HOW TO SEE 
 THE BATTLEFIELDS 
 
 CAPT.ATHERTON FLEMING 
 
HOW TO SEE 
 THE BATTLEFIELDS 
 
Territory over which the B.E.F. fought. 
 
how to see 
 The Battlefields 
 
 BY 
 
 CAPT. ATHERTON FLEMING 
 
 ^^ Daily Chronicle '''' Special Correspondent (191 4) 
 
 With Fourteen Maps 
 
 New York 
 FUNK AND WAGNALLS COMPANY 
 
y^^ 
 
 SIT ' / 5S?rJ 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 This book is not, by any means, to be regarded in 
 
 the light of an attempt to describe any particular 
 
 period, or phase, of the Great War. It is simply an 
 
 endeavour, and a very crude one, to set before the 
 
 public, in as concise a manner as possible, a certain 
 
 amount of information which has been collected in 
 
 the course of over four years' campaigning in France 
 
 and Flanders. 
 
 There are many thousands of people who will 
 
 want to see the ground over which the fighting took 
 
 place; some, no doubt, out of pure curiosity, others 
 
 with a much more pathetic object in view. To the 
 
 latter their journeyings will be more in the nature 
 
 of a pilgrimage than a mere round of sightseeing, 
 
 and should the information contained herein prove 
 
 of use to these pilgrims, I shall feel more than amply 
 
 repaid for mv trouble. 
 
 A. F. 
 
 Wiston, July, 1919. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 SECTION 
 
 1. NiEUPORT — Ypres — Bailleul 
 
 2. Armentieres — Bethune — Arras 
 
 3. The Somme and Cambrai . 
 
 4. St. Quentin — Roye — Noyon 
 
 5. montdidier — compiegne — soissons 
 
 6. The Retreat from Mons 
 
 7. From the Chemin-des-Dames to 
 
 Marne, 1918 
 
 THE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 17 
 
 38 
 58 
 
 75 
 
 QO 
 III 
 
LIST OF MAPS 
 
 Territory Over which the B.E.F. Fought 
 NiEUPORT — Ypres — Bailleul . 
 Armentieres — Bethune — Arras (I.) 
 
 ArMENTIERES BfiTHUNE ArRAS (II.) 
 
 The Somme and Cambrai 
 St. Ouentin — Roye — No yon (T.) 
 St. Quentin — Roye — Noyon (II.) 
 Montdidier — Compiegne — Soissons (I.) . 
 Montdidier — Compiegne — Soissons (11.) . 
 The Retreat from Mons (I.) . 
 The Retreat from Mons (II.) 
 Chemin-des-Dames TO theMarne, 1918 (I.) 
 
 ChEMIN-DES-DaMES TO THE MaRNE, I918 (II.) 
 
 Plan of Trench System. 
 
 Fo 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 5 
 19 
 27 
 
 41 
 
 61 
 
 65 
 77 
 83 
 93 
 
 lOI 
 
 113 
 119 
 
 r.-nip page 24 
 
HOW TO SEE THE 
 BATTLEFIELDS 
 
 SECTION I 
 
 Nieuport— Ypres— Bailleul 
 
 If a line could be drawn from the North Sea coast 
 near Nieuport in Flanders, down through Dixmude, 
 round Ypres and Armenti^res, between Bethune and 
 La Bassee, in front of Arras, and through the Somme 
 country, Bapaume and P^ronne, on to Roye, Noyon, 
 and then Soissons, along the Chemin-des-Dames to 
 Berry-au-Bac — a line varying from five to ten miles 
 in width, and at some places, notably the battlefields 
 of the Somme, bellying out to twenty or more — this 
 swath of land would define, fairly accurately, the 
 whole of that area which we used to call "the Western 
 Front." To all intents and purposes the line, so far 
 as British and Colonial troops are concerned, ceases 
 to interest us farther east than Berry-au-Bac. Until 
 the Second Battle of the Marne, in 1918 — the decisive 
 turning-point of the Great War — British troops had 
 not occupied the Chemin-des-Dames line — except for 
 a very short period during the 1914 retreat — before it 
 was handed over by the French to the gth Corps of 
 the British Army, composed of certain divisions which 
 
2 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 had been badly knocked about and were sent there 
 for a rest. 
 
 For the tourist who wishes to investigate the whole 
 of the battle line from the North Sea coast to the 
 Swiss frontier, there are, of course, several historic 
 battlefields on the French fronts to be visited : 
 Verdun, for instance, possibly the bloodiest of the 
 lot; the town of Rheims, or what is left of it; the 
 famous St. Mihiel salient, and the Vosges. I do not 
 know any part of the line east of Berry-au-Bac, there- 
 fore I won't attempt to describe it. When all is said 
 and done, I think the average Britisher, male or 
 female, will be more interested in that section of the 
 Western Front which was held by the British Army ; 
 just as the average French man or woman would 
 flush with pride at the mention of Verdun and be 
 comparatively unaffected by the mention of Ypres — 
 it is but natural. Thomas Atkins had heard of 
 Verdun, but exactly where it was did not interest him 
 very much; it was "Somewhere in France," and so 
 long as he was not "going into the blinkin' line 
 there" he didn't think any more about it. 
 
 What I am going to attempt to describe is that 
 swath of battlefield which is sacred to our own troops ; 
 how to see the most interesting part of the line, the 
 places to start from, the roads to use, and, to the best 
 of my ability, the objects of interest to be seen at 
 various points of the tour. 
 
 There are +hree ways of seeing the Front — pos- 
 sibly a fourth. The first is a walking tour, and to 
 the tourist with plenty of time on his hands, this, in 
 
Nieuport— Ypres— Bailleul 3 
 
 my opinion, is the ideal method; the second is by 
 train to various centres and then on foot to the points 
 of interest within easy reach ; and the third is by 
 motor-car. I mentioned a possible fourth, and that, 
 there is no doubt, will be the inevitable "conducted 
 tour." 
 
 Calais, that famous port which the ex-Kaiser in- 
 tended to use as a jumping-off ground from which to 
 attack England, will now be used by the tourist as 
 a jumping-off ground from which to view the scene 
 of the War Lord's discomfiture. Instead of "Nach 
 Kales " the signpost is now pointing in the opposite 
 direction; the writing thereon reads "To Berlin." 
 Instead of going to Berlin, however, we take the train 
 to Nieuport; even for the "foot-slogger" this will be 
 the best way to get to the beginning of the line ; there 
 will be plenty of walking to do later. 
 
 The quaint old Flemish town, Nieuport, with its 
 Templars Tower, now but a mass of rubble, the result 
 of four years of fighting, is to all intents and purposes 
 the beginning of the stupendous trench system which 
 stretches to the Swiss frontier. For some consider- 
 able time in 1914 the Allied line followed the eastern 
 bank of the Yser river from the sea to Nieuport, 
 which it included then, turned sharply southwards 
 across the canal, following the Ypres — Nieuport rail- 
 way embankment, passed in front of Ramscapelle, 
 and then on to Dixmude. With steady forward pres- 
 sure, almost yard by yard the line was advanced until 
 Lombartzyde was taken, and our front line was just 
 outside Westende. 
 
4 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 The pushing forward of trenches in the sandy 
 area between the canal and the sea, and the fall of 
 Lombartzyde, enabled the Allies to advance out of 
 the flooded area betw^een Ramscapelle and the river, 
 and take up a new position some little distance on 
 the other side of the Yser. The course of the fighting 
 may be followed down through Pervyse to Dixmude, 
 where one may gaze upon what is left of the once 
 beautiful parish church of St. Nicholas, which was 
 noted for its flamboyant rood loft. From Dixmude 
 one cannot do better than follow the line of the Yser 
 Canal, which runs through to Ypres. Some of the 
 hardest fighting in the war took place along this 
 canal, and the battle swayed backwards and forwards 
 over this much-coveted position for many long 
 months, always leaving the balance in the favour of 
 the Allied troops. Yet the cost was heavy, as can be 
 seen by the numerous wooden crosses in the imme- 
 diate back areas. Across the canal to Merckem and 
 then by the road eastwards brings us to Houthulst 
 Wood, which proved an expensive obstacle to us 
 several times after the capture of Langemarck, when 
 the British attempted to open up the Ypres salient 
 to the north. Pilkem and Boesinghe, Het Sas and 
 Steenstraate — what is left of them — are all close to 
 one another, and are mentioned later. Boesinghe 
 marks the extreme point reached by the enemy when 
 they settled down to trench warfare in 1914. 
 
 Through Poelcapelle we get to Passchendaele 
 Ridge. Passchendaele itself there will be some diffi- 
 culty in finding, although there ought to be a bit of 
 
THE MAFPA CO.. LTD.. L0NDO> 
 
6 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 the church left ; but it is worth visiting, if only to show 
 some slight mark of respect to the thousands who fell 
 there in the last weeks of 1917. I think the very limit 
 of human endurance was reached during the Pass- 
 chendaele "stunt," for if ever man had a foretaste of 
 hell it was surely there. There are many who have 
 reason to remember this place. When you go there 
 try and realise what it must have meant — and cost — 
 to storm the ridge with the weather conditions at their 
 very worst, with no cover worth mentioning, and the 
 enemy fighting all he knew. 
 
 From Passchendaele — unless the traveller wishes 
 to go farther westwards into what was German terri- 
 tory during the four years of war — the best road is 
 through Broodseinde and Zonnebeke. If you had any 
 friends or relations in the Gunners, ask them what 
 they thought of Zonnebeke as a health resort ; and a 
 little farther on, when you come to the heap of rub- 
 bish which marks the site of Frezenbecq, turn sharp 
 left and cut into the Ypres — Menin road about halfway 
 between Hooge and Gheluvelt, both of which places 
 are noted battlefields. From Hooge a direct road 
 leads to Ypres, and — well, I am not going to try and 
 describe the indescribable, so that I must limit myself 
 to a few remarks anent a place which is to the British 
 nation what Verdun is to the French. 
 
 Let us suppose that the traveller has come straight 
 from the coast with the idea of visiting Ypres, and 
 that a halt has been called at Cassel, an excellent 
 vantage point or "O Pip " from which the surround- 
 ing country may be viewed for miles. 
 
Nieuport— Ypres— Bailleul 7 
 
 From the windows of the principal hotel in this 
 town one may obtain the first sight of Ypres — a white 
 patch on the plain — the ghost of a town that four 
 short years ago was the pride of the Belgian people. 
 For Ypres, far more than Ghent or Bruges, had 
 retained its medieval character, possibly owing to 
 the fact that it had died, commercially, with the hand- 
 weaving industry. As I write the news has just 
 arrived that the Belgian Government has decided nol 
 to rebuild the town. I for one do not see what else 
 it could do. One can restore and repair ancient 
 buildings which have been badly damaged by shell 
 fire, but this is not a case of mere restoration or 
 repair. Look at the crumbling heap of stones which 
 now barely marks the base of what was once St. 
 Martin's massive belfry; one Gothic arch is all that is 
 left of the nave of the church, and all the old houses 
 of the Square, with their quaint Spanish architecture, 
 have been destroyed; whole streets have disappeared 
 under masses of stones and rubbish. Who could 
 reproduce the stone carving of the old Cloth Hall ? 
 In the first place, there were eighty windows — if my 
 memory serves me rightly — and they were all differ- 
 ent ! I agree with Emile Cammaerts, who says that 
 " Ypres could only be rebuilt by the men who erected 
 her walls six or seven centuries ago." The town 
 should be left as it is, untouched by aught but nature, 
 surrounded by what is left of its walls — a monument 
 to German Ktdtur and a constant reminder to man- 
 kind of the value of the written word of man. 
 
 For over four years of fierce fighting "the 
 
8 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 salient of Ypres" has proved that British soldiers 
 can hold their own in the face of appalling odds and 
 under conditions which cannot possibly be realised 
 by those who have not actually taken part in the 
 fighting. Bad conditions there have been — very bad 
 sometimes — on many other parts of the front, but 
 nothing ever was so bad as the line of defence in 
 front of Ypres. Ask any old infantryman what he 
 thought of the salient — and get out of his way before 
 he replies. He wants to forget it. Ypres was occu- 
 pied by the British on October 14, 1914, and since 
 then proved to be the scene of many a bloody fight 
 and an insuperable obstacle to the Kaiser's march on 
 Calais. 
 
 From October 16 to November 11, over which 
 period raged the First Battle of Ypres, the Allied 
 forces by attacking and counter-attacking, and, to put 
 the "tin hat on it," as Tommy would say, by finally 
 routing the Prussian Guards, within a few hundred 
 yards of our artillery positions, effectually demon- 
 strated that the British soldier still possessed that 
 stubborn, dogged pluck for which he has been 
 famous ever since Britain has been a nation. 
 
 The Second Battle of Ypres began on March 16, 
 1915, and lasted till May 17. On Thursday, April 22, 
 the enemy launched his first gas attack — on that day 
 German Kultur reached its zenith, and in the follow- 
 ing days .the Canadians reached theirs. No words 
 of mine could describe the sufferings of these gallant 
 Colonials, of how they held on, hour after hour, with 
 grim tenacity in spite of the poisonous fumes — and 
 
Nieuport— Ypres— Bailleul 9 
 
 yet it is but anotlier episode in the history of 
 Ypres. 
 
 During this first gas attack severe fighting took 
 place west of St. Julien, and here Lieut.-Colonel 
 Burchall, the very gallant commander of the 4th 
 Canadian BattaHon, met his death whilst rallying 
 his men. It should be remembered that at the period 
 of which I write there was absolutely no known means 
 of protection from gas — gas-masks had not even been 
 thought about — and it surely does not need a vivid 
 imagination to realise what a truly terrifying ordeal 
 the first gas attack must have been for those troops 
 who had to undergo it. Death from gas poisoning is 
 a most horrible thing. Nothing could be worse for 
 the rnoral of troops than the sight of men lying about 
 writhing and twisting in the throes of slow suffoca- 
 tion. And yet these Canadians held on long enough 
 to decide the issue of the battle. West of St. Julien 
 heavy fighting was taking place up to the Yperlee 
 Canal near Boesinghe, and across the canal the enemy 
 was advancing from Steenstraate on Ligerne and was 
 throwing bridges across the canal at several points. 
 
 The position of affairs in Ypres in October, 1914, 
 from the inhabitants' point of view, had been black 
 enough in all conscience, but the further exhibitions 
 of German Kultiir in the shape of poisonous gases 
 decided matters, and they evacuated the town in a 
 body. Men and women who had stood the nerve test 
 of many weeks of high-explosive shelling gave in at 
 last — the limit had been reached. They streamed out 
 of the town along the road to Poperinghe. Carts full 
 
10 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 of bedding, furniture and household goods — carts 
 drawn by horses, oxen, dogs, and very often with 
 only a man between the shafts, and a woman or child 
 pushing behind — blocked the road for miles and 
 proved a very great hindrance to the arrival of the 
 necessary reinforcements which were being rushed up 
 with all possible speed. As an instance of forced 
 marching the Lahore Division covered thirty-three 
 miles between i o'clock on April 24 and 10.30 a.m. 
 the next day. 
 
 At Grafenstafel, north-w^est of Ypres, on April 25, 
 1915, the Durham Light Infantry were subjected to a 
 very heavy gas shell bombardment, and had to fall 
 back to a position on the bank of the Wannabeck. 
 On Monday, the 26th, our Indian troops of the Lahore 
 Division received their baptism of gas in the attack 
 on St. Julien, which they did in concert with General 
 Riddell's Brigade. In this attack all but three Indian 
 officers became casualties, and Jemadar Mir Dast, of 
 the 58th Coke's Rifles, won his V.C., and in the 
 afternoon General Riddell fell. 
 
 From this time onwards until May 11 the battle 
 raged almost unceasingly between Steenstraate and 
 Frezenberg until the Germans, evidently "fed up" 
 with their lack of success, heavy losses, and our 
 stubborn defence, started shelling Ypres with incen- 
 diary shells and set the town on fire in many places. 
 On May 15 the little village of Het Sas, near Steen- 
 straate, was occupied by the Zouaves, after they, 
 helped by Algerian troops, had worked their way 
 forward, and left piles of German dead behind them. 
 
Nieuport— Ypres— Bailleul ii 
 
 The neighbourhood of Het Sas and Steenstraate is 
 the graveyard of many hundreds of Huns. 
 
 The battlefield of the "salient " has been the 
 scene of so many Homeric fights that it is extremely 
 difficult to advise the visitor what to see and what to 
 miss. The only satisfactory way to "do " this district 
 is to walk it — or ride if a horse can be obtained. There 
 is not a square yard between Langemarcke and Holle- 
 beke that is not noted for some episode or other. 
 Pilkem certainly ought to be seen. 
 
 This village, at the opening of what I think is 
 now termed the Third Battle of Ypres, on July 31, 
 1917, was a position of some considerable strength, 
 and was defended by a wide and deep trench, in which 
 concrete was largely used to strengthen the trench 
 shelters. In the village itself many of the shell- 
 shattered houses had been fortified with concrete, and 
 some were so strong that they had resisted the shock 
 of bursts from 8-inch and 9.2-inch heavy howitzer 
 shells. Farther to the south of the village one may 
 trace the remains of the German posts of Gallwitz 
 Farm, Mackensen Farm, and Zouave Farm. These 
 posts proved tough obstacles to the attacking forces, 
 as they were very strongly fortified and manned. A 
 German prisoner told me after the engagement that 
 he did not think it possible for any infantry troops 
 to survive in front of Mackensen Farm. As this 
 prisoner was one of the garrison of the place he 
 probably knew what he was talking about. To the 
 Welshmen belongs the credit for capturing these 
 formidable defences, and having gained knowledge 
 
12 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 by bitter experience, they did not attempt a frontal 
 attack, but reduced the garrison by a series of out- 
 flanking movements, which were completely suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 After a visit to the "salient," or possibly before it, 
 I should advise the tourist to make a tour of the imme- 
 diate back areas before leaving the district to go 
 farther south to Bailleul and Armentieres. A run 
 through Dickebusch and Reninghelst to Kemmel 
 (from Kemmel Hill a magnificent view of the battle- 
 field may be obtained), and then back to Locre. From 
 Locre, instead of taking the direct road to Bailleul, 
 go by the road over Mont Rouge and Mont Noir to 
 St. Jans Cappel, and I am sure the Mayor's Secre- 
 tary, the worthy M. Sagary, will be only too pleased 
 to welcome visitors and give any details required 
 relating to the surrounding district. 
 
 I had the very good fortune to be billeted at M. 
 Sagary's house for some little time during a rest 
 period, and cannot thank either M. or Mme. Sagary 
 enough for their kindness to me during my stay there. 
 St. Jans Cappel was one of the few villages in the 
 district which had totally escaped the Hun "strafing " 
 up to the time of the "Kemmel stunt" in April, 1918, 
 and then the Hun, with his usual preference for sacred 
 edifices, punctured the church tower with one shell, 
 and followed the matter up by landing one or two 
 more in the streets of the village, much to the surprise 
 and indignation of the villagers, who, after four years 
 of safety, had hoped to finish the war "unchipped," 
 so to speak. Before leaving the district I should 
 
Nieuport— Ypres— Bailleul 13 
 
 recommend a visit to the famous Mont-des-Cats 
 Monastery, which is within easy reach of St. Jans 
 Cappel. 
 
 To Bailleul is but a short journey. This town 
 suffered comparatively little damage up to 1918; 
 it was bombed occasionally and shelled intermittently, 
 but very little real damage was done. I think the 
 Hun always had a sort of idea that Bailleul would 
 make a very good headquarters when the '*rush to 
 the coast " project was a little more developed, and, 
 therefore, he refrained from damaging it more than 
 he could help. In 1918, however, during the heavy 
 fighting around Kemmel, a very large number of 
 shells were sent into the town, and the Grand Place, 
 with the Hotel de Ville, was practically razed to the 
 ground, and a repetition of the hand-to-hand street 
 fighting which took place in both Bailleul and 
 Meteren in 19 14 again happened in both these places 
 in 19 18 before the Allies finally retook the town. 
 Bailleul was not by any means a pleasant town even 
 m pre-war days; but during the war it was looked 
 upon by the troops as a haven of rest — a place in 
 which to buy food and postcards, and the thousand 
 and one things the British soldier spends his pay on. 
 One could get an omelette and a bottle of quite good 
 wine for a few francs at the Faucon, and the familiar 
 meeting-place known as *' Tina's" used to be the 
 resort of all officers who were able to get down the 
 line for a few hours' respite from the Flanders mud 
 and Boche high-explosives. One could at least get 
 dry outside and wet inside at "Tina's," a pleasant 
 
14 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 reversal of the usual conditions in the line, and if the 
 atmosphere was so thick that one could hardly breathe 
 it was a welcome relief for the short time it lasted. 
 There used to be a big hospital in Bailleul, and just 
 outside the town will be found a British cemetery, 
 where many of our boys who have crossed the Great 
 Divide are laid to rest. 
 
