above
+Sainte Marguerite, helping the 12th Brigade, and were not available.
+
+We began by shelling that horrible Chivres Spur, but it produced
+little effect, as the Germans were in the wood and invisible. The
+Norfolks pushed on, but gradually came to a standstill in the wood,
+and the day wore on with little result, for the wood was desperately
+blind, and we were being heavily shelled at all points.
+
+The Brigade staff sat under a hedge halfway between La Bizaie farm and
+Missy; but it was not a very happy place, for the big shells fell
+nearer and nearer till we had to make a move forward at a run for the
+shelter of a big manure-heap. But even here the Black Marias found us
+out, and two of them fell within a few yards, their explosion covering
+us with dirt. We were also in view of German snipers halfway up the
+hill, and bullets came thick whenever we showed a cap or a leg beyond
+the muck-heap, which, besides being distinctly unsweet, was covered
+with disgusting-looking flies in large numbers.
+
+However, there we had to stay most of the day. The village of Missy
+was intermittently shelled by some huge howitzers, and bunches of
+their shells blew up several houses and nearly demolished the church,
+a fine old 14th century building. A few Norfolks were buried or killed
+by the falling houses, but otherwise extraordinarily little damage was
+done, and most of the shells fell in the open, where there was nobody
+worth mentioning.
+
+At 3 P.M. I got a summons to go to Rolt at his farm just outside
+Sainte Marguerite; and a most unpleasing journey it was for Weatherby
+and me. We separated, going across the open plough and cabbage fields,
+but snipers were on us the whole time, and several times missed us by
+only a few inches. We must have offered very sporting targets to the
+Germans on the hill, for we ran all the way, and--I speak for
+myself--we got extremely hot.
+
+I sprinted a good 400 yards under fire for the shelter of a thick
+hedge, and when I got there found to my disgust there was a young
+river to be got over before I could reach the cover. However, I
+squirmed along a fallen bough and struggled through the fence--to find
+myself face to face with Bols and his Dorsets, whom he was bringing
+along to hold the line of the fence. This gave a certain "moral
+relief," and from there it was easier going to Rolt's farm, all except
+one point where the railway cut through a hedge and crossed the
+stream. On this point a German machine-gun had been laid, and to cross
+it with a whole skin one had to hurry a bit. Our Brigade machine-gun
+officer, young D---- of the Bedfords, was subsequently hit here, in
+the back, but not very seriously.
+
+I concerted measures with Rolt for holding the line Missy-Sainte
+Marguerite, and we began to dig in places. But at 7.40 P.M. came
+orders for the 15th Brigade to evacuate the north bank _via_ a new
+bridge near the old raft one where we had crossed; so we issued fresh
+orders about the 14th Brigade taking over our line, and prepared for
+another night march,--no sleep again.
+
+I forgot to mention that our horses had arrived at La Bizaie early
+that morning, having crossed by the raft bridge the day before. Silver
+as usual made a desperate fuss, and was eventually knocked into the
+river by a mule who was crossing with him. He swam up and down the
+river for twenty-five minutes, refusing to come out--poor Catley in
+desperation all the time. But he was eventually hauled out, with my
+saddle and bags, of course, sopping wet. His stable shed was also
+shelled heavily during the day, but strange to say none of the horses
+or grooms were touched.
+
+It poured in buckets that night; and as the Bedfords were streaming
+past the farm in the dark about 11 P.M. a terrific fire broke out
+from the direction of Missy, accompanied by German flare-lights and
+searchlights. The word went round that it was a German counter-attack,
+and we ran out and halted the Bedfords and put them into some trenches
+covering the farm. But it turned out to be a false alarm; for the
+Germans, hearing troops moving in the dark, thought that they were
+going to be attacked, and opened a heavy fire on Missy, whilst the
+14th Brigade and the remainder of our men still there replied to it.
+It eventually died down, and we resumed our march in pitch darkness
+and mud up to the men's knees in the water meadows by the river.
+
+
+_Sept. 16th._
+
+The Cheshires came last, and we of the Brigade Staff followed them at
+4 A.M. through dripping fields and criss-cross hedges, coming across
+the Scottish Rifles lying asleep near the pontoon bridge. They
+belonged to the 19th Brigade, but where the rest of the Brigade was I
+do not know.
+
+On the other side of the river we found the Divisional Commander with
+a few of his staff. It was beastly cold and just getting light, about
+5 A.M., and why Sir Charles should be standing there I could not at
+first make out. However, it turned out that he had come down from
+Serches, being somewhat anxious as to what might be happening on the
+other side of the river--with considerable justification, for if we
+had been driven back on to the one bridge which crossed the river we
+might have been in a parlous state.
+
+Half an hour later we arrived in Jury, a tidy little village in and
+round which most of the Brigade was already billeting, and here, in a
+nice little house, belonging to a worthy old couple, we took our rest,
+thankful for a little peace and some sleep at last.
+
+And here we stayed for a week.
+
+Not that it was all beer and skittles even then. The 14th Brigade was
+still holding Missy over the river, and there were some serious alarms
+on one or two nights, necessitating troops being sent down to the
+river at Rupreux, in case they were wanted.
+
+Shells fell near Jury for a day or two, but they gradually died away,
+until some heavy guns of the 4th Division were brought up close by and
+began banging away again at the Chivres heights and beyond. Quite
+unnecessary we thought them, for they not only made a hideous noise
+day and night, but the enemy began searching for them with Black
+Marias, some of which fell unpleasantly close to us.
+
+It was a pretty little valley with wooded hills, running northwards to
+the Aisne, and on our right was a big plateau with huge haystacks
+dotted about the corn-fields, which served as excellent observing
+stations for our artillery, of which by this time we had a vast mass.
+The other (north) bank of the Aisne was clearly visible from here--in
+fact from the top of the biggest haystack there was a regular panorama
+to be seen, from the twin towers of Soissons Cathedral on the left to
+the enemy's trenches above Vailly and beyond--a beautiful landscape
+typical of La Belle France, even to the rows of poplars in the
+distance, marking the Routes Nationales from Soissons to other places
+of distinction.
+
+Our business was to hold the line of the river by digging a line of
+trenches from Sermoise to near Venizel, and to cover them with a line
+of outposts day and night. This took about four companies, and the
+rest were engaged in digging another series of trenches on the
+plateau as a supporting line to the first, flanking the Jury Valley on
+one side and the ruins of Sermoise and Ciry on the other. This was
+really the first serious digging of trenches we had had during the
+campaign, and I remember, in the light of after experiences, how
+futile they must have been at the time, for they were nothing like as
+deep as we subsequently found to be necessary, nor had they any wire
+entanglements or obstacles worth mentioning. However, I expect that
+the French improved them greatly during the subsequent winter.
+
+Sermoise had been desperately shelled; there were no inhabitants left,
+and practically every house was a heap of ruins; but though our
+outposts in front of it could not have been seen through the woods,
+the Germans continued to shell it most viciously.
+
+On the right of Sermoise was the 13th Brigade, extended towards the
+3rd Division, which had crossed the river at Vailly and was holding
+the slopes above it. I believe the 13th had a poor time of it, for
+they were scattered over open ground and in small woods which were
+perpetually being shelled, and they had, besides, to find a battalion
+or so to help the 14th Brigade in Missy.
+
+On our left we joined hands with the 4th Division, most of whom were
+on the other bank, running from St Marguerite westwards; on their left
+were, I believe, the French, in and round Soissons.
+
+It was a nice time for the Artillery; for guns were there in large
+numbers, and they had some good targets to shoot at, over Vregny and
+Chivres way, in the shape of the enemy's batteries and lines, when
+they could be seen.
+
+The weather was mostly fine during that week, but there were two
+horridly cold days on which the rain came down in torrents, and did
+not help us in our entrenching tasks.
+
+At last came the day which I had been expecting for some time; and I
+was ordered to send the Dorsets across, to begin relieving the 14th
+Brigade near Missy.
+
+
+_Sept. 24th._
+
+They left on the 23rd, and on the 24th the Bedfords went over,
+preceded by the Brigade Staff at 2.30 P.M. The Norfolks had been sent
+off three days before to strengthen the 3rd Division, so I had only
+three battalions, and of these the Cheshires were very weak. However,
+the K.O.Y.L.I., and West Kents (of the 13th Brigade), already holding
+the eastern edge of Missy, were put under my orders, besides the 15th
+Brigade R.F.A. under Charles Ballard (a cousin of Colin's[9]), and a
+Howitzer Battery (61st) of Duffus's 8th Brigade.
+
+         [Footnote 9: Commanding the Norfolk's.]
+
+Weatherby and I walked across to Rolt's farm, across a series of big
+fields, with only an occasional bullet or shell pitching in the
+distance. Lord, what a poor place it was; Rolt and his staff had lived
+there for the last week, all lying together on straw in one or two
+rooms: it must have been most uncomfortable. The windows towards the
+north-east had been plugged up with sandbags, so that the rooms were
+very dark, and the floors were deep in caked mud and dirt of all
+sorts. The only attraction in the main room was a big open fireplace
+with a huge sort of witches' cauldron standing over the hot ashes, and
+this was most useful in providing us with hot baths later on.
+
+
+_Sept. 25th._
+
+Rolt explained his position and the places which the different
+battalions were occupying; but beyond an occasional bombardment of
+Missy and losses from German snipers in trees and elsewhere, he had
+not suffered overmuch. However, he and his Brigade were not sorry to
+leave, and leave they did at 4 A.M. next morning. The awkward part of
+it was that one could never go out in the daytime, as the road in
+front of the farm leading towards Missy was under perpetual rifle-fire
+directly any one showed up, and several holes had been made in the
+farmyard gate, windows, and walls, not to mention bits of the roof
+taken off by shrapnel. Why they did not shell the farm more I cannot
+conceive. Perhaps the enemy thought it was deserted, but whilst we
+were there no shells fell within a couple of hundred yards of it,
+though some were pitched well over it, and exploded 500 yards to the
+rear.
+
+I had gone to see the Dorsets and 13th Brigade in Missy on the evening
+before, and found them fairly well ensconced. The Dorsets were in
+Missy itself, with their headquarters in a really nice house with
+carpets and big shaded lamps, and a cellar full of excellent wine,
+and a nice garden all complete, and charming bedrooms--infinitely
+superior to our pig-sty of a farm. I seriously thought of turning them
+out and taking the house for the Brigade Staff, especially as our farm
+was not at all central but quite on the left of our line; but all our
+cable-lines converged on to the farm, and, in addition, the Dorset
+house would have been impossible to get out of for further control if
+Missy were shelled; so I settled to remain at the farm. The 13th
+Brigade--_i.e._, K.O.Y.L.I., and West Kents, were further on, the
+K.O.Y.L.I., on the eastern outskirts, and the West Kents in trenches
+beyond them. The K.O.S.B.'s were still further south-eastwards, and
+reached back to the river, but there were only one or two weak
+companies of them.
+
+Before dawn, and just after Rolt had left, I went to inspect the
+Bedfords' position, which was close to Rolt's farm, in the wood in
+front of it, and a beastly position it was. The wood was very damp,
+and when one tried to dig trenches one struck water only a foot below
+ground, so most of the line had to be made of breastworks. There were
+German trenches within 20 yards of our advanced trench there, and ours
+was remarkably badly situated and liable to be rushed at a moment's
+notice; yet it was impossible from the lie of the ground to dig
+suitable ones unless we retired altogether for 200 yards, which of
+course was out of the question. So we chanced it and stuck it out, and
+luckily were never attacked there. The men suffered there from damp
+and cold, I'm afraid, for every morning a wet and freezing fog arose
+in the wood, although the weather was clear elsewhere; but it could
+not be helped.
+
+We stayed in Rolt's farm and in the positions described for just a
+week. On one day, the 27th, we had a false alarm, for the enemy was
+reported as crossing the Conde bridge at 4 A.M. in large numbers, and
+everybody was at once on the _qui vive_, the Cheshires, who were in
+bivouac behind Rolt's farm, being sent back (by Sir C. Fergusson's
+orders) to Rupreux, the other side of the river. We rather doubted the
+news from the start, as the Conde bridge had, we knew, been blown up,
+and there was only one girder left, by which a few men at a time
+could conceivably have crossed; but the information was so
+circumstantial that it sounded possible. Eventually it turned out all
+to be owing to the heated imagination of a Hibernian patrol officer of
+the West Kents, and we turned in again.
+
+Missy was shelled particularly heavily that day from 10 to 6, and it
+was painful to watch great bouquets of 8-in. H.E. shells exploding in
+the village, and whole houses coming down with a crash; it seemed as
+though there must be frightfully heavy casualties, and I trembled in
+anticipation of the casualty return that night.
+
+But the Dorsets and K.O.Y.L.I. had dug themselves in so thoroughly in
+deep funk-holes and cellars that they did not have a single casualty;
+and literally the only men wounded were three K.O.S.B.'s and six West
+Kents outside the village in a trench, who were hit by about the last
+shell of the day; whilst a Bedford sniper, an excellent shot, one
+Sergeant Hunt, unfortunately got a bullet through two fingers of his
+right hand.
+
+During that week it was moderately quiet, with nothing like so many
+casualties as we had expected. Our supply waggons rolled up after dark
+right into Missy village and never lost a man, whilst the village was
+so thoroughly barricaded and strengthened and scientifically
+defended--mostly Dorset work--that we could have held out against any
+number. The sappers too, 17th Co. R.E., worked like Trojans under
+young Pottinger, a most plucky and capable youth wearing the weirdest
+of clothes--a short and filthy mackintosh, ragged coat and breeches,
+and a huge revolver.[10]
+
+         [Footnote 10: I grieve very much to see that he was fatally
+         wounded outside Ypres (15th May 1916).]
+
+We put Rolt's farm and the mill (between that and Missy) and La Bizaie
+farm in a thorough state of defence, and dug hundreds of yards of
+trenches. In fact we should have welcomed an infantry attack, but it
+never came--only artillery long bowls.
+
+In this the two howitzer batteries, especially Wilson's 61st, were
+splendid, and spotted and knocked out gun after gun of the enemy. He
+had an observing station halfway up the hill above Ste Marguerite, to
+which I went occasionally, with a grand view up to Vregny and Chivres;
+but even here, although the O.P. was beautifully concealed, one had
+to be careful not to show a finger or a cap, for the German snipers in
+the wood below were excellent shots, and there were some narrow
+escapes.
+
+The worst of it was that we could take very little exercise. I used to
+go out nearly every morning before sunrise to visit the posts, but was
+often surprised by the sun before I'd finished my rounds, and had to
+bolt back under fire; and after sunset I'd go round to Missy, &c., and
+visit the troops there. Otherwise, we could not go out at all in the
+daytime--it was much too "unhealthy,"--and what with numerous meals
+and little movement we grew disgustingly fat. I put in a lot of time
+drawing careful maps of the position.
+
+The farm itself was cleaned up from roof to cellar by Moulton-Barrett
+and his myrmidons, but it was not perfect at first. My bed was a mass
+of stale blood-stains from the wounded who had lain there before we
+came, and St Andre, whose bed was not of the cleanest and exuded an
+odd and unpleasing smell, routed about below it, and extracted the
+corpse of a hen, which must have been there for ten days at least.
+
+We cleaned up the farmyard too--it was perfectly foul when we
+came--but we could not show much even there, although the gate was
+always kept closed, for any sign of life was generally greeted with a
+bullet. A man got one through the knee when just outside it, and the
+gate itself had several holes through it. The Bedfords used to send a
+company at a time there for hot tea in the mornings and evenings, for
+they could not light fires where they were, and shivered accordingly.
+
+Many were the schemes for improving their wood--trenches; and at last
+Orlebar (killed later near Wulverghem), who had been a civil engineer,
+drew up an arrangement for flooding the wood and retiring to a more
+satisfactory line. But before it could be put into practice we got
+orders to retire, and for the 12th Brigade on our left to relieve us.
+
+This meant, of course, thinning the line terribly, and we were, with
+the 12th Brigade, somewhat nervous about it, for we did not know what
+it portended. But we got away during the night in perfect safety; for
+although there was a full moon there was also a thick mist, and the
+Germans never seemed to notice the movement, which required most
+careful staff work on the part of both Brigades.
+
+Cuthbert, seedy, was relieved by Hickie in command of the 13th Brigade
+to-day.
+
+
+_Oct. 2nd._
+
+By some time in the early morning of the 2nd October--1.40 A.M. it
+was, to be accurate--the whole Brigade had got back to Jury, and there
+we were told, as usual, that we were to rest and recuperate for a
+week; so we were not surprised at getting orders in the afternoon to
+move out at 6.30 P.M., our destination being a place called Droizy. I
+had caught a bad cold that day, due solely, I believe, to taking a
+"woolly" into wear for the first time; and the cold fog in which we
+marched did nothing to improve it. Above us was a bright clear moon,
+but the fog clung heavily to the valleys, and we marched in it most of
+the time. Desperate secrecy and quiet was observed, for we were
+evidently doing secret marching at night for some great object; though
+what it was we could only conjecture. But orders came that for the
+next few days we were to march at night, and during the daytime were
+to lie "doggo" and not show ourselves for fear of the enemy's
+aeroplanes.
+
+We reached Droizy at about 11 P.M. and there found the Norfolks, who
+had been taken away from us at Jury ten days before and attached to
+the 3rd Division on our right in the direction of Vailly. Much pleased
+we were to see them again. They had not suffered many casualties,
+though they had had a stiff time at their chateau of Chassemy, filling
+the gap between the 3rd and 5th Divisions, and had been attacked
+several times.
+
+The Dorsets in arriving here managed to take a wrong turn in the
+village and went careering off into the fog in the opposite direction
+to where their billets had been told off for them; but they were
+shortly retrieved and put on the right track. A brigade of artillery,
+by the way--I forget which--was attached to our brigade area that
+night, and distinguished itself next day by taking up a position in
+some open fields; which led to trouble.
+
+Our headquarters were at a curious old castle-farm belonging to one M.
+Choron, right in the middle of the village, and looked after by his
+father, a vice-admiral, late a director of naval construction, a nice
+old fellow, who had been brutally treated by the Germans in their
+retreat. There was a very old tower to the place, no surroundings
+except a farmyard, and a little old kitchen of most antique aspect, in
+which we had our meals.
+
+
+_Oct. 3rd._
+
+For most of the next day we had a good rest, and I stayed in bed to
+doctor my cold; but orders soon came to move on, and the Brigade
+started in the evening for Long Pont, a village about twelve miles
+off, getting there about 11. The Divisional Commander had kindly sent
+a motor-car for me; and Done, of the Norfolks (who was also rather
+seedy), and Tandy, R.A., a person of large knowledge and always
+interesting, accompanied me; so we arrived at Long Pont a long time
+ahead of the troops.
+
+A great big chateau was gleaming in the moonlight as we drove up, and
+I determined that we should spend the night there, in spite of the
+fact that the Divisional staff had also that intention. But when I
+introduced myself to the proprietor, a courteous and frail old
+gentleman, the Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac, he bewailed the fact
+that there was no room available, and this in spite of the fact that
+there were dozens of big windows outside, and long corridors inside,
+with heaps of rooms opening off them.
