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diff --git a/16868.txt b/16868.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fc53de --- /dev/null +++ b/16868.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6521 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Adventures of a Despatch Rider, by W. H. L. Watson + +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: Adventures of a Despatch Rider + +Author: W. H. L. Watson + +Release Date: October 14, 2005 [EBook #16868] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURES OF A DESPATCH RIDER *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: _Route taken by Fifth Division_] + + + +Adventures of a Despatch Rider + +Adventures of +A Despatch Rider + +BY + +CAPTAIN W.H.L. WATSON + +_WITH MAPS_ + + +William Blackwood and Sons + +Edinburgh and London + +1915 + + _TO_ +_THE PERFECT MOTHER,_ + _MY OWN._ + + + + +A LETTER + +BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION. + + + _To_ 2nd Lieut. R.B. WHYTE, + 1st Black Watch, + B.E.F. + +MY DEAR ROBERT,-- + +Do you remember how in the old days we used to talk about my first book? +Of course it was to be an Oxford novel full of clever little +character-sketches--witty but not unkind: of subtle and pleasurable +hints at our own adventures, for no one had enjoyed Balliol and the city +of Oxford so hugely: of catch-words that repeated would bring back the +thrills and the laughter--_Psych. Anal._ and _Steady, Steady!_ of names +crammed with delectable memories--the Paviers', Cloda's Lane, and the +notorious Square and famous Wynd: of acid phrases, beautifully put, that +would show up once and for all those dear abuses and shams that go to +make Oxford. It was to surpass all Oxford Novels and bring us all +eternal fame. + +You remember, too, the room? It was stuffy and dingy and the pictures +were of doubtful taste, but there were things to drink and smoke. The +imperturbable Ikla would be sitting in his chair pulling at one of his +impossibly luxurious pipes. You would be snorting in another--and I +would be holding forth ... but I am starting an Oxford novelette already +and there is no need. For two slightly senior contemporaries of ours +have already achieved fame. The hydrangeas have blossomed. "The Home" +has been destroyed by a Balliol tongue. The flower-girl has died her +death. The Balliol novels have been written--and my first book is this. + +We have not even had time to talk it over properly. I saw you on my +week's leave in December, but then I had not thought of making a book. +Finally, after three months in the trenches you came home in August. I +was in Ireland and you in Scotland, so we met at Warrington just after +midnight and proceeded to staggering adventures. Shall we ever forget +that six hours' talk, the mad ride and madder breakfast with old Peter +M'Ginn, the solitary hotel at Manchester and the rare dash to London? +But I didn't tell you much about my book. + +It is made up principally of letters to my mother and to you. My mother +showed these letters to Mr Townsend Warner, my old tutor at Harrow, and +he, who was always my godfather in letters, passed them on until they +have appeared in the pages of 'Maga.' I have filled in the gaps these +letters leave with narrative, worked the whole into some sort of +connected account, and added maps and an index. + +This book is not a history, a military treatise, an essay, or a scrap of +autobiography. It has no more accuracy or literary merit than letters +usually possess. So I hope you will not judge it too harshly. My only +object is to try and show as truthfully as I can the part played in this +monstrous war by a despatch rider during the months from August 1914 to +February 1915. If that object is gained I am content. + +Because it is composed of letters, this book has many faults. + +Firstly, I have written a great deal about myself. That is inevitable in +letters. My mother wanted to hear about me and not about those whom she +had never met. So do not think my adventures are unique. I assure you +that if any of the other despatch riders were to publish their letters +you would find mine by comparison mild indeed. If George now could be +persuaded ...! + +Secondly, I have dwelt at length upon little personal matters. It may +not interest you to know when I had a pork-chop--though, as you now +realise, on active service a pork-chop is extremely important--but it +interested my mother. She liked to know whether I was having good and +sufficient food, and warm things on my chest and feet, because, after +all, there was a time when I wanted nothing else. + +Thirdly, all letters are censored. This book contains nothing but the +truth, but not the whole truth. When I described things that were +actually happening round me, I had to be exceedingly careful--and when, +as in the first two or three chapters, my letters were written several +weeks after the events, something was sure to crop up in the meantime +that unconsciously but definitely altered the memory of experiences.... + +We have known together two of the people I have mentioned in this +book--Alec and Gibson. They have both advanced so far that we have lost +touch with them. I had thought that it would be a great joy to publish a +first book, but this book is ugly with sorrow. I shall never be able to +write "Alec and I" again--and he was the sweetest and kindest of my +friends, a friend of all the world. Never did he meet a man or woman +that did not love him. The Germans have killed Alec. Perhaps among the +multitudinous Germans killed there are one or two German Alecs. Yet I am +still meeting people who think that war is a fine bracing thing for the +nation, a sort of national week-end at Brighton. + +Then there was Gibson, who proved for all time that nobody made a better +soldier than the young don--and those whose names do not come into this +book.... + +Robert, you and I know what to think of this Brighton theory. We are +only just down from Oxford, and perhaps things strike us a little more +passionately than they should. + +You have seen the agony of war. You have seen those miserable people +that wander about behind the line like pariah dogs in the streets. You +know what is behind "Tommy's invincible gaiety." Let us pray together +for a time when the publishing of a book like this will be regarded with +fierce shame. + +So long and good luck! + + Ever yours, + WILLIAM. + + PIRBRIGHT HUTS, + 1/10/15. + + * * * * * + +The day after I had written this letter the news came to me that Robert +Whyte had been killed. The letter must stand--I have not the heart to +write another. + + W.H.L.W. + PIRBRIGHT HUTS. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. ENLISTING 1 + + II. THE JOURNEY TO THE FRONT 12 + + III. THE BATTLE OF MONS 26 + + IV. THE BATTLE OF LE CATEAU 40 + + V. THE GREAT RETREAT 51 + + VI. OVER THE MARNE TO THE AISNE 76 + + VII. THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE 105 + +VIII. THE MOVE TO THE NORTH 140 + + IX. ROUND LA BASSEE 167 + + X. THE BEGINNING OF WINTER 197 + + XI. ST JANS CAPPEL 230 + + XII. BEHIND THE LINES 253 + + + + +LIST OF MAPS. + + + PAGE + +ROUTE TAKEN BY FIFTH DIVISION _At beginning_ + +ROUND MONS 25 + +THE MARNE (LAGNY TO CHATEAU-THIERRY) 87 + +THE AISNE (SOISSONS TO VAILLY) 104 + +ROUND LA BASSEE 166 + +YPRES TO LA BASSEE 197 + +LINE OF RETREAT AND ADVANCE _At end_ + + + + +Adventures of A Despatch Rider. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ENLISTING + + +At 6.45 P.M. on Saturday, July 25, 1914, Alec and I determined to take +part in the Austro-Servian War. I remember the exact minute, because we +were standing on the "down" platform of Earl's Court Station, waiting +for the 6.55 through train to South Harrow, and Alec had just remarked +that we had ten minutes to wait. We had travelled up to London, +intending to work in the British Museum for our "vivas" at Oxford, but +in the morning it had been so hot that we had strolled round Bloomsbury, +smoking our pipes. By lunch-time we had gained such an appetite that we +did not feel like work in the afternoon. We went to see Elsie Janis. + +The evening papers were full of grave prognostications. War between +Servia and Austria seemed inevitable. Earl's Court Station inspired us +with the spirit of adventure. We determined to take part, and debated +whether we should go out as war correspondents or as orderlies in a +Servian hospital. At home we could talk of nothing else during dinner. +Ikla, that wisest of all Egyptians, mildly encouraged us, while the +family smiled. + +On Sunday we learned that war had been declared. Ways and means were +discussed, but our great tennis tournament on Monday, and a dance in the +evening, left us with a mere background of warlike endeavour. It was +vaguely determined that when my "viva" was over we should go and see +people of authority in London.... + +On the last day of July a few of us met together in Gibson's rooms, +those neat, white rooms in Balliol that overlook St Giles. Naymier, the +Pole, was certain that Armageddon was coming. He proved it conclusively +in the Quad with the aid of large maps and a dissertation on potatoes. +He also showed us the probable course of the war. We lived in strained +excitement. Things were too big to grasp. It was just the other day +that 'The Blue Book,' most respectable of Oxford magazines, had +published an article showing that a war between Great Britain and +Germany was almost unthinkable. It had been written by an undergraduate +who had actually been at a German university. Had the multitudinous +Anglo-German societies at Oxford worked in vain? The world came crashing +round our ears. Naymier was urgent for an Oxford or a Balliol Legion--I +do not remember which--but we could not take him seriously. Two of us +decided that we were physical cowards, and would not under any +circumstances enlist. The flower of Oxford was too valuable to be used +as cannon-fodder. + +The days passed like weeks. Our minds were hot and confused. It seemed +that England must come in. On the afternoon of the fourth of August I +travelled up to London. At a certain club in St James's there was little +hope. I walked down Pall Mall. In Trafalgar Square a vast, serious crowd +was anxiously waiting for news. In Whitehall Belgians were doing their +best to rouse the mob. Beflagged cars full of wildly gesticulating +Belgians were driving rapidly up and down. Belgians were haranguing +little groups of men. Everybody remained quiet but perturbed. + +War was a certainty. I did not wish to be a spectator of the scenes +that would accompany its declaration, so I went home. All the night in +my dreams I saw the quiet, perturbed crowds. + +War was declared. All those of us who were at Balliol together +telephoned to one another so that we might enlist together. Physical +coward or no physical coward--it obviously had to be done. Teddy and +Alec were going into the London Scottish. Early in the morning I started +for London to join them, but on the way up I read the paragraph in which +the War Office appealed for motor-cyclists. So I went straight to +Scotland Yard. There I was taken up to a large room full of benches +crammed with all sorts and conditions of men. The old fellow on my right +was a sign-writer. On my left was a racing motor-cyclist. We waited for +hours. Frightened-looking men were sworn in and one phenomenally grave +small boy. Later I should have said that a really fine stamp of man was +enlisting. Then they seemed to me a shabby crew. + +At last we were sent downstairs, and told to strip and array ourselves +in moderately dirty blue dressing-gowns. Away from the formality of the +other room we sang little songs, and made the worst jokes in the +world--being continually interrupted by an irritable sergeant, whom we +called "dearie." One or two men were feverishly arguing whether certain +physical deficiencies would be passed. Nobody said a word of his reason +for enlisting except the sign-writer, whose wages had been low. + +The racing motor-cyclist and I were passed one after another, and, +receiving warrants, we travelled down to Fulham. Our names, addresses, +and qualifications were written down. To my overwhelming joy I was +marked as "very suitable." I went to Great Portland Street, arranged to +buy a motor-cycle, and returned home. That evening I received a telegram +from Oxford advising me to go down to Chatham. + +I started off soon after breakfast, and suffered three punctures. The +mending of them put despatch-riding in an unhealthy light. At Rochester +I picked up Wallace and Marshall of my college, and together we went to +the appointed place. There we found twenty or thirty enlisted or +unenlisted. I had come only to make inquiries, but I was carried away. +After a series of waits I was medically examined and passed. At 5.45 +P.M. I kissed the Book, and in two minutes I became a corporal in the +Royal Engineers. During the ceremony my chief sensation was one of +thoroughgoing panic. + +In the morning four of us, who were linguists, were packed off to the +War Office. We spent the journey in picturing all the ways we might be +killed, until, by the time we reached Victoria, there was not a single +one of us who would not have given anything to un-enlist. The War Office +rejected us on the plea that they had as many Intelligence Officers as +they wanted. So we returned glumly. + +The next few days we were drilled, lectured, and given our kit. We began +to know each other, and make friends. Finally, several of us, who wanted +to go out together, managed by slight misstatements to be put into one +batch. We were chosen to join the 5th Division. The Major in command +told us--to our great relief--that the Fifth would not form part of the +first Expeditionary Force. + +I remember Chatham as a place of heat, intolerable dirt, and a bad sore +throat. There we made our first acquaintance with the army, which we +undergraduates had derided as a crowd of slavish wastrels and +empty-headed slackers. We met with tact and courtesy from the mercenary. +A sergeant of the Sappers we discovered to be as fine a type of man as +any in the wide earth. And we marvelled, too, at the smoothness of +organisation, the lack of confusing hurry.... + +We were to start early on Monday morning. My mother and sister rushed +down to Chatham, and my sister has urgently requested me to mention in +"the book" that she carried, with much labour, a large and heavy pair of +ski-ing boots. Most of the others had enlisted like myself in a hurry. +They did not see "their people" until December. + +All of us were made to write our names in the visitors' book, for, as +the waiter said-- + +"They ain't nobodies now, but in these 'ere times yer never knows what +they may be." + +Then, when we had gone in an ear-breaking splutter of exhausts, he +turned to comfort my mother-- + +"Pore young fellers! Pore young fellers! I wonder if any of 'em will +return." + +That damp chilly morning I was very sleepy and rather frightened at the +new things I was going to do. I imagined war as a desperate continuous +series of battles, in which I should ride along the trenches +picturesquely haloed with bursting shell, varied by innumerable +encounters with Uhlans, or solitary forest rides and immense tiring +treks over deserted country to distant armies. I wasn't quite sure I +liked the idea of it all. But the sharp morning air, the interest in +training a new motor-cycle in the way it should go, the unexpected +popping-up and grotesque salutes of wee gnome-like Boy Scouts, soon +made me forget the war. A series of the kind of little breakdowns you +always have in a collection of new bikes delayed us considerably, and +only a race over greasy setts through the southern suburbs, over +Waterloo Bridge and across the Strand, brought us to Euston just as the +boat-train was timed to start. In the importance of our new uniforms we +stopped it, of course, and rode joyfully from one end of the platform to +the other, much to the agitation of the guard, while I posed +delightfully against a bookstall to be photographed by a patriotic +governess. + +Very grimy we sat down to a marvellous breakfast, and passed the time +reading magazines and discussing the length of the war. We put it at +from three to six weeks. At Holyhead we carefully took our bikes aboard, +and settled down to a cold voyage. We were all a trifle apprehensive at +our lack of escort, for then, you will remember, it had not yet been +proved how innocuous the German fleet is in our own seas.[1] + +Ireland was a disappointment. Everybody was dirty and unfriendly, +staring at us with hostile eyes. Add Dublin grease, which beats the +Belgian, and a crusty garage proprietor who only after persuasion +supplied us with petrol, and you may be sure we were glad to see the +last of it. The road to Carlow was bad and bumpy. But the sunset was +fine, and we liked the little low Irish cottages in the twilight. When +it was quite dark we stopped at a town with a hill in it. One of our men +had a brick thrown at him as he rode in, and when we came to the inn we +didn't get a gracious word, and decided it was more pleasant not to be a +soldier in Ireland. The daughter of the house was pretty and passably +clean, but it was very grimly that she had led me through an immense +gaudy drawing-room disconsolate in dust wrappings, to a little room +where we could wash. She gave us an exiguous meal at an extortionate +charge, and refused to put more than two of us up; so, on the advice of +two gallivanting lancers who had escaped from the Curragh for some +supper, we called in the aid of the police, and were billeted +magnificently on the village. + +A moderate breakfast at an unearthly hour, a trouble with the starting +up of our bikes, and we were off again. It was about nine when we turned +into Carlow Barracks. + +The company sighed with relief on seeing us. We completed the +establishment on mobilisation. Our two "artificers," Cecil and Grimers, +had already arrived. We were overjoyed to see them. We realised that +what they did not know about motor-cycles was not worth knowing, and we +had suspected at Chatham what we found afterwards to be true, that no +one could have chosen for us pleasanter comrades or more reliable +workers. + +A fine breakfast was soon prepared for us and we begun looking round. +The position should have been a little difficult--a dozen or so 'Varsity +men, very fresh from their respective universities, thrown as corporals +at the head of a company of professional soldiers. We were determined +that, whatever vices we might have, we should not be accused of "swank." +The sergeants, after a trifle of preliminary stiffness, treated us with +fatherly kindness, and did all they could to make us comfortable and +teach us what we wanted to learn. + +Carlow was a fascinating little town. The National Volunteers still +drilled just behind the barracks. It was not wise to refer to the +Borderers or to Ulster, but the war had made all the difference in the +world. We were to represent Carlow in the Great War. Right through the +winter Carlow never forgot us. They sent us comforts and cigarettes and +Christmas Puddings. When the 5th Signal Company returns, Carlow will go +mad. + +My first "official" ride was to Dublin. It rained most of the way there +and all the way back, but a glow of patriotism kept me warm. In Dublin I +went into a little public-house for some beer and bread and cheese. The +landlord told me that though he wasn't exactly a lover of soldiers, +things had changed now. On my return I was given lunch in the Officers' +Mess, for nobody could consider their men more than the officers of our +company. + +The next day we were inoculated. At the time we would much rather have +risked typhoid. We did not object to the discomfort, though two of us +nearly fainted on parade the following morning--it was streamingly +hot--but our farewell dinner was absolutely spoilt. Bottles of the best +Moselle Carlow could produce were left untouched. Songs broke down in +curses. It was tragic. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This was written before the days of the "Submarine Blockade." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE JOURNEY TO THE FRONT + + +We made a triumphant departure from Carlow, preceded down to the station +by the band of the N.V. We were told off to prevent anybody entering the +station, but all the men entered magnificently, saying they were +volunteers, and the women and children rushed us with the victorious +cry, "We've downed the p'lice." We steamed out of the station while the +band played "Come back to Erin" and "God save Ireland," and made an +interminable journey to Dublin. At some of the villages they cheered, at +others they looked at us glumly. But the back streets of Dublin were +patriotic enough, and at the docks, which we reached just after dark, a +small, tremendously enthusiastic crowd was gathered to see us off. + +They sang songs and cheered, and cheered and sang songs. "I can +generally bear the separation, but I don't like the leave-taking." The +boat would not go off. The crowd on the boat and the crowd on the wharf +made patriotic noises until they were hoarse. At midnight our supporters +had nearly all gone away. We who had seen our motor-cycles carefully +hoisted on board ate the buns and apples provided by "Friends in Dublin" +and chatted. A young gunner told me of all his amours, and they were +very numerous. Still-- + + For my uncle _Toby's_ amours running all the way in my head, + they had the same effect upon me as if they had been my + own--I was in the most perfect state of bounty and goodwill-- + +So I set about finding a place for sleep. + +The whole of the Divisional Headquarters Staff, with all their horses, +were on the _Archimedes_, and we were so packed that when I tried to +find a place to sleep I discovered there was not an inch of space left +on the deck, so I passed an uncomfortable night on top of some +excruciatingly hard ropes. + +We cast off about one in the morning. The night was horribly cold, and a +slow dawn was never more welcomed. But day brought a new horror. The sun +poured down on us, and the smell from the horses packed closely below +was almost unbearable; while, worst of all, we had to go below to wash +and to draw our rations. + +Then I was first introduced to bully. The first tin tastes delicious and +fills you rapidly. You never actually grow to dislike it, and many times +when extra hungry I have longed for an extra tin. But when you have +lived on bully for three months (we have not been served out with fresh +meat more than a dozen times altogether),[2] how you long for any little +luxuries to vary the monotony of your food! + +On the morning of the third day we passed a French destroyer with a +small prize in tow, and rejoiced greatly, and towards evening we dropped +anchor off Havre. On either side of the narrow entrance to the docks +there were cheering crowds, and we cheered back, thrilled, occasionally +breaking into the soldier's anthem, "It's a long, long way to +Tipperary."[3] + +We disembarked at a secluded wharf, and after waiting about for a couple +of hours or so--we had not then learned to wait--we were marched off to +a huge dim warehouse, where we were given gallons of the most delicious +hot coffee, and bought scrumptious little cakes. + +It was now quite dark, and, for what seemed whole nights, we sat +wearily waiting while the horses were taken off the transport. We made +one vain dash for our quarters, but found only another enormous +warehouse, strangely lit, full of clattering waggons and restive horses. +We watched with wonder a battery clank out into the night, and then +returned sleepily to the wharf-side. Very late we found where we were to +sleep, a gigantic series of wool warehouses. The warehouses were full of +wool and the wool was full of fleas. We were very miserable, and a +little bread and wine we managed to get hold of hardly cheered us at +all. I feared the fleas, and spread a waterproof sheet on the bare +stones outside. I thought I should not get a wink of sleep on such a +Jacobean resting-place, but, as a matter of fact, I slept like a top, +and woke in the morning without even an ache. But those who had risked +the wool----! + +We breakfasted off the strong, sweet tea that I have grown to like so +much, and some bread, butter, and chocolate we bought off a smiling old +woman at the warehouse gates. Later in the morning we were allowed into +the town. First, a couple of us went into a cafe to have a drink, and +when we came out we found our motor-cycles garlanded with flowers by two +admiring flappers. Everywhere we went we were the gods of a very proper +worship, though the shopkeepers in their admiration did not forget to +charge. We spent a long, lazy day in lounging through the town, eating a +lot of little meals and in visiting the public baths--the last bath I +was to have, if I had only known it, for a month. A cheery, little, +bustling town Havre seemed to us, basking in a bright sunshine, and the +hopes of our early overwhelming victory. We all stalked about, +prospective conquerors, and talked fluently of the many defects of the +German army. + +Orders came in the afternoon that we were to move that night. I sat up +until twelve, and gained as my reward some excellent hot tea and a bit +of rather tough steak. At twelve everybody was woken up and the company +got ready to move. We motor-cyclists were sent off to the station. +Foolishly I went by myself. Just outside what I thought was the station +I ran out of petrol. I walked to the station and waited for the others. +They did not come. I searched the station, but found nothing except a +cavalry brigade entraining. I rushed about feverishly. There was no one +I knew, no one who had heard anything of my company. Then I grew +horribly frightened that I should be left behind. I pelted back to the +old warehouses, but found everybody had left two hours ago. I thought +the company must surely have gone by now, and started in my desperation +asking everybody I knew if they had seen anything of the company. +Luckily I came across an entraining officer, who told me that the +company were entraining at "Point Six-Hangar de Laine,"--three miles +away. I simply ran there, asking my way of surly, sleepy sentries, +tripping over ropes, nearly falling into docks. + +I found the Signal Company. There was not a sign of our train. So +Johnson took me on his carrier back to the station I had searched in +such fear. We found the motor-cycle, Johnson gave me some petrol, and we +returned to Point Six. It was dawn when the old train at last rumbled +and squeaked into the siding. + +I do not know how long we took to entrain, I was so sleepy. But the sun +was just rising when the little trumpet shrilled, the long train creaked +over the points, and we woke for a moment to murmur--By Jove, we're off +now,--and I whispered thankfully to myself--Thank heaven I found them at +last. + +We were lucky enough to be only six in our compartment, but, as you +know, in a French IIIme there is very little room, while the seats are +fiercely hard. And we had not yet been served out with blankets. Still, +we had to stick it for twenty-four hours. Luckily the train stopped at +every station of any importance, so, taking the law into our own hands, +we got out and stretched our legs at every opportunity. + +We travelled _via_ Rouen and Amiens to Landrecies. The Signal Company +had a train to itself. Gradually we woke up to find ourselves travelling +through extraordinarily pretty country and cheering crowds. At each +level-crossing the cure was there to bless us. If we did not stop the +people threw in fruit, which we vainly endeavoured to catch. A halt, and +they were round us, beseeching us for souvenirs, loading us with fruit, +and making us feel that it was a fine thing to fight in a friendly +country. + +At Rouen we drew up at a siding, and sent porters scurrying for bread +and butter and beer, while we loaded up from women who came down to the +train with all sorts of delicious little cakes and sweets. We stopped, +and then rumbled slowly towards Amiens. At St Roche we first saw +wounded, and heard, I do not know with what truth, that four aviators +had been killed, and that our General, Grierson, had died of heart +failure. At Ham they measured me against a lamp-post, and ceremoniously +marked the place. The next time I passed through Ham I had no time to +look for the mark! It began to grow dark, and the trees standing out +against the sunset reminded me of our two lines of trees at home. We +went slowly over bridges, and looked fearfully from our windows for +bursting shells. Soon we fell asleep, and were wakened about midnight by +shouted orders. We had arrived at Landrecies, near enough the Frontier +to excite us. + +I wonder if you realise at home what the Frontier meant to us at first? +We conceived it as a thing guarded everywhere by intermittent patrols of +men staring carefully towards Germany and Belgium in the darkness, a +thing to be defended at all costs, at all times, to be crossed with +triumph and recrossed with shame. We did not understand what an +enormous, incredible thing modern war was--how it cared nothing for +frontiers, or nations, or people. + +Very wearily we unloaded our motor bicycles and walked to the barracks, +where we put down our kit and literally feel asleep, to be wakened for +fatigue work. + +We rose at dawn, and had some coffee at a little _estaminet_,[4] where a +middle-aged dame, horribly arch, cleaned my canteen for me, "pour +l'amour de toi." We managed an excellent breakfast of bacon and eggs +before establishing the Signal Office at the barracks. A few of us rode +off to keep touch with the various brigades that were billeted round. +The rest of us spent the morning across the road at an inn drinking much +wine-and-water and planning out the war on a forty-year-old map. + +In the afternoon I went out with two others to prospect some roads, very +importantly. We were rather annoyed to lose our way out of the town, and +were very short with some inquisitive small boys who stood looking over +our shoulders as we squatted on the grass by the wayside studying our +maps. + +We had some tea at a mad village called Hecq. All the inhabitants were +old, ugly, smelly, and dirty; and they crowded round us as we devoured a +magnificent omelette, endeavouring to incite us to do all sorts of +things to the German women if ever we reached Germany. We returned home +in the late afternoon to hear rumours of an advance next day. + +Three of us wandered into the Square to have a drink. There I first +tried a new pipe that had been given me. The one pipe I brought with me +I had dropped out of the train between Amiens and Landrecies. It had +been quite a little tragedy, as it was a pipe for which I had a great +affection. It had been my companion in Switzerland and Paris. + +Coming back from the Square I came across an excited crowd. It appears +that an inoffensive, rather buxom-looking woman had been walking round +the Square when one of her breasts cooed and flew away. We shot three +spies at Landrecies. + +I hung round the Signal Office, nervous and excited, for "a run." The +night was alive with the tramp of troops and the rumble of guns. The old +108th passed by--huge good-natured guns, each drawn by eight gigantic +plough-horses. I wonder if you can understand--the thrilling excitement +of waiting and listening by night in a town full of troops. + +At midnight I took my first despatch. It was a dark, starless night; +very misty on the road. From the brigade I was sent on to an +ambulance--an unpleasant ride, because, apart from the mist and the +darkness, I was stopped every few yards by sentries of the West Kents, a +regiment which has now about the best reputation of any battalion out +here. I returned in time to snatch a couple of hours of sleep before we +started at dawn for Belgium. + +When the Division moves we ride either with the column or go in advance +to the halting-place. That morning we rode with the column, which meant +riding three-quarters of a mile or so and then waiting for the +main-guard to come up,--an extraordinarily tiring method of getting +along. + +The day (August 21) was very hot indeed, and the troops who had not yet +got their marching feet suffered terribly, even though the people by the +wayside brought out fruit and eggs and drinks. There was murmuring when +some officers refused to allow their men to accept these gifts. But a +start had to be made some time, for promiscuous drinks do not increase +marching efficiency. We, of course, could do pretty well what we liked. +A little coffee early in the morning, and then anything we cared to ask +for. Most of us in the evening discovered, unpleasantly enough, +forgotten pears in unthought-of pockets. + +About 1.30 we neared Bavai, and I was sent on to find out about +billeting arrangements, but by the time they were completed the rest had +arrived. + +For a long time we were hutted in the Square. Spuggy found a "friend," +and together we obtained a good wash. The people were vociferously +enthusiastic. Even the chemist gave us some "salts" free of charge. + +My first ride from Bavai began with a failure, as, owing to belt-slip, I +endeavoured vainly to start for half an hour (or so it seemed) in the +midst of an interested but sympathetic populace. A smart change saw me +tearing along the road to meet with a narrow escape from untimely death +in the form of a car, which I tried to pass on the wrong side. In the +evening we received our first batch of pay, and dining magnificently at +a hotel, took tearful leave of Huggie and Spuggy. They had been chosen, +they said, to make a wild dash through to Liege. We speculated darkly on +their probable fate. In the morning we learned that we had been hoaxed, +and used suitable language. + +We slept uncomfortably on straw in a back yard, and rose again just +before dawn. We breakfasted hastily at a cafe, and were off just as the +sun had risen. + +Our day's march was to Dour, in Belgium, and for us a bad day's march it +was. My job was to keep touch with the 14th Brigade, which was advancing +along a parallel road to the west.[5] That meant riding four or five +miles across rough country roads, endeavouring to time myself so as to +reach the 14th column just when the S.O. was passing, then back again to +the Division, riding up and down the column until I found our captain. +In the course of my riding that day I knocked down "a civvy" in Dour, +and bent a foot-rest endeavouring to avoid a major, but that was all in +the day's work. + +The Signal Office was first established patriarchally with a table by +the roadside, and thence I made my last journey that day to the 14th. I +found them in a village under the most embarrassing attentions. As for +myself, while I was waiting, a cure photographed me, a woman rushed out +and washed my face, and children crowded up to me, presenting me with +chocolate and cigars, fruit and eggs, until my haversack was practically +bursting. + +When I returned I found the S.O. had shifted to the station of Dour. We +were given the waiting-room, which we made comfortable with straw. +Opposite the station was a hotel where the Staff lived. It was managed +by a curiously upright old man in a threadbare frock-coat, bright check +trousers, and carpet slippers. Nadine, his pretty daughter, was +tremulously eager to make us comfortable, and the two days we were at +Dour we hung round the hotel, sandwiching omelettes and drink between +our despatches. + +[Illustration: ROUND MONS] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] This was written in the middle of October. + +[3] We became bored with the song, and dropped it soon after for less +printable songs. + +[4] The word used in Flanders for a tavern that does not aspire to the +dignity of "restaurant" or "hotel." + +[5] The Bavai-Andregnies-Elouges road. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE BATTLE OF MONS + + +We knew nothing of what was going on. There was a rumour that Namur had +fallen, and I heard certain officers say we had advanced dangerously +far. The cavalry was on our left and the Third Division on our right. +Beyond the Third Division we had heard of the First Corps, but nothing +of the French. We were left, to the best of our knowledge, a tenuous +bulwark against the German hosts. + +The 14th Brigade had advanced by the Andregnies road to Elouges and the +Canal. The 13th was our right brigade, and the 15th, at first in +reserve, extended our line on the second day to Frameries. The Cyclists +were reconnoitring north of the Canal. + +The roads round Dour were of the very worst _pave_, and, if this were +not enough, the few maps we had between us were useless. The villages of +Waasmes, Paturages, and Frameries were in the midst of such a network +of roads that the map could not possibly be clear. If the country had +been flat, we might at least have found our way by landmarks. It was +not. The roads wandered round great slag-heaps, lost themselves in +little valleys, ran into pits and groups of buildings. Each one tried to +be exactly like all its fellows. Without a map to get from Elouges to +Frameries was like asking an American to make his way from Richmond Park +to Denmark Hill. + +About ten o'clock on the morning of August 23rd I was sent out to find +General Gleichen, who was reported somewhere near Waasmes. I went over +nightmare roads, uneven cobbles with great pits in them. I found him, +and was told by him to tell the General that the position was +unfortunate owing to a weak salient. We had already heard guns, but on +my way back I heard a distant crash, and looked round to find that a +shell had burst half a mile away on a slag-heap, between Dour and +myself. With my heart thumping against my ribs I opened the throttle, +until I was jumping at 40 m.p.h. from cobble to cobble. Then, realising +that I was in far greater danger of breaking my neck than of being shot, +I pulled myself together and slowed down to proceed sedately home. + +The second time I went out to General Gleichen I found him a little +farther back from his former position. This time he was on the railway. +While I was waiting for a reply we had an excellent view of German guns +endeavouring to bring down one of our aeroplanes. So little did we know +of aeroplanes then, that the General was persuaded by his brigade-major +to step back into shelter from the falling bits, and we all stared +anxiously skywards, expecting every moment that our devoted aviator +would be hit. + +That evening Huggie and I rode back to Bavai and beyond in search of an +errant ammunition column. Eventually we found it and brought news of it +back to H.Q. I shall never forget the captain reading my despatch by the +light of my lamp, the waggons guarded by Dorsets with fixed bayonets +appearing to disappear shadowy in the darkness. We showed the captain a +short-cut that avoided Bavai, then left him. His horses were tired, but +he was forced to push them on another ten miles to Dour. We got back at +10, and found Nadine weeping. We questioned her, but she would not tell +us why. + +There was a great battle very early the next morning, a running-about +and set, anxious faces. We were all sent off in rapid succession. I was +up early and managed to get a wash at the station-master's house, his +wife providing me with coffee, which, much to my discomfiture, she +liberally dosed with rum. At 6.30 Johnson started on a message to the +15th Brigade. We never saw him again. At 9.15 three despatch riders who +had gone to the 15th, George, Johnson, and Grimers, had not returned. I +was sent. Two miles out I met George with Grimers' despatches. Neither +of them had been able to find the 15th. I took the despatches and sent +George back to report. I went down a road, which I calculated ought to +bring me somewhere on the left of the 15th, who were supposed to be +somewhere between Paturages and Frameries. There were two villages on +hills, one on each side. I struck into the north end of the village on +my left; there was no road to the one on my right.