 A well-known and cheery figure in Bailleul during 
 the short time he was in the vicinity was the late 
 Vernon Castle, who was with a crack squadron of the 
 R.F.C., whose aerodrome for a considerable time lay 
 just outside the town. Vernon Castle at the piano in 
 "Tina's" was worth hearing, and one was always 
 sure of a jolly evening. Another celebrity was the 
 officer in charge of the Officers' Clothing Depot 
 A.O.D., who, as a rule, used to be shelled out once 
 a fortnight, and who used to take a grim delight in 
 showing visitors how "the last one" had just missed 
 him by a few inches. 
 
 As a typical example of German humour it may 
 interest the reader to know that during the short occu- 
 pation of Bailleul by the enemy in 1914 they — as a 
 joke — liberated the lunatics in the asylum and allowed 
 them to wander over the country. Many of these poor 
 miserable creatures were afterwards found dead by 
 the roadside or in the woods, where they had fled in 
 their terror. Can one imagine a more hideous kind 
 of humour? 
 
 Bailleul was captured by the British Third Corps 
 on October 14, 1914, and remained in our hands until 
 the German offensive early in 1918. 
 
Nieuport— Ypres— Bailleul 15 
 
 Before leaving the northern area the visitor, 
 especially if motoring, should go to St. Omer, which 
 was for a long time the General Headquarters of the 
 British Armies in France, and which from time to 
 time was severely bombed by the German night 
 bombing squadrons. It was in the town of St. Omer 
 that Lord Roberts died on November 14, 1914, during 
 a visit to the Indian troops, and the house in which 
 he died can be pointed out by any inhabitant. There 
 were several fairly large hospitals in the town, and 
 in the barracks might have been found the A.S.C. 
 (M.T.) School of Instruction, where a very large 
 number of rankers received their "course" before 
 obtaining a commission, and were licked into shape 
 by one Captain Jarred, aided by a pocket-book con- 
 taining all the latest stories, again aided by an abso- 
 lutely unique knowledge of where to dine, wine or be 
 entertained. Those who wish to make St. Omer a 
 base cannot do better than put up at the Hotel du 
 Commerce in the rue Henri-Dupuis, and there is also 
 the inevitable Hotel de France in the Grande Place. 
 St. Omer is a great place for convent schools, and is 
 also very interesting historically. 
 
 In all these back area towns and villages will be 
 found traces of British camps and billets, and the 
 visitor, unless he be an expert linguist, need not have 
 any French, as most of the inhabitants, and especi- 
 ally the younger fraternity, can speak quite good 
 English, and are very proud of the fact. It is the 
 type of English that "Tommy" has taught them, and 
 in some cases will be found rather weird, for Tommy 
 
i6 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 is somewhat blunt and to the point, and his phraseo- 
 logy and mannerisms have been picked up intact by 
 the quick-witted French youngsters. It used to 
 amuse me very much to listen to some young subaltern 
 painfully and haltingly trying to explain to 
 '* Madame " the fact that he wanted to purchase eggs 
 and milk for the mess, an effort which very often 
 ended in the complete exasperation of both parties 
 and the departure in high dudgeon of a highly flushed 
 youth, sans eggs, sans milk, sans everything. 
 Thomas Atkins, on the other hand, has no trouble 
 with the language ; he simply rolls up to ** Madame " 
 and the conversation is somewhat as follows : 
 
 ''Bongjoor, mother." 
 
 "Bon jour, m'sieu — comment ca va ? " 
 
 "Trays beens — got any doo-lay ? '* 
 
 "Oui, m'sieu." 
 
 "Bong — and a couple o' oofs" — holding up two 
 fingers. 
 
 "Bien, m'sieu — une minute," and away trots 
 "Madame," returning presently with a bottle of milk 
 and a couple of eggs; the necessary money passes, 
 and the transaction is completed in about as much 
 time as it takes to describe it. 
 
SECTION II 
 Armenti^r es— B^thu n e— Arras 
 
 Alternative recommended routes from the coast to 
 Armenti^res : 
 (i) From Calais — to Les Attaques — Ardres — Nordausques 
 
 — St. Omer — Hazebrouck — Bailleul — Armenti^res. (52 
 
 miles approximately.) 
 
 (2) From Boulogne — to St. Omer (a splendid road) and 
 
 then as above. 
 
 (3) From Dunkirk — to Bergues — Wormhoudt — Cassel — 
 
 Bailleul, then as in (i). (36 miles approximately.) 
 
 For those who are making a complete tour of the line, 
 the most interesting road to Armenti^res from Bailleul 
 is through Neuve Eglise to Ploegstraat — or "Plug- 
 street " as Tommy used to call it — the scene of many 
 a sanguinary struggle. Armenti^res was occupied by 
 British troops of the 3rd Corps on October 17, 1914, 
 the enemy having evacuated the town on the pre- 
 vious day. 
 
 Before the war Armenti^res was a prosperous 
 manufacturing town, with about 28,000 inhabitants, 
 otherwise it was of little interest, and is of less now, 
 except as a very much battered evidence of another 
 stumbling-block in the pathway of the march to 
 Calais. The enemy for weeks on end, sometimes, 
 refrained from shelling the place, and the inhabitants 
 — those who remained — did a very good trade with 
 
 17 
 
i8 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 the troops. Thence we go through Fleurbaix to 
 Laventie, and then over the famous Neuve Chapelle 
 battlefield, the scene of a "victory" which cost us 
 over 12,000 casualties; 190 officers and over 2,350 
 other ranks were killed here in three days, 359 officers 
 and 8,174 men wounded, and 23 officers and 1,723 men 
 missing. This was the price we paid for a gain of 
 1,200 yards on a front of 4,000 yards. I cannot see 
 why we call the Battle of Neuve Chapelle a victor}^, 
 considering the fact that our troops were successfully 
 prevented from gaining their main objective, the 
 Aubers Ridge, and thus obtaining a footing on the 
 road to Lille. However, it is not my job to criticise — 
 I merely point out the places of interest, and Neuve 
 Chapelle may certainly be considered to come into 
 this category. It may even have a more than usually 
 pathetic interest to some. 
 
 Leaving Neuve Chapelle, follow the road down 
 to Richebourg-St. Vaast and Richebourg I'Avoue to 
 Festubert, Givenchy, and Cuinchy. One may pass 
 over the old front lines between this latter place and 
 Auchy-Lr Bassee, and so cross the main Bethune — 
 La Bassee road. Turning to the left along this road 
 takes us past the " Railway Triangle " — well known 
 to the Gunners — the station, and so on into the town, 
 the heart of the ''Black Country" of France, which 
 is very apdy described by " Eye Witness " as follows : 
 "It is mainly an industrial region, and, with it^ 
 combination of mining and agriculture, might I .^ 
 compared to our Black Country — with Fenlands int r- 
 spersed between the coal mines and the factories. In 
 
ARMENTIERES- 
 BETHUNE ^ ARRAS 
 
 Main Rx>ads 
 Secondary - 
 R.ailways 
 Canals 
 Scale 0,23 
 
 ^TTFTurpTooTTTDTToNDcn; 
 
20 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 some direction the villages are so close together that 
 this district has been described as one immense town 
 — of which parts are in some places separated by 
 cultivation, and in others by groups of factories 
 bristling with chimneys. The cultivated portions 
 are very much enclosed, and are cut up by high, 
 unkempt hedges and ditches." 
 
 From the visitor's point of view, Bethune is a 
 much more interesting place than La Bassee, and 
 instead of taking the main road back into Bethune I 
 would advise a detour through Hulluch (reminiscent 
 of Loos in September, 1915) and Vermelles, the 
 scene of a gallant and successful French attack on the 
 Chateau de Vermelles, and also — in the grounds of 
 the Brewery Chateau — our old 9.2 howitzer positions 
 for the Loos battle. In Vermelles, not very far from 
 the cross-road in the centre of the village, is a British 
 cemetery, the resting-place of many of the officers 
 and men who died of wounds in the CCS. just oppo- 
 site. There was also, for the battle of Loos, a dress- 
 ing station at La Rutoire Farm, a little farther out. 
 
 From Vermelles we pass on to the main Bethune 
 — Lens road, and then through Noyelles, Sailly-la- 
 Bourse, and Beuvry to Bethune. As the town is 
 entered one passes the six cross-roads, known in the 
 old days as "Charing Cross," and a most unhealthy 
 corner it used to be, as its present condition will 
 testify. The enemy made a practice of ** strafing" 
 this district fairly thoroughly, evidently with the idea 
 that our reinforcements and relief troops must use 
 some of the roads — and so they did for a time. But it 
 
Armentieres—Bethune— Arras 21 
 
 did not take long for the authorities to size the posi- 
 tion of affairs up, and "Charing Cross" was given a 
 wide berth, with the result that very little damage was 
 done by the frequent shelling except to the neigh- 
 bouring property. I never could understand why 
 Bethune station suffered so little. For three years 
 it was used almost constantly by our troops, for en- 
 training and detraining supplies, leave men and re- 
 inforcements, and during that time it was never really 
 badly shelled or bombed. Bethune was a great place 
 for "behind the line" amateur theatricals, and some 
 very excellent shows were staged in the little hall on 
 the Vendin road by that versatile band composed of 
 all ranks — and all units — who styled itself "The 
 Shrapnels." 
 
 Like Bailleul, Bethune was to the hungry, thirsty 
 and mud-soaked man down the line for a rest, an 
 oasis in the desert, and the cafe in the Square was the 
 meeting-place of many, while the Hotel de France in 
 the Marche aux Poulets provided a meal that could 
 only be equalled in Paris — until the enemy either 
 shelled or bombed the proprietors out of their house — 
 I do not remember which. Even then, however, the 
 doors were not closed for long, and although the big 
 dining-room was put out of action, yet a certain 
 number of meals were served in a smaller room at the 
 back. The thoughts of many officers will go back 
 gratefully to the old place for one thing at least, and 
 that was the possibility of obtaining a real hot bath 
 in a room all to oneself, with plenty of boiling water 
 and a clean towel — all, if I remember rightly, for 
 
22 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 Frs. 1.50. Until the beginning of the big enemy 
 offensive in 1918 Bethune had not been badly knocked 
 about when one considers its proximity to the front 
 line; but after March, 1918, the town suffered very 
 badly, and was, I believe, evacuated en bloc by the 
 inhabitants for a time. 
 
 Just outside the town lies Vendin-les-Bethune, on 
 the road to Choques, which for a long time was the 
 headquarters of the ist Corps, ist Army. Vendin is 
 noted for two things — first of all its mine, in which 
 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales took such an interest; 
 and secondly, for the most comfortable billet it has 
 been my good fortune to occupy during the whole of 
 my term overseas. Any visitor to the district cannot 
 do better than call upon the Veuve Degrugillier in 
 the estaminet next to the saddler's shop on the corner 
 of the Annezin cross-road. There can be obtained an 
 excellent omelette, accompanied by a bottle of really 
 good wine, rounded off by a cup of coffee and a 
 glass of brandy of a kind that only madame can 
 supply. All these things can be procured at a very 
 low price, while madame herself is a regular store- 
 house of information in connection with la guerre. 
 A thoroughly good-hearted Frenchwoman, she could 
 not do enough for any British soldier — be he of^cer 
 or private — who happened to have the good fortune 
 to be billeted in the vicinity. 
 
 Leaving the Bethune district, the choice of two 
 routes is presented — one the direct road through 
 Noeux-les-lMines and Aix Noulette to Souchez, and 
 the other via Noeux-les-Mines, Hersin, and on to 
 
Armenti^res—Bethune— Arras 23 
 
 Coupigny Hill, from which a magnificent view of the 
 surrounding country is obtainable on a clear day. 
 The view at night from the top of this hill during a 
 "strafe" was indescribably fine; one could see the 
 flashes from every enemy gun, and even the streaks 
 of fire from rifles and machine-guns; this, combined 
 with a display of fireworks in the form of V^ry lights 
 and all other kinds of star shells, made the scene 
 weirdly beautiful. Coupigny Hill sticks up like a 
 huge molehill in the midst of the surrounding 
 plains, and one could see for miles into the country 
 occupied by the Boche. In the daytime, and with 
 the aid of a good pair of field-glasses and a map, it 
 is possible to trace the fighting line from south of 
 Lens to well north of Bethune. 
 
 From Coupigny we make for Bouvigny-Boyeffles 
 — watch the roads in this village, they are very con- 
 fusing — and then on to Aix-Noulette. Here the main 
 Arras road is again encountered, and a little farther 
 along the road goes over the eastern end of the 
 Lorette Ridge, and enters what was once the village 
 of Souchez. Next to Verdun, I think the fighting 
 round this area — that is, at Notre Dame de Lorette, 
 Souchez, and Carency — holds a very high place in 
 the estimation of the French people. As to its 
 ferocity, the huge French cemetery at the station near 
 Villers-au-Bois can testify. Carency and the sur- 
 rounding area witnessed General Petain's triumph, 
 and was the scene of a torrential bombardment from 
 the French batteries. The maze ^f trenches in this 
 district must be seen to be believed; 20,000 shells 
 
24 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 rained upon the town of Carency alone and over 
 300,000 fell upon the area round about. 
 
 From Carency to La Targette, on the main Arras 
 road, the Germans had constructed a line of defence 
 known as the "White Works." These entrenchments 
 may be traced eastwards to Neuville St. Vaast and 
 then southwards to "The Labyrinth" — a system of 
 fortified entrenchments which the enemy considered 
 to be absolutely impregnable, and which, to quote 
 the special correspondent of the Morning Post, con- 
 tained every species of death-dealing device known 
 to science, including numbers of gas and inflammable 
 liquid engines. "Underground tunnels coupled with 
 mines complete with small fortresses containing guns. 
 ... In a maze one constantly turns corners to meet 
 blank walls of hedge. In ' The Labyrinth ' such 
 blank walls are death-traps, and from their subter- 
 ranean refuge bodies of the enemy are liable to appear 
 to the rear of the advancing attackers. * The Laby- 
 rinth * is linked up by underground tunnels to 
 Neuville St. Vaast. . . ." 
 
 In addition to the intense bombardment to which 
 the Carency sector was subjected, no fewer than seven- 
 teen mines, containing over twenty tons of explosives, 
 were fired. The craters are well worth seeing, and 
 looking upwards towards the road from the dip in 
 which the town of Carency is located the ground dis- 
 placed by the tremendous explosions gives the effect 
 ;of a small range of hills. The fighting in this dis- 
 trict took place in May, 19 15, and the German casual- 
 ties were put down at over 60,000. I can well believe 
 
of the Dominion of Canada. Throu^fh Neuville St, 
 
24 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 rained upon the town of Carency alone and over 
 300,000 fell upon the area round about. 
 
 From Carency to La Targette, on the main Arras 
 road, the Germans had constructed a line of defence 
 known as the "White Works." These entrenchments 
 may be traced eastwards to Neuville St. Vaast and 
 then southwards to "The Labyrinth" — a system of 
 fortified entrenchments which the enemy considered 
 to be absolutely impregnable, and which, to quote 
 the special correspondent of the Morning Post, con- 
 tained every species of death-dealing device known 
 to science, including numbers of gas and inflammable 
 liquid engines. "Underground tunnels coupled with 
 mines complete with small fortresses containing guns. 
 ... In a maze one constantly turns corners to meet 
 blank walls of hedge. In ' The Labyrinth ' such 
 blank walls are death-traps, and from their subter- 
 ranean refuge bodies of the enemy are liable to appear 
 to the rear of the advancing attackers. ' The Laby- 
 rinth * is linked up by underground tunnels to 
 Neuville St. Vaast. . . ." 
 
 In addition to the intense bombardment to which 
 the Carency sector was subjected, no fewer than seven- 
 teen mines, containing over twenty tons of explosives, 
 were fired. The craters are well worth seeing, and 
 looking upwards towards the road from the dip in 
 which the town of Carency is located the ground dis- 
 placed by the tremendous explosions gives the effect 
 iof a small range of hills. The fighting in this dis- 
 trict took place in May, 19 15, and the German casual- 
 ties were put down at over 60,000. I can well believe 
 
THE MAPPA CO . LTD , LONDO> 
 
 The black ]<ne 
 
 divides the Allied and German lines. 
 
Armentieres — Bethune— Arras 25 
 
 it, as when the British took over this area in early 
 1 9 16 — February, I believe — on the slope on each side 
 of the town and in the town itself amongst the ruins, 
 in the trenches and underground tunnels and cellars 
 dead bodies were everywhere. Some sort of an 
 attempt in many cases had been made to bury them, 
 I admit, but the rain had washed away the meagre 
 covering of soil and exposed the bodies to view. What 
 the weather began the rats completed. To this place, 
 when the British took over that sector, came various 
 howitzer batteries, and as the early part of 1916 was 
 quite warm and springlike, I can assure my readers, 
 as one who arrived in Carency attached to a certain 
 8-inch battery, that the place was little better than 
 a huge cesspit. Never have I seen such rats, or such 
 numbers of them, as there were in the Carency sector. 
 The place was literally alive with them ; the only 
 thing they could not manage to penetrate was corru- 
 gated iron. The only part of one's kit that was safe 
 was the shrapnel helmet, and I verily believe they 
 tried to eat the paint off that. 
 
 As an example of the intensive burrowing system 
 of defensive works, there is nothing on the whole 
 front to compare with "The Labyrinth," and it is 
 very interesting to compare the enemy method of 
 making his trenches in 1915 with his later ideas, as 
 exemplified in the Hindenburg and similar lines. 
 
 It would be a pity to leave the district without 
 paying a visit to the famous Vimy Ridge, which, so 
 I have been informed by a Canadian, is now part 
 of the Dominion of Canada. Throuofh Neuville St. 
 
26 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 Vaast and across the main Arras — Lens road to 
 Thelus, then work north to Petit Vimy, and from there 
 to Vimy proper. A thorough examination of the sur- 
 rounding district will well repay the trouble entailed. 
 There was a regular network of strong points, 
 trenches and wire covering the Vimy Ridge, the 
 highest point of which was Hill 145, just north-east 
 of Vimy. All the eastern slope of the Ridge and 
 the villages of Bailleul-sur-Berthoult, Farbus, Petit 
 Vimy, the plateau and the woods were very strongly 
 defended. Two huge tunnels, known respectively as 
 the Prinz Arnauld and Volker, had been cut through 
 the Ridge to enable reinforcements and supplies to 
 pass safely from the eastern to the western systems of 
 defences. Everything that German ingenuity could 
 suggest had been utilised to make the position im- 
 pregnable. Nothing, however, is impossible to 
 Canadian troops when they are thoroughly roused, 
 and on Easter Monday, April 9, 1917, at 5.30 a.m., 
 after an intense bombardment, and in the middle of 
 a severe storm — our usual weather luck — the gallant 
 Canadians followed up the barrage, and in less than 
 an hour had climbed the slippery heights and gained 
 the plateau. The whole of the German first line, with 
 the exception of the northern end of the Ridge, then 
 fell into our hands. 
 
 While the fight was proceeding on the slopes of 
 Hill 145, the concealed entrance of a tunnel suddenly 
 burst open and column after column of Huns were 
 poured into the battle. They managed to retake a 
 part of their lost front line, but the *'Byng Boys" 
 
28 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 were not done yet, and after a most desperate and 
 bloody fight, which lasted until late at night, they 
 kicked the Hun out of it again. The next day, 
 April 10, the Canadians had managed to complete 
 the conquest of the Ridge by finally dislodging the 
 enemy from their redoubts on Hill 145, at the northern 
 end. During the early morning of April 9 our 
 Scottish and North Country troops had been doing 
 excellent work at the southern end of the Ridge, 
 operations which resulted in the capture of 3,500 
 prisoners, a Brigade General and his Staff, 25 guns, 
 and a few other odds and ends. The district between 
 Roclincourt and Bailleul-sur-Berthoult was the scene 
 of this disaster to the Hun arms, and on both sides 
 of the road from Arras to Bailleul may be seen the 
 remains of the defence works which were smashed up 
 by our artillery fire. 
 
 Take the cross-country road from Roclincourt over 
 the road leading from Arras to Bailleul-sur-Berthoult 
 and on to St. Laurent-Blangy on the Arras — Douai 
 road, go straight across the road, and a little farther 
 on turn sharply to the right, and you will eventually 
 arrive in the Place de la Gare, Arras. It was from 
 one of the top windows of the Caf6 des Voyageurs 
 that I saw the first shell land in Arras in 1914. Many, 
 many thousands of shells have fallen on the beautiful 
 old city since tliat day, leaving it battered and deso- 
 late. Arras first fell into German hands on Sep- 
 tember 15, 1914. Worthy successors to the Vandals 
 who sacked the town in 407 a.d., they ate and drank 
 of the best they could find, although litde actual 
 
Armenti^res—Bethune— Arras 29 
 
 damage was done to the town as a whole. The Crown 
 Prince and his satelHtes, with the Citadel as their 
 headquarters, held a prolonged and disgusting orgy 
 of drunkenness. In one of the rooms of the banquet- 
 ing hall I saw — and photographed — a heap of wine 
 bottles which, at a moderate estimate, numbered some 
 4,000, the contents of which had gone to assuage the 
 mighty thirst of the all-conquering Hun. 
 