+
+A visit to the village in search of a lodging revealed its true
+state--_i.e._, that it was choke-full and dirty. But even then it
+required a good deal of persuasion before the old gentleman at last
+grasped the fact that I was not demanding twenty bedrooms, but only
+one or two empty rooms in which twenty men could lie for the night.
+Then he kindly produced mattresses and straw, and all was well. As for
+myself, he was good enough to lead me to the chamber of his late
+mother, a curious little room with a four-poster and locks and hasps
+and cupboards of Louis XIII. times, and bundles of magnificent old
+embroideries. As for washing apparatus--that also was almost of that
+date.
+
+Next day, being Sunday, we had Divine Service in the ruins of a grand
+old fourteenth-century abbey which adjoined the chateau--wrecked in
+the French Revolution and again in 1830. The park also was most
+attractive, rather of the Trianon surroundings style; but several
+brigades of artillery which had to be tucked away under the trees for
+fear of aeroplanes rather spoilt the turf, I fear. We did, of course,
+as little damage as we could, and after a friendly farewell to the old
+couple I drove off, again in a motor, with Henvey (A.P.M. of 5th
+Division), and preceded the Brigade to a place called Pontdron. Here I
+arrived at 10 P.M.; but the Brigade, which had been heavily held up by
+French troops on the march, did not turn up till nearly 4 A.M.
+
+Meanwhile I amused myself by getting the chateau ready. It had, of
+course, been occupied by Germans, and, equally of course, it had been
+ransacked and partly wrecked by them--though a good deal of furniture
+had been left. There were even candles and oil-lamps available, and of
+these we made full use, as well as of the bedrooms. I chose the lady's
+(Comtesse de Coupigny, with husband in the 21st Dragoons) bedroom. The
+counterpane was full of mud and sand, through some beastly German
+having slept on it without taking his boots off, but there was
+actually a satin coverlet left, and pillows. All the stud- and
+jewellery-cases had been opened and their contents stolen, and Madame
+de C.'s writing-table had also been forced open, and papers and the
+contents of the drawers scattered on the floor. Other unmentionable
+crimes had also been committed.
+
+Here we stayed for nearly two days, cleaning up the chateau, picking
+up a lot of stores in the shape of boots and caps and clothing of all
+sorts--not to mention some heavy mails from home,--and actually
+playing lawn-tennis. At least I played with Cadell two sets, each
+winning one, on a sand court with an improvised net, and racquets and
+balls somewhat the worse for wear, with a lovely big hot bath to
+follow.
+
+It was gradually borne in on us that we were going to be moved off by
+train to take part in a different theatre of the fighting altogether;
+but where we should find ourselves we had not the least idea. What
+caused us much joy to hear was that we had intercepted a German
+wireless message, two days after four out of the six Divisions had
+left the Aisne, to say that it was "all right, all six British
+Divisions were still on the Aisne!"
+
+
+_Oct. 6th._
+
+On the 6th we moved off at 2.15 P.M. and pushed on to Bethisy St
+Pierre, where the Bedfords and Norfolks and ourselves halted, whilst
+the Dorsets and Cheshires pushed on to Verberies, so as to save time
+for the entraining on the morrow. We got our time-table that night,
+and found that we were to entrain at four stations--_i.e._, Compiegne,
+Le Meux, Longueil Ste Marie, and Pont Sainte Maxence--on the
+following day. Very careful arrangements and calculations had to be
+made, so that the whole thing should go without a hitch, and we sat up
+for some time at the Convent, a sort of educational establishment
+where Brigade Headquarters was quartered, making out the orders.
+
+A "Brigade Area" command was allotted to me, including, besides my own
+Brigade, the 8th Brigade R.F.A. (howitzers), 59th Co. R.E., 15th Field
+Ambulance, and 4th Co. of 5th Div. Train.
+
+
+_Oct. 7th._
+
+Then off at 5 A.M. next morning, ourselves for Pont Ste Maxence.
+Major Vandeleur of the Scottish Rifles had just arrived to take
+command of the Cheshires, who had had nothing but a captain to command
+them since Lt.-Col. Boger was taken prisoner on the 24th August. He
+seemed to me a first-rate sensible fellow, but we were not destined to
+keep him for long.
+
+As the Brigade was still rather short of socks, I bought as many as I
+could here for the men, but not many were available. It was a nice
+little town with a blown-up stone bridge, but the French R.E. had
+already constructed another of wood.
+
+The French entraining orders are that all troops have to be at the
+station four blessed hours before the train starts, so as to give time
+to load up properly. We thus arrived at 8, and did not start till 12;
+but the actual entraining of the Cheshires--the only battalion with
+Brigade Headquarters--took only one hour and a quarter,--not bad at
+all considering that there were no ramps or decent accessories, and
+all the vehicles had to be man-handled into the trucks.
+
+There were two sorts of trains--one mostly for men, the other mostly
+for horses and vehicles; but although they were very long--thirty-four
+to forty cars if I remember right--they were not quite long enough for
+us, and several men and vehicles had to be left behind and brought on
+by other trains, resulting in slight incompleteness for a few days.
+
+We rapidly reached Creil, where we were to get our final orders. What
+on earth would our destination be? Rumour had it that we should go to
+Calais, or even to Bruges; but we had no such journey after all, for
+we were only intended to go to Abbeville as it turned out--rather a
+disappointment, as we hoped it would be further afield.
+
+Abbeville--a two hours' journey as a rule in peace time--was not
+reached till 8 P.M., although we were due there at 6.30 P.M. We halted
+by the way, for half an hour or more, at Amiens, where we made the
+acquaintance of a cheery crowd of "Fusiliers Marins," sturdy naval
+reservists from Normandy and Brittany, who covered themselves with
+glory later on amid the Belgian dunes.
+
+
+_Oct. 8th._
+
+We were not allowed to detrain at Abbeville till 9.30 P.M., as the
+platforms were already occupied by other troops. It was wretchedly
+cold and pitch-dark by the time we had got away from the station, and
+we marched in dead silence through the town at 12.30 A.M. Not a soul
+was in the streets, not even a policeman from whom to ask the way, and
+we nearly lost our direction twice.
+
+Our orders, which we received from Dunlop (5th Divisional staff), who
+was ensconced in a red-hot waiting-room in the goods yard, were to the
+effect that we were to billet near Neuilly, a village about six miles
+off. Done (Norfolks) had been sent ahead on the previous day to
+prepare the billets, but when we got near the village, after a cold
+march with a clear moon, Done was nowhere to be seen; and I nearly
+ordered the battalion to "doss down" in the road, as all the houses
+near were full of men of other brigades. However, Weatherby rode on,
+and eventually found Done in bed at the Mairie, he having been
+officially told that the Brigade would not be in till the following
+day. He had had a trying time, having been deposited by his train at a
+station about ten miles off, and having to make his way across country
+(riding) without a map and with very vague ideas of where he was to
+go. However, he had already told off billets for all the Brigade Area,
+and the troops trickled in independently by battalions and batteries,
+arriving by different trains and even at different stations, up to 10
+A.M. in the morning. I thought it showed distinctly good work on the
+part of all concerned that we concentrated our "Brigade Area" so
+quickly and without being deficient of anything except the few
+vehicles which had perforce been left behind for want of trucks; but
+they turned up all right a day or two after. The Brigade staff
+billeted at the chateau (as usual!), a strangely ruined-looking little
+place belonging to the Comte de Belleville, now at the wars. We turned
+up there about 4 A.M., and were guided thither by an old gardener, who
+thumped at the door and shouted loudly for "Madame." A woman soon
+appeared, and showed us most civilly to our rooms--very plain and bare
+but very clean. I could not quite make her out, for though she was
+dressed in the plainest of print clothes she did not talk like a
+servant--in fact she talked like a lady; so I put her down as some
+relation perhaps who was helping Mme de Belleville. But later in the
+morning I discovered that she was Madame la Comtesse herself, who had
+kindly risen at that unearthly hour to let us in, and that there were
+no servants in the establishment at all except the old gardener and a
+nurse.
+
+Our movements were still by way of being kept a dead secret, so we
+went off in the afternoon at 6 P.M., reinforced now by some divisional
+cavalry and divisional cyclists. The road, in the dark, was an
+extremely complicated one, as it involved about twenty turnings and
+movement along narrow lanes with high hedges and big trees, making it
+quite impossible to see for more than a few yards. So I took the
+guiding of the column into my own hands, and distributed the rest of
+my staff along it to see that the different units did not miss the way
+and kept well closed up. The result was good, and after 5 hours march,
+_via_ Agenvilliers and Gueschard, we reached the little village of
+Boufflers about 11 P.M. Here, at an odd little Nouvel Art "Chateau"--or
+rather small country house, empty of its owners--belonging to M.
+Sagebien, Prefet de Niort, we of the Brigade staff put up, the rest of
+the command being billeted in the tiny villages lining each bank of
+the tiny stream near--I have forgotten its name.
+
+
+_Oct. 9th._
+
+It was a nice sunny day on the morrow, and we got our orders by midday
+that we were to move off at 2 P.M. We wrote out Brigade orders and
+prepared to start, when suddenly post-haste came some orders
+cancelling these, and telling us that we were to drop our transport
+and be moved off at once in a series of motor-buses to a place called
+Dieval.
+
+And then began a lovely jumble, which resulted (not our own fault) in
+getting to Dieval rather later than we should have done had we trusted
+to our own unaided powers of locomotion.
+
+We moved off at 2 P.M., only taking blanket-waggons which were to dump
+blankets and supplies into the buses. These were to have turned up on
+the Haravesnes-Fillievres road at 7 P.M.; in any case it would have
+been a complicated job getting into them in the dark, but they did not
+arrive till midnight, owing to some mechanical breakdowns in the
+column. The first lot of "camions" were to have taken six
+battalions--_i.e._, the 14th Brigade, which was just ahead of us, and
+half of the 15th Brigade. But when they did arrive, there were only
+enough for three and three-quarter battalions; so we bivouacked in
+more or less peace by the roadside until this bunch had moved off and
+returned from Dieval to fetch us. Horribly cold it was too, and we
+only kept moderately warm by pulling down several straw stacks--which
+we carefully put together again next day--and covering ourselves up in
+the straw.
+
+I had, by the way, an extremely narrow escape from being killed that
+night. I had been lying down just off the road, when it struck me that
+I should find out more of what was happening and going to happen if I
+went to the head of the camion column and interviewed the officer in
+charge. It was a tramp of a mile or more through the 14th Brigade, and
+I found out something of what I wanted; but when I returned to the
+bivouac I heard that, not two minutes after I had started, a motor-bus
+had swerved off the road and passed exactly over the place where my
+head had been. It very nearly went over St Andre and Moulton-Barrett,
+who were lying a few feet away, as it was. Of course the driver could
+not see any one lying down in the dark.
+
+
+_Oct. 10th._
+
+Next morning we had breakfast at 7.30 in the field, and still the
+buses had not returned. We waited in that place till 11 o'clock before
+they turned up, and then clambered into them as quickly as we
+could--twenty-two men to a bus, sixteen buses to 300 metres being the
+allowance. Even then we had to leave about two battalions behind for a
+third trip.
+
+I got into the first bus--a very fast one,--and reached Dieval some
+time before the rest of the Brigade; but there was no room in the town
+for another Brigade, as it was already full of the 14th.
+
+I went to see Rolt, and got into telephone communication with
+Divisional Headquarters on the subject, and they gave me leave to
+billet at La Thieuloye, one and a half miles back and off the road. So
+W. and I walked back and turned the buses off there just as they were
+arriving.
+
+A curious sight were the hundreds, or even thousands, of French
+civilians whom we met--all men of military age, whom the French Army
+was sending away westwards out of Lille; for it was likely that Lille
+would shortly be invested by the Germans, and they did not want this
+large batch of recruits and reservists to be interned in Germany.
+
+The rest of the Brigade--transport, horses, and all--rolled up by 6
+P.M., the horses being very tired after their long night march.
+
+From what I could gather German cavalry was trying to get round our
+north-west flank, whilst a big fight was going on at Arras. Lille,
+with a few Territorial battalions in it, was still holding out, but
+was surrounded by the enemy. Hence the hurry. But we ought to have
+plenty of troops now to keep the Germans off. It was very puzzling to
+make out what was happening, for we had not even the vaguest idea
+where the rest of our own Army was, let alone the French or Germans.
+Nobody seemed to know anything, except that we should probably soon be
+fighting again.
+
+Our quarters that night were a horrid little chateau--empty, damp, and
+desolate, in a deserted wilderness of a place, with no furniture
+except some straw, a mattress or two, and some packing-cases. So here
+we tried to make ourselves comfortable, and succeeded in lighting a
+fire and settling down. But it was beastly cold and damp.
+
+
+_Oct. 11th._
+
+We marched at 7.20 A.M. in a thick damp mist, myself being in charge
+of the right column of the Division, consisting of the Brigade, the
+15th Brigade R.F.A., 108th heavy battery (under Tyrrell, late Military
+Attache at Constantinople), 17th R.E. Fd. Co., and cyclists (who, by
+the way, did not turn up, having been sent ahead). On the way to
+Bethune we were evidently coming into touch with the enemy, for I
+received orders to detach two companies (Cheshires) to our right flank
+at Fonquieres Verquin to support the French. But they returned in the
+course of the afternoon, not being wanted.
+
+Outside Bethune we halted for some time, and were regaled with soup
+and pears by some hospitable ladies at luncheon-time. And then we
+received orders to push through the town and cover it along the bend
+of the canal and across the arc of it (from Essars due east) with
+three battalions, the Norfolks being sent away to the east to help the
+French about Annequin.
+
+It was perfectly flat country and difficult to defend, as it was so
+cut up by high hedges and suburbs; but I went round it in the
+afternoon, inspected it carefully, and posted the battalions. Towards
+evening, however, we had orders to fall back into the town--the French
+taking over the outposts--and billet there, our Headquarters being in
+the Grande Place--a large square with a curious old belfry in the
+middle--at a wine-shop, No. 34. Here we were well looked after, and
+had each of us a lovely hot bath, provided by a marvellous system of
+gas-jets which heated the water in about five minutes.
+
+
+_Oct. 12th._
+
+Off eastwards next morning at 8.30 A.M. through a freezing thick
+fog--so thick that one could not see twenty yards in front of one. The
+big open space in the town through which we passed was occupied with
+masses of Spahis, Moorish troops, and Algerians of all sorts, looking
+miserably cold in their scarlet jackets and white burnouses. The idea
+was that we were to push forward to Festubert and act as a pivot, with
+our right near the canal at Rue de l'Epinette, to the 3rd Division and
+the remainder of the Corps, which were swinging slowly round to their
+right so as eventually to face south-east and take La Bassee.
+
+At first my orders directed me to leave a gap between myself and the
+canal, the gap being filled by French troops; but shortly afterwards I
+was told that the Brigade was to hold from Festubert to the canal,
+relieving the French cavalry here, who were to hold on till we got
+there; and I paid a visit to the French cavalry General at Gorre to
+make sure that this would be done. The line was a horribly extended
+one--about two miles; and the prospect was not entrancing. However, I
+detached the Dorsets to move along the canal bank from Gorre and get
+in touch with the French. Very glad I was that I had done so, for they
+had severe fighting there that day against a strong force of the
+enemy, who tried to get in between us and the French.
+
+The Bedfords I ordered to hold Givenchy. The first rumour was that the
+French had evacuated Givenchy before we could come up, and that the
+Germans had occupied it; but this turned out not to be true after all.
+The Cheshires held Festubert, and the Norfolks were in Divisional
+reserve somewhere in rear.
+
+Meanwhile the Germans were attacking along the canal; but the Dorsets
+checked them most gallantly, losing poor Roper, killed in leading a
+charge, and a number of men. Lilly was wounded at the same time.
+
+The Headquarters passed most of that day--and an extremely busy Staff
+day it was--in a little pothouse in Festubert, and we slept in a tiny
+house put at our disposal by one Masse, gendarme, a gallant old
+soldier, who was the only representative of civilian authority in the
+place, the Maire having bolted, and his second in command being sick
+unto death in his own house.
+
+
+_Oct. 13th._
+
+The night went off fairly peaceably, but early next morning we had a
+nasty jar, for it was reported at 8 A.M. that Majors Vandeleur
+(commanding) and Young (2nd in command) of the Cheshires, together
+with a company and a half, had all been made prisoners or killed by
+the Germans about Rue d'Ouvert. The circumstantial story was that the
+early morning patrols had reported that Rue d'Ouvert (about a mile in
+front of Festubert) was free of Germans; that Vandeleur and Young had
+gone out with two platoons to make sure of it, had got into Rue
+d'Ouvert and found it empty at first, but had been subsequently fired
+at from the houses, surrounded by superior numbers, and had been taken
+prisoners after losing half their men. As for Shore's company, who
+were supporting them, they had disappeared completely and had
+apparently suffered the same fate.
+
+I immediately sent out scouts to find out the truth; but a very heavy
+fire was by this time opened on the remainder of the Cheshires, and
+the scouts could not get through. No further news even came in of
+Shore's company, but we could not believe that it had really been
+scuppered, or else there would have been much more firing, and we must
+have had some news of the disaster, if it had occurred.
+
+And so it was. Towards 3 o'clock we had news that the company was
+safely tucked away in some ditches, holding its front, and had had
+practically no losses, although it could not move out without
+attracting a heavy artillery fire.
+
+Not till long afterwards did I hear what had really happened to
+Vandeleur, and then it was from his own lips in January 1915, he
+having escaped from Crefeld just before Christmas. It appeared that he
+and Young had gone up with about half a company in support of some
+scouts who had reported Rue d'Ouvert clear. The half company did not,
+however, go into Rue d'Ouvert, for they were violently attacked by
+superior forces before they got there. They lost heavily, but
+succeeded in getting into a farmhouse, which they held all day against
+the enemy, hoping that we should move out and rescue them. But we, of
+course, had been told circumstantially that they were already
+prisoners at 8 A.M., so knew nothing of it and took no action.
+
+The enemy set the house on fire, and the gallant little garrison put
+it out with wine from the cellars, for they were cut off from the
+water-supply. Their numbers were reduced to about thirty, when they
+were again attacked in overwhelming force at 9 P.M., and many of the
+remainder (including Vandeleur) wounded. Then there was no choice, and
+they surrendered, being complimented on their gallantry by the German
+General in command at La Bassee. They were then sent off to Germany
+_via_ Douai, and were most abominably treated on the journey, wounded
+and all being pigged together in a filthy cattle-truck three inches
+deep in manure for thirty hours without food or water, insulted and
+kicked by the German escort and a brute of a lieutenant at Douai, and
+finally sent to Crefeld, where they were again ill-treated, starved,
+and left in tents with no covering--their greatcoats, and even their
+tunics, having been taken away,--nothing to lie on except damp and
+verminous straw, on muddy wet ground. Many men died of this treatment.
+The officers were treated somewhat better, but very harshly, and were
+never given enough to eat. Vandeleur's escape is "another story."