[6] I came across a +lot of disheartened stragglers retreating up the hill. I went a little +farther and saw our own firing line a quarter of a mile ahead. There was +a bit of shrapnel flying about, but not much. I struck back up the hill +and came upon a crowd of fugitive infantry men, all belonging to the +13th Brigade. At last I found General Cuthbert, the Brigadier of the +13th, sitting calmly on his horse watching the men pass. I asked him +where the 15th was. He did not know, but told me significantly that our +rallying-point was Athis. + +I rode a little farther, and came upon his signal officer. He stopped me +and gave me a verbal message to the General, telling me that the 15th +appeared to be cut off. As I had a verbal message to take back there was +no need for me to go farther with my despatches, which, as it appeared +later, was just as well. I sprinted back to Dour, picking my way through +a straggling column of men sullenly retreating. At the station I found +everybody packing up. The General received my message without a word, +except one of thanks. + + The right flank of the 13th has been badly turned. + + Most of our officers have been killed. + + Some companies of the K.O.S.B. are endeavouring to cover + our retreat. + +We viciously smashed all the telegraph instruments in the office and cut +all the wires. It took me some time to pack up my kit and tie it on my +carrier. When I had finished, everybody had gone. I could hear their +horses clattering up the street. Across the way Nadine stood weeping. A +few women with glazed, resigned eyes, stood listlessly round her. +Behind me, I heard the first shell crash dully into the far end of the +town. It seemed to me I could not just go off. So I went across to +Nadine and muttered "Nous reviendrons, Mademoiselle." But she would not +look at me, so I jumped on my bicycle, and with a last glance round at +the wrecked, deserted station, I rode off, shouting to encourage more +myself than the others, "Ca va bien." + +I caught up the General, and passed him to ride on ahead of the Signal +Company. Never before had I so wished my engine to turn more slowly. It +seemed a shame that we motor-cyclists should head the retreat of our +little column. I could not understand how the men could laugh and joke. +It was blasphemous. They ought to be cursing with angry faces,--at the +least, to be grave and sorrowful. + +I was told that Divisional Headquarters would be established at +Villers-Pol, a little country village about ten miles west of Bavai and +eight miles south-east of Valenciennes. I rode to St Waast, a few miles +out of Bavai, and, finding there a cavalry colonel (of the 2nd Life +Guards, I think), gave him all the news. I hurried on to Jenlain, +thinking I might be of some use to the troops on our right flank, but +Jenlain was peaceful and empty. So I cut across low rolling downs to +Villers-Pol. There was nobody there when I arrived. The sun was shining +very brightly. Old women were sleeping at the doors; children were +playing lazily on the road. Soon one or two motor-cyclists dribbled in, +and about an hour later a section of the Signal Company arrived after a +risky dash along country lanes. They outspanned, and we, as always, made +for the inn. + +There was a mother in the big room. She was a handsome little woman of +about twenty-four. Her husband was at the war. She asked me why we had +come to Villers-Pol. I said we were retreating a little--pour attaquer +le mieux--un mouvement strategique. She wept bitterly and loudly, "Ah, +my baby, what will they do to us? They will kill you, and they will +ill-treat me so that never again shall I be able to look my husband in +the eyes--his brave eyes; but now perhaps they are closed in death!" +There was an older, harsh-featured woman who rated the mother for her +silliness, and, while we ate our omelette, the room was filled with the +clamour of them until a dog outside began to howl. Then the mother went +and sat down in a chair by the fire and stopped crying, but every now +and then moaned and clasped her baby strongly to her breast, murmuring, +"My poor baby, my poor baby, what shall we do?" + +We lounged about the place until a cavalry brigade came through. The +General commandeered me to find his transport. This I did, and on the +way back waited for the brigade to pass. Then for the first time I saw +that many riderless horses were being led, that some of the horses and +many of the men were wounded, and that one regiment of lancers was +pathetically small. It was the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, that had charged the +enemy's guns, to find them protected by barbed wire. + +Sick at heart I rode back into Villers-Pol, and found the Signal Company +hastily harnessing up. Headquarters had been compelled to go farther +back still--to St Waast, and there was nobody, so far as we knew, +between us and the Germans. The order caught George with his gear down. +We made a marvellously rapid repair, then went off at the trot. A mile +out, and I was sent back to pick up our quartermaster and three others +who were supposed to have been left behind. It was now quite dark. In +the village I could not find our men, but discovered a field ambulance +that did not know what to do. Their horses were dead tired, but I +advised them strongly to get on. They took my advice, and I heard at +Serches that they left Villers-Pol as the Germans[7] entered it. They +were pursued, but somehow got away in the darkness. + +I went on, and at some cross-roads in a black forest came across a +regiment of hussars. I told them where their B.H.Q. was, and their +Colonel muttered resignedly, + +"It's a long way, but we shall never get our wounded horses there +to-morrow." I put two more companies right, then came across a little +body of men who were vainly trying to get a horse attached to a S.A.A. +limber out of the ditch. It was a pitch-black night, and they were +bravely endeavouring to do it without catching a glimpse of the horse. I +gave them the benefit of my lamp until they had got the brute out. Two +more bodies of stragglers I directed, and then pushed on rapidly to St +Waast, where I found all the other motor-cyclists safe except Johnson. +Two had come on carts, having been compelled to abandon their +motor-cycles. + +George had been attached to the 14th. He had gone with them to the +canal, and had been left there with the Cornwalls when the 14th had +retired to its second position. At last nobody remained with him except +a section. They were together in a hut, and outside he could hear the +bullets singing. He noticed some queer-looking explosives in a corner, +and asked what they were for. He was told they were to blow up the +bridge over the canal, so decided it was time for him to quit, and did +so with some rapidity under a considerable rifle fire. Then he was sent +up to the Manchesters, who were holding a ready-made trench across the +main road. As he rode up he tells me men shouted at him, "Don't go that +way, it's dangerous," until he grew quite frightened; but he managed to +get to the trench all right, slipped in, and was shown how to crawl +along until he reached the colonel. + +N'Soon and Sadders were with the 13th. On the Sunday night they had to +march to a new position more towards their right. The Signal Section +went astray and remained silently on a byroad while their officer +reconnoitred. On the main road between them and their lines were some +lights rapidly moving--Germans in armoured motor-cars. They successfully +rejoined, but in the morning there was something of a collision, and +Sadders' bicycle was finished. He got hold of a push-bike alongside the +waggons for some distance, finishing up on a limber. + +Spuggy was sent up to the trenches in the morning. He was under heavy +shell fire when his engine seized up. His brigade was retreating, and he +was in the rear of it, so, leaving his bicycle, he took to his heels, +and with the Germans in sight ran till he caught up a waggon. He +clambered on, and so came into St Waast. + +I had not been in many minutes when I was sent off to our Army H.Q. at +Bavai. It was a miserable ride. I was very tired, the road was full of +transport, and my lamp would not give more than a feeble glimmer. + +I got to bed at 1 A.M. About 3.30 (on August 24) I was called and +detailed to remain with the rear-guard. First I was sent off to find the +exact position of various bodies posted on roads to stem the German +advance. At one spot I just missed a shell-trap. A few minutes after I +had left, some of the Manchesters, together with a body of the D. +Cyclists who were stationed three miles or so out of St Waast, were +attacked by a body of Jaegers, who appeared on a hill opposite. +Foolishly they disclosed their position by opening rifle fire. In a few +minutes the Jaegers went, and to our utter discomfiture a couple of +field-guns appeared and fired point-blank at 750 yards. Luckily the +range was not very exact, and only a few were wounded--those who retired +directly backwards instead of transversely out of the shells' direction. + +The H.Q. of the rear-guard left St Waast about 5.30. It was cold and +chilly. What happened I do not quite know. All I remember was that at a +given order a battery would gallop off the road into action against an +enemy we could not see. So to Bavai, where I was sent off with an +important despatch for D.H.Q. I had to ride past the column, and +scarcely had I gone half a mile when my back tyre burst. There was no +time to repair it, so on I bumped, slipping all over the road. At +D.H.Q., which of course was on the road, I borrowed some one else's +bicycle and rode back by another road. On the way I came across Huggie +filling up from an abandoned motor-lorry. I did likewise, and then tore +into Bavai. A shell or two was bursting over the town, and I was nearly +slaughtered by some infantrymen, who thought they were firing at an +aeroplane. Dodging their bullets, I left the town, and eventually caught +up the H.Q. of the rear-guard. + +It was now about 10.30. Until five the troops tramped on, in a scorching +sun, on roads covered with clouds of dust. And most pitiful of all, +between the rear-guard and the main body shuffled the wounded; for we +had been forced to evacuate our hospital at Bavai. Our men were mad at +retreating. The Germans had advanced on them in the closest order. Each +fellow firmly believed he had killed fifty, and was perfectly certain +we could have held our line to the crack of doom. They trudged and +trudged. The women, who had cheerily given us everything a few days +before, now with anxious faces timorously offered us water and fruit. + +Great ox-waggons full of refugees, all in their best clothes, came in +from side-roads. None of them were allowed on the roads we were +retreating along, so I suppose they were pushed across the German front +until they fell into the Germans' hands. + +For us it was column-riding the whole day--half a mile or so, and then a +halt,--heart-breaking work. + +I was riding along more or less by myself in a gap that had been left in +the column. A cure stopped me. He was a very tall and very thin young +man with a hasty, frightened manner. Behind him was a flock of +panic-stricken, chattering old women. He asked me if there was any +danger. Not that he was afraid, he said, but just to satisfy his people. +I answered that none of them need trouble to move. I was too ashamed to +say we were retreating, and I had an eye on the congestion of the roads. +I have sometimes wondered what that tall, thin cure, with the sallow +face and the frightened eyes, said about me when, not twelve hours +later, the German advance-guard triumphantly defiled before him. + +Late in the afternoon we passed through Le Cateau, a bright little town, +and came to the village of Reumont, where we were billeted in a large +barn. + +We were all very confident that evening. We heard that we were holding a +finely entrenched position, and the General made a speech--I did not +hear it--in which he told us that there had been a great Russian +success, and that in the battle of the morrow a victory for us would +smash the Germans once and for all. But our captain was more +pessimistic. He thought we should suffer a great disaster. Doubting, we +snuggled down in the straw, and went soundly to sleep. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] I had no map with me. All the maps were in use. Looking afterwards +at the map which I obtained later in the day, I am unable to trace my +route with any accuracy. It is certain that the Germans temporarily +thrust in a wedge between the 13th and 15th Brigades. + +[7] A small patrol of cavalry, I should imagine, if the tale I heard at +Serches be true. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BATTLE OF LE CATEAU + + +The principal thing about Le Cateau is that the soldiers pronounce it to +rhyme with Waterloo--Leacatoo--and all firmly believe that if the French +cavalry had come up to help us, as the Prussians came up at Waterloo, +there would have been no Germans to fight against us now. + +It was a cold misty morning when we awoke, but later the day was fine +enough. We got up, had a cheery and exiguous breakfast to distant, +intermittent firing, then did a little work on our bicycles. I spent an +hour or so watching through glasses the dim movement of dull bodies of +troops and shrapnel bursting vaguely on the horizon. Then we were all +summoned to H.Q., which were stationed about a mile out from Reumont on +the Le Cateau road. In front of us the road dipped sharply and rose +again over the brow of a hill about two miles away. On this brow, +stretching right and left of the road, there was a line of poplars. On +the slope of the hill nearer to us there were two or three field +batteries in action. To the right of us a brigade of artillery was +limbered up ready to go anywhere. In the left, at the bottom of the dip +the 108th was in action, partially covered by some sparse bushes. A few +ambulance waggons and some miscellaneous first-line transport were drawn +up along the side of the road at the bottom of the dip. To the N.W. we +could see for about four miles over low, rolling fields. We could see +nothing to the right, as our view was blocked by a cottage and some +trees and hedges. On the roof of the cottage a wooden platform had been +made. On it stood the General and his Chief of Staff and our Captain. +Four telephone operators worked for their lives in pits breast-high, two +on each side of the road. The Signal Clerk sat at a table behind the +cottage, while round him, or near him, were the motor-cyclists and +cyclists. + +About the battle itself you know as much as I. We had wires out to all +the brigades, and along them the news would come and orders would go. +The ---- are holding their position satisfactorily. Our flank is being +turned. Should be very grateful for another battalion. We are under very +heavy shell fire. Right through the battle I did not take a single +message. Huggie took a despatch to the 13th, and returned under very +heavy shrapnel fire, and for this was very properly mentioned in +despatches. + +How the battle fluctuated I cannot now remember. But I can still see +those poplars almost hidden in the smoke of shrapnel. I can still hear +the festive crash of the Heavies as they fired slowly, scientifically, +and well. From 9 to 12.30 we remained there kicking our heels, +feverishly calm, cracking the absurdest jokes. Then the word went round +that on our left things were going very badly. Two battalions were +hurried across, and then, of course, the attack developed even more +fiercely on our right. + +Wounded began to come through--none groaning, but just men with their +eyes clenched and great crimson bandages. + +An order was sent to the transport to clear back off the road. There was +a momentary panic. The waggons came through at the gallop and with them +some frightened foot-sloggers, hanging on and running for dear life. +Wounded men from the firing line told us that the shrapnel was +unbearable in the trenches. + +A man came galloping up wildly from the Heavies. They had run out of +fuses. Already we had sent urgent messages to the ammunition lorries, +but the road was blocked and they could not get up to us. So Grimers was +sent off with a haversack--mine--to fetch fuses and hurry up the +lorries. How he got there and back in the time that he did, with the +traffic that there was, I cannot even now understand. + +It was now about two o'clock, and every moment the news that we heard +grew worse and worse, while the wounded poured past us in a continuous +stream. I gave my water-bottle to one man who was moaning for water. A +horse came galloping along. Across the saddle-bow was a man with a +bloody scrap of trouser instead of a leg, while the rider, who had been +badly wounded in the arm, was swaying from side to side. + +A quarter of an hour before the brigade on our right front had gone into +action on the crest of the hill. Now they streamed back at the trot, all +telling the tale--how, before they could even unlimber, shells had come +crashing into them. The column was a lingering tragedy. There were teams +with only a limber and without a gun. And you must see it to know what a +twistedly pathetic thing a gun team and limber without a gun is. There +were bits of teams and teams with only a couple of drivers. The faces of +the men were awful. I smiled at one or two, but they shook their heads +and turned away. One sergeant as he passed was muttering to himself, as +if he were repeating something over and over again so as to learn it by +rote--"My gun, my gun, my gun!" + +At this moment an order came from some one for the motor-cyclists to +retire to the farm where we had slept the night. The others went on with +the crowd, but I could not start my engine. After trying for five +minutes it seemed to me absurd to retreat, so I went back and found that +apparently nobody had given the order. The other motor-cyclists returned +one by one as soon as they could get clear, but most of them were +carried on right past the farm. + +A few minutes later there was a great screaming crash +overhead--shrapnel. I ran to my bicycle and stood by waiting for orders. + +The General suggested mildly that we might change our headquarters. +There was a second crash. We all retired about 200 yards back up the +road. There I went to the captain in the middle of the traffic and asked +him what I should do. He told us to get out of it as we could not do +anything more--"You have all done magnificently"--then he gave me some +messages for our subaltern. I shouted, "So long, sir," and left him, not +knowing whether I should ever see him again. I heard afterwards that he +went back when all the operators had fled and tried to get into +communication with our Army H.Q. + +Just as I had started up my engine another shell burst about 100 yards +to the left, and a moment later a big waggon drawn by two maddened +horses came dashing down into the main street. They could not turn, so +went straight into the wall of a house opposite. There was a dull crash +and a squirming heap piled up at the edge of the road. + +I pushed through the traffic a little and came upon a captain and a +subaltern making their way desperately back. I do not know who they +were, but I heard a scrap of what they said-- + +"We must get back for it," said the captain. + +"We shall never return," replied the subaltern gravely. + +"It doesn't matter," said the captain. + +"It doesn't matter," echoed the subaltern. + +But I do not think the gun could have been saved. + +About six of us collected in a little bunch at the side of the road. On +our left we saw a line of infantry running. The road itself was +impassable. So we determined to strike off to the right. I led the way, +and though we had not the remotest conception whether we should meet +British or German, we eventually found our way to 2nd Corps H.Q. + +I have only a dim remembrance of what happened there. I went into the +signal-office and reported that, so far as I knew, the 5th Division was +in flight along the Reumont-Saint-Quentin road. + +The sergeant in charge of the 2nd Corps Motor-cyclists offered us some +hard-boiled eggs and put me in charge of our lot. Then off we went, and +hitting the main road just ahead of our muddled column, halted at the +desolate little village of Estrees. + +It now began to rain. + +Soon the column came pouring past, so miserably and so slowly,--lorries, +transport, guns, limbers, small batches of infantrymen, crowds of +stragglers. All were cursing the French, for right through the battle we +had expected the French to come up on our right wing. There had been a +whole corps of cavalry a few miles away, but in reply to our urgent +request for help their general had reported that his horses were too +tired. How we cursed them and cursed them. + +After a weary hour's wait our subaltern came up, and, at my request, +sent me to look for the captain. I found him about two miles this side +of Reumont, endeavouring vainly to make some sort of ordered procession +out of the almost comically patchwork medley. Later I heard that the +last four hundred yards of the column had been shelled to destruction as +it was leaving Reumont, and a tale is told--probably without truth--of +an officer shooting the driver of the leading motor-lorry in a hopeless +endeavour to get some ammunition into the firing line. + +I scooted back and told the others that our captain was still alive, and +a little later we pushed off into the flood. It was now getting dark, +and the rain, which had held off for a little, was pouring down. + +Finally, we halted at a tiny cottage, and the Signal Company outspanned. + +We tried to make ourselves comfortable in the wet by hiding under damp +straw and putting on all available bits of clothing. But soon we were +all soaked to the skin, and it was so dark that horses wandered +perilously near. One hungry mare started eating the straw that was +covering my chest. That was enough. Desperately we got up to look round +for some shelter, and George, our champion "scrounger," discovered a +chicken-house. It is true there were nineteen fowls in it. They died a +silent and, I hope, a painless death. + +The order came round that the motor-cyclists were to spend the night at +the cottage--the roads were utterly and hopelessly impassable--while +the rest of the company was to go on. So we presented the company with a +few fowls and investigated the cottage. + +It was a startling place. In one bedroom was a lunatic hag with some +food by her side. We left her severely alone. Poor soul, we could not +move her! In the kitchen we discovered coffee, sugar, salt, and onions. +With the aid of our old Post Sergeant we plucked some of the chickens +and put on a great stew. I made a huge basin full of coffee. + +The others, dead tired, went to sleep in a wee loft. I could not sleep. +I was always seeing those wounded men passing, passing, and in my +ear--like the maddening refrain of a musical comedy ditty--there was +always murmuring--"We shall never return. It doesn't matter." Outside +was the clink and clatter of the column, the pitiful curses of tired +men, the groaning roar of the motor-lorries as they toiled up the slope. + +Then the Staff began to wander in one by one--on foot, exhausted and +bedraggled. They loved the coffee, but only played with the chicken--I +admit it was tough. They thought all was lost and the General killed. +One murmured to another: "Magersfontein, Dour, and this--you've had some +successful battles." And one went to sleep, but kept starting up, and +giving a sort of strangled shout--"All gone! All gone!" When each had +rested awhile he would ask gently for a little more coffee, rub his +eyes, and disappear into the column to tramp through the night to Saint +Quentin. It was the purest melodrama. + +And I, too tired to sleep, too excited to think, sat sipping thick +coffee the whole night through, while the things that were happening +soaked into me like petrol into a rag. About two hours before dawn I +pulled myself together and climbed into the loft for forty minutes' +broken slumber. + +An hour before dawn we wearily dressed. The others devoured cold stew, +and immediately there was the faintest glimmering of light we went +outside. The column was still passing,--such haggard, broken men! The +others started off, but for some little time I could not get my engine +to fire. Then I got going. Quarter of a mile back I came upon a little +detachment of the Worcesters marching in perfect order, with a cheery +subaltern at their head. He shouted a greeting in passing. It was +Urwick, a friend of mine at Oxford. + +I cut across country, running into some of our cavalry on the way. It +was just light enough for me to see properly when my engine jibbed. I +cleaned a choked petrol pipe, lit a briar--never have I tasted anything +so good--and pressed on. + +Very bitter I felt, and when nearing Saint Quentin, some French soldiers +got in my way, I cursed them in French, then in German, and finally in +good round English oaths for cowards, and I know not what. They looked +very startled and recoiled into the ditch. I must have looked +alarming--a gaunt, dirty, unshaven figure towering above my motor-cycle, +without hat, bespattered with mud, and eyes bright and weary for want of +sleep. How I hated the French! I hated them because, as I then thought, +they had deserted us at Mons and again at Le Cateau; I hated them +because they had the privilege of seeing the British Army in confused +retreat; I hated them because their roads were very nearly as bad as the +roads of the Belgians. So, wet, miserable, and angry, I came into Saint +Quentin just as the sun was beginning to shine a little. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE GREAT RETREAT + + +On the morning of the 27th we draggled into Saint Quentin. I found the +others gorged with coffee and cakes provided by a kindly Staff-Officer. +I imitated them and looked around. Troops of all arms were passing +through very wearily. The people stood about, listless and sullen. +Everywhere proclamations were posted beseeching the inhabitants to bring +in all weapons they might possess. We found the Signal Company, and rode +ahead of it out of the town to some fields above a village called +Castres. There we unharnessed and took refuge from the gathering storm +under a half-demolished haystack. The Germans didn't agree to our +remaining for more than fifty minutes. Orders came for us to harness up +and move on. I was left behind with the H.Q.S., which had collected +itself, and was sent a few minutes later to 2nd Corps H.Q. at Ham, a +ride of about fifteen miles. + +On the way I stopped at an inn and discovered there three or four of our +motor-cyclists, who had cut across country, and an officer. The +officer[8] told us how he had been sent on to construct trenches at Le +Cateau. It seems that although he enlisted civilian help, he had neither +the time nor the men to construct more than very makeshift affairs, +which were afterwards but slightly improved by the men who occupied +them. + +Five minutes and I was on the road again. It was an easy run, something +of a joy-ride until, nearing Ham, I ran into a train of motor-lorries, +which of all the parasites that infest the road are the most difficult +to pass. Luckily for me they were travelling in the opposite direction +to mine, so I waited until they passed and then rode into Ham and +delivered my message. + +The streets of Ham were almost blocked by a confused column retreating +through it. Officers stationed at every corner and bend were doing their +best to reduce it to some sort of order, but with little success. + +Returning I was forced into a byroad by the column, lost my way, took +the wrong road out of the town, but managed in about a couple of hours +to pick up the Signal Co., which by this time had reached the Chateau at +Oleezy. + +There was little rest for us that night. Twice I had to run into Ham. +The road was bad and full of miscellaneous transport. The night was +dark, and a thick mist clung to the road. Returning the second time, I +was so weary that I jogged on about a couple of miles beyond my turning +before I woke up sufficiently to realise where I was. + +The next morning (the 28th) we were off before dawn. So tired were we +that I remember we simply swore at each other for nothing at all. We +waited, shivering in the morning cold, until the column was well on its +way. + +At Oleezy the Division began to find itself. Look at the map and think +for a moment what the men had done. On the 21st they had advanced from +Landrecies to Bavai, a fair day's march on a blazing day. On the 22nd +they had marched from Bavai to the Canal. From the morning of the 23rd +to midday or later on the 24th they had fought hard. On the afternoon +and evening of the 24th they had retired to the Bavai-Saint-Waast line. +Before dawn on the morning of the 25th they had started off again and +marched in column of route on another blazing day back to a position a +few miles south of Le Cateau. The battle had begun as the sun rose on +the 26th, and continued until three o'clock or later in the afternoon. +They plodded through the darkness and the rain. No proper halt was made +until midday of the 27th. + +The General, who had escaped, and the Staff worked with ferocious +energy, as we very painfully knew. Battalions bivouacked in the open +fields round Oleezy collected the stragglers that came in and +reorganised themselves. The cavalry were between us and Saint Quentin. +We were in communication with them by despatch rider. Trains full of +French troops passed westwards over Oleezy bridge. There were, I +believe, General d'Amade's two reserve divisions. We had walked away +from the Germans. + +We rode after the column. On the way we passed a battalion of men who +had been on outpost duty with nothing but a biscuit and a half apiece. +They broke their ranks to snatch at some meat that had been dumped by +the roadside, and gnawed it furiously as they marched along until the +blood ran down from their chins on to their jackets. + +I shall never forget how our General saw a batch of Gordons and K.O.S.B. +stragglers trudging listlessly along the road. He halted them. Some +more came up until there was about a company in all, and with one piper. +He made them form fours, put the piper at the head of them. "Now, lads, +follow the piper, and remember Scotland"; and they all started off as +pleased as Punch with the tired piper playing like a hero. + +Oving or the Fat Boy volunteered to take a message to a body of cavalry +that was covering our rear. He found them, and then, being mapless (maps +were very scarce in those days), he lost his way. There was no sun, so +he rode in what he thought was the right direction, until suddenly he +discovered that he was two kilometres from Saint Quentin. As the Germans +were officially reported to be five miles south of the town he turned +back and fled into the darkness. He slept that night at a cottage, and +picked up the Division in the morning. + +I was sent on to fill up with petrol wherever I could find it. I was +forced to ride on for about four miles to some cross-roads. There I +found a staff-car that had some petrol to spare. It was now very hot, so +I had a bit of a sleep on the dusty grass by the side of the road, then +sat up to watch lazily the 2nd Corps pass. + +The troops were quite cheerful and on the whole marching well. There +were a large number of stragglers, but the majority of them were not +men who had fallen out, but men who had become separated from their +battalions at Le Cateau. A good many were badly footsore. These were +being crowded into lorries and cars. + +There was one solitary desolate figure. He was evidently a reservist, a +feeble little man of about forty, with three days' growth on his chin. +He was very, very tired, but was struggling along with an unconquerable +spirit. I gave him a little bit of chocolate I had; but he wouldn't stop +to eat it. "I can't stop. If I does, I shall never get there." So he +chewed it, half-choking, as he stumbled along. I went a few paces after +him. Then Captain Dillon came up, stopped us, and put the poor fellow in +a staff-car and sent him along a few miles in solitary grandeur, more +nervous than comfortable. + +Eventually the company came along and I joined. Two miles farther we +came to a biggish town with white houses that simply glared with +heat.[9] My water-bottle was empty, so I humbly approached a good lady +who was doling out cider and water at her cottage door. It did taste +good! A little farther on I gave up my bicycle to Spuggy, who was riding +in the cable-cart. + +We jolted along at about two miles an hour. For some time two spies +under escort walked beside the limber. Unlike most spies they looked +their part. One was tall and thin and handsome. The other was short and +fat and ugly. The fear of death was on their faces, and the jeers of our +men died in their mouths. They were marched along for two days until a +Court could be convened. Then they were shot. + +Just before Noyon we turned off to the left and halted for half an hour +at Landrimont, a little village full of big trees. We had omelettes and +coffee at the inn, then basked in the sun and smoked. Noyon was +unattractive. The people did not seem to care what happened to anybody. +Perhaps we thought that, because we were very tired. Outside Noyon I +dozed, then went off to sleep. + +When I awoke it was quite dark, and the column had halted. The order +came for all except the drivers to dismount and proceed on foot. The +bridge ahead was considered unsafe, so waggons went across singly. + +I walked on into the village, Pontoise. There were no lights, and the +main street was illuminated only by the lanterns of officers seeking +their billets. An A.S.C. officer gave me a lift. Our H.Q. were right the +other end of the town in the Chateau of the wee hamlet called La +Pommeraye. I found them, stumbled into a loft, and dropped down for a +sleep. + +We were called fairly late.[10] George and I rode into Pontoise and +"scrounged" for eggs and bread. These we took to a small and smelly +cottage. The old woman of the cottage boiled our eggs and gave us +coffee. It was a luxurious breakfast. I was looking forward to a slack +lazy day in the sun, for we were told that we had for the moment +outdistanced the gentle Germans. But my turn came round horribly soon, +and I was sent off to Compiegne with a message for G.H.Q., and orders to +find our particularly elusive Div. Train. It was a gorgeous ride along a +magnificent road, through the great forest, and I did the twenty odd +miles in forty odd minutes. + +G.H.Q. was installed in the Palace. Everybody seemed very clean and +lordly, and for a moment I was ashamed of my dirty, ragged, unshorn +self. Then I realised that I was "from the Front"--a magic phrase to +conjure with for those behind the line--and swaggered through long +corridors. + +After delivering my message I went searching for the Div. Train. First, +I looked round the town for it, then I had wind of it at the station, +but at the station it had departed an hour or so before. I returned to +G.H.Q., but there they knew nothing. I tried every road leading out of +the town. Finally, having no map, and consequently being unable to make +a really thorough search, I had a drink, and started off back. + +When I returned I found everybody was getting ready to move, so I packed +up. This time the motor-cyclists rode in advance of the column. About +two miles out I found that the others had dropped behind out of sight. I +went on into Carlepont, and made myself useful to the Billeting Officer. +The others arrived later. It seems there had been a rumour of Uhlans on +the road, and they had come along fearfully. + +The troops marched in, singing and cheering. It was unbelievable what +half a day's rest had done for them. Of course you must remember that we +all firmly believed, except in our moments of deepest despondency, +first, that we could have held the Germans at Mons and Le Cateau if the +French had not "deserted" us, and second, that our retreat was merely a +"mouvement strategique." + +There was nothing doing at the Signal Office, so we went and had some +food--cold sausage and coffee. Our hostess was buxom and hilarious. +There was also a young girl about the place, Helene. She was of a middle +size, serious and dark, with a mass of black lustreless hair. She could +not have been more than nineteen. Her baby was put to bed immediately +we arrived. We loved them both, because they were the first women we had +met since Mons who had not wanted to know why we were retreating and had +not received the same answer--"mouvement strategique pour attaquer le +mieux." I had a long talk that night with Helene as she stood at her +door. Behind us the dark square was filled with dark sleeping soldiers, +the noise of snoring and the occasional clatter of moving horses. +Finally, I left her and went to sleep on the dusty boards of an attic in +the Chateau. + +We were called when it was still dark and very cold (August 30). I was +vainly trying to warm myself at a feeble camp fire when the order came +to move off--without breakfast. The dawn was just breaking when we set +out--to halt a hundred yards or so along. There we shivered for half an +hour with nothing but a pipe and a scrap of chocolate that had got stuck +at the bottom of my greatcoat pocket. Finally, the motor-cyclists, to +their great relief, were told that they might go on ahead. The Grimers +and I cut across a country to get away from the column. We climbed an +immense hill in the mist, and proceeding by a devious route eventually +bustled into Attichy, where we found a large and dirty inn containing +nothing but some bread and jam. The column was scheduled to go ten +miles farther, but "the situation being favourable" it was decided to go +no farther. Headquarters were established by the roadside, and I was +sent off to a jolly village right up on the hill to halt some sappers, +and then back along the column to give the various units the names of +their billets. + +We supped off the sizzling bacon and slept on the grass by the side of +the road. That night George burned his Rudge. It was an accident, but we +were none too sorry, for it had given much trouble. There were messages +right through the night. At one in the morning I was sent off to a +Chateau in the Forest of Compiegne. I had no map, and it was a pure +accident that I found my way there and back. + +The next day (Aug. 31) was a joyous ride. We went up and down hills to a +calm, lazy little village, Haute Fontaine. There we took a wrong turning +and found ourselves in a blackberry lane. It was the hottest, +pleasantest of days, and forgetting all about the more serious +things--we could not even hear the guns--we filled up with the softest, +ripest of fruit. Three of us rode together, N'Soon, Grimers, and myself. +I don't know how we found our way. We just wandered on through sleepy, +cobbled villages, along the top of ridges with great misty views and by +quiet streams. Just beyond a village stuck on to the side of a hill, we +came to a river, and through the willows we saw a little church. It was +just like the Happy Valley that's over the fields from Burford. + +We all sang anything we could remember as we rattled along. The bits of +columns that we passed did not damp us, for they consisted only of +transport, and transport can never be tragic--even in a retreat. The +most it can do is to depress you with a sense of unceasing monotonous +effort. + +About three o'clock we came to a few houses--Bethancourt. There was an +omelette, coffee, and pears for us at the inn. The people were +frightened. + + Why are the English retreating? Are they defeated? + + No, it is only a strategical movement. + + Will the dirty Germans pass by here? We had better pack up + our traps and fly. + +We were silent for a moment, then I am afraid I lied blandly. + + Oh no, this is as far as we go. + +But I had reckoned without my host, a lean, wiry old fellow, a bit stiff +about the knees. First of all he proudly showed me his soldier's +book--three campaigns in Algeria. A crowd of smelly women pressed round +us--luckily we had finished our meal--while with the help of a few +knives and plates he explained exactly what a strategical movement was, +and demonstrated to the satisfaction of everybody except ourselves that +the valley we were in was obviously the place "pour reculer le mieux." + +We had been told that our H.O. were going to be at a place called +Bethisy St Martin, so on we went. A couple of miles from Bethisy we came +upon a billeting party of officers sitting in the shade of a big tree by +the side of the road. Had we heard that the Germans were at Compiegne, +ten miles or so over the hill? No, we hadn't. Was it safe to go on into +Bethisy? None of us had an idea. We stopped and questioned a "civvy" +push-cyclist. He had just come from Bethisy and had seen no Germans. The +officers started arguing whether or no they should wait for an escort. +We got impatient and slipped on. Of course there was nothing in Bethisy +except a wide-eyed population, a selection of smells, and a vast +congregation of chickens. The other two basked on some hay in the sun, +while I went back and pleased myself immensely by reporting to the +officers who were timorously trotting along that there wasn't a sign of +a Uhlan. + +We rested a bit. One of us suggested having a look round for some Uhlans +from the top of the nearest hill. It was a terrific climb up a narrow +track, but our bicycles brought us up magnificently. From the top we +could see right away to the forest of Compiegne, but a judicious bit of +scouting produced nothing. + +Coming down we heard from a passing car that H.Q. were to be at +Crepy-en-Valois, a biggish old place about four miles away to the south +the other side of Bethancourt. We arrived there just as the sun was +going to set. It was a confusing place, crammed full of transport, but I +found my way to our potential H.Q. with the aid of a joyous little +flapper on my carrier. + +Then I remembered I had left my revolver behind on the hill above +Bethisy. Just before I started I heard that there were bags of Uhlans +coming along over the hills and through the woods. But there was nothing +for it but to go back, and back I went. It was a bestial climb in the +dusk. On my way back I saw some strange-looking figures in the grounds +of a chateau. So I opened my throttle and thundered past. + +Later I found that the