THE BATTLE OF AMIENS.
_August 8th to 16th, 1918._
It was strange and exhilarating to go off on an expedition of that
kind in the cool air and fading light of the evening. Something told
us that at last the hour of victory was drawing near. The moving of
the Corps had been so splendidly conducted and the preparation had
been so secret that success seemed assured. This was an achievement
which was completely different from all our past experience. The only
question was, had we taken the Germans by surprise, or were they
waiting with massed forces to resist our attack? As I left the outskirts
of the wood behind me, and made my way over the green plain, now
fading into the twilight, I passed a battalion of the 3rd Division
manning a line of trenches. I had a talk with some of the men and told
them that I had heard from a tank officer that nearly one thousand
tanks were to be engaged in the attack on the following morning. Far
over to the left, on a rise in the ground I saw the remains of a
village, and was told that a mud road across the fields would lead me
in the direction of the 1st Division front. I met as usual many men
whom I knew, and finally some officers of the 15th Battalion in a
dugout. The light began to fade and I had difficulty in seeing far
ahead of me, but the track at last brought me to a sunken road which
turned to the right. Here on the hillside more men were waiting in
dugouts, and I was directed to a quarry, on the top of which I was to
take a path that would lead me to a group of trees, where I should
find the Headquarters of the 16th Battalion. When I got to the quarry
I found many roads there, and whether it was that the information I
had received was incorrect, or that I was more than usually stupid, I
do not know. I wandered up and down for a long time, tripping over
bits of wire and slipping into holes, before I was able to get to the
top of the hill and look over in the direction of the German lines. At
last I found a track which had evidently been used by men going up to
the front. I went along it for a considerable distance and found
myself on what appeared to be a plateau, but as far as I could see, no
object stood out against the starry sky-line. Shells were falling in
the fields to the left, and at different points on the eastern (p. 275)
horizon the bright light of a German flare would tell us the position
of the enemy's lines. I went on for some distance, straining my eyes
in the darkness to see if I could discover any trees. I thought I had
lost my way again. Suddenly the dim figure of a man approached, and
when he came up to me, I found he belonged to one of the Imperial
Battalions from whom we were taking over the line. He asked me the way
to the quarry, and I was able to tell him. Then he gave me the
direction I had to take to reach my destination. I resumed my walk
along the narrow path and at last, to my great delight, I saw a black
object in the distance. When I came up to it I found it was the group
of trees for which I had been looking. The trees were growing out of a
curious round hole in the ground. Here, a signaller of the 16th
Battalion happened to turn up and acted as my guide. He led me down a
path to the bottom of the hole where were several dugouts. In one of
these I found more men of the Battalion. They were intensely keen over
the prospect of a great victory on the morrow. I was told that the
battalion and the companies which were going over in the first wave
were in advanced trenches to the left. So, after bidding the men
good-bye and good luck, I started off. At last I reached the trench,
and getting down into it found the Headquarters of the Battalion had
arrived there not long before. On asking where the Colonel was, I was
taken to a place where a piece of canvas hung down the side of the
trench. When this was lifted, I looked down into a little hole in the
ground and there saw the C.O., the Adjutant and another officer
studying a map by the light of a candle. The place was so tiny that I
had to crawl in backwards, and finding that there was no room for a
visitor, I soon took my departure. The Colonel ordered me to stay in
the trench, but I had made up my mind to go forward and see the
companies which were going over in the first wave. They lay along the
side of a road some distance down the slope in front of us. In making
my way there I passed a trench where the 5th Battalion was waiting to
follow up the advance. A German machine-gun was playing freely upon
the spot, but no one got hit. When I came to the advanced companies of
the 16th Battalion, I passed along their line and gave them my
blessing. It was splendid to meet and shake hands with those gallant
lads, so soon to make the attack. They were in high spirits in spite
of the seriousness of their enterprise.