+
+That day was a terrible day: Givenchy was bombarded heavily by the
+Germans for hours, and rendered absolutely untenable. The Bedfords
+held out there gallantly, and stuck to one end of the village whilst
+the enemy was in possession of the other; but the heavy artillery was
+too much for them, and after losing about sixty casualties, many of
+them killed by falling houses, they gradually fell back to trenches in
+rear of the village. Griffith (commanding) and Macready (Adjutant)
+came to see me about 3 P.M., their clothes and faces a mass of white
+dust and plaster, and explained the situation; but there was nothing
+to be done, as we had no reserves, and had to stick it out as best we
+could.
+
+But by far the worst was what happened to the Dorsets. The account of
+what happened was rather confused, but it appears that, depending on
+their left being supported by the Bedfords at Givenchy, and their
+right by the K.O.S.B.'s (13th Brigade) on the south side of the Canal,
+they pushed forward for some distance and dug themselves roughly in,
+after driving the Germans back. Then suddenly their front trench was
+attacked from the left rear, and a heavy fire poured upon their men as
+they retired on their supports. They were also shot down from the
+embankment on the south of the Canal--from just where they had
+expected the K.O.S.B.'s to be.
+
+At one place about twenty Germans advanced and held up their hands.
+The Dorsets then advanced to take their surrender, when suddenly the
+twenty fell down flat, and about 100 more who had come close up under
+cover of the incident opened a heavy fire on our men and killed a
+lot. The battalion retired slowly, in admirable order, to Pont Fixe
+and the trenches covering it, and put a big factory there in a state
+of defence. But they had lost very heavily: thirteen officers killed
+(including Pitt and Davidson), wounded (including Bols and Rathbone),
+and missing; and 112 men killed and wounded, and 284 missing--most of
+these, I fear, being killed, for numbers of bodies were discovered
+later on between the lines. Bols was at first reported killed, but he
+only had a bullet through his back, narrowly missing the spine, and
+another through his arm. He fell unseen and had to be left behind when
+the battalion retired, and was found and stripped of all his kit by
+the Germans; but he recovered in the darkness, and managed to scramble
+and crawl back to the English lines. (From here he was sent to London,
+arriving there only two days later.)
+
+We also lost two guns there, which had been brought up from the 15th
+R.F.A. Brigade and could not be got away in time. A gallant attempt
+was made by volunteers to recover them next day, but it was useless
+and only cost more lives.
+
+The Dorsets as well as the Bedfords also lost one of their
+machine-guns. Altogether it was a damnable day, and we on the staff
+were also pretty well exhausted by the amount of staff work and
+telegrams and messages going through all day. The 2nd Devons (or
+rather two companies of them) were sent to the assistance of the
+Dorsets in the evening; but it was a difficult thing to carry out, as
+the banks of the Canal, along which they had to go, were soft and
+boggy, and they had much difficulty in getting their S.A.A. carts
+along.
+
+The Brigade Headquarters withdrew in the evening from Festubert to a
+foul big farm about half a mile back. This, from a particularly
+offensive big cesspool in the middle of the yard, we labelled Stink
+Farm (it had 1897 in big red tiles on the roof). It was a beastly
+place, and W. and I had to sleep in a tiny room on a couple of beds
+which had not seen clean mattresses or coverings for certainly ten
+years or more. There were, however, plenty of barns and clean straw
+for the men.
+
+
+_Oct. 14th._
+
+The general idea was to continue to push forward, with our right on
+the Canal, to let the 3rd Division swing round. But though we did our
+best, we could not get forward as long as the 13th Brigade on our
+right, on the other side of the Canal, were held up--for if we
+advanced that would merely mean getting our right flank exposed and
+enfiladed by the enemy.
+
+[Illustration: Givenchy-Violaines.]
+
+Two more companies of the Devons arrived, to support the remains of
+the Dorsets, from the 14th Brigade, the battalion being under
+Lieutenant-Colonel Gloster. But we could not do any good, and except
+for an immense number of messages we did little all day. The enemy was
+in some strength in our front, but did not attack.
+
+There was very heavy firing at 6.30 P.M. and again at 9 P.M. all along
+our line of outposts, and we thought at first it was a night attack;
+but it was only a case of false alarm on the part of the Dorsets on
+the right and the 14th Brigade on our left.
+
+I forgot to mention that we were told to advance with the 13th Brigade
+at 3 P.M., but the latter were held up, and relieved in the evening by
+the 58th French Brigade. What immediately happened to the 13th I do
+not remember; but they were eventually sent round on to the left of
+the 11th Brigade, I believe.
+
+
+_Oct. 15th._
+
+The French were meanwhile heavily attacking Vermelles, and we were to
+be ready to advance alongside them if they succeeded. I sent
+Moulton-Barrett to the Canal to receive the message from the French
+through Chapman (our Divisional Intelligence officer) when it came.
+But it never came, for the French made no progress; so we did nothing
+except dig proper trenches and strengthen our positions.
+
+In the evening came in reports that the Germans were withdrawing and
+evacuating posts in our front. The remains of the Dorsets were
+withdrawn into reserve, and the Devons came under my orders in their
+place.
+
+
+_Oct. 16th._
+
+There was a dripping thick mist nearly all day, and we pushed on under
+its cover--the Bedfords into Givenchy (losing poor Rendall, killed by
+the retiring Germans), and the Norfolks into Rue d'Ouvert and St
+Roch, whilst the Devons, ordered to make the footbridge to Canteleux
+road "good," pushed on in the afternoon. But it got so absolutely
+pitch-dark that it was impossible to make a cohesive advance; so after
+getting close to the footbridge and coming under a heavy fire thence,
+the Devons fell back again, all the more justified since Canteleux was
+reported still occupied by the enemy on their left flank. A vast
+amount of staff work all day. We returned to the Festubert pothouse in
+the evening.
+
+
+_Oct. 17th._
+
+The first question was, Was Canteleux occupied by the enemy?
+Preparations were made to shell it at 6 A.M., but figures were seen
+strolling about there which did not look very German. Shortly
+afterwards the Norfolks reported that they had about sixty men in it
+who had penetrated thither during the night. The Bedfords at first
+were still convinced that the men in Canteleux were German, but we
+disabused them as soon as we heard the truth for certain, and for a
+change shelled some farms to our front whence hostile machine-gun fire
+was proceeding, setting one on fire.
+
+In the afternoon we were ordered to advance to the line:
+bridge--Canteleux--Violaines; and again the Devons pushed on, slowly,
+in connection with the French, but were again obliged to retire from
+the vicinity of the bridge by heavy fire, and took up their position
+in the advanced position that the Dorsets had occupied on the 13th.
+
+The Cheshires, under the three gallant captains, Shore, Mahony, and
+Rich, meanwhile worked well forward and reported their arrival at
+Violaines at 4 P.M., having reached it _via_ Rue du Marais.
+
+A desperate amount of work again, 5 A.M. to 11 P.M. I only got out of
+the pothouse for twenty minutes all day, and that was at 5 P.M.
+
+Thus we had pushed forward some way on our line by the evening, and
+the 14th Brigade was in touch with the Cheshires and moving slowly
+forward--but very slowly.
+
+
+_Oct. 18th._
+
+Next day the usual "general advance" was ordered for 6 A.M., and the
+artillery loosed off a lot of shells on to where we thought the enemy
+were. But it was really quite useless our advancing on the right
+unless the French did also, for the Germans held the south bank of
+the Canal in front of the latter, and any advance by us merely exposed
+our right flank to a terrible enfilade fire.
+
+Major-General Morland, who had succeeded Sir C. Fergusson in command
+of the Division, now turned up, and to him I explained these things.
+The Railway Triangle was the worst place, for it was heavily held by
+Germans, who had dug themselves in behind stockades of rails and
+trucks and defied even our howitzers; but it was difficult, very
+difficult, for the latter to make good practice at them here, as the
+country was so flat, yet so cut up with high trees and fences that it
+was almost impossible to get an observing station or to see what one
+was firing at.
+
+I shifted Brigade Headquarters about 1 P.M. to a nice little house
+with garden, close behind the cross-roads half a mile west of
+Givenchy, and here we stayed for four unpleasant days. We had to be
+very careful, after dark, not to show a light of any sort towards the
+enemy, and had to plaster up the windows with blankets and things
+which every now and then came down with a run, causing rapid
+transition to total darkness and discomfort. But it was a good little
+place on the whole, and quite decently furnished.
+
+In the afternoon I went to observe what I could from Givenchy. The
+village was already in ruins, with most of the church blown down,
+whilst the only place to observe from was from between the rafters of
+a barn on the eastern outskirts--most of the roof having been carried
+away by shrapnel. There was not much to see; for although Givenchy
+stood on the only little rise in the country, a tree in one direction
+and a chapel in the other blocked most of the view towards La Bassee.
+In front of us lay the Bedford trenches, with the Devons on their
+right and the French on their right again. One could just see the farm
+buildings of Canteleux, and the spires of part of La Bassee, but St
+Roch was invisible, and so were the Norfolk trenches.
+
+Later on I went to interview Gloster, commanding the Devons; but I did
+not find him. With a French orderly and a Devon officer I rode through
+Pont Fixe and turned to the left along the Canal. Then we had to
+dismount at a bend of the Canal, which brought us into view of the
+enemy, and we bolted across bullet-swept ground into the right of the
+Devon trenches. Here I waited about an hour; but Gloster did not turn
+up, and meanwhile a heavy hostile fusillade went on which effectually
+prevented my putting my nose above ground. I don't know whether they
+had spotted me going into that trench, but I do know the parapet
+received an unfair share of bullets.
+
+When it was nearly dark I cleared out and went to the Canal and
+whistled for my mare (I had been riding Squeaky). The French orderly
+turned up leading her, but his own horse had gone,--as he ruefully
+explained, "a cause d'un obus qui a eclate tout pres dans l'eau." He
+was a good youth: he had stuck to my mare and let his own go, as he
+could not manage both. However, virtue was rewarded, and he found his
+horse peacefully grazing in the outskirts of Pont Fixe.
+
+When I reached Headquarters I found Gloster there, for he had come to
+look for me; so I had the required interview with him and settled
+about a rearrangement of his trenches.
+
+
+_Oct. 19th._
+
+We actually had a quiet night--six and a half hours' sleep without
+being disturbed at all.
+
+[Illustration: The Footbridge over the Canal.]
+
+An attack was ordered for 7 A.M. in conjunction with the French. But
+the French were not ready at that hour. I was told that the 6th
+battalion of the 295th Regiment, which had now been brought over to
+the north of the Canal, was to be under my orders; but hardly had I
+heard this when I received a message at 9.25 A.M. that the French were
+going to attack at 9.30. At noon they did so, and very pluckily. It
+was, however, impossible to assist them, for they (the 6/295) ran
+forward and attacked the Canal and footbridge obliquely, completely
+masking any action possible by the Devons They lost heavily, I fear,
+but it really was not our fault, though at one time they seemed to
+think it was.
+
+I went to talk to Lieut.-Col. Perron, who commanded the detachment
+(6/295 and a few Chasseurs a Cheval), in the afternoon; but the
+interview did not enlighten me very much. The commander of the 6/295,
+however, one Baron d'Oullenbourg, was most intelligent, and a gallant
+fellow with plenty of _nous_. He was badly wounded two days afterwards
+in another attempt.
+
+I was so much struck with the plucky way in which the 6/295 pushed on
+under heavy fire that I sent a complimentary note both to the
+battalion and to General Joubert, commanding the 58th Brigade on the
+other side of the Canal--for the battalion belonged (to start with) to
+his brigade. They published both my notes in the _Ordre du Jour_ of
+the Division, and d'Oullenbourg received a Legion d'Honneur in
+consequence (so St Andre told me). Anyway, he thoroughly deserved it.
+
+Meanwhile we heard that the Cheshires, Manchesters, and K.O.S.B.'s
+were all held up near Violaines by a beastly sugar factory which the
+Germans occupied on the road north of La Bassee, and they could not
+get on at all.
+
+Generals Morland and Franklin turned up in the afternoon. We were
+perpetually being urged to advance and attack, but how could we? There
+was nothing to attack in front of us except La Bassee, a couple of
+miles off, and we could not advance a yard in that direction without
+exposing our right flank to a deadly enfilade fire from across the
+Canal, for the Germans were still strongly holding that infernal
+railway triangle, and nothing availed to get them out of it.[11]
+General Morland wisely, therefore, ordered me not to advance in force.
+
+         [Footnote 11: They are still there (August 1917)!]
+
+Later on we heard that the Cheshires had made a gain of 800 yards, but
+had got so extended that they asked for a Bedford company to support
+them, and this I sent.
+
+In the evening I went to examine a French 75 mm. battery, and had the
+whole thing explained to me. The gun is simply marvellous, slides
+horizontally on its own axle, never budges however much it fires, and
+has all sorts of patent dodges besides: but it is no use painting the
+lily!
+
+Wilson, of the 61st Howitzers, was, by the way, a little aggrieved by
+this French battery coming and taking up its position close alongside
+him and invading his observing stations. The captain also got on his
+nerves, for he was somewhat excitable, and his shells were numerous
+that burst prematurely, whilst a house only 100 yards off, which
+should have been well under the trajectory of his shells, was several
+times hit by them. However, he doubtless caused much damage to the
+enemy.
+
+On the 20th and 21st the Germans kept us fairly busy with threatened
+attacks, especially on the Cheshires at Violaines; but nothing
+definite happened, although we were kept on the perpetual _qui vive_,
+and could not relieve our feelings by attacking, for we had orders to
+"consolidate our position."
+
+By this time we occupied a line as follows:--
+
+  Canal from crossed swords (_v._ map) to 300 yards North (French).
+  Thence to Canteleux (excl.) (Devons).
+  Canteleux to Pt. 21[12](Norfolks).
+  Pt. 21 to Violaines (Do. patrols).
+  Violaines (Cheshires and one company Bedfords).
+  Givenchy, in reserve (three companies Bedfords).
+
+         [Footnote 12: Nearly halfway to Violaines.]
+
+On the evening of the 21st there was serious news on our left.
+Although the Cheshires were still in occupation of Violaines, it
+looked as if they might have to retire from it very soon, as the right
+of the 14th Brigade, on the Cheshires' left, was being driven back.
+Violaines, however, was very important, and to let the Germans get a
+footing here was most dangerous. So, with General Morland's sanction,
+and after communicating with the Cheshires, who cheerily said they
+could hold out all right, I told the Cheshires to stick to Violaines,
+throwing their left flank back in case the line to their left was
+penetrated.
+
+
+_Oct. 22nd._
+
+A very anxious day ensued. At 6 A.M. the Cheshires were invaded in
+front and flank by a surprise attack of the enemy in great force, and
+had to fall back towards Rue du Marais, losing heavily. Some Dorsets
+(who had been for the last three days at Stink Farm and were sent as
+a support to the 13th Brigade) were supporting them, but they could
+not do much, and they also lost a number of men. From what I could
+gather, the Cheshires had been digging in the dark round the southern
+and eastern flank of the village, and had their sentries out, but
+apparently not quite far enough out for such thick weather, and when
+the Germans appeared rushing through the fog they were taken at a
+disadvantage, for they had cast their equipment in order to dig, and
+the covering party was quickly cut down.
+
+This, at all events, was what I made out from the surviving officers,
+of whom one, 2nd Lieut. Pogson, was the senior. Mahony and Rich,
+fighting gallantly, had been killed, and Shore wounded and taken
+prisoner. About 200 men were also killed and wounded out of about 600,
+and a good many of the Bedfords with them, including poor Coventry
+(late Transport officer) killed.
+
+At 8.30 A.M. I was ordered to send my three companies of Bedfords from
+Givenchy to St Roch, to support the 13th Brigade, who were hanging on
+about Rue du Marais. But, besides thus depriving me of my only
+reserve, these companies had great difficulty in getting to their
+places, as the country over which they had to pass was heavily shelled
+by the enemy, and they took a long time getting there.
+
+I heard that the combined 13th and 14th Brigades were to make a
+counter-attack on Rue du Marais in the afternoon, and this was
+certainly attempted. But owing to the mix-up of their battalions in
+the enclosed country it was impossible to arrange a combined movement
+under the heavy fire, and it was eventually given up--merely confused
+fighting taking place during the afternoon. It was, however,
+sufficient to stop the Germans for the time being. One reason for the
+difficulty--as I afterwards heard--was that the officer temporarily
+commanding the 13th Brigade had, by some mischance, got stuck right in
+the firing line with his staff and signal section, and could not be
+got at, nor could he move himself or issue orders,--a useful though
+unhappy warning to Brigadiers.
+
+I moved with the Brigade Staff from my house at Givenchy to another
+house about 600 yards west of Festubert, so as to be more behind the
+centre of my Brigade.
+
+During the night, in pursuance of orders from the Division, we fell
+back on to a somewhat undefined line of defence covering the front of
+Festubert-Givenchy, and proceeded to dig ourselves in along a line
+entirely in the open fields, and very visible, I fear, to the enemy.
+Some battalions could not get sufficient tools, and were not half dug
+in by daylight. However, the Germans must have suffered considerably
+themselves, for they did not attack us in the morning, although their
+Field Artillery kept up a heavy shrapnel fire. The West Ridings (13th
+Brigade) were put under my orders.
+
+
+_Oct. 23rd._
+
+We were shelled all the morning, but had no serious casualties.
+
+My Brigade now consisted of the Devons (14th Brigade), West Ridings
+(13th Brigade), and the Norfolks (15th Brigade). The remains of the
+Cheshires and Dorsets were withdrawn and put into the Rue de Bethune
+hamlet in rear of Festubert, under orders of the 13th Brigade as their
+reserve, whilst the Bedfords were attached to, I think, the 14th
+Brigade, somewhere Quinque Rue way. It was a glorious jumble, and what
+happened to the rest of the 13th Brigade I do not know. I believe
+they combined in some way with the 14th, but I know that two days
+afterwards the Brigadier was left with only one fighting battalion,
+the West Kents, I think.
+
+However, my command was shortly increased considerably by the arrival
+of Commandant Blanchard with the 2nd Battalion of the 70th Infanterie
+de Ligne (Regulars). Blanchard was a good solid man, and I put him to
+hold Givenchy in conjunction with the Devons, who were now occupying
+the Bedford trenches there. The French on the right of the 70th gave
+us acute reason for anxiety by retiring calmly from their trenches
+when they were shelled; but it was only their way, for half an hour
+afterwards they trotted back into them quite happily, much to the
+relief of the Devons and their exposed flank.
+
+I rode down to Givenchy in the afternoon to see Blanchard and make
+arrangements for holding the village, and here I met Williams (now
+commanding the Devons since his C.O., Gloster, had been hit two days
+before, not very seriously) and talked matters over with him.
+
+We expected a night attack, and were certainly not in a strong
+position to resist it. Had we been driven in we should have been
+jammed into the swamp in rear, between the Canal and the
+Gorre-Festubert road, which would have been extremely unpleasant. So I
+issued orders to hold tight at all costs, besides secret orders to
+certain C.O.'s as to what they were to do if we were badly mauled and
+had to fall back.
+
+Luckily no attack took place, and we had a fairly quiet night.