 For a few days only — let it be recorded — did they 
 stay in Arras, and during those few days a son of 
 the House of Hohenzollern rested from his labours at 
 the Hotel de TUnivers. Very apropos was it not? 
 Still, mine host Buret, of the hotel, informed me that 
 the Prince, in addition to behaving in a very un- 
 Hunlike manner whilst in residence, actually paid for 
 his food and rooms, thus confirming the worthy man's 
 idea that rumour for once did not lie, when she gave it 
 forth to the world that the Hohenzollerns were insane. 
 
 A well-known resident in the town was M. Peul- 
 beuf, the contractor, who in his little two-seater 
 car performed miracles of valour and endurance in 
 bringing away the wounded from the line to the 
 hospitals in those early days of the war. If he has 
 survived and is back again, a more interesting man, 
 or one who knows more about the tow^n and its 
 vicissitudes would indeed be hard to meet. 
 
 To the west side, on the low ground below the 
 ramparts, is the cemetery, which contains many 
 graves, both French and British. I saw it last in 
 August, 1918, and it is beautifully tencied and 
 cared for. 
 
30 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 One of the most interesting features of Arras is 
 its system of caves and subterranean passages. In 
 these underground refuges many hundreds of the 
 inhabitants lived through the whole period of the 
 war. A huge mass of crumbling masonry is all that 
 is left of the magnificent Hotel de Ville belfry. Begun 
 in the year 1501, it was a splendid example of 
 Hispano-Flemish architecture, and drew many thou- 
 sands of art-lovers to the town. Everybody has, of 
 course, heard of the famous Arras tapestries. 
 
 The first shell landed in Arras on October 6, 1914, 
 at five minutes past nine in the morning. This was 
 the beginning of a deliberate bombardment of the 
 quartier of the Hotel de Ville. The bombardment 
 was renewed each day on the 7th, 8th, and 9th, by 
 which time the body of the Hotel de Ville was 
 partially destroyed, though the tower was almost un- 
 injured. Arras is now a mere shell, another ghost of 
 a town, and it is heartbreaking to see the ruin of the 
 Grande Place and Petite Plrxe, and the remains of 
 shady colonnades so Spanish in their architecture. 
 
 During the whole period of the war a news-sheet, 
 Le Lion d* Arras, Journal de Siege, was produced 
 regularly. I have No. 28 before me as I write. Its 
 heading depicts the town in flames, whilst a lion 
 rampant holds aloft a flag blazoned with the town 
 arms, with the exhortation beneath, *'Pour la Citie. 
 Pour la Patrie, tenir ! " Well and nobly have they 
 held — and suffered ! 
 
 Arras was twice in German hands, and twice were 
 they severely booted out. In both cases the occupa- 
 
Armenti^res—Bethune— Arras 31 
 
 tion of the town by the enemy lasted but a few days. 
 All you British people who visit Arras now that the 
 war is over, ponder well what it must have meant 
 to stay in that town for four years of war, and thank 
 God for your island home and the Navy that pre- 
 served it ! Possibly you will go away with a some- 
 what fuller understanding of the burden which the 
 French people are called upon to bear, for Arras is 
 but one of many ruined towns, and by no means the 
 greatest. 1870 and 1914 — twice in forty years has the 
 fair land of France been laid waste by the Hun. Can 
 you wonder that she wants to cut the claws of the 
 beast now that the chance has come ? Marshal Foch 
 was wise in his generation when he decided on the 
 Armistice, and the German delegates wise in theirs 
 when they accepted unconditionally. Had the French 
 poilu been constrained to fight his way over the Ger- 
 man frontier, there might have been one or two debts 
 repaid with interest. 
 
 Crossing the Place de la Gare from the station one 
 proceeds along the Rue Gambetta, passing the Post 
 Office on the left and then coming to the Hotel du 
 Commerce on the right-hand side of the street. Bat- 
 tered and splashed by shrapnel balls, yet this place 
 for many months was a real haven of rest for many 
 thousands of officers and men out of the line for a 
 temporary rest. Every time I visited the hotel it 
 was full of hungry officers, who, somehow or other, 
 managed to find a square meal and a bottle of wine 
 or beer, at a fairly reasonable price. In the big 
 dining-room most of the windows were shattered, 
 
32 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 and pieces of canvas or linen, or even boards, took 
 the place of glazing. A hole in the ceiling in the far 
 corner showed where a shell had come through, 
 wrecking the rooms above and furrowing the plaster 
 in the room below with countless shrapnel tracks. 
 Yet, during all the time that Arras was at all in- 
 habitable, and even during some of the bombard- 
 ments, waitresses could be found in the Hotel du 
 Commerce bustling around to feed the hungry 
 soldier. It is a matter of very great credit to the pro- 
 prietors of the hotel that, in spite of the almost un- 
 believable difficulties in obtaining supplies, there 
 never was any attempt at profiteering. 
 
 Although there were several hospitals in the town 
 itself, the authorities realised that the situation was 
 too close to the line for anything like real safety, and 
 the majority of the casualties in the Arras area w^ere 
 taken farther back to the Casualty Clearing Station, 
 which was situated on the Arras — Doullens road near 
 Beaumetz. A very large burial ground will be seen 
 on the right-hand side of the road coming from Arras. 
 At Bellevue, farther along the road on the way to 
 Doullens, may be seen the site of a large aerodrome, 
 which for many months was the headquarters of some 
 of the finest aerial fighters. 
 
 Doullens, if the tourist feels inclined to go there — 
 and I shouldn't be very keen myself unless I were 
 motoring — is not a very interesting place. The in- 
 habitants of this little market town, which has not 
 suffered at all during the war, with the exception of 
 an occasional bomb, must have done very well out 
 
Armentiferes—Bethune— Arras 33 
 
 of the British soldier, judging by the prices one had 
 to pay when one made a very occasional visit on a 
 borrowed car, or lorry-hopped it into the town just to 
 see what it felt like to get some decent food once 
 more or to buy a copy of the day-bef ore-yesterday's 
 paper. Doullens, safe behind the line, was not 
 nearly so hospitable as poor battered and scorched 
 old Arras. 
 
 If any of my readers want to explore the Arras 
 front and are unable to find accommodation in Arras 
 itself, I should recommend St. Pol, which is a very 
 nice little town, or it is just possible that some sort 
 of place might be found in Aubigny, which lies half- 
 way from Arras to St. Pol — a little off the road to the 
 right. All the back area of the Arras sector will well 
 repay investigation, if only to show to the uninitiated 
 what a tremendously huge organisation modern war- 
 fare demands. 
 
 Near Dainville, on the main road, will be noticed 
 large ammunition sidings, which were specially 
 constructed for the Arras offensive in 19 17, and one 
 can easily picture the busy scene of loading and un- 
 loading heavy ammunition — thousands and thou- 
 sands of rounds being absorbed by the greedy lorries 
 and borne off to the guns up in the battery positions. 
 Pitchy black nights, rain and sleet, heaving, cursing 
 and sweating drivers, lorries getting ditched and 
 pulled out again, horse transport trotting past in the 
 darkness, a regular orgy of petrol vapour, noise and 
 steam from sweating beasts. Chaos, apparently ; 
 yet through it ran a steady current of organisation 
 
34 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 which gradually ate up the chaos, and quietly and 
 unostentatiously supplied everybody's wants, so that 
 in the course of some few hours silence reigned over 
 the dump, and all that remained was one or two tired 
 and dirty officers, some ditto orderlies, and the in- 
 evitable sentry marching with measured tread up and 
 down the road. All was over until the next ammuni- 
 tion train came in and the lorries came back from the 
 battery positions to load up once more. And still 
 the ceaseless roar of the guns in their positions 
 some few miles farther forward, and the vivid elec- 
 tric blue flashes which threw everything into bold 
 relief ! 
 
 The enemy tried very hard to hit the Dainville 
 dump, even going to the extent of throwing over 
 15-inch shells, but they did not manage to do more 
 than make one or two fairly large holes in the vicinity. 
 Wanqueton, which lies west of Dainville through 
 Warlus, was less fortunate, for they managed to get 
 the dump there, though whether with gunfire or aero- 
 plane bombs I do not remember. 
 
 Achicourt, which is almost a suburb of Arras, 
 and Agny, which joins on to Achicourt, are places 
 worth spending a little time in. Both suffered 
 very badly in the early days, and there is a fairly 
 large burial ground in the churchyard of Agny. A 
 part of the church still remains, and one of the bells 
 used to be mounted in a wooden framework at the 
 end of the street to give gas attack warnings. The 
 ground round here has been fought over several times, 
 as the maze of trenches will show. 
 
Armentiferes—Bethune— Arras 35 
 
 Few operations during the Great War were 
 planned with as much thoroughness as the Arras — 
 Vimy offensive of 1917. Haig was confronted with 
 a problem which was in many ways similar to that 
 which the Allied Armies had to solve in 18 13. Guns 
 solved that problem, and guns — in such numbers that 
 would have given a gunner nightmare merely to 
 think of before the war — proved the solution of the 
 Arras — Vimy battle. Against the perpetual rain of 
 heavy projectiles the Boche line crumpled up, mas- 
 sive concrete defences, reinforced with steel rods, 
 were shattered to atoms. The steel cupolas garri- 
 soned by machine-gunners, which were to play such 
 a great part in the defence of the area, were simply 
 death-traps. Our infantry made short work of these 
 when they got to close quarters, and the shell- 
 shocked and nerve-racked survivors of the garrison 
 were in the majority of cases quite ready to sur- 
 render to the summons of a rifle butt banged on 
 the rear doorway. It must have been absolute 
 hell inside one of these things during our bom- 
 bardment. 
 
 From aerial photographs and visual observation, 
 a large relief model oi the Vimy heights and their 
 vicinity was constructed as a preliminary to the 
 offensive. On this model every detail of the sur- 
 rounding country was accurately set out, even to road 
 tracks, craters, and wire entanglements. I under- 
 stand that the Mayor of Vimy, who was intimately 
 acquainted with the ground, lent his valuable assist- 
 ance to the constructor, and was able to correct many 
 
36 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 details which had not been quite clear to the 
 observers. 
 
 The roads on the east and south-east side of 
 Arras are not in the best of condition — main roads, 
 of course, excepted — but I am afraid that the earnest 
 student of the battlefield area will miss very much if 
 he sticks only to those routes which are in good con- 
 dition. "Foot-slogging" is the only way to see the 
 real points of interest. Make an early morning start, 
 with some sandwiches and a bottle of wine in a 
 haversack, a good stout pair of boots, and the fixed 
 determination to see as much as you can in the time, 
 even if you do finish the day weary and dirty, and 
 you will see more in a few hours than I could describe 
 in two volumes. You will see a lot more of the 
 country than Tommy did, because you will be able 
 to put your head up without being sniped at. Both 
 sides of the Arras — Vis-en-Artois road should be 
 examined. On the one side will be found Tilloy and 
 Telegraph Hill, on the other — some distance farther 
 east — Monchy-le-Preux. South of Tilloy there used 
 to exist an irregular labyrinth of trenches named 
 "The Harp" by our soldiers. Farther south — near 
 Neuville Vitasse, in an almost direct line from Tilloy 
 over Telegraph Hill, was a network of barbed wire 
 entanglements known as "The Egg." It was against 
 such defences as these that our tanks did such good 
 work, especially in the capture of Telegraph Hill and 
 "The Harp," while our aerial fighters once more 
 demonstrated to the enemy our superiority in the air. 
 Battles in the air between quite large formations were 
 
Armentiferes — Bethune — Arras 37 
 
 very frequent during the day just before our attack, 
 which was arranged for April 9, 191 7. On this day, 
 as might have been expected, the weather was at its 
 worst, just at the time when we wanted it fine, and 
 later in the day changed from drizzHng rain to a 
 snowstorm. 
 
SECTION III 
 The Somme and Cambrai 
 
 THE SOMME 
 
 The First Battle of the Somme began on the morning 
 of July I, 1916, and the British line attacked a front 
 of approximately twenty miles — from Gommecourt to 
 Montauban. The line on the opening day of the 
 battle was roughly as follows : Gommecourt was 
 approximately one mile inside Hun territory; Hebu- 
 terne about the same distance behind; and our line, 
 which then ran almost due south across the Serre 
 road in front of Beaumont Hamel, then swung west- 
 ward over the Hamel — Miraumont road, the Albert — 
 Achiet-le-Grand railway, the River Ancre, and 
 just in front of Hamel. Do not confuse this latter 
 place with Beaumont Hamel, already mentioned. 
 South again in front of Thiepval, then to the Leipzig 
 salient, in front of Ovillers-la-Boiselle. Then over the 
 main road from Albert to Bapaume, through the 
 eastern end of La Boiselle proper, just in front of 
 Fricourt, westwards and slightly south of Mametz, a 
 little more than a mile south of Montauban. 
 
 Gommecourt is being preserved by the French 
 Government as a national monument, and is well 
 worth seeing, though many of the trench workings 
 are very grass grown and almost obliterated. About 
 
 38 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 39 
 
 the only thing which in any way marks the previous 
 existence of this village is the site of the Chateau de 
 Gommecourt, which is noticeable only owing to the 
 fact that it is the biggest heap of stones in the neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 Thiepval, which is just over six miles away, as the 
 aeroplane flies, was an immensely strong point, and 
 the defences in its neighbourhood — the "Wunder- 
 werk " and the Schwaben Redoubt — successfully re- 
 sisted our advance for nearly three months. For two 
 years the Germans had concentrated all the skill of 
 their engineers on the very elaborate stronghold 
 called the " Wunderwerk." This strong point was 
 what one might call the key of an intricate maze of 
 trenches, and commanded, to a considerable extent, 
 the surrounding country, situated as it was on the 
 high ground in front of Thiepval and behind Hohen- 
 zollern Trench. 
 
 It was not until September 14 that men of the 
 New Army stormed and took this famous fort, in 
 addition to many prisoners, and with comparatively 
 few casualties. Very little has been said of this 
 operation, but it really ought to rank as one of the 
 best organised and best carried out attacks in the 
 history of the Somme battle. Possibly it is owing to 
 the fact that our troops were going ahead so rapidly 
 at the time; still, I think the " Wunderwerk" was the 
 key position, and its capture decided the fate of the 
 fighting which came later. 
 
 Taking a cross-country short cut almost due east 
 of the "Wunderwerk'* we strike Mouquet Farm, and 
 
40 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 continuing south-east, Pozi^res — on the Albert road. 
 This road is in a very good condition, and on both 
 sides of it could be seen, until a short time ago, one 
 or two derelict tanks of the earliest type — relics of 
 the original tank attack in front of Courcelette and 
 Martinpuich. On the opposite side of the road to 
 Pozieres station there is a cemetery which contains 
 the graves of Australian and British troops; many 
 of the Mouquet Farm casualties rest here, if they have 
 not yet been removed to the big memorial cemetery 
 which has been constructed farther along the road. 
 
 It is going to be a very difficult matter for the 
 tourist — unless he has already soldiered in the war 
 area — to get a real idea of the actual strength of the 
 German defences in the Somme area. By this time, 
 I suppose, much of the wire has been cleared, a 
 large proportion of the trenches and dug-outs filled 
 in, and what used to be "No-Man's Land" well 
 under cultivation and everything generally made 
 nice and tidy. Many of the alleged roads and tracks 
 which, in the wet season — and that was every time 
 we made a "push" — were up to the knees in mud, 
 will now be in a much better condition, and, as a 
 matter of fact, parts of the front will look quite as if 
 a really comfortable sort of a war could be carried on 
 with a minimum amount of trouble and inconveni- 
 ence. If any of you get this idea in your heads when 
 you are in these places just take a visit to the nearest 
 big cemetery and see the names of the men who 
 belonged to some of the finest fighting stock in the 
 world. They found it difficult enough to advance. 
 
ARI 
 
 :r 
 
 tcarT 
 
 THE SOMME 
 AND CAMBRAI. 
 
 Main Roads ■=. — 
 Secondary ■• 
 
 Canals -*— 
 
 Scale 
 
 Mile: 
 
 Gommecourt 
 Hebuterne 
 
 nBucquoy 
 
 P uisieu> 
 aii-ivlont 
 
 (Gormacourt 
 
 lAchJet 
 'le Grand' 
 
 iCji 
 
 nfcr^ 
 
 umont^ 
 tiamel 
 
 Thieayal 
 
 Miraumon__, 
 
 Warliocburt 
 Grancfcourt' 
 
 eSars 
 
 ^yrcelette 
 
 tPAUME 
 
 Flers ^i och/MLJf. 
 
 ALBERT 
 
 3oi5elle, 
 
 La^dfsdle 
 
 [ricourt 
 
 
 .Guedecourl 
 
 •teTransIoy 
 
 Hamel 
 
 oU\ers-o y^^'^i^ ^ , 
 
 esboeiifs 
 
 MSaiify-Sailhsel 
 
 ombie.? .^':;^srP;.rA 
 
 THE WAPPA CO , LTD., LONDON 
 
42 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 and if they could not advance no other men on earth 
 could. They could not go forward, so they died. 
 My own brother was one of them. He lies near 
 Pozi^res. 
 
 A litde south of Martinpuich will be found 
 Mametz Wood and the two Bazentin Woods, while 
 about a mile south-east will be found High Wood, of 
 evil fame, then Delville Wood and Trones Wood, 
 with Waterlot Farm between — all well-known names 
 to those who eagerly looked for their daily paper 
 when the Battle of the Somme was piling up the 
 casualties. High Wood was a tough nut to crack, 
 with its fortified craters and machine-gun nests, and 
 we took it, and were forced out of it more than once, 
 until it finally fell before the onslaught of the London 
 Territorials. Flers — to the north-east — fell to 
 Colonial and British troops, led by a tank, which 
 lumbered lazily and complacently through the main 
 street with the enemy bullets rattling like hail on its 
 tough hide, much to the amusement of our infantry, 
 who cheered it to the echo. 
 
 Another particularly tough obstacle was found in 
 the "Quadrilateral,'* a strongly defended position 
 some half a mile east of Ginchy, on the Morval — 
 Ginchy road. Here our Guards suffered badly, owing 
 to the troops on their left flank being held up in front 
 of this strong point. Although we lost very heavily, 
 there is every reason to believe that the enemy did 
 likewise, for it is known definitely that three of his 
 best divisions were hopelessly put out of action. 
 
 The work performed by the tanks in this area 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 43 
 
 was invaluable; this dread new engine of warfare 
 fairly "put the wind up" the Boche, following as 
 they did our very thorough artillery preparation. 
 The incident of the comic tank in Flers did more for 
 the infantry that a double ration of rum would have 
 done. It was during the attack on Ginchy that Lieut. 
 Raymond Asquith, of the Grenadier Guards, the 
 eldest son of the then Prime Minister, was killed at 
 the head of his men. 
 
 The neighbourhoods of Courcelette and Flers were 
 the scenes of very heavy counter-attacks by the Ger- 
 mans on or about September i6, the Canadians in the 
 Courcelette positions having a particularly rough time 
 for some days and nights. After the fall of the 
 "Quadrilateral," Morval, Guedecourt, and Lesboeufs 
 succumbed, and Combles was seriously threatened 
 from the north as well as by the French troops 
 operating to the south of the town, which was, before 
 the war, a comparatively unimportant place of some 
 1,000 inhabitants. It was on the night of September 
 25 and 26 that the French and British troops joined 
 hands in Combles, and, although the total of prisoners 
 was not high, very large quantities of stores were 
 taken. The line then ran from the eastern edge of 
 St. Pierre Vaast Wood through Sailly-Saillisel, be- 
 hind Lesboeufs, touched Guedecourt, and then east- 
 wards over the Bapaume — Albert road, north-west of 
 Le Sars. 
 
 The month of October, 1916, just when our hopes 
 were at their highest, owing to the successful opera- 
 tions of the previous weeks, just when another two 
 
44 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 or three weeks' fine weather would have made all the 
 difference in the world, was about the wettest and 
 worst month for that time of the year that I can re- 
 member. Roads vanished under a sea of mud, guns 
 got bogged when they were moved up into position, 
 ammunition lorries got stuck and ammunition — heavy 
 stuff, 8-inch and 9.2 — had to be man-handled in order 
 to keep the howitzers supplied. 
 