The barrage was to start at 4.20, so I left them about 4.10 to go (p. 276)
back to Battalion Headquarters in the trench, as I intended to follow
up the advance with the stretcher-bearers. On my way back I met the
Colonel, his orderly, and his piper, who a few minutes later was
killed in the attack. I shook hands with them, and the Colonel said,
"Now, Canon, if anything happens to me don't make any fuss over me;
just say a few words over me in a shell-hole." I said, "You will come
out all right, Colonel, there will be no shell-hole for you." Then, as
my senior officer, he ordered me back to the trench. I told him I
would go over the top with him if he wanted me to do so, but he would
not hear of it. When I got to the trenches only a few minutes remained
till the barrage was to start. I climbed up on the parapet and waited,
looking off into the darkness. It was a wonderful moment. When the
German flare-lights went up we could see that there was a wood on the
other side of the valley in front of us, and its outline began to grow
more distinct against the grey of the morning sky. I could see to
right and left a great stretch of country sloping gradually into the
darkness. Shells still fell behind our lines at intervals. Our own
guns were perfectly silent. What did the enemy's quietness portend?
Were the Germans aware of our contemplated assault? Were they lying in
full strength like a crouching lion ready to burst upon us in fury at
the first warning of our approach? Had all our precautions been in
vain? Or were we on the eve of a victory which was going to shatter
the iron dominion of the feudal monster? This was one of those
magnificent moments in the war which filled the soul with a strange
and wild delight. For months we had been preparing for this event, and
now it was upon us. The sky was growing lighter, and the constellation
of the Pleiades was beginning to fade in the sky above the outline of
the distant trees. I looked at my watch. Nearer and nearer the hands
crept to zero hour, but they move slowly at such times. Then at 4.20
the long barrage burst in all its fury. The hissing rain of shells
through the air on a twenty mile front made a continuous accompaniment
to the savage roar of the thousands of guns along the line. Those guns
sent their wild music round the globe, and sounded that note of
victory which only ceased when the bells of the churches in all the
civilized world rang out their joyful peals at the signing of the
Armistice.
Up went the German rockets and coloured lights calling for help, (p. 277)
and ever and anon a red glow in the sky told us that we had blown up
an ammunition dump. The noise was earth-shaking, and was even more
exhilarating than that of the barrage at Vimy. I was so carried away
by my feelings that I could not help shouting out, "Glory be to God
for this barrage!" The German reply came, but, to our delight, it was
feeble, and we knew we had taken them by surprise and the day was
ours.
A strange sound behind us made us look around, and we saw the advancing
tanks creeping down the slope like huge grey beetles. Our men were
just in time to divert the course of one which threatened to cut our
telephone wires. Then the 5th Battalion got out of their trenches, and
the stretcher-bearers and I went off with them down the slope. The
wood through which the German lines ran was called Hangard Wood and
lay on the opposite side of the valley. Here and there lying in the
ripe grain which covered the fields were bodies of the wounded and
dead of the 13th and 16th Battalions. The stretcher-bearers set to
work to carry off those who had been hit. A sergeant followed me and
we skirted the wood looking for wounded, while he was able to become
possessor of a machine-gun and several German revolvers. The wheat had
been trampled down by the men in their charge, but was still high
enough in places to conceal a prostrate form. By this time the attack
had passed through the wood and the enemy were running before it. The
German artillery now concentrated their fire on the valley, which
soon, in the still morning air, became thick with smoke. It was
impossible to see more than a few yards in front of one. We heard the
crash of shells around us, but could not see where they burst. The sun
had not risen and we soon lost our way in the mist. We could not tell
from the direction of the sound which was the German barrage and which
was ours.
I was going on ahead when I came to a large shell-hole that had been
made in some previous battle. At the bottom of it lay three apparently
dead Huns. I was looking down at them wondering how they had been
killed, as they were not messed about. I thought that they must have
died of shell-shock, until one of them moved his hand. At once I
shouted, "Kamarad", and to my intense amusement the three men lying on
their backs put up their hands and said, "Kamarad! mercy! mercy!" It
was most humorous to think that three human beings should appeal to me
to spare their lives. I told them in my best French to get up and
follow me, and I called out to the sergeant, "Sergeant, I have got (p. 278)
three prisoners." My desire to take a prisoner had been a standing
joke among our men. Whenever they were going into action I used to
offer them $25.00 to bring out a little German whom I might capture
all by myself. I used to tell them not to bring out a big one, as it
might look boastful for a chaplain. Here were three ready to hand for
which I had to pay nothing. We moved on through the smoke, a most
comical procession. The sergeant went ahead and I brought up the rear.
