"The young soldier's last day in England."
The last day or two was rather a rush. Thursday we frantically packed
valises and vainly attempted to reduce them to something near the
regulation 35lbs. At first one put in a wardrobe fit for Darius going
to conquer Greece, which, when put on the scale, gaily passed its
maximum of 55 pounds. Then out came slacks, shoes, scarves, all sorts
of things. The weighing was then repeated and further reductions
embarked upon, the final result being about 45 lbs. However, we packed
them up tight and they all passed all right. Friday was an awful day
spent in full marching field service order, inspections, and rumours
of absurd Divisional and Brigade operations, which were to take place
at night, although we were to rise at 4 a.m. to march to the station.
However, the operations were only for Company Commanders, and so we
were saved.
In the afternoon we bought all the things we thought we had forgotten.
As everything was packed up a group of half-a-dozen of us assembled
round the anti-room fire to attempt to obtain a little sleep. I had a
chair and a great coat to go over me. The others slept on the floor
with table clothes and such like things. We kept a huge fire burning
all night, and, unfortunately, instead of going to sleep one could not
help looking into its red depths and seeing the pictures of men and
horses you always see in fires. Personally, I did not sleep at all,
only rested and dozed. At 3-0 a.m. a man came in and announced in a
stentorian voice, "The Corporal of the Guards' compliments to Captain
Seddon, and it is 3 o'clock." Appreciation of the fact from Captain
Seddon, who had been sleeping, in unprintable language which finally
resolved itself in a complaint that he had not been introduced to the
Corporal of the Guard and he failed to see why he should bear him a
grudge.
At 3-30 we got up,
4-0 a hasty breakfast,
4-45 I began to go to the lines to fall in,
4-46 I came back for my glasses,
4-48 I return for my identity disc,
4-50 I return again for my day's rations,
5-0 I fall in a quarter of an hour late.
At 5-15 we march off in the dark saying good-bye to those that remain
behind, and realising that at last our many months of training are
over, and we are soldiers at last, proud of the fact and beginning to
be proud of ourselves as we march down to the station. I was very much
struck by the great send-off given us by the women of the cottages we
passed who, despite the fact that they had seen thousands march out,
all turned out at that early hour, and from their doorsteps wished us
a very sincere and affecting God speed. At 7-0 we reach the station
and the train, uncertain from what port we sail, to what port we shall
go, and almost in entire ignorance of our destination, even the C.O.
knows nothing and our staff less.
But in three or four hours we reach our port of embarkation and go
straight from train to boat, and are soon out in the Channel. Before
we sail all the men put on lifebelts, in accordance with orders, much
to the amusement of two or three blasé Canadian Officers returning to
the Front, who, however, are soon unable to take any further interest
in our proceedings, and seem from their earnest studies of the sea to
be trying indelibly to impress upon their brains a distinct
remembrance not of the ship but of the Channel itself. As soon as we
started we all went in to the cabin and lunched, I, attempting to fill
myself so full that the pitching of the ship in a choppy sea shall not
affect me. It was all of no avail. I paid three shillings for my
lunch, and discovered afterwards that I had not bought it, only hired
it for a short while. I was greatly relieved when the voyage was over
and we backed into our port of debarkation.
There we had to fall in about half a mile from the landing place, and
Staff Colonels and Captains completely lost their heads trying to get
us to form up without telling us where to do so, or in what formation.
We did not know what we were to expect or what we should do for the
night. I expected to sleep on the ground and to eat cold
bully-beef--the remains of the rations we were carrying. It had been
impressed upon us by all the officers whom we had seen, who had
returned from the Front, that directly we arrived abroad all comfort
was gone, and that troops were rushed about here and there undergoing
frightful privations and fatigues, but not a bit of it. We marched up
about two miles to a rest camp, and arrived very tired to find a
beautiful dinner ready for us. Tents (two officers to a tent), beds,
spring mattresses, and as many blankets as we wanted. There we
received all sorts of orders and supplies. A day's ration, another gas
helmet (we already had one each), war rations (an emergency ration),
&c. The next day (Sunday) we marched down to the station to entrain,
marching off at 7-45. This was the only hard day we have had so far.