+
+
+_Oct. 24th._
+
+At 7 A.M. I received the encouraging news (from the 2nd corps) that we
+were going to be heavily attacked to-day, and what certainly gave
+colour to it was the arrival of a large number of Black Marias during
+breakfast, which exploded within an unpleasantly narrow radius of our
+house. It is quite conceivable that the position of our Headquarters
+had been given away by some spy. Anyhow, it looked like it, and we
+decamped at 9.30 to a cottage half a mile back. Perhaps it is as well
+that we did so, for at 9.40 a big shell arrived through the roof and
+exploded in my late bedroom, tearing out the corner of the house wall
+and wrecking the stable; whilst nearly at the same moment another
+shell completely wrecked the house just opposite, where Ballard
+(commanding 15th Brigade R.F.A.) had been spending the night. He also
+had cleared out about an hour before.
+
+Before I went I sent my senior officer, Ballard (Norfolks), down to
+Givenchy to take local command over the French and English troops
+there, and am glad I did so, for it introduced unity of command and
+satisfaction. The Devons down there were meanwhile getting exhausted
+after their long spell in the trenches; but I had no troops to relieve
+them with, nor any reserve.
+
+The "attack" did not materialize, and we had a fairly quiet afternoon,
+the Germans limiting their activities to digging themselves in and
+sniping perpetually.
+
+It was an extraordinarily warm day, and we sat in the cottage with
+windows and doors wide open till long after dark. An attack was made
+about 10 P.M. on the French the other side of the Canal, but it was
+too far off to interest us much.
+
+
+_Oct. 25th._
+
+Another lovely warm day of Indian summer. Also of many shells, some
+falling pretty close to our cottage. The Germans were seen making
+splendid use of the folds in the ground for driving saps and
+connecting up their heads into trenches getting nearer and nearer to
+our lines. And we could do nothing but shell them and snipe them as
+best we could, but with little result, for artillery observation-posts
+were almost impossible, and snap-shooting at an occasional head or
+shovel appearing above ground produced but small results.
+
+Three French batteries arrived during the morning and were put under
+Blanchard's orders in the swampy wood behind Givenchy. Some spasmodic
+attacks occurred on the trenches east of the village, and the French
+lost rather heavily; for the Germans got into some of their evacuated
+trenches and killed the wounded there. A speedy counter-attack,
+however, drove them out again. The Devons lost two officers (Besley
+and Quick) and ten men killed and thirty-eight wounded.
+
+At 4.50 P.M. I got a message saying large columns of the enemy had
+been seen by the French issuing from La Bassee and Violaines, and I
+was ordered peremptorily to be ready to counter-attack at once, with
+my whole force if required.
+
+Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien arrived alone an hour or so afterwards, and I
+pointed out our situation to him; he entirely concurred in my view,
+and heartened me up considerably by quite recognising the state of
+affairs and congratulating us, and especially the Devons, on sticking
+it out so well.
+
+Maynard (Major in the Devons) arrived about midnight and took over
+command of the battalion, he having been on the staff of the 2nd
+Corps.
+
+
+_Oct. 26th._
+
+Next morning I rode out again to Givenchy to see Ballard and my fresh
+French troops; for the 6/285th (Captain Gigot), the 5/290th
+(Commandant Ferracci--a typical little Corsican and a good soldier),
+and a squadron of Chasseurs a Cheval had arrived to strengthen us,
+besides the three batteries aforesaid (under Commandant Menuan). The
+2/70th (now under Captain de Ferron) and the 6/295th (lately under
+Baron d'Oullenbourg, now wounded; I have, I fear, forgotten his
+successor's name) were, of course, also under me; so I had a nice
+little command now of three English and four French battalions, four
+English and three French batteries, and a French squadron. St Andre as
+liaison officer was of the greatest possible use to me, being both
+tactful and suggestive as to dealing with my new command, and keeping
+up splendid communication.
+
+I then relieved the Devons by the 6/295th--and well they deserved it
+after their bad time for the last week,--and put the 296th in reserve
+at various points during the night, sending the Devons as reserve to
+the Norfolks and West Ridings at Les Plantins, between Givenchy and
+Festubert.
+
+There was practically no shelling at all during the whole day--I
+wonder why; nor did the enemy make any movement. But we heard of their
+bringing big guns on to the rising ground at Billy and Haisnes, to the
+south of La Bassee, and tried to "find" them with our howitzers and
+heavy artillery battery.
+
+
+_Oct. 27th._
+
+The reliefs were not finished till 2.30 A.M.--largely owing to some
+idiots, French or English, loosing off their rifles as they left the
+trench, which brought a heavy fire on us from the enemy and delayed
+matters for a long time. It was also not easy--although we had made
+elaborate and detailed arrangements--to relieve British by French
+troops in pitch darkness, for, interpreters being scarce, they could
+not understand each other when they met.
+
+We heard that there was an attack on the 14th Brigade on our left
+about 1 A.M., and that 200 Germans had got in behind the K.O.Y.L.I.
+and were still there; what happened to them I do not know. The 7th
+Brigade, on the left of the 14th, had also been driven in, and the
+14th Brigade received orders to make a counter-attack in the evening,
+with the Devons held ready to help them if required.
+
+During the day one Captain Pigeonne and his batch of gendarmerie
+arrived, with orders to clear Festubert of its civilian inhabitants.
+This was necessary, as the Germans were pretty close up to it and
+there were undoubtedly spies, and even snipers were reported in and
+about the village. But hardly any people were found except the lunatic
+inhabitants of a small asylum, together with their staff, who had
+stayed there, both men and women, most devotedly for the last week,
+with practically nothing to eat in the whole place. The inhabitants
+were ordered to clear out, and some of them did. But others hid, and
+yet others crept back again by night, so the result was practically
+_nil_. One poor old woman was hunted out three times, but she returned
+yet once more, piteously saying that she had nowhere to go to, and
+wanted to die in her own house.
+
+During the evening General Joubert, commanding the 58th Brigade,
+arrived with orders to take over command of all French troops north of
+the Canal. So my international command had not lasted long. But they
+sent me a liaison N.C.O. of their artillery--a most intelligent man
+with a yellow beard--and I was still allowed to call on the French
+batteries for assistance whenever I needed them.
+
+
+_Oct. 28th._
+
+Joubert was a typical French General, white-moustached, short,
+courteous, gallant, and altogether charming and practical, and I went
+again to see and consult him next morning at Givenchy, cantering
+through the swampy woods at the back, where most of our seven
+batteries were posted under excellent cover. I also, before going to
+bid him adieu, had written him what I thought was a charming letter,
+congratulating him on the "galanterie de ses troupes." Alas, St Andre
+was out when I wrote the letter, or probably I should have expressed
+it differently; I hear it was subsequently published in orders, but I
+trust it was edited first!
+
+The night had been extraordinarily quiet, and after my visit to
+Joubert the situation was so peaceful that I walked back a bit to
+inspect a third line of trenches that were being dug by civilians and
+spare troops under R.E. supervision. I was not much edified at the
+portion that the 15th Brigade had been told off to, for it was within
+150 yards of a bunch of houses in front, under cover of which the
+Germans could have come up quite close; and if they had put a
+selection of their snipers into them, we should have had a poor time.
+But I quite allow that I was at a loss, owing to the awkward ground,
+to suggest anything better. We had also a mile of front to cover, with
+three weak battalions and a difficult line, whilst the four French
+battalions had been allotted altogether only half a mile of excellent
+natural trenches behind the Canal, or rather behind a broad
+water-ditch which ran into the Canal.
+
+The 2nd Manchesters, under Strickland,[13] late of the Norfolks, a
+first-rate battalion just arrived from India, had now been attached to
+the 14th Brigade--where their own 1st battalion were also--and had had
+very heavy fighting during the last few days just north of Festubert.
+The Devons were therefore sent to relieve them,--rather rough on them
+after barely forty-eight hours out of the trenches.
+
+         [Footnote 13: Who had been with me as a Major in Belfast--a
+         most capable officer, now (1917) commanding a Division.]
+
+
+_Oct. 29th._
+
+We had an extraordinarily quiet night--a full eight hours' sleep
+without any disturbance,--and we were consequently feeling much
+fitter. But the ball began full early by a violent attack on the
+Devons at dawn, and another at 7 on the 2nd Manchesters, both hard
+pressed, but both repulsed--the Manchesters, who were short of
+ammunition, getting well in with the bayonet.
+
+I sent one company of the Norfolks to support the Devons, but I could
+barely afford even that. The enemy was entrenching within 200 to 400
+yards of all my battalions, pushing out saps from their trenches along
+the ditches and folds of the ground, and connecting up their heads in
+a most ingenious and hidden manner. The French were not attacked, so
+they sent a couple of companies at my request to Les Plantins, behind
+the Norfolks. However, after another attack between 9 and 10 A.M. the
+Germans dried up for the present.
+
+We knew that the Indian Divisions from Lahore and Meerut were shortly
+coming to strengthen this part of the line, and I was therefore not
+surprised to hear that Macbean, commanding one of their Brigades,
+wanted to see Martyn[14] and me about the relief of our respective
+Brigades. This was distinctly satisfactory from our point of view; but
+I was not entirely happy, for I was very doubtful how far these
+untried Indian troops would stand up to what was evidently going to be
+a very difficult situation if the Germans went on attacking as they
+had been doing. Fresh troops, it is true. But they had had no
+experience of this sort of fighting, nor of trenches, nor of cold wet
+weather: and they were going to have all three.
+
+         [Footnote 14: Temporarily commanding 13th Brigade.]
+
+The relief of the West Ridings by the Black Watch battalion of the
+Indian Division was carried out on the same evening. The relief of the
+Bedfords, Cheshires, and Dorsets was also arranged for, but the
+Norfolks could not be relieved till the morrow. The 2nd Manchesters
+were relieved, however, by the 2/8th Gurkhas, who looked very much out
+of place with their big hats and tiny, sturdy Mongolian physique.
+
+
+_Oct. 30th._
+
+After a very quiet night--except for French guns which started
+shelling heavily about 4 A.M., and kept us awake till daylight--we had
+another unpleasant day.
+
+There were repeated attacks on the Devons and Gurkhas all day, and at
+3 P.M. Maynard reported that the Gurkhas had lost all their British
+officers and were being driven out of their trenches, and that support
+was badly wanted.
+
+The first story about the Gurkhas was that they had come to an end of
+their ammunition and were fighting with the bayonet, but were driven
+back by superior numbers. But it turned out later that they lost very
+heavily from shell fire, and, the trenches being too deep for the
+little men, they could produce no effect with their rifles, and could
+see nothing. So, having lost all their English officers, and being
+bewildered by the heavy fire and totally new conditions, and having no
+chance of getting in with the bayonet, they cleared out one by one, so
+as to get together into formation. The Devons' last man was in the
+firing line by this time, and so two Bedford companies and the West
+Ridings, no longer under my command, were ordered to retake some
+Gurkha trenches, into which the Germans had already penetrated,
+alongside ours.
+
+It was frightfully difficult to make out what was happening, as not
+only were our troops in process of being relieved by the Indians, but
+there was very heavy fire as well on all our supports and on the roads
+leading up to the trenches, so that communication was all but
+impossible, most telephone wires having been broken long ago and found
+impossible to repair under such fire.
+
+The 58th (Wilde's) Rifles had arrived, and were by way of relieving
+the Norfolks; but owing to this attack they were deflected in rear of
+the Devons. Then we were called on to send two companies to support
+the Devons. But, considering that they now had already two Bedford
+companies, four of West Ridings, and four of the 58th Rifles, to
+support them in enclosed country where they could hardly move, and
+that to weaken my already very thin line of Norfolks and Black Watch
+meant leaving me no supports at all, I respectfully protested, and
+gained my point.
+
+Elaborate arrangements were made by the authorities for retaking the
+lost trenches by the Bedfords, &c., at nightfall; then the movement
+was deferred till 1.30 A.M., and then till dawn; but nothing happened
+at all during the night except occasional fire-bursts, which sounded
+like general attacks.
+
+I might mention that during these "quiet" nights there were numerous
+fire-bursts at intervals, which used to bring me out of, or rather
+off, my bed three or four times a night, for the sentry on our cottage
+had strict orders to call me in case anything alarming occurred in our
+front. But they always slacked off after 5 or 10 minutes of my
+waiting in the cold, wet, muddy road, and I crept to bed again till
+the next one woke me.
+
+It was a tiny cottage that we lived in during those days, belonging to
+a poor woman who, with her child, had been turned out by some one else
+and sent to another house half a mile off. She was perpetually coming
+back and weeping to be readmitted, but there really was not room, and
+we had to soothe her with promises, and eventually with cash in order
+to get rid of her. After all, she was living with her friends, though
+doubtless they were a bit crowded, and she returned to her cottage
+when we left it.
+
+Everything in that country was mud, thick clay mud, black and greasy,
+and the country flat and hideous. And it rained perpetually and was
+getting beastly cold. Altogether it was a nightmare of a place, even
+without the fighting thrown in, and we prayed to be delivered from it,
+and go and fight somewhere else.
+
+Our prayers were destined to be answered, for on this morning we were
+ordered, in spite of the desultory fighting going on, to hand over
+to Macbean's Brigade and go north. This only meant the Brigade Staff,
+two companies Bedfords, and about 300 Cheshires and 300 Dorsets who
+had been in reserve to the 14th Brigade; but they were not in a very
+happy condition, for they had hardly any officers left and had been
+extremely uncomfortable for the last week, being hauled out of their
+barns on most nights and made to sleep in the wet open as supports in
+case of attack.
+
+Our orders were, together with the 15th R.F.A. Brigade, to move north
+and concentrate near Strazeele and Pradelles, where we were to go into
+rest for five or six days.
+
+I knew those rests.
+
+So after handing over to Macbean at 10.30 A.M., and talking to General
+Anderson (commanding the Indian Division) and the Maharajah of
+Bikanir,[15] we made devoutly thankful tracks in the direction of
+Locon and Merville.
+
+         [Footnote 15: I was struck with his wonderful command of
+         English--not the trace of any accent.]
+
+We were but a small part of the 15th Brigade after all who left the
+environs of Festubert on that morning--only Headquarters, a very weak
+battalion of Cheshires--not more than 300 all told--and two companies
+of Bedfords. The remains of the Dorsets had been ordered to join us
+about Strazeele, and the whole of the Norfolks and half the Bedfords
+were left in the trenches to give a bit of moral and physical support
+to the Indians. I did not at all like being parted from them, but
+there was no help for it. The West Ridings (Duke of Wellington's) were
+attached to me from the 13th Brigade, but that did not make up for the
+absence of one and a half of my own beloved battalions.
+
+Nevertheless it was with a feeling of extreme thankfulness that we
+left the horrible mud-plain of Festubert and Givenchy, with its cold
+wet climate and its swampy surroundings and its dismal memories, for
+both Dorsets and Cheshires had suffered terribly in the fighting here.
+And the pleasantest feeling was to hear the noise of the bursting
+shells grow less and ever less as we worked north-westwards, and to
+realise that for the present, at all events, we need not worry about
+Jack Johnsons or Black Marias and all their numerous smaller brethren,
+nor to keep our attention on the tense strain for bad news from the
+firing trenches, but that we could, for several days to come, sleep
+quietly, not fully dressed and on our beds or straw with one eye on
+the wake all night, but in our blessed beds and in our still more
+beloved pyjamas.
+
+We trotted on ahead over the cold, wet, muddy, level roads of those
+parts, with a welcome break for luncheon at a real live estaminet,
+till we got to Merville, and then we slowed down.
+
+Merville is a nice prosperous little town, with canals and parks and a
+distinctly good modern statue of a French soldier in the middle--by
+whom, and of whom, I have forgotten. It was, oddly enough, almost like
+an extra-European bit of civilisation, for the streets were swarming
+with Indians and Africans of both armies--tall, solemn, handsome Sikhs
+and Rajputs in khaki; Spahis, Algerians, and Moors in every variety of
+kit--red jackets, cummerbunds, and baggy breeches, bright blue
+jackets, white breeches, blue breeches, khaki breeches, dark blue
+_vareuses_, white burnouses, Arab corded turbans, baggy crimson
+trousers, &c., &c., even to Senegalese as black as night, and Berbers
+from Mauritania and the Atlas. I tried to talk to some of the latter,
+but it was not a success, for they did not understand my Arabic, and
+I did not understand their Shlukh.
+
+And so on _via_ Strazeele--where Saunders and his Dorsets had already
+arrived--contentedly to Pradelles, in which neighbourhood we billeted,
+and were met by a staff officer, Cameron of the 5th Divisional Staff,
+who gave us the welcome news that we were to rest and recuperate for
+at least a week--really and truly this time.
+
+We put up at a nice, bright, ugly little chateau belonging to an
+elderly lady who was most civil and told us stories of what the
+Germans had done when they passed through a week or two ago on their
+retreat eastwards. Amongst other abominations, they had, on arrival,
+demanded of the old cure the key of the church tower, on which they
+wished to put a Maxim. The old man, not having the key, had hobbled
+off to get it from the garde champetre, who happened to be in
+possession of it for the time being. He could not, however, find him,
+and the officer in command, being in a diabolical temper, put the poor
+old priest up against a wall and shot him dead on the spot. This was
+recounted by the cure's sister, and there was not a shadow of doubt
+on the matter, for it was confirmed by all.
+
+
+_Oct. 31st._
+
+Next day was a clear bright Sunday, and before we had come down to
+breakfast, looking forward to a nice lazy day, we were ordered to send
+the Dorsets away in motor-buses to Wulverghem (opposite Messines),
+where heavy fighting was going on. So much for our promised week's
+rest! And before 11 o'clock we had received another urgent telegram
+telling us to fall in at once and march eastwards through Bailleul.
+
+I was deputed to command the whole of the remaining troops of the
+Division on this march, and by a complicated series of moves from
+their billets we got them strung out on the road, and pushed on by
+12.30. The troops were mostly artillery, engineers, and train, and the
+only other infantry that joined me were the West Kent, now under their
+own C.O., Martyn.
+
+Other troops were also on the move through Bailleul, and we had a
+weary time of it getting through. It was dark before we had filed
+through the big market-square with its old brick church tower and
+Town Hall; and even then, though billets had been arranged for in the
+country beyond for the rest of the troops, we had the devil's own job
+before our own headquarters could find a resting-place. We wanted to
+put up at Dranoutre village, but the village was full of the 3rd
+Cavalry Brigade, and we should have been in front of our own lot; so
+after a depressing wait in a tiny pothouse near Dranoutre, whilst St
+Andre and Weatherby and Moulton-Barrett scoured the country, we
+eventually settled down in a little farmhouse at Hille, a few hundred
+yards inside the Belgian border. Not so bad, but tiny, and crowded
+with not only the proprietor and his numerous family, but with a
+number of refugees from further east. My own bedroom was about 6 feet
+square and full of stinking old clothes, but I was lucky to get one at
+all.
+
+It seemed curious being amongst inhabitants many of whom understood no
+French, but only talked Wallon or Flemish. I found my reminiscences of
+the South African Taal came in quite usefully; but the best
+communicators were the Lowland Scots, who, thanks to their own strange
+dialect, managed to make themselves quite decently understood by the
+natives.