Between us went the three terror-stricken prisoners, crouching every
now and then when shells fell near us. At last we stumbled on a
company of the 2nd Battalion coming forward, and I called out to them,
"Boys, I got seventy-five dollars worth of Huns in one shell-hole."
Our gallant Canadians at once took the three unfortunate men, who
looked as if they expected to have their throats cut, and having
relieved them of the contents of their pockets and removed their
buttons and shoulder-straps, gave me one of the latter as a souvenir.
When the prisoners were disposed of and sent back with others under
escort, I started forward again and seeing a tank coming down the hill
got on it and so went back into the battle. We passed quite easily
over some wide trenches, then when the machine came to a stop I got
off and made my way to the end of the valley and climbed to the higher
ground beyond. There I found myself in a wide expanse of country
covered by yellow grain and rolling off in hills to the distance. Here
and there I met wounded men walking back, and many German prisoners.
In the fields in different directions I could see rifles stuck,
bayonet downwards, in the ground, which showed that there lay wounded
men. I found that these were chiefly Germans, and all of them had
received hideous wounds and were clamouring for water. Poor men, I was
sorry for them, for I knew it would be long before they could be
carried out or receive medical attention, owing to the rapidity of our
advance. I made my way to each in turn and gave him a drink from some
of the water bottles which I carried round my belt. I think all the
Germans I saw that morning were dying, having been wounded in the
stomach. After attending, as far as it was possible, to their bodily
needs, I endeavoured to minister to their spiritual. As they happened
to be Roman Catholics, I took off the crucifix which I wore round my
neck and gave it to them. They would put up their trembling hands and
clasp it lovingly, and kiss it, while I began the Lord's Prayer (p. 279)
in German. This happened many times that day. One man who had a
hideous wound in the abdomen was most grateful, and when he handed me
back the crucifix he took my hand and kissed it. It was strange to
think that an hour before, had we met, we should have been deadly
enemies. At a crossroad further on the Germans must have concentrated
their fire when our men advanced, for many dead and wounded were lying
about.
The sun was now high in the heavens and it became very hot, but the
autumn fields looked beautiful, and, as there were no hedges or
fences, the low rolling hills gave one the sense of great expanse, and
were an ideal ground for a battle on a large scale. While I was
looking after the wounded I heard the cheering of the 16th Battalion
who had reached their objective and were settling down to rest and to
have some food. I made my way to them and found the Colonel in high
glee over what his men had done. It had been a splendid routing of the
enemy. The Battalions of the 1st and 2nd Brigades followed up the
attack and were now moving forward, so I followed after them. It was a
delightful feeling to be walking through the golden harvest fields
with the blue sky overhead, and to know that we were advancing into
the enemy's land. It seemed as if by our own labours we had suddenly
become possessed of a vast property and that everything we found was
lawfully ours. It is no doubt that feeling which fills men with the
desire to loot in a conquered country.
I had a magnificent view from the hill of the British Cavalry going into
action. Thousands of little horses in the distance on the vast plain
were galloping in a long line across the yellow fields, which reminded
one of the great battles of old, when mounted men, and not machine-guns
and gas-shells, were the determining factor. The store of water that I
had brought with me was now exhausted, but I was able to get a fresh
supply from the water-bottle of a dead man. The road that leads from
Gentelles to Caix winds through the valley to the right of the line of
our attack and follows a little stream. It is very narrow, and on that
day was so crowded with cavalry, ambulances and artillery moving
forward that every now and then it would become blocked. In a mill,
which the Germans had used partly as artillery headquarters and partly
as a depot for military stores, our men found a quantity of blankets,
coats and other useful articles. Our doctors established an aid-post
in the out-buildings, and made use of the materials which the enemy
had left behind in his flight. A section of our machine-gunners (p. 280)
was resting there, and it was a great refreshment to stop for a while
and have a good clean-up and a shave with a borrowed razor. We were so
parched with thirst that we drank out of the stream, in spite of the
fact that many shells had fallen into it. Our final objective was
still some miles away, so I started up the road, following after the
1st Brigade.