We had a tiring march to the station, carrying equipment weighing
about 60lbs.--an awful weight--we then waited at the station, and a
train came in with our transport on it, who had come over separately
by a different route, and spent four or five hours in the train, and
finally detrained at a very pretty village, where we could distinctly
hear the booming of the guns. There we waited for some time before
marching off, and were greeted with the sound of loud cheers from a
neighbouring field where the Artists were playing the H.A.C. at rugger
and were cheering their own sides. Then we set out, led by a French
guide, and marched about ten miles to reach our present abode. The
thing that struck me on the way was the flatness of the country, and
the roads, which were the typical roads one always sees in the
illustrated papers: long, straight and slightly raised, with avenues
of poplars along them all. The march was awful. The weight in my pack
almost dragged my shoulders off, and the men felt it terribly.
Finally, we arrived in the market place of the village near which we
are, and fell out on the grass immediately, only too glad to get our
packs off and rest, while the billeting officer led the Company
Commanders round and showed them where they were to be billeted.
After an hour or so they returned and we marched off to our billets.
We are billeted in a sort of irregular ring round the village, with
Battalion Headquarters in a small chateau. We are in farms. Most farms
take anything from 50 to 100 men, and all the farms are similar. There
is a central square with a sort of depression in the centre, which is
covered with dirty straw and filthy water; all the rubbish is thrown
into it, and pigs, hens, and cows, wander at will all over it. I asked
the doctor this morning if it was not very unhealthy, but he said that
fortunately such places became septic filters. I think he said they
breed all sorts of bacteria and they have a squabble among themselves,
and by fighting against each other keep things all right. If the
Austrian and German bacteria would only do the same it would save a
lot of trouble. Round the cesspits are barns and pig-houses, &c. A lot
of barns. Instead of stacking hay and straw as we do they seem to put
it in barns. The men sleep in the barns; they snuggle down into the
straw and enjoy themselves thoroughly. They are just like kittens and
quite as happy, playing round and hiding themselves in the straw. We
set out for our billets, and were halted when we came to our farms. I
was in the rear when word was passed down that I was needed in front,
and I went up and found a small farm on the left and a big one on the
right. I was told my platoon would be in the little one and the rest
of the company in the big one, so I was sent in to tackle the owner,
who did not know a word of English, and to settle my men. I did my
best, my French is just good enough to make myself understood at a
pinch, and I am getting on. The farmer showed me round and I put the
men into two barns. Then I asked him "Avez-vous de l'eau a boire?" and
he replied "Mais oui." Then he showed me a pump. We then drew some
water to make tea in the company's travelling cooker. The
Quartermaster-Sergeant asked me to come and listen to it. About ten
yards off my nose told me where it was; it was filthy, so we had to
try elsewhere.
The first night I slept very comfortably in an attic in the chateau
with Battalion Headquarters. Monsieur and his son and the old cook,
whose husband is a prisoner in Germany, still live in part of the
house, the other empty rooms we have, the Colonel having a toppingly
furnished room. Then we picniced quite happily the first night,
breakfasting off coffee and bully beef at about 10-0 the next morning.
The next day we spent in settling in and organising things. We are
about 24 miles from the firing line and sometimes hear the big guns
and see plenty of aeroplanes. Two Taubes flew over yesterday, were
shelled in the air, and chased away by our aeroplanes.
It was arranged that we would collect most of our company together,
and officers sleep together, so I came down to this farm. We have
three-quarters of the Company here, my platoon in the farm I told you
about, and the others in the big farm. The officers, the Company
Commander and three subalterns have a room in the house, with big
windows opening out into the yard of the big farm. The room is on the
second storey. We have a large bed with a feather mattress, two of us
have the mattress on the floor, and very comfortable it is. We
censored our men's letters and so to bed.
In the afternoon we went to the village and purchased eggs, candles,
bread, &c., and I scrambled the eggs for dinner and made chocolate, in
addition to our bully beef, which was stewed in the company's cooker
and made a very good stew. We then censored our men's letters and went
to bed.
The letters seem most meagre affairs. All they said was that they were
writing to send their addresses. They were much as follows:--