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Page 8
A never fading recollection of Etaples will be that of the kindness and
hospitality we received at the hands of Lady Angela Forbes and the "very
gallant gentlewomen" who assisted her in the management of her Soldiers'
Home there. The warmest of welcomes and the best of cheer awaited every
soldier who crossed its threshold. Nothing that thoughtfulness could
suggest and liberality could provide was lacking. Tact and an
understanding sympathy characterised the administration of every
department. We left behind us blessings and thanks we could not express
in words.
ON THE ROAD TO THE TRENCHES.
We had a three days' march (most of the way on cobble stones) from camp
to Armenti�res, via Aire, Hazebruck and Bailleul, things getting hotter
and hotter. In the course of the first day the enemy's aircraft dropped
bombs on our route. We scattered in the hedges and ditches, lying flat
and getting what cover we could. We had several men wounded by the
splinters of the bombs, but fortunately nothing serious occurred, and
all went well that day.
[Illustration: ROAD TO THE TRENCHES.]
The third day we reached a village and were billeted in some barns. We
had just "got down to it comfortable" when a shell took the roofs off,
and a loud cheer went up as it was realised that the enemy had missed
the mark. They put about twelve of these huge shells in the place, but
they all went high. After three hours the order was given to creep out
and get into some cottages further down the road. These cottages were
inhabited, and the terrified people made us welcome indeed--had not we
come to protect them from the Germans? We had a short rest here and then
had to push on and make the most of the darkness.
As the firing grew heavier we made a circular route over fields, etc.,
to the trenches, for the rest of the way. The enemy made an attack on
our second night in them--and their loss was pretty heavy.
PART II.
AT THE FRONT.
CHAPTER IV.
SOME SAMPLE EXCITEMENTS OF LIFE IN THE TRENCHES.
[Illustration: MY SKETCH BOOK.]
I don't think I'm a bit sentimental in the matter of souvenirs, and
anyway I can't need anything to remind me of the unforgettable, but all
the same there's one souvenir of my experiences in the trenches and the
firing line that I shall never part with--and that's the little notebook
(measuring 5-1/2 ins. by 3-1/2 ins., bought in Armenti�res) which I
carried with me through everything, and in which are the originals of
the sketches here collected, taken "under fire," either literally or in
the sense that they were taken within the zone of fire. In the nature of
things I might have been finished myself by shot or shell before I
could have finished any one of them. Sketched in circumstances that
certainly had their own disadvantages as well as their special
advantages, I present these drawings only for what they are. There were
many happenings--repulsions of sudden attacks, temporary retirements,
charges, and things of that sort--that would have made capital subjects,
but of which my notebook holds no "pictured presentment," because I was
taking part in them.
AT ARMENTI�RES.
[Illustration: Map: La Bass�e-St. Julien]
We reached Armenti�res (relieving the Leinster Regiment and the 9th
Lancers in the first line trenches, distant from the first line German
trenches 30 yards) at a critical time.
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