+
+Here we stayed for a few days--to be accurate, until the morning of
+the 5th November. My own "outfit" consisted of the West Kent,
+Cheshires, and two companies Bedfords, and the West Ridings were
+subsequently added. At one period I was given the K.O.S.B.'s as well,
+who were in Neuve Eglise; but they were taken away from me on the same
+day, and so were the West Kent. There was, in fact, a glorious jumble,
+battalions and batteries being added and taken away as the
+circumstances demanded. Even the two companies Bedfords were spirited
+away for forty-eight hours, leaving me with the decimated Cheshires as
+the only representatives of the 15th Brigade, but with two battalions
+of the 13th and one of the 14th superadded, as well as an R.E. company
+(17th). Meanwhile the 5th Divisional Staff was stranded and almost
+troopless, for all the other battalions of the Division were scattered
+among other divisions--some even under the command of the Cavalry
+Division; and guns were pushed up, almost piecemeal, as they were
+wanted, to help in the attempt to retake Messines, out of which our
+cavalry had been driven some days before. French troops were also
+there, in lumps. One morning the country would be brilliant with the
+white horses, sky-blue tunics and red trousers, of the Chasseurs
+d'Afrique, and the roads impassable with French infantry and transport
+moving towards Ypres; and by the next evening nothing but khaki-clad
+British were seen, besides patches of Belgian infantry, largely
+stragglers and mostly unarmed.
+
+Meanwhile rumours of desperate fighting up north came through--the
+critical time when the 7th Division stuck heroically to their crippled
+trenches and withstood the ponderous attacks of the German masses; but
+it was difficult to make out what was occurring, for one only gathered
+bits of news here and there and could not piece them together as a
+whole, for the links were missing.
+
+On the 4th November we received orders that Sir Horace would inspect
+us on the following morning, and we made preparations to turn out as
+clean as we could in the ever-prevailing mud. But in the evening more
+important work was at hand, for we were notified to be ready to march
+on the following morning to Ypres. So the inspection fell through.
+
+The idea was that we--that is, two companies Bedfords (450 men),
+Cheshires (550), and West Ridings (700)--were to combine as the 15th
+Brigade with M'Cracken's 7th Brigade (Wiltshires, Gordons, Irish
+Rifles, and another battalion), and go to relieve the 7th Division,
+which had, we heard, been getting some terrific knocks. With us were
+to go the two R.E. companies, the 17th and 59th, belonging to the 5th
+Division.
+
+
+_Nov. 5th._
+
+We marched at 7.20 A.M. _via_ Locre and Dickebusch, on the main
+Bailleul-Ypres road, passing through many French troops on the way.
+Not far on the other side of Dickebusch we heard that the road was
+being shelled by the enemy; so M'Cracken ordered the whole force to
+park in the fields some distance down a road to the west, whilst he
+went on to Ypres for instructions.
+
+We had our midday meal whilst we waited there, but it was not pleasant
+for the men, for the fields were dripping wet and very muddy; they
+had, therefore, to sit on their kits, whilst the transport had to
+remain on the road, the fields being so deep.
+
+McCracken came back at 3.30 P.M. with instructions, and we moved on,
+myself being in charge of the movement. We managed to get to Ypres all
+right along the main road, as the shells were rather diminishing and
+not reaching so far, and we pushed through the town, entering it by a
+bridge over the nearly dry canal. Why the Germans had not shot this
+bridge to pieces before I cannot imagine, as it was well within their
+range. There were numerous big shell-holes in the open space near the
+railway station; one or two houses were smouldering; there were heaps
+of bricks and stones from damaged houses in the streets, and the
+extreme roof corner of the Cloth Hall had been knocked off, but
+otherwise the town was fairly normal-looking, except, of course, that
+hardly any civilians were visible.
+
+At the other end of the town I came across General Haig, and rode
+ahead with him down the Menin road as far as the village of Hooge,
+where the Headquarters of the 1st Division were, under General Landon.
+(He had succeeded General Lomax, who had been badly wounded by a
+shell exploding at his headquarters, and subsequently died, 15th
+April.) Here we had a cup of tea in a dirty little estaminet crowded
+with Staff officers whilst awaiting the arrival of the Brigade.
+
+No part of this Menin road was, in fact, "healthy," and at night it
+was generally subject to a searching fire by German shells. The
+wonder, indeed, was that more casualties did not occur here, for after
+dark the road was packed with transport and ration and ambulance
+parties moving slowly and silently back and forth. But the hostile
+shelling was not accurate, and for one "crumper" that burst in or over
+the road twenty exploded in the fields alongside.
+
+Only a day or two before, a couple of heavy shells had burst just
+outside General Haig's Headquarters at the entrance to Ypres. Luckily
+the General himself had just left, but poor "Conky" Marker of the
+Coldstream had been fatally wounded, and several other officers,
+signallers, and clerks had been killed.
+
+My Brigade arrived in the dark by the time that I had received further
+instructions in detail, and was parked off the road (south side)
+half a mile further on, whilst Weatherby went on to make arrangements
+for their taking up the line, taking representatives of the battalions
+with him. I met General Capper (commanding 7th Division) at his
+dug-out in the wood close by, and he told me that his Division had
+been reduced to barely 3000 men and a very few officers, after an
+appalling amount of severe fighting.
+
+Weatherby came back after a time, and the battalions and ourselves
+moved off along the road and branched off into the grounds of
+Herenthage Chateau--deep mud, broken trees, and hardly rideable. Here
+we bade adieu to our horses, who were, with the transport, to stay in
+the same place where we had had our dinners, right the other side of
+Ypres and out of shell-range, whilst we kept a few ammunition-carts
+and horses hidden near Hooge village. All the rest of our supplies and
+stuff had to be brought up every night under cover of darkness to near
+Herenthage, and there be unloaded and carried by hand into the
+trenches.
+
+In the chateau itself who should we come across but Drysdale,[16]
+Brigade-Major now of the 22nd Brigade, the one which, by the law of
+chances, we were now relieving; and, still more oddly, the other
+battalion (2nd) of the Bedfords was in his Brigade. It was a cheerless
+place, this chateau--every single pane of glass in it shivered, and
+lying, crunched at our every step, on the floor.
+
+         [Footnote 16: My late Brigade-Major at Belfast, now, alas!
+         killed (on the Somme, 1916).]
+
+We pushed on over the grass of the park, through the scattered trees,
+and into the wood, and so into the trenches. Even then, as far as one
+could judge in the darkness, the ground was a regular rabbit-warren.
+By the time we had finished with the district the ground was even more
+so; there seemed to be more trenches and fallen trees and wire
+entanglements than there was level ground to walk on.
+
+Our own Headquarters were in a poky little dug-out[17] in a wood, not
+200 yards from our firing trenches. There was just room for
+two--Weatherby and St Andre (Moulton-Barrett having gone to settle
+about transport and supplies, Cadell being away sick, and Beilby being
+left with the transport the other side of Ypres)--to lie down in it,
+and there was a little tunnel out of it, 6 feet long and 2 broad and
+2 high, into which I crept and where I slept; but I was not very happy
+in it, as the roof-logs had sagged with the weight of the earth on
+them, and threatened every moment to fall in whilst I was inside.
+
+         [Footnote 17: Really only a half roofed-in little trench,
+         marked H on the map.]
+
+[Illustration: Beukenhorst (near Ypres).]
+
+The Bedfords were put into the trenches on the eastern edge of the
+wood, the Cheshires continued the line to the south and for a couple
+of hundred yards outside the wood, and the West Ridings were in
+reserve at the back of the wood, in rear of our dug-out.
+
+I did not like our place at all, for it seemed to me that, being so
+close to the firing line, I should not be able to get out or control
+the little force if there were heavy operations on; and this was
+exactly what did happen.
+
+We had been told that the 6th Cavalry Brigade was in trenches on our
+left, and the 7th Infantry Brigade in ditto on our right, and that was
+about all we knew of the situation.
+
+
+_Nov. 6th._
+
+Next morning there was a thick mist till 10 A.M., and I took advantage
+of it to visit the trenches in detail. The left of the Cheshires was
+within 40 yards of the enemy, who were hidden in the wood in front of
+them, so, there being no communication trenches, we had to be fairly
+careful hereabouts. But it was desperately difficult to make one's way
+about, what with the fallen trees and telephone wires, and little
+patches of open ground on the slopes, and long, wet, yellow grass and
+tangled heather in parts, not to mention the criss-cross of trenches,
+occupied and unoccupied, in all directions. Difficult enough to find
+one's way in daylight, it was infinitely worse in pitch darkness. No
+wonder that our reliefs had not been accomplished till nearly 3
+o'clock that morning!
+
+We were shelled pretty heavily all the morning, and two of the shells
+burst so close that they covered us with dirt. Two officers--Langdale
+and O'Kelly, of the West Ridings--had their legs broken by their
+dug-out being blown in upon them, and three Cheshires were buried by
+an exploding shell and dug out dead. Another dozen were killed or
+wounded in their trenches, which were nothing like deep enough, and
+could not be further deepened because of the water which lay there
+only just below the ground. About twenty Cheshires were moved back to
+escape the shell fire, and taken to a rather less-exposed place. At
+4.30 the Bedfords reported a heavy attack on their front; but it was
+confined to rifle fire, and nothing serious happened there.
+
+The remainder of the Bedfords, under Griffith, consisting of two
+strong companies, turned up at 6 P.M., and the West Ridings were taken
+away from me, so that my command was now reduced to two battalions,
+one rather strong (1100--just reinforced by a big fresh draft), and
+the other, Cheshires, only about half that number.
+
+On further consideration of the situation, I settled to make Brigade
+Headquarters at the Beukenhorst Chateau,[18] half a mile farther back,
+and started the R.E. and a strange fatigue party to dig a funk-hole
+for us in front of it in case it were badly shelled; but I remember as
+a particular grievance that when the foreign fatigue party heard they
+were to go somewhere else, they went off, leaving their work half
+undone, and with our Brigade tools, though I had given them distinct
+orders to do neither of these things. But they were now out of my
+jurisdiction, so nothing could be done except to send them a message
+to return our tools--which they never did.
+
+         [Footnote 18: "Stirling Castle" on our present maps.]
+
+Moulton-Barrett turned up in the afternoon with a basket of cold food
+for us, and took St Andre away; it was not the least necessary for him
+to stay, as the dug-out was really only big enough for two, so
+Weatherby and I settled down for the night. We had wanted to move
+into the chateau at 7 P.M., but we could not. For it was not advisable
+as long as an attack was imminent; also, M. B. had not got our message
+of that morning saying we wanted him to clean up the chateau for us;
+and thirdly, the Bedford relief was taking place. So we settled to
+move next day instead.
+
+But it was not very attractive living in the tiny dug-out. We had no
+servants, we had to prepare our own food and wash up afterwards; it
+was frightfully cramped, and we were always getting half-empty
+sardine-tins oozing over official documents, and knives and forks lost
+in the mud and straw at the bottom, and bread-crumbs and fragments of
+bully beef and jam mixed up with our orders and papers; and it was not
+at all healthy going for a stroll as long as the sun was up because of
+the bullets and shells fizzing about. Altogether, although it was no
+worse, except as regards size, than other dug-outs, it was not
+luxurious; and as for washing, a little water in the bottom of a
+biscuit-tin was about all we could manage, whilst a shave was a matter
+of pain and difficulty.
+
+
+_Nov. 7th._
+
+We had now come under the 3rd Division (under General Wing
+temporarily--a very good and charming fellow, a gunner, who had taken
+over General Hubert Hamilton's command, the latter having been killed,
+I forgot to mention, some time previously), whilst the 9th Brigade had
+relieved the 6th Cavalry on the previous day. The Division, therefore,
+now consisted of the 7th, 15th, and 9th Brigades (the latter
+comprising the Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Fusiliers, Lincolns,
+and Scots Fusiliers)--in that order from right to left. It looked,
+therefore, as if we ought to be soon relieved by the 8th Brigade and
+return to our own Division. Vain hope! We were not destined to be
+relieved for another fortnight.
+
+There was a good deal of shelling of the 9th Brigade during the
+morning, but we personally had not many shells into us, and were
+fairly quiet till past 2 o'clock.
+
+Suddenly, about 3, a hellish hostile fire broke out in the wood--not
+in our front, but close on our left. A hail of bullets whizzed over
+our heads, responded to by our fire trenches; and then, to our horror,
+we saw our Bedford supports, to our left front, retiring slowly, but
+in some confusion, on top of us--many of the men only half-dressed,
+and buckling on their kits as they moved. We jumped out of our
+dug-out, and with the assistance of their officers stopped and rallied
+them. They were certainly not running, and were in no sort of panic;
+but they all said that the word had been passed from the right front
+that the Bedfords were to retire, so they had done so--half of them
+being asleep or feeding at the time the fire began.
+
+We made them advance again, which they were more than willing to do,
+and then there was a cheer from the Bedfords in front. Upon which the
+supports pricked up their ears, rallied to the sound, and charged
+forward like hounds rallying to the horn.
+
+Violent firing and confused fighting and yelling in the wood for a
+space, and some wounded began to come back. Then some Germans, both
+wounded and prisoners, in small batches, and at last the news that the
+Bedfords had completely repulsed the attack and taken about 25
+prisoners, driving the enemy back with the bayonet at the run.
+
+Who it was that started the order to retire we could never find out.
+It certainly was not Milling, who was commanding in the front trench,
+nor was it any officer. Quite conceivably it may have been started by
+the enemy themselves.
+
+What happened, as far as I could make out, was that the right centre
+of the Northumberland Fusiliers on our left had been pressed back and
+the Germans had poured through the opening. The right flank of the
+Northumberlands had sat tight, so the Bedfords in our front line had
+known nothing of the German success till they were fired at by the
+enemy in the wood on their left rear. I do not fancy, however, from
+what the prisoners told me, that the attack was a very strong one--not
+more, I expect, than three or four companies.
+
+These belonged to the Frankfurt-am-Main Corps (VII.). I examined one
+prisoner, a regular "Schwabe" from Heilbronn, a jolly man with a red
+beard, who told me that his company was commanded by a cavalry
+captain, who considered it beneath his dignity to charge with
+infantry, and remained snugly ensconced behind a wall whilst he
+shouted encouragement to his men.
+
+The Bedfords retook three of the Northumberlands' trenches with them,
+but failed to retake one of their own--together with two machine-guns
+in it--that they had lost, although they tried hard, A Company
+(Milling's) making three bayonet charges. They behaved devilish well,
+in spite of heavy losses both in officers and men. Macready, their
+Adjutant, was shot through the liver (but recovered eventually);
+Allason (Major) was hit twice--once through the shoulder, and again,
+on returning after getting his wound dressed, through the thigh;
+Davenport was shot through the left elbow (we looked after him in our
+dug-out); and two subalterns were killed, besides twenty-four men
+killed and fifty-three wounded. Of the Cheshires, Pollok, Hodson, and
+Anderson (the latter a fine runner and very plucky chap) were killed,
+besides five men killed, nineteen wounded, and eight missing.
+Altogether the losses were rather heavy. The men were particularly
+good to the wounded Germans; I remember especially one man, a
+black-bearded evil-looking scoundrel, who had been shot through the
+lungs, and rolled about in the mud at my feet, and him they looked
+after carefully. The last glimpse I caught of him was being helped to
+a stretcher by two of our own men, also wounded.
+
+There was again no chance of our getting to the chateau to-night, so
+another basket of food arrived, and we fed with what comfort we could.
+
+We worked all night at strengthening our lines, but the Germans had
+got up so close to our weakest salient that I was a bit anxious on the
+subject of a renewed attack by night.
+
+
+_Nov. 8th._
+
+A small reinforcement arrived at 7 A.M., in the shape of the
+Divisional Mounted Troops of the 3rd and 5th Divisions--about 250 men
+altogether, consisting of 70 of the 15th Hussars and 60 cyclists from
+the 3rd, and 50 of the 19th Hussars and 70 cyclists from the 5th
+Divisions, under Courage and Parsons respectively.
+
+These were distributed in rear of our dug-out.
+
+We had a fairly quiet day as far as we ourselves were concerned, but
+both Brigades on our flanks were heavily shelled. The French on our
+right were attacking in force, but although they were being supported
+by their 16th Corps, I do not think there was much result about Klein
+Zillebeke.
+
+At last, at 5.30 P.M., we started for our chateau, and hardly had we
+gone 150 yards when a terrific fire broke out. We got behind a little
+ruined hut to escape the bullets, and I made ready to return in case
+it was a serious attack. But it died down in ten minutes, and we
+pursued our way in more or less peace, for it was only a case of
+firing at reliefs, and I think the Germans were rather jumpy.
+
+The Chateau of Beukenhorst was a square white block of a place, and
+merits perhaps some description, as we were there for a most
+uncomfortable fortnight--uncomfortable as far as events and fighting
+went, though not so as regards living.
+
+It belonged to some people whose name I have forgotten--Baron
+something (Belgian) and his German wife, and it was due to this lady's
+nationality--so the story went--that the place had suffered so little.
+Personally I think that it was due to the house only being indicated
+on the map, whilst the stables, 200 yards off, which were perpetually
+being shelled, were marked in heavy black, and were a cockshy for the
+German guns, which were evidently laid by map and not by sight; yet
+the house was on a fair elevation, and must have been visible from
+certain points on the German side. By the same token, General Capper
+had had his Headquarters there for a few days, but had cleared out, I
+believe, because of shells. Half a dozen shrapnel had certainly hit
+it, but they had only chipped off some bits of stone and broken all
+the windows at the eastern end.
+
+We lived in a room half below ground at the western end, which must
+evidently have been the housekeeper's room or servants' hall, next to
+the kitchen. About half the Signal Section lived in some sort of
+cellars close by, the other half being away with the transport. Two of
+these cellars were also used as a dressing station for the 7th
+Brigade, and wounded used to be brought in here frequently and tended
+by a sanitary Highlander, a corporal whose exact functions I could
+never discover, but who worked like a Trojan. The wounded were visited
+by a medical officer in the evening, and removed on stretchers every
+night to the ambulances who came to fetch them. Our own wounded did
+not come here, but were looked after just behind the trenches near the
+Herenthage Chateau, and taken away from there at night by our own 15th
+Field Ambulance, who worked all night in circumstances of much danger,
+but were luckily hardly ever hit.
+
+The owners had evidently had plenty of notice before clearing out, for
+they had removed all the smaller articles and most of the furniture,
+and had rolled up the carpets and curtains and blinds, leaving only
+big cupboards and bare bedsteads and larger bits of furniture. These
+were, oddly enough, in very good taste--Louis XV. style--and only
+sand-papered and not polished or painted. There was a good bathroom
+too, and a lavatory with big basins, but much of it had been smashed
+by shrapnel, as it was at the east end. Our bedrooms were on the first
+floor, and most of them had good beds and washhand-stands, but no
+linen or blankets. I need hardly say that we carefully selected those
+at the western end of the house, whither few bullets had penetrated.
+But the windows there were mostly untouched, and consisted of good
+plate glass. Altogether the whole place gave one the idea of comfort,
+money, and good taste, and was an eminently satisfactory abode--bar
+the shells.
+
+I know that, as far as looking after the Brigade was concerned, we got
+through three times as much satisfactory work in the morning after we
+arrived as we did during all the three days we were in the little
+dug-out. For we could now communicate not only by wire but by
+messenger and by personal contact with the authorities and commanders
+in our rear and on our flanks, and could discuss matters _re_
+artillery and defences and plans in a way which had been quite
+impossible in our advanced position.