 October was one long nightmare to anybody un- 
 fortunate enough to be in the Somme area. Many 
 and many a time did we pray that our particular lot 
 would be sent up to the comparative comfort of the 
 "Salient" at Ypres. I wonder if any of my readers 
 remember the road to Hebuterne? That road broke 
 the heart of more than one man on the ammunition 
 supply. How the batteries ever got ammunition at 
 all beats me hollow. And yet there are people who 
 still think that the A.S.C. (M.T.) had a soft job ! 
 Some of them had, no doubt, at the bases, but what 
 about the poor devils who — many times — worked 
 forty-eight hours on end, at least half of the time 
 under shell-fire, plunging and wallowing in and out 
 of shell-holes, lorries heavily laden with shells and 
 cartridges, well over the axles in mud, no lights, and 
 very often no food, and not the slightest protection in 
 the way of trench or dug-out when the road was under 
 fire ? And yet, in spite of it all, the guns were fed 
 and the shells arrived at the batteries somehow or 
 other ! When looking at these roads and tracks in 
 the Somme area — roads up to the battery positions — 
 try to imagine what it must have been like to work 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 45 
 
 without lights at night — battery positions cannot be 
 reached in the daytime except on certain occasions — 
 and when the least error of judgment or sleepiness 
 on the part of the drivers might precipitate both lorry 
 and contents into some huge shell-hole or mine crater. 
 The job of driver on a heavy battery ammunition 
 lorry was no sinecure, and the gunners themselves — 
 to do them justice — are the first to admit it. 
 
 A very good view over the battlefield can be ob- 
 tained from High Wood, which can be reached by 
 walking across country either from Flers or Martin- 
 puich, if the visitor is energetic enough. High 
 Wood, as its name implies, is on an elevation, though 
 very litde of the actual wood is left ; the site is marked 
 by shell-torn and bullet-pierced stumps of trees, rem- 
 nants of trenches and matted undergrowth, strands 
 of rusty barbed wire, and all the usual battlefield 
 flotsam and jetsam, if one may be allowed to use the 
 term. Still, if the day be fine and clear, a very good 
 view may be obtained. Facing east one can trace 
 the Bapaume — Peronne road, with its double line of 
 shell-torn trees, quite plainly to be seen down into 
 Sailly and Sailly-Saillisel and in front of St. Pierre 
 Vaast Wood. To the north-east lies Le Transloy, 
 and in the distance, to the west, rises Thiepval Ridge. 
 The Butte de Warlincourt is also to be seen — made 
 famous, and well remembered, by the French in- 
 fantry. 
 
 A very interesting alternative route, which runs 
 through and past many famous points in the Somme 
 battlefield, is as follows : Start, say, from Doullens, 
 
46 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 and take the main Arras road, turning off to the right 
 at the Mondicourt railway crossing ; go down through 
 Mondicourt village — once famed for its billets — and 
 then on to Pas, Souastre, and Fonquevillers — known 
 .with very good reason to Tommy as " Funkvillers " 
 — ^from there to Gommecourt, Puisieux-au-Mont, 
 Miraumont, Courcelette, and Martinpuich; then, 
 passing the eastern side of High Wood, or stopping 
 to view the surrounding country, as already recom- 
 mended, take the Guillemont road, and so straight into 
 Combles. The return run can be made via Arrow 
 Head Copse and the southern ends of Trones Wood 
 and Bernafay Wood to Montauban, Mametz, and 
 Fricourt, and then direct to Albert. 
 
 To-day Albert is a scene of utter devastation, 
 and most of the damage was done during the 
 last stages of the war. For many months a huge 
 figure of the Virgin, which surmounted the Church 
 of Our Lady of Brebieres, hung, at a perilous 
 angle, in a seemingly impossible position, apparently 
 surveying the desolation spread out below. The pious 
 French people looked upon this as a miracle and 
 prophesied that the day on which the statue fell 
 into the street would mark the end of the war. The 
 statue did fall, some considerable time afterwards, 
 dislodged by a shell, and although the war did not 
 actually end the same day, yet it only lasted a few 
 months longer, and so everybody was satisfied. 
 
 From Albert to Meaulte is but a short distance, 
 and I recommend the motorist to miss this place, 
 which is not very interesting, and take the direct 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 47 
 
 road to Bray-sur-Somme, which crosses the Meaulte — 
 Fricourt road about a quarter of a mile north-west of 
 Meaulte. On the run from Bray to Peronne many 
 places of interest are to be seen, and the route recom- 
 mended is the one from Bray to Cappy, or, better 
 still, do not cross the Somme to Cappy, but turn 
 sharp north and follow the eastern bank of the river 
 up into Suzanne, from the heights of which place a 
 magnificent view can be obtained. From Suzanne 
 up north to Maricourt, and then easterly to Clery- 
 sur-Somme, on the direct road to Peronne, which was 
 captured by the British in March, 1917. Peronne 
 has been through a rough time and has been very 
 badly knocked about. It has changed hands three 
 times, once in 1914, when the enemy were driven out 
 by the French after doing the usual amount of loot- 
 ing; it then fell into their hands once more, and was 
 retaken by our troops, as stated above. Once again 
 during the great offensive in 1918 this ill-fated town 
 changed hands, only to be evacuated when Foch's 
 great drive carried us forward again. 
 
 In 19 14 the enemy made a headquarters at Peronne 
 Castle, and while their officers held a drunken orgy 
 there, the men systematically searched the town for 
 what they could find, even going to the extent of 
 turning the contents of a toyshop in the Grande Place 
 out on to the pavement, where they, apparently, got 
 quite a lot of innocent amusement by pulling the tails 
 off the wooden horses, blowing the tin trumpets, and 
 reducing anything they did not like to powder by 
 the simple process of jumping on it. One or two 
 
48 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 particularly choice spirits conveyed "props" in the 
 shape of toy swords, drums, etc., to the local photo- 
 grapher's shop^ and insisted on being photographed 
 in all their drunken glory, the place of honour on a 
 pedestal in the centre of one group being given to a 
 looted bottle of champagne. The heroes portrayed 
 in this group were of the Unteroffizier class. What 
 could one expect from the men if their N.C.O.'s 
 behaved in this manner ? 
 
 One of the things which will first strike the ob- 
 server when visiting the battlefields of the Somme is 
 the wanton destruction by the Germans of the fine 
 trees which almost invariably lined the roads. No 
 doubt in many cases such destruction was necessary 
 from a strategical point of view. The Arras — Bapaume 
 road is a case in point; but no amount of argument 
 can explain away the fact that fruit trees in orchards, 
 and such-like small trees, were cut down close to the 
 ground for absolutely no reason at all save that of 
 savage spite. Many instances of this kind can be 
 seen in the Somme villages, or what is left of them. 
 One particular case I remember well was in Bucquoy. 
 Part of a garden wall remained standing, and against 
 this wall grew two standard peach trees fastened up 
 with the usual bits of cloth and nails ; both these trees 
 had been slashed with a hatchet or some similar im- 
 plement about six inches above the ground; on>e 
 had been severed clean through and was dead, the 
 other, fortunately, was cut only half-way through, 
 and was alive; not only alive but bearing some very 
 excellent peaches. This, however, was an exception to 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 49 
 
 the rule, as most of the work had been so thoroughly 
 done that it was obvious to anyone that systematic 
 destruction had been ordered by the All Highest, or 
 his immediate understrappers. iWar is war, we all 
 understand, and such being the case, there is no place 
 for sentiment, and everything is fair — as in love, so 
 I am told — but when all is said and done, it is pos- 
 sible that the marvellous German war machine which 
 we have all heard so much about might have been 
 more successful if the principal object for which it 
 was designed had not been lost sight of in a maze 
 of complications and small details, of which the tree- 
 cutting episode is a typical example. 
 
 Bucquoy has not suffered quite so badly as some 
 other villages — by which I mean that several of the 
 houses have at least one wall left standing. There 
 used to be an estaminet near the cross-roads that 
 went by the name of the *' Red Lion " ; a small board 
 suspended from a bracket swung in the breeze, and 
 bore the legend painted thereon (on the board, not 
 the breeze) "Lion Rouge." It was quite a comfort- 
 table, well-run little place, and did a good business — 
 this was in 1914. Then the Boche came, and the next 
 time I saw it was in 1916, just after the Arras stunt. 
 The people were gone, and the estaminet was some- 
 what chipped — door gone, no glass in the windows, 
 and a big hole in the roof, but the board still swung 
 gaily in the same old breeze. Then the Boche came 
 again, and the next time I saw the place was in 1918, 
 just before we took Cambrai — the beginning of the 
 end. This time what was left of the estaminet wasn't 
 
50 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 worth talking about; but the particular bit of wall 
 which supported that board in 1914 was still function- 
 ing, and the board looked as fresh as ever. I passed 
 it several times in as many weeks and it was still 
 there, but one day, coming back from Cambrai, I 
 looked up and it was not. Somebody " sooveneered " 
 it, I suppose, for the bracket was bent downwards as 
 if someone — standing possibly on the top of a lorry 
 cab — had given it a good hard wrench. At any rate, 
 it was gone, and I felt as if I'd lost an old friend. 
 If this should meet the eye of the souvenir merchant 
 I should very much like to have that board, as I 
 should have taken it myself had he not forestalled 
 me. 
 
 Farther along the road, in the same village, there 
 was a Hun " Kantine," the interior of which had been 
 decorated by various Hun artists, and very well deco- 
 rated too, if somewhat in the heavy and gloomy 
 mailed-fist kind of style. Part of the " Kantine " was 
 reserved for N.C.O.'s, and the remainder was open 
 to the common or garden "cannon fodder." Liquid 
 refreshment had apparently been plentiful, judging 
 by the great heap of lager beer bottles outside the 
 men's reservation, whilst the N.C.O.'s evidently 
 emptied many a bottle of "Bols" gin and hock. 
 Looted champagne and French wines having all been 
 consumed long before, the Hun had to come down to 
 the level once more and pay for his drink, which must 
 have gone very much against the grain. 
 
 In the very few villages which still retain some 
 semblance of their original shape you can nearly 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 51 
 
 always find one of these Boche canteens, and in some 
 cases the interior walls have been really well deco- 
 rated, and some quite good drawings in black chalk 
 and colour may still be found, many of them quite 
 ambitious efforts, taking up the whole wall on one 
 side of the room. I don't think Fritz expected to be 
 pushed out, or perhaps he wouldn't have gone to so 
 much trouble. 
 
 P^ronne marks the limit of our Somme pil- 
 grimage, and to those who are motoring, and have a 
 fast car, I can thoroughly recommend the long 
 straight road which reaches from Longeau, just out- 
 side Amiens, to Brie. This latter place is of interest 
 from the fact that our Royal Engineers did some 
 splendid bridging work there on the same day that 
 we captured P^ronne. In less than twelve hours a 
 fast-running stream was bridged and our infantry 
 were enabled to cross the Somme — a really smart bit 
 of work. This road is almost as straight as a line 
 drawn with a ruler across the map, and, with the 
 exception of one or two stretches, had an almost 
 perfect surface, even during the war, in spite of the 
 fact that the French used it as their main supply 
 artery for a large section of the front. Convoys of 
 supply lorries, miles in length, could be seen career- 
 ing along the road in the early morning, at an average 
 speed of well over eighteen miles per hour ; the dust 
 was simply terrific, and the distance between each 
 lorry was so small that one marvelled that bad 
 smashes were not of more frequent occurrence. 
 
 The best way to get to Brie is through Villers- 
 
52 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 Carbonnel, which may be reached by following the 
 river bank south as far as the main road, and then 
 turning due east ; or what might be a more interesting 
 route would be to go to Biaches — a place which 
 proved a stumbling-block to the French infantry for 
 a long time — and then, through Barleux, down on to 
 the main road at Villers-Carbonnel, then dead straight 
 for Amiens. 
 
 During the fighting for Peronne some fine work 
 was done by the French monitors on the Somme 
 Canal. They used to creep along at night and take 
 up positions in some secluded corner, and then blaze 
 away with their heavy stuff at the Boche line in and 
 around the town, much to the annoyance of the said 
 Boche, who tried very hard to spot them, but failed. 
 I met the skipper of one of these monitors one d|ay ; 
 I was introduced to him by a certain Captain Rogers, 
 of the Royal Engineers, who lived a very lonely life in 
 a dug-out near Frise, then in the French Army area. 
 Tough as they make 'em, Rogers had been a master 
 mariner until war broke out — a big hefty Scotsman 
 with a marvellous fund of dry humour. A born 
 story-teller, he soon made himself known to the 
 French troops in his vicinity, and rapidly became 
 quite a character in the district. He spoke French 
 with a good old Scots accent and, when presenting 
 me to the French naval man, gravely informed me 
 that he — the Frenchman — was a "bloke de la flotte." 
 He also conceived the gorgeous idea of calling his 
 shrapnel helmet a "battle bowler," and the way in 
 which he could always produce a sample of the 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 53 
 
 national beverage, even in the middle of a bad 
 ** strafe," was no less than miraculous. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI 
 
 November, 191 7 
 
 One of the most dramatic episodes of the whole 
 war was, undoubtedly, the British attack on the town of 
 Cambrai in November, 191 7, and the resultant enemy- 
 counter attack, which deprived us of a very great 
 deal of the ground we had gained by the first real 
 surprise attack on a large scale which had been 
 attempted and carried any distance forward. Cambrai 
 was then, and had been ever since the opposing forces 
 settled down to trench warfare proper, the main 
 supply depot for the enemy forces on a very large 
 part of the Western Front. A glance at the map will 
 show the huge importance of the place from the 
 supply centre point of view; excellent roads radiate 
 from it in every direction, and the Arras — Cambrai 
 road, a dead-straight run of 35 kilometres, used to be, 
 before the war, one of the fastest stretches in France. 
 This road then carries on through to Le Cateau and 
 Landrecies, of Mons Retreat fame. 
 
 All the country round here is sacred to the 
 memory of the ''Old Contemptibles." 
 
 The British line in front of Cambrai, after the first 
 battle of the Somme, is shown roughly on a German 
 map — which I have in front of me as I write — as 
 running through Fontaine-les-CrbisilleS, Bullecourt, 
 across the Lagincourt— Qu^ant road, then on over the 
 
54 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 main Bapaume — Cambrai road to La Vacquerie. After 
 General Byng's magnificent attack with tanks on 
 November 20, by which he successfully broke the 
 Hindenburg Line, it ran approximately from Bourlon 
 Wood — a bitterly fought-for and extremely dangerous 
 salient — through Masni^res, and then sank to Vend- 
 huille. On November 30 the enemy made their power- 
 ful counter attack, for which they had obviously been 
 massing troops and guns for some days, and the full 
 torrent of their advance broke through between the 
 1 2th and 55th Divisions on the left and right re- 
 spectively of Ravin Vingt Deux. The unfortunate 
 i66th Brigade "fair got it in the neck," as one of the 
 survivors of the 5th South Lanes, tersely put it. This 
 battalion was, as a matter of fact, nearly wiped out, 
 and all that remains to testify to the heroic resistance 
 it put up is the number of wooden crosses scattered 
 over the country-side. Although greatly reduced in 
 strength, badly cut up and greatly outnumbered by 
 the enemy, the gallant 55th Division re-formed their 
 line and hung on like grim death to the new defence 
 positions. The enemy here surrounded and cap- 
 tured Villers-Guislan, but was held up there de- 
 finitely so long as the line of resistance of the 55th 
 Division could be maintained. In this attack the 
 loth Liverpool Scottish and the 5th Royal Lancas- 
 ters distinguished themselves by making the enemy 
 pay a heavy toll for each yard he advanced, and 
 worthily upheld the reputation of the i66th Brigade. 
 While the 55th Division, on the right of Ravine 
 22, was engaged in trying to stem the flow of the tide. 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 55 
 
 its neighbour, the 12th Division, composed of the 
 35th and 37th Brigades, was having an Homeric 
 struggle with the enemy for the possession of the 
 high ground and the Cambrai road, a part of the 
 latter being stoutly held by some units of the 35th 
 and 36th Brigades. It was during this part of the 
 battle that Colonel Elliott Cooper attempted to rescue 
 a party of the 8th Royal Fusiliers, which was all but 
 surrounded. It was a magnificent attempt, and gained 
 him the V.C. ; but, unfortunately, in winning it, he 
 got his death blow. Another V.C. hero was Lieut. 
 Wallace, of the 36th Battery, who, with a devoted 
 band of three or four men, rained shells on to the 
 advancing enemy to the very last moment. 
 
 The rapid advance of the Germans was not 
 stemmed at Villers-Guislan, however, and they en- 
 tered Gonnelieu and even Gouzeaucourt, in the 
 vicinity of which was the H.Q. of the 29th Division, 
 under General De Lisle, whose splendid handling of 
 this Division during the critical period of the battle 
 was the subject of a special Order of the day by Sir 
 Douglas Haig. 
 
 An exceedingly interesting section of the Cambrai 
 battlefield — I am now referring to a later phase of the 
 war, just previous to the fall of this town on October 
 9, 1918 — is the line Noyelles-sur-l'Escaut — Marcoing 
 — Masnieres, and possibly extending to Cr^vecoeur. 
 The road runs alongside the canal practically all 
 the way, and there are bridges at all the places 
 named, which I sincerely hope will be in better 
 condition by the time this book appears than they 
 E 
 
56 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 were when I had to cross them last. An examination 
 of this part of the Hne will satisfactorily convince the 
 visitor that the town of Cambrai had sufficient defence 
 in the way of natural fortifications even if the Hin- 
 denburg and Drocourt — Queant lines had been non- 
 existent. Its vulnerable side was to the north-west, 
 which was thoroughly realised by the enemy, and^ 
 hence the Queant system. is, 
 
 An extensive examination of any of the more im- 
 portant of the enemy defence systems will not be 
 possible unless the visitor is blessed with unlimited 
 time. The best way to gather some idea of the 
 strength of these lines is to tap them at various points, 
 preferably in such districts as Bullecourt and Fon- 
 taine-les-Croisilles. It would also not be a bad idea 
 to carry on from Combles after having inspected the 
 northern part of the Somme battlefields. The most 
 instructive route would be through Rancourt and St. 
 Pierre Vaast Wood on to Manancourt, Nurlu, Fens au 
 Gouzeaucourt, and thus either down to Villers-Guislan 
 and Epehy, or north from Gouzeaucourt to La Vac- 
 querie, crossing the railway at Villers Pluich, and 
 then up through Ribecourt, Flesquiere and Gram- 
 court-les-Havrincourt on to the sugar factory on the 
 Romerstrasse, and so through Fontaine Notre Dame 
 into Cambrai. A little to the north-east of the sugar 
 factory lies Moeuvres — made famous by the little 
 bunch of heroes of the Highland Light Infantry, 
 whose exploits will go down to history. The story 
 of how seven men stuck to their job is too well known 
 to repeat here. I have no doubt that by the time this 
 
The Somme and Cambrai 57 
 
 book appears the enterprising inhabitants of Cambrai, 
 at least those who have returned, will have got things 
 somewhat shipshape, and it is just possible that 
 accommodation and refreshment of a kind may be 
 obtainable. 
 
 I have already mentioned that the Germans were 
 great on internal house decorations by means of 
 drawings and paintings, and one of them which I 
 found on the wall of a house in Bus — a little village 
 on the road from Sailly-Saillisel to Bertincourt — was 
 an extremely good example of caricature. It occupied 
 the whole of one wall, and depicted President Wilson 
 as the Statue of Liberty brandishing an automatic 
 pistol ; it may still be in existence for all I know to 
 the contrary — at any rate, it was there just before the 
 Armistice. 
 
SECTION IV 
 St. Quentin — Roye — No yon 
 
 MoNTDiDiER, which lies some little distance S.S.E. of 
 Amiens, would have made an ideal centre from which 
 to explore the towns of Roye, Nesle, St. Quentin, 
 Chauny, and Noyon ; but I fear that the German 
 bombardment of the place in 1918, and our own 
 answer after we evacuated it, will have caused too 
 much damage to enable it to be made habitable after so 
 short a period. Amiens, then, is the next best place, 
 and when all is said and done there is but a difference 
 of about ten kilometres between them, and Montdidier 
 can be taken later when the visit to Compi^gne and 
 Soissons is tackled. 
 
 The best route from Amiens to St. Quentin is 
 along the straight road through Brie, Estr^es-en- 
 Chausee, and Vermand, and then through the 
 northern part of Holnon Wood into the town. Those 
 who have already passed along the Amiens — Peronne 
 road — as recommended in an earlier chapter describ- 
 ing the Peronne district — are advised to take the same 
 road as far as Villers-Bretonneux — sacred to the 
 Australians — and Abancourt. A short distance 
 farther along will be seen a turning to the right, with 
 a signpost pointing to Baynevillers, Harbonni^res, 
 Lihons, and Chaulnes. The last-mentioned place 
 was taken by the British in the "Hindenburg Re- 
 
 58 
 
St. Quentin— Roye— Noyon 59 
 
 treat " in March, 1917, on the same day that Bapaume 
 was captured. During the Somme battle in Septem- 
 ber, 1916, whilst the British troops were busy moving 
 on Combles the French were very heavily engaged on 
 a front about fourteen miles from Barleux, just north 
 of Villers-Carbonnel, to Chilly, south of Chaulnes 
 and Lihons. A general engagement was fought, which 
 resulted in our Allies capturing a large number of 
 prisoners, material and guns. 
 
