LAST DAYS IN FRANCE AND THE JOURNEY TO ITALY
On 15th October the Battalion left the Flemish swamps for good, and,
returning south by rail, eventually settled for the remainder of the
month in the huts at Villars-au-Bois, north-west of Arras. Here they
rested in pleasant country behind the 2nd Canadian Division, one of
whose regiments, the 27th, they replaced in reserve. The former were a
splendid body of men, and very friendly. Their Quartermaster excited
general admiration, being a man of over 60 years of age, two of whose
sons were serving in the same Battalion as Second-in-Command and
Adjutant. As usual, after active operations adequate drafts arrived of
both officers and men; the former came mainly from the 3rd Wilts, the
latter from the M.T., who, though practically ignorant of infantry
work, soon developed in a very satisfactory way. From 2nd-10th
November we occupied the sector in front of Vimy Ridge, the scene of
the great Canadian victories in April, looking across to the
devastated mining town of Lens. The Canadians had done all that was
possible to improve the trenches, which the counter-bombardment of
either side had levelled, and they were generally good except on the
left, where all the soil had been shot away. The dugouts, as generally
in ground captured from the Huns, were excellent; there was little
fighting activity, and no more than three casualties were suffered. On
the 8th the Battalion received the thanks of the 31st Division for
their assistance in a daylight raid carried out by the latter on our
right. Smoke-clouds were emitted from our trenches, while the skilful
manipulation of life-sized dummies successfully produced the illusion
of lines of men issuing from their trenches, who drew on their wooden
bodies the desired effect of heavy enemy fire. On November 14th Savy
and Villars Brulin received the Battalion. These little villages, some
12 miles from the firing line near the source of the Scarpe, were,
though we knew it not, to be the last billets of the Battalion in
France. Every autumn the enemy had replied to our offensive in France
with a furious blow elsewhere. As in 1915 he had crushed Serbia, in
1916 occupied two-thirds of Roumania, so this year he fell upon the
Italians at Caporetto on the 25th October. This enormous disaster,
which cost the Italians 250,000 prisoners and a third of their
artillery, brought the Austro-Germans by the beginning of November to
the banks of the Piave, and it was decided that British and French
forces should be dispatched to Italy to defend Venice and to give the
Italian Army a breathing space for reorganisation. Therefore, when we
were resting on the 21st, and speculating on the possibility of taking
part in the Cambrai Battle so dramatically begun the day before,
orders arrived for entrainment next afternoon with nine days' rations.
The journey was made in two trains, under the command of Colonel
Clarke and Major Aldworth respectively, which made for Italy by
different routes, after leaving Troyes. Colonel Clarke's train reached
Dijon on the second evening; Lyons early the next morning; throughout
that day the exquisite and fruitful Rhone Valley passed before the
delighted eyes of the men. The journey was slow, and when Avignon was
reached at 2 a.m. on the 25th, the train was already twelve hours
late. Still further time was then lost owing to an accident at
Toulon, which station was only entered at dusk after a triumphant
progress through crowds of excited southerners, who gathered along the
line cheering and waving. Most of the famous places of the French
Riviera were passed in darkness, but at 8.10 on the 26th the frontier
was passed at Ventimille. The journey continued along the lovely
Italian coast until Savona was reached at nightfall. The Italians
showed little disposition to welcome their deliverers, and the
unpopularity of the war in these districts was patent. Next dawn found
the train at Pavia, whence it proceeded along the Po to Cremona, where
a 16-hour halt enabled the men to stretch their legs. With band
playing they marched through the streets, and succeeded in arousing
the enthusiasm of the inhabitants. The local commandante, Cav.
Vittorio, a very courteous gentleman, took the salute as the two
Companies re-entered the station. The extreme congestion of the
Italian railways now upset all timetables completely. Mantua was not
reached until 1 a.m. on the 29th, but finally the two Companies
detrained at Saletto; and in the afternoon billeting orders arrived,
and the evening found them lodged in a private house, a theatre and a
monastery at Noventa. The billets were shared with a detachment of the
Italian Veterinary Corps, the miserable condition of whose horses and
mules bore witness to the rigours of the recent retreat. An 8-mile
march next day over roads slippery with frost ended in a most elegant
billet, a gorgeous château, which belonged to a Colonel Cabely, killed
near Gorizia. Part of its magnificence, however, consisted in marble
floors, a cold bed for men wrapped up in only one blanket.
Major Aldworth's train travelled more rapidly; by midnight on the 24th
it had crossed the Mont Cenis and was running through Italian
territory. Early next morning everyone was peering out of the
windows at the great snow mountains through which the train descended
to the Piedmontese Plain. The bells of the village churches were
ringing everywhere on this Sunday morning as the train moved towards
Turin, which was reached at noon on the 25th November. This city
provided a rousing welcome; ladies handed out chocolate, cigarettes
and little silk flags from the platform; the train steamed out into
the open country between vociferating crowds. The journey henceforth
was slow and circuitous, the direction being first north-east to
Milan, which was passed during the night of 26th-27th November; then
south to Pavia, and from there along the Po through Mantua to Nogaro,
where the men were comfortably installed in billets by 9 p.m. on 27th
November. Both journeys were as comfortable as could be expected in
the exceptional circumstances. The men were able to get a hot drink at
least twice a day, which was often supplemented by the energy of Red
Cross ladies on the platforms, particularly in France.