+
+General Wing[19] used to come and see us most evenings, and I used to
+communicate personally with Shaw (9th Brigade), and Fanshawe
+(Artillery), and M'Cracken (7th Brigade), about combined movements,
+&c. Every morning before daylight, and at a good many other times
+besides, I, or Weatherby, or Moulton-Barrett, used to go down to the
+trenches and confabulate with Griffith--always cool and resourceful,
+who was in immediate command--or Frost and Burfeild, who were running
+the Cheshires excellently between them. It was not always a very easy
+business getting down to the trenches, for there were nearly always
+shells bursting in the woods and on the open field which lay between
+us and the trench wood; and we had generally to hurry in order to
+leave the chateau precincts unperceived by the beastly Taubes who
+hovered overhead, always on the lookout for headquarters to shell; so
+we cut down orderlies and staff to a minimum, and absolutely forbade
+any hanging about outside.
+
+         [Footnote 19: To everybody's great regret, he was killed in
+         October 1915.]
+
+It is no use going into or describing our proceedings day by day:
+"Plus ca changeait, plus c'etait la meme chose." I have the detail of
+it day by day in my diary, but it was always, in the main, the same
+thing--minds and bodies at high tension throughout the day and most of
+the night; perpetual artillery fire--if not by the enemy then by
+ourselves; shells bursting round the chateau and hardly ever into it,
+mostly shrapnel near the house and Black Marias a bit further
+off--chiefly into a walled garden 200 yards off which, for some
+unknown reason, the Germans were convinced held some of our guns,
+though, as a matter of fact, our batteries were in our right rear, in
+well-covered positions just inside (or even outside, in some cases)
+the woods. But we got shells on the other side of the house as well,
+over the bare half-grown lawn and flower-beds between the chateau and
+the Hooge-Menin road.
+
+It was rarely "healthy" to take a stroll in the grounds, however much
+we might be in want of fresh air. Even on days which were
+exceptionally quiet--and there were not many of them,--when one would
+move out to look at the grounds with a view to future defences in case
+we were driven back, or with a desire to ease a torpid liver, suddenly
+there would be a loudening swish in the air and a crash which would
+send one of the tall pine-trees into smithereens, with a shower of
+broken branches in all directions, followed by another, or half a
+dozen more; and we would retire gracefully--sometimes even
+rapidly--behind the shelter of our house.
+
+There were some late roses in the garden, or rather in the scattered
+flower-beds near the house, which lasted out even when the snow was
+on them; but about the only live beings who took any interest in them
+were three or four goats, who haunted the precincts of the chateau,
+and were everlastingly trying to get inside. Indeed, when
+Moulton-Barrett first came to take possession, there were two goats in
+the best bedrooms upstairs, who peered out of the windows at the
+undesired visitors, and had to be evicted after a display of
+considerable force.
+
+Also pigs; for half a dozen great raw-boned pink and dirty swine
+rootled about in the woods near by for sustenance. They were, however,
+shy, and did not seek the shelter of the chateau. Stray cattle there
+were too; but neither these nor the pigs paid any attention to the
+shells which fell near them with impartial regularity, but did them,
+as far as I could see, no damage whatever.
+
+There was a stable a couple of hundred yards in rear of the house, and
+here at first we put what horses there were in the neighbourhood.
+Having Squeaky and Silver there one night--I forget why, but I know
+they were there--I put them into a couple of loose-boxes. Silver went
+in all right, but Squeaky, generally a most sensible mare, shivered
+and sweated with terror, had almost to be forced in, and refused to
+feed when there. So I let her out again, and picketed her outside. Two
+nights after, a doctor's horse which was in there was all but killed,
+for a shrapnel burst through the window and drove fourteen bullets
+into his head and neck. They wanted leave to kill the poor beast, but
+I refused permission, as he was not hit in any vital spot, and he
+recovered, more or less, in a few days.
+
+As mentioned above, this stable was marked in black on the map, whilst
+the chateau--a far bigger building, of course--was hardly indicated. I
+take it that this accounted for our comparative immunity, for the
+stable was shelled (and hit) with great regularity, whilst the chateau
+was hardly ever touched. We had, however, a couple of small H.E. shell
+through the eastern end whilst we were in the western; one of these
+bored clean through the wall of a room where there was a big cupboard
+against it on the far side and exploded forthwith. But the cupboard
+was not even scratched; it was blown into the middle of the room and a
+table or two upset, but, strange to relate, nothing serious in the way
+of damage was done.[20] On another occasion, however, a few shrapnel
+exploded just outside the kitchen window. At the sound of the first we
+all bolted to the other side of the house, and called to the servants
+to do the same. They came out; but Brown, our excellent cook, who had
+come out in his shirt-sleeves, must needs go back, without orders, to
+fetch his coat: for which he promptly received a jagged piece of shell
+in his left arm, which put a stop, alas, to his cooking for good and
+all, as far as we were concerned, for he was sent away, and, although
+he recovered, never came back to us.
+
+         [Footnote 20: This is a fact, though I cannot explain it.]
+
+During the chief hours of the day, when not (or whilst) being shelled,
+we were pretty busy with telegrams and reports and queries and
+excursions and alarums. We were comfortable enough in the
+housekeeper's room, and got our meals "reg'lar," and we even had two
+or three arm-chairs, and newspapers and mails fairly well, and news
+from outside, which used to arrive with our rations at 9 P.M. or
+thereabouts. But a minor trial was the fact that two out of our five
+panes of glass had been blown in by shell, and let in an icy draught
+on most days. So we got some partially-oiled paper, and made some
+paste, and stuck up the panes.
+
+The first shell explosion made the paper sag, the second made it
+shiver, and the third blew it out. The paste would not stick--it was
+the wrong sort of flour or something.
+
+Then we used jam--that glutinous saccharine mess known as "best plum
+jam"--and blue sugar paper, and it stuck quite fairly well. But it
+wouldn't dry; and tears of jam used to trickle down the paper panes
+and mingle with the tin-tacks and the bread-crumbs on the sill.
+
+The room was even then fairly dark, but the shell-bursts again
+shivered the jam paper and burst it, and we had to take to cardboard
+and drawing-boards. This made it still darker, and was not even then
+successful, for the explosions still shook the boards down and
+eventually broke another pane: it was most trying. On the last day but
+one four panes had been broken, and on the last day, as will be
+recounted, all were broken and the whole window blown in. Then we
+left.
+
+But what was of much vaster interest, of course, than these trifles,
+was the desperate fighting which was being waged along our front,
+not 1000 yards from the chateau. Our two battalions, being entrenched
+in the wood, did not receive such a severe hammering as the brigades
+on either side--the 7th and 9th respectively on our right and
+left,--who were more in the open. And the shelling and attacks on them
+were incessant, as well as on troops still further off on the other
+side of them.
+
+The 11th November was a typically unpleasant day. It started with a
+touch of comedy, Weatherby arriving stark naked in my room at 6.30
+A.M., just when I was shaving, saying, "I say, sir, may I finish my
+dressing in here? They're shelling the bathroom!" He had a towel and a
+few clothes on his arm, _et praeterea nihil_. (He, M.-B., and St Andre,
+though sleeping in different rooms, used to dress in the bathroom,
+where there were excellent taps and basins, though no water was
+running.)
+
+The shelling continued till 10. It was on this morning that Brown was
+damaged and lots of windows blown in.
+
+About that time I saw, to my consternation, a number of British
+soldiers retiring towards the walled garden. I sent out at once to
+stop them and turn them back, thinking they were Cheshires or
+Bedfords. To my relief they were neither, but belonged to a brigade on
+our right. They had been heavily shelled, and, though in no sort of
+panic, were falling back deliberately, though without orders. There
+were no officers with them--all killed or wounded, I believe. My
+efforts were successful, though I grieve to say that a nice boy,
+Kershaw of the Signallers, who volunteered to carry a message to them,
+was hit by shrapnel in the thigh and brought in by our clerk, Sergeant
+Hutchison, and another, bleeding profusely. Burnett, commanding the
+Cyclist Corps, had been knocked down by a falling tree and his back
+damaged--also internal damage, I believe (for he was not really fit a
+year afterwards); he also was brought in, as well as Cooper of the
+Royal Fusiliers. A number of Zouaves and some more troops also
+trickled slowly back from the left with stories of appalling losses
+(mostly untrue) and disaster to the trenches (ditto). They were also
+stopped--the Zouaves by St Andre--and sent back. Certainly the
+Frenchmen's nerve was not damaged, for I remember that several had
+playing-cards in their hands, and when they got to what they
+considered a fairly quiet spot they stopped, sat down, and went on
+with their game. Norman M'Mahon, commanding Royal Fusiliers, had,
+however, been killed, just as he had been appointed Brigadier to
+another Brigade, besides a lot more good men of the 9th Brigade. Shaw,
+commanding the Brigade, had also been wounded, and Douglas Smith
+succeeded him. Both the 1st and 9th Brigades had lost several
+trenches, and intended to try and retake them at night, but both had
+been pushed back some distance.
+
+A company of Wiltshires was sent to reinforce us in case we were
+seriously attacked. But they were not used by us for fighting--only
+for digging extra trenches near the chateau in case the front
+battalions had to fall back. But the front battalions had no intention
+of falling back, and the Cheshires got in a very heavy fire on the
+flank of some Germans who were attacking the 7th Brigade, and,
+together with the Gordons on our right, killed a great number. The
+Cheshires reported afterwards that the Germans walked slowly forward
+to the attack without enthusiasm and in a sort of dazed way, with
+their rifles under their arms, as if they were drugged. I wonder
+whether they were: we several times received reports to the same
+effect.
+
+A particularly cheery item of intelligence, on good authority, was
+that fifteen German Guards battalions were being specially brought up
+in order to break through our line here at all costs. I thought at the
+time that this was false news, and that nothing like so many would be
+available, but it was not far out. As part confirmation, some papers
+taken off a dead German officer were brought in; they belonged to A.
+von Obernitz, 2nd Garde Grenadier Regiment, 2nd Division Guard Corps,
+but there was nothing of interest in them.
+
+About that date Weatherby, who had been seedy for several days, became
+seriously ill with a sort of light typhoid fever, and had to be
+evacuated. Moulton-Barrett therefore added the duties of Brigade-Major
+to his already heavy ones as Staff Captain, and did excellently well
+in the double capacity.
+
+To finish up with, the weather, which had been calm and fine up to
+date, broke that evening, and there were violent rain-storms from the
+south-west all night.
+
+We went to bed in no very happy state of mind, expecting a serious
+night attack by overwhelming forces. But no attack came, for probably
+the enemy was as exhausted as ourselves. All the same we had to fall
+back by order, on the following night, for many trenches on our right
+and left had been driven in, and we did not want to be cut off.
+
+So we fell back about 200 yards through the wood, and straightened up
+our line--in a much worse defensive position as regards our own bit,
+but it could not be helped. My suggestions as to the line were
+overruled, and we took up our second line of trenches and constructed
+a little reduit in the wood, ringed around with barbed wire and
+holding about twenty-five men, who would--we were sanguine enough to
+expect--hold off any serious rush that came.
+
+I forgot to mention that Singer, commanding the 17th Fd. Co. R.E., had
+arrived, and did an extraordinary amount of good work with his company
+in circumstances of the greatest difficulty and danger. He told me
+that the first night he went out, in order to put up some wire
+entanglement in a dangerous place, it was as black as pitch. He made
+his sections hold on to each other's coats, but within ten minutes
+they had not only lost each other in the dense black woods--chiefly
+through tumbling into trenches and falling over telephone wires,--but
+Singer had lost the whole company, and after wandering helplessly in
+what he thought the right direction for some time, he discovered that
+he had lost himself as well. He said he felt inclined to sit down and
+have a good cry, so utterly miserable did he feel!
+
+In falling back to the second line we had a fairly easy job, but for
+the 9th Brigade it was a regular Chinese puzzle, for by this time some
+of their trenches were in German hands at one end and English at the
+other, whilst Northumberland Fusiliers, Lincolns, Sussex, West
+Ridings, Cavalry, and even part of the 2nd Grenadiers,[21] who had
+turned up from goodness knows where, were inextricably tangled up; not
+to mention that a party of Northumberlands, numbering about 120, under
+one gallant subaltern called Brown, had been holding out for three
+days in front of our line, with no food or drink, and Germans in
+trenches only 30 yards off them. I believe this lot eventually got
+away in safety, but the retirement of all was about as difficult as
+it could be. This was on the 13th.
+
+         [Footnote 21: My old battalion.]
+
+On the 14th the Bedfords were heavily attacked, and the Germans pushed
+a machine-gun right forward through the wood and enfiladed the
+Cheshire left. These stood it for some time and then retired further
+down their trench, being unable to let the Bedfords know. Consequently
+this beastly gun got in a heavy fire on the Bedfords right as well and
+forced them to retire. The reduit was no good--the wood was too
+thick--and some of the garrison were captured. So the Bedfords had to
+fall back, fighting, on to their third line 50 yards back, where they
+held the enemy.
+
+Edwards, who commanded the advanced Bedford company, came up to the
+chateau to report, and gave a most cheery and amusing account of the
+whole thing, but the result was not at all amusing, as we had lost
+ground and a lot of men.
+
+Meanwhile the big attack by the German Guards was being made on the
+brigades on our flanks, but, as all the world knows, it was completely
+repulsed, though the 15th Brigade was not very heavily engaged as a
+whole. The fighting was terribly confused in the woods, and nothing
+but the individual grit of our men held the line, for it was
+practically impossible to give directions or exercise control in this
+horrible terrain.
+
+During this period we got much "mixed" as regards our machine-guns. We
+took over some from the 7th Division and lost some of those. Then we
+borrowed some more from other units in rear and recovered some of the
+lost ones. Sergeant Mart of the Bedfords did a splendid thing, and
+recovered two of the lost Bedford guns practically by himself,
+stalking the Germans with only one other man and rushing their trench,
+killing the few men in it. I wanted to recommend him for the V.C., but
+had such difficulty in getting sufficient evidence about it that an
+official recommendation would not have held water. Meanwhile poor Mart
+was shot through the neck. I got him a D.C.M., but do not know whether
+he lived to receive it.
+
+Then three out of our five guns got damaged by shells and bullets and
+mud and stopped work. So we borrowed some more, and had some
+difficulty in working them, as they were a new pattern. By the time we
+understood them two other guns were _hors de combat_,--it was a real
+nightmare, and it needed strenuous efforts to keep even one or two
+guns[22] going; yet they were of enormous importance, and accounted
+for a lot of the enemy, especially on the right flank of the
+Cheshires.
+
+         [Footnote 22: It does indeed seem extraordinary now that in
+         those strenuous days of 1914 we only had about three
+         machine-guns to two battalions. Nowadays we should have at
+         least twenty!]
+
+Meanwhile the weather had turned beastly cold--snowstorms and sleet
+during the day and a hard frost at night. The men suffered terribly in
+the trenches--especially the Cheshires, whose trenches were very wet.
+Although we kept the wet ones occupied as lightly as possible, we
+could not abandon them altogether and dig others further forward or
+back, as there was water everywhere only a foot below the ground.
+Breastworks were attempted, but they were very visible and attracted
+large numbers of shells: altogether the Cheshires had a very poor
+time, I fear. The Bedfords were rather better off, their trenches in
+the wood being on rather higher and sandy ground, but they were not
+dry by any means.
+
+It was very awkward getting to the trenches, even in broad daylight,
+by this time, for such numbers of trees had been blown down by the
+shells, there were so many shell-holes and so much wire about, and the
+mud and pools of water so universal, that it was really quite a
+physical effort to get through at all.
+
+About this time--the 17th--the Germans in our immediate front appeared
+to have retired a bit, but they certainly had not gone far, for our
+scouts on pushing on for 50 yards or so were greeted with a heavy
+fire, so we were unable to get on as much as we wanted. But though the
+rifle-bullets were rarer for a day or two, shells certainly were not,
+and continued with the utmost regularity.
+
+On the evening of the 17th, by the way, the enemy, annoyed perhaps at
+our scouts pushing on, made what was probably meant to be a
+counter-attack. It was not made in much strength, and we repelled it
+with ease. But it appeared to us at the chateau to be more serious
+than it was, for a messenger from the trenches arrived with the
+information that the Bedfords were being very severely pressed, and
+the Cheshires had had very heavy losses, and could not hold their
+trenches for more than ten minutes unless they were supported at
+once. I had no supports to send them. A message to Griffith by
+telephone for confirmation of this alarm produced no result, for the
+wires were, of course, broken at that critical moment. So I wired to
+General Wing asking him to send me some supports if he could, and got
+200 Royal Fusiliers shortly afterwards. But I did not use them, for
+the news of the messenger--who protested that he had been sent with a
+verbal message (not likely) by an officer whose name he did not
+know--turned out to be grossly exaggerated, and by the time the
+Fusiliers arrived the fighting was over. I never could trace whether
+any officer was responsible for the original message: I believe not.
+Anyhow, there was trouble for the messenger.
+
+On the 18th and 19th we had comparatively quiet days--except for
+nervousness about our left flank, where certain troops who had joined
+the 9th Brigade were very heavily shelled and lost one or two of their
+trenches. They managed, indeed, to get most of the lost ground back,
+but I was not entirely happy about it, for the ground between us and
+them was extremely difficult and could not be properly covered by
+either of us. There was a pond hereabouts, with a little island on it
+with a summer-house; and we found, on extending our left to take it
+over, that there must have been a German sniper there for several
+nights, for many empty Mauser cartridge-cases were found in the
+summer-house, and a very dicky punt was discovered in the rushes. This
+latter we sank, and were no more troubled; but it shows the cool pluck
+of the enemy's snipers in getting right into our lines by themselves
+(and also--I regret to add--certain other things as well).
+
+Rumours now came of an approaching relief, and certainly troops had
+rarely been more in want of it, for our two battalions had been in the
+trenches for fourteen days, with pretty stiff fighting--and nervous,
+jumpy fighting in the dark at that--all the time, and no chance of
+being comfortable or quiet during the whole of this period. Each
+battalion had had to find its own supports or reserves; but even the
+latter had to be pretty close up to the firing line, for in such
+cramped country one could not afford the risk of a sudden rush which
+might have succeeded before the reserves could get up. Our line, it is
+true, was not a particularly long one; but it was awkward, and the
+troops were much cramped and confined by nearly all being obliged to
+take cover in the wood, which gradually grew too small to hold them.
+
+
+_Nov. 19th._
+
+On the 19th General Wing arrived and told us that, after settling to
+relieve us to-day, the French had been unable to find the men and
+could not do it. This was a disappointment; but a later message
+arrived to say that the Worcesters, coming from the 5th Brigade, would
+arrive that afternoon and relieve both of our battalions, who by that
+time were reduced to 540 Bedfords and 220 Cheshires altogether (the
+Bedfords having started with 1100 and the Cheshires with 600 odd).
+
+In the evening a battalion of Worcesters--from goodness knows
+where--turned up and announced that they were to relieve us. We had
+already, as above mentioned, heard that they were coming, and were
+ready for them; but it was funny that they should arrive for only
+twenty-four hours, for the French were going to occupy our trenches on
+the morrow.