 Instead of going straight from Chaulnes to Roye, 
 I should advise a detour through Lihons, Rosi^res, 
 Vr^ly, Warvillers to Bouchoir, where the road joins 
 up with the main Amiens — Roye road. Bouchoir, I 
 remember well in 1914; it had been badly knocked 
 about even in those early days of the war. One soli- 
 tary inhabitant remained in the village — an old man, 
 apparently about seventy years of age. He was abso- 
 lutely dazed, sitting amidst the ruins of his farm- 
 house, and all that he could say in answer to ques- 
 tions was, that there had been a *'big battle at the 
 cross-roads, and that everybody had been killed." At 
 the same cross-roads, two days before, a large farm- 
 house had been razed to the ground by shell-fire, and 
 two of the unfortunate inhabitants were killed in one 
 of the front rooms of the house; their feet could be 
 seen sticking out from under the debris. 
 
 Just in front of this farm I saw a most extra- 
 ordinary thing happen — a French Dragoon officer 
 cantering across the road was hit by a shell (a direct 
 hit), and both he and his horse simply vanished from 
 my gaze with a loud bang and a cloud of grey-green 
 
6o How to see the Battlefields 
 
 smoke, and all that could be found afterwards 
 was a piece of saddle blanket and part of the 
 horse's head with the bit still in its mouth. It was 
 a most convincing demonstration of the power of 
 modern high explosives. 
 
 From Bouchoir the road leads straight into Roye, 
 and, if I remember rightly, is pretty bumpy, the pave 
 being bad and narrow, and the soft mud at the side 
 almost like a bog in bad weather. 
 
 Roye is another town which got badly knocked 
 about in 1914, and then became a comparatively un- 
 important place until the German offensive of 1918. 
 It was quite a pretty little town, and when, in com- 
 pany with two other correspondents, I passed 
 through in the very early days of the war — about 
 twenty-four hours after the Huns had evacuated the 
 place — we all three got a tremendous reception from 
 some people in a cafe when we pulled up to try and 
 "scrounge " an omelette, a bo_ttle of wine, and a few 
 apples. These good people loaded up the car with 
 provisions for a month — almost. Strangely enough I 
 passed through the place during the 1918 retreat, and 
 repeated the performance; the same people w/ere 
 there. I hope that caf6 is still standing ; the name has 
 slipped my memory, but it is in a street just off the 
 square and not very far away from what is left of the 
 church. It was near Roye, in September, 1914, that 
 the enemy lost a lot of brand-new motor transport 
 lorries; one of them was left stranded in the middle 
 of the green in the town, and was a great source of 
 delight to the French kiddies, who clambered all over 
 
62 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 it, tooted the horn, and generally had the time of 
 their lives. 
 
 Leaving Roye by the Nesle road and passing 
 through Carrepuis and Rethonvillers, a short dis- 
 tance farther on takes us into the town of Nesle, 
 uninteresting except for the fact that it once was a 
 British Army Headquarters at the time of the big 
 enemy offensive in 19 18. Passing from Nesle through 
 Eppeville on to the main Ham — Noyon road and turn- 
 ing sharp north at Eppeville we get into Ham. This 
 town was one of the principal Boche objectives during 
 the initial stage of the March 21 break-through. Its 
 importance during the war lay in the fact that it was 
 a large railhead, both for rations and ammunition, 
 and had served this purpose for the enemy when 
 previously in their possession. So far as Tommy 
 Atkins is concerned, Ham was chiefly noted for the 
 fact that, provided a lorry could be requisitioned, 
 quite good beer — in barrels — could be obtained from 
 the local brewery; an inestimable blessing to men 
 down the line for a rest. There was also, if I re- 
 member rightly, a branch of the E.F.C. in operation. 
 
 The town of Ham was entered by the German 
 cavalry on or about the evening of March 23. Very 
 little has been heard of the splendid work of General 
 Seely's Canadian Cavalry, the officers and men of 
 which fought so gallantly in their endeavour to save 
 the town. They charged the enemy so viciously that 
 they drove them out of the place time after time — to 
 fall back again and again with grievously thinned 
 ranks, owing to lack of support. These gallant 
 
St. Quentin— Roye— Noyon 63 
 
 Canadian troopers did great execution with the sword, 
 and when the enemy infantry tried to hide in dug- 
 outs and places into which a man on horseback could 
 not enter, the Canadians dismounted and followed 
 them on foot, sword in hand. 
 
 There is a good road to St. Quentin from Ham, 
 which passes to the left of the village of Aubigny, 
 and it would be worth while to go through this place 
 to Tugny, and have a look at the bridgehead which 
 was so gallantly defended by a brigade of the 20th 
 Division during the rearguard action on March 22, 
 1918. From Tugny to Happencourt is but a short 
 distance, and a little farther brings us to the bridge 
 across the Crozat Canal and into Grand Seracourt. 
 Thence going due east we get to Essigny-le-Grand 
 and then north-east to Urvillers. From captured 
 enemy orders and from the statements of prisoners it 
 is known that the enemy plan for the first day's ad- 
 vance in the 1918 offensive was to occupy the line of 
 the Crozat Canal, and, having by that time badly 
 broken the British line, to make a rapid westward 
 advance day by day. During this particular period 
 of the offensive fog was very prevalent, and although 
 this undoubtedly hampered the defence, owing to the 
 fact that masses of enemy infantry would appear out 
 of the mist at about twenty or thirty yards' range, 
 yet there is also ample reason to believe that great con- 
 fusion reigned in the Hun lines, many fairly large 
 parties getting lost and cut off, as well as severely cut 
 up, by our troops. 
 
 The line in the St. Quentin sector on the opening 
 
64 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 day of the March 21 attack ran from in front of St. 
 Quentin, south-east midway between Urvillers and 
 Itancourt — this latter place being in the enemy's 
 hands and Urvillers in ours — down to Moy, which 
 was occupied by the British. 
 
 The full force of the attack south of St. Quentin 
 developed on that particular part of the line of which 
 Urvillers was the centre, and was directed on this 
 place and on to Essigny-le-Grand. From this latter 
 place a road runs to Benay, and then east to Cerizy, 
 where it joins the St. Quentin — La F^re main road 
 through Vendeuil, passing Travecy and following the 
 line of the Crozat Canal and the twisty Oise into 
 La F^re. It was on this sector that our London men 
 put up such a good fight — Surreys and Kents, Rifle 
 Brigade and London Regiment. Men of the good old 
 58th Division, in company with men of the i8th 
 Division, fought desperately to stem the huge wave 
 of Boche "cannon fodder." If it had only been a 
 matter of two to one, the enemy would never have 
 passed, but the odds were very much heavier than 
 that, and their reserves, apparently, inexhaust- 
 ible. Wave after wave of storm troops poured over 
 our positions, and the inevitable happened; we had 
 to fall back, but not without inflicting a much heavier 
 loss and a much more serious check than was antici- 
 pated by the Imperial Staff. 
 
 From La F^re we go on to Fargniers and Tergnier 
 and then to Chauny through Viny, hugging the rail- 
 way line and the west bank of the canal. Chauny, 
 when I saw it in February, 19 18, was then very badly 
 
THE MAl-l A CO . LTD . LONUO> 
 
66 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 smashed up and was absolutely lifeless and desolate. 
 An odd French soldier or two of the genie, or engi- 
 neers — the equivalent of our own Royal Engineers — 
 were the only signs of life in the place. One or two 
 camouflaged motor-boats and barges on the canal 
 showed that a certain amount of activity took place 
 at night, but there was nothing doing in the daytime. 
 
 This town — which before the war had a population 
 of some 10,000 inhabitants — must have been a very 
 pretty place, and it was pitiful to view the destruction 
 and desolation which war had effected. I should 
 think a good 50 per cent, of the houses had been 
 destroyed by mines. As in many other places, when 
 the Germans evacuated Chauny, they took with them 
 all the young girls and boys to work in their factories 
 beyond the Rhine. Chauny is well worth seeing. 
 
 To Noyon — through Ognes and passing Baboeuf 
 off to the right of the road — the going is quite good, 
 though the surroundings are somewhat uninteresting. 
 It would be almost better to cross the canal and river 
 just south of Chauny, and, following the south bank 
 of the river through Manicamp, Quierzy and Bre- 
 tigny, strike the Noyon road at a point just south- 
 east of Pontoise. Thence, crossing the Oise river, 
 the canal and the railway, it is a straight run into the 
 quaint old town of Charlemagne, with its historic 
 Hotel de Ville. The beautiful cathedral and cloisters 
 have been badly damaged by fire, whether irretriev- 
 ably so or not I do not know, as I have not been able 
 to get back there since the hurried evacuation of the 
 place on the night of March 25, 1918. 
 
St. Quentin— Roye— Noyon 67 
 
 During the advance on Noyon from the two direc- 
 tions of Guiscard and Chauny heavy fighting took 
 place in the neighbourhood of Baboeuf, which village, 
 having been overrun by the enemy, was recaptured by 
 a brilliant counter-attack, carried out by troops of the 
 i8th Division, in which they took 150 prisoners. 
 Marshal Haig's dispatch in connection with the with- 
 drawal on this section of the front clearly emphasised 
 the fact that we were very greatly handicapped by the 
 shortage of men ; but I do not think that anybody who 
 did not take part in the withdrawal from the Ham, 
 Guiscard and Noyon region has any conception of the 
 actual facts. 
 
 On the afternoon of March 23' I was located with 
 part of my unit in the barracks at Noyon (incidentally 
 this barracks had been burnt out by the Germans 
 when they retreated a year previously, and there was 
 nothing left but the bare walls). Headquarters had 
 received orders to retire to Montdidier ; all sorts of 
 rumours were afloat that Ham had been captured, 
 Guiscard had fallen, and that the Hun was advancing 
 rapidly on Noyon. This disquieting news was to a 
 certain extent supported by the sight of several bat- 
 teries of French 75 's entering Noyon from the direc- 
 tion of Guiscard. As I had a considerable amount of 
 material to move and things were, apparently, getting 
 serious, I conferred with the onjy other officer present 
 — an Australian named Finley — and we decided that, 
 as it seemed quite impossible to obtain any reliable 
 news from anybody, the only course open to us was 
 to scout out the position for ourselves. We got hold 
 
68 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 of an old closed car that would have made a good 
 hearse but was little good for anything else, and was 
 nicknamed **the hutch," usually with the addition of 
 an adjective, and proceeded shortly after midnight 
 slowly and carefully up the Guiscard road. The night 
 was beautifully clear with a bright moon ; but there 
 was a certain amount of ground fog and an extremely 
 ominous silence. Not a gun could be heard, nor did 
 we meet a soul until near the outskirts of Guiscard; 
 then we saw a few — a very few — French infantry lying 
 about at the side of the road. After a halt in Guiscard 
 — which had been evacuated — and a good look round 
 the now deserted site of a Heavy Artillery Siege Park, 
 just to see if there was anything worth "scrounging " 
 (there was, and Finley can tell you all about it), a 
 move was made up the road in the direction of Ham. 
 Still the dead silence, broken every now and then by 
 the long-drawn-out and echoing boom of a very dis- 
 tant gun ; still no signs of troops, until, some four or 
 five miles out of Guiscard, the car was pulled up 
 suddenly, and a tin-hatted infantry major shoved his 
 head into the window and said : 
 
 "Where the do you think you're going — 
 
 eh?" 
 
 Finley and I explained as concisely as possible 
 that we were tracking some lost transport, this be- 
 ing the best excuse we could manufacture at short 
 notice. 
 
 "Well — if you'll just take my advice, boys, you'll 
 turn round and get back as fast as you can ; this is 
 the front line you're just crossing ! " said the major, 
 
St. Quentin— Roye— Noyon 69 
 
 pointing first to one side of the road and then the 
 other. 
 
 Getting down out of the car, we looked and saw 
 a thin Hne of tired-out men stretching away in a sort 
 of dark irregular curve at right angles to the road 
 on both sides, with rifles resting on a natural parapet, 
 where one field finished at a somewhat higher level 
 than the other, and with machine-guns in position. 
 A long line of dead-silent, dead-tired British infantry- 
 men, dozing with their cheeks caressing their rifle- 
 butts, prone on the ground, many of them actually 
 sound asleep in the first rest they had had for many 
 hours, yet ready on the instant to pour a withering 
 hail of lead into the approaching enemy. In front the 
 slightly undulating, fog-beshrouded, mysteriously 
 silent No Man's Land; no wire, no trenches — just the 
 thin khaki line of dead-tired men. I looked at Finley, 
 and he put my thoughts into words : 
 
 ''If this is all weVe got to hold up a few million 
 Boches, I think the sooner we get back to Noyon and 
 pack up the better." 
 
 By this time a machine-gun officer had joined us, 
 and I well remember the four of us standing there in 
 the middle of the road talking about leave, of the 
 rapidly deteriorating quality of E.F.C., whisky, and 
 George Robey's latest gag at the Alhambra — any- 
 thing but the war. Then suddenly realising that the 
 position was one which might liven up at any moment 
 our driver was instructed to turn the car round. This 
 he did, going out into No Man's Land to do so, and, 
 bidding our new friends good night and good luck, 
 
70 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 we made our way back, thoroughly agreed that what 
 we had seen was enough to show us that a retreat was 
 inevitable ; and so it happened. 
 
 The following night, about midnight, in what was 
 called the "officers' club " in Noyon, whom should I 
 meet but our friend the machine-gun officer. He was 
 very tired, had had a rough time, the major had been 
 killed, the men had put up a splendid scrap, but . . . 
 He went to sleep with his head on his hands on the 
 table, and when we found him some food fell asleep 
 again two or three times whilst eating it. 
 
 In the meantime, guns and howitzers, large and 
 small — what was left of them — were blocking up the 
 roads leading from Guiscard and Chauny into Noyon, 
 and gunner officers were trying their utmost to evolve 
 order out of the chaos ; collecting stray personnel and 
 ordnance, making up one battery out of the remains 
 of two or three, and getting ready for the stand which 
 everybody wondered had not taken place before. One 
 thing the Germans taught us which will not be for- 
 gotten in a hurry, and that is — heavy ordnance, any- 
 thing bigger than a field gun, is utterly useless in a 
 retreat, however useful it may be, and undoubtedly 
 is, in an advance. 
 
 Historically, Noyon is a celebrated place ; for here 
 Charlemagne was crowned, Calvin (the Protestant) 
 first saw the light, and Hugh Capet was made king. 
 
 Almost due north leading out of the town is the 
 road to Guiscard and Ham, and on the right-hand side 
 of the road, opposite the wall which surrounds the 
 cavalry barracks — already mentioned — will be found 
 
St. Quentin— Roye— Noyon 71 
 
 a very substantially stone-built enclosure, a Hun 
 graveyard, inside of which may be found some fine 
 specimens of the stonemason's art. One thing the 
 Germans never failed to do, and that was to pay due 
 honour to the fallen. Massive and ornate monuments 
 were numerous in all his cemeteries behind the line. 
 No doubt it was part of a well-thought plan, cal- 
 culated to make the soldier feel what a great man he 
 was — even when dead. It was also the fact — at least 
 so far as my own observation goes — that the enemy 
 treated the dead of any nation with the same respect 
 as his own. I have seen many of these cemeteries, and 
 have been struck with this fact again and again. 
 
 Another cemetery — French this time — may be 
 found on the left-hand side of the Rue de Lille ; one 
 corner of it is reserved for French coloured troops, as 
 the queer inscriptions on the headstones will testify. 
 
 Leaving the town by the Compi^gne road, we 
 travel south for a very short distance, and then turn 
 off to the right, where the signpost shows Lassigny to 
 be a comparatively short run of some thirteen kilo- 
 metres. The road runs through territory which has 
 seen many stiff fights. Larbroye is the first village 
 to be entered, then Suzoy, Cuy, and through Dives 
 into the town. 
 
 It was in the region of Lassigny in September, 
 1914, that some very heavy fighting took place 
 between the French and Germans, and after the place 
 was captured — so runs an account in Le Matin — some 
 officers made a thorough examination of a chateau 
 which had for a long time been in the hands of a 
 
 F 
 
72 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 member of the German Diplomatic Corps and which 
 was noted for its numerous lawn-tennis courts. These 
 courts were, as a matter of fact, covering very solidly- 
 built concrete gun emplacements, ideally situated to 
 command the surrounding country with heavy 
 howitzer or gunfire; another example of German 
 thoroughness which failed to mature. 
 
 The French, under General Castlenau, fought un- 
 ceasingly in this district from September 25, 1914, 
 until almost the end of the month, and w^ere eventually 
 driven back by very much heavier forces which the 
 enemy, alarmed by the threat to their St. Quentin line 
 of communication, had brought to bear in order to 
 make a determined effort to stem the French advance. 
 It was during the rearguard fighting after October i 
 that the French, by a brilliantly executed strategical 
 movement, ambushed a large enemy force, inflicting 
 very heavy casualties and securing between 750 and 
 800 prisoners. I believe the German report classified 
 this action as a "glorious victory"; if so, then the 
 action which took place a few days later must have 
 been even more so, for between Chaulnes and Roye 
 the French added another 1,600 prisoners to their 
 bag. 
 
 All the country round about this district is very 
 interesting and well worthy of study, for Lassigny was 
 in the front line for many moons. The track of the 
 war can easily be followed up from Lassigny through 
 Fresnieres, Crapeaumesnil, Beauvraignes, Popin- 
 court, Laucourt', I'Echelle-St.-Aurin, Andechy, and 
 so on through Maucourt and Chilly to Lihons and 
 
St. Quentin— Roye—Noyon 73 
 
 Chaulnes. During the Battle of the Somme in Sep- 
 tember, 1916, the French were held up south of the 
 Brie — Amiens road by strong enemy positions in 
 Chaulnes Wood. This place was only captured after 
 very determined and bloodthirsty attacks and counter- 
 attacks, the severity of which is obvious by the 
 numerous graves in the vicinity, and the strength of 
 the enemy strong points is easily to be seen if the 
 visitor likes to do a little exploring on foot. 
 
 One little bit of advice to those who *'footslog" 
 amongst undergrowth in any of these woods or in any 
 place over which heavy fighting has taken place and 
 which is heavily overgrown by grass : Wear a good 
 pair of heavy boots and leggings that will resist the 
 possible scratches from hidden strands of rusty barbed 
 wire. In these places it is a matter of ''watch your 
 step." There are many thousands of old unexploded 
 hand-grenades still lying about in the undergrowth, 
 and some of them, owing to the fact that the pins are 
 almost rusted through, may go off at a touch. I do 
 not say they all will explode so easily ; the later types 
 are comparatively safe even when handled; but it is 
 always better to be on the safe side, and anything of 
 an explosive nature should not be touched. Do not 
 poke suspicious-looking, or even unsuspicious-look- 
 ing, objects with your stick or you might finish your 
 tour sooner than you expect and cause the authorities 
 quite a lot of trouble detaching your remains from the 
 surrounding district for burial purposes. This may 
 sound funny, but it's good advice for all that. 
 
 Whilst on the subject of ''duds," I once saw in 
 
74 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 Bucquoy two or three bright specimens of that incom- 
 parable creature, the "Chink" Labour Corps man, 
 who had just finished building an oven in the side of 
 the road out of such-like materials as fully-fused Boche 
 4.2 howitzer shells. The grating under which the fire 
 was going to be started was composed of 77 mm. 
 field-gun shells with cartridge-case complete. I 
 caught them just as they were breaking up some of the 
 basket shell-containers to use as kindling, and hur- 
 riedly sought out the British N.C.O in charge. He 
 considered that the best remedy would be for him to 
 withdraw all the other Chinks in the vicinity to a safe 
 distance, take up some point of vantage from which 
 the proceedings could be viewed, and await results. 
 He told me quite candidly that he had found that 
 example was much better than precept when dealing 
 with Chinese labour. 
 
SECTION V 
 Montdidier — Compi^gne — Soissons 
 
 The town of Montdidier, which marked the finish of 
 the German advance after the Flanders offensive in 
 1918, is a Httle over 30 kilometres from Amiens, along 
 a picturesque road which, after passing through Pierre- 
 pont — going north — follows the eastern bank of the 
 Avre into Moreuil, and then up to Boves; a little 
 farther on the road runs into the main Amiens — Roye 
 highway, just short of Longeau, and then direct into 
 Amiens. Montdidier could be taken in on the return 
 journey to Amiens from Roye or Lassigny, if the 
 traveller has time. There is nothing much to see in 
 the place, and it has been badly knocked about — 
 mostly, I believe, by the Allied artillery, just before 
 the town was retaken when our 19 18 advance started. 
 My own recollections of the place are not particularly 
 pleasant, possibly owing to the fact that I arrived — 
 with the bits — after the hurried evacuation of Noyon, 
 at the hour of three in the morning, very hungry, 
 deadly tired, and somewhat dispirited at the constant 
 retreating, to find that there was nothing to eat and 
 drink, and not even a blanket to be obtained. I found 
 my Headquarters billeted at the Chateau, and every 
 bed bagged. Not that I had expected to find even a 
 bed there ; but when I peeped into one or two of the 
 rooms and saw various members of the gilded Staff 
 
 75 
 
76 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 snoring luxuriously under eiderdowns — well — it did 
 make one feel rather envious. However, I slept quite 
 soundly on the floor of the corridor, and was awakened 
 a few hours later by someone falling over me and 
 using language of a most ungentlemanly kind, to 
 which I replied suitably. 
 