The Germans, finding the game was up, had left many guns behind them
and blown up a large quantity of ammunition. One great heap of it lay
beside the river. Very pretty hamlets lay along the valley; we passed
one called Ignacourt, where there was a damaged church. We afterwards
established an ambulance there. I was very tired with my long walk,
not having had any sleep the night before, so was glad to get a lift
on an ambulance and go forward in the afternoon to the village of
Caix, which was the final objective of the 2nd Brigade. One of our
ambulances had taken over a building in the Square, but was shelled
out of it that night. The 10th Battalion had gone forward and taken
possession of trenches beyond the village. I went out to them and
there found the men in high spirits over the way the battle had gone.
The old red patch Division had advanced 14,000 yards, and so had
beaten the record of any division, British or enemy, during the War.
It was now late in the afternoon and no further attack that day was
contemplated. Before us on a slight rise in the ground lay the village
of Rosieres, through which the road ran parallel to the trenches which
we held. Between us and the village was a slight dip in the ground,
and with glasses we could see lorries full of fresh German troops,
amid clouds of dust, making their way to a point in the village. There
they would stop and the men would get out and hurry down the fields
into the trenches. It looked as if they were going to make a
counter-attack. The situation was very disquieting. I was told by one
of the sergeants in our front line that we were in need of fresh
ammunition, and he asked me if I would let the Colonel know. I passed
through the trenches on my return and told the men how glorious it was
to think that we had pushed the Germans back and were now so many
miles from where we had started. I went back to Battalion Headquarters
and found that they were in a cottage on the eastern extremity of the
village. Across the road was a cavalry observation-post, where some
officers were watching Rosieres and the arrival of German troops. (p. 281)
Luckily for us the Germans had no guns to turn upon us, although the
village of Caix was shelled constantly all night. Later on, some
batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery and our field guns, which had
come up, sealed the fate of the Germans and prevented a counter-attack.
A glorious sunset over the newly conquered territory made a fitting
close to a day of great deeds and high significance. When darkness
fell and the stars looked out of the quiet sky, I said good-night to
my cavalry friends, whose billets were down in a hollow to the right,
and started off to find some place to sleep.
The cellars of the cottage occupied by the Colonel were crowded, so I
went to the village and seeing some men entering a gateway followed
them. It was the courtyard of a large building, presumably a brewery.
The runners of the battalion had found a deep cellar where they had
taken up their abode. I asked if I might sleep with them for the
night. The cellar was not particularly inviting, but it was well below
the ground and vaulted in brick. The floor was simply earth and very
damp. Two candles were burning in a box where a corporal was making
out the ration-list for the men. I got two empty sandbags to put on
the floor to keep me from getting rheumatism, and lying on them and
using my steel helmet as a pillow I prepared to sleep. The runners,
except those on duty, did the same. Our feet met in the centre of the
room and our bodies branched off like the spokes of a wheel. When
anyone turned and put his feet on one side we all had to turn and put
our feet in the same direction. We heard a good many shells bursting
in the Square that night, but we were safe and comparatively comfortable.
Before I got to sleep, I watched with great admiration the two young
non-coms who were sitting at the table arranging and discussing in a
low tone the duties of the various men for the following day. The two
lads could not have been more than twenty years of age, but their
sense of responsibility and justice was well-developed. I thought what
a fine thing it was that men were being trained like that to become
useful citizens of Canada. We were up early in the morning and I made
my way to Battalion Headquarters, where I heard that there was to be
another attack in the forenoon.