+
+Anyhow, by midnight or so the Bedfords and Cheshires had cleared out,
+thankful to leave the horrible rabbit-warren where they had been stuck
+for nearly three wet, cold, and beastly weeks; and they retired to the
+wood and dug-outs close behind our chateau, so as to be in reserve in
+case of necessity.
+
+
+_Nov. 20th._
+
+But they were not wanted as such, and the following day was fairly
+quiet as far as trench fighting was concerned.
+
+But not so for the staff. We were sitting in the housekeeper's room
+after breakfast working out our orders for the withdrawal that night,
+when there was a terrific bang just outside the chateau--nearer than
+ever before. We looked at each other, and would, I verily believe,
+have settled down again to our work, so accustomed were we to shells
+of all sorts, had not Naylor, who had joined us two days before as
+temporary signal officer (_vice_ Cadell, gone sick with light typhoid
+at Hille eighteen days before), jumped up and run outside in order to
+see where it had gone. Being Divisional signal officer, he had not,
+perhaps, had quite so much experience of shells as we had, and he
+wanted to get into closer touch. The example was infectious, and we
+also strolled out to see where the shell had fallen. Hardly had we got
+outside into the passage, and halfway up the basement steps into the
+fresh air, when there was a roar and an appalling crash which shook
+the building. The concussion made me stagger, and blew my cap off. St
+Andre's hat fizzed away into the bushes, and, surrounded by a cloud of
+red dust and stones and chips of balustrades and hunks of wood and
+branches, we held on to anything we could. No damage to ourselves; but
+a glance down the passage showed us that the shell, or most of it, had
+exploded in or just outside the kitchen, and blown that chamber, as
+well as the housekeeper's room, which we had just left, into absolute
+smithereens.
+
+No time to look into further details; a hurried issue of orders, and
+we legged it for all we were worth across the open and into our
+funk-hole in the shrubbery 300 yards off, whilst the signal section
+and servants and orderlies made a bolt for the stables in the opposite
+direction.
+
+But the Germans seem to have been satisfied with this little
+exhibition of "hate," and bombarded us no more--except casually, with
+shrapnel, as usual. We crept back to the chateau at intervals during
+the morning, and removed various possessions and chairs and tables to
+our dug-out, which was not a very luxurious abode, though dry and
+fairly deep. Poor Conway, Weatherby's servant, whom he had left
+behind, was the only casualty; his dead body was found, with both legs
+broken and an arm off, blown down a cellar passage at the back. The
+next most serious casualty was Moulton-Barrett's new pair of breeches,
+arrived that morning from England, and driven full of holes like a
+sugar-sifter. Our late room was a mass of wreckage--half the outer
+wall and most of the inner one blown down, tables and chairs and
+things overturned and broken, and the floor knee-deep in plaster and
+rubbish. Of the kitchen there was still less; and nothing was to be
+rescued from the debris except one tin plate and one tin mustard-pot.
+It would have taken days to clear it, for a good deal of the room
+above seemed to have fallen into it as well, and one could hardly get
+in at the door, so full was the place of plaster, wreckage, and
+stones, and hot-water pipes and bits of iron and twisted rails, and
+dust and earth and broken laths and rafters. Luckily the concussion
+put the fire out, or there might have been still more damage.
+
+We spent our day somewhat uncomfortably in the dug-out, for there was
+a hard frost and very little room to turn round in, and though we had
+a brazier, its charcoal fumes in the confined space nearly poisoned
+us. In the middle of the day three French officers turned up, and we
+made mutual arrangements for the taking over by them of this portion
+of the line, Milling (of the Bedfords) guiding one party and St Andre
+the other.
+
+Food was rather a difficulty, for the mess servants had disappeared,
+and had last been seen hastening in the direction of Ypres--for which
+we cursed them loud and long. We did our best with small hunks of
+bully and odd bits of chocolate and a modicum of tea and biscuits in
+our haversacks--for all the rest of our food had been buried by that
+infernal shell,--but it was neither comfortable nor filling; and, in
+truth, as the dark winter evening came on with only one or two
+candle-stumps between us, we were not as happy as we should otherwise
+have been.
+
+Help was, however, at hand; for our servants, Inskip and Stairs, who
+we thought had ignominiously run away, suddenly turned up with heaps
+of food. They had gone all the way to our cook's waggon three miles
+the other side of Ypres for comestibles, and whilst we were d--ing
+their eyes for bolting, were trudging, heavily laden, along the road
+back to us--good youths.
+
+It was a lengthy business getting the relief through. The French
+troops, due at 7.30 P.M., did not arrive till 9.15 P.M., and even then
+it was difficult to pilot a lot of troops, fresh to the ground, in
+pitch darkness, over shell-holes and wires and broken trees and
+stumps, and through mud and undergrowth and dead horses, &c., &c.,
+into the trenches destined for them. The details had to be very
+carefully arranged indeed, and it was not till nearly 2 A.M. that we
+had got the French into the trenches, the Worcesters into reserve, and
+the Bedfords and Cheshires on their way back to Ypres.
+
+Then, with a sigh of some thankfulness apiece, we stumbled back in the
+darkness to the chateau, where we waited to collect the remains of the
+Signal Section and staff, and then moved off, mounted this time, down
+the Menin-Ypres road.
+
+It was freezing very hard--as I think I remarked before--and the road
+was frightfully slippery. Trotting was almost out of the question, but
+I tried it on Squeaky for a few yards, on a dry broken bit. She pulled
+back on to the slippery part, slid up, and sat down heavily, whilst I
+fell gracefully off on to my shoulder. And she repeated the
+performance the other side of the town. Ypres, in the bright
+starlight, was still quite impressive, and the Cloth Hall was still
+almost intact. But there were many shell-holes about, and some of the
+houses were still smouldering. The town happened to be respited from
+shells for the actual moment, but I believe that the very next day a
+heavy bombardment began again, and the Cloth Hall was destroyed till
+hardly the skeleton thereof was left.
+
+
+_Nov. 21st._
+
+We were due to billet in Locre, and there we arrived at about 7 A.M.
+It was frightfully cold, but, after we had seen the two battalions
+billeted, the military policeman who had been told to turn up and show
+us to our billets was nowhere to be found, so we wandered on as far
+as the Convent, staggering and slipping on the snowy ice and blowing
+on our fingers as we went. The thermometer must have shown ten degrees
+of frost or more, but I only know that I was very glad to reach our
+little house at last (having passed it already once half a mile
+before) and get in between the sheets of an ancient but respectably
+clean bed, covered by all the mackintoshes, blankets, and rugs I could
+get hold of.
+
+The Cheshires were billeted on the Mont Rouge close by, and the
+Bedfords near us, at the corner of the Westoutre road. They had all
+struggled over the fourteen miles or so that divided them from their
+trenches, but having arrived and their feet having swollen terribly
+during the long march, any number of them could not get their boots on
+again, and they went to hospital by twenties and thirties, hobbling
+along the road with their feet tied up in rags or socks, for they were
+deformed with rheumatism and swollen joints,[23] and would not fit any
+boot. The Cheshires, as I expected, were much the worse of the two
+battalions, for their trenches had been very wet, and most of the men
+had sat with cold feet in water for many days; yet there was not a
+single case of pulmonary complaint amongst them, and hardly even a
+cough or a cold.
+
+         [Footnote 23: What would now be known as "trench feet."]
+
+Here we stayed, at Locre, till the 25th, the men enjoying a most
+well-earned rest, and filling up with hot baths, warm clothes, socks,
+parcels from home, and comforts of all sorts. The Divisional
+Headquarters were in the Convent, a clean huge building which did very
+well for the purpose, and here we went almost daily, either on
+business or on a meal intent. The Cheshires--only 230 of them
+left--were of no practical value, alas, with their bad feet; so they
+were sent in to 2nd Corps Headquarters (Sir H. S.-D.) at Bailleul,
+nominally to "find" the Headquarters Guard, but in reality to
+convalesce.
+
+On the 25th we--that is, Headquarters and the Bedfords, for that was
+all there was left of the 15th for the moment--moved to St Jan's
+Cappel, a nice little village only a few miles behind Locre. We lived
+in the Cure's (M. de Vos) house, clean and pleasant; and the Cure, who
+liked the good things of this world, brought his stout person to
+coffee every evening, and did not disdain to make the acquaintance of
+an occasional tot of British rum or whisky, except on Fridays.
+
+Two days afterwards we were inspected both by Sir Horace and, half an
+hour later, by Sir John French, who were both pleased to say
+complimentary things of the Brigade. It did us good. The Bedfords
+again put me to confusion by calling out "'Ear! 'ear!" at telling
+points of the speeches--curious folk,--the only battalion I ever heard
+do so. 587 men and 8 officers on parade, not one of the latter of
+whom, except the Quartermaster, had come out with the battalion.
+Griffith was on leave, his place being taken by Major Mackenzie, V.C.,
+who had just joined. All the other officers who had left Ireland with
+me in August were either killed, wounded, or sick.
+
+We were under orders to go into the trenches again shortly, taking
+over from Maude,[24] now commanding the 14th Brigade; he also had the
+Dorsets and Norfolks, scraped up from various places, attached to him.
+His line was in front of Dranoutre.
+
+         [Footnote 24: The victor of Baghdad.]
+
+On the 29th November we took over there, a most complicated
+arrangement which only evolved itself clearly during the next week. I
+had the East Surreys and Manchesters under me for a time, and then the
+K.O.S.B.'s, all interchanging and intershuffling with my battalions,
+the main reason being that I had not got the Cheshires, so had to
+shift as best I could without them, picking up a battalion of the 13th
+or 14th Brigade when one was available.
+
+The line was not exactly nice. We had, it is true, got rid of the
+worst bit, Hill 73, on to the 3rd Division, which was next door on the
+left; but it extended all the same for an unpleasant length on our
+right, which was south of the Wulverghem-Messines road, the right of
+the Brigade on our right being on the Douve. At the longest--the
+length that the Brigade had to defend varied according to
+circumstances--the line was just over 2500 yards; at its shortest it
+was about 2200. Considering that the normal frontage (defensive) of
+the Brigade at full strength was 900 to 1300 yards, this was a bit
+"thin" in more senses than one.
+
+As we were here for three months, off and on--from the beginning of
+December to the end of February,--it may be worth while trying to
+describe it, if I can.
+
+[Illustration: The Messines Front.]
+
+Imagine a bit of rolling country--rather like parts of
+Leicestershire,--fair-sized fields, separated mostly by straggling
+fences interspersed with wire (largely barbed), and punctuated by tall
+trees. Patches of wood in places, spinney size for the most part. Low
+hills here and there--Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Ploegsteert Wood,--but all
+outside our area. For villages, Dranoutre, Neuve Eglise, Wulverghem,
+and Lindenhoek, of which the two last were already more than half shot
+to pieces and almost deserted. Opposite our right was Messines--a mile
+and a half in front of our line,--its big, square, old church tower
+still standing; it may have had a spire on the top, but if so it had
+disappeared before we came. Nearly opposite our extreme left, but out
+of our jurisdiction and in the sphere of the Division on our left, was
+Wytschaete (pronounce Wich Khate), one and a half miles off. The
+cavalry had held both Messines[25] and Wytschaete at the end of
+October, but had been overwhelmingly attacked here and driven out of
+them, so that the two villages formed a hostile bulge into our line.
+We had been in hopes of driving attacks into the base of the bulge and
+thus forcing a retirement. But the Germans reinforced the bulge and
+entrenched it heavily, and instead of our cutting off the bulge, it
+became flatter and flatter, without giving way at the point, so that
+we had to retire slightly, on either side, and not they.
+
+         [Footnote 25: Locally pronounced Merse.]
+
+Farms, nearly all of them roofless and half-ruined, were dotted about
+over the country. Small ones for the most part they were, and of the
+usual type--a liquid and stinking manure-heap surrounded on three
+sides by a living-house and barns. Of the roads, those from Dranoutre
+to Lindenhoek, Dranoutre to Neuve Eglise, and Neuve Eglise _via_
+Wulverghem to Messines, were _pave_--_i.e._, cobble-stones down the
+centre and mud on both sides. Those joining Lindenhoek to Neuve Eglise
+and Wulverghem were also mostly _pave_. The remainder were mere field
+tracks for the most part, rarely metalled, and in wet weather almost
+impassable for mud.
+
+O that mud! We have heard lots about Flanders mud, but the reality
+transcends imagination, especially in winter. Greasy, slippery,
+holding clay, over your toes in most places and over your ankles in
+all the rest--where it is not over your knees,--it is the most
+horrible "going" I know anywhere. Whether you are moving across plough
+or grass fields, or along lanes, you are perpetually skating about and
+slipping up on the firmer bits and held fast by the ankles in the
+softer ones. There is no stone in the district, nothing but rich loamy
+clay, _alias_ mud. However much you dig, you never come across stone,
+nothing but sticky mud which clings to your shovel and refuses to be
+parted from it--mud that has to be scraped off at almost every stroke,
+mud that absorbs water like a sponge yet refuses to give it up again.
+Every little puddle and rut, every hoof-depression full of rain,
+remains like that for weeks; even when the weather is fine the water
+does not seem to evaporate, but remains on the surface.
+
+And when it rains, as it did all that winter (except when it snowed),
+the state of the trenches is indescribable. Some were, frankly, so
+full of water that they had to be abandoned, and a breastwork erected
+behind. But a breastwork is slow work, especially if you are less than
+100 yards from the enemy. For weeks, indeed, the garrison of one
+particular trench had to lie out on the mud, or on what waterproofs
+they could get, behind a shelter two to three feet high--always
+growing a little, yet never to be made to a real six feet height for
+reason of conspicuousness and consequent clusters of Black Marias.
+
+Other trenches varied from five inches to five feet deep in mud; in
+one a Dorset man was literally almost drowned and drawn forth with
+great difficulty. Many cases occurred of semi-submersion, and as for
+moving up the communication trenches during the winter, it was
+generally an impossibility, for they were either knee-deep in water or
+in mud, and simply refused to be drained. So men preferred the risk of
+a stray bullet to the certainty of liquid mud to the knees and
+consequent icy discomfort for twenty-four hours and more. And as for
+the unfortunate ration-parties and men bringing up heavy trench
+stores, their task was really one of frightful labour, for, for two
+men to cross a large and slippery muddy series of fields carrying a
+100 lb. box between them was no joke. First one would slide up and
+skate off in one direction whilst the other did his best to hold on,
+generally resulting in dropping his end of the box or finding himself
+on the flat of his back. Then the parts would be reversed, but they
+always slid up in opposite directions--the mud saw to that,--and they
+would arrive in the trenches, after their stroll of a mile or less,
+absolutely exhausted and dripping with sweat. It was difficult enough,
+over much of the ground, to avoid slipping up even when burdened by
+nothing more than a walking-stick; that I know from personal
+experience. Yet for many weeks the men had to do this and suffer, for
+fascines and bricks, besides sandbags, were only just beginning to
+make their appearance in December; and floor-boards and gratings and
+gravel and trench stores and wire-netting, and revetments and planks
+and iron sheeting and trestles and hurdles of all sorts, did not
+really materialize in anything like sufficient numbers till March.
+
+The draining of the trenches was heartbreaking. After a heavy day or
+two of rain the parapets would fall down in hunks into the foot of
+water or so in the trenches, and would churn up into liquid mud, only
+to be removed by large spoons, of which we had none, or buckets, of
+which we had but very few. It was too thick to drain off down the
+very, very gradual slopes which were the best we could do, and too
+liquid to be shovelled away; so there it would remain, and our
+strenuous efforts in rebuilding the parapets (for at this period we
+had no revetting material) would only result, a night or two later, in
+still further collapses.
+
+The R.E. companies, both 17th and 59th, worked like heroes, and so
+particularly did the Norfolks and Bedfords; but it was most
+disheartening work. No sooner was one parapet fairly complete than
+another fell in; and when this was mended the first one would collapse
+again under the incessant downpour. And all this time wire
+entanglements had to be put up in front under hostile fire, trenches
+connected up and drained, support trenches dug, communication trenches
+improved, loopholes made, defences thickened and strengthened, saps
+pushed out, all under the fire of an enemy anything from 60 to 200
+yards off, and always on rather higher ground than ourselves, worse
+luck, so that he had the whip-hand.
+
+Soon came the period of hand grenades, in which he had six to one the
+best of us in numbers; and then in rifle grenades ditto ditto; and
+then in trench mortars, flare-lights, searchlights, and
+rockets--wherein we followed him feebly and at a great distance; for
+where he sent up 100 (say) light balls at night, we could only afford
+five or six; and other things in proportion. Later on came the
+Minenwerfer, an expanded type of trench mortar, and its bomb, but up
+to the end of February his efforts in this direction were not very
+serious, though I allow that he did us more harm thereby than we him.
+For our trench mortars were in an experimental stage, made locally by
+the R.E., and constructed of thin gas-pipe iron and home-made jam-pot
+bombs, whose behaviour was always erratic, and sometimes, I regret to
+say, fatal to the mortarist. (Poor Rogers, R.E., a capital subaltern,
+was killed thus, besides others, I fear.)
+
+Our reliefs varied. Normally the Brigade was supposed to be, at first,
+eight days in and four days out. Then this was rapidly changed to
+twelve days in and six days out; then, as the 14th Brigade suggested
+that it should hold Neuve Eglise, a quite short front, in perpetuity,
+whilst the 13th and 15th Brigades relieved each other alternate eight
+days along the long front, it was changed nominally to eight in and
+eight out. But it was not always possible, and our last tour lasted
+twenty days in and only three out.
+
+The reliefs made one's head whirl. It was all right to start with, two
+battalions in the trenches (_i.e._, fire-trenches, support-trenches,
+and reserve-trenches), and two battalions in reserve at Dranoutre or
+thereabouts--four days about, each battalion, in eight-day reliefs, or
+three days about in twelve-day reliefs. This was simple. But when our
+line was lengthened to a three-battalion length it became much more
+difficult, especially when one battalion was much weaker than the
+other three. And when, eventually, the brigade was presented with a
+Territorial battalion of great strength but no experience, making five
+battalions of varying strengths to occupy a three-battalion length,
+whilst one could only put the Territorial one (at first) into a
+comparatively safe place in the line which did not fit it, then the
+problem of the wolf, the goat, and the cabbage faded into complete
+insignificance.
+
+It was very difficult to fit everything in so that each battalion had
+its fair share of duty and of rest. Even with the best intentions
+matters did not always pan out straight, for considerations of
+strength, of comparative excellence, of dangerous and of safe
+localities, of moral, of comfortable or uncomfortable trenches, of
+spade-work and of a dozen other things, had to be fitted together like
+a Chinese puzzle.
+
+There was a particularly dangerous and uncomfortable length which was
+given to the best battalion to hold. On its relief, who should hold
+it? the next best, who was badly wanted somewhere else, or another one
+weak in numbers and consequently unfit? And when the relief came
+again, was the best battalion always to be doomed to the worst and
+most dangerous trenches, merely because it _was_ the best? Hardly an
+incitement to good work. And when the battalions did not fit their
+length, were you to add or subtract a company from somebody else, or
+would you put some in reserve out of their turn, thereby inflicting
+unfair hardship on another battalion? And would you like to reinforce
+one battalion, in case of attack, by another battalion? or would you
+like to make it thin in front and deep behind, and support itself? If
+the other thing was necessary, how could you do it when the two
+battalions were accustomed to relieve their companies, internally, in
+different ways, when perhaps the transport of one was deficient, or
+one battalion preferred sandbags, whilst the other cherished hurdles,
+as revetting material?--for I always found that giving the commanding
+officer his head in such small internal matters produced the best
+work. It was a matter for deep study and wet towels, and there let it
+rest.