 The one hotel in the place which looked like an 
 hotel was pretty rotten, for it was impossible to get 
 anything to eat there unless one got it for oneself, 
 and even then the proprietor was not as pleasant as 
 he might have been. Montdidier was evacuated 
 shortly after that, and then a few of us took the matter 
 in hand and managed to get a respectable meal to- 
 gether out of the debris. 
 
 The extreme point west of Montdidier reached by 
 the enemy on May 8, 1918, is given on a German 
 map which I have before me, and shows their line, 
 just east of the village of Cantigny, slightly west of 
 Fontaine, and running through Alesnil-St. Georges. 
 It then bends eastwards, cutting the railway midway 
 between the town and Ayencourt village. Thus far 
 did they come, but no farther, and they remained and 
 dug themselves in until the beginning of the end. 
 This line of defences can be followed down through 
 Assanvillers to Rollat, where we leave it to cross the 
 St. Just — Roye main road, and so on to Cuvilly and 
 Ressons, and then through Marqueglise and across 
 the Oise into the Foret-de-Laigue to Choisu-au-Bac ; 
 from there along the north-west corner of the Foret- 
 de-Compi^gne into the town itself. 
 
 The route I have mapped out is not the most direct, 
 
AMIENS 
 
 so in 
 
 Longeau 
 
 Boves 
 
 Moreuil 
 
 'Pierrepont 
 
 Camigny v^^/fA^lrnlm 
 
 Fontaine*v ^y^''^'^' 
 
 st.Georges 
 Ayencourt 
 
 Rosi'eres 
 
 Scale i. 
 
 st.jusr 
 
 MONTDIDIER- COMPIEGN E ' 
 SOISSONS. 
 
 Mam Roads === 
 
 Secondary ■■ 
 
 /^a// ways 
 
 Ca/73/s 
 
 5 Miles 
 
 THE MAPPA CO . LTD., LONUON 
 
78 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 by any means, but it is certainly the most interesting. 
 Strong as the enemy were in 1918, their strength was 
 not enough to enable them to reach Compi^gne, the 
 fall of which place would have been more or less 
 of a disaster. In September, 1914, in the thickly 
 wooded country to the south of Compi^gne, the ist 
 Cavalry Brigade was overtaken by some German 
 cavalry, and lost a battery of horse artillery, as well 
 as several officers and men killed and wounded. 
 Aided by some detachments of the 3rd Corps, which 
 was operating on their left, they made a brilliant 
 counter-attack, and not only recovered all their own 
 guns, but succeeded in capturing twelve of the 
 enemy's. 
 
 In connection with the fighting in the region of 
 Compi^gne, I cannot do better than quote an account 
 given by a wounded soldier, which appeared in the 
 London Evening News : 
 
 "We were in a field when the Germans dropped 
 on us all of a sudden. The first hint we had of their 
 presence was when a battery of guns on the right sang 
 out, dropping shells into a mob of us who were wait- 
 ing for our turns at the wash-tub — the river. There was 
 no panic as far as I saw, only some of our fellows, 
 who hadn't had a wash for a long time, said strong 
 things about the Germans for spoiling the best chance 
 we'd had for four days. We all ran to our posts in 
 response to bugles which rang out all along the line, 
 and by the time we all stood to arms the German 
 cavalry came into view in great strength all along the 
 left front. As soon as they came within range we 
 
Montdidier— Compiegne—Soissons 79 
 
 poured a deadly volley into them, emptying saddles 
 right and left, and they scattered in all directions. 
 Meanwhile their artillery kept working up closer on 
 the front and right, and a dark cloud of infantry 
 showed out against the sky-line on our front, advanc- 
 ing in a formation rather loose for the Germans. We 
 opened fire on them, and they made a fine target for 
 our rifle fire, which was very well supported by 
 our artillery. The fire from our guns was very 
 effective, the range being found with ease, and we 
 could see the shells dropping right into the enemy's 
 ranks. Here and there their lines began to waver and 
 give way, and finally they disappeared. Half an hour 
 later more infantry appeared on our right front, but 
 we could not say whether it was the same body or not. 
 This time they were well supported by artillery, 
 machine-guns, and strong forces of cavalry on both 
 flanks. All came on at a smart pace, with the ap- 
 parent plan of seizing a hill on their right. At the 
 same moment our cavalry came into view, and then 
 the whole Guards Brigade advanced. It was really 
 a race between the two parties to reach the hill first, 
 but the Germans won easily owing to their being 
 nearer by half a mile. 
 
 "As soon as their guns and infantry had taken up 
 position, the cavalry came along in a huge mass with 
 the intention of riding down the Irish Guards, who 
 were nearest to them. When the shock came it seemed 
 terrific to us in the distance, for the Irishmen didn't 
 recoil in the least, but flung themselves right across 
 the path of the German horsemen. We could hear 
 
8o How to See the Battlefields 
 
 the crack of the rifles and see the German horses 
 impaled on the bayonets of the front ranks of the 
 Guardsmen ; then the whole force of infantry and 
 cavalry were mixed up in one confused heap, like so 
 many pieces from a jig-saw puzzle. Shells from the 
 British and German batteries kept dropping close to 
 the tangled mass of fighting men, and then we saw the 
 German horsemen get clear and take to flight as fast 
 as their horses could carry them. Some had no 
 horses ; they were bayoneted where they stood. While 
 this was going on there was a confused movement 
 among the German infantry, as though they were 
 going to the assistance of the cavalry, but evidently 
 they did not like the look of things, for they stayed 
 where they were. After this little interruption the 
 Guards continued to advance — the Coldstreamers 
 leading this time, with the Scots in reserve, and the 
 Irish in support. Taking advantage of the fight be- 
 tween the cavalry and the infantry, the German 
 artillery had advanced to a new position, from which 
 they kept up a deadly fire from twelve guns. Our 
 infantry and cavalry advanced simultaneously against 
 this new position, which they carried together in the 
 face of a galling fire. In the excitement the enemy 
 managed to get away two of their guns, but the re- 
 mainder fell into our hands. The infantry and the 
 cavalry supporting the guns didn't wait for the on- 
 slaught of our men, but bolted like mad, pursued by 
 our cavalry, and galled by a heavy fire from our 
 infantry and artillery, which quickly found the range. 
 We heard later that the Germans were in very great 
 
Montdidier— Compiegne— Soissons 8i 
 
 force, and had attacked in the hope of driving us back 
 and so uncovering the French left, but they got more 
 than they bargained for. Their losses were terrible 
 in what little of the fighting we saw, and when our 
 men captured the guns, there was hardly a German 
 left alive or unwounded. Altogether the fight lasted 
 seven hours, and when it was over our cavalry scouts 
 reported that the enemy was in retreat." 
 
 This very interesting letter apparently refers to the 
 action of Sept. i, which I have already mentioned, 
 but the gallant guardsman who wrote it is two short 
 in his account of the number of guns taken, for we 
 must take Sir John French's dispatch of Sept. 17, 
 1914, as correct. In this he definitely states that 
 twelve guns were captured. 
 
 The Forest of Compiegne is well worthy of a pro- 
 longed tour of inspection, but as this section of the 
 book is dealing also with the battlegrounds more to 
 the east, possibly we had better take the road out of 
 the town which cuts through the neck of wooded 
 country joining the Forest of Laigue to the Forest of 
 Compiegne. The road runs south of the River Aisne, 
 and the first place of any size we reach is Attichy — 
 which is across the river. Here will be found some 
 relics of the past in the shape of destroyed bridges 
 and signs of the task the R.E.'s had when they 
 bridged the river under heavy fire from the northern 
 banks. From Attichy to Vic-sur-Aisne, another 
 memory of 1914, is but a short distance. Here the 
 river is crossed again, and we come on to the Com- 
 piegne — Soissons road at La Vache Noire. I re- 
 
82 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 commend the detour through Attichy and Vic-sur- 
 Aisne owing to the fact that the river crossings in both 
 places were the scenes of some violent fighting, and a 
 good idea will be gained of the great difficulties with 
 which our troops were faced when these crossings 
 were forced. 
 
 The road on to Soissons is a good one, and on both 
 sides of it will be seen old French encampments, 
 dumps, and visible evidence of the huge back-area 
 organisation which is necessary in these days of 
 modern warfare. Some little distance before getting 
 into Soissons a signpost will be seen on the left-hand 
 side of the road, which shows the way to Pommiers. 
 About three hundred yards down this side road there 
 used to be a huge dump of captured war material 
 covering about thirty acres. Here could be seen guns, 
 howitzers, tanks, enemy steel helmets by the thou- 
 sands, and many hundred suits of the special 
 toughened steel armour which was provided for the 
 storm troops. Ammunition was here in huge quan- 
 tities — anything from the largest-sized howitzer shell 
 to small arms and automatic pistol cartridges. 
 
 A most charming artillery captain was in charge 
 of the place, and he had arranged what he called his 
 museum, in which, carefully numbered and labelled, 
 could be found a specimen of every deadly weapon of 
 warfare which the Boche had ever produced, with the 
 exception of field-pieces, of course, which were 
 parked outside; a most interesting exposition, and 
 one which I hope is still there. It is certainly worth 
 while to make a short detour to find out if the exhibits 
 
84 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 are still on view. The entrance to the park was on 
 the right-hand side of the Pommiers road, and it is 
 too big to be missed if now in existence. 
 
 But a stone's-throw from the Pommiers turning is 
 Soissons — another of the many monuments to Kultur, 
 I first saw this town in September, 1914, and even 
 then the splendid old cathedral had been very badly 
 smashed, and very few of the streets had escaped the 
 torrent of shells which the enemy rained into the 
 town. Many houses were burnt in these early days, 
 and the large chapel on the north side of the cathedral 
 was absolutely destroyed, and although the east 
 window remains — or remained when I saw the cathe- 
 dral last — it has been very badly damaged. Needless 
 to say all the fine stained glass has vanished long ago, 
 shattered into dust. The Germans knew their Soissons 
 well, and their gunfire was extraordinarily accurate, 
 the barracks being completely wiped out early in the 
 bombardment. It is said that several spies had been 
 arrested, and this possibly accounts for the accuracy 
 of the German gunfire. 
 
 In the Boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, in which might 
 have been found most of the better-class residences, 
 hardly a house remains standing. In 1914 some of 
 these houses presented curious sights, one in par- 
 ticular had had the whole front destroyed and was 
 standing open to the street from ground to attics, juot 
 like one of those big sectioned doll's houses which are 
 to be seen in toyshop windows. All the furniture was 
 in position, and bedrooms, drawing-room and dining- 
 room were all apparently untouched as regards the 
 
Montdidier— Compiegne— Soissons 85 
 
 interior. The sight would have been comical if it 
 had not been so pathetic. 
 
 Soissons has been an unfortunate town. It 
 suffered greatly in 1870, when the old abbey church 
 of St. Jean was damaged, though not so badly as it 
 was in 19 14, when a large shell partially demolished 
 one of the graceful spires. Several bridges over the 
 river were destroyed by the Germans when they 
 evacuated the town, though one was left in an almost 
 usable condition owing to the failure of certain 
 charges to explode, which shows that the enemy made 
 a rather hurried exit. In spite of the proximity of the 
 town to the line, many of the shops still continued to 
 trade, in which respect it was like Bethune. The in- 
 habitants became accustomed to and were able to time 
 the occasional "hates " to which the place was subject 
 from time to time. Soissons invariably was shelled 
 after a German reverse, and when the populace began 
 to realise this fact the occasions on which shells landed 
 in the town, though inconvenient and causing a 
 general retirement to the cellars, more often than not 
 provided cause for a certain amount of jubilation. 
 The *' Hotel of the Red Lion " provided a good meal 
 and good wine during the greater part of the war; 
 the prices charged were also quite moderate, extra- 
 ordinarily so, indeed, when one considers the risks 
 taken by those who stayed behind to serve, and the 
 very real difficulty of obtaining supplies. 
 
 It was in Soissons in 19 18 that I first saw our 
 American Allies, steel-helmeted men on traffic control 
 duty at the cross streets. Two or three of us halted 
 
86 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 at ''The Red Lion" for lunch; the party included a 
 colonel, with a goodly selection of ribbons on his 
 manly bosom. In the dining-room, thoughtfully 
 wielding a toothpick and straddling a chair, arms 
 rested on the back, was a large American officer, who 
 stared at us all in turn with great persistence for full 
 five minutes; then — suddenly making up his mind 
 and pocketing his toothpick — he slouched over in a 
 leisurely manner and gave us good day : 
 
 "Say now — I guess you'll be English officers — am 
 I right ? " 
 
 We pleaded guilty. He examined us all thought- 
 fully once more, and halted at the colonel: "Now 
 jest what rank might you be, sir ? " 
 
 "I'm a colonel." " Uh-hum," still thoughtfully— 
 "and what might that coloured chart mean ? " queried 
 our still inquisitive acquaintance, pointing to the 
 medal ribbons on the colonel's breast. The various 
 ribbons were explained in detail — although the wearer 
 was rather taken aback by the "coloured chart" 
 designation — and our American gave us each another 
 thoughtful inspection, remarked that it was a "peace- 
 ful sort of war at present," and finished up with, "I 
 thank you vurry much gentlemen — good day," before 
 he went off. 
 
 An examination of the German defence systems 
 north of Soissons and the Aisne is well worth while, 
 and one of the best routes is the Coucy-le-Chiteau 
 road, which crosses the old trench lines between 
 Crouy and Cuffies, then east to Clamecy, Villers, 
 Nouvron-Chevillecourt, and Autreches. These places 
 
Montdidier— Compiegne— Soissons 87 
 
 I have mentioned were right in the Hne, and possibly 
 all that remains to identify any of these villages is a 
 board with the name painted upon it. Desolation and 
 devastation reigns supreme, and the French soldiers 
 have fought and died in their thousands in this 
 region. All the immediate front-line area in this dis- 
 trict ought to be done on foot, as it will be found 
 impossible to examine it thoroughly otherwise, and 
 there is much to be seen — and missed — here. 
 It should always be remembered that the most im- 
 portant defences, as well as the most interesting, are 
 usually invisible until one gets close to them. On 
 their invisibility to the enemy depended both their 
 importance and efficiency. 
 
 Some wondrous underground caverns and dug- 
 out systems will be found on this particular section of 
 the front. One place I well remember w^as a huge 
 underground quarry, which had been developed by 
 the enemy until it was capable of housing a whole 
 division complete with transport. Officers' quarters, 
 N.C.O.'s and men's quarters, and officers' stables, 
 kitchens, every imaginable kind of accommodation 
 had been hewn out of the solid rock. Many thousands 
 of beds, complete with mattresses, were still there, 
 and were miuch appreciated by the Allied troops when 
 the place was captured. Water was laid on, and there 
 was a complete electric-power plant, which enabled 
 every section of this enormous underground hostel to 
 be illuminated by electric light. Il must have cost the 
 German taxpayer a great deal of money — and all for 
 nothing ! 
 
88 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 Places like this are worth seeing, and I don't 
 suppose for a moment that the tourist will be allowed 
 to miss them if he — or she — is in the district, for by 
 now the thrifty French peasantry will be back again 
 on their land, and well aware of the value of these 
 relics of the war as show-pjaces. Nor would I grudge 
 them a franc or two; they have five very lean years 
 to make up for, even after their houses are rebuilt 
 and their farms once more are bearing crops. 
 
 As in the majority of districts adjacent to the 
 battle areas, main roads in France and Flanders will 
 be found in comparatively good condition ; many 
 secondary roads also are not too bad. Care should be 
 taken, however, with secondary or tertiary roads 
 which cross the old trench lines, as some of them are 
 still almost impassable, and motorists should bear 
 this in mind when darkness comes on, or it is likely 
 there may be a few broken springs, cracked frames, 
 and ruined tyres. It is is always advisable to carry 
 enough petrol and oil to last for a considerable time — 
 by that I mean plenty and to spare for the journey 
 there and back, whatever the day's plan may be, as 
 it will be difficult to obtain supplies in any of the 
 devastated districts. The same, naturally, applies to 
 photographic plates and films, for I suppose the 
 majority of tourists will want a photographic record 
 of the trip. It is, indeed, a great pity that the British 
 troops were not allowed to use cameras during the 
 war, as no amount of imagination can picture some 
 of the places or the conditions under which our troops 
 worked and fought. 
 
Montdidier— Compiegne— Soissons 89 
 
 By the time this book appears it is quite possible 
 that the enterprising proprietor of the "Lion Rouge" 
 at Soissons may have so reorgartised and repaired his 
 hotel that one may be able to put up there ; if so, then 
 stay there by all means ; it will make a splendid centre 
 from which to conduct investigations. Otherwise the 
 nearest place of any importance and habitable is 
 Compiegne, where there is a large and excellent hotel. 
 Compiegne, however, is a long way to go back should 
 the reader wish to go over the Chemin-des-Dames 
 country as far as Berry-au-Bac. I expect, also, that 
 any person who gets as far east as this will not rest 
 satisfied without seeing Rheims, which is only about 
 eighteen kilometres south-east and under sixty from 
 Soissons, through Fismes and Braisne — or Braine as 
 it is sometimes spelt. 
 
SECTION VI 
 The Retreat from Mons 
 
 MONS — LE CATEAU — VILLERS-COTTERETS — 
 THE MARNE 
 
 The retreat from Mons was one of those episodes — 
 one can hardly call it more than an episode in a war of 
 the dimensions of the one just concluded — which will 
 go down in history to our children and grandchildren 
 in much the same way as the Charge of the Light 
 Brigade, the Indian Mutiny, or the Battle of Water- 
 loo or Trafalgar have left their imprint on our own 
 minds. It proved again — if proof were needed — that 
 British troops do not recognise defeat even if it stares 
 them in the face, as it did many times during the 
 retreat to the Marne. 
 
 After the fall of Namur on August 23, 1914, Mons 
 was obviously the next point of importance in the 
 path of the German advance, and so, on the same day 
 that saw the fall of Namur, the enemy attacking in 
 great strength, forced our 2nd Corps, holding the line 
 of the Conde Canal encircling the town, to fall back 
 and abandon their positions. Lying as it does on the 
 main line from Paris to Brussels, with a line also run- 
 ning towards the eastern frontier through Hirsons and 
 Mezieres and a branch line to Laon and Chalons — 
 
 this latter place being to the French Army what Alder- 
 
 90 
 
The Retreat from Mons 91 
 
 shot is to the British— Mons was a most important 
 centre. 
 
 The capital of Hainault, Mons had a population 
 before the war of some 29,000 inhabitants, and Hes 
 near the centre of the most important of the Belgian 
 coal-mining districts. It was here that, on August 23, 
 1914, the British Expeditionary Force had its first 
 great trial of strength with the German hordes. 
 During the enemy occupation Mons was used as a 
 sort of advanced base hospital, and quite a lot of our 
 men who died from wounds were buried in the ceme- 
 tery there. 
 
 To reach the town from the northern part of the 
 front, such as Bailleul, the best route is through Ar- 
 mentieres — Lille — Tournai, and then taking the Ath 
 road turn south just after going into Leuze and down 
 through the Bois de Baudour. Personally, I should 
 wait until Arras had been thoroughly inspected, and 
 then take the long straight road which goes direct to 
 Cambrai — called by the Germans the "Romer- 
 strasse." This road continues after Cambrai, and 
 should be left at a little village called Villers-en- 
 Cauchies, in favour of the Valenciennes road. 
 
 From Valenciennes the road on to Mons runs 
 almost parallel with the railway, which it crosses just 
 before reaching the town. Looking this route up on 
 the map the reader may consider it rather a long way 
 round, but I recommend it because of the fact that 
 one may be able to see more of the enemy organisa- 
 tion of their lines of communication. Motorists will 
 be able to revel in the long, straight stretches, and, 
 
92 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 more important still, this road is in very good con- 
 dition, owing- to the fact that it was, in conjunction 
 with the railway, one of the main arteries of supply 
 for the enemy lines on the Western Front. 
 
 Coming out of the town of Mons on the eastern 
 side and taking the road to St. Symphorien on to Bray 
 and Binche brings the tourist to the district in which 
 our cavalry patrols engaged the enemy and *'held 
 their own well." As a matter of fact, it is established 
 beyond doubt that our cavalry, not only here, but at 
 any other place where contact was made with Ger- 
 mans, very much more than held its own. Quantity, 
 not quality, was the sole reason that British cavalry, 
 instead of advancing, had to fall back. 
 