figures belonged to the rest of the +motor-cyclists. The chateau ought to have been our H.Q., and arriving +there they had been entertained to a sit-down tea and a bath. + +We had a rotten night--nothing between me and a cold, hard tiled floor +except a waterproof sheet, but no messages. + +We woke very early (September 1st) to the noise of guns. The Germans +were attacking vigorously, having brought up several brigades of Jaegers +by motor-bus. The 15th was on our left, the 13th was holding the hill +above Bethancourt, and the 14th was scrapping away on the right. The +guns were ours, as the Germans didn't appear to have any with them. I +did a couple of messages out to the 15th. The second time I came back +with the news that their left flank was being turned. + +A little later one of our despatch riders rode in hurriedly. He reported +that, while he was riding along the road to the 15th, he had been shot +at by Uhlans whom he had seen distinctly. At the moment it was of the +utmost importance to get a despatch through to the 15th. The Skipper +offered to take it, but the General refused his offer. + +A second despatch rider was carefully studying his map. It seemed to him +absolutely inconceivable that Uhlans should be at the place where the +first despatch rider had seen them. They must either have ridden right +round our left flank and left rear, or else broken through the line. So +he offered boldly to take the despatch. + +He rode by a slightly roundabout road, and reached the 15th in safety. +On his way back he saw a troop of North Irish Horse. In the meantime the +Divisional Headquarters had left Crepy in great state, the men with +rifles in front, and taken refuge on a hill south-east of the town. On +his return the despatch rider was praised mightily for his work, but to +this day he believes the Uhlans were North Irish Horse and the bullets +"overs"[11]--to this day the first despatch rider contradicts him. + +The Division got away from Crepy with the greatest success. The 13th +slaughtered those foolish Huns that tried to charge up the hill in the +face of rifle, machine-gun, and a considerable shell fire. The Duke of +Wellington's laid a pretty little ambush and hooked a car containing the +general and staff of the 1st Cavalry Division. The prisoners were +remorsefully shot, as it would have been impossible to bring them away +under the heavy fire. + +We jogged on to Nanteuil, all of us very pleased with ourselves, +particularly the Duke of Wellington's, who were loaded with spoils, and +a billeting officer who, running slap into some Uhlans, had been fired +at all the way from 50 yards' range to 600 and hadn't been hit. + +I obtained leave to give a straggler a lift of a couple of miles. He was +embarrassingly grateful. The last few miles was weary work for the men. +Remember they had marched or fought, or more often both, every day since +our quiet night at Landrecies. The road, too, was the very roughest +_pave_, though I remember well a little forest of bracken and pines we +went through. Being "a would-be literary bloke," I murmured "Scottish"; +being tired I forgot it from the moment after I saw it until now. + +There was no rest at Nanteuil. I took the Artillery Staff Captain round +the brigades on my carrier, and did not get back until 10. A bit of hot +stew and a post-card from home cheered me. I managed a couple of hours' +sleep. + +We turned out about 3, the morning of September 2nd. It was quite dark +and bitterly cold. Very sleepily indeed we rode along an exiguous path +by the side of the cobbles. The sun had risen, but it was still cold +when we rattled into that diabolical city of lost souls, Dammartin. + +Nobody spoke as we entered. Indeed there were only a few haggard, ugly +old women, each with a bit of a beard and a large goitre. One came up to +me and chattered at me. Then suddenly she stopped and rushed away, still +gibbering. We asked for a restaurant. A stark, silent old man, with a +goitre, pointed out an _estaminet_. There we found four motionless men, +who looked up at us with expressionless eyes. Chilled, we withdrew into +the street. Silent, melancholy soldiers--the H.Q. of some army or +division--were marching miserably out. We battered at the door of a +hotel for twenty minutes. We stamped and cursed and swore, but no one +would open. Only a hideous and filthy crowd stood round, and not one of +them moved a muscle. Finally, we burst into a bare little inn, and had +such a desolate breakfast of sour wine, bread, and bully. We finished as +soon as we could to leave the nightmare place. Even the houses were +gaunt and ill-favoured. + +On our way out we came across a deserted motor-cycle. Some one suggested +sending it on by train, until some one else remarked that there were no +trains, and this was fifteen miles from Paris. + +We cut across country, rejoined the column, and rode with it to +Vinantes, passing on the way a lost motor-lorry. The driver was tearing +his hair in an absolute panic. We told him the Germans were just a few +miles along the road; but we wished we hadn't when, in hurriedly +reversing to escape, he sent a couple of us into the ditch. + +At Vinantes we "requisitioned" a car, some chickens, and a pair of +boots. There was a fusty little tavern down the street, full of laughing +soldiers. In the corner a fat, middle-aged woman sat weeping quietly on +a sack. The host, sullen and phlegmatic, answered every question with a +shake of the head and a muttered "N'importe." The money he threw +contemptuously on the counter. The soldiers thought they were spies. "As +speaking the langwidge," I asked him what the matter was. + + "They say, sir, that this village will be shelled by the + cursed Germans, and the order has gone out to evacuate." + +Then, suddenly his face became animated, and he told me volubly how he +had been born in the village, how he had been married there, how he had +kept the _estaminet_ for twenty years, how all the leading men of the +village came of an evening and talked over the things that were +happening in Paris. + +He started shouting, as men will-- + + "What does it matter what I sell, what I receive? What does + it matter, for have I not to leave all this?" + +Then his wife came up and put her hand on his arm-- + + "Now, now; give the gentlemen their beer." + +I bought some cherry brandy and came away. + +I was sent on a couple of messages that afternoon: one to trace a +telephone wire to a deserted station with nothing in it but a sack of +excellent potatoes, another to an officer whom I could not find. I +waited under a tree eating somebody else's pears until I was told he had +gone mad, and was wandering aimlessly about. + +It was a famous night for me. I was sent off to Dammartin, and knew +something would go wrong. It did. A sentry all but shot me. I nearly +rode into an unguarded trench across the road, and when I started back +with my receipt my bicycle would not fire. I found that the mechanic at +Dammartin had filled my tank with water. It took me two hours, two lurid +hours, to take that water out. It was three in the morning when I got +going. I was badly frightened the Division had gone on, because I hadn't +the remotest conception where it was going to. When I got back H.Q. were +still at Vinantes. I retired thankfully to my bed under the stars, +listening dreamily to Grimers, who related how a sentry had fired at +him, and how one bullet had singed the back of his neck. + +We left Vinantes not too early after breakfast,--a comfort, as we had +all of us been up pretty well the whole night. Grimers was still upset +at having been shot at by sentries. I had been going hard, and had had +only a couple of hours' sleep. We rode on in advance of the company. It +was very hot and dusty, and when we arrived at Crecy with several hours +to spare, we first had a most excellent omelette and then a shave, a +hair-cut, and a wash. Crecy was populous and excited. It made us joyous +to think we had reached a part of the country where the shops were open, +people pursuing their own business, where there was no dumbly +reproaching glance for us in our retreat. + +We had been told that our H.Q. that night were going to be at the +chateau of a little village called La Haute Maison. Three of us arrived +there and found the caretaker just leaving. We obtained the key, and +when he had gone did a little bit of looting on our own. First we had a +great meal of lunch-tongue, bread, wine, and stewed pears. Then we +carefully took half a dozen bottles of champagne and hid them, together +with some other food-stuffs, in the middle of a big bed of nettles. A +miscellaneous crowd of cows were wandering round the house lowing +pitifully. + +We were just about to make a heroic effort at milking when the 3rd Div. +billeting officer arrived and told us that the 5th Div. H.Q. would be +that night at Bouleurs, farther back. We managed to carry off the +food-stuffs, but the champagne is probably still in the nettles. And the +bottles are standing up too. + +We found the company encamped in a schoolhouse, our fat signal-sergeant +doing dominie at the desk. I made himself a comfortable sleeping-place +with straw, then went out on the road to watch the refugees pass. + +I don't know what it was. It may have been the bright and clear evening +glow, but--you will laugh--the refugees seemed to me absurdly beautiful. +A dolorous, patriarchal procession of old men with white beards leading +their asthmatic horses that drew huge country carts piled with clothes, +furniture, food, and pets. Frightened cows with heavy swinging udders +were being piloted by lithe middle-aged women. There was one girl +demurely leading goats. In the full crudity of curve and distinctness of +line she might have sat for Steinlen,--there was a brownness, too, in +the atmosphere. Her face was olive and of perfect proportions; her +eyelashes long and black. She gave me a terrified side-glance, and I +thought I was looking at the picture of the village flirt in serene +flight. + +I connect that girl with a whisky-and-soda, drunk about midnight out of +a tin mug under the trees, thanks to the kindness of the Divisional +Train officers. It did taste fine. + +The next day (September 4th) I was attached to the Divisional Cyclists. +We spent several hours on the top of a hill, looking right across the +valley for Germans. I was glad of the rest, as very early in the morning +I had been sent off at full speed to prevent an officer blowing up a +bridge. Luckily I blundered into one of his men, and scooting across a +mile of heavy plough, I arrived breathless at the bridge, but just in +time. The bridge in the moonlight looked like a patient horse waiting to +be whipped on the raw. The subaltern was very angry. There had been an +alarm of Uhlans, and his French escort had retired from the bridge to +safer quarters.... + +I shared Captain Burnett's lunch, and later went to fetch some men from +a bridge that we had blown up. It seemed to me at the time that the +bridge had been blown up very badly. As a matter of fact, German +infantry crossed it four hours after I had left it. + +We had "the wind up" that afternoon. It appears that a patrol of six +Uhlans had either been cut off or had somehow got across the river at +Meaux. Anyway, they rode past an unsuspecting sleepy outpost of ours, +and spread alarm through the division. Either the division was panicky +or the report had become exaggerated on the way to H.Q. Batteries were +put into position on the Meaux road, and there was a general liveliness. + +I got back from a hard but unexciting day's work with the Cyclists to +find that the Germans had got across in very fact, though not at Meaux, +and that we were going to do a further bunk that night. We cursed the +gentle Germans heartily and well. About 10.30 the three of us who were +going on started. We found some convoys on the way, delivered messages, +and then I, who was leading, got badly lost in the big Villeneuve +forest--I forgot the name of it at the moment.[12] Of course I pretended +that we were taking the shortest road, and luck, which is always with me +when I've got to find anything, didn't desert me that night. + +At dead of night we echoed into the Chateau at Tournan, roused some +servants, and made them get us some bread, fruit, and mattresses. The +bread and fruit we devoured, together with a lunch-tongue, from that +excellent Chateau at La Haute Maison--the mattresses we took into a +large airy room and slept on, until we were wakened by the peevish +tones of the other motor-cyclists who had ridden with the column. One of +them had fallen asleep on his bicycle and disappeared into a ditch, but +the other two were so sleepy they did not hear him. We were all weary +and bad-tempered, while a hot dusty day, and a rapid succession of +little routine messages, did not greatly cheer us. + +At Tournan, appropriately, we turned. We were only a few miles S.-E. of +Paris. The Germans never got farther than Lagny. There they came into +touch with our outposts, so the tactful French are going to raise a +monument to Jeanne d'Arc--a reminder, I suppose, that even we and they +committed atrocities sometime. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] I do not know who the officer was, and I give the story as I wrote +it in a letter home--for what it is worth. + +[9] It must have been Guiscard. + +[10] August 29th. + +[11] Stray bullets that, fired too high, miss their mark, and +occasionally hit men well behind the actual firing line. + +[12] Foret de Crecy. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +OVER THE MARNE TO THE AISNE + + +The morning of September 5th was very hot, but the brigades could easily +be found, and the roads to them were good. There was cheerfulness in the +air. A rumour went round--it was quite incredible, and we scoffed--that +instead of further retreating either beyond or into the fortifications +of Paris, there was a possibility of an advance. The Germans, we were +told, had at last been outflanked. Joffre's vaunted plan that had +inspired us through the dolorous startled days of retirement was, it +appeared, a fact, and not one of those bright fancies that the Staff +invents for our tactical delectation. + +Spuggy returned. He had left us at Bouleurs to find a bicycle in Paris. +Coming back he had no idea that we had moved. So he rode too far north. +He escaped luckily. He was riding along about three hundred yards behind +two motor-cyclists. Suddenly he saw them stop abruptly and put up their +hands. He fled. A little farther on he came to a village and asked for +coffee. He heard that Uhlans had been there a few hours before, and was +taken to see a woman who had been shot through the breast. Then he went +south through Villeneuve, and following a fortunate instinct, ran into +our outposts the other side of Tournan. + +We all slept grandly on mattresses. It was the first time we had been +two nights in the same place since Dour. + +We awoke early to a gorgeous day. We were actually going to advance. The +news put us in marvellous good temper. For the first time in my +recollection we offered each other our bacon, and one at the end of +breakfast said he had had enough. The Staff was almost giggling, and a +battalion (the Cheshires, I think) that we saw pass, was absolutely +shouting with joy. You would have thought we had just gained a famous +victory. + +Half of us went forward with the column. The rest remained for a +slaughterous hour. First we went to the hen-house, and in ten minutes +had placed ten dripping victims in the French gendarme captain's car. +Then George and I went in pursuit of a turkey for the Skipper. It was an +elusive bird with a perfectly Poultonian swerve, but with a bagful of +curses, a bleeding hand, and a large stick, I did it to death. + +We set out merrily and picked up Spuggy, Cecil, and George in the big +forest that stretches practically from the Marne to Tournan. They +thought they had heard a Uhlan, but nothing came of it (he turned out to +be a deer), so we went on to Villeneuve. There I bought some biscuits +and George scrounged some butter. A job to the 3rd Division on our right +and another in pursuit of an errant officer, and then a sweaty and +exiguous lunch--it was a sweltering noon--seated on a blistering +pavement. Soon after lunch three of us were sent on to Mortcerf, a +village on a hill to the north of the forest. We were the first English +there--the Germans had left it in the morning--and the whole population, +including one strikingly pretty flapper, turned out to welcome us in +their best clean clothes,--it may have been Sunday. + +We accepted any quantity of gorgeous, luscious fruit, retiring modestly +to a shady log to eat it, and smoke a delectable pipe. In a quarter of +an hour Major Hildebrand of the 2nd Corps turned up in his car, and +later the company. + +Pollers had had a little adventure. He was with some of our men when he +saw a grey figure coming down one of the glades to the road. We knew +there were many stray Uhlans in the forest who had been left behind by +our advance. The grey figure was stalked, unconscious of his danger. +Pollers had a shot with his revolver, luckily without effect, for the +figure turned out to be our blasphemous farrier, who had gone into the +forest, clad only in regulation grey shirt and trousers, to find some +water. + +Later in the afternoon I was sent off to find the North Irish Horse. I +discovered them four miles away in the first flush of victory. They had +had a bit of a scrap with Uhlans, and were proudly displaying to an +admiring brigade that was marching past a small but select collection of +horses, lances, and saddles. + +This afternoon George smashed up his bicycle, the steering head giving +at a corner. + +We bivouacked on the drive, but the hardness of our bed didn't matter, +as we were out all night--all of us, including the two, Grimers and +Cecil. It was nervous riding in the forest. All the roads looked exactly +alike, and down every glade we expected a shot from derelict Uhlans. +That night I thought out plots for at least four stories. It would have +been three, but I lost my way, and was only put right by striking a +wandering convoy. I was in search of the Division Train. I looked for +it at Tournan and at Villeneuve and right through the forest, but +couldn't find it. I was out from ten to two, and then again from two to +five, with messages for miscellaneous ammunition columns. I collared an +hour's sleep and, by mistake, a chauffeur's overcoat, which led to +recriminations in the morning. But the chauffeur had an unfair +advantage. I was too tired to reply. + +Grimers, who cannot see well at night, was terrified when he had to take +a despatch through the forest. He rode with a loaded revolver in one +hand, and was only saved from shooting a wretched transport officer by a +wild cry, "For God's sake, look what you're doing." + +The eldest Cecil reported a distinct smell of dead horses at the obelisk +in the forest. At least he rather thought they were dead donkeys. The +smell was a little different--more acrid and unpleasant. We told him +that there were eight dead Germans piled at the side of the road, and we +reminded him that it had been a sweltering day. + +We were terribly tired in the morning. Spuggy, George, and Orr went off +to Paris for new bicycles, and we were left short-handed again. Another +tropical day. + +The Skipper rode the spare bike with great dash, the elder Cecil and I +attendant. We sprinted along a good straight road to the cobbled, +crowded little town of Faremoutiers. Then we decided to advance to +Mouroux, our proposed headquarters. It was a haggard village, just off +the road. We arrived there about twelve: the Germans had departed at +six, leaving behind them a souvenir in the dead body of a fellow from +the East Lancs. crumpled in a ditch. He had been shot while eating. It +was my first corpse. I am afraid I was not overwhelmed with thoughts of +the fleetingness of life or the horror of death. If I remember my +feelings aright, they consisted of a pinch of sympathy mixed with a +trifle of disgust, and a very considerable hunger, which some apples by +the roadside did something to allay. + +I shall never forget Mouroux. It was just a little square of old houses. +Before the Mairie was placed a collection of bottles from which the +Sales Boches had very properly drunk. French proclamations were +scribbled over with coarse, heavy jests. The women were almost +hysterical with relieved anxiety. The men were still sullen, and, though +they looked well fed, begged for bread. A German knapsack that I had +picked up and left in charge of some villagers was torn to shreds in +fierce hatred when my back was turned. + +It was very lonely there in the sun. We had outstripped the +advance-guard by mistake and were relieved when it came up. + +We made prisoner of a German who had overslept himself because he had +had a bath. + +I rushed back with Grimers on my carrier to fetch another bicycle. On my +return my engine suddenly produced an unearthly metallic noise. It was +only an aeroplane coming down just over my head. + +In the late afternoon we marched into Coulommiers. The people crowded +into the streets and cheered us. The girls, with tears in their eyes, +handed us flowers. + +Three of us went to the Mairie. The Maire, a courtly little fellow in +top-hat and frock-coat, welcomed us in charming terms. Two fat old women +rushed up to us and besought us to allow them to do something for us. We +set one to make us tea, and the other to bring us hot water and soap. + +A small girl of about eight brought me her kitten and wanted to give it +me. I explained to her that it would not be very comfortable tied with +pink ribbons to my carrier. She gravely assented, sat on my knee, told +me I was very dirty, and commanded me to kill heaps and heaps of +Germans. She didn't like them; they had beards! + +You know those fierce middle-aged Frenchwomen of the _bourgeois_ class, +hard as Scotsmen, close as Jews, and with feelings about as fine as +those of a motor-bus. She was one of them, and she was the foremost of a +largish crowd that collected round me. With her was a pretty girl of +about twenty-two. + +The mother began with a rhetorical outburst against all Germans, +anathematising in particular those who had spent the last fortnight in +Coulommiers, in which town her uncle had set up his business, which, +though it had proved successful, as they all knew, &c., &c. The crowd +murmured that they did all know. Then the old harridan chanted the +wrongs which the Germans had wrought until, when she had worked the +crowd and herself up to a heat of furious excitement, she lowered her +voice, suddenly lowered her tone. In a grating whisper she narrated, in +more detail than I cared to hear, the full story of how her daughter--to +whom she pointed--had been shamefully treated by the Germans. The crowd +growled. The daughter was, I think, more pleased at being the object of +my sympathy and the centre of the crowd's interest than agonised at the +remembrance of her misfortune. + +Some of the company coming up saved me from the recital of further +outrages. The hag told them of a house where the Germans had left a +rifle or two and some of our messages which they had intercepted. The +girl hesitated a moment, and then followed. I started hastily to go on, +but the girl, hearing the noise of my engine, ran back to bid me an +unembarrassed farewell. + +I rode through Coulommiers, a jolly rambling old town, to our billet in +a suburban villa on the Rebais road. The Division was marching past in +the very best of spirits. We, who were very tired, endeavoured to make +ourselves comfortable--we were then blanketless--on the abhorrent +surface of a narrow garden path. + +That night a 2nd Corps despatch rider called in half an hour before his +death. We have heard many explanations of how he died. He crashed into a +German barricade, and we discovered him the next morning with his eyes +closed, neatly covered with a sheet, in a quaint little house at the +entrance to the village of Doue. + +At dawn (Sept. 8th) the others went on with the column. I was sent back +with a despatch for Faremoutiers, and then was detailed to remain for an +hour with Cecil. Ten minutes after my return the Fat Boy rode in, +greatly excited. He had gone out along the Aulnoy road with a message, +and round a corner had run into a patrol of Uhlans. He kept his head, +turned quickly, and rode off in a shower of bullets. He was +tremendously indignant, and besought some cavalry who were passing to +go in pursuit. + +We heard the rumble of guns and started in a hurry after the column. +Sergeant Merchant's bicycle--our spare, a Rudge--burnt out its clutch, +and we left it in exchange for some pears at a cottage with a delicious +garden in Champbreton. Doue was a couple of miles farther on. + +Colonel Sawyer, D.D.M.S., stopped me anxiously, and asked me to go and +see if I could recognise the despatch rider's corpse. I meditated over +it for a few minutes, then ran on to the signal-office by the roadside. +There I exchanged my old bike for a new one which had been discovered in +a cottage. Nothing was wrong with my ancient grid except a buckled back +rim, due to collision with a brick when riding without a lamp. One of +the company rode it quietly to Serches, then it went on the side-car, +and was eventually discarded at Beuvry. + +I found the Division very much in action. The object of the Germans was, +by an obstinate rearguard action, to hold first the line of the Petit +Morin and second the line La Ferte to the hills north of Mery, so that +their main body might get back across the Marne and continue northward +their retreat, necessitated by our pressure on their flank. This retreat +again was to be as slow as possible, to prevent an outflanking of the +whole. + +Our object was obviously to prevent them achieving theirs. + +Look at the map and grasp these three things:-- + + 1. The two rivers--the Petit Morin debouching so as to cover + the German left centre. + + 2. From La Ferte westwards the rivers run in deep ravines, + hemmed in by precipitous thickly-wooded hills. + + 3. Only two bridges across the Marne remained--one large + one at La Ferte and one small one at Saacy. + +When I arrived at Doue the Germans were holding the Forest of Jouarre in +force. They were in moderate force on the south bank of the Petit Morin, +and had some guns, but not many, on the north bank. + +Here is a tale of how glory may be forced upon the unwilling. + +There were troops on the road running south from Jouarre. They might be +Germans retreating. They might be the 3rd Corps advancing. The Staff +wanted to know at once, and, although a despatch rider had already been +sent west to ride up the road from the south, it was thought that +another despatch rider skirting the east side of the Bois de Jouarre +might find out more quickly. So the captain called for volunteers. + +[Illustration: THE MARNE +(LAGNY _TO_ CHATEAU-THIERRY)] + +Now one despatch rider had no stomach for the job. He sat behind a tree +and tried to look as if he had not heard the captain's appeal. The +sergeant in charge had faith in him and, looking round, said in a loud +voice, "Here is Jones!" (it is obviously impolitic for me to give even +his nickname, if I wish to tell the truth). The despatch rider jumped +up, pretended he knew nothing of what was going forward, and asked what +was required. He was told, and with sinking heart enthusiastically +volunteered for the job. + +He rode off, taking the road by La Chevrie Farm. Beyond the farm the +Germans sniped him unmercifully, but (so he told me) he got well down on +the tank and rode "all out" until he came to the firing line just +south-west of the farm to the north of Chevrie. Major Buckle came out of +his ditch to see what was wanted. The rifle fire seemed to increase. The +air was buzzing, and just in front of his bicycle multitudinous little +spurts of dust flecked the road. + +It was distinctly unpleasant, and, as Major Buckle persisted in standing +in the middle of the road instead of taking the despatch rider with him +into his ditch, the despatch rider had to stand there too, horribly +frightened. The Major said it was impossible to go farther. There was +only a troop of cavalry, taking careful cover, at the farm in front, +and-- + + "My God, man, you're under machine-gun fire." + +So that's what it is, murmured the despatch rider to himself, not +greatly cheered. He saw he could not get to any vantage point by that +road, and it seemed best to get back at once. He absolutely streaked +along back to D.H.Q., stopping on the way very much against his will to +deliver a message from Major Buckle to the Duke of Wellington's who were +in support. + +He gave in his report, such as it was, to Colonel Romer, and was +praised. Moral: Be called away by some pressing engagement _before_ the +captain calls for volunteers. May _Gott strafe_ thoroughly all +interfering sergeants! + +The Headquarters Staff advanced in an hour or so to some houses. The 3rd +Corps, consisting of the 4th Division and the unlucky 19th Brigade, had +pushed on with tremendous dash towards Jouarre, and we learnt from an +aeroplane which dropped a message on the hill at Doue that the general +situation was favourable. The Germans were crowding across the bridge at +La Ferte under heavy shell fire, but unluckily we could not hit the +blighted bridge. + +It was now midday and very hot. There was little water. We had been +advancing over open fields without a vestige of shade. + +Under cover of their guns the Germans fled across the Petit Morin in +such confusion that they did not even hold the very defensible heights +to the north of the river. We followed on their heels through St Ouen +and up the hill behind the village. Three of us went on ahead and sat +for two hours in a trench with borrowed rifles waiting for the Germans +to come out of a wood. But it began to rain very hard, and the Germans +came on the other side and were taken by the Cyclists. + +It was just getting dark when we rendezvoused at the cross-roads of +Charnesseuil. The village was battered by our guns, but the villagers +did not mind a scrap and welcomed us with screams of joy. The local inn +was reopened with cheers, and in spite of the fact that there were two +dead horses, very evil-smelling, just outside, we had drinks all round. + +We were interrupted by laughter and cheers. We rushed out to see the +quaintest procession coming from the west into Charnesseuil. Seventy odd +immense Prussian Guards were humbly pushing in the bicycles of forty of +our Divisional Cyclists, who were dancing round them in delight. They +had captured a hundred and fifty of them, but our guns had shelled them, +luckily without doing much damage to the Cyclists, so loading up the +prisoners with all their kit and equipment, and making them lead their +captors' bicycles, the Cyclists brought them in triumph for the +inspection of the Staff. It was a great moment. + +I was very tired, and, careless of who passed, stretched myself at the +side of the road for a sleep. I was wakened an hour later, and we all +went along together to the chateau. There we slept in the hall before +the contented faces of some fine French pictures--or the majority of +them,--the rest were bestially slashed. + +At the break of dawn (Sept. 9th) I was sent off to the 14th Brigade, +which composed the advance-guard. Scouts had reported that Saacy had +been evacuated by the enemy. So we pushed on cautiously and took +possession of the bridge. + +I came up with the Brigade Staff on a common at the top of the +succeeding hill, having been delayed by a puncture. Nixon, the S.O., +told me that a battery of ours in position on the common to the south of +the farm would open fire in a few minutes. The German guns would reply, +but would be quickly silenced. In the meantime I was to take shelter in +the farm. + +I had barely put my bicycle under cover in the courtyard when the +Germans opened fire, not at our guns but at a couple of companies of the +Manchesters who were endeavouring to take cover just north of the farm. + +In the farm I found King and his platoon of Cyclists. Shrapnel bullets +simply rattled against the old house, and an occasional common shell +dropped near by way of variety. The Cyclists were restive, and I was +too, so to relieve the situation I proposed breakfast. King and I had +half a loaf of Saacy bread and half a pot of jam I always carried about +with me. The rest went to the men. Our breakfast was nearly spoilt by +the Manchesters, who, after they had lost a few men, rushed through the +farm into the wood, where, naturally enough, they lost a few more. They +besought the Cyclists to cover their retreat, but as it was from +shrapnel we mildly suggested it was impossible. + +The courtyard was by this time covered with tiles and pitted with +bullets. We, close up against the wall, had been quite moderately safe. +The shelling slackened off, so we thought we had better do a bunk. With +pride of race the motor-cyclist left last. + +The 14th Brigade had disappeared. I went back down the track and found +the General and his staff, fuming, half-way up the hill. The German guns +could not be found, and the German guns were holding up the whole +Division. + +I slept by the roadside for an hour. I was woken up to take a message to +2nd Corps at Saacy. On my return I was lucky enough to see a very +spectacular performance. + +From the point which I call A to the point B is, or ought to be, 5000 +yards. At A there is a gap in the wood, and you get a gorgeous view over +the valley. The road from La Ferte to the point B runs on high ground, +and at B there is a corresponding gap, the road being open completely +for roughly 200 yards. A convoy of German lorries was passing with an +escort of infantry, and the General thought we might as well have a shot +at them. Two 18-pdrs. were man-handled to the side of the hill and +opened fire, while six of us with glasses and our lunch sat behind and +watched. + +It was a dainty sight--the lorries scooting across, while the escort +took cover. The guns picked off a few, completely demolishing two +lorries, then with a few shells into some cavalry that appeared on the +horizon, they ceased fire. + +The affair seemed dangerous to the uninitiated despatch rider. Behind +the two guns was a brigade of artillery in column of route on an +exceedingly steep and narrow road. Guns firing in the open can be seen. +If the Germans were to spot us, we shuddered to think what would become +of the column behind us on the road. + +That afternoon I had nothing more to do, so, returning to the common, I +dozed there for a couple of hours, knowing that I should have little +sleep that night. At dusk we bivouacked in the garden of the chateau at +Mery. We arrived at the chateau before the Staff and picked up some +wine. + +In the evening I heard that a certain captain in the gunners went +reconnoitring and found the battery--it was only one--that had held up +our advance. He returned to the General, put up his eyeglass and +drawled, "I say, General, I've found that battery. I shall now deal with +it." He did. In five minutes it was silenced, and the 14th attacked up +the Valley of Death, as the men called it. They were repulsed with very +heavy losses; their reinforcements, which had arrived the day before, +were practically annihilated. + +It was a bad day. + +That night it was showery, and I combined vain attempts to get to sleep +between the showers with a despatch to 2nd Corps at Saacy and another to +the Division Ammunition Column the other side of Charnesseuil. + +Towards morning the rain became heavier, so I took up my bed--_i.e._, my +greatcoat and ground-sheet--and, finding four free square feet in the +S.O., had an hour's troubled sleep before I was woken up half an hour +before dawn to get ready to take an urgent message as soon as it was +light. + +On September 9th, just before dawn--it was raining and very cold--I was +sent with a message to Colonel Cameron at the top of the hill, telling +him he might advance. The Germans, it appeared, had retired during the +night. Returning to the chateau at Mery, I found the company had gone +on, so I followed them along the Valley of Death to Montreuil. + +It was the dismallest morning, dark as if the sun would never rise, +chequered with little bursts of heavy rain. The road was black with mud. +The hedges dripped audibly into watery ditches. There was no grass, only +a plentiful coarse vegetation. The valley itself seemed enclosed by +unpleasant hills from joy or light. Soldiers lined the road--some were +dead, contorted, or just stretched out peacefully; some were wounded, +and they moaned as I passed along. There was one officer who slowly +moved his head from side to side. That was all he could do. But I could +not stop; the ambulances were coming up. So I splashed rapidly through +the mud to the cross-roads north of Montreuil. + +To the right was a barn in which the Germans had slept. It was littered +with their equipment. And in front of it was a derelict motor-car +dripping in the rain. + +At Montreuil we had a scrap of bully with a bit of biscuit for +breakfast, then we ploughed slowly and dangerously alongside the column +to Dhuizy, where a house that our artillery had fired was still burning. +The chalked billeting marks of the Germans were still on the doors of +the cottages. I had a despatch to take back along the column to the +Heavies. Grease a couple of inches thick carpeted the road. We all +agreed that we should be useless in winter. + +At Dhuizy the sun came out. + +A couple of miles farther on I had a talk with two German +prisoners--R.A.M.C. They were sick of the war. Summed it up thus: + +Wir weissen nichts: wir essen nichts: immer laufen, laufen, laufen. + +In bright sunshine we pushed on towards Gandeln. On the way we had a +bit of lunch, and I left a pipe behind. As there was nothing doing I +pushed on past the column, waiting for a moment to watch some infantry +draw a large wood, and arrived with the cavalry at Gandeln, a rakish old +town at the bottom of an absurdly steep hill. Huggie passed me with a +message. Returning he told me that the road ahead was pitiably +disgusting. + +You must remember that we were hotly pursuing a disorganised foe. In +front the cavalry and horse artillery were harassing them for all they +were worth, and whenever there was an opening our bigger guns would +gallop up for a trifle of blue murder. + +From Gandeln the road rises sharply through woods and then runs on high +ground without a vestige of cover for two and a half miles into Chezy. +On this high, open ground our guns caught a German convoy, and we saw +the result. + +First there were a few dead and wounded Germans, all muddied. The men +would look curiously at each, and sometimes would laugh. Then at the top +of the hill we came upon some smashed and abandoned waggons. These were +hastily looted. Men piled themselves with helmets, greatcoats, food, +saddlery, until we looked a crowd of dishevelled bandits. The German +wounded watched--they lay scattered in a cornfield, like poppies. +Sometimes Tommy is not a pleasant animal, and I hated him that +afternoon. One dead German had his pockets full of chocolate. They +scrambled over him, pulling him about, until it was all divided. + +Just off the road was a small sandpit. Three or four waggons--the +horses, frightened by our shells, had run over the steep place into the +sand. Their heads and necks had been forced back into their carcasses, +and on top of this mash were the splintered waggons. I sat for a long +time by the well in Chezy and watched the troops go by, caparisoned with +spoils. I hated war. + +Just as the sun was setting we toiled out of Chezy on to an upland of +cornfields, speckled with grey patches of dead men and reddish-brown +patches of dead horses. One great horse stood out on a little cliff, +black against the yellow of the descending sun. It furiously stank. Each +time I passed it I held my nose, and I was then pretty well used to +smells. The last I saw of it--it lay grotesquely on its back with four +stiff legs sticking straight up like the legs of an overturned table--it +was being buried by a squad of little black men billeted near. They were +cursing richly. The horse's revenge in death, perhaps, for its +ill-treatment in life. + +It was decided to stay the night at Chezy. The village was crowded, +dark, and confusing. Three of us found the signal office, and made +ourselves very comfortable for the night with some fresh straw that we +piled all over us. The roads were for the first time too greasy for +night-riding. The rest slept in a barn near, and did not discover the +signal office until dawn. + +We awoke, stiff but rested, to a fine warm morning. It was a quiet day. +We rode with the column along drying roads until noon through peaceful +rolling country--then, as there was nothing doing, Grimers and I rode to +the head of the column, and inquiring with care whether our cavalry was +comfortably ahead, came to the village of Noroy-sur-Ourcq. We +"scrounged" for food and found an inn. At first our host, a fat +well-to-do old fellow, said the Germans had taken everything, but, when +he saw we really were hungry, he produced sardines, bread, butter, +sweets, and good red wine. So we made an