We were now to change places with the 2nd Division. They were to shift
from our right flank to our left and take over the attack on (p. 282)
Rosieres while we advanced towards Warvillers. From the cavalry
observation-post, I could see with a glass the 5th Battalion going up
to the front in single file along a hedge. I had breakfast with the
7th Battalion officers in their dugout by the roadside near the
cavalry billets, and then started off to join the 8th Battalion which
was going to attack that morning. Machine-guns from Rosieres were
playing on the road near the end of the wood. I determined therefore
not to go round the wood but through it and so reached the other side
in safety. I was sitting on a fallen tree eating some lunch and
wondering whether I should be able to get up in time for the attack,
when, to my great joy, over the hill to my right, I saw some troops
approaching in extended order. Hardly had they appeared on the crest
when the Germans at Rosieres opened fire upon them and shells fell on
the hill. The men kept very steady and nobody, as far as I could see,
was hit. When they got down to the wood I went forward and spoke to
them and found they were the 22nd Battalion, and I met several
Quebecers whom I knew.
I saw the Battalion go off in the direction of Rosieres and I renewed
my journey to our own line. I passed the 24th Battalion who were going
up on the left of the 22nd, and they told me that the 2nd Brigade were
on their right. There were many trenches along the way which the
Germans had abandoned on the previous day. I passed a poor horse which
was badly wounded and still alive. It was attached to a broken German
cart. I got one of our men to shoot the animal, and went on till I
came to a railway in the hollow and followed it. There were many
wooden buildings here and there which had been built by the Germans.
These structures had been badly knocked about by shrapnel, and the
litter of articles within showed how rapid the German flight had been.
At a little distance on the east side of the track, there was a green
wood, which was called, as I afterwards found out, Beaufort or Hatchet
Wood. Every now and then as I walked, little puffs of dust would rise
from the road in front of me, showing that machine-gun bullets were
falling about. A cavalry patrol of three men, returning down the track
from the direction of the wood, came towards me, and, taking me for a
combatant officer, the corporal saluted and said, "That wood is very
heavily held by machine-guns, Sir, we have just made a reconnaissance."
"That's all right," I said, "I do not intend to take it just yet." I
was going up the track, wondering where I had got to, when I saw (p. 283)
a young officer of the 8th Battalion, followed by his men, coming
towards me. I went to him and told him that I had heard the wood was
very heavily held by machine-guns. He said he knew it and was going to
attack from the side, so I went with them and, as they lay on the
ground and got their Lewis guns in position, I pronounced the
benediction over them and then continued my journey up the railroad.
On the west side of the track at the top of the bank was a hedge. Here
I found the 14th Battalion waiting to follow up the 8th. A young
officer of the latter battalion was lying on the ground dying. He
dictated a farewell letter to his wife, which I afterwards gave to the
Adjutant. On the slope of ground down which the 8th had charged
towards the railway I saw many bodies of dead and wounded men, so I
went up to them to see what I could do. Several were dying, and I
found one poor fellow who had never been baptised; so I took some
water from my bottle and baptised him as he lay there. They would be
carried off when the stretcher-bearers could begin their work.
While I was attending to the wounded, I looked towards the wood at the
other side of the track. I was on a higher level, and so had a view of
the open country beyond, and there, to my astonishment, I saw the
Germans leaving their ambush and running away. I hurried down the hill
to the hedge and shouted out to the 14th Battalion that the Germans
were running away, and an officer came up to make sure. Then orders
were given to the men to charge and they crossed the track and took
possession of the wood. As soon as I had seen the wounded carried off
I followed after the troops, and there once more had the joy of
advancing over newly-won territory.
At a farmhouse a number of our men were gathered for a temporary rest,
and there I learned that the colonel of the 8th Battalion and a large
number of officers and men had been killed that morning. The battalion
had to charge down the hill in the face of heavy machine-gun fire.
Some tanks were standing by the farm and one of the officers offered
to take me with him in the machine, but as it was to go into the 2nd
Divisional area I had to decline the invitation and follow up our men
on foot. I passed a number of German wounded. One of them, a young
lad, was terribly alarmed when he saw me approaching, thinking I was
going to murder him. He held up his hands and shouted, "Kamarad!" I
think the Germans had heard wild stories of the ferocity of (p. 284)
Canadians. The boy then began to implore me to send him to an ambulance.