 A good road takes one down to Bavai, which place 
 is interesting from the fact that here would have been 
 found General French's Advanced Headquarters on 
 August 24. Bavai is just north of the Foret de 
 Mormal and on a straight road to Le Gateau, in which 
 town was the pukka G.H.Q. during the critical stages 
 of the retreat. During the retirement to the south- 
 east of Conde by the 2nd Corps, some very stiff fight- 
 ing occurred, the brunt of it having to be faced by the 
 5th Division. Here again the cavalry — Hussars, 
 Lancers and Dragoon Guards — came to the rescue 
 and harassed the enemy's flanks with such success 
 as to hold up their advance and enable our hard- 
 pressed troops to fall back in good order. Every inch 
 of the ground in this district has been stubbornly 
 fought for, and many of the "Old Contemptibles " fell 
 whilst covering the retirement of their comrades, and 
 
94 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 the ist Corps — under the command of General Sir 
 Douglas Haig — received high praise from the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief for the brilliant work they did on the 
 morning of August 24, 1914. 
 
 Avesnes, which is reached by a direct road almost 
 due south from Maubeuge, was the headquarters of 
 General Sordet's French Cavalry Corps, but newly 
 arrived from adding to its laurels by most brilliant 
 defence work with our Belgian Allies in the opening 
 days of the German offensive. From Avesnes west- 
 wards through Maroilles we get to Landrecies, and 
 thus on through Pommereuil to Le Cateau, which, as 
 I mentioned before, was British G.H.Q. An exceed- 
 ingly interesting part of the old line was this from 
 Avesnes to Le Cateau, for both at this latter place and 
 at Landrecies the British troops put up a stiff fight. 
 
 Le Cateau is a small town of — before the war — 
 some 10,000 inhabitants, and was principallv noted 
 for its woollen mills. Standing as it does, and 
 being the junction of several important roads, 
 as well as on the main line to the French capital, 
 it had a certain strategic importance, which no 
 doubt led to its being chosen for G.H.Q. It was 
 during the night of the 25th that Fritz bit off 
 a little more than he could chew and got bitten in 
 turn by the British bulldog. Pushing up troops 
 through the Mormal Forest he violently attacked 
 Landrecies and got badly trounced by the 4th Brigade 
 (Guards), commanded by Brigadier-General Scott- 
 Kerr. The Guards — as one of their number described 
 it afterwards— "had a regular picnic," and actually 
 
The Retreat from Mons 95 
 
 killed over 800 Germans by machine-gun and rifle fire 
 in a very short time. Le Cateau was the scene of the 
 much-criticised but magnificent stand of the 2nd 
 Corps under General Smith-Dorrien, who was advised 
 to retreat, but preferred to fight. Whcitever critics 
 may say, and whether the decision to remain and fight 
 was right or wrong — who can deny that the battle of 
 Le Cateau added another glorious page to the history 
 of the nation ? And the story of the guns at Le 
 Cateau — who has not heard of it ? 
 
 Following the line of retreat down through Bohain, 
 it would not be a bad idea to branch off and take a 
 quick survey of the country both east and w^est of this 
 place, calling at Le Catelet on the west down through 
 Lempire, Roussoy, Hargicourt, Nauroy, Joncourt, 
 Ramicourt, and working over through Fresnoy le 
 Grand to Wassigny, then afterwards bearing south 
 again through Grougis, Montigny, Fonsomme, Hom- 
 bli^res, into St. Quentin. 
 
 It is more generally understood that General 
 French had an idea of making a stand on the Somme 
 south of St. Quentin, a project which he abandoned 
 owing to the "shattered condition of the troops, which 
 had fought at Le Cateau," so the retreat continued 
 in the direction of the line, La Fere — Noyon, to 
 which latter town G.H.Q. was transferred on the 
 26th. Here and there— by the roadside or, possibly, 
 just in a corner of a wood or orchard — sometimes in 
 the middle of a field, silhouetted against the evening 
 sky, may be seen little groups of weather-worn 
 crosses, two or three together, perhaps one isolated 
 
96 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 a few score yards away. Examination, as a rule, 
 reveals that they mark the graves of men of our 
 gallant Old Army who fell during the retreat. Many 
 of these isolated crosses are to the memory of cavalry- 
 men who sacrificed themselves to save heavier disaster, 
 simply and whole-heartedly doing their duty, asking 
 not the reason why. Hardly decipherable some of the 
 names were the last time I saw them in August, 1918; 
 the crosses overgrown and green with moss and lichen. 
 Since then, however, a lot of good work has been done 
 by the Graves Registration ; the country has been 
 scoured from end to end, the crosses numbered and 
 re-named, and everything made ready for the day 
 when, as I understand, all isolated graves will be 
 opened, and the remains reverently carried to the big 
 memorial cemeteries which are being arranged in 
 many districts. 
 
 As I have noted before, the enemy, with all their 
 faults, seem to have a certain amount of respect for 
 the dead. Many of their cemeteries show that great 
 care and attention has been paid to the French and 
 British dead equally with their own. One cemetery 
 in particular, near Boisleux-au-mont, off the Arras — 
 Bapaume road, was exceptionally well cared for. 
 French, British, and Germans lay side by side, each 
 grave with an elaborate cross and marked out with 
 box-edging, paths carefully tended, and the whole 
 place planted with flowers. At the far end a huge 
 cross had been erected, constructed out of tree trunks, 
 with an ornate carved wood tablet to the memory of 
 the fallen. 
 
The Retreat from Mons 97 
 
 However — to continue with the Retreat — on Aug. 26 
 G.H.Q. moved to Noyon, a town which is well worth 
 visiting, and which is on the direct road through 
 Ham and Guiscard, a picturesque route all the way 
 until one arrives at the old town of Charlemagne — a 
 piece of sculpture to the memory of whom used to be 
 in the market-place, and may be there yet, although 
 I believe the Boche knocked the place about very 
 badly in 19 18, setting fire to the Cathedral about two 
 days after my own people evacuated the town in 
 company with the French 75 's. Noyon was noted for 
 two things when I got there first — one was the ex- 
 cellent hotel, and the other the paper shop in the 
 market-place, presided over by Mdlle. Louise and her 
 mother. Mademoiselle was a most attractive person 
 and knew it, and the shop presently became a sort of 
 daily rendezvous for certain Staff officers, who ap- 
 parently had nothing better to do; so that it became, 
 in time, somewhat of an ordeal to face the assembly 
 of "brass hats" in order to make one's modest pur- 
 chase of the Daily Mail — two days old — or a packet 
 of letter-paper and envelopes. I wonder if madame 
 and her charming daughter managed to get away 
 safely before the Boche arrived? 
 
 On the 28th G.H.Q. was moved from Noyon to 
 Compi^gne, and remained there about four days. A 
 direct and picturesque road leads from Noyon to 
 Compi^gne through Ribecourt. The roads through 
 the once Royal Forest of Compi^gne are charming, 
 and this place in itself is well worth a short stay. 
 Excellent accommodation may be obtained in the 
 
98 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 town, which, for a long time, was a most important 
 French Headquarters. There is an excellent hotel, 
 which has quite a Parisian savour, and which would 
 make a very handy temporary headquarters, from 
 which the country in the direction of Soissons, Villers- 
 Cotterets, Cr^py-en-Valois, Senlis, and Clermont 
 could be explored. There is a splendid road from 
 Clermont down to Creil, then on to Senlis, and across 
 country to Villers-Cotterets, where an important rear- 
 guard action was fought on September i, the same 
 day that **L" Battery immortalised themselves at 
 Nery, fighting heroically against overwhelming odds. 
 The day before this G.H.Q. had gone to Dammartin, 
 and on September 2 went to Lagny, and on Septem- 
 ber 3 to Melun. 
 
 September 5 saw the end of the retreat from Mons, 
 and preparations in full swing for the forthcoming 
 crushing defeat of the German hosts in the First 
 Battle of the Marne — a battle which, in spite of the 
 fact that the war dragged into another weary four 
 years, was the deciding point of the whole affair. 
 Had the Battle of the Marne ended in a defeat for the 
 Allied Forces, there is little doubt that Paris would 
 have fallen — a catastrophe from which, I believe, 
 France would never have recovered. To turn round 
 after a retreat, in some parts very disorderly — especi- 
 ally after the 2nd Corps' stand — and deal such a 
 smashing blow at the enemy, reflects the greatest 
 credit on troops who had been enduring hell on half 
 rations, sometimes no rations at all, for fifteen days. 
 During the period when the B.E.F. was moving 
 
The Retreat from Mons 99 
 
 up from the Aisne district to Flanders, I met a cor- 
 poral of the 3rd Worcester Regiment, who kept a 
 rough diary of the retreat as it appeared to him. 
 There are so many human notes in it, that I think it 
 is quite worth reprinting here, 
 
 "Disembarked at 9.55 p.m., slept in the sheds at 
 night, left for the train at 7.30 a.m. Sunday, August 
 16, at Rouen station, and left for Aulnoye at 11.35 
 a.m. Stopped at a station, Abancourt, at 3 p.m., 
 where they (the French) provided us with cigarettes ; 
 they were very good to us. We then left for Bifur 
 at 4.30 p.m. We were greeted at all stopping places. 
 We then went on to St. Quentin, arrived at 8.20 p.m., 
 and all the population turned out to see us (the un- 
 known quantity or quality as the case may be). W^e 
 went on to Aulnoye, detrained, and stayed three 
 days, when we went through our usual routine work. 
 Thursday, 20, Reveille sounded at 5.30 a.m. After 
 cleaning up our various sleeping places, and having 
 breakfast, we fell in at 9 a.m., and marched to Dom- 
 pierre, arriving at 10.30 a.m.; distance about four 
 miles. Detailed at 6 p.m., we billeted in barns, etc. 
 Dompierre is a large and very pretty place. We 
 visited the Roman Catholic church here. At the re- 
 quest of the population of Avesnes (about seven miles 
 from Dompierre) the English troops were taken on a 
 route march to that place (Avesnes). We were every- 
 where greeted by all in a very hearty manner. 
 
 ''Friday, August 21. — Reveille sounded at 2.30 
 a.m. Breakfast at 4 a.m. Parade at 4.45. The whole 
 
100 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 Brigade left Dompierre and marched through St. 
 Austin, Wattigmes, and reaching the coast, marched 
 towards the Belgian frontier, passing through 
 Limont Fontaine, St. Reminal Hautmont, and 
 billeted at Feigniers, reaching there at 2.30 p.m., 
 having marched twenty-one miles. The frontier is 
 three miles from here. 
 
 '* Sunday, August 23. — We took up position and 
 put obstacles; fighting started at 4 p.m. We en- 
 trenched ourselves along the railway, and pulled up 
 some of the lines. Firing ceased about 7.30 p.m. 
 No sleep. 
 
 "Monday, 24. — Fighting commenced about 3 a.m. 
 We retired about ten miles, losing fifteen killed and 
 about eighteen wounded. The Germans lost thou- 
 sands of men. Most of our men were killed by artillery 
 fire; very few were killed by rifle fire. The Middlesex 
 lost 600 rank and file. Took up position, and put out- 
 post out. No sleep. 
 
 ^^ Tuesday, 25. — We opened fire at the enemy 
 about 3 a.m., and continued fighting until about mid- 
 day; killed, one officer and two wounded. Six Ger- 
 mans blew up the village close by us ; the women and 
 children were lying dead and wounded, with their 
 heads and legs blown away by shell fire. We retired, 
 and marched until Wednesday morning. No sleep 
 since 23rd. 
 
 " Wednesday, 26. — We were waiting for the 
 enemy to advance, when we were informed that our 
 position was not suitable for our GeneraPs plan. We 
 were moving forward in single file, when the Germans 
 
102 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 opened on us with rifle fire, and men fell. We re- 
 turned their fire, and as usual the accuracy of our 
 fire caused them to retire. Another forced night- 
 march, in which we had to be extra careful. 
 
 " Thursday, Aug, 27. — After an hour's rest (4 a.m. 
 to 5 a.m.), we carried on with the march, and con- 
 tinued the march which will go down in history as 
 one of the finest accomplished. 
 
 "From Monday midday till Thursday, distance 
 about 130 miles, with a rest of one hour only, and 
 having no food from Sunday until Thursday; we 
 couldn't get anything except apples, pears, carrots, 
 swedes — this is all we lived on. Received great praise 
 from Smith-Dorrien for this. 
 
 "Marching all day Saturday and Saturday night, 
 blowing up all bridges we passed over, a few well- 
 placed shells doing the trick ; we had two hours' rest 
 on Sunday morning (4 a.m. to 6 a.m.), and then con- 
 tinued the march to Vic-sur-Aisne. We stayed in a 
 brewery for the night, and heard that the French had 
 held the enemy back. We were well looked after 
 here, having plenty of wine and beer, with which we 
 filled our bottles before we marched. 
 
 ''Monday, August 31, 1914. — Marching to Vic- 
 sur-Aisne, we arrived at 5.30 p.m., about forty miles. 
 We had a good reception there, and billeted in a wine 
 manufacturing place, we had plenty given us to drink. 
 No sign of the enemy that day. 
 
 ''Tuesday, September i, 1914. — We left Vic-sur- 
 Aisne and marched south, starting at 5 a.m., and 
 arrived at the boundary of a small village. We had 
 
The Ret at from Mons 103 
 
 to turn back three or four times owing to German 
 patrols; this force numbered i,ooo, but the French 
 have captured 600, leaving 400, who are behind our 
 lines. Our artillery has fired all the woods. We 
 arrived here at 7.30 p.m.; twenty miles. 
 
 " Wednesday, September 2, 1914. — Marching out 
 of camp at 2.30, we put outposts in position, drawing 
 them in at 5.30, when we left for a place near Paris — 
 fifteen miles — and did outpost duty until 5.30 p.m. 
 Came in from outpost and cooked dinner ; had a wash 
 and shave, which made us quite fresh. Our reason 
 for the precaution of outpost was the fact that there 
 were a number of Uhlans who had strayed and were 
 lost. We went out at 7 p.m. for all night outpost 
 duty. 
 
 ^^ Thursday, September 3, 1914. — We retired from 
 outpost at 5 a.m., and marched through Meaux; 
 after we had passed, the bridges were blown up. We 
 marched on about three miles, then halted for dinner 
 and two hours' rest. We enjoyed ourselves fine in a 
 huge fruit plantation, where we helped ourselves, 
 filling our haversacks; continuing the march to a vil- 
 lage named Sancy, arriving at 6 p.m., we were settled 
 at 7 p.m., and cooked our supper. When a German 
 aeroplane came over, the troops were ordered to open 
 fire on it, bringing it down in a field three miles away. 
 Our cavalry went out and secured it. 
 
 ''Friday, September 4, 1914. — We got up at 6 
 a.m. and cooked our breakfast, and received orders to 
 stand to, not being able to leave our arms; this con- 
 tinued until dinner, and we were still awaiting orders 
 
104 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 at tea-time. Immediately after tea we received news 
 that the Russians had captured a force of Austrians 
 75,000 strong and 150 guns, at a place near Lemberg. 
 This news was given to us by the Commanding 
 Officer, Colonel Stuart. About 6.15 p.m. an Austrian 
 aeroplane came over our camp; the troops were 
 ordered to fire, but with no apparent effect upon its 
 flight. At 7 p.m. we had an issue of rum per man, 
 which had a very comforting effect during the night. 
 We moved off at 11.30 p.m., and marched all night. 
 
 "Saturday, September 5, 1914. — We arrived, and 
 immediately went on outpost for the Brigade at 8 a.m. 
 This was after marching twenty miles, which brought 
 us into the Charpre district. We rested during the 
 day, cooking, etc., excepted. We were allowed to 
 go to a small village to obtain water. 
 
 ''Sunday. — During one of our halts, we received 
 a message from a staff officer saying that a force of 
 
 Germans, 200,000 strong to our five Army Corps 
 
 (63,000). We were now making tracks towards them. 
 The French are gettmg round them, and we are 
 attacking their centre. 
 
 ''Sunday, September 6, 1914. — We commenced 
 our advance towards the north at 5 a.m., and were 
 about sixteen miles away at 8 p.m. — at Lamonti^res, 
 which some of the enemy occupied until our troops 
 drove them out, killing a few, and capturing about 
 800 of them. We finished the remainder of the night 
 in reserve; it was here that the first reinforcements 
 joined us. 
 
 "Monday, September 7, 1914. — We were ordered 
 
 I 
 
The Retreat from Mons 105 
 
 to stand to arms at 4 a.m., and to await orders to 
 move off; we had breakfast and dinner, and C Com- 
 pany went on outpost duty, and killed four Germans, 
 and kept their rifles, bayonets, and revolvers; took 
 the wounded to hospital after having bandaged them. 
 We were allowed to go into the village to buy bread, 
 and we found a house and brew^ery that had been 
 ransacked; the place had been turned upside down 
 and in a frightful state; we left in the evening, and 
 completed a march of fifteen miles at 10.30 p.m. The 
 place is a very large town. 
 
 '* Tuesday, September 8, 1914. — We stood to arms 
 at 3.30 a.m., and awaited orders, having breakfast at 
 4.30 a.m. We marched at 7 a.m., continuing our 
 advance due north until 8 p.m. On our way we 
 passed two or three of our men killed and about 
 eight wounded — several Germans were lying around; 
 as a solace we had captured 500 German men and 
 some officers (these men must be amongst the biggest 
 of the human race); they had cut all telegraphic com- 
 munication, and killed all the cattle, abused and ill- 
 treated the women of all the villages, especially the 
 girls. 
 
 " Wednesday, September 9, 1914.— Moving off at 
 6 a.m., we marched through a town named Vitry at 
 8 a.m. There were a good number of German killed 
 and wounded, and 5,000 prisoners, our brigade ac- 
 counting for 300; we also captured much of their 
 mechanical transport, motor cars, and cycles. Cross- 
 ing a wide river we met with some resistance from 
 the enemy; they held some rising ground on the 
 
io6 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 other side. One of our regiments eventually captured 
 a battery and some thirty or forty officers. We 
 advanced down the slope of this ground in skirmish- 
 ing order, and awaited orders from 2 p.m. until 5.30 
 p.m., going on outpost duty at 8 p.m. 
 
 ''Thursday, September 10, 1914. — We commenced 
 our advance at 6 a.m. Alongside a wood we saw a 
 German battery out of action, and about 300 men 
 killed. I took a bayonet and bolt from the dead as 
 a souvenir. We passed much of the enemy's trans- 
 port, which had been blown up by our artillery, and 
 all their commissariat seems to be composed of is 
 food they have looted from the French. They are 
 retiring in a hurry towards their own frontier. March- 
 ing through a village we saw a church full of wounded 
 and about 500 German prisoners, who were standing 
 outside. My section was sent to the flank to recon- 
 noitre a wood ; we captured two Germans, and handed 
 them over before we marched ; we continued the march 
 until 8 p.m., and billeted in an orchard. 
 
 ''Friday, September 11, 1914. — We marched twelve 
 miles, starting at 5 a.m., arriving at noon, billeting 
 for the night. 
 
 "Saturday. — We left our billets at 9.20 a.m., and 
 continued our march towards the enemy ; a very wet 
 day; march until 8 p.m.; we went on outpost duty, 
 and had a wet night, all getting drenched to the skin. 
 
 "Sunday, September 13, 1914. — We left at 7.30 
 a.m. for a large town named Braine, which the enemy 
 had only a few hours before vacated, after ransacking 
 the town, throwing the merchandise out into the 
 
The Retreat from Mons 107 
 
 street, setting fire to the houses. We formed up on 
 the other side of the town ready for attack at 10.30 
 p.m., and moved at 4 p.m.; we then moved to the 
 right of the town and stayed for the night. 
 
 ''Monday, September 14, 1914. — We moved at i 
 a.m. towards the river, where the enemy had taken up 
 position and waited for us to cross. They had pre- 
 viously blown up the bridges, and every time our men 
 attempted to cross, they were met by a heavy fire from 
 the enemy's big guns. A good many lives were lost 
 in crossing, and as soon as we arrived on the other 
 side we had to take cover under a high wall, with 
 earth on the opposite side; the enemy's shells were 
 bursting all around us ; some lives were lost ; my com- 
 pany escaped with two killed and three wounded. 
 
 ''Tuesday, September 15, to September 20, 1914. — 
 We moved at 2 p.m. to take up a position; we con- 
 structed trenches from shell and rifle fire; we did not 
 receive any ration for two days and three nights. 
 
 "Wednesday, September 16, 1914. — We are still 
 in the trenches, and the enemy have constructed de- 
 fences — apparently seven lines of trenches. We are 
 all hanging on to our positions, and I believe that a 
 flanking movement is going on on the part of the 
 French. They [the enemy] have tried two or three 
 times to break through our line, and some have been 
 cut off. These attacks commence about 6 p.m., and 
 finish about 12 midnight. The Germans are maJving 
 no headway. We are remaining here for a while. 
 