excellent meal--and were not +allowed to pay a penny. + +He told that the Germans, who appeared to be in great distress, had +taken everything in the village, though they had not maltreated any one. +Their horses were dropping with fatigue--that we knew--and their +officers kept telling their men to hurry up and get quickly on the +march. At this point they were just nine hours in front of us. + +Greatly cheered we picked up the Division again at Chouy, and sat +deliciously on a grass bank to wait for the others. Just off the road on +the opposite side was a dead German. Quite a number of men broke their +ranks to look curiously at him--anything to break the tedious, deadening +monotony of marching twenty-five miles day after day: as a major of the +Dorsets said to us as we sat there, "It is all right for us, but it's +hell for them!" + +The Company came up, and we found that in Chouy the Germans had +overlooked a telephone--great news for the cable detachment. After a +glance at the church, a gorgeous bit of Gothic that we had shelled, we +pushed on in the rain to Billy-sur-Ourcq. I was just looking after a +convenient loft when I was sent back to Chouy to find the Captain's +watch. A storm was raging down the valley. The road at any time was +covered with tired foot sloggers. I had to curse them, for they wouldn't +get out of the way. Soon I warmed and cursed them crudely and glibly in +four languages. On my return I found some looted boiled eggs and +captured German Goulasch hot for me. I fed and turned in. + +This day my kit was left behind with other unnecessary "tackle," to +lighten the horses' load. I wish I had known it. + +The remaining eggs for breakfast--delicious. + +Huggie and I were sent off just before dawn on a message that took us to +St Remy, a fine church, and Hartennes, where we were given hot tea by +that great man, Sergeant Croucher of the Divisional Cyclists. I rode +back to Rozet St Albin, a pleasant name, along a road punctuated with +dead and very evil-smelling horses. Except for the smell it was a good +run of about ten miles. I picked up the Division again on the sandy road +above Chacrise. + +Sick of column riding I turned off the main road up a steep hill into +Ambrief, a desolate black-and-white village totally deserted. It came on +to pour, but there was a shrine handy. There I stopped until I was +pulled out by an ancient captain of cuirassiers, who had never seen an +Englishman before and wanted to hear all about us. + +On into Acy, where I decided to head off the Division at Ciry, instead +of crossing the Aisne and riding straight to Vailly, our proposed H.Q. +for that night. The decision saved my life, or at least my liberty. I +rode to Sermoise, a bright little village where the people were actually +making bread. At the station there was a solitary cavalry man. In Ciry +itself there was no one. Half-way up the Ciry hill, a sort of dry +watercourse, I ran into some cavalry and learnt that the Germans were +holding the Aisne in unexpected strength. I had all but ridden round and +in front of our own cavalry outposts. + +Two miles farther back I found Huggie and one of our brigades. We had a +bit of bully and biscuit under cover of a haystack, then we borrowed +some glasses and watched bodies of Germans on the hills the other side +of the Aisne. It was raining very fast. There was no decent cover, so we +sat on the leeward side of a mound of sand. + +When we awoke the sun was setting gorgeously. Away to the west in the +direction of Soissons there was a tremendous cannonade. On the hills +opposite little points of flame showed that the Germans were replying. +On our right some infantry were slowly advancing in extended order +through a dripping turnip-field. + +The Battle of the Aisne had begun. + +We were wondering what to do when we were commandeered to take a message +down that precipitous hill of Ciry to some cavalry. It was now quite +dark and still raining. We had no carbide, and my carburetter had +jibbed, so we decided to stop at Ciry for the night. At the inn we found +many drinks--particularly some wonderful cherry brandy--and a friendly +motor-cyclist who told us of a billet that an officer was probably going +to leave. We went there. Our host was an old soldier, so, after his wife +had hung up what clothes we dared take off to dry by a red-hot stove, he +gave us some supper of stewed game and red wine, then made us cunning +beds with straw, pillows, and blankets. Too tired to thank him we +dropped asleep. + +That, though we did not know it then, was the last night of our little +Odyssey. We had been advancing or retiring without a break since my +tragic farewell to Nadine. We had been riding all day and often all +night. But those were heroic days, and now as I write this in our +comfortable slack winter quarters, I must confess--I would give anything +to have them all over again. Now we motor-cyclists are middle-aged +warriors. Adventures are work. Experiences are a routine. Then, let's be +sentimental, we were young. + +[Illustration: THE AISNE +(SOISSONS _TO_ VAILLY)] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE. + + +I'm going to start by giving you an account of what we thought of the +military situation during the great marches and the battle of the +Aisne--for my own use. What happened we shall be able to look up +afterwards in some lumbersome old history, should we forget, but, unless +I get down quickly what we thought, it will disappear in +after-knowledge. + +You will remember how the night we arrived on the Aisne Huggie and I +stretched ourselves on a sand-heap at the side of the road--just above +Ciry--and watched dim columns of Germans crawling like grey worms up the +slopes the other side of the valley. We were certain that the old +Division was still in hot cry on the heels of a rapidly retreating foe. +News came--I don't know how: you never do--that our transport and +ammunition were being delayed by the fearsome and lamentable state of +the roads. But the cavalry was pushing on ahead, and tired infantry were +stumbling in extended order through the soaked fields on either side of +us. There was hard gunnery well into the red dusk. Right down the valley +came the thunder of it, and we began to realise that divisions, perhaps +even corps, had come up on either flank. + +The ancient captain of cuirassiers, who had hauled me out of my shrine +into the rain that afternoon, made me understand there was a great and +unknown number of French on our left. From the Order before the Marne I +had learnt that a French Army had turned the German right, but the first +news I had had of French on our own right was when one staff-officer +said in front of me that the French away to the east had been held up. +That was at Doue. + +Our retreat had been solitary. The French, everybody thought, had left +us in the lurch at Mons and again at Le Cateau, when the cavalry we knew +to be there refused to help us. For all we knew the French Army had been +swept off the face of the earth. We were just retiring, and retiring +before three or four times our own numbers. We were not even supported +by the 1st Corps on our right. It was smashed, and had all it could do +to get itself away. We might have been the Ten Thousand. + +But the isolation of our desperate retreat dismayed nobody, for we all +had an unconquerable belief in the future. There must be some French +somewhere, and in spite--as we thought then--of our better judgments, we +stuck to the story that was ever being circulated: "We are luring the +Germans into a trap." It was impressed upon us, too, by "the Div." that +both at Mons and Le Cateau we were strategically victorious. We had +given the Germans so hard a knock that they could not pursue us at once; +we had covered the retirement of the 1st Corps; we had got away +successfully ourselves. We were sullen and tired victors, never +defeated. If we retreated, it was for a purpose. If we advanced, the +Germans were being crushed. + +The Germans thought we were beaten, because they didn't realise we knew +we were victorious the whole time. + +I do not say that we were always monotonously cheerful. The night after +Le Cateau we all thought the game was up,--until the morning, when +cheerfulness came with the sun. Then we sighed with relief and +remembered a little bitterly that we were "luring the Germans on." + +Many a time I have come across isolated units in hot corners who did +not see a way out. Yet if a battery or a battalion were hard hit, the +realisation of local defeat was always accompanied by a fervent faith +that "the old Fifth" was doing well. Le Cateau is a victory in the +soldier's calendar. + + Le Cateau and La Bassee, + It jolly well serves them right. + +We had been ten days or more on the Aisne before we grasped that the +force opposite us was not merely a dogged, well-entrenched rearguard, +but a section of the German line. + +Soon after we arrived a French cavalry officer had ridden into D.H.Q., +and after his departure it was freely rumoured that he had ridden right +round the German position. News began to trickle in from either flank. +Our own attacks ceased, and we took up a defensive position. It was the +beginning of trench-warfare, though owing to the nature of the country +there were few trenches. Then we heard vaguely that the famous series of +enveloping movements had begun, but by this time the Division was tired +to death, and the men were craving for a rest. + +Strategy in the ranks--it was elementary stuff pieced vaguely together. +But perhaps it will interest you at home to know what we thought out +here on this great little stage. What we did you have heard. Still, +here is the play as we acted in it. + + * * * * * + +Along the Aisne the line of our Division stretched from Venizel to the +bridge of Conde. You must not think of the river as running through a +gorge or as meandering along the foot of slopes rising directly from the +river bank. On the southern side lie the Heights of Champagne, +practically a tableland. From the river this tableland looks like a +series of ridges approaching the valley at an angle. Between the +foothills and the river runs the Soissons-Rheims road, good _pave_, and +for the most part covered by trees. To the north there is a distance of +two miles or so from the river to the hills. + +Perhaps I shall make this clearer if I take the three main points about +the position. + + * * * * * + +_First._ If you are going to put troops on the farther side of the river +you must have the means of crossing it, and you must keep those means +intact. The bridges running from left to right of our line were at +Venizel, Missy, Sermoise, and Conde. The first three were blown up. +Venizel bridge was repaired sufficiently to allow of light traffic to +cross, and fifty yards farther down a pontoon-bridge was built fit for +heavy traffic. Missy was too hot: we managed an occasional ferry. I do +not think we ever had a bridge at Sermoise. Once when in search of the +C.R.E. I watched a company of the K.O.S.B. being ferried across under +heavy rifle fire. The raft was made of ground-sheets stuffed, I think, +with straw. Conde bridge the Germans always held, or rather neither of +us held it, but the Germans were very close to it and allowed nobody to +cross. Just on our side of the bridge was a car containing two dead +officers. No one could reach them. There they sat until we left, ghastly +sentinels, and for all I know they sit there still. + +Now all communication with troops on the north bank of the river had to +pass over these bridges, of which Venizel alone was comparatively safe. +If ever these bridges should be destroyed, the troops on the north bank +would be irrevocably cut off from supplies of every sort and from +orders. I often used to wonder what would have happened if the Germans +had registered accurately upon the bridges, or if the river had risen +and swept the bridges away. + +_Second._ There was an open belt between the river and the villages +which we occupied--Bucy-le-Long, St Marguerite, Missy. The road that +wound through this belt was without the veriest trace of cover--so much +so, that for a considerable time all communication across it was carried +on by despatch riders, for a cable could never be laid. So if our +across-the-river brigades had ever been forced to retire in daylight +they would have been compelled, first to retire two miles over +absolutely open country, and then to cross bridges of which the +positions were known with tolerable accuracy to the Germans. + +_Third._ On the northern bank four or five spurs came down into the +plain, parallel with each other and literally at right angles to the +river. The key to these was a spur known as the Chivres hill or plateau. +This we found impregnable to the attack of two brigades. It was steep +and thickly wooded. Its assailants, too, could be heavily enfiladed from +either flank. + + * * * * * + +Now you have the position roughly. The tactics of our Division were +simple. In the early days, when we thought that we had merely a +determined rearguard in front of us, we attacked. Bridges--you will +remember the tale--were most heroically built. Two brigades (14th and +15th) crossed the river and halted at the very foot of the hills, where +they were almost under cover from alien fire. The third brigade was on +their right in a position I will describe later. + +Well, the two brigades attacked, and attacked with artillery support, +but they could not advance. That was the first phase. Then orders came +that we were to act on the defensive, and finally of our three brigades, +one was on the right, one across the river, and one in a second line of +trenches on the southern bank of the river acted as divisional reserve. +That for us was the battle of the Aisne. It was hard fighting all +through.[13] + +Under these conditions there was plentiful work for despatch riders. I +am going to try and describe it for you. + +When D.H.Q. are stationary, the work of despatch riders is of two kinds. +First of all you have to find the positions of the units to which you +are sent. Often the Signal Office gives you the most exiguous +information. "The 105th Brigade is somewhere near Ciry," or "The Div. +Train is at a farm just off the Paris-Bordeaux" road. Starting out with +these explicit instructions, it is very necessary to remember that they +may be wrong and are probably misleading. That is not the fault of the +Signal Office. A Unit changes ground, say from a farm on the road to a +farm off the road. These two farms are so near each other that there is +no need to inform the Div. just at present of this change of residence. +The experienced despatch rider knows that, if he is told the 105th +Brigade is at 1904 Farm, the Brigade is probably at 1894 Farm, half a +mile away. + +Again, a despatch rider is often sent out after a unit has moved and +before the message announcing the move has "come through" to the +Division. + +When the Division is advancing or retiring this exploration-work is the +only work. To find a given brigade, take the place at which it was last +reported at the Signal Office and assume it was never there. Prefer the +information you get from your fellow despatch riders. Then find out the +road along which the brigade is said to be moving. If the brigade may be +in action, take a road that will bring you to the rear of the brigade. +If there are troops in front of the brigade, strike for the head of it. +It is always quicker to ride from van to rear of a brigade than from +rear to van. + +The second kind of work consists in riding along a road already known. A +clever despatch rider may reduce this to a fine art. He knows exactly at +which corner he is likely to be sniped, and hurries accordingly. He +remembers to a yard where the sentries are. If the road is under shell +fire, he recalls where the shells usually fall, the interval between the +shells and the times of shelling. For there is order in everything, and +particularly in German gunnery. Lastly, he does not race along with nose +on handle-bar. That is a trick practised only by despatch riders who are +rarely under fire, who have come to a strange and alarming country from +Corps or Army Headquarters. The experienced motor-cyclist sits up and +takes notice the whole time. He is able at the end of his ride to give +an account of all that he has seen on the way. + +D.H.Q. were at Serches, a wee village in a hollow at the head of a +valley. So steeply did the hill rise out of the hollow to the north that +the village was certainly in dead ground. A fine road went to the west +along the valley for three miles or so to the Soissons-Rheims road. For +Venizel you crossed the main road and ran down a little hill through a +thick wood, terribly dark of nights, to the village; you crossed the +bridge and opened the throttle. + +The first time I rode north from Venizel, Moulders was with me. On the +left a few hundred yards away an ammunition section that had crossed by +the pontoon was at full gallop. I was riding fast--the road was +loathsomely open--but not too fast, because it was greasy. A shell +pitched a couple of hundred yards off the road, and then others, far +enough away to comfort me. + +A mile on the road bends sharp left and right over the railway and past +a small factory of some sort. The Germans loved this spot, and would +pitch shells on it with a lamentable frequency. Soon it became too much +of a routine to be effective. On shelling-days three shells would be +dropped one after another, an interval of three minutes, and then +another three. This we found out and rode accordingly. + +A hundred yards past the railway you ride into Bucy-le-Long and safety. +The road swings sharp to the right, and there are houses all the way to +St Marguerite. + +Once I was riding with despatches from D.H.Q. It was a heavy, misty day. +As I sprinted across the open I saw shrapnel over St Marguerite, but I +could not make out whether it was German shrapnel bursting over the +village or our shrapnel bursting over the hills beyond. I slowed down. + +Now, as I have told you, on a motor-cycle, if you are going rapidly, you +cannot hear bullets or shells coming or even shells bursting unless they +are very near. Running slowly on top, with the engine barely turning +over, you can hear everything. So I went slow and listened. Through the +air came the sharp "woop-wing" of shrapnel bursting towards you, the +most devilish sound of all. Some prefer the shriek of shrapnel to the +dolorous wail and deep thunderous crash of high explosive. But nothing +frightens me so much as the shrapnel-shriek.[14] + +Well, as I passed the little red factory I noticed that the shrapnel was +bursting right over the village, which meant that as 80 per cent of +shrapnel bullets shoot forward the village was comparatively safe. As a +matter of fact the street was full of ricochetting trifles. + +Transport was drawn up well under cover of the wall and troops were +marching in single file as near to the transport as possible. Two horses +were being led down the middle of the street. Just before they reached +me the nose of one of the horses suddenly was gashed and a stream of +blood poured out. Just a ricochet, and it decided me. Despatch riders +have to take care of themselves when H.Q. are eight miles away by road +and there is no wire. I put my motor-cycle under cover and walked the +remaining 200 yards. + +Coming back I heard some shouting, a momentary silence, then a flare of +the finest blasphemy. I turned the bend to see an officer holding his +severed wrist and cursing. He was one of those dashing fellows. He had +ridden alongside the transport swearing at the men to get a move on. He +had held up his arm to give the signal when a ricochet took his hand off +cleanly. His men said not a word,--sat with an air of calm disapproval +like Flemish oxen. + +It was one in the morning and dark on the road when I took my next +despatch to St Marguerite. Just out of Bucy I passed Moulders, who +shouted, "Ware wire and horses." Since last I had seen it the village +had been unmercifully shelled. Where the transport had been drawn up +there were shattered waggons. Strewn over the road were dead horses, of +all carcasses the most ludicrously pitiful, and wound in and out of +them, a witches' web, crawled the wire from the splintered telegraph +posts. There was not a sound in the village except the gentle thump of +my engine. I was forced to pull up, that I might more clearly see my +way between two horses. My engine silent, I could only hear a little +whisper from the house opposite and a dripping that I did not care to +understand. Farther on a house had fallen half across the road. I +scarcely dared to start my engine again in the silence of this desolate +destruction. Then I could not, because the dripping was my petrol and +not the gore of some slaughtered animal. A flooded carburettor is a +nuisance in an unsavoury village. + +At the eastern end of St Marguerite the road turns sharply south. This +is "Hell's Own Corner." From it there is a full and open view of the +Chivres valley, and conversely those in the Chivres valley can see the +corner very clearly. When we were acting on the offensive, a section of +4.5 in. howitzers were put into position just at the side of the road by +the corner. This the Germans may have discovered, or perhaps it was only +that the corner presented a tempting target, for they shelled to +destruction everything within a hundred yards. The howitzers were +rapidly put out of action though not destroyed, and a small orchard just +behind them was ploughed, riven, and scarred with high explosive and +shrapnel. + +The day St Marguerite was shelled one of the two brigadiers determined +to shift his headquarters to a certain farm. N'Soon and Grimers were +attached to the brigade at the time. "Headquarters" came to the corner. +N'Soon and Grimers were riding slowly in front. They heard a shell +coming. Grimers flung himself off his bicycle and dropped like a stone. +N'Soon opened his throttle and darted forward, foolishly. The shell +exploded. Grimers' bicycle was covered with branches and he with earth +and dust. N'Soon for some reason was not touched. + +The General and his staff were shelled nearly the whole way to the farm, +but nobody was hit. The brigade veterinary officer had a theory that the +safest place was next the General, because generals were rarely hit, but +that day his faith was shaken, and the next day--I will tell you the +story--it tottered to destruction. + +I had come through St Marguerite the night after the brigade had moved. +Of course I was riding without a light. I rounded Hell's Own Corner +carefully, very frightened of the noise my engine was making. A little +farther on I dismounted and stumbled to the postern-gate of a farm. I +opened it and went in. A sentry challenged me in a whisper and handed me +over to an orderly, who led me over the black bodies of men sleeping to +a lean-to where the General sat with a sheltered light, talking to his +staff. He was tired and anxious. I delivered my despatch, took the +receipted envelope and stumbled back to the postern-gate. Silently I +hauled my motor-cycle inside, then started on my tramp to the General +who had moved. + +After Hell's Own Corner the road swings round again to the east, and +runs along the foot of the Chivres hill to Missy. A field or so away to +the left is a thick wood inhabited for the most part by German snipers. +In the preceding days N'Soon and Sadders had done fine work along this +road in broad daylight, carrying despatches to Missy. + +I was walking, because no motor-cyclist goes by night to a battalion, +and the noise of a motor-cycle would have advertised the presence of +brigade headquarters somewhere on the road. It was a joyous tramp of two +miles into the village of dark, ominous houses. I found a weary +subaltern who put me on my way, a pitch-black lane between high walls. +At the bottom of it I stepped upon an officer, who lay across the path +asleep with his men. So tired was he that he did not wake. On over a +field to the farm. I delivered my despatch to the Brigade-Major, whose +eyes were glazed with want of sleep. He spoke to me in the pitiful +monotone of the unutterably weary. I fed off bully, hot potatoes, bread +and honey, then turned in. + +In the morning I had just finished my breakfast when a shell exploded +fifty yards behind the farm, and others followed. "Headquarters" turned +out, and we crawled along a shallow ditch at the side of a rough country +road until we were two hundred yards from the farm. We endeavoured to +get into communication with the other brigade by flag, but after the +first message a shell dropped among the farther signallers and we saw no +more of them. + +Shells began to drop near us. One fellow came uncomfortably close. It +covered us with dirt as we "froze" to the bottom of the ditch. A little +scrap of red-hot metal flew into the ground between me and the signal +sergeant in front of me. I grabbed it, but dropped it because it was so +hot; it was sent to the signal sergeant's wife and not to you. + +We crawled a hundred yards farther along to a place where the ditch was +a little deeper, and we were screened by some bushes, but I think the +General's red hat must have been marked down, because for the next hour +we lay flat listening to the zip-zip of bullets that passed barely +overhead. + +Just before we moved the Germans started to shell Missy with heavy +howitzers. Risking the bullets, we saw the village crowned with great +lumps of smoke. Our men poured out of it in more or less extended order +across the fields. I saw them running, poor little khaki figures, and +dropping like rabbits to the rifles of the snipers in the wood. + +Two hundred yards south of the St Marguerite-Missy road--that is, +between the road and the ditch in which we were lying--there is a single +line of railway on a slight embankment. Ten men in a bunch made for the +cover it afforded. One little man with an enormous pack ran a few yards +in front. Seven reached the top of the embankment, then three almost +simultaneously put their hands before their eyes and dropped across the +rails. The little man ran on until he reached us, wide-eyed, sweaty, and +breathing in short gasps. The Brigade-Major shouted to him not to come +along the road but to make across the field. Immediately the little man +heard the voice of command he halted, stood almost to attention, and +choked out, "But they're shelling us"--then, without another word he +turned off across the fields and safely reached cover. + +In the ditch we were comfortable if confined, and I was frightened when +the order came down, "Pass the word for the motor-cyclist." I crawled +up to the General, received my despatch, and started walking across the +field. Then I discovered there is a great difference between +motor-cycling under rifle fire, when you can hear only the very close +ones, and walking across a heavy turnip-field when you can hear all. +Two-thirds of the way a sharp zip at the back of my neck and a +remembrance of the three men stretched across the rails decided me. I +ran. + +At the farm where the other brigade headquarters were stationed I met +Sadders with a despatch for the general I had just left. When I +explained to him where and how to go he blenched a little, and the +bursting of a shell a hundred yards or so away made him jump, but he +started off at a good round pace. You must remember we were not used to +carrying despatches on foot. + +I rode lazily through St Marguerite and Bucy-le-Long, and turned the +corner on to the open stretch. There I waited to allow a battery that +was making the passage to attract as many shells as it liked. The +battery reached Venizel with the loss of two horses. Then, just as I was +starting off, a shell plunged into the ground by the little red factory. +As I knew it to be the first of three I waited again. + +At that moment Colonel Seely's car came up, and Colonel Seely himself +got out and went forward with me to see if the road had been damaged. +For three minutes the road should have been safe, but the German machine +became human, and in a couple of minutes Colonel Seely and I returned +covered with rich red plough and with a singing in our ears. I gave the +Colonel a couple of hundred yards start, and we sprinted across into the +safe hands of Venizel. + +Beyond Missy, which we intermittently occupied, our line extended along +the foot of the hills and crossed the Aisne about three-quarters of a +mile short of Conde bridge--and that brings me to a tale. + +One night we were healthily asleep after a full day. I had been "next +for duty" since ten o'clock, but at two I began to doze, because between +two and five there is not often work for the despatch rider. At three I +awoke to much shouting and anxious hullabaloo. The intelligence officer +was rousing us hurriedly--"All motor-cyclists turn out. Pack up kit. +Seven wanted at once in the Signal Office." + +This meant, firstly, that Divisional Headquarters were to move at once, +in a hurry, and by night; secondly, that the same despatch was to be +sent simultaneously to every unit in the Division. I asked somebody to +get my kit together, and rushed upstairs to the Signal Office. There on +the table I saw the fateful wire. + +"Germans entrenched south side of Conde bridge and are believed to be +crossing in large numbers." I was given a copy of this message to take +to the 15th Brigade, then at St Marguerite. Away on the road at full +speed I thought out what this meant. The enemy had broken through our +line--opposite Conde there were no reserves--advance parties of the +Germans might even now be approaching headquarters--large numbers would +cut us off from the Division on our right and would isolate the brigade +to which I was going; it would mean another Le Cateau. + +I tore along to Venizel, and slowing down at the bridge shouted the news +to the officer in charge--full speed across the plain to Bucy, and +caring nothing for the sentries' shouts, on to St Marguerite. I dashed +into the general's bedroom and aroused him. Almost before I had arrived +the general and his brigade-major--both in pyjamas--were issuing +commands and writing messages. Sleepy and amazed orderlies were sent out +at the double. Battalion commanders and the C.R.E. were summoned. + +I started back for D.H.Q. with an acknowledgment, and rattling through +the village came out upon the plain. + +Over Conde bridge an ochreous, heavy dawn broke sullenly. There was no +noise of firing to tell me that the men of our right brigade were making +a desperate resistance to a fierce advance. A mile from Serches I passed +a field-ambulance loaded up for instant flight; the men were standing +about in little groups talking together, as if without orders. At +Headquarters I found that a despatch rider had been sent hot-foot to +summon two despatch riders, who that night were with the corps, and +others to every unit. Everybody carried the same command--load up and be +ready to move at a moment's notice. + +Orders to move were never sent. Our two ghastly sentinels still held the +bridge. It was a SCARE. + +The tale that we heard at the time was the tale of a little German +firing--a lost patrol of ours, returning by an unauthorised road, +mistaken in the mist for Germans--a verbal message that had gone wrong. +As for the lieutenant who--it was said--first started the hare, his name +was burnt with blasphemy for days and days. The only men who came out of +it well were some of our cyclists, who, having made their nightly patrol +up to the bridge, returned just before dawn to D.H.Q. and found the +Division trying to make out that it had not been badly frightened. + +I did not hear what really happened at the bridge that night until I +published my paper, "The Battle of the Aisne," in the May 'Blackwood.' +Here is the story as I had it from the officer principally concerned:-- + +Conde bridge was under our control by shell-fire alone, so that we were +obliged to patrol its unpleasant neighbourhood by night. For this +purpose an "officer's patrol" was organised (in addition to the +"standing patrol" provided by the Cyclists) and supplied every night by +different battalions. So many conflicting reports were received nightly +about the bridge that the officer who told me the story was appointed +Brigade Patrolling Officer. + +He established himself in a certain wood, and on the night in question +worked right up beyond Conde bridge--until he found a burning house +about 200 yards beyond the bridge on the south side of it. In the flare +of the house he was surprised to discover Germans entrenched in an old +drain on the British side of the river. He had unknowingly passed this +body of the enemy. + +He heard, too, a continuous stream of Germans in the transport marching +through the woods towards the bridge. Working his way back, he reported +the matter personally to the Brigadier of the 13th, who sent the famous +message to the Division. + +It appears that the Germans had come down to fill their water-carts that +night, and to guard against a surprise attack had pushed forward two +platoons across the bridge into the drain. Unfortunately one of our +patrols disobeyed its orders that night and patrolled a forbidden +stretch of road. The officer shot two of these men in the dark. + +Three days later the outpost company on Vesle bridge of the Aisne was +surrounded, and, later still, Conde bridge passed out of our artillery +control, and was finally crossed by the Germans. + +I have written of this famous scare of Conde bridge in detail, not +because it was characteristic, but because it was exceptional. It is the +only scare we ever had in our Division, and amongst those who were on +the Aisne, and are still with the Division, it has become a phrase for +encouragement--"Only another Conde." + +During the first days on this monotonous river, the days when we +attacked, the staff of our right brigade advanced for a time into open +country and took cover behind the right haystack of three. To this +brigade Huggie took a message early one morning, and continued to take +messages throughout the day because--this was his excuse--he knew the +road. It was not until several months later that I gathered by chance +what had happened on that day, for Huggie, quite the best despatch rider +in our Division, would always thwart my journalistic curiosity by +refusing resolutely to talk about himself. The rest of us swopped yarns +of an evening. + +These haystacks were unhealthy: so was the approach to them. First one +haystack was destroyed. The brigade went to the next. This second was +blown to bits. The staff took refuge behind the third. In my letters I +have told you of the good things the other despatch riders in our +Division have done, but to keep up continuous communication all day with +this be-shelled and refugee brigade was as fine a piece of despatch +riding as any. It received its proper reward, as you know. + +Afterwards the brigade emigrated to a hillside above Ciry, and remained +there. Now the German gunner in whose sector Ciry was included should +not be dismissed with a word. He was a man of uncertain temper and +accurate shooting, for in the first place he would shell Ciry for a few +minutes at any odd time, and in the second he knocked a gun out in three +shells and registered accurately, when he pleased, upon the road that +led up a precipitous hill to the edge of the Serches hollow. On this +hill he smashed some regimental transport to firewood and killed a dozen +horses, and during one of his sudden shellings of the village blew a +house to pieces just as a despatch rider, who had been told the village +that morning was healthy, rode by. + +You must not think that we were for ever scudding along, like the +typical "motor-cyclist scout" in the advertisements, surrounded with +shells. There was many a dull ride even to Bucy-le-Long. An expedition +to the Div. Train (no longer an errant and untraceable vagabond) was +safe and produced jam. A ride to Corps Headquarters was only dangerous +because of the innumerable and bloodthirsty sentries surrounding that +stronghold. + +One afternoon a report came through to the Division that a motor-car lay +derelict at Missy. So "the skipper" called for two volunteers who should +be expert mechanics. Divisional Signal companies were not then provided +with cars, and if the C.O. wished to go out to a brigade, which might be +up to or over eight miles away, he was compelled to ride a horse, +experiment with a motor-cycle that was probably badly missed by the +despatch riders, or borrow one of the staff cars. Huggie and the elder +Cecil volunteered. + +As soon as it was dusk they rode down to Sermoise, and crossing by the +ferry--it was perilous in the dark--made their way with difficulty +across country to Missy, which was then almost in front of our lines. +They found the car, and examining it discovered that to outward +appearance it was sound,--a great moment when after a turn or two of the +handle the engine roared into the darkness, but the noise was alarming +enough because the Germans were none too far away. + +They started on their journey home--by St Marguerite and Venizel. Just +after they had left the village the beam of an alien searchlight came +sweeping along the road. Before the glare had discovered their nakedness +they had pulled the car to the side of the road under the shelter of the +hedge nearest the Germans, and jumping down had taken cover. By all the +rules of the game it was impossible to drive a car that was not exactly +silent along the road from Missy to Hell's Own Corner. The searchlight +should have found them, and the fire of the German snipers should have +done the rest. But their luck was in, and they made no mistakes. +Immediately the beam had passed they leaped on to the car and tore +scathless into St Marguerite and so back to the Division. + +After its capture the car was exhibited with enormous pride to all that +passed by. We should not have been better pleased if we had captured the +whole Prussian Guard. For prisoners disappear and cannot always be shown +to prove the tale. The car was an [Greek: aei ktema]. + +In the morning we rode down into Sermoise for the motor-cycles. Sermoise +had been shelled to pieces, but I shall never forget a brave and +obstinate inhabitant who, when a shell had gone through his roof and +demolished the interior of his house, began to patch his roof with +bully-tins and biscuit-tins that he might at least have shelter from the +rain. + +Elated with our capture of the car we scented greater victories. We +heard of a motor-boat on the river near Missy, and were filled with +visions of an armoured motor-boat, stuffed with machine-guns, plying up +and down the Aisne. Huggie and another made the excursion. The boat was +in an exposed and altogether unhealthy position, but they examined it, +and found that there was no starting-handle. In the village forge, which +was very completely fitted up, they made one that did not fit, and then +another, but however much they coaxed, the engine would not start. So +regretfully they left it. + +To these adventures there was a quiet background of uncomfortable but +pleasant existence. Life on the Aisne was like a "reading party"--only +instead of working at our books we worked at soldiering. + +The night that Huggie and I slept down at Ciry, the rest of the despatch +riders, certain that we were taken, encamped at Ferme d'Epitaphe, for +the flooded roads were impassable. There we found them in the morning, +and discovered they had prepared the most gorgeous stew of all my +recollection. + +Now, to make a good stew is a fine art, for a stew is not merely a +conglomeration of bully and vegetables and water boiled together until +it looks nice. First the potatoes must be cut out to a proper size and +put in; of potatoes there cannot be too many. As for the vegetables, a +superfluity of carrots is a burden, and turnips should be used with a +sparing hand. A full flavour of leek is a great joy. When the vegetables +are nearly boiled, the dixie should be carefully examined by all to see +if it is necessary to add water. If in doubt spare the water, for a rich +thick gravy is much to be desired. Add bully, and get your canteens +ready. + +This particular stew made by Orr was epic. At all other good stews it +was recalled and discussed, but never did a stew come up to the stew +that we so scrupulously divided among us on the bright morning of Sept. +12, 1914, at Ferme d'Epitaphe, above Serches. + +Later in the day we took over our billet, a large bicycle shed behind +the school in which D.H.Q. were installed. The front of it was open, the +floor was asphalt, the roof dripped, and we shared it with the +Divisional Cyclists. So close were we packed that you could not turn in +your sleep without raising a storm of curses, and if you were called out +of nights you were compelled to walk boldly over prostrate bodies, +trusting to luck that you did not step on the face of a man who woke +suddenly and was bigger than yourself. + +On the right of our dwelling was a little shed that was once used as a +guard-room. A man and woman were brought in under suspicion of +espionage. The woman was put in the shed. There she shrieked the night +through, shouted for her husband (he had an ugly-sounding name that we +could not