THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES
From the Aisne we travelled in the usual fashion, thirty-six to forty
in a horse-box, _viâ_ St. Denis to Boulogne, where we stopped until 3
p.m. on the Sunday afternoon of October the eighteenth. As usual, many
rumours were afloat, the strongest being that we were going on garrison
duty to some quiet little place, to pick up strength once more. That
quiet little place turned out to be Ypres! The reason of our stoppage
in Boulogne was that a train in front of us, also a troop train, had
met with an accident; seventeen men had been killed: so we had to wait
whilst the line was being cleared. We were supposed to stay with the
train, but a good many men went into the town. Consequently the train
moved off suddenly, leaving one hundred men and three Officers behind
in Boulogne. They eventually joined us, each man receiving fourteen
days Number One Field punishment.
Leaving Boulogne, we travelled some way up the line, detraining at a
small station called Arneke. Early next morning they marched us on to
Cassel, where we stayed one day, marching out next morning in brigade
order. We proceeded _viâ_ Beaulieu and Poperinghe, resting for the
night a few miles north of the latter place.
The following day we proceeded very slowly, and scouts were sent out
to our right into a wood on the look-out for the enemy. Evidently
everything was in order, as we advanced through that wood during the
night. On the way we met many horse-ambulances returning filled with
wounded. Emerging from the wood, we arrived at the town of Boesnighe,
and that night we found billets there. Moving off early the next
evening in a south-easterly direction, after marching the whole of that
night with fixed bayonets and hushed voices, we went into action the
next morning.
[Illustration: MAP 3.]