 "Monday, September 21, 1914. — We held our 
 positions in the trenches until 10 a.m., when we were 
 
io8 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 relieved. The Leinsters relieved us. The regiment 
 has been in the firing line just one month. After 
 leaving the trenches we retired to a village near the 
 river. 
 
 ''Tuesday, September 22, 1914. — We arrived in 
 our camping ground at 7.30 a.m., and cooked our 
 breakfast and dinner there, moving off again at 3.30 
 through a village, and took up outpost duty during 
 the night. Three companies were on outpost, four 
 billeted, and one company was changed daily. You 
 will note that this outpost was behind the firing line, 
 being so placed to protect supplies sent along the 
 line. We retired into the wood in the daytime for 
 cover. 
 
 ''Thursday, September 24, 1914. — We are still in 
 the same position, and remain here until further 
 orders. Our firing line is now on the other side of the 
 river from Braine; this is the position which the 
 French held for seventeen days in 1870. It has been 
 in our possession since September 13-14. We left 
 at 5 p.m. and marched to Braine, where we billeted 
 for the night at 10 p.m. and stayed for a few days 
 to recuperate, and then joined the General Reserve. 
 
 "Tuesday, September 29, 1914. — Had breakfast, 
 and had a general clear-up after breakfast ; we then 
 heard some of the latest news — of the Germans losing 
 
 heavily. We also heard that Pte. , of the 
 
 Regiment, was shot for cowardice on the 
 
 26th inst. Running away from the firing line. I have 
 to go into Braine with twelve men for guard at the 
 Divisional Headquarters. We parade at 4.45 p.m. 
 
The Retreat from Mons 109 
 
 ''Thursday, October i. — We moved from our 
 billets at 3 a.m. and marched into the village on our 
 left, to protect supplies." 
 
 In fifteen days the B.E.F. fell back no less than 130 
 miles, fighting a rearguard action all the time. The 
 casualties, more especially at Le Cateau, were heavy, 
 and a large amount of much-needed war material, 
 guns, and machine-guns were lost. In spite of this 
 exceedingly demoralising experience, we find the 
 Army, in about twenty-four hours, and at a time when 
 the German General Staff considered them beaten to 
 a standstill, turning round and putting in a powerful 
 offensive which, in a few days, advanced the front 
 over sixty miles, and sending the enemy in headlong 
 retreat from the Marne to the Aisne, in addition to 
 capturing many prisoners, guns, and stores. 
 
 It is a very difficult proposition to try and point 
 out all the places of interest on the line of retreat, 
 and a complete survey of the ground is out of the 
 question — even if I thought that my readers desired 
 it ; so that I have contented myself with following as 
 nearly as possible what might be called the centre 
 of the line of the retreat from Mons downwards. This 
 line, as will be seen from the map, is roughly as fol- 
 lows : Mons, Bavai, Bois-le-Eveque, La Fere, 
 Noyon, Foret de Gobain, Braine, Villers-Cotterets, 
 the Marne. The traveller who is really interested, 
 and cares to go to the trouble, can find plenty of 
 people in the villages for some miles around the places 
 I have named who will be able to describe their own 
 
no How to See the Battlefields 
 
 localities in detail, and point out places of interest, 
 and the burial places of those who fell in 1914. The 
 most difficult district to conduct investigations with 
 regard to 1914 lighting will be, undoubtedly, that 
 section of the line which extends from Ribecourt and 
 north of the Aisne to Berry-au-Bac, which was de- 
 bateable land for such a long time in the hands of the 
 French. From La Fere up to Mons is a much simpler 
 matter, as the war affected this part very little after 
 the first German rush in 1914, for it remained in the 
 hands of the Boche and was well behind the lines until 
 the beginning of the big retreat in 1918. 
 
SECTION VII 
 From the Chemin-des-Dames to the Marne, 1918. 
 
 THE CHEMIN-DES-DAMES 
 
 Possibly the most dramatic phase of the whole war 
 was the one which was ushered in with the morning 
 of May 26, 19 1 8, by the Crown Prince's overwhelm- 
 ing attack on the Allied front between Soissons and 
 Rheims, when the famous and bloody Chemin-des- 
 Dames was again taken by the Germans, and the 
 second retreat to the Marne began — a retreat which 
 only finished after Chateau-Thierry was captured 
 and the apex of the enemy salient was well across 
 the Marne. 
 
 The Chemin-des-Dames, as the road between Alle- 
 mant — north-east of Soissons and now simply a heap 
 of grass-grown ruins, and Berry-au-Bac — is called, 
 runs through what is nothing more or less than a 
 huge graveyard. Fighting almost as fierce as that 
 which took place at Verdun celebrated the end of July 
 and the first weeks of August, 1917. On this plateau 
 the German dead and wounded have laid in their 
 thousands, and the French losses, though not as 
 heavy as those of the enemy, were heavy enough in 
 all conscience. Since the time our **01d Con- 
 temptibles" fought over this ground in September, 
 1914, British troops had not again been in the lines 
 
112 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 so far south until four divisions were moved down 
 there on the right flank of the French in May, 1918. 
 
 In September, 1914, the ist Corps confronted the 
 Germans, very strongly entrenched, along the 
 Chemin-des-Dames ridge. In those days the woods 
 were much denser than they are now — after four years 
 of shell-storms — and the fighting, apart from its 
 severity, was very patchy, many units being unable 
 to keep in touch with one another through the wooded 
 country, which resulted in several narrow escapes for 
 certain of the brigades and diyisions engaged. The 
 3rd Division, for instance, was extricated from a very 
 dangerous corner by the cavalry, and instead of being 
 surrounded and cut off managed to beat off the Ger- 
 man attacks, and finally consolidate a position which 
 ran from near La Bovelle Farm and Cerny, on the 
 high ground, down through Troyon, Chivy to Soupir 
 at the bottom of the slope, and then on to the Cha- 
 vonne — Soissons road. To this position they stuck 
 tenaciously for nearly three weeks. During the action 
 of September 14, 19 14, the ist Corps not only inflicted 
 heavy losses on the enemy, but captured over a dozen 
 guns and some hundreds of prisoners. 
 
 To visit the Chemin-des-Dames battlefields, 
 Soissons should be used as a starting place. Taking 
 the road which leads out of the town by the Faubourg 
 St. Medard the route is through Crouy; from there 
 past what once used to be a sugar factory — at the 
 cross-roads about three miles out of Crouy — and then 
 on till the Chavignon turning is reached. Here the 
 northerly route is taken, and about a mile farther on 
 
THB MAPF* CO,, LXi>^ LTlNUOti 
 
114 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 the remains of AUemant will be seen on the right- 
 hand side of the road. Continuing on to Pinon, a 
 cut can be taken across to Vauxaillon — if there is time 
 — or by turning east, get to Chavignon, and from 
 there the south-west road leads direct on to the 
 Chemin-des-Dames with a sharp turn eastwards. 
 Malmaison Fort lies a few hundred yards off to the 
 left-hand side of the Chemin-des-Dames, and is worth 
 visiting, as some of the fiercest fighting in the war 
 took place around this fort. 
 
 The Fort de Malmaison dominated a certain 
 amount of the plateau, and was considered by both 
 the French and the Germans to be a point of very 
 great strategical importance. In July, 191 7, the 
 Crown Prince delivered one of his memorable assaults 
 on a front which extended from the fort to the woods of 
 Chevreux — a distance of approximately twenty-three 
 kilometres. Some 60,000 troops were launched forth 
 against the French position after a short bombard- 
 ment. The French Intelligence Department had been 
 busy for several days, however, and knew almost as 
 much about the forthcoming attack as the enemy did, 
 so that when the Huns started across No Man's Land 
 they ran into a veritable tornado of French shells, a 
 barrage so beautifully regulated that, with the excep- 
 tion of one or two sections, the enemy were practi- 
 cally wiped out before they got half way across ; those 
 who did arrive at the French front line were received 
 with bomb and bayonet, and the result of the attack 
 was an enormous loss of men by the enemy and an 
 advance near Cerny by the French. 
 
Chemin-des-Dames to Marne 115 
 
 Between Malmaison Fort and the mill at les 
 Bovelles there is a little hillock which was called "The 
 Pantheon." It was in this position that the French 
 troops — mostly Chasseurs — put up a fight which will 
 go down in history as one of the most heroic of the 
 whole war. Time after time did these gallant men 
 repulse the German hordes — which heavily out- 
 numbered them — and after about twenty hours' fight- 
 ing remained masters of the position. Many of the 
 brave defenders were killed, but the ground around 
 "The Pantheon" was literally covered with ^ead and 
 dying Germans; "in one place bodies were lying on 
 top of one another so that they constituted in them- 
 selves an additional parapet," so one of the defenders 
 writes in a letter to his mother describing the fight. 
 Heroes all, these French Chasseurs, magnificent both 
 in attack and defence. The Ladies' Way might well 
 have been renamed that day the Way of Blood. 
 
 Many and many a fight has taken place along the 
 slopes of this ill-omened ridge, and from Allemant to 
 Craonne our Allies have fought it inch by inch until, 
 as at Verdun, the Hun, after losing many thousands 
 of men, finally gave it up in despair, and left the 
 French to hold the dominating position for many 
 months. It is estimated by a competent French 
 authority that in the battles which took place for the 
 Chemin-des-Dames ridge in June and July, 1917, that 
 the German armies under the Crown Prince lost in 
 casualties over one hundred thousand men, and at 
 the end of that time had gained nothing of the least 
 importance to show for it. 
 
ii6 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 After the retreat from Mons in 1914 it was not 
 until May, 19 18, that British troops were called upon 
 to take up their positions in the line on the Chemin- 
 des-Dames, and then the gth Corps, which made such 
 a brilliant reputation in Flanders, took over the line 
 on the right of the French between Courtecon and 
 Berry-au-Bac. The divisions engaged were the 21st, 
 8th and 50th, and the 25th was in support. 
 
 There has been a lot of criticism in connection 
 with our withdrawal from the Chemin-des-Dames 
 positions, and no doubt many things happened which 
 should not have happened. But any war — great or 
 small — can provide similar instances. It is but fair, 
 however, that the public should thoroughly realise the 
 actu-^l facts. First of all, the divisions which I have 
 named had suffered very severely indeed in various 
 parts of the line since the beginning of the break- 
 through on March 21, 19 18. They had suffered to such 
 an extent that they had been picked out specially for a 
 rest in a quiet part of the line. The quiet part of the 
 line chosen was the Chemin-des-Dames, or a portion 
 thereof, and very glad the divisions were to get down 
 south for a time, miles away from the northern in- 
 ferno. It should also be realised that a division which 
 has been engaged in heavy fighting for some weeks 
 sustains proportionately heavy losses, and to replace 
 these losses in 1918 was an exceedingly difficult 
 matter. The reinforcements, when they did arrive, 
 were of the latest classes, trained — and very well 
 trained too, to a certain extent — at home. Practically 
 all the drafts were composed of youngsters who had 
 
Chemin-des-Dames to Marne 117 
 
 never heard a shot fired in anger and had no more 
 idea of modern warfare than that which they had 
 absorbed from their instructors. To put such troops 
 in the line and expect them to withstand the attack 
 of a huge force, which many times outnumbered them, 
 was asking for trouble. It is now a well-known fact 
 that the Germans had massed a very large number of 
 men in underground retreats quite close up to their 
 own front line, and on May 26 this fact, as well as the 
 knowledge that the enemy intended to attack almost 
 immediately, became patent to our own authorities, 
 and the well-earned rest of many survivors of the 
 earlier fighting was rudely broken. The weather was 
 glorious, and the men thought that they were on a 
 real good thing. Reports brought in stated that the 
 German front line was very lightly held. A very 
 occasional gun could be heard, and it was quite safe 
 to show oneself on the parapet — snipers were ap- 
 parently non-existent. The next thing that happened 
 was the arrival of a regular hail of extraordinarily 
 well-placed shells in our battery positions — some of 
 the howitzers had been in position but a few hours — 
 and then — the deluge ! 
 
 Our men fought like heroes, but without avail. 
 In a very short time the enemy had reached the heavy 
 batteries — a long way behind our original front line — 
 and some of our guns went west. At least one battery 
 commander died, revolver in hand, defending the 
 guns which he was unable to get away. So sudden 
 and overwhelming was the onrush of the enemy that 
 the 9th Corps Heavy Artillery H.Q. had barely time 
 
ii8 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 to get clear. The withdrawal to the River Vesle be- 
 came general. During the rearguard fighting the 
 Lancashires, Berkshires, Durham Light Infantry, and 
 Northumberland Fusiliers added to their laurels by 
 putting up a very stubborn resistance, and were the 
 means of saving several heavy guns by holding up 
 the enemy long enough for the gunners and Army 
 Service Corps to get them on the move — hauled by 
 the huge caterpillar tractors, whose maximum speed 
 is about two and a-half miles per hour. For these 
 caterpillar drivers I have the greatest admiration ; they 
 would drive through anything, and on more than one 
 occasion they have been attacked by the enemy and 
 have beaten him off. In one case literally so, for the 
 implement used was a large spanner, with which a 
 hefty North-countryman brained several over-eager 
 Huns who attempted to rush the tractor. 
 
 In their eagerness to hurry fresh troops up into 
 the line the Huns made free use of motor lorries and 
 in full view of our infantry, though out of effective 
 rifle or machine-gun range. These lorries could be 
 seen disgorging troops on to the roads at various 
 points, whence, when formed up, they advanced into 
 support ready to take their positions in the next for- 
 ward wave. It was a most tantalising sight, and we 
 all hoped that even one i8-pounder might come into 
 action. Nothing in that way happened, however, as 
 all the guns were either captured or out of action from 
 one cause or another. 
 
 I think the best routes to follow, if the tourist 
 intends to carry on southwards to the Marne, will be 
 
THB MAPPA CO , tTD,, LONDO^ 
 
120 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 from Berry-au-Bac to Cormicy, then westerly to Con- 
 cevreux; from there along the road which hugs the 
 southern bank of the canal to Maizy ; and continue on 
 from there till the road is crossed by the (Euilly — 
 Fismes road. Here a turn is made due south, down 
 through Merval ; then over the high ground down to 
 Fismes, which was a thriving and attractive litde 
 town when we arrived there in May, 1918, and went 
 into nice, comfortable billets, to await the arrival of 
 our artillery, which was following by train. Fismes 
 then possessed one hotel, near the railway station, 
 and if this has not been smashed up — it was intact 
 the last time I saw it, but very possibly suffered in 
 the fighting which took place in the vicinity of the 
 station — accommodation of a kind can be obtained. 
 There is also a caf6 in the main street, not thirty 
 yards away from the Hotel de Ville, where excellently 
 cooked food could be obtained, the proprietor having 
 been rather a well-known chef in Paris and Versailles, 
 and who was very keen to produce specimens of the 
 culinary art to those who could appreciate them. As 
 might be expected, he possessed an excellent cellar, 
 which, I am afraid, must have been pretty well looted 
 when the Huns arrived in 1918 and made the place 
 their headquarters for a short time. 
 
 Through the main street of Fismes runs the main 
 Soissons — Rheims road, which, with the exception of 
 occasional patches of very vile pav6, was in excellent 
 condition when I last went through the town on the 
 way to Jonchery. Rheims is less than twenty miles 
 from Fismes, and really ought not to be missed. 
 
Chemin-des-Dames to Marne 121 
 
 Much as I wanted to see the place, I never got there ; 
 things developed too rapidly to allow any stolen joy 
 rides. Still, though many episodes in the long tale 
 of the war will quickly be forgotten, the destruction of 
 Rheims is a thing apart; it is a crime which has 
 struck horror into the hearts of all civilised nations. 
 The inexcusably wanton bombardment of the cathe- 
 dral — following on the pillage of Louvain — is one of 
 those things which cannot be explained away. Heaven 
 help any German trader who dares to show his face 
 in the town for many years to come ! 
 
 From Fismes southwards there are two alternative 
 routes after reaching the pretty little village of St. 
 Gilles. One is the direct road through Crugny, 
 Serzy and Savigny and then through Coemy to 
 Lhery, which takes one on to the main road through 
 Romigny and Olizy-et-Violaine to Chatillon-sur- 
 Marne. The other is to take the due south road out of 
 Crugny, then through Brouillet into Lagery — a place 
 which I shall not forget in a hurry, for several 
 reasons. In Lagery there lived a most charming 
 French Town Major, M. le Capitan Foret, and I can 
 never thank this officer enough for his unfailing 
 courtesy and the tremendous amount of trouble he 
 went to in order that my men should have comfortable 
 billets. We were actually served out with bedsteads, 
 clean mattress covers, and pillow cases, and in the 
 billet — which was beautifully clean — separate little 
 cubicles and bunks for the N.C.O.'s. Everything 
 that we could possibly have wished for — not even ex- 
 cepting salad and fresh butter — was supplied by this 
 
122 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 most incomparable of Town Majors. Would that 
 some of our own Town Majors could have taken a 
 lesson from his book ! 
 
 Captain Foret is a cavalryman, who has seen a lot 
 of service and been severely wounded in the earlier 
 days of the war. Immaculate in dress and in manner, 
 a soldierly figure with several decorations, he is the 
 beau ideal of a gallant French soldier, and my only 
 regret is that I was much too busy to get in touch 
 with him when we had to evacuate the place, and so 
 had to leave the district without thanking him for all 
 he did for my unit during its short stay there. 
 
 One of the things which I particularly noticed 
 while at Lagery was the rapidity with which the in- 
 fantry advance was followed up by observation bal- 
 loons. To the north of the village, some two or three 
 miles away, there is a ridge, and in the short space of 
 one hour I counted no fewer than fourteen of these 
 balloons rise slowly into the air. At first I thought 
 they were our own, but inquiries made from some 
 very weary French infantry who were falling back 
 soon dissipated this idea, as did the shelling which 
 took place a little later in the day. 
 
 With the exception of one — that from Lhery to 
 Romigny — all the roads in the district between Lhery 
 and Romigny are mere country lanes, abounding in 
 bad turns and with one or two short but steep hills. 
 Owing to this, the congestion which took place on 
 these tracks during the retreat was indescribable, and 
 to add to the confusion a covey of about twenty to 
 twenty-five Boche planes harried the retreating troops 
 
Chemin-des-Dames to Marne 123 
 
 with machine-gun fire from a very low ahitude. Many 
 men and horses were killed and wounded, and it took 
 us over two hours to get our transport from Lagery 
 to Lhery, a distance of under one mile ! The scene 
 may be imagined, with all the transport, guns, infan- 
 try, ambulances, etc., etc., converging on Lhery from 
 all possible directions — all trying to make the high 
 road leading south. 
 
 From Romigny it is a very pretty drive down to 
 Chatillon, and then to Pont-^-Binson, at which place 
 the Marne is crossed. Evidences of the fighting here 
 are all too apparent. From Pont-k-Binson the road 
 south of the Marne should be taken, as far as the 
 bridge which crosses the river into Verneuil ; from 
 there on to Vincelles and Dormans — where the river is 
 again crossed — continuing along the south bank 
 through Soilly to Courtemont. Here it is advisable 
 to cross to Jaulgonne ; and from there it is but a short 
 distance to Charteves — a very pretty little spot. From 
 Charteves it is but a comparatively short run to 
 Chateau-Thierry. 
 
 The story of the Americans at Chateau-Thierry 
 is history, and those who view the desolation and 
 destruction wrought in this once beautiful old town 
 can reconstruct for themselves the scene of the cross- 
 ing of the Marne and the recapture of the town by 
 these brave Allies of ours. 
 
 From Chateau-Thierry to Epernay is one of the 
 prettiest motor runs that could be possibly imagined, 
 and although this latter town has been somewhat 
 damaged by bombs, the damage is not obtrusively 
 
124 How to See the Battlefields 
 
 noticeable. The champagne cellars in Epernay are 
 worth seeing, especially those of Moet et Chandon, 
 and there is also an excellent hotel — the Hotel de 
 r Europe — which is an ideal place to put up at, for the 
 cooking is perfect. 
 
 In bringing this little book to an end I should like 
 to point out that in many cases where there has been 
 a choice of routes I have not always advised the 
 reader to take the best — that is, of course, looking at 
 the matter from a motorist's point of view. My 
 choice has always been guided by a desire to point 
 out places which were of interest entirely from a war 
 standpoint. 
 
 In many cases it will be impossible to take a 
 car within half a mile or so of the point named, 
 and even then one would have to traverse some 
 very bad tracks to get as near as this. The ques- 
 tion simply boils itself down to this — if you 
 want to see the really interesting parts of the lines you 
 must do quite a lot of "foot-slogging" over rough 
 ground; in other words, go to a certain amount of 
 trouble. In any case, "foot-slogging" may be tiring 
 and bad for the boots, but it is excellent for the liver 
 and a much finer aperitif than one can get out of a 
 bottle. After a day or two trench hopping and 
 dodging shell-holes an appetite will be created that 
 would appreciate even bully beef and biscuits. Ask 
 Thomas Atkins ! 
 
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