understand), and literally tore her hair. The language of the +Cyclists was an education even to the despatch riders, who once had been +told by their Quartermaster-Sergeant that they left the cavalry +standing. Finally, we petitioned for her removal, and once again slept +peacefully. The Court of Inquiry found the couple were not spies, but +unmarried. So it married them and let them go. + +The Cyclists were marvellous and indefatigable makers of tea. At any +unearthly hour you might be gently shaken by the shoulder and a voice +would whisper-- + +"'Ave a drop o' tea--real 'ot and plenty o' sugar." + +Never have I come back from a night ride without finding a couple of +cyclists squatting out in the gloom round a little bright fire of their +own making, with some fine hot tea. Wherever they go may they never want +a drink! + +And never shall I forget that fine bit of roast pork my friend Sergeant +Croucher insisted on sharing with me one evening! I had not tasted fresh +meat for weeks. + +George was our unofficial Quartermaster. He was and is a great man, +always cheerful, able to coax bread, vegetables, wine, and other +luxuries out of the most hardened old Frenchwoman; and the French, +though ever pathetically eager to do anything for us, always charged a +good round price. Candles were a great necessity, and could not be +bought, but George always had candles for us. I forget at the moment +whether they were for "Le General French, qui arrive," or "Les pauvres, +pauvres, blesses." On two occasions George's genius brought him into +trouble, for military law consists mainly of the commandment-- + +"Thou shalt not allow thyself to be found out." + +We were short of firewood. So George discovered that his engine wanted a +little tuning, and started out on a voyage of discovery. Soon he came +upon a heap of neatly cut, neatly piled wood. He loaded up until he +heard shouts, then fled. That night we had a great fire, but in the +morning came tribulation. The shouts were the shouts of the C.R.E. and +the wood was an embryonic bridge. Severely reprimanded. + +Then there was the Honey Question. There were bees in the village and we +had no honey. The reputation of George was at stake. So one night we +warily and silently approached some hives with candles; unfortunately we +were interfered with by the military police. Still an expedition into +the hedgerows and woods always had an excuse in time of war, and we made +it. + +The village of Acy, high on the hill above the road to Venizel, was the +richest hunting-ground. First, there was a bread-shop open at certain +hours. George was often late, and, disdaining to take his place in the +long line of those who were not despatch riders, would march straight in +and demand bread for one of his two worthy charities. When these were +looked upon with suspicion he engineered a very friendly understanding +with the baker's wife. + +Then there was a dark little shop where you could buy good red wine, and +beyond it a farmer with vegetables to sell. But his greatest find was +the chateau, which clung to the edge of the hill and overlooked the +valley of the Aisne to Conde Fort and the Hill of Chivres. + +Searching one morning amongst a pile of captured and derelict stuff we +discovered a canvas bath. Now, not one of us had had a bath since Havre, +so we made arrangements. Three of us took the bath up to the chateau, +then inhabited by a caretaker and his wife. They brought us great pails +of hot water, and for the first time in a month we were clean. Then we +had tea and talked about the Germans who had passed through. The German +officer, the old woman told us, had done them no harm, though he had +seized everything without paying a sou. Just before he left bad news was +brought to him. He grew very angry, and shouted to her as he rode off-- + +"You shall suffer for this when we return;" but she laughed and shouted +back at him, mocking-- + +"When you return!" + +And then the English came. + +After tea we smoked our pipes in the terraced garden, watched the +Germans shelling one of our aeroplanes, examined the German lines, and +meditated in safety on the war just like newspaper correspondents. + +It was in Serches itself that George received the surprise of his life. +He was after potatoes, and seeing a likely-looking old man pass, D.H.Q. +ran after him. In his best French--"Avez-vous pommes-de-terre a vendre?" +The old man turned round, smiled, and replied in broadest Yorkshire, +"Wanting any 'taters?" George collapsed. + +It seems that the old fellow had settled in Serches years and years +before. He had a very pretty daughter, who spoke a delectable mixture of +Yorkshire and the local dialect. Of course she was suspected of being a +spy--in fact, probably was--so the military police were set to watch +her,--a job, I gathered later from one of them, much to their liking. + +Our life on the Aisne, except for little exciting episodes, was restful +enough. We averaged, I should think, a couple of day messages and one +each night, though there were intermittent periods of high pressure. We +began to long for the strenuous first days, and the Skipper, finding +that we were becoming unsettled, put us to drill in our spare time and +gave some of us riding lessons. Then came rumours of a move to a +rest-camp, probably back at Compiegne. The 6th Division arrived to take +over from us, or so we were told, and Rich and Cuffe came over with +despatches. We had not seen them since Chatham. They regarded us as +veterans, and we told them the tale. + +One afternoon some artillery of this division came through the valley. +They were fine and fresh, but not a single one of us believed they +equalled ours. There was a line of men to watch them pass, and everybody +discovered a friend until practically at every stirrup there was a man +inquiring after a pal, answering questions, and asking what they thought +in England, and how recruiting was going. The air rang with crude, +great-hearted jokes. We motor-cyclists stood aside just criticising the +guns and men and horses. We felt again that shyness we had felt at +Chatham in front of the professional soldier. Then we remembered that we +had been through the Retreat and the Advance, and went back to tea +content. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] I do not pretend for a moment that all these details are +meticulously accurate. They are what I knew or thought I knew at the +time this was written. + +[14] Curiously enough, months after this was written the author was +wounded by shrapnel. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE MOVE TO THE NORTH. + + +We left Serches at dusk with little regret and pushed on over the hill +past Ferme d'Epitaphe of gluttonous memory, past the Headquarter clerks, +who were jogging peacefully along on bicycles, down the other side of +the hill, and on to the village of Maast. + +Headquarters were in a curious farm. One side of its court was formed by +a hill in which there were caves--good shelter for the men. There was +just one run that night to Corps H.Q. in a chateau three miles farther +on. + +The morning was clear and sunny. A good, lazy breakfast preluded a great +wash. Then we chatted discreetly with a Paris _midinette_ at the gate of +the farm. Though not in Flanders, she was of the Flemish type,--bright +colouring, high cheek-bones, dark eyes. On these little social +occasions--they came all too rarely; that is why I always mention +them--there was much advantage in being only a corporal. Officers, even +Staff Officers, as they passed threw at us a look of admiration and +envy. A salute was cheap at the price. + +In the afternoon there was a run, and when I returned I found that the +rest-camp rumour had been replaced by two others--either we were going +into action immediately a little farther along the line beyond Soissons, +or we were about to make a dash to Ostend for the purpose of outflanking +the Germans. + +We moved again at dusk, and getting clear of the two brigades with H.Q. +rode rapidly twenty miles across country, passing over the road by which +we had advanced, to Longpont, a big dark chateau set in a wood and with +a French sentry at the gate. Our third brigade was trekking away into +the darkness as we came in. We slept in a large room on straw +mattresses--very comforting to the bones. + +The morning was again gorgeous, and again we breakfasted late and well. +The chateau we discovered to be monumental, and beside it, set in a +beautiful garden, was a ruined chapel, where a service was held--the +first we had been able to attend since the beginning of the war. + +Our host, an old man, thin and lithe, and dressed in shiny black, came +round during the day to see that we had all we needed. We heard a +tale--I do not know how true it was--that the Crown Prince had stayed at +the chateau. He had drunk much ancient and good wine, and what he had +not drunk he had taken away with him, together with some objects of art. +The chateau was full of good things. + +During the day I had a magnificent run of forty miles over straight dry +roads to Hartennes, where, if you will remember, that great man, +Sergeant Croucher of the cyclists, had given us tea, and on to Chacrise +and Maast. It was the first long and open run I had had since the days +of the retreat, when starting from La Pommeraye I had ridden through the +forest to Compiegne in search of the Divisional Train. + +Just after I had returned we started off again--at dusk. I was sent +round to a place, the name of which I cannot remember, to a certain +division; then I struck north along a straight road through the forest +to Villers-Cotterets. The town was crammed with French motor-lorries and +crowded with French troops, who greeted me hilariously as I rode through +to Veze. + +There we slept comfortably in the lodge of the chateau, all, that is, +except Grimers, who had been seized with a puncture just outside the +main hotel in Villers-Cotterets. + +In the morning I had a fine run to a brigade at Bethancourt, the little +village, you will remember, where we lunched off an excellent omelette, +and convinced the populace, with the help of our host, that the Germans +would come no farther. + +While I was away the rest discovered some excellent white wine in the +cellar of the lodge, and before starting again at dusk we made a fine +meal. Cecil and I remained after the others had gone, and when the wife +of the lodge-keeper came in and expressed her utter detestation of all +troops, we told her that we were shedding our blood for France, and +offered her forgetfully a glass of her own good wine. + +That night we slept at Bethisy St Martin. On the retreat, you will +remember, the lord of the chateau had given some of the despatch riders +dinner, before they learnt that D.H.Q. had been diverted to +Crecy-en-Valois. He recognised us with joy, allowed us to take things +from the kitchen, and in the morning hunted out for us a tennis set. +Four of us who were not on duty played a great game on a very passable +gravel court. + +We now heard that "the Division" was convinced that we were going to +make a dash for Ostend, and rumour seemed to crystallise into truth +when orders came that we were to entrain that night at Pont St Maxence. + +The despatch riders rode ahead of the column, and received a joyous +welcome in the town. We stalked bravely into a cafe, and drank loud and +hearty toasts with some friendly but rather drunk French soldiers. +Gascons they were, and d'Artagnans all, from their proper boasting--the +heart of a lion and the cunning of a fox, they said. One of us was +called into a more sober chamber to drink ceremonious toasts in +champagne with their officers. In the street another of us--I would not +give even his initial--selecting the leading representative of young, +demure, and ornamental maidenhood, embraced her in the middle of the +most admiring crowd I have ever seen, while the rest of us explained to +a half-angry mother that her daughter should be proud and happy--as +indeed she was--to represent the respectable and historic town of Pont +St Maxence. + +Then, amidst shrieks and cheers and cries of "Brave Tommy" and "We love +you," the despatch riders of the finest and most famous of all Divisions +rode singing to the station, where we slept peacefully on straw beside a +large fire until the train came in and the Signal Company arrived. + +Our entraining at Pont St Maxence began with a carouse and ended with a +cumulative disappointment. In the middle was the usual wait, a tiresome +but necessary part of all military evolutions. To entrain a Signal +Company sounds so simple. Here is the company--there is the train. But +first comes the man-handling of cable-carts on to trucks that were built +for the languid conveyance of perambulators. Then follows a little +horseplay, and only those who, like myself, regard horses as +unmechanical and self-willed instruments of war, know how terrifying a +sight and how difficult a task the emboxing of a company's horses can +be. Motor-cycles are heavy and have to be lifted, but they do not make +noises and jib and rear, and look every moment as if they were going to +fall backward on to the interested spectator. + +We despatch riders fetched a great deal of straw and made ourselves +comfortable in one of those waggons that are marked outside, with such +splendid optimism-- + + _Chevaux_ . . . . 8 + _Hommes_ . . . . 40-5 + +With our friend the Post-Sergeant and his underling there were roughly a +dozen of us and no superfluity of space, but, seeing men wandering +fiercely up and down the train under the command of our Sergeant-Major, +we took in a H.Q. clerk. This ruffled us, but it had to be done. The +Sergeant-Major came to our waggon. We stood at the door and pointed out +to him that we had in our waggon not only all the despatch riders, but +also the whole of the Postal and Headquarters Staffs. He said nothing to +us--only told ten more men to get in. Finally we were twenty-five in +all, with full equipment. Thinking of the 40-5 we settled down and +managed to effect a compromise of room which, to our amazement, left us +infinitely more comfortable than we had been in the III^{me} coming up +from Havre to Landrecies. + +The train shuffled out of the station just before dawn. We slept a bit, +and then, just as it was getting light, started our pipes and began to +talk of the future. + +The general opinion favoured Ostend, though a sergeant hazarded that we +were going to be shipped swiftly across to England to defend the East +Coast. This suggestion was voted impossible and tactless--at least, we +didn't put it quite like that. Ostend it was going to be--train to +Abbeville, and then boat to Ostend, and a rapid march against the German +flank. + +The discussion was interrupted by somebody saying he had heard from +somebody who had been told by his Major, that 60,000 Germans had been +killed in the last two days, Von Kluck had been killed by a lucky shell, +and the Crown Prince had committed suicide. We were bringing the +cynicism of youth to bear on the trustfulness of a mature mercenary when +the train arrived at Amiens. + +Some washed. Some meditated on a train of French wounded and another +train of Belgian refugees, humble and pitiful objects, very smelly. Two, +not waiting for orders, rushed to the buffet and bought beer and +sardines and chocolate and bread. One of these was cut off from his +waggon by a long goods train that passed through, but he knew the ways +of military trains, waited till the goods had passed, then ran after us +and caught us up after a mile's jog-trot. The good people of Amiens, who +had not so very long before been delivered from the Germans, were +exceedingly affectionate, and threw us fruit, flowers, and kisses. Those +under military age shrieked at the top of their shrill little trebles-- + +Engleesh--Tipperary--Biskeet--Biskeet--Souvenir. + +We have never understood the cry of "Biskeet." The fat little fellows +were obviously well nourished. Perhaps, dog-like, they buried their +biscuits with a thought for the time when the English should be +forgotten and hunger should take their place as something very present. + +So joyously we were rushed north at about five miles an hour, or eight +kilometres per hour, which sounds better. Early in the afternoon we came +to Abbeville, a hot and quiet station, and, with the aid of some London +Scottish, disembarked. From these Scots we learnt that the French were +having a rough time just north of Arras, that train-load upon train-load +of wounded had come through, that our Corps (the 2nd) was going up to +help. + +So even now we do not know whether we really were going to Ostend and +were diverted to the La Bassee district to help the French who had got +themselves into a hole, or whether Ostend was somebody's little tale. + +We rode through the town to the Great Barracks, where we were given a +large and clean ward. The washing arrangements were sumptuous and we had +truckle-beds to sleep upon, but the sanitation, as everywhere in France, +was vile. We kicked a football about on the drill-ground. Then some of +us went down into the town, while the rest of us waited impatiently for +them to come back, taking a despatch or two in the meanwhile. + +From the despatch rider's point of view Abbeville is a large and +admiring town, with good restaurants and better baths. These baths were +finer than the baths of Havre--full of sweet-scented odours and the +deliciously intoxicating fumes of good soap and plenteous boiling-water. + +In a little restaurant we met some friends of the 3rd Division and a +couple of London Scots, who were getting heartily sick of the L. of C., +though taking prisoners round the outskirts of Paris had, I gather, its +charm even for the most ardent warriors. + +In the morning there was parade, a little football, and then a stroll +into the town. I had just finished showing an Intelligence Officer how +to get a belt back on to the pulley of his motor-cycle when Cecil met me +and told me we were to move north that evening. + +We had a delectable little tea, bought a map or two, and then strolled +back to the barracks. In half an hour we were ready to move off, kit +piled high upon our carriers, looking for all the world (said our C.O.) +like those funny little animals that carry their houses upon their backs +and live at the bottom of ponds. Indeed it was our boast that--such was +our ingenuity--we were able to carry more kit than any regimental +officer. + +It was dusk when N'Soon and I pushed off,--we had remained behind to +deal with messages that might come in foolishly after the Division had +left. We took the great highroad to Calais, and, carefully passing the +General, who was clattering along with his staff and an escort of +Hussars, we pulled up to light our lamps at a little estaminet with +glowing red blinds just like the blinds of certain hospitable taverns in +the city of Oxford. The coincidence was so remarkable that we were +compelled to enter. + +We found a roaring, leaping log-fire, a courteous old Frenchman who +drank our healths, an immense omelette, some particularly good coffee, +and the other despatch riders. + +That night it was freezing hard. With our chairs drawn in close to the +fire, a glass of something to keep the cold out ready to hand, and pipes +going strong, we felt sorry for the general and his escort who, probably +with chilled lips and numbed fingers, jogged resoundingly through the +village street. + +Twenty minutes later we took the road, and soon, pretending that we had +lost our way, again passed the general--and lost our way, or at least +rode well past our turning. Finally, colder than we had ever been +before, we reached the Chateau at Gueschart. There we found a charming +and hospitable son of the house and a pleasantly adoring lad. With +their aid we piled the floor of the harness-room with straw, and those +of us who were not on duty slept finely. + +From the dawn of the next morning we were working at top pressure right +through the day, keeping in touch with the brigades which were billeted +in villages several miles distant. + +Late in the afternoon we discovered we were very short of petrol, so I +was sent off to Crecy in our famous captured car, with a requisition. We +arrived amidst cheers. I strode into the nearest garage and demanded 100 +litres of petrol. It was humbly brought and placed in the car: then I +sent boys flying round the town for jam and bread and butter, and in the +meantime we entertained the crowd by showing them a German helmet. I +explained volubly that my bandaged fingers--there was an affair of +outposts with an ambulance near Serches--were the work of shrapnel, and +they nearly embraced me. A boy came back and said there was no jam, so +the daughter of the house went to her private cupboard and brought me +out two jars of jam she had made herself, and an enormous glass of wine. +We drove off amidst more cheers, to take the wrong road out of the town +in our great excitement. + +The brigades moved that night; headquarters remained at Gueschart until +dawn, when the general started off in his car with two of us attendant. + +Now before the war a motor-cyclist would consider himself ill-used if he +were forced to take a car's dust for a mile or so. Your despatch rider +was compelled to follow in the wake of a large and fast Daimler for +twenty-five miles, and at the end of it he did not know which was him +and which dust. + +We came upon the 15th, shivering in the morning cold, and waiting for +some French motor-buses. Then we rushed on to St Pol, which was crammed +full of French transport, and on to Chateau Bryas. Until the other +despatch riders came up there was no rest for the two of us that had +accompanied the car. The roads, too, were blocked with refugees flying +south from Lille and men of military age who had been called up. Once +again we heard the distant sound of guns--for the first time since we +had been at the Chateau of Longpont. + +At last we were relieved for an hour, and taking possession of a kitchen +we fried some pork-chops with onions and potatoes. It was grand. We +washed them down with coffee, and went back to duty. For the remainder +of that day and for the whole of the night there was no rest for us. + +At dawn the Division marched in column of route north-east towards the +sound of the guns. + +Half of us at a time slipped away and fed in stinking taverns--but the +food was good. + +I cannot remember a hotter day, and we were marching through a +thickly-populated mining district--the villages were uncomfortably like +those round Dour. The people were enthusiastic and generous with their +fruit and with their chocolate. It was very tiring work, because we were +compelled to ride with the Staff, for first one of us was needed and +then another to take messages up and down the column or across country +to brigades and divisions that were advancing along roads parallel to +ours. The old Division was making barely one mile an hour. The road was +blocked by French transport coming in the opposite direction, by 'buses +drawn up at the side of the road, and by cavalry that, trekking from the +Aisne, crossed our front continuously to take up their position away on +the left. + +At last, about three o'clock in the afternoon, we reached the outskirts +of Bethune. The sound of the guns was very near, and to the east of the +town we could see an aeroplane haloed in bursting shrapnel. + +The Staff took refuge first in an unsavoury field and afterwards in a +little house. Despatch after despatch until evening--and then, ordered +to remain behind to direct others, and cheered by the sight of our most +revered and most short-sighted staff-officer walking straight over a +little bridge into a deep, muddy, and stinking ditch, I took refuge in +the kitchen and experienced the discreeter pleasures of "the Force." The +handmaidens brought coffee, and brushed me and washed me and talked to +me. I was sorry when the time came for me to resume my beat, or rather +to ride with Cecil after the Division. + +We passed some Turcos, happy-looking children but ill companions in a +hostile country, and some Spahis with flowing burnous, who looked +ridiculously out of place, and then, after a long search--it was dark on +the road and very cold--we found the Division. + +I dined off a maconochie, and was wondering whether I dare lie down to +sleep, when I was called out to take a message to and remain at the 13th +Brigade. It was a bad night. Never was a man so cold in his life, and +the brigade had taken up its quarters in a farm situated in the centre +of a very labyrinth of country roads. But I had four hours' sleep when I +got there, while the others were up all the night. + +There was no hurry in the morning. The orders were to join the Division +at a bridge just outside Bethune, a point which they could not possibly +reach before ten. So I got up late and had a glorious meal of soup, +omelette, and fruit in the town, waited on by a most excellent flapper +who wanted to know everything about everything. I reported at the Signal +Office, then occupying the lodge of the town cemetery, and was sent off +to catch the Devons. At the village where I waited for them I found some +Cuirassiers, genial fellows; but living helios in the burning sun. When +I returned the Division had moved along the north bank of the Canal to +Beuvry Station. The post picked us up, and in the joyous possession of +two parcels and some letters I unpacked my kit. We all settled down on +some moderately clean straw in the waiting-room of the station, and +there we remained for three full weeks. + +Men talk of the battle of Ypres[15] as the finest achievement of the +British Army. There was one brigade there that had a past. It had fought +at Mons and Le Cateau, and then plugged away cheerfully through the +Retreat and the Advance. What was left of it had fought stiffly on the +Aisne. Some hard marching, a train journey, more hard marching, and it +was thrown into action at La Bassee. There it fought itself to a +standstill. It was attacked and attacked until, shattered, it was +driven back one wild night. It was rallied, and turning on the enemy +held them. More hard marching--a couple of days' rest, and it staggered +into action at Ypres, and somehow--no one knows how--it held its bit of +line. A brigade called by the same name, consisting of the same +regiments, commanded by the same general, but containing scarce a man of +those who had come out in August, marched very proudly away from Ypres +and went--not to rest--but to hold another bit of the line. + +And this brigade was not the Guards Brigade. There were no picked men in +the brigade. It contained just four ordinary regiments of the line--the +Norfolks, the Bedfords, the Cheshires, and the Dorsets. What the 15th +Brigade did, other brigades have done. + +Now little has been heard of this fighting round La Bassee in October, +so I wish I could tell you about it in more detail than I can. To my +thinking it was the finest fighting I have seen. + +You will understand, then, how difficult it is for me to describe the +country round La Bassee. I might describe it as it appeared to me when +first we arrived--sunny and joyous, with many little farms and thick +hedges and rare factories--or as I saw it last, on a horrible yellowish +evening, shattered and black and flooded and full of ghosts. + +Now when first we arrived news filtered through to us that La Bassee was +held only by a division of Jaegers, plentifully supplied with artillery +and machine guns. I believe this was the fact. The Jaegers held on +stubbornly until reinforcements came up. Instead of attacking we were +hard pressed, and had more than we could do to prevent the Germans in +their turn from breaking through. Indeed we had not a kick left in us +when the Division was relieved. + +At the beginning it looked so simple. The British Army was wheeling +round on to the German right flank. We had the shortest distance to go, +because we formed the extreme British right. On our left was the 3rd +Division, and beyond the 3rd was the First Corps. On the left of the +First the Third Corps was sweeping on to Armentieres. + +Then Antwerp fell suddenly. The First Corps was rushed up to help the +Seventh Division which was trying to guard the right flank of the +Belgians in retirement along the coast. Thus some sort of very weak line +was formed from the sea to La Bassee. The Germans, reinforced by the +men, and more particularly by the guns that the fall of Antwerp had let +loose, attacked violently at Ypres and La Bassee. I do not say this is +what really happened. I am trying to tell you what we thought was +happening. + +Think of us, then, in the heat of early October going into action on the +left of the French, confident that we had just a little opposition to +brush away in front of us before we concentrated in the square at La +Bassee. + +At first the 13th Brigade was put into position south of the canal, the +15th Brigade attacked from the canal to the La Bassee-Estaires road, and +the 14th from the main road roughly to the Richebourgs. In the second +stage the French extended their line to the Canal, and the 13th became a +reserve brigade. In the third stage we had every man in the line--the +13th Brigade being split up between the 14th and 15th, and the French +sent two battalions to the north bank of the canal. + +The work of the despatch riders was of two kinds. Three-quarters of us +rode between the divisional and the brigade headquarters. The rest were +attached to the brigades, and either used for miscellaneous work or held +in reserve so that communication might not be broken if the wires were +cut or smashed by shells. + +One motor-cyclist went out every day to Lieutenant Chapman, who was +acting as liaison officer with the French. This job never fell to my +lot, but I am told it was exciting enough. The French general was an +intrepid old fellow, who believed that a general should be near his +fighting men. So his headquarters were always being shelled. Then he +would not retire, but preferred to descend into the cellar until the +evil times were overpast. + +The despatch rider with Chapman had his bellyful of shells. It was +pleasant to sit calmly in a cellar and receive food at the hands of an +accomplished _chef_, and in more peaceful times there was opportunity to +study the idiosyncrasies of German gunners and the peculiar merits of +the Soixante-Quinze. But when the shelling was hottest there was usually +work for the despatch rider--and getting away from the unhealthy area +before scooting down the Annequin road was a heart-thumping job. + +French generals were always considerate and hospitable to us despatch +riders. On our arrival at Bethune Huggie was sent off with a message to +a certain French Corps Commander. The General received him with a proper +French embrace, congratulated him on our English bravery, and set him +down to some food and a glass of good wine. + +It was at La Bassee that we had our first experience of utterly +unrideable roads. North of the canal the roads were fair macadam in dry +weather and to the south the main road Bethune-Beuvry-Annequin was of +the finest pave. Then it rained hard. First the roads became greasy +beyond belief. Starting was perilous, and the slightest injudicious +swerve meant a bad skid. Between Gorre and Festubert the road was vile. +It went on raining, and the roads were thickly covered with glutinous +mud. The front mud-guard of George's Douglas choked up with a lamentable +frequency. The Blackburne alone, the finest and most even-running of all +motor-cycles,[16] ran with unswerving regularity. + +Finally, to our heartburning sorrow, there were nights on which +motor-cycling became impossible, and we stayed restlessly at home while +men on the despised horse carried our despatches. This we could not +allow for long. Soon we became so skilled that, if I remember correctly, +it was only on half a dozen nights in all right through the winter that +the horsemen were required. + +It was at La Bassee too that we had our second casualty. A despatch +rider whom we called "Moulders" came in one evening full of triumph. A +bullet had just grazed his leg and the Government was compelled to +provide him with a new puttee. We were jealous, and he was proud. + +We slept in that room which was no room, the entrance-hall of Beuvry +Station. It was small and crowded. The floor was covered with straw +which we could not renew. After the first fortnight the population of +this chamber increased rapidly; one or two of us spoke of himself +hereafter in the plural. They gave far less trouble than we had +expected, and, though always with some of us until the spring, suffered +heavy casualties from the use of copious petrol and the baking of washed +shirts in the village oven. + +We had been given a cook of our own. He was a youth of dreamy habits and +acquisitive tastes, but sometimes made a good stew. Each one of us +thought he himself was talented beyond the ordinary, so the cook never +wanted assistance--except perhaps in the preparing of breakfast. Food +was good and plentiful, while the monotony of army rations was broken by +supplies from home and from Bethune. George, thank heaven, was still +with us. + +Across the bridge was a shop where you could buy anything from a pair of +boots to a kilo of vermicelli. Those of us who were not on duty would +wander in about eleven in the morning, drink multitudinous bowls of +coffee at two sous the bowl, and pass the time of day with some of the +cyclists who were billeted in the big brewery. Just down the road was a +tavern where infernal cognac could be got and occasionally good red +wine. + +Even when there was little to do, the station was not dull. French +hussars, dainty men with thin and graceful horses, rode over the bridge +and along the canal every morning. Cuirassiers would clatter and swagger +by--and guns, both French and English. Behind the station much +ammunition was stored, a source of keen pleasure if ever the Germans had +attempted to shell the station. It was well within range. During the +last week His Majesty's armoured train, "Jellicoe," painted in wondrous +colours, would rumble in and on towards La Bassee. The crew were full of +Antwerp tales and late newspapers. The first time the train went into +action it demolished a German battery, but afterwards it had little +luck. + +The corps was at Hinges. If work were slack and the Signal Sergeant +were kind, he would give one of us a bunch of messages for the corps, +with the hint that the return might be made at leisure. Between Hinges +and Beuvry lay Bethune. Hinges deserves a word. + +When first the corps came to Hinges, the inhabitants were exalted. The +small boys came out in puttees and the women put ribbons in their hair. +Now, if you pronounce Hinges in the French fashion, you give forth an +exclamation of distressful pain. The name cannot be shouted from a +motor-cycle. It has its difficulties even for the student of French. So +we all called it, plainly and bluntly, Hinges, as though it were +connected to a door. The inhabitants noticed this. Thinking that they +and their forefathers had been wrong--for surely these fine men with red +hats knew better than they--the English pronunciation spread. The +village became 'Ingees, and now only some unfashionable dotards in +Bethune preserve the tradition of the old pronunciation. It is not only +Hinges that has been thus decently attired in British garb. Le Cateau is +Lee Catoo. Boescheppe is Bo-peep. Ouderdon is Eiderdown. + +Bethune was full of simple pleasures. First there were the public baths, +cheap and good, and sundry coiffeurs who were much in demand, for they +made you smell sweetly. Then there was a little blue and white cafe. The +daughter of the house was well-favoured and played the piano with some +skill. One of us spent all his spare time at this cafe in silent +adoration--of the piano, for his French was exiguous in the extreme. +There was a patisserie crammed full of the most delicious cream-cakes. +The despatch rider who went to Hinges about 3.30 P.M. and did not return +with cakes for tea, found life unpleasant. Near the station three +damsels ruled a tavern. They were friendly and eager to teach us French. +We might have left them with a sigh of regret if we had not once arrived +as they were eating their midday meal. + +At one time the Germans dropped a few shells into Bethune, but did +little damage. Bombs fell too. One nearly ended the existence of +"Sadders"--also known as "Boo." It dropped on the other side of the +street; doing our despatch rider no damage, it slightly wounded Sergeant +Croucher of the Cyclists in a portion of his body that made him swear +when he was classed as a "sitting-up case." + +Of all the towns behind the lines--Bethune, Estaires, Armentieres, +Bailleul, Poperinghe--Bethune is the pleasantest. The people are +charming. There is nothing you cannot buy there. It is clean and +well-ordered, and cheerful in the rain. I pray that Bethune may survive +the war--that after peace has been declared and Berlin has been entered, +I may spend a week there and much money to the profit of the people and +the satisfaction of myself. + +Now I will give some account of our adventures out with the brigades +round La Bassee. + +[Illustration: ROUND LA BASSEE] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] The first--in October and November. + +[16] This is not an unthinking advertisement. After despatch riding from +August 16 to February 18 my judgment should be worth something. I am +firmly convinced that if the Government could have provided all despatch +riders with Blackburnes, the percentage--at all times small--of messages +undelivered owing to mechanical breakdowns or the badness of the roads +would have been reduced to zero. I have no interest in the Blackburne +Company beyond a sincere admiration of the machine it produces. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ROUND LA BASSEE. + + +It had been a melancholy day, full of rain and doubting news. Those of +us who were not "out" were strolling up and down the platform arranging +the order of cakes from home and trying to gather from the sound of the +gunning and intermittent visits to the Signal Office what was happening. + +Someone had been told that the old 15th was being hard pressed. Each of +us regretted loudly that we had not been attached to it, though our +hearts spoke differently. Despatch riders have muddled thoughts. There +is a longing for the excitement of danger and a very earnest desire to +keep away from it. + +The C.O. walked on to the platform hurriedly, and in a minute or two I +was off. It was lucky that the road was covered with unholy grease, that +the light was bad and there was transport on the road--for it is not +good for a despatch rider to think too much of what is before him. My +instructions were to report to the general and make myself useful. I was +also cheerfully informed that the H.Q. of the 15th were under a robust +shell-fire. Little parties of sad-looking wounded that I passed, the +noise of the guns, and the evil dusk heartened me. + +I rode into Festubert, which was full of noise, and, very hastily +dismounting, put my motor-cycle under the cover of an arch and reported +to the general. He was sitting at a table in the stuffy room of a +particularly dirty tavern. At the far end a fat and frightened woman was +crooning to her child. Beside her sat a wrinkled, leathery old man with +bandaged head. He had wandered into the street, and he had been cut +about by shrapnel. The few wits he had ever possessed were gone, and he +gave every few seconds little croaks of hate. Three telephone operators +were working with strained faces at their highest speed. The windows had +been smashed by shrapnel, and bits of glass and things crunched under +foot. The room was full of noises--the crackle of the telephones, the +crooning of the woman, the croak of the wounded old man, the clear and +incisive tones of the general and his brigade-major, the rattle of not +too distant rifles, the booming of guns and occasionally the terrific, +overwhelming crash of a shell bursting in the village. + +I was given a glass of wine. Cadell, the Brigade Signal Officer, and the +Veterinary Officer, came up to me and talked cheerfully in whispered +tones about our friends. + +There was the sharp cry of shrapnel in the street and a sudden rattle +against the whole house. The woman and child fled somewhere through a +door, followed feebly by the old man. The brigade-major persuaded the +general to work in some less unhealthy place. The telephone operators +moved. A moment's delay as the general endeavoured to persuade the +brigade-major to go first, and we found ourselves under a stalwart arch +that led into the courtyard of the tavern. We lit pipes and cigarettes. +The crashes of bursting shells grew more frequent, and the general +remarked in a dry and injured tone-- + +"Their usual little evening shoot before putting up the shutters, I +suppose." + +But first the Germans "searched" the village. Now to search a village +means to start at one end of the village and place shells at discreet +intervals until the other end of the village is reached. It is an +unpleasant process for those in the middle of the village, even though +they be standing, as we were, in comparatively good shelter. + +We heard the Germans start at the other end of the village street. The +crashes came nearer and nearer, until a shell burst with a scream and a +thunderous roar just on our right. We puffed away at our cigarettes for +a second, and a certain despatch rider wished he were anywhere but in +the cursed village of Festubert by Bethune. There was another scream and +overwhelming relief. The next shell burst three houses away on our left. +I knocked my pipe out and filled another. + +The Germans finished their little evening shoot. We marched back very +slowly in the darkness to 1910 Farm. + +This farm was neither savoury nor safe. It was built round a courtyard +which consisted of a gigantic hole crammed with manure in all the stages +of unpleasant putrefaction. One side is a barn; two sides consist of +stables, and the third is the house inhabited not only by us but by an +incredibly filthy and stinking old woman who was continually troubling +the general because some months ago a French cuirassier took one of her +chickens. The day after we arrived at this farm I had few despatches to +take, so I wrote to Robert. Here is some of the letter and bits of +other letters I wrote during the following days. They will give you an +idea of our state of mind:[17] + +If you want something of the dramatic--I am writing in a farm under +shrapnel fire, smoking a pipe that was broken by a shell. For true +effect I suppose I should not tell you that the shrapnel is bursting +about fifty yards the other side of the house, that I am in a room lying +on the floor, and consequently that, so long as they go on firing +shrapnel, I am perfectly safe. + +It's the dismallest of places. Two miles farther back the heavies are +banging away over our heads. There are a couple of batteries near the +farm. Two miles along the road the four battalions of our brigade are +holding on for dear life in their trenches. + +The country is open plough, with little clumps of trees, sparse hedges, +and isolated cottages giving a precarious cover. It's all very damp and +miserable, for it was raining hard last night and the day before. + +I am in a little bare room with the floor covered with straw. Two +telegraph operators are making that infernal jerky clicking sound I have +begun so to hate. Half a dozen men of the signal staff are lying about +the floor looking at week-old papers. In the next room I can hear the +general, seated at a table and intent on his map, talking to an officer +that has just come from the firing line. Outside the window a gun is +making a fiendish row, shaking the whole house. Occasionally there is a +bit of a rattle--that's shrapnel bullets falling on the tiles of an +outhouse. + +If you came out you might probably find this exhilarating. I have just +had a talk with our mutual friend Cadell, the Signal Officer of this +brigade, and we have decided that we are fed up with it. For one +thing--after two months' experience of shell fire the sound of a shell +bursting within measurable distance makes you start and shiver for a +moment--reflex action of the nerves. That is annoying. We both decided +we would willingly change places with you and take a turn at defending +your doubtless excellently executed trenches at Liberton. + +The line to the ----[18] has just gone. It's almost certain death to +relay it in the day-time. Cadell and his men are discussing the chances +while somebody else has started a musical-box. A man has gone out; I +wonder if he will come back. The rest of the men have gone to sleep +again. That gun outside the window is getting on my nerves. Well, well! + +The shrapnel fire appears to have stopped for the present. No, there's a +couple together. If they fire over this farm I hope they don't send me +back to D.H.Q. + +Do you know what I long for more than anything else? A clean, unhurried +breakfast with spotless napery and shining silver and porridge and +kippers. I don't think these long, lazy after-breakfast hours at Oxford +were wasted. They are a memory and a hope out here. The shrapnel is +getting nearer and more frequent. We are all hoping it will kill some +chickens in the courtyard. The laws against looting are so strict. + +What an excellent musical-box, playing quite a good imitation of +_Cavalleria Rusticana_. I guess we shall have to move soon. Too many +shells. Too dark to write any more---- + +After all, quite the most important things out here are a fine meal and +a good bath. If you consider the vast area of the war the facts that we +have lost two guns or advanced five miles are of very little importance. +War, making one realise the hopeless insignificance of the individual, +creates in one such an immense regard for self, that so long as one +does well it matters little if four officers have been killed +reconnoitring or some wounded have had to be left under an abandoned gun +all night. I started with an immense interest in tactics. This has +nearly all left me and I remain a more or less efficient +despatch-carrying animal--a part of a machine realising the hopeless, +enormous size of the machine. + +The infantry officer after two months of modern war is a curious +phenomenon.[19] He is probably one of three survivors of an original +twenty-eight. He is not frightened of being killed; he has forgotten to +think about it. But there is a sort of reflex fright. He becomes either +cautious and liable to sudden panics, or very rash indeed, or absolutely +mechanical in his actions. The first state means the approach of a +nervous breakdown, the second a near death. There are very few, indeed, +who retain a nervous balance and a calm judgment. And all have a harsh +frightened voice. If you came suddenly out here, you would think they +were all mortally afraid. But it is only giving orders for hours +together under a heavy fire. + +Battle noises are terrific. At the present moment a howitzer is going +strong behind this, and the concussion is tremendous. The noise is like +dropping a traction-engine on a huge tin tray. A shell passing away from +you over your head is like the loud crackling of a newspaper close to +your ear. It makes a sort of deep reverberating crackle in the air, +gradually lessening, until there is a dull boom, and a mile or so away +you see a thick little cloud of white smoke in the air or a pear-shaped +cloud of grey-black smoke on the ground. Coming towards you a shell +makes a cutting, swishing note, gradually getting higher and higher, +louder and louder. There is a longer note one instant and then it +ceases. Shrapnel bursting close to you has the worst sound. + +It is almost funny in a village that is being shelled. Things simply +disappear. You are standing in an archway a little back from the road--a +shriek of shrapnel. The windows are broken and the tiles rush clattering +into the street, while little bullets and bits of shell jump like +red-hot devils from side to side of the street, ricochetting until their +force is spent. Or a deeper bang, a crash, and a whole house tumbles +down. + +_3/4-hour later._--Curious life this. Just after I had finished the last +sentence, I was called out to take a message to a battery telling them +to shell a certain village. Here am I wandering out, taking orders for +the complete destruction of a village and probably for the death of a +couple of hundred men[20] without a thought, except that the roads are +very greasy and that lunch time is near. + +Again, yesterday, I put our Heavies in action, and in a quarter of an +hour a fine old church, with what appeared from the distance a +magnificent tower, was nothing but a grotesque heap of ruins. The +Germans were loopholing it for defence. + +Oh the waste, the utter damnable waste of everything out here--men, +horses, buildings, cars, everything. Those who talk about war being a +salutary discipline are those who remain at home. In a modern war there +is little room for picturesque gallantry or picture-book heroism. We are +all either animals or machines, with little gained except our emotions +dulled and brutalised and nightmare flashes of scenes that cannot be +written about because they are unbelievable. I wonder what difference +you will find in us when we come home---- + +Do you know what a night scare is? In our last H.Q. we were all dining +when suddenly there was a terrific outburst of rifle-fire from our +lines. We went out into the road that passes the farm and stood there +in the pitch darkness, wondering. The fire increased in intensity until +every soldier within five miles seemed to be revelling in a lunatic +succession of "mad minutes." Was it a heavy attack on our lines? Soon +pom-poms joined in sharp, heavy taps--and machine guns. The lines to the +battalions were at the moment working feebly, and what the operators +could get through was scarcely intelligible. Ammunition limbers were +hurried up, and I stood ready to dart anywhere. For twenty minutes the +rifle-fire seemed to grow wilder and wilder. At last stretcher-bearers +came in with a few wounded and reported that we seemed to be holding our +own. Satisfactory so far. Then there were great flashes of shrapnel over +our lines; that comforted us, for if your troops are advancing you don't +fire shrapnel over the enemy's lines. You never know how soon they may +be yours. The firing soon died down until we heard nothing but little +desultory bursts. Finally an orderly came--the Germans had +half-heartedly charged our trenches but had been driven off with loss. +We returned to the farm and found that in the few minutes we had been +outside everything had been packed and half-frightened men were standing +about for orders. + +The explanation of it all came later and was simple enough. The French, +without letting us know, had attacked the Germans on our right, and the +Germans to keep us engaged had made a feint attack upon us. So we went +back to dinner. + +In modern war the infantryman hasn't much of a chance. Strategy nowadays +consists in arranging for the mutual slaughter of infantry by the +opposing guns, each general trusting that his guns will do the greater +slaughter. And half gunnery is luck. The day before yesterday we had a +little afternoon shoot at where we thought the German trenches might be. +The Germans unaccountably retreated, and yesterday when we advanced we +found the trenches crammed full of dead. By a combination of intelligent +anticipation and good luck we had hit them exactly---- + +From these letters you will be able to gather what mood we were in and +something of what the brigade despatch rider was doing. After the first +day the Germans ceased shrapnelling the fields round the farm and left +us nearly in peace. There I met Major Ballard, commanding the 15th +Artillery Brigade, one of the finest officers of my acquaintance, and +Captain Frost, the sole remaining officer of the Cheshires. He was +charming to me; I was particularly grateful for the loan of a razor, +for my own had disappeared and there were no despatch riders handy from +whom I could borrow. + +Talking of the Cheshires reminds me of a story illustrating the troubles +of a brigadier. The general was dining calmly one night after having +arranged an attack. All orders had been sent out. Everything was +complete and ready. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and in walked +Captain M----, who reported his arrival with 200 reinforcements for the +Cheshires, a pleasant but irritating addition. The situation was further +complicated by the general's discovery that M---- was senior to the +officer then in command of the Cheshires. Poor M---- was not left long +in command. A fortnight later the Germans broke through and over the +Cheshires, and M---- died where a commanding officer should. + +From 1910 Farm I had one good ride to the battalions, through Festubert +and along to the Cuinchy bridge. For me it was interesting because it +was one of the few times I had ridden just behind our trenches, which at +the moment were just north of the road and were occupied by the +Bedfords. + +In a day or two we returned to Festubert, and Cadell gave me a +shake-down on a mattress in his billet--gloriously comfortable. The room +was a little draughty because the fuse of a shrapnel had gone right +through the door and the fireplace opposite. Except for a peppering on +the walls and some broken glass the house was not damaged; we almost +laughed at the father and mother and daughter who, returning while we +were there, wept because their home had been touched. + +Orders came to attack. A beautiful plan was drawn up by which the +battalions of the brigade were to finish their victorious career in the +square of La Bassee. + +In connection with this attack I was sent with a message for the Devons. +It was the blackest of black nights and I was riding without a light. +Twice I ran into the ditch, and finally I piled up myself and my bicycle +on a heap of stones lying by the side of the road. I did not damage my +bicycle. That was enough. I left it and walked. + +When I got to Cuinchy bridge I found that the Devon headquarters had +shifted. Beyond that the sentry knew nothing. Luckily I met a Devon +officer who was bringing up ammunition. We searched the surrounding +cottages for men with knowledge, and at last discovered that the Devons +had moved farther along the canal in the direction of La Bassee. So we +set out along the tow-path, past a house that was burning fiercely +enough to make us conspicuous. + +We felt our way about a quarter of a mile and stopped, because we were +getting near the Germans. Indeed we could hear the rumble of their +transport crossing the La Bassee bridge. We turned back, and a few yards +nearer home some one coughed high up the bank on our right. We found the +cough to be a sentry, and behind the sentry were the Devons. + +The attack, as you know, was held up on the line +Cuinchy-Givenchy-Violaines; we advanced our headquarters to a house just +opposite the inn by which the road to Givenchy turns off. It was not +very safe, but the only shell that burst anywhere near the house itself +did nothing but wound a little girl in the leg. + +On the previous day I had ridden to Violaines at dawn to draw a plan of +the Cheshires' trenches for the general. I strolled out by the sugar +factory, and had a good look at the red houses of La Bassee. Half an +hour later a patrol went out to explore the sugar factory. They did not +return. It seems that the factory was full of machine-guns. I had not +been fired upon, because the Germans did not wish to give their position +away sooner than was necessary. + +A day or two later I had the happiness of avenging my potential death. +First I took orders to a battery of 6-inch howitzers at the Rue de +Marais to knock the factory to pieces, then I carried an observing +officer to some haystacks by Violaines, from which he could get a good +view of the factory. Finally I watched with supreme satisfaction the +demolition of the factory, and with regretful joy the slaughter of the +few Germans who, escaping, scuttled for shelter in some trenches just +behind and on either side of the factory. + +I left the 15th Brigade with regret, and the regret I felt would have +been deeper if I had known what was going to happen to the brigade. I +was given interesting work and made comfortable. No despatch rider could +wish for more. + +Not long after I had returned from the 15th Brigade, the Germans +attacked and broke through. They had been heavily reinforced and our +tentative offensive had been replaced by a stern and anxious defensive. + +Now the Signal Office was established in the booking-office of Beuvry +Station. The little narrow room was packed full of operators and vibrant +with buzz and click. The Signal Clerk sat at a table in a tiny room just +off the booking-office. Orderlies would rush in with messages, and the +Clerk would instantly decide whether to send them over the wire, by +push-cyclist, or by despatch rider. Again, he dealt with all messages +that came in over the wire. Copies of these messages were filed. This +was our tape; from them we learned the news. We were not supposed to +read them, but, as we often found that they contained information which +was invaluable to despatch riders, we always looked through them and +each passed on what he had found to the others. The Signal Clerk might +not know where a certain unit was at a given moment. We knew, because we +had put together information that we had gathered in the course of our +rides and information which--though the Clerk might think it +unimportant--supplemented or completed or verified what we had already +obtained. + +So the history of this partially successful attack was known to us. +Every few minutes one of us went into the Signal Office and read the +messages. When the order came for us to pack up, we had already made our +preparations, for Divisional Headquarters, the brain controlling the +actions of seventeen thousand men, must never be left in a position of +danger. And wounded were pouring into the Field Ambulances. + +The enemy had made a violent attack, preluded by heavy shelling, on the +left of the 15th, and what I think was a holding attack on the right. +Violaines had been stormed, and the Cheshires had been driven, still +grimly fighting, to beyond the Rue de Marais. The Norfolks on their +right and the K.O.S.B.'s on their left had been compelled to draw back +their line with heavy loss, for their flanks had been uncovered by the +retreat of the Cheshires. + +The Germans stopped a moment to consolidate their gains. This gave us +time to throw a couple of battalions against them. After desperate +fighting Rue de Marais was retaken and some sort of line established. +What was left of the Cheshires gradually rallied in Festubert. + +This German success, together with a later success against the 3rd +Division, that resulted in our evacuation of Neuve Chapelle, compelled +us to withdraw and readjust our line. This second line was not so +defensible as the first. Until we were relieved the Germans battered at +it with gunnery all day and attacks all night. How we managed to hold it +is utterly beyond my understanding. The men were dog-tired. Few of the +old officers were left, and they were "done to the world." Never did the +Fighting Fifth more deserve the name. It fought dully and instinctively, +like a boxer who, after receiving heavy punishment, just manages to keep +himself from being knocked out until the call of time. + +Yet, when they had dragged themselves wearily and blindly out of the +trenches, the fighting men of the Fighting Fifth were given but a day's +rest or two before the 15th and two battalions of the 13th were sent to +Hooge, and the remainder to hold sectors of the line farther south. Can +you wonder that we despatch riders, in comparative safety behind the +line, did all we could to help the most glorious and amazing infantry +that the world has ever seen?[21] And when you praise the deeds of Ypres +of the First Corps, who had experienced no La Bassee, spare a word for +the men of the Fighting Fifth who thought they could fight no more and +yet fought. + +A few days after I had returned from the 15th Brigade I was sent out to +the 14th. I found them at the Estaminet de l'Epinette on the +Bethune-Richebourg road. Headquarters had been compelled to shift, +hastily enough, from the Estaminet de La Bombe on the La Bassee-Estaires +road. The estaminet had been shelled to destruction half an hour after +the Brigade had moved. The Estaminet de l'Epinette was filthy and small. +I slept in a stinking barn, half-full of dirty straw, and rose with the +sun for the discomfort of it. + +Opposite the estaminet a road goes to Festubert. At the corner there is +a cluster of dishevelled houses. I sat at the door and wrote letters, +and looked for what might come to pass. In the early dawn the poplars +alongside the highway were grey and dull. There was mist on the road; +the leaves that lay thick were black. Then as the sun rose higher the +poplars began to glisten and the mist rolled away, and the leaves were +red and brown. + +An old woman came up the road and prayed the sentry to let her pass. He +could not understand her and called to me. She told me that her family +were in the house at the corner fifty yards distant. I replied that she +could not go to them--that they, if they were content not to return, +might come to her. But the family would not leave their chickens, and +cows, and corn. So the old woman, who was tired, sank down by the +wayside and wept. This sorrow was no sorrow to the sorrow of the war. I +left the old woman, the sentry, and the family, and went into a fine +breakfast. + +At this time there was much talk about spies. Our wires were often cut +mysteriously. A sergeant had been set upon in a lane. The enemy were +finding our guns with uncanny accuracy. All our movements seemed to be +anticipated by the enemy. Taking for granted the extraordinary +efficiency of the German Intelligence Corps, we were particularly +nervous about spies when the Division was worn out, when things were not +going well. + +At the Estaminet de l'Epinette I heard a certain story, and hearing it +set about to make a fool of myself. This is the story--I have never +heard it substantiated, and give it as an illustration and not as fact. + +There was once an artillery brigade billeted in a house two miles or so +behind the lines. All the inhabitants of the house had fled, for the +village had been heavily bombarded. Only a girl had had the courage to +remain and do hostess to the English. She was so fresh and so charming, +so clever in her cookery, and so modest in her demeanour that all the +men of the brigade headquarters fell madly in love with her. They even +quarrelled. Now this brigade was suffering much from espionage. The guns +could not be moved without the Germans knowing their new position. No +transport or ammunition limbers were safe from the enemy's guns. The +brigade grew mightily indignant. The girl was told by her numerous +sweethearts what was the matter. She was angry and sympathetic, and +swore that through her the spy should be discovered. She swore the +truth. + +One night a certain lewd fellow of the baser sort pursued the girl with +importunate pleadings. She confessed that she liked him, but not in that +way. He left her and stood sullenly by the door. The girl took a pail +and went down into the cellar to fetch up a little coal, telling the man +with gentle mockery not to be so foolish. This angered him, and in a +minute he had rushed after her into the cellar, snorting with +disappointed passion. Of course he slipped on the stairs and fell with a +crash. The girl screamed. The fellow, his knee bruised, tried to feel +his way to the bottom of the stairs and touched a wire. Quickly running +his hand along the wire he came to a telephone. The girl rushed to him, +and, clasping his knees, offered him anything he might wish, if only he +would say nothing. I think he must have hesitated for a moment, but he +did not hesitate long. The girl was shot. + +Full of this suspiciously melodramatic story I caught sight of a +mysterious document fastened by nails to the house opposite the inn. It +was covered with coloured signs which, whatever they were, certainly did +not form letters or make sense in any way. I examined the document +closely. One sign looked like an aeroplane, another like a house, a +third like the rough drawing of a wood. I took it to a certain officer, +who agreed with me that it appeared suspicious. + +We carried it to the staff-captain, who pointed out very forcibly that +it had been raining lately, that colour ran, that the signs left formed +portions of letters. I demanded the owner of the house upon which the +document had been posted. She was frightened and almost unintelligible, +but supplied the missing fragments. The document was a crude election +appeal. Being interpreted it read something like this:-- + + SUPPORT LEFEVRE. HE IS NOT A LIAR LIKE DUBOIS. + +Talking of spies, here is another story. It is true. + +Certain wires were always being cut. At length a patrol was organised. +While the operator was talking there was a little click and no further +acknowledgment from the other end. The patrol started out and caught the +man in the act of cutting a second wire. He said nothing. + +He was brought before the Mayor. Evidence was briefly given of his +guilt. He made no protest. It was stated that he had been born in the +village. The Mayor turned to the man and said-- + +"You are a traitor. It is clear. Have you anything to say?" + +The man stood white and straight. Then he bowed his head and made +answer-- + +"Priez pour moi." + +That was no defence. So they led him away. + +The morning after I arrived at the 14th the Germans concentrated their +fire on a large turnip-field and exhumed multitudinous turnips. No +further damage was done, but the field was unhealthily near the +Estaminet de l'Epinette. In the afternoon we moved our headquarters back +a mile or so to a commodious and moderately clean farm with a +forgettable name. + +That evening two prisoners were brought in. They owned to eighteen, but +did not look more than sixteen. The guard treated them with kindly +contempt. We all sat round a makeshift table in the loft where we slept +and told each other stories of fighting and love and fear, while the +boys, squatting a little distance away, listened and looked at us in +wonder. I came in from a ride about one in the morning and found those +of the guard who were off duty and the two German boys sleeping side by +side. Literally it was criminal negligence--some one ought to have been +awake--but, when I saw one of the boys was clasping tightly a packet of +woodbines, I called it something else and went to sleep. + +A day or two later I was relieved. On the following afternoon I was sent +to Estaires to bring back some details about the Lahore Division which +had just arrived on the line. I had, of course, seen Spahis and Turcos +and Senegalese, but when riding through Lestrem I saw these Indian +troops of ours the obvious thoughts tumbled over one another. + +We despatch riders when first we met the Indians wondered how they would +fight, how they would stand shell-fire and the climate--but chiefly we +were filled with a sort of mental helplessness, riding among people when +we could not even vaguely guess at what they were thinking. We could get +no deeper than their appearance, dignified and clean and well-behaved. + +In a few days I was back again at the 14th with Huggie. At dusk the +General went out in his car to a certain village about three miles +distant. Huggie went with him. An hour or so, and I was sent after him +with a despatch. The road was almost unrideable with the worst sort of +grease, the night was pitch-black and I was allowed no light. I +slithered along at about six miles an hour, sticking out my legs for a +permanent scaffolding. Many troops were lying down at the side of the +road. An officer in a strained voice just warned me in time for me to +avoid a deep shell-hole by inches. I delivered my despatch to the +General. Outside the house I found two or three officers I knew. Two of +them were young captains in command of battalions. Then I learned how +hard put to it the Division was, and what the result is of nervous +strain. + +They had been fighting and fighting and fighting until their nerves were +nothing but a jangling torture. And a counter-attack on Neuve Chapelle +was being organised. Huggie told me afterwards that when the car had +come along the road, all the men had jumped like startled animals and a +few had turned to take cover. Why, if a child had met one of these men +she would have taken him by the hand instinctively and told him not to +be frightened, and defended him against anything that came. Yet it is +said there are still those at home who will not stir to help. I do not +see how this can possibly be true. It could not be true. + +First we talked about the counter-attack, and which battalion would +lead; then with a little manipulation we began to discuss musical comedy +and the beauty of certain ladies. Again the talk would wander back to +which battalion would lead. + +I returned perilously with a despatch and left Huggie, to spend a +disturbed night and experience those curious sensations which are caused +by a shell bursting just across the road from the house. + +The proposed attack was given up. If it had been carried out, those men +would have fought as finely as they could. I do not know whether my +admiration for the infantry or my hatred of war is the greater. I can +express neither. + +On the following day the Brigadier moved to a farm farther north. It was +the job of Huggie and myself to keep up communication between this farm +and the brigade headquarters at the farm with the forgettable name. To +ride four miles or so along country lanes from one farm to another does +not sound particularly strenuous. It was. In the first place, the +neighbourhood of the advanced farm was not healthy. The front gate was +marked down by a sniper who fired not infrequently but a little high. +Between the back gate and the main road was impassable mud. Again, the +farm was only three-quarters of a mile behind our trenches, and "overs" +went zipping through the farm buildings at all sorts of unexpected +angles. There were German aeroplanes about, so we covered our stationary +motor-cycles with straw. + +Starting from brigade headquarters the despatch rider in half a mile was +forced to pass the transport of a Field Ambulance. The men seemed to +take a perverted delight in wandering aimlessly and deafly across the +road, and in leaving anything on the road which could conceivably +obstruct or annoy a motor-cyclist. Then came two and a half miles of +winding country lanes. They were covered with grease. Every corner was +blind. A particularly sharp turn to the right and the despatch rider +rode a couple of hundred yards in front of a battery in action that the +Germans were trying to find. A "hairpin" corner round a house followed. +This he would take with remarkable skill and alacrity, because at this +corner he was always sniped. The German's rifle was trained a trifle +high. Coming into the final straight the despatch rider or one despatch +rider rode for all he was worth. It was unpleasant to find new +shell-holes just off the road each time you passed, or, as you came into +the straight, to hear the shriek of shrapnel between you and the farm. + +Huggie once arrived at the house of the "hairpin" bend simultaneously +with a shell. The shell hit the house, the house did not hit Huggie, and +the sniper forgot to snipe. So every one was pleased. + +On my last journey I passed a bunch of wounded Sikhs. They were +clinging to all their kit. One man was wounded in both his feet. He was +being carried by two of his fellows. In his hands he clutched his boots. + +The men did not know where to go or what to do. I could not make them +understand, but I tried by gestures to show them where the ambulance +was. + +I saw two others--they were slightly wounded--talking fiercely together. +At last they grasped their rifles firmly, and swinging round, limped +back towards the line. + +Huggie did most of the work that day, because during the greater part of +the afternoon I was kept back at brigade headquarters. + +In the evening I went out in the car to fetch the general. The car, +which was old but stout, had been left behind by the Germans. The driver +of it was a reservist who had been taken from his battalion. Day and +night he tended and coaxed that car. He tied it together when it fell to +pieces. At all times and in all places he drove that car, for he had no +wish at all to return to the trenches. + +On the following day Huggie and I were relieved. When we returned to our +good old musty quarters at Beuvry men talked of a move. There were +rumours of hard fighting in Ypres. Soon the Lahore Division came down +towards our line and began to take over from us. The 14th Brigade was +left to strengthen them. The 15th and 13th began to move north. + +Early on the morning of October 29 we started, riding first along the +canal by Bethune. As for Festubert, Givenchy, Violaines, Rue de Marais, +Quinque Rue, and La Bassee, we never want to see them again. + +[Illustration: YPRES _TO_ LA BASSEE] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] The letters were written on the 14th October _et seq._ The censor +was kind. + +[18] Dorsets, I think. + +[19] I do not say this paragraph is true. It is what I thought on 15th +October 1914. The weather was depressing. + +[20] Optimist! + +[21] After nine months at the Front--six and a half months as a despatch +rider and two and a half months as a cyclist officer--I have decided +that the English language has no superlative sufficient to describe our +infantry. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BEGINNING OF WINTER. + + +Before we came, Givenchy had been a little forgettable village upon a +hill, Violaines a pleasant afternoon's walk for the working men in La +Bassee, Festubert a gathering-place for the people who lived in the +filthy farms around. We left Givenchy a jumble of shuttered houses and +barricaded cellars. A few Germans were encamped upon the site of +Violaines. The great clock of Festubert rusted quickly against a tavern +wall. We hated La Bassee, because against La Bassee the Division had +been broken. There are some square miles of earth that, like criminals, +should not live. + +Our orders were to reach Caestre not later than the Signal Company. +Caestre is on the Cassel-Bailleul road, three miles north-east of +Hazebrouck. These unattached rides across country are the most joyous +things in the world for a despatch rider. There is never any need to +hurry. You can take any road you will. You may choose your tavern for +lunch with expert care. And when new ground is covered and new troops +are seen, we capture sometimes those sharp delightful moments of +thirsting interest that made the Retreat into an epic and the Advance a +triumphant ballad. + +N'Soon and myself left together. We skidded along the tow-path, passed +the ever-cheerful cyclists, and, turning due north, ran into St Venant. +The grease made us despatch riders look as if we were beginning to +learn. I rode gently but surely down the side of the road into the +gutter time after time. Pulling ourselves together, we managed to slide +past some Indian transport without being kicked by the mules, who, +whenever they smelt petrol, developed a strong offensive. Then we came +upon a big gun, discreetly covered by tarpaulins. It was drawn by a +monster traction-engine, and sad-faced men walked beside it. The +steering of the traction-engine was a trifle loose, so N'Soon and I drew +off into a field to let this solemn procession pass. One of the commands +in the unpublished "Book of the Despatch Rider" is this:-- + + _When you halt by the roadside to let guns pass or when you + leave your motor-cycle unattended, first place it in a + position of certain safety where it cannot possibly be + knocked over, and then move it another fifty yards from the + road. It is impossible for a gunner to see something by the + roadside and not drive over it. Moreover, lorries when they + skid, skid furiously._ + +Four miles short of Hazebrouck we caught up the rest. Proceeding in +single file along the road, we endeavoured not to laugh, for--as one +despatch rider said--it makes all the difference on grease which side of +your mouth you put your pipe in. We reached Hazebrouck at midday. +Spreading out--the manoeuvre had become a fine art--we searched the +town. The "Chapeau Rouge" was well reported on, and there we lunched. + +All those tourists who will deluge Flanders after the war should go to +the "Chapeau Rouge" in Hazebrouck. There we had lentil soup and stewed +kidneys, and roast veal with potatoes and leeks, fruit, cheese, and good +red wine. So little was the charge that one of us offered to pay it all. +There are other more fashionable hotels in Hazebrouck, but, trust the +word of a despatch rider, the "Chapeau Rouge" beats them all. + +Very content we rode on to Caestre, arriving there ten minutes before +the advance-party of the Signal Company. Divisional Headquarters were +established at the House of the Spy. The owner of the house had been +well treated by the Germans when they had passed through a month before. +Upon his door had been written this damning legend-- + + HIER SIND GUETIGE LEUTE[22] + +and, when on the departure of the Germans the house had been searched by +an indignant populace, German newspapers had been discovered in his +bedroom. + +It is the custom of the Germans to spare certain houses in every village +by chalking up some laudatory notice. We despatch riders had a theory +that the inhabitants of these marked houses, far from being spies, were +those against whom the Germans had some particular grievance. Imagine +the wretched family doing everything in its power to avoid the effusive +affection of the Teuton, breaking all its own crockery, and stealing all +its own silver, defiling its beds and tearing its clothing. For the man +whose goods have been spared by the German becomes an outcast. He lives +in a state worse than death. He is hounded from his property, and driven +across France with a character attached to him, like a kettle to a +cat's tail. Genuine spies, on the other hand--so we thought--were worse +treated than any and secretly recompensed. Such a man became a hero. All +his neighbours brought their little offerings. + +The House of the Spy had a fine garden, hot and buzzing in the +languorous heat. We bathed ourselves in it. And the sanitary +arrangements were good. + +Grimers arrived lunchless an hour later. He had been promoted to drive +the captured car. We took him to the tavern where beauty was allied with +fine cooking. There he ate many omelettes. + +In the evening he and I suffered a great disappointment. We wandered +into another tavern and were about to ask for our usual "Grenadine" when +we saw behind the bar two bottles of Worthington. For a moment we were +too stupefied to speak. Then, pulling ourselves together, we stammered +out an order for beer, but the girl only smiled. They were empty +bottles, souvenirs left by some rascally A.S.C. for the eternal +temptation of all who might pass through. The girl in her sympathy +comforted us with songs, one of which, "Les Serments," I translated for +the benefit of Grimers, who knew no French. We sang cheerfully in French +and English until it was time to return to our billet. + +In the morning a German aeroplane passed over at a great height. All the +youngsters in the village tumbled over each other for shelter, +shouting--Caput! caput![23] + +Later in the day we advanced to Bailleul, where we learnt that the 1st +Corps was fighting furiously to the north. The square was full of +motor-buses and staff-officers. They were the first of our own +motor-buses we had seen out in Flanders. They cheered us greatly, and +after some drinks we sat in one and tried to learn from the map +something of the new country in which we were to ride. We rejoiced that +we had come once again upon a Belgian sheet, because the old French map +we had used, however admirable it might have been for brigadiers and +suchlike people, was extremely unsuited to a despatch rider's work. + +Infantry were pouring through, the stern remnants of fine battalions. +Ever since the night after Le Cateau infantry in column of route have +fascinated us, for a regiment on the march bares its character to the +world. + +First there were our brigades marching up to Mons, stalwart and +cheering. After Le Cateau there were practically no battalions, just a +crowd of men and transport pouring along the road to Paris. I watched +the column pass for an hour, and in it there was no organised unit +larger than a platoon, and only one platoon. How it happened I do not +know, but, when we turned on the Germans, battalions, brigades, +divisions, corps had been remade. The battalions were pitifully small. +Many a time we who were watching said to one another: Surely that's not +the end of the K.O.Y.L.I., or the Bedfords, or whatever regiment it +might be! + +A battalion going into action has some men singing, some smiling vaguely +to themselves, some looking raptly straight ahead, and some talking +quickly as if they must never stop. + +A battalion that has come many miles is nearly silent. The strong men +stride tirelessly without a word. Little weak men, marching on their +nerves, hobble restlessly along. The men with bad feet limp and curse, +wilting under the burden of their kit, and behind all come those who +have fallen out by the way--men dragging themselves along behind a +waggon, white-faced men with uneasy smiles on top of the waggons. A +little farther back those who are trying to catch up: these are tragic +figures, breaking into breathless little runs, but with a fine wavering +attempt at striding out, as though they might be connecting files, when +they march through a town or past an officer of high rank. + +A battalion that has just come out of action I cannot describe to you in +these letters, but let me tell you now about Princess Pat's. I ran into +them just as they were coming into Bailleul for the first time and were +hearing the sound of the guns. They were the finest lot of men I have +ever seen on the march. Gusts of great laughter were running through +them. In the eyes of one or two were tears. And I told those civilians I +passed that the Canadians, the fiercest of all soldiers, were come. +Bailleul looked on them with more fright than admiration. The women +whispered fearfully to each other--Les Canadiens, les Canadiens!... + +We despatch riders were given a large room in the house where the +Divisional Staff was billeted. It had tables, chairs, a fireplace and +gas that actually lit; so we were more comfortable than ever we had been +before--that is, all except N'Soon, who had by this time discovered that +continual riding on bad roads is apt to produce a fundamental soreness. +N'Soon hung on nobly, but was at last sent away with blood-poisoning. +Never getting home, he spent many weary months in peculiar convalescent +camps, and did not join up again until the end of January. +Moral--before going sick or getting wounded become an officer and a +gentleman. + +The day after we arrived I was once more back in Belgium with a message +to the C.R.A.