He was wounded in the leg, and had bound up his wounds very neatly and
skilfully. I tried to make him understand that the stretcher-bearers
would come up in time, and I stuck his rifle in the ground with his
helmet on the top of it, as a signal to the bearer party.
Before me at the end of the road, I saw amid trees the village of
Warvillers. Many men were going towards it from all directions; and I
saw our artillery brigades taking up battery positions to the left. I
met two men of the 5th Battalion and we started off to the village
together. The place was now in our hands, as the Germans had evacuated
it some hours before. The houses were quite intact and offered
prospects of pleasant billets. My companions and I, finding it was
quite late in the afternoon, determined to go and have our meal in a
garden near the Chateau. We sat down on the grass and opened our
bully-beef tins, and seeing onions growing in the garden thought it
would be a good thing to have that savoury vegetable as a relish. It
added to the enjoyment of our simple meal to think that we were eating
something which the Germans had intended for themselves. We managed to
get some fresh water too from a well nearby, which looked quite clean.
On the other side of a wall we could see the roof of the Chateau. One
of the men thought he would like to go and explore and find out who
was there. He came back a few minutes afterwards and said it was full
of Germans. So, taking their rifles, the two men went off to attack
it, thinking they had found a stronghold of the enemy. I was just
having a smoke after my meal when the lads came back and said that the
Germans whom they had seen were our prisoners and that the Chateau had
been taken over by us as a dressing station. We made our way to it and
found that it was a very beautiful place situated in lovely grounds. A
card on a door upstairs bore the inscription, "His Excellency General,"
and then followed a German name. The place had been the headquarters
of some enemy corps or division on the previous day. At the back of
the Chateau was a very strong concrete dugout divided off into rooms,
which were soon filled by our officers and men. All that night the
wounded were being brought to the Chateau, and German prisoners also
found their way there. Nobody was paying much attention to the latter,
and, thinking it was unwise to let them wander about, and perhaps go
back to their lines with information about our location, with (p. 285)
the permission of the C.O. of the ambulance, who was up to his eyes in
work, I had them all put into one large room over which I placed a
guard. They were sent back to the corps cage in the morning. The
Germans evidently expected that we would use the Chateau because they
dropped some heavy shells in the garden during the night, and we had
to get the wounded down in to the cellars in quick time.
I had about three hours sleep that night, and in the morning I
determined to follow up our men of the 1st Brigade who had now
established themselves at a village ahead of us called Rouvroy. As I
was starting off, a signaller came up to me and told me he had
captured a stray horse with a saddle on it and that he would lend it
to me to take me to my destination. I mounted the animal and went down
the avenue in great pride and comfort, but after I got into the road a
man came up and stopped me and told me, to my horror, that I was
riding his horse which he had lost the night before. It requires great
strength of mind and self-mastery to give up a mount to a pedestrian
when you are once in the saddle. But the war had not entirely
extinguished the light of conscience in my soul, so, tired as I was, I
dismounted and gave up the steed. But as I saw the man ride back to
the Chateau I began to wonder within myself whether he was the real
owner or not. One thief does not like to be out-witted by another.
However, there was nothing to do now but to go straight ahead. The
road before me led directly to Rouvroy. Some German planes were
hovering overhead, and in the fields to my left our artillery were
going into action. As shells were dropping on the road I took a short
cut over the fields. Here I found some of our machine-gunners, and the
body of a poor fellow who had just been killed. I got to the village
of Rouvroy about noon and made my way to a dugout under the main
road, where the colonel and some of the officers of the 3rd Battalion
were having lunch. They gave me a cup of tea, but I told them I had
taken my food on the journey, so did not want anything to eat. They
looked much relieved at this, because rations were short. Their
chaplain was there and gave me a warm reception. I was feeling rather
used up, so lay down on a wire mattress and had an hour's sleep. When
lunch was over the chaplain and I went to see the sights of the town.