+
+We had much difficulty about quarters outside the trenches, for all
+the farmhouses anywhere within two miles of the enemy were shelled
+pretty regularly as regards quantity of explosive material devoted to
+them--though, as regards dates, they varied considerably. Battalion
+headquarters had to be dumped down in farms half shot to pieces, with
+all windows broken and howling icy draughts tearing through the
+shell-holed walls. If you did not like this, you could go and dig a
+big hole in the side of a road or a turnip-field and live in that. The
+reserves were always the difficulty, and so, for a long time, were
+even the supports. For whatever and wherever the trenches that we
+dug for them, the rain came steadily down and broke away the sides of
+the dug-outs and provided wet legs for those that sat therein. Later
+on, more timber being available, as well as iron sheeting, hurdles and
+other things, they became a good deal more weather-proof; but at first
+the men as well as the officers were, I fear, very uncomfortable.
+
+In those days one could not dream of going up to or into a trench
+except in the dark, or, indeed, of moving about anywhere near there
+except at night. Nowadays one can visit all one's trenches in broad
+daylight, and never care a rap for the occasional bullets which
+whistle over the comfortable deep communication trenches; but up to
+the spring of 1915 it was very different almost throughout.
+
+I used to visit the trenches every third night or so; at least I tried
+to, but it was not by any means always possible. It meant a three-mile
+ride there, putting up the horses in Wulverghem or Lindenhoek, and a
+walk of a mile or so to the trenches, then a mile or less along the
+trenches. It was lucky for you if there was any light of moon or stars
+to see by, and lucky if you did not go over your knees in mud in the
+dark. On one occasion it came down a pitchy dead blackness just as I
+was arriving at the trenches, so that you literally could not see your
+hand in front, or the road, or anything else; so I gave it up and went
+back. Other nights were impossible for the same reason; and
+occasionally the brilliance of the moon was in fault, though not
+often. So we had to select our nights carefully.
+
+Johnston, V.C.,[26] R.E., was in R.E. charge of our trenches. (Poor
+fellow, he was killed by a sniper near St Eloi on April 15.) He must
+have worked something like eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. For
+by 9 A.M. he was collecting material near Dranoutre and receiving
+reports, and settling his company administrative work. At 11.30 he
+came to see me, and we discussed and settled the ensuing night's task.
+Then back to his farm to give out instructions to his sappers, and
+fifty other things to do before he rode out about 6 P.M. to the
+trenches, remaining there till 3 A.M. or even 6 A.M.--to superintend
+the work and struggle about in the mud all night. He never spared
+himself an ounce. He was occasionally so nearly dead with want of
+sleep that I once or twice ordered him to take a night's sleep; but he
+always got out of it on some pretext or other.
+
+         [Footnote 26: He had received the V.C. for a particularly
+         plucky piece of raft work under heavy fire at Missy.]
+
+And with it all he was as plucky as the devil--he seemed to like
+getting shot at. One night he got a ricochet bullet over his heart,
+but this only put him in a furious rage (if you can use the word about
+such a seeming mild person), and spent the next twenty-four hours in
+collecting ammunition and bombs and extra trench-mortars and firing
+them himself; this seemed to soothe him. He was a wonderful fellow all
+round, always full of expedients and never disheartened by the cruel
+collapse of all his plans caused by the wet weather; and if there was
+a dangerous piece of work on hand, he was always first in giving the
+lead. One very nasty place on the left there was which was commanded
+by the enemy at short range, yet we could not dig in it, as the water
+was only a foot below the ground, and breastworks there were
+practically impossible; yet if the enemy had seized this bit they
+would have enfiladed the rest of the line; why they did not do so I do
+not know. He was always pressing me to attack the Germans at this
+point and seize a bit of false crest that they held; but my better
+judgment was against it, as, if we had taken the bit, we should have
+been commanded there from three sides instead of one, and could not
+have held it for half an hour. I know Johnston's private opinion of me
+in this matter was that I was a funk, but he was too polite to say so.
+After I left, the following Brigade not only did not attack the point,
+but fell back some distance here, "on its own"; and I am sure they
+were right.
+
+Poor Johnston--he became Brigade-Major after Weatherby left for the
+5th Divisional Staff (some time in April 1915, I think), and, as I
+remarked, was killed shortly afterwards. His death was a very heavy
+loss to the Brigade.
+
+At Dranoutre we--that is, the Brigade staff--lived in a perpetual
+atmosphere of mud and draughts. The Cure's house was very small and
+very dirty, and was not improved by the pounds of mud which every one
+brought in on his boots at all hours of the day and left on our best
+drugget--a cheap, thin thing which I bought in Bailleul (they had not
+such a thing as a carpet in the whole town) wherewith to cover the
+nakedness of the brick floor of the one tiny room in which we all
+worked and ate.
+
+Weatherby and I slept in the house, and the others were billeted
+outside, but the quarters were none of them more than passable--poor
+villagers' rooms, with a frowzy though comfortable bed, a rickety
+washhand-stand, if you were lucky (I did not even have that), no
+carpet on the dirty wooden floor, and one small hard-backed chair,
+generally minus a portion of a leg; never any chest of drawers or
+anywhere to put your things, as if there by any chance was such a
+thing in the room, it was sure to be full of the inhabitants' rusty
+old black clothes and dirty blue flannel shirts, and petticoats, thick
+and musty, by the ton,--I never saw so many petticoats per inhabitant.
+
+Our mess had only had one change since the beginning of the war, and
+that was in the signal officer. Cadell had gone sick in November, and
+Miles had replaced him in December. For about a month, including all
+the period at Ypres, we had had no signal officer (except Naylor for
+two days), nor any Brigade-Major from about the 12th November (at
+Ypres) till the beginning of December; so Sergeant King, a first-rate
+signaller, though not the senior, had carried on for Cadell, and
+Moulton-Barrett had added the duties of Brigade-Major to his own. But
+by the middle of December we were complete again. Weatherby had
+returned from his sick leave, and Miles, of the K.O.S.B.'s, was now
+signalling officer. A quite excellent one he was, too--very silent,
+always an hour or two late for dinner (owing to strenuous night work),
+never asking questions, but always doing things before they were even
+suggested, and very thoroughly at that; he was a great acquisition.
+Moulton-Barrett was still Staff Captain--very hard-working and
+conscientious, and very thorough; Weatherby was still Brigade-Major--keen
+and resourceful; Beilby was still veterinary officer--capable and
+helpful; and St Andre was still interpreter and billeting
+officer--cheerful and most willing. His duties were mostly to
+investigate the numerous cases of natives who wanted to go somewhere
+or do something--generally to fetch their cows off a shell-swept
+field, or to rescue their furniture from a burnt village, or to fetch
+or buy something from Bailleul--and recommend them (or otherwise) to
+me for passes--a most trying duty, wearing to the temper; but he was
+angelic in patience, and, as a light recreation, used to accompany me
+to the trenches fairly often.
+
+One case there was where, for three nights running, great fids of wire
+were cut out of some artillery cables connecting them with their
+observers--a most reprehensible deed. So I had patrols out to spy
+along the lines,--no result, except that next morning another 100
+yards had gone. So I made St Andre publish a blood-and-thunder
+proclamation threatening death to any one found tampering with our
+wires. Spies were plentiful, and a gap in our wires might be fatal.
+
+And then the culprit owned up. It was an old woman near whose cottage
+the wires passed, and her fences required mending.
+
+Neuve Eglise, which we inhabited for a fortnight or more, and where we
+spent Xmas Day, was a good cut above Dranoutre. Except for the first
+three days, when we lived with a doctor,--and his stove smoked
+frightfully till we discovered a dead starling in the pipe,--we dwelt
+in exceeding comfort, comparatively speaking. It was a brewer's house,
+about the biggest in the village--which was three times the size of
+Dranoutre,--with real furniture in it, a real dining-room (horribly
+cold, as the stove refused to work), and a most comfortable series of
+highly civilized bedrooms. (Last time I was in the neighbourhood--August
+1915--there was long grass in the streets, not a soul in the place,
+half the houses in absolute ruins, and our late quarters with one side
+missing and three parts of the house as well.) The trenches were much
+less pestered with shells and bullets than the Dranoutre lot, and it
+was easier work altogether for the men. We quite enjoyed it, and on
+Xmas Day so did the Germans. For they came out of their trenches and
+walked across unarmed, with boxes of cigars and seasonable remarks.
+What were our men to do? Shoot? You could not shoot unarmed men. Let
+them come? You could not let them come into your trenches; so the only
+thing feasible at the moment was done--and some of our men met them
+halfway and began talking to them.
+
+We got into trouble for doing it. But, after all, it is difficult to
+see what we could otherwise have done, unless we shot the very first
+unarmed man who showed himself--_pour encourager les autres_; but we
+did not know what he was going to do. Meanwhile our officers got
+excellent close views of the German trenches, and we profited
+accordingly; the Boche did not, for he was not allowed close enough to
+ours.
+
+Which reminds me that on one occasion, when going round the trenches,
+I asked a man whether he had had any shots at the Germans. He
+responded that there was an elderly gentleman with a bald head and a
+long beard who often showed himself over the parapet.
+
+"Well, why didn't you shoot him?"
+
+"Shoot him?" said the man; "why, Lor' bless you, sir, 'e's never done
+_me_ no 'arm!" A case of "live and let live," which is certainly not
+to be encouraged. But cold-blooded murder is never popular with our
+men.
+
+Talking of anecdotes, and the trend of our men's minds, I heard that
+on another occasion a groom, an otherwise excellent creature, wrote
+home to his "girl" thus: "Me and the master rode out to the trenches
+last night. We was attacked by a strong German patrol. I nips off me
+horse, pulls out my rifle and shoots two of them, and the rest
+bolted." Not a single atom of truth in the story, except that he was
+nestling in a warm stable at an advanced village, whilst his master
+was shivering in the mud of the trenches that night.
+
+Another gem was a statement by a Transport officer's servant that he
+had shot 1200 Germans himself with a machine-gun. This was a man who,
+I verily believe, had never even been within earshot of a gun, much
+less seen a German, his duties being exclusively several miles in rear
+of the firing line. And, being a civilian up till quite recently, I am
+sure he did not know the muzzle of a maxim from its breech.
+
+During our tours in "Divisional reserve" we generally spent the time
+in St Jan's Cappel (already described) or Bailleul. The latter town,
+with its rather quaint old brick fourteenth-century church, porched _a
+la_ Louis Quinze, was tolerable rather than admirable. Nothing of
+civil interest, and hardly anything to buy except magnificent grapes
+from the "Grapperies," even in November. We housed a battalion or
+more in the man's series of greenhouses, and he responded--after
+several more battalions had been quartered there--with a claim for
+2,000,000 francs. He could not prove that a single pane of glass or
+any of his vines had been broken, nor any grapes stolen, for indeed
+they had not been, but he based his claim on the damage done to them
+by tobacco smoke (which I always thought was particularly good for
+them), and by the report of the big guns, which shattered the vines'
+nerves so that he was sure they would not produce again (also a
+fallacy, for I had some more excellent grapes there nearly a year
+afterwards--September '15). I did not hear what compensation he got,
+but he would have been lucky to get 20 francs.
+
+I once went into a poorly furnished watchmaker's shop, but the lady
+there could do nothing for my watch. She told me that, being an
+optician in a small way as well, she had had a whole stock of
+spectacles and glasses. When the Germans came through the town in
+October, they demanded fieldglasses. The few ones she had they stole,
+and then because she had no more they stole her watchmaker's tools,
+and swept all the spectacles and glasses and watches on to the floor
+and stamped them to powder.
+
+There is really little more to relate about our time at Dranoutre and
+neighbourhood. It was a time of a certain amount of nerve-strain, for
+we all knew that our trenches were by no means perfect, and that if
+the enemy did attack us we should have great difficulty in bringing up
+reserves in time to beat them off; for we could not keep them under
+cover within decent range--there were no billets or houses,--and if we
+dug trenches for them they were not only exposed to the enemy's shell
+fire but were certain to be half full of water in two days; whilst we
+could not get anything like enough trench stores and timber, and what
+we did get we had enormous difficulty in bringing up to the trenches.
+
+During all this time the artillery helped us all they knew, and were
+extremely well run, first by Ballard, then Saunders, and then Sandys,
+as Brigade Commanders. But they were badly handicapped by want of
+shells, especially howitzer high explosives, and we had to suffer a
+great deal of shell fire without returning it.
+
+We used to average about four casualties a day in each battalion, say
+fifteen to twenty a day in the Brigade, which made a big hole in the
+strengths. Officers were always getting killed--often, alas, their own
+fault, through excess of zeal; and men used perpetually to lose their
+lives through getting out of the trenches in order to stretch their
+half-frozen limbs. Sickness was, strange to say, almost negligible.
+There were far more cases of arthritis and other things due to cold
+wet feet than anything else; and the men were extraordinarily healthy,
+comparatively speaking, considering the desperately uncomfortable hard
+life.
+
+General Morland was, of course, commanding the Division during this
+time, and used to come nearly every morning in his car to see us; also
+Sir C. Fergusson, now Corps Commander, often came.
+
+But during the whole of that winter there was very little for the
+higher commands to do, except to collect and send up material for the
+trenches, and to try and keep pace with the German developments--for
+we could do little or nothing in the way of offensive action.
+
+I tried to get the thing neatly organised, as to stores and times and
+amounts and transport for taking the things up to the trenches; but
+it was very difficult, as sometimes there were no engineer stores to
+be had, or the wires got broken by shell fire and took a long time to
+repair, or it was more urgent to bring up rations or water or
+ammunition, and the requisite transport for all was not available. But
+all the same, the trenches gradually improved.
+
+At last, on the 18th February, we got news that there was to be a move
+from our present line. The fact was that the 28th Division (also the
+27th), composed of white troops from India and other tropical places,
+had had an exceedingly nasty time. Many of the men were rotten with
+fever, and the cold wet weather had sent scores and scores into
+hospital. They had been put into the trenches round St Eloi to relieve
+the French, who had held all the line round here chiefly with their
+field artillery and a very few men; and the trenches were,
+consequently, most sketchy, according to British ideas, and the
+approaches under heavy fire. The French did not mind, for, if they
+were shelled out of their trenches, as often happened, they just
+skipped out of them and turned their guns on till the Germans were
+cleared out; and then they went back again. But this sort of thing did
+not suit us; and when the Germans did attack our trenches here they
+took a good many and we lost a lot of men, especially when we tried to
+counter-attack and retake them. So the 28th Division was _hors de
+combat_ for the moment, and was sent down to recuperate in a quieter
+area--which was that of the 5th Division.
+
+Our orders were for the 13th and 15th Brigades to move north to St
+Eloi and be replaced by the 83rd and 84th Brigades. This was done,--a
+most complicated move, for the 84th Brigade, which fell to our lot,
+was composed of four very weak battalions, and we had five battalions,
+mostly rather strong; and by the 24th February we had six battalions,
+including the 9th Londons (an excellent battalion) and 6th Cheshires
+(a strong and hard-working one).
+
+We ought to have been relieved, in the normal state of affairs, on the
+17th February, but we were kept on, as a matter of fact, till the
+27th, because of this new arrangement.
+
+On that morning I received word that an extraordinary lamp message
+had been read during the night in the enemy's lines by a signaller of
+the 6th Cheshires. It was a long, confused message in English,
+repeating that "the hill" was going to be attacked at noon on that
+day, with messages about "B.C. codes"--whatever that may be,--trumpery
+wire entanglements, the unready English, good leading essential, &c.,
+and a lot of other undecipherable nonsense. The whole message had
+lasted nearly two hours, with interruptions and repetitions. I did not
+know what to make of it. It was probably a "leg-pull," or somebody
+practising his English; but as there was a 1000 to 1 chance of its
+being sent by some sympathiser in our front, and of the projected
+"attack" being a real one, I sent two companies down as a reserve to
+the Bus Farm in our reserve line, and held a battery ready before its
+time. But nothing happened, and we were relieved without incident.
+
+Bols, by the way, had, from commanding the Dorsets, been appointed to
+command the 84th Brigade, and he took over before leaving, on the day
+before we left. I was very sorry indeed to lose him, but knew that,
+once his foot was well on the ladder, he would go right ahead--as he
+has.[27] The same applied to Ballard, who also had been given a
+Brigade--the 7th.
+
+         [Footnote 27: He is now (1917) Major-General.]
+
+The 15th Brigade thereupon retired into billets at Bailleul, with
+orders to stay there for three days only, and then to go straight to
+St Eloi and take over these trenches of the 28th Division. Not much
+rest--twenty days in the trenches, three out, and then trenches again.
+
+As regards myself, however, my days of connection with the Brigade
+were numbered. I had heard, with mixed but pleasant feelings, that I
+had been promoted Major-General "for distinguished service" on the
+18th February (Weatherby got a brevet majority in the same 'Gazette'),
+and I was now ordered to go home and report myself in London. My
+successor was to be Northey, of the 60th Rifles, from Givenchy way,
+and he turned up on the 2nd March at our Headquarters, which were then
+at 28 Rue de Lille. I at once recognised that he would carry on
+excellently well, and had no compunction in leaving the command in his
+hands. All that was left for me to do was to take a tender farewell
+of the officers of the Brigade and of my staff, and to publish a final
+farewell order to the old Brigade. I was very sad at leaving, and had
+I known what an awful time they were going to have at St Eloi and Hill
+60, I should have been sadder still.[28] Of all the regimental
+officers and men who had left Ireland with me on the 14th August 1914,
+six and a half months previously, I could count on my ten fingers the
+number of officers left:--
+
+  Norfolks--Done[29] and Bruce (both ill in hospital from strenuous
+    overwork), Megaw (killed later), Paterson.
+  Dorsets--Ransome, Partridge.
+  Bedfords--Griffith[29] (trustiest of C.O.'s, who had been under
+    heavier fire than almost any one in the Brigade, yet never
+    touched), Allason (thrice wounded), Gledstanes (killed later).
+  Cheshires--Frost (killed later).
+
+         [Footnote 28: They lost 2400 men out of not quite 4000 in a
+         fortnight in April.]
+
+         [Footnote 29: Now (1917) commanding a Brigade.]
+
+I do not think there was another officer except the
+quartermasters--Smith (Norfolks), Sproule (Cheshires), and Pearce
+(Bedfords)[30]; and as for the men, there may have been ten or so per
+battalion, but I really do not think there were more.
+
+I took the evening train at Bailleul and spent an agreeable evening
+with Ker Seymer, the train officer. I got to Boulogne and on board the
+boat at midnight, and next day, the 3rd March, saw me arrive at 8.30
+A.M. in London.
+
+         [Footnote 30: The Dorset one had been promoted.]
+
+
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH INFANTRY
+BRIGADE***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 22074.txt or 22074.zip *******
+
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