[24] at Neuve Eglise. I had last been in Belgium on August +23, the day we left Dour. + +The general might have been posing for a war artist. He was seated at a +table in the middle of a field, his staff-captain with him. The ground +sloped away to a wooded valley in which two or three batteries, +carefully concealed, were blazing away. To the north shrapnel was +bursting over Kemmel. In front the Messines ridge was almost hidden with +the smoke of our shells. I felt that each point of interest ought to +have been labelled in Mr Frederic Villiers' handwriting--"_German +shrapnel bursting over Kemmel--our guns--this is a dead horse_." + +I first saw Ypres on the 6th November. I was sent off with a bundle of +routine matter to the 1st Corps, then at Brielen, a couple of miles N.W. +of Ypres. It was a nightmare ride. The road was _pave_ in the +centre--villainous _pave_. At the side of it were glutinous morasses +about six feet in width, and sixteen inches deep. I started off with +two 2nd Corps motor-cyclists. There was an almost continuous line of +transport on the road--motor-lorries that did not dare deviate an inch +from the centre of the road for fear of slipping into the mire, motor +ambulances, every kind of transport, and some infantry battalions. After +following a column of motor-lorries a couple of miles--we stuck twice in +trying to get past the rearmost lorry--we tried the road by Dranoutre +and Locre. But these country lanes were worse of surface than the main +road--greasy _pave_ is better that greasy rocks--and they were filled +with odd detachments of French artillery. The two 2nd Corps +motor-cyclists turned back. I crawled on at the risk of smashing my +motor-cycle and myself, now skidding perilously between waggons, now +clogging up, now taking to the fields, now driving frightened +pedestrians off what the Belgians alone would call a footpath. I skidded +into a subaltern, and each of us turned to curse, when--it was Gibson, a +junior "Greats" don at Balliol, and the finest of fellows. + +Beyond Dickebusch French artillery were in action on the road. The +houses just outside Ypres had been pelted with shrapnel but not +destroyed. Just by the station, which had not then been badly knocked +about, I learnt where to go. Ypres was the first half-evacuated town I +had entered. It was like motor-cycling into a village from Oxford very +early on a Sunday morning. Half an hour later I saw the towers of the +city rising above a bank of mist which had begun to settle on the +ground: then out rose great clouds of black smoke. + +I came back by Poperinghe to avoid the grease and crowding of the direct +road, and there being no hurry I stopped at an inn for a beefsteak. The +landlord's daughter talked of the many difficulties before us, and +doubted of our success. I said, grandiloquently enough, that no victory +was worth winning unless there were difficulties. At which she smiled +and remarked, laughing-- + +"There are no roses without thorns." + +She asked me how long the war would last. I replied that the good God +alone knew. She shook her head-- + +"How can the good God look down without a tear on the miseries of his +people? Are not the flower of the young cut off in the spring of their +youth?" + +Then she pointed to the church across the way, and said humbly--"On a +beaucoup prie." + +She was of the true Flemish type, broad and big-breasted, but with a +slight stoop, thick hips, dark and fresh-coloured, with large black eyes +set too closely. Like all the Flemings, she spoke French slowly and +distinctly, with an accent like the German. She was easy to understand. + +I stopped too long at Poperinghe, for it was dark and very misty on the +road. Beyond Boescheppe--I was out of my way--the mist became a fog. +Once I had to take to the ditch when some cuirassiers galloped out of +the fog straight at me. It was all four French soldiers could do to get +my motor-cycle out. Another time I stuck endeavouring to avoid some +lorries. It is a diabolical joke of the Comic Imps to put fog upon a +greasy road for the confusion of a despatch rider. + +On the next day I was sent out to the 14th Brigade at the Rue de Paradis +near Laventie. You will remember that the 14th Brigade had been left to +strengthen the Indian Corps when the 2nd Corps had moved north. I +arrived at Rue de Paradis just as the Brigade Headquarters were coming +into the village. So, while everybody else was fixing wires and +generally making themselves useful, I rushed upstairs and seized a +mattress and put it into a dark little dressing-room with hot and cold +water, a mirror and a wardrobe. Then I locked the door. There I slept, +washed, and dressed in delicious luxury. + +The brigade gave another despatch rider and myself, who were attached, +very little to do beyond an occasional forty-mile run to D.H.Q. and back +over dull roads. The signal office was established in a large room on +the side of the house nearest to the Germans. It was constructed almost +entirely of glass. Upon this the men commented with a grave fluency. The +windows rattled with shrapnel bursting 600 yards away. The house was +jarred through and through by the concussion of a heavy battery firing +over our heads. The room was like a toy-shop with a lot of small +children sounding all the musical toys. The vibrators and the buzzers +were like hoarse toy trumpets. + +Our only excitement was the nightly rumour that the General was going to +move nearer the trenches, that one of us would accompany him--I knew +what that meant on greasy misty roads. + +After I had left, the Germans by chance or design made better practice. +A shell burst in the garden and shattered all the windows of the room. +The Staff took refuge in dug-outs that had been made in case of need. +Tommy, then attached, took refuge in the cellar. According to his own +account, when he woke up in the morning he was floating. The house had +some corners taken off it and all the glass was shattered, but no one +was hurt. + +When I returned to Bailleul, Divisional Headquarters were about to move. + +A puncture kept me at Bailleul after the others had gone on to Locre. +Grimers stood by to help. We lunched well, and buying some supplies +started off along the Ypres road. By this time our kit had accumulated. +It is difficult enough to pass lorries on a greasy road at any time. +With an immense weight on the carrier it is almost impossible. So we +determined to go by Dranoutre. An unfortunate bump dispersed my blankets +and my ground-sheet in the mud. Grimers said my language might have +dried them. Finally, that other despatch rider arrived swathed about +with some filthy, grey, forlorn indescribables. + +We were quartered in a large schoolroom belonging to the Convent. We had +plenty of space and a table to feed at. Fresh milk and butter we could +buy from the nuns, while a market-gardener just across the road supplied +us with a sack of miscellaneous vegetables--potatoes, carrots, turnips, +onions, leeks--for practically nothing. We lived gloriously. There was +just enough work to make us feel we really were doing something, and not +enough to make us wish we were on the Staff. Bridge we played every hour +of the day, and "Pollers," our sergeant, would occasionally try a +little flutter in Dominoes and Patience. + +At Bailleul the Skipper had suggested our learning to manage the +unmechanical horse. The suggestion became an order. We were bumped round +unmercifully at first, until many of us were so sore that the touch of a +motor-cycle saddle on _pave_ was like hot-iron to a tender skin. Then we +were handed over to a friendly sergeant, who believed in more +gentlemanly methods, and at Locre we had great rides--though Pollers, +who was gently unhorsed, is still firmly convinced that wind-mills form +the finest deterrent to cavalry. + +In an unlucky moment two of us had suggested that we should like to +learn signaller's work, so we fell upon evil days. First we went out for +cable-drill. Sounds simple? But it is more arduous and dangerous than +any despatch riding. If you "pay out" too quickly, you get tangled up in +the wire and go with it nicely over the drum. If you pay out too slowly, +you strangle the man on the horse behind you. The worst torture in the +world is paying out at the fast trot over cobbles. First you can't hold +on, and if you can you can't pay out regularly. + +Cable-drill is simply nothing compared to the real laying of cable. We +did it twice--once in rain and once in snow. The rainy day I paid out, +I was never more miserable in my life than I was after two miles. Only +hot coffee and singing good songs past cheery Piou-pious brought me +home. The snowy day I ran with ladders, and, perched on the topmost +rung, endeavoured to pass the wire round a buxom tree-trunk. Then, when +it was round, it would always go slack before I could get it tied up +tightly. + +It sounds so easy, laying a wire. But I swear it is the most wearying +business in the world--punching holes in the ground with a 16-lb. +hammer, running up poles that won't go straight, unhooking wire that has +caught in a branch or in the eaves of a house, taking the strain of a +cable to prevent man and ladder and wire coming on top of you, when the +man who pays out has forgotten to pay. Have a thought for the wretched +fellows who are getting out a wire on a dark and snowy night, troubled +perhaps by persistent snipers and frequent shells! Shed a tear for the +miserable linesman sent out to find where the line is broken or +defective.... + +When there was no chance of "a run" we would go for walks towards +Kemmel. At the time the Germans were shelling the hill, but occasionally +they would break off, and then we would unofficially go up and see what +had happened. + +Now Mont Kemmel is nearly covered with trees. I have never been in a +wood under shell fire, and I do not wish to be. Where the Germans had +heavily shelled Kemmel there were great holes, trees thrown about and +riven and scarred and crushed--a terrific immensity of blasphemous +effort. It was as if some great beast, wounded mortally, had plunged +into a forest, lashing and biting and tearing in his agony until he +died. + +On one side of the hill was a little crazy cottage which had +marvellously escaped. Three shells had fallen within ten yards of it. +Two had not burst, and the other, shrapnel, had exploded in the earth. +The owner came out, a trifling, wizened old man in the usual Belgian cap +and blue overalls. We had a talk, using the _lingua franca_ of French, +English with a Scottish accent, German, and the few words of Dutch I +could remember. + +We dug up for him a large bit of the casing of the shrapnel. He examined +it fearfully. It was an 11-inch shell, I think, nearly as big as his wee +grotesque self. Then he made a noise, which we took to be a laugh, and +told us that he had been very frightened in his little house (haeusling), +and his cat, an immense white Tom, had been more frightened still. But +he knew the Germans could not hit him. Thousands and thousands of +Germans had gone by, and a little after the last German came the +English. "Les Anglais sont bons." + +This he said with an air of finality. It is a full-blooded judgment +which, though it sounds a trifle exiguous to describe our manifold +heroic efforts, is a sort of perpetual epithet. The children use it +confidingly when they run to our men in the cafes. The peasants use it +as a parenthetical verdict whenever they mention our name. The French +fellows use it, and I have heard a German prisoner say the same. + +A few days later those who lived on Kemmel were "evacuated." They were +rounded up into the Convent yard, men and women and children, with their +hens and pigs. At first they were angry and sorrowful; but nobody, not +even the most indignant refugee, could resist our military policemen, +and in three-quarters of an hour they all trudged off, cheerfully +enough, along the road to Bailleul. + +The wee grotesque man and his immense white cat were not with them. +Perhaps they still live on Kemmel. Some time I shall go and see.... + +If we did not play Bridge after our walks, we would look in at the +theatre or stroll across to dinner and Bridge with Gibson and his +brother officers of the K.O.S.B., then billeted at Locre. + +Not all convents have theatres: this was a special convent. The Signal +Company slept in the theatre, and of an evening all the kit would be +moved aside. One of the military policemen could play anything; so we +danced and sang until the lights went out. The star performer was +"Spot," the servant of an A.D.C. + +"Spot" was a little man with a cheerful squint. He knew everything that +had ever been recited, and his knowledge of the more ungodly songs was +immense. He would start off with an imitation of Mr H.B. Irving, and a +very good imitation it would be--with soft music. He would leave the +Signallers thrilled and silent. The lights flashed up, and "Spot" darted +off on some catchy doggerel of an almost talented obscenity. In private +life Spot was the best company imaginable. He could not talk for a +minute without throwing in a bit of a recitation and striking an +attitude. I have only known him serious on two subjects--his master and +Posh. He would pour out with the keenest delight little stories of how +his master endeavoured to correct his servant's accent. There was a +famous story of "a n'orse"--but that is untellable. + +Posh may be defined, very roughly, as a useless striving after +gentlemanly culture. Sometimes a chauffeur or an H.Q. clerk would +endeavour to speak very correct English in front of Spot. + +"'E was poshy, my dear boy, positively poshy. 'E made me shiver until I +cried. 'Smith, old man,' I said to 'im, 'you can't do it. You're not +born to it nor bred to it. Those that try is just demeaning themselves. +Posh, my dear boy, pure posh.'" + +And Spot would give a cruel imitation of the wretched Smith's mincing +English. The punishment was the more bitter, because all the world knew +that Spot could speak the King's English as well as anybody if only he +chose. To the poshy alone was Spot unkind. He was a generous, +warm-hearted little man, with real wisdom and a fine appreciation of men +and things.... There were other performers of the usual type, young men +who sang about the love-light in her eyes, older men with crude songs, +and a Scotsman with an expressionless face, who mumbled about we could +never discover what. + +The audience was usually strengthened by some half-witted girls that the +Convent educated, and two angelic nuns. Luckily for them, they only +understood a slow and grammatical English, and listened to crude songs +and sentimental songs with the same expression of maternal content. + +Our work at Locre was not confined to riding and cable-laying. The 15th +Brigade and two battalions of the 13th were fighting crazily at Ypres, +the 14th had come up to Dranoutre, and the remaining two battalions of +the 13th were at Neuve Eglise. + +I had two more runs to the Ypres district before we left Locre. On the +first the road was tolerable to Ypres, though near the city I was nearly +blown off my bicycle by the fire of a concealed battery of 75's. The +houses at the point where the Rue de Lille enters the Square had been +blown to bits. The Cloth Hall had barely been touched. In its glorious +dignity it was beautiful. + +Beyond Ypres, on the Hooge Road, I first experienced the extreme +neighbourhood of a "J.J." It fell about 90 yards in front of me and 20 +yards off the road. It makes a curiously low droning sound as it falls, +like the groan of a vastly sorrowful soul in hell,--so I wrote at the +time: then there's a gigantic rushing plunk and overwhelming crash as if +all the houses in the world were falling. + +On the way back the road, which had been fairly greasy, became +practically impassable. I struggled on until my lamp failed (sheer +carelessness--I ought to have seen to it before starting), and a gale +arose which blew me all over the road. So I left my motor-bicycle safely +behind a cottage, and started tramping back to H.Q. by the light of my +pocket flash-lamp. It was a pitch-black night. I was furiously hungry, +and stopped at the first inn and gorged coffee with rum, and a large +sandwich of bread and butter and fat bacon. I had barely started +again--it had begun to pour--when a car came along with a French +staff-officer inside. I stopped it, saying in hurried and weighty tones +that I was carrying an important despatch (I had nothing on me, I am +afraid, but a trifling bunch of receipts), and the rest of the way I +travelled lapped luxuriously in soft furs. + +The second time I rode along a frozen road between white fields. All the +shells sounded alarmingly near. The noise in Ypres was terrific. At my +destination I came across some prisoners of the Prussian Guard, fierce +and enormous men, nearly all with reddish hair, very sullen and rude. + +From accounts that have been published of the first battle of Ypres, it +might be inferred that the British Army knew it was on the point of +being annihilated. A despatch rider, though of course he does not know +very much of the real meaning of the military situation, has unequalled +opportunities for finding out the opinions and spirit of the men. Now +one of us went to Ypres every day and stopped for a few minutes to +discuss the state of affairs with other despatch riders and with +signal-sergeants. Right through the battle we were confident; in fact +the idea that the line might be broken never entered our heads. We were +suffering very heavily. That we knew. Nothing like the shell fire had +ever been heard before. Nobody realised how serious the situation must +have been until the accounts were published. + +Huggie has a perfect mania for getting frightened; so one day, instead +of leaving the routine matter that he carried at a place whence it might +be forwarded at leisure, he rode along the Menin road to the Chateau at +Hooge, the headquarters of the 15th Brigade. He came back quietly happy, +telling us that he had had a good time, though the noise had been a +little overwhelming. We learned afterwards that the enemy had been +registering very accurately upon the Hooge road. + +So the time passed without any excitement until November 23, when first +we caught hold of a definite rumour that we should be granted leave. We +existed in restless excitement until the 27th. On that great day we were +told that we should be allowed a week's leave. We solemnly drew lots, +and I drew the second batch. + +We left the Convent at Locre in a dream, and took up quarters at St Jans +Cappel, two miles west of Bailleul. We hardly noticed that our billet +was confined and uncomfortable. Certainly we never realised that we +should stop there until the spring. The first batch went off +hilariously, and with slow pace our day drew nearer and nearer. + +You may think it a little needless of me to write about my leave, if you +do not remember that we despatch riders of the Fifth Division enlisted +on or about August 6. Few then realised that England had gone to war. +Nobody realised what sort of a war the war was going to be. When we +returned in the beginning of December we were Martians. For three months +we had been vividly soldiers. We had been fighting not in a savage +country, but in a civilised country burnt by war; and it was because of +this that the sights of war had struck us so fiercely that when we came +back our voyage in the good ship _Archimedes_ seemed so many years +distant. Besides, if I were not to tell you of my leave it would make +such a gap in my memories that I should scarcely know how to continue my +tale.... + +The week dragged more slowly than I can describe. Short-handed, we had +plenty of work to do, but it was all routine work, which gave us too +much time to think. There was also a crazy doubt of the others' return. +They were due back a few hours before we started. If they fell ill or +missed the boat...! And the fools were motor-cycling to and from +Boulogne! + +On the great night we prepared some food for them, and having packed our +kits, tried to sleep. As the hour drew near we listened excitedly for +the noise of their engines. Several false alarms disturbed us: first, a +despatch rider from the Third Division, and then another from the Corps. +At last we heard the purr of three engines together, and then a moment +later the faint rustle of others in the distance. We recognised the +engines and jumped up. All the birds came home save one. George had +never quite recovered from his riding exercises. Slight blood poisoning +had set in. His leave had been extended at home. So poor "Tommy," who +had joined us at Beuvry, was compelled to remain behind. + +Violent question and answer for an hour, then we piled ourselves on our +light lorry. Singing like angels we rattled into Bailleul. Just opposite +Corps Headquarters, our old billet, we found a little crowd waiting. +None of us could talk much for the excitement. We just wandered about +greeting friends. I met again that stoutest of warriors, Mr Potter of +the 15th Artillery Brigade, a friend of Festubert days. Then a battalion +of French infantry passed through, gallant and cheerful men. At last the +old dark-green buses rolled up, and about three in the morning we +pounded off at a good fifteen miles an hour along the Cassel road. + +Two of us sat on top, for it was a gorgeous night. We rattled over the +_pave_ alongside multitudinous transport sleeping at the side of the +road--through Metern, through Caestre of pleasant memories, and south to +Hazebrouck. Our driver was a man of mark, a racing motorist in times of +peace. He left the other buses and swung along rapidly by himself. He +slowed down for nothing. Just before Hazebrouck we caught up a French +convoy. I do not quite know what happened. The Frenchmen took cover in +one ditch. We swayed past, half in the other, at a good round pace. +Waggons seemed to disappear under our wheels, and frightened horses +plunged violently across the road. But we passed them without a +scratch--to be stopped by the level-crossing at Hazebrouck. There we +filled up with coffee and cognac, while the driver told us of his +adventures in Antwerp. + +We rumbled out of Hazebrouck towards St Omer. It was a clear dawn in +splashes of pure colour. All the villages were peaceful, untouched by +war. When we came to St Omer it was quite light. All the soldiers in the +town looked amateurish. We could not make out what was the matter with +them, until somebody noticed that their buttons shone. We drew up in the +square, the happiest crew imaginable, but with a dignity such as +befitted chosen N.C.O.'s and officers. + +That was the first time I saw St Omer. When last I came to it I saw +little, because I arrived in a motor-ambulance and left in a +hospital-train. + +The top of the bus was crowded, and we talked "shop" together. _Sixth +Division's having a pretty cushy time, what?--So you were at Mons!_ (in +a tone of respect)--_I don't mind their shells, and I don't mind their +machine-guns, but their Minenwerfer are the frozen limit!--I suppose +there's no chance of our missing the boat. Yes, it was a pretty fair +scrap--Smith? He's gone. Silly fool, wanted to have a look round--Full +of buck? Rather! Yes, heard there's a pretty good show on at the +Frivolity--Beastly cold on top of this old wheezer_. + +It was, but none of us cared a scrap. We looked at the sign-posts that +showed the distance to Boulogne, and then pretended that we had not seen +them. Lurching and skidding and toiling we came to the top of the hill +above Boulogne. With screaming brakes we rattled down to the harbour. +That old sinner, Sergeant Maguire, who was in charge of us corporals, +made all arrangements efficiently. We embarked, and after a year of +Sundays cast off. + +There was a certain swell on, and Mr Potter, the bravest of men, grew +greener and greener. My faith in mankind went. + +We saw a dark line on the horizon. + +"By Jove, there's England!" We all produced our field-glasses and looked +through them very carefully for quite a long time. + +"So it is. Funny old country"--a pause--"Makes one feel quite +sentimental, just like the books. That's what we're fighting for, I +suppose. Wouldn't fight for dirty old Dover! Wonder if they still charge +you a penny for each sardine. I suppose we'll have to draw the blinds +all the way up to London. Not a safe country by any means, far rather +stop in the jolly old trenches." + +"You'll get the white feather, old man." + +"No pretty young thing would give it you. Why, you wouldn't look +medically fit in mufti!" + +"Fancy seeing a woman who isn't dirty and can talk one's own lingo!" + +So we came to Folkestone, and all the people on the pier smiled at us. +We scuttled ashore and shook ourselves for delight. There was a +policeman, a postman. Who are these fussy fellows with badges on their +arms? Special constables, of course! + +Spurning cigarettes and bovril we rushed to the bar. We all noticed the +cleanness of the barmaid, her beauty, the neatness of her dress, her +cultivated talk. We almost squabbled about what drinks we should have +first. Finally, we divided into parties--the Beers and the +Whisky-and-Sodas. Then there were English papers to buy, and, of course, +we must have a luncheon-basket.... + +The smell of the musty S.-E. & C.R. compartment was the scent of eastern +roses. We sniffed with joy in the tunnels. We read all the notices with +care. Nearing London we became silent. Quite disregarding the order to +lower the blinds, we gazed from the bridge at a darkened London and the +searchlight beams. Feverishly we packed our kit and stood up in the +carriage. We jerked into the flare of Victoria. Dazzled and confused, we +looked at the dense crowd of beaming, anxious people. There was a tug at +my elbow, and a triumphant voice shouted-- + +"I've found him! Here he is! There's your Mother." ... + + * * * * * + +This strange familiar country seemed to us clean, careless, and full of +men. The streets were clean; the men and women were clean. Out in +Flanders a little grime came as a matter of course. One's uniform was +dirty. Well, it had seen service. There was no need to be particular +about the set of the tunic and the exact way accoutrements should be +put on. But here the few men in khaki sprinkled about the streets had +their buttons cleaned and not a thing was out of place. We wondered +which of them belonged to the New Armies. The women, too, were clean and +beautiful. This sounds perhaps to you a foolish thing to say, but it is +true. The Flemish woman is not so clean as she is painted, and as for +women dressed with any attempt at fashionable display--we had seen none +since August. Nadine at Dour had been neat; Helene at Carlepont had been +companionable; the pretty midinette at Maast had been friendly and not +over-dirty. For a day or two after I returned to my own country I could +not imagine how anybody ever could leave it. + +And all the people were free from care. However cheerful those brave but +irritating folk who live behind the line may be, they have always +shadows in their eyes. We had never been to a village through which the +Germans had not passed. Portly and hilarious the Teuton may have shown +himself--kindly and well-behaved he undoubtedly was in many +places--there came with him a terror which stayed after he had gone, +just as a mist sways above the ground after the night has flown. + +At first we thought that no one at home cared about the war--then we +realised it was impossible for anybody to care about the war who had not +seen war. People might be intensely interested in the course of +operations. They might burn for their country's success, and flame out +against those who threatened her. They might suffer torments of anxiety +for a brother in danger, or the tortures of grief for a brother who had +died. The FACT of war, the terror and the shame, the bestiality and the +awful horror, the pity and the disgust--they could never _know_ war. So +we thought them careless.... + +Again, though we had been told very many had enlisted, the streets +seemed ludicrously full of men. In the streets of Flanders there are +women and children and old men and others. These others would give all +that they had to put on uniform and march gravely or gaily to the +trenches. In Flanders a man who is fit and wears no uniform is instantly +suspected of espionage. I am grinding no axe. I am advocating nothing or +attacking nothing. I am merely stating as a fact that, suspicious and +contemptuous as we had been in Flanders of every able-bodied man who was +not helping to defend his country, it seemed grotesque to us to find so +many civilian men in the streets of the country to which we had +returned. + +Of the heavenly quietness and decency of life, of late breakfasts and +later dinners, there is no need to tell, but even before the week was up +unrest troubled us. The Division might go violently into action. The +Germans might break through. The "old Div." would be wanting us, and we +who felt towards the Division as others feel towards their Regiments +were eager to get back.... + +On the boat I met Gibson. At Boulogne we clambered into the same bus and +passed the time in sipping old rum, eating chocolate biscuits, reading +the second volume of 'Sinister Street,' and sleeping. At St Omer our +craving for an omelette nearly lost us the bus. Then we slept. All that +I can remember of the rest of the journey is that we stopped near +Bailleul. An anxious corporal popped his head in. + +"Mr Brown here?" + +"Ye--e--s," sleepily, "what the devil do you want?" + +"Our battery's in action, sir, a few miles from here. I've got your +horses ready waiting, sir." + +Mr Brown was thoroughly awake in a moment. He disturbed everybody +collecting his kit. Then he vanished. + +We were late at Bailleul, and there was no one to meet us. The Cyclists +as usual came to our help. Their gig was waiting, and climbing into it +we drove furiously to St Jans Cappel. Making some sort of beds for +ourselves, we fell asleep. When we woke up in the morning our leave was +a dream. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] Here are kindly people. + +[23] French, Flemish, and German slang expression. Done for! + +[24] An abbreviation for the general in command of the Divisional +Artillery. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ST JANS CAPPEL. + + +Soon after our return there were rumours of a grand attack. Headquarters +positively sizzled with the most expensive preparations. At a given word +the Staff were to dash out in motor-cars to a disreputable tavern, so +that they could see the shells bursting. A couple of despatch riders +were to keep with them in order to fetch their cars when the day's work +was over. A mobile reserve of motor-cyclists was to be established in a +farm under cover. + +The whole scheme was perfect. There was good rabbit-shooting near the +tavern. The atmosphere inside was so thick that it actually induced +slumber. The landlady possessed an excellent stove, upon which the +Staff's lunch, prepared with quiet genius at St Jans, might be heated +up. The place was dirty enough to give all those in authority, who might +come round to see that the British Army was really doing something, a +vivid conception of the horrors of war. And, as I have said, there was a +slope behind the road from which lots and lots of shells could be seen +bursting. + +The word came. We arrived at the tavern before dawn. The Staff sauntered +about outside in delicious anticipation. We all looked at our watches. +Punctually at six the show began. Guns of all shapes and sizes had been +concentrated. They made an overwhelming noise. Over the German trenches +on the near slope of the Messines ridge flashed multitudinous points of +flame. The Germans were being furiously shelled. The dawn came up while +the Staff were drinking their matutinal tea. The Staff set itself +sternly to work. Messages describing events at La Bassee poured in. They +were conscientiously read and rushed over the wires to our brigades. The +guns were making more noise than they had ever made before. The Germans +were cowering in their trenches. It was all our officers could do to +hold back their men, who were straining like hounds in a leash to get at +the hated foe. A shell fell among some of the gunners' transport and +wounded a man and two horses. That stiffened us. The news was flashed +over the wire to G.H.Q. The transport was moved rapidly, but in good +order, to a safer place. The guns fired more furiously than ever. + +As soon as there was sufficient light, the General's A.D.C., crammed +full of the lust for blood, went out and shot some rabbits and some +indescribable birds, who by this time were petrified with fear. They had +never heard such a noise before. That other despatch rider sat +comfortably in a car, finished at his leisure the second volume of +'Sinister Street,' and wrote a lurid description of a modern battle. + +Before the visitors came, the scene was improved by the construction of +a large dug-out near the tavern. It is true that if the Staff had taken +to the dug-out they would most certainly have been drowned. That did not +matter. Every well-behaved Divisional Staff must have a dug-out near its +Advanced Headquarters. It is always "done." + +Never was a Division so lucky in its visitors. A certain young prince of +high lineage arrived. Everybody saluted at the same time. He was, I +think, duly impressed by the atmosphere of the tavern, the sight of the +Staff's maps, the inundated dug-outs, the noise of the guns and the +funny balls of smoke that the shells made when they exploded over the +German lines. + +What gave this battle a humorous twist for all time was the delectable +visit of a Cabinet Minister. He came in a car and brought with him his +own knife and fork and a loaf of bread as his contribution to the +Divisional Lunch. When he entered the tavern he smelt among other smells +the delicious odour of rabbit-pie. With hurried but charming +condescension he left his loaf on the stove, where it dried for a day or +two until the landlady had the temerity to appropriate it. He was fed, +so far as I remember on-- + + Soup. + Fish. + Rabbit-pie. Potatoes. Cabbage. + Apple-tart. + Fruit. Coffee. Liqueurs. + +and after lunch, I am told, showed a marked disinclination to ascend the +hill and watch the shells bursting. He was only a "civvy."[25] + +The battle lasted about ten days. Each morning the Staff, like lazy men +who are "something in the city," arrived a little later at the tavern. +Each afternoon they departed a little earlier. The rabbits decreased in +number, and finally, when two days running the A.D.C. had been able to +shoot nothing at all, the Division returned for good to the Chateau at +St Jans Cappel. + +For this mercy the despatch riders were truly grateful. Sitting the +whole day in the tavern, we had all contracted bad headaches. Even +chess, the 'Red Magazine,' and the writing of letters, could do nothing +to dissipate our unutterable boredom. Never did we pass that tavern +afterwards without a shudder of disgust. With joyous content we heard a +month or two later that it had been closed for providing drinks after +hours. + +Officially the grand attack had taken this course. The French to the +north had been held up by the unexpected strength of the German defence. +The 3rd Division on our immediate left had advanced a trifle, for the +Gordons had made a perilous charge into the Petit Bois, a wood at the +bottom of the Wytschaete Heights. And the Royal Scots had put in some +magnificent work, for which they were afterwards very properly +congratulated. The Germans in front of our Division were so cowed by our +magniloquent display of gunnery that they have remained moderately quiet +ever since. + +After these December manoeuvres nothing of importance happened on our +front until the spring, when the Germans, whom we had tickled with +intermittent gunnery right through the winter, began to retaliate with +a certain energy. + +The Division that has no history is not necessarily happy. There were +portions of the line, it is true, which provided a great deal of comfort +and very little danger. Fine dug-outs were constructed--you have +probably seen them in the illustrated papers. The men were more at home +in such trenches than in the ramshackle farms behind the lines. These +show trenches were emphatically the exception. The average trench on the +line during last winter was neither comfortable nor safe. Yellow clay, +six inches to four feet or more of stinking water, many corpses behind +the trenches buried just underneath the surface-crust, and in front of +the trenches not buried at all, inveterate sniping from a slightly +superior position--these are not pleasant bedfellows. The old Division +(or rather the new Division--the infantrymen of the old Division were +now pitifully few) worked right hard through the winter. When the early +spring came and the trenches were dry, the Division was sent north to +bear a hand in the two bloodiest actions of the war. So far as I know, +in the whole history of British participation in this war there has +never been a more murderous fight than one of these two actions--and +the Division, with slight outside help, managed the whole affair. + +Twice in the winter there was an attempted _rapprochement_ between the +Germans and ourselves. The more famous gave the Division a mention by +"Eyewitness," so we all became swollen with pride. + +On the Kaiser's birthday one-and-twenty large shells were dropped +accurately into a farm suspected of being a battalion or brigade +headquarters. The farm promptly acknowledged the compliment by blowing +up, and all round it little explosions followed. Nothing pleases a +gunner more than to strike a magazine. He always swears he knew it was +there the whole time, and, as gunners are dangerous people to quarrel +with, we always pretended to believe the tale. + +There are many people in England still who cannot stomach the story of +the Christmas truce. "Out there," we cannot understand why. Good +fighting men respect good fighting men. On our front, and on the fronts +of other divisions, the Germans had behaved throughout the winter with a +passable gentlemanliness. Besides, neither the British nor the German +soldier--with the possible exception of the Prussians--has been able to +stoke up that virulent hate which devastates so many German and British +homes. A certain lance-corporal puts the matter thus:[26]-- + +"We're fightin' for somethink what we've got. Those poor beggars is +fightin' cos they've got to. An' old Bill Kayser's fightin' for +somethin' what 'e'll never get. But 'e will get somethink, and that's a +good 'iding!"