The ruined church was being used for a dressing station and it seemed
to me it was rather a dangerous place, as the Germans would be (p. 286)
likely to shell it. We found an old bookshop which was filled with
German literature and writing paper, some of which proved very useful.
We had a good rest in a dugout, but I felt so seedy that I told him,
if he heard that I had gone out of the line, not to think it was
because I was suffering from "cold feet". We went back to the village,
and there we found shells dropping in the main street not far from the
church. In fact, one came so close that we had to dive into a cellar
and wait till the "straffing" was over. Then I bid my companion
good-bye and started off over the fields back to Warvillers. By this
time I felt so unwell that it was hard to resist the temptation to
crawl into some little hole in which I might die quietly. However,
with my usual luck, I found a motor car waiting near the road for an
air-officer who had gone off on a tour of inspection and was expected
to return soon. The driver said I could get in and rest. When the
officer came back he kindly consented to give me a ride to my
Divisional Headquarters. We did not know where they were and I landed
in the wrong place, but finally with the assistance of another car I
made my way to Beaufort. There I found our Division had established
themselves in huts and dugouts at the back of an ancient chateau. With
great difficulty I made my way over to General Thacker's mess and
asked for some dinner.
During the meal, the General sent off his A.D.C. on a message, and he
soon returned with no less a person than the A.D.M.S., who, to my
dismay, proceeded to feel my pulse and put a clinical thermometer in
my mouth. My temperature being 103-1/2, he ordered me at once to go
off to a rest camp, under threat of all sorts of penalties if I did
not. I lay on the floor of his office till three in the morning, when
an ambulance arrived and took me off to some place in a field, where
they were collecting casualties. From thence I was despatched to the
large asylum at Amiens which was operated by an Imperial C.C.S. The
major who examined me ordered me to go to the Base by the next train,
as they had no time to attend to cases of influenza. For a while I was
left on the stretcher in a ward among wounded heroes. I felt myself
out of place, but could do nothing to mend matters. Two sisters came
over to me, and apparently took great interest in me till one of them
looked at the tag which was pinned on my shoulder. With a look of
disgust she turned and said to her companion, "He isn't wounded at
all, he has only got the 'flu'". At once they lost all interest (p. 287)
in me, and went off leaving me to my fate. Stung by this humiliation,
I called two orderlies and asked them to carry me out into the garden
and hide me under the bushes. This they did, and there I found many
friends who had been wounded lying about the place. My batman had come
with me and had brought my kit, so a box of good cigars which I handed
round was most acceptable to the poor chaps who were waiting to be
sent off. By a stroke of good luck, an accident on the railway
prevented my being evacuated that evening. I knew that if they once
got me down to the Base my war days would be over.
On the following morning, feeling better, I got up, shaved, put on my
best tunic, and, with a cigar in my mouth, wandered into the reception
room, where I found the major who had ordered me off on the previous
day. Puffing the smoke in front of my face to conceal my paleness, I
asked him when he was going to send me down to the Base. He looked a
little surprised at finding me recovered, and then said, "Well, Padre,
I think I will let you go back to your lines after all." It was a
great relief to me. The chaplain of the hospital very kindly took me
in charge and allowed me to spend the night in his room. The next day
I got a ride in a Canadian ambulance and made my way back to Beaufort.
There, to my horror, I found that the Division, thinking they had got
rid of me for good, had appointed another padre in my place. Through
the glass door of my room, I could see him giving instructions to the
chaplain of the artillery. I felt like Enoch Arden, but I had not
Enoch's unselfishness so, throwing the door wide open, I strode into
the room, and to the ill-concealed consternation of both my friends
who had looked upon me in a military sense as dead, informed them that
I had come back to take over my duties. Of course, everyone said they
were glad to see me, except General Thacker, who remarked dryly that
my return had upset all the cherished plans of well-ordered minds. The
A.D.M.S. had told them that he had thought I was in for an attack of
pneumonia. It was really a very amusing situation, but I was
determined to avoid the Base, especially now that we felt the great
and glorious end of our long campaign was coming nearer every day.