[27] + +We even had a sneaking regard for that "cunning old bird, Kayser Bill." +Our treatment of prisoners explains the Christmas Truce. The British +soldier, except when he is smarting under some dirty trick, suffering +under terrible loss, or maddened by fighting or fatigue, treats his +prisoners with a tolerant, rather contemptuous kindness. May God in His +mercy help any poor German who falls into the hands of a British soldier +when the said German has "done the dirty" or has "turned nasty"! There +is no judge so remorseless, no executioner so ingenious in making the +punishment fit the crime. + +This is what I wrote home a day or two after Christmas: From six on +Christmas Eve to six in the evening on Christmas Day there was a truce +between two regiments of our Division and the Germans opposite them. +Heads popped up and were not sniped. Greetings were called across. One +venturesome, enthusiastic German got out of his trench and stood waving +a branch of Christmas Tree. Soon there was a fine pow-wow going on. +Cigars were exchanged for tobacco. Friendship was pledged in socks. The +Germans brought out some beer and the English some rum. Finally, on +Christmas Day, there was a great concert and dance. The Germans were +spruce, elderly men, keen and well fed, with buttons cleaned for the +occasion. They appeared to have plenty of supplies, and were fully +equipped with everything necessary for a winter campaign. A third +battalion, wisely but churlishly, refused these seasonable advances, and +shot four men who appeared with a large cask of what was later +discovered to be beer.... + +"The Div." were billeted in a chateau on the slope of a hill +three-quarters of a mile above St Jans Cappel. This desirable residence +stands in two acres of garden, just off the road. At the gate was a +lodge. Throughout the winter we despatch riders lived in two small rooms +of this lodge. We averaged fourteen in number. Two were out with the +brigades, leaving twelve to live, eat, and sleep in two rooms, each +about 15 ft. by 8 ft. We were distinctly cramped, and cursed the day +that had brought us to St Jans. It was a cruel stroke that gave us for +our winter quarters the worst billets we had ever suffered. + +As we became inclined to breakfast late, nine o'clock parade was +instituted. Breakfast took place before or after, as the spirit listed. +Bacon, tea, and bread came from the cook. We added porridge and +occasionally eggs. The porridge we half-cooked the night before. + +After breakfast we began to clean our bicycles, no light task, and the +artificers started on repairs. The cleaning process was usually broken +into by the arrival of the post and the papers of the day before. +Cleaning the bicycles, sweeping out the rooms, reading and writing +letters, brought us to dinner at 1. + +This consisted of bully or fresh meat stew with vegetables (or +occasionally roast or fried meat), bread and jam. As we became more +luxurious we would provide for ourselves Yorkshire pudding, which we +discovered trying to make pancakes, and pancakes, which we discovered +trying to make Yorkshire pudding. Worcester Sauce and the invaluable +curry powder were never wanting. After dinner we smoked a lethargic +pipe. + +In the afternoon it was customary to take some exercise. To reduce the +strain on our back tyres we used to trudge manfully down into the +village, or, if we were feeling energetic, to the ammunition column a +couple of miles away. Any distance over two miles we covered on +motor-cycles. Their use demoralised us. Our legs shrunk away. + +Sometimes two or three of us would ride to a sand-pit on Mont Noir and +blaze away with our revolvers. Incidentally, not one of us had fired a +shot in anger since the war began. We treated our revolvers as +unnecessary luggage. In time we became skilled in their use, and +thereafter learnt to keep them moderately clean. We had been served out +with revolvers at Chatham, but had never practised with them--except at +Carlow for a morning, and then we were suffering from the effects of +inoculation. They may be useful when we get to Germany. + +Shopping in Bailleul was less strenuous. We were always buying something +for supper--a kilo of liver, some onions, a few sausages--anything that +could be cooked by the unskilled on a paraffin-stove. Then after +shopping there were cafes we could drop into, sure of a welcome. It was +impossible to live from November to March "within easy reach of town" +and not make friends. + +Milk for tea came from the farm in which No. 1 Section of the Signal +Company was billeted. When first we were quartered at St Jans this +section wallowed in some mud a little above the chateau. + +Because I had managed to make myself understood to some German +prisoners, I was looked upon as a great linguist, and vulgarly credited +with a knowledge of all the European languages. So I was sent, together +with the Quartermaster-Sergeant and the Sergeant-Major, on billeting +expeditions. Arranging for quarters at the farm, I made great friends +with the farmer. He was a tall, thin, lithe old man, with a crumpled +wife and prodigiously large family. He was a man of affairs, too, for +once a month in peace time he would drive into Hazebrouck. While his +wife got me the milk, we used to sit by the fire and smoke our pipes and +discuss the terrible war and the newspapers. One of the most +embarrassing moments I have ever experienced was when he bade me tell +the sergeants that he regarded them as brothers, and loved them all. I +said it first in French, that he might hear, and then in English. The +sergeants blushed, while the old man beamed. + +We loved the Flemish, and, for the most part, they loved us. When +British soldiers arrived in a village the men became clean, the women +smart, and the boys inevitably procured putties and wore them with +pride. The British soldier is certainly not insular. He tries hard to +understand the words and ways of his neighbours. He has a rough tact, a +crude courtesy, and a great-hearted generosity. In theory no task could +be more difficult than the administration of the British Area. Even a +friendly military occupation is an uncomfortable burden. Yet never have +I known any case of real ill-feeling. Personally, during my nine months +at the Front, I have always received from the French and the Belgians +amazing kindness and consideration. As an officer I came into contact +with village and town officials over questions of billets and +requisitions. In any difficulty I received courteous assistance. No +trouble was too great; no time was too valuable.... + +After tea of cakes and rolls the bridge-players settled down to a quiet +game, with pipes to hand and whisky and siphons on the sideboard. We +took it in turns to cook some delicacy for supper at 8--sausages, +curried sardines, liver and bacon, or--rarely but joyously--fish. At one +time or another we feasted on all the luxuries, but fish was rarer than +rubies. When we had it we did not care if we stank out the whole lodge +with odours of its frying. We would lie down to sleep content in a +thick fishy, paraffin-y, dripping-y atmosphere. When I came home I could +not think what the delicious smell was in a certain street. Then my +imagination struck out a picture--Grimers laboriously frying a dab over +a smoky paraffin-stove. + +On occasions after supper we would brew a large jorum of good rum-punch, +sing songs with roaring choruses, and finish up the evening with a good +old scrap over somebody else's bed. The word went round to "mobilise," +and we would all stand ready, each on his bed, to repel boarders. If the +sanctity of your bed were violated, the intruder would be cast +vigorously into outer darkness. Another song, another drink, a final +pipe, and to bed. + +Our Christmas would have been a grand day if it had not been away from +home. + +At eight o'clock there was breakfast of porridge, bacon and eggs, and +bloaters--everybody in the best of spirits. About nine the Skipper +presented us with cards from the King and Queen. Then the mail came in, +but it was poor. By the time we had tidied up our places and done a +special Christmas shave and wash, we were called upon to go down to the +cookhouse and sign for Princess Mary's Christmas gift--a good pipe, and +in a pleasant little brass box lay a Christmas card, a photograph, a +packet of cigarettes, and another of excellent tobacco. + +It was now lunch-time--steak and potatoes. + +The afternoon was spent on preparations for our great and unexampled +dinner. Grimers printed the menu, and while I made some cold curried +sardines, the rest went down into the village to stimulate the landlady +of the inn where we were going to dine. + +In the village a brigade was billeted, and that brigade was, of course, +"on the wire." It was arranged that the despatch riders next on the list +should take their motor-cycles down and be summoned over the wire if +they were needed. An order had come round that unimportant messages were +to be kept until the morning. + +We dined in the large kitchen of the _Maison Commune Estaminet_, at a +long table decorated with mistletoe and holly. The dinner--the result of +two days' "scrounging" under the direction of George--was too good to be +true. We toasted each other and sang all the songs we knew. Two of the +Staff clerks wandered in and told us we were the best of all possible +despatch riders. We drank to them uproariously. Then a Scotsman turned +up with a noisy recitation. Finally, we all strolled home up the hill +singing loudly and pleasantly, very exhilarated, in sure and certain +belief we had spent the best of all possible evenings. + +In the dwelling of the Staff there was noise of revelry. Respectable +captains with false noses peered out of windows. Our Fat Boy declaimed +in the signal office on the iniquities of the artillery telegraphists. +Sadders sent gentle messages of greeting over the wires. He was still a +little piqued at his failure to secure the piper of the K.O.S.B., who +had been commandeered by the Staff. Sadders waited for him until early +morning and then steered him to our lodge, but the piper was by then too +tired to play. + +Here is our bill of fare:-- + + CHRISTMAS, 1914. + + DINNER + OF THE + TEN SURVIVING MOTOR-CYCLISTS OF THE + FAMOUS FIFTH DIVISION. + + Sardins tres Moutard. + Potage. + Dindon Roti-Saucisses. Oise Roti. + Petits Choux de Bruxelles. + Pommes de Terre. + Pouding de Noel Rhum. + Dessert. Cafe. Liqueurs. + _Vins._--Champagne. Moselle. Port. + Benedictine. Whisky. + + +On the reverse page we put our battle-honours--Mons, Le Cateau, +Crepy-en-Valois, the Marne, the Aisne, La Bassee, the Defence of +Ypres.[28] + +We beat the Staff on the sprouts, but the Staff countered by +appropriating the piper. + +Work dwindled until it became a farce. One run for each despatch rider +every third day was the average. St Jans was not the place we should +have chosen for a winter resort. Life became monotonous, and we all with +one accord began applying for commissions. Various means were used to +break the monotony. Grimers, under the Skipper's instructions, began to +plant vegetables for the spring, but I do not think he ever got much +beyond mustard and cress. On particularly unpleasant days we were told +off to make fascines. N'Soon assisted the Quartermaster-Sergeant. Cecil +did vague things with the motor-lorry. I was called upon to write the +Company's War Diary. Even the Staff became restless and took to +night-walks behind the trenches. If it had not been for the generous +supply of "days off" that the Skipper allowed us, we should by February +have begun to gibber. + +Despatches were of two kinds--ordinary and priority. "Priority" +despatches could only be sent by the more important members of the +Staff. They were supposed to be important, were marked "priority" in the +corner, and taken at once in a hurry. Ordinary despatches went by the +morning and evening posts. During the winter a regular system of +motor-cyclist posts was organised right through the British Area. A +message could be sent from Neuve Eglise to Chartres in about two days. +Our posts formed the first or last stage of the journey. The morning +post left at 7.30 A.M., and the evening at 3.30 P.M. All the units of +the division were visited. + +If the roads were moderately good and no great movements of troops were +proceeding, the post took about 1-1/4 hours; so the miserable postman +was late either for breakfast or for tea. It was routine work pure and +simple. After six weeks we knew every stone in the roads. The postman +never came under fire. He passed through one village which was +occasionally shelled, but, while I was with the Signal Company, the +postman and the shells never arrived at the village at the same time. +There was far more danger from lorries and motor ambulances than from +shells. + +As for the long line of "postmen" that stretched back into the dim +interior of France--it was rarely that they even heard the guns. When +they did hear them, they would, I am afraid, pluck a racing helmet from +their pockets, draw the ear-flaps well down over their ears, bend down +over their racing handle-bars, and sprint for dear life. Returning +safely to Abbeville, they would write hair-raising accounts of the +dangers they had passed through to the motor-cycling papers. It is only +right that I should here once and for all confess--there is no finer +teller of tall stories than the motor-cyclist despatch rider.... + +From December to February the only time I was under shell fire was late +in December, when the Grand Attack was in full train. A certain brigade +headquarters had taken refuge inconsiderately in advanced dug-outs. As I +passed along the road to them some shrapnel was bursting a quarter of a +mile away. So long was it since I had been under fire that the noise of +our own guns disturbed me. In the spring, after I had left the Signal +Company, the roads were not so healthy. George experienced the delights +of a broken chain on a road upon which the Germans were registering +accurately with shrapnel. Church, a fine fellow, and quite the most +promising of our recruits, was killed in his billet by a shell when +attached to a brigade. + +Taking the post rarely meant just a pleasant spin, because it rained in +Flanders from September to January. + +One day I started out from D.H.Q. at 3.30 P.M. with the afternoon post, +and reached the First Brigade well up to time. Then it began to rain, at +first slightly, and then very heavily indeed, with a bagful of wind. On +a particularly open stretch of road--the rain was stinging sharply--the +engine stopped. With a heroic effort I tugged the bicycle through some +mud to the side of a shed, in the hope that when the wind changed--it +did not--I might be under cover. I could not see. I could not grip--and +of course I could not find out what the matter was. + +After I had been working for about half an hour the two artillery +motor-cyclists came along. I stopped them to give me a hand and to do as +much work as I could possibly avoid doing myself while preserving an +appearance of omniscience. + +We worked for an hour or more. It was now so dark that I could not +distinguish one motor-cyclist from another. The rain rained faster than +it had ever rained before, and the gale was so violent that we could +scarcely keep our feet. Finally, we diagnosed a complaint that could not +be cured by the roadside. So we stopped working, to curse and admire +the German rockets. + +There was an estaminet close by. It had appeared shut, but when we began +to curse a light shone in one of the windows. So I went in and settled +to take one of the artillery motor-cycles and deliver the rest of my +quite unimportant despatches. It would not start. We worked for twenty +minutes in the rain vainly, then a motor-cyclist turned up from the +nearest brigade to see what had become of me,--the progress of the post +is checked over the wire. We arranged matters--but then neither his +motor-cycle nor the motor-cycle of the second artillery motor-cyclist +would start. It was laughable. Eventually we got the brigade despatch +rider started with my report. + +A fifth motor-cyclist, who discreetly did not stop his engine, took my +despatches back to "the Div." The second artillery motor-cycle we +started after quarter of an hour's prodigious labour. The first and mine +were still obstinate, so he and I retired to the inn, drank brandy and +hot water, and conversed amiably with madame. + +Madame, who together with innumerable old men and children inhabited the +inn, was young and pretty and intelligent--black hair, sallow and +symmetrical face, expressive mouth, slim and graceful limbs. Talking +the language, we endeavoured to make our forced company pleasant. That +other despatch rider, still steaming from the stove, sat beside a +charming Flemish woman, and endeavoured, amid shrieks of laughter, to +translate the jokes in an old number of 'London Opinion.' + +A Welsh lad came in--a perfect Celt of nineteen, dark and lithe, with a +momentary smile and a wild desire to see India. Then some Cheshires +arrived. They were soaked and very weary. One old reservist staggered to +a chair. We gave him some brandy and hot water. He chattered +unintelligibly for a moment about his wife and children. He began to +doze, so his companion took him out, and they tottered along after their +company. + +A dog of no possible breed belonged to the estaminet. Madame called him +"Automobile Anglais," because he was always rushing about for no +conceivable reason. + +We were sorry when at 9.50 the lorry came for the bicycles. Our second +driver was an ex-London cabby, with a crude wit expressed in impossible +French that our hostess delightfully parried. On the way back he told me +how he had given up the three taxis he had owned to do "his bit," how +the other men had laughed at him because he was so old, how he had met +a prisoner who used to whistle for the taxis in Russell Square. We +talked also of the men in the trenches, of fright, and of the end of the +war. We reached D.H.Q. about 10.30, and after a large bowl of porridge I +turned in. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] The soldier's contemptuous expression for the inhabitants of the +civilian world. + +[26] I retired with some haste from Flanders the night after the Germans +first began to use gas. Militant chemistry may have altered the British +soldier's convictions. + +[27] I have left out the usual monotonous epithet. Any soldier can +supply it. + +[28] To these may now be added--St Eloi, Hill 60, the Second Battle of +Ypres. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BEHIND THE LINES. + + +I had intended to write down a full description of the country +immediately behind our present line. The Skipper, for fear we should +become stale, allowed us plenty of leave. We would make little +expeditions to Bethune for the baths, spend an afternoon riding round +Armentieres, or run over to Poperinghe for a chop. We even arranged for +a visit to the Belgian lines, but that excursion was forbidden by a new +order. Right through the winter we had "unrivalled opportunities"--as +the journalists would say--of becoming intimate with that strip of +Flanders which extends from Ypres to Bethune. Whether I can or may +describe it is a matter for care. A too affectionate description of the +neighbourhood of Wulverghem, for instance, would be unwise. But I see no +reason why I should not state as a fact that a most excellent dry +Martini could be obtained in Ypres up to the evening of April 22. + +Wretched Ypres has been badly over-written. Before the war it was a +pleasant city, little visited by travellers because it lay on a badly +served branch line. The inhabitants tell me it was never much troubled +with tourists. One burgher explained the situation to me with a comical +mixture of sentiment and reason. + +"You see, sir, that our Cathedral is shattered and the Cloth Hall a +ruin. May those devils, the dirty Germans, roast in Hell! But after the +war we shall be the richest city in Belgium. All England will flock to +Ypres. Is it not a monstrous cemetery? Are there not woods and villages +and farms at which the brave English have fought like lions to earn for +themselves eternal fame, and for the city an added glory? The good God +gives His compensations after great wars. There will be many to buy our +lace and fill our restaurants." + +Mr John Buchan and Mr Valentine Williams and others have "written up" +Ypres. The exact state of the Cloth Hall at any given moment is the +object of solicitude. The shattered Belgian homes have been described +over and over again. The important things about Ypres have been left +unsaid. + +Near the station there was a man who really could mix cocktails. He was +no blundering amateur, but an expert with the subtlest touch. And in the +Rue de Lille a fashionable dressmaker turned her _atelier_ into a +tea-room. She used to provide coffee or chocolate, or even tea, and the +most delicious little cakes. Of an afternoon you would sit on +comfortable chairs at a neat table covered with a fair cloth and talk to +your hostess. A few hats daintily remained on stands, but, as she said, +they were last year's hats, unworthy of our notice. + +A pleasant afternoon could be spent on the old ramparts. We were there, +as a matter of fact, to do a little building-up and clearing-away when +the German itch for destruction proved too strong for their more +gentlemanly feelings. We lay on the grass in the sun and smoked our +pipes, looking across the placid moat to Zillebeke Vyver, Verbranden +Molen, and the slight curve of Hill 60. The landscape was full of +interest. Here was shrapnel bursting over entirely empty fields. There +was a sapper repairing a line. The Germans were shelling the town, and +it was a matter of skill to decide when the lumbersome old shell was +heard exactly where it would fall. Then we would walk back into the town +for tea and look in at that particularly enterprising grocer's in the +Square to see his latest novelties in tinned goods. + +From Ypres the best road in Flanders runs by Vlamertinghe to Poperinghe. +It is a good macadam road, made, doubtless by perfidious Albion's money, +just before the war. + +Poperinghe has been an age-long rival of Ypres. Even to-day its +inhabitants delight to tell you the old municipal scandals of the larger +town, and the burghers of Ypres, if they see a citizen of Poperinghe in +their streets, believe he has come to gloat over their misfortunes. +Ypres is an Edinburgh and Poperinghe a Glasgow. Ypres was +self-consciously "old world" and loved its buildings. Poperinghe is +modern, and perpetrated a few years ago the most terrible of town halls. +There are no cocktails in Poperinghe, but there is good whisky and most +excellent beer. + +I shall never forget my feelings when one morning in a certain +wine-merchant's cellar I saw several eighteen-gallon casks of Bass's +Pale Ale. I left Poperinghe in a motor-ambulance, and the Germans +shelled it next day, but my latest advices state that the ale is still +intact. + +Across the road from the wine-merchant's is a delectable tea-shop. There +is a tea-shop at Bailleul, the "Allies Tea-Rooms." It was started early +in March. It is full of bad blue china and inordinately expensive. Of +the tea-shop at Poperinghe I cannot speak too highly. There is a vast +variety of the most delicious cakes. The proprietress is pleasant and +her maids are obliging. It is also cheap. I have only one fault to find +with it--the room is small. Infantry officers walk miles into Poperinghe +for their tea and then find the room crowded with those young subalterns +who supply us with our bully. They bring in bulldogs and stay a long +time. + +Dickebusch used to be a favourite Sunday afternoon's ride for the +Poperinghe wheelers. They would have tea at the restaurant on the north +of Dickebusch Vyver, and afterwards go for a row in the little +flat-bottomed boats, accompanied, no doubt, by some nice dark Flemish +girls. The village, never very pleasant, is now the worse for wear. I +remember it with no kindly feelings, because, having spent a night there +with the French, I left them in the morning too early to obtain a +satisfactory meal, and arrived at Headquarters too late for any +breakfast. + +Not far from Dickebusch is the Desolate Chateau. Before the war it was a +handsome place, built by a rich coal-merchant from Lille. I visited it +on a sunny morning. At the southern gate there was a little black and +shapeless heap fluttering a rag in the wind. I saluted and passed on, +sick at heart. The grounds were pitted with shell-holes: the +cucumber-frames were shattered. Just behind the chateau was a wee +village of dug-outs. Now they are slowly falling in. And the chateau +itself? + +It had been so proud of its finery, its pseudo-Greek columns, and its +rich furnishings. Battered and confused--there is not a room of it which +is not open to the wind from the sea. The pictures lie prostrate on the +floor before their ravisher. The curtains are torn and faded. The papers +of its master are scattered over the carpet and on the rifled desk. In +the bedroom of its mistress her linen has been thrown about wildly; yet +her two silver brushes still lie on the dressing-table. Even the +children's room had been pillaged, and the books, torn and defaced, lay +in a rough heap. + +All was still. At the foot of the garden there was a little village half +hidden by trees. Not a sound came from it. Away on the ridge miserable +Wytschaete stood hard against the sky, a mass of trembling ruins. Then +two soldiers came, and finding a boat rowed noisily round the tiny lake, +and the shells murmured harshly as they flew across to Ypres. Some ruins +are dead stones, but the broken houses of Flanders are pitifully +alive--like the wounded men who lie between the trenches and cannot be +saved.... + +Half a mile south from Dickebusch are cross-roads, and the sign-post +tells you that the road to the left is the road to Wytschaete--but +Wytschaete faces Kemmel and Messines faces Wulverghem. + +I was once walking over the hills above Witzenhausen,--the cherries by +the roadside were wonderful that year,--and coming into a valley we +asked a man how we might best strike a path into the next valley over +the shoulder of the hill. He said he did not know, because he had never +been over the hill. The people of the next valley were strangers to him. +When first I came to a sign-post that told me how to get to a village I +could not reach with my life, I thought of those hills above +Witzenhausen. From Wulverghem to Messines is exactly two kilometres. It +is ludicrous. + +Again, one afternoon I was riding over the pass between Mont Noir and +Mont Vidaigne. I looked to the east and saw in the distance the smoke of +a train, just as from Harrow you might see the Scottish Express on the +North-Western main line. For a moment I did not realise that the train +was German, that the purpose of its journey was to kill me and my +fellow-men. But it is too easy to sentimentalise, to labour the stark +fact that war is a grotesque, irrational absurdity.... + +Following the main road south from Dickebusch you cross the frontier and +come to Bailleul, a town of which we were heartily sick before the +winter was far gone. In peace it would be once seen and never +remembered. It has no character, though I suppose the "Faucon" is as +well known to Englishmen now as any hotel in Europe. There are better +shops in Bethune and better cafes in Poperinghe. Of the "Allies +Tea-Rooms" I have already written. + +Bailleul is famous for one thing alone--its baths. Just outside the town +is a large and modern asylum that contains a good plunge-bath for the +men and gorgeous hot baths for officers. There are none better behind +the line. Tuesdays and Fridays were days of undiluted joy. + +Armentieres is sprawling and ugly and full of dirt--a correct and +middle-class town that reminded me of Bristol. In front of it are those +trenches, of which many tales wandered up and down the line. Here the +Christmas truce is said to have been prolonged for three weeks or more. +Here the men are supposed to prefer their comfortable trenches to their +billets, though when they "come out" they are cheered by the Follies and +the Fancies. On this section of the line is the notorious Plugstreet +Wood, that show-place to which all distinguished but valuable visitors +are taken. Other corps have sighed for the gentle delights of this +section of the line.... + +South-west from Armentieres the country is as level as it can be. It is +indeed possible to ride from Ypres to Bethune without meeting any hill +except the slight ascent from La Clytte. Steenwerck, Erquinghem, Croix +du Bac, and, farther west, Merris and Vieux Berquin, have no virtue +whatsoever. There is little country flatter and uglier than the country +between Bailleul and Bethune. + +One morning Huggie, Cecil, and I obtained leave to visit Bethune and the +La Bassee district. It was in the middle of January, three months after +we had left Beuvry. We tore into Bailleul and bumped along the first +mile of the Armentieres road. That mile is without any doubt the most +excruciatingly painful _pave_ in the world. We crossed the railway and +raced south. The roads were good and there was little traffic, but the +sudden apparition of a motor-lorry round a sharp corner sent that other +despatch rider into the ditch. Estaires, as always, produced much +grease. It began to rain, but we held on by La Gorgue and Lestrem, +halting only once for the necessary cafe-cognac. + +We were stopped for our passes at the bridge into Bethune by a private +of the London Scottish. I rejoiced exceedingly, and finding Alec, took +him off to a bath and then to the restaurant where I had breakfasted +when first we came to Bethune. The meal was as good as it had been three +months before, and the flapper as charming.[29] After lunch we had our +hair cut. Then Cecil took us to the little blue-and-white cafe for tea. +She did play the piano, but two subalterns of the less combatant type +came in and put us to flight. A corporal is sometimes at such a +disadvantage. + +We rode along the canal bank to Beuvry Station, and found that our +filthy old quarters had been cleaned up and turned into an Indian +dressing-station. We went on past the cross-roads at Gorre, where an +Indian battalion was waiting miserably under the dripping trees. The sun +was just setting behind some grey clouds. The fields were flooded with +ochreous water. Since last I had been along the road the country had +been "searched" too thoroughly. One wall of 1910 farm remained. Chickens +pecked feebly among the rest of it. + +Coming into Festubert I felt that something was wrong. The village had +been damnably shelled--that I had expected--and there was not a soul to +be seen. I thought of the father and mother and daughter who, returning +to their home while we were there in October, had wept because a fuse +had gone through the door and the fireplace and all their glass had been +broken. Their house was now a heap of nothing in particular. The mirror +I had used lay broken on the top of about quarter of a wall. Still +something was wrong, and Huggie, who had been smiling at my puzzled +face, said gently in an off-hand way-- + +"Seen the church?" + +That was it! The church had simply disappeared. In the old days riding +up from Gorre the fine tower of the church rose above the houses at the +end of the street. The tower had been shelled and had fallen crashing +through the roof. + +We met a sapper coming out of a cottage. He was rather amused at our +sentimental journey, and warned us that the trenches were considerably +nearer the village than they had been in our time. We determined to push +on as it was now dusk, but my engine jibbed, and we worked on it in the +gloom among the dark and broken houses. The men in the trenches roused +themselves to a sleepless night, and intermittent rifle-shots rang out +in the damp air. + +We rode north to the Estaminet de l'Epinette, passing a road which +forking to the right led to a German barricade. The estaminet still +lived, but farther down the road the old house which had sheltered a +field ambulance was a pile of rubbish. On we rode by La Couture to +Estaires, where we dined, and so to St Jans Cappel.... + +Do you know what the Line means? When first we came to Landrecies the +thought of the Frontier as something strong and stark had thrilled us +again and again, but the Frontier was feeble and is nothing. A man of +Poperinghe told me his brother was professor, his son was serving, his +wife and children were "over there." He pointed to the German lines. Of +his wife and children he has heard nothing for four months. Some of us +are fighting to free "German" Flanders, the country where life is dark +and bitter. Those behind our line, however confident they may be, live +in fear, for if the line were to retire a little some of them would be +cast into the bitter country. A day will come "when the whole line will +advance," and the welcome we shall receive then from those who have come +out of servitude!... There are men and women in France who live only for +that day, just as there are those in this country who would welcome the +day of death, so that they might see again those they love.... + + * * * * * + +You may have gathered from my former letters that no friction took +place between the professional and amateur soldiers of the Signal +Company. I have tried all through my letters to give you a very truthful +idea of our life, and my account would not be complete without some +description of the Signal Company and its domestic affairs. + +Think for a moment of what happened at the beginning of August. More +than a dozen 'Varsity men were thrown like Daniels into a den of +mercenaries. We were awkwardly privileged persons--full corporals with a +few days' service. Motor-cycling gave superlative opportunities of +freedom. Our duties were "flashy," and brought us into familiar contact +with officers of rank. We were highly paid, and thought to have much +money of our own. In short, we who were soldiers of no standing +possessed the privileges that a professional soldier could win only +after many years' hard work. + +Again, it did not help matters that our Corps was a Corps of intelligent +experts who looked down on the ordinary "Tommy," that our Company had +deservedly the reputation of being one of the best Signal Companies in +the Army--a reputation which has been enhanced and duly rewarded in the +present war. These motor-cyclists were not only experimental +interlopers. They might even "let down" the Company. + +We expected jealousy and unpleasantness, which we hoped to overcome by +hard work. We found a tactful kindness that was always smoothing the +rough way, helping us amusedly, and giving us more than our due, and a +thorough respect where respect was deserved. It was astonishing, but +then we did not know the professional soldier. During the winter there +was a trifle of friction over cooking, the work of the Signal Office, +and the use and abuse of motor-cycles. It would have been a +poor-spirited company if there had been none. But the friction was +transitory, and left no acid feeling. + +I should like to pay my compliments to a certain commanding officer, but +six months' work under him has convinced me that he does not like +compliments. Still, there remains that dinner at the end of the war, and +then...! + +The Sergeant-Major frightened us badly at first. He looked so much like +a Sergeant-Major, and a Sergeant-Major is more to be feared than the +C.O., or the General, or the A.P.M., or anybody else in this +disciplinary world. He can make life Hell or Heaven or a judicious +compromise. Our Sergeant-Major believed in the judicious compromise with +a tendency towards Heaven. When any question arose between professional +and amateur, he dealt with it impartially. At other times he was +inclined to let us work out our own salvation. I have always had a +mighty respect for the Sergeant-Major, but have never dared tell him so. +Perhaps he will read this. + +The "Quarter-Bloke"[30] was a jewel. He was suddenly called upon to keep +us supplied with things of which he had never even heard the names. He +rose to the occasion like a hero or Mr Selfridge's buyer. Never did he +pass by an unconsidered trifle. One day a rumour went round that we +might get side-cars. That was enough for the Quarter-Bloke. He picked up +every large-sized tyre he thought might come in useful. The side-cars +came. There was a rush for tyres. The Quarter-Bloke did not rush. He +only smiled. + +His great triumph was the affair of the leather jackets. A maternal +Government thought to send us out leather jackets. After tea the Q.-B. +bustled in with them. We rode out with them the next morning. The 2nd +Corps had not yet received theirs. We were the first motor-cyclists in +our part of the world to appear in flaring chrome. The Q.-B. smiled +again. + +I always think the Quarter-Bloke is wasted. He ought to be put in charge +of the Looting Department of a large invading army. Do not +misunderstand me. The Q.-B. never "looted." He never stepped a +hair's-breadth outside those regulations that hedge round the +Quartermaster. He was just a man with a prophetic instinct, who, while +others passed blindly by, picked up things because they might come in +useful some day--and they always did. Finally, the Q.-B. was +companionable. He could tell a good story, and make merry decorously, as +befitted a Company Quartermaster-Sergeant. + +Of the other sergeants I will make no individual mention. We took some +for better, and some for worse, but they were all good men, who knew +their job. + +Then there was "Ginger," the cook. I dare not describe his personal +appearance lest I should meet him again--and I want to--but it was +remarkable. So was his language. One of us had a fair gift that way, and +duels were frequent, but "Ginger" always had the last word. He would +keep in reserve a monstrously crude sulphurous phrase with a sting of +humour in its tail, and, when our fellow had concluded triumphantly with +an exotic reference to Ginger's hereditary characteristics, Ginger would +hesitate a moment, as if thinking, and then out with _it_. Obviously +there was no more to be said. + +I have ever so much more to tell about the Signal Company in detail and +dialogue. Perhaps some day I shall have the courage to say it, but I +shall be careful to hide about whom I am writing.... + + * * * * * + +The "commission fever," which we had caught on the Aisne and, more +strongly, at Beuvry, swept over us late in January. Moulders, who had +lost his own company and joined on to us during the Retreat, had retired +into the quietude of the A.S.C. Cecil was selected to go home and train +the despatch riders of the New Armies. + +There were points in being "an officer and a gentleman." Dirt and +discomfort were all very well when there was plenty of work to do, and +we all decided that every officer should have been in the ranks, but +despatch-riding had lost its savour. We had become postmen. Thoughts of +the days when we had dashed round picking-up brigades, had put +battalions on the right road, and generally made ourselves conspicuous, +if not useful, discontented us. So we talked it over. + +Directing the operations of a very large gun seemed a good job. There +would not be much moving to do, because monster guns were notoriously +immobile. Hours are regular; the food is good, and can generally be +eaten in comparative safety. If the gun had a very long range it would +be quite difficult to hit. Unfortunately gunnery is a very technical +job, and requires some acquaintance with Algebra. So we gave up the +idea. + +We did not dote on the cavalry, for many reasons. First, when cavalry is +not in action it does nothing but clean its stables and exercise its +horses. Second, if ever we broke through the German lines the cavalry +would probably go ahead of anybody else. Third, we could not ride very +well, and the thought of falling off in front of our men when they were +charging daunted us. + +The sappers required brains, and we had too great an admiration for the +infantry to attempt commanding them. Besides, they walked and lived in +trenches. + +Two of us struck upon a corps which combined the advantages of every +branch of the service. We drew up a list of each other's qualifications +to throw a sop to modesty, sent in our applications, and waited. At the +same time we adopted a slight tone of hauteur towards those who were not +potential officers. + +One night after tea "Ginger" brought in the orders. I had become a +gentleman, and, saying good-bye, I walked down into the village and +reported myself to the officer commanding the Divisional Cyclists. I was +no longer a despatch rider but a very junior subaltern. + +I had worked with the others for nearly seven months--with Huggie, who +liked to be frightened; with George the arch scrounger; with Spuggy, who +could sing the rarest songs; with Sadders, who is as brave as any man +alive; with N'Soon, the dashing, of the tender skin; with Fat Boy, who +loves "sustaining" food and dislikes frost; with Grimers and Cecil, best +of artificers; with Potters and Orr and Moulders and the Flapper. + +I cannot pay them a more sufficient tribute than the tribute of the +Commander-in-Chief:-- + +"Carrying despatches and messages at all hours of the day and night, in +every kind of weather, and often traversing bad roads blocked with +transport, they have been conspicuously successful in maintaining an +extraordinary degree of efficiency in the service of communications.... +No amount of difficulty or danger has ever checked the energy and ardour +which has distinguished their corps throughout the operations." + + +FINIS. + + +PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] I cannot remember the name of the restaurant. Go to the north-east +corner of the Square and turn down a lane to your right. It is the +fourth or fifth house on your right. In Bethune there is also, of +course, the big hotel where generals lunch. If you find the company of +generals a little trying go to the flapper's restaurant. + +[30] Company Quartermaster-Sergeant, now a Sergeant-Major. + +[Transcriber's Notes: + +page 56: Comma changed to period in "La Cateau. A good many" + +page 71: "off" changed to "of". "a great meal of lunch" + +page 109: "reopend" to "reopened". "reopened with cheers." + +page 166: changed "BASSEE" to "BASSEE" + +page 207: "that" changed to "than". "worse of surface than the main" + +page 213: word "for" inserted into text. "go for walks" + +page 246: period added after "Port." + +page 261: "distinguised" changed to "distinguished". "to which all + distinguished"] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Adventures of a Despatch Rider, by W. H. L. 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