CHAPTER XXV

THE ARMISTICE

Although the inhabitants of Lille considered the war to be over--as it undoubtedly was so far as they were concerned--the guns could still be heard out on the Tournai road, and on the 30th of October the 47th Division left Lille and continued the pursuit of the enemy. The Civil Service Rifles marched along the Tournai road and spent the night at Chereng, continuing the march next day to Froyennes, a suburb of Tournai, where they relieved the 2/4th South Lancashire Regiment in the front line under conditions which have surely never existed before in any part of the front line in any war.

Froyennes is a suburb of convents and magnificent châteaux. One of the latter had been the Headquarters of Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria when he commanded a German Army Corps. It now became the Headquarters of a half of “A” Company of the Civil Service Rifles.

There were no trenches in the front line at Froyennes, the sentry posts being either in the front room of a house, the back garden or a street corner. In one street the Germans occupied houses on one side, and the Civil Service Rifles the houses opposite.

The suburb was pretty freely shelled, mostly with gas shells, but the houses for the most part were not very badly damaged. In a good many of them and in most of the convents the civilians had remained. They had been allowed to do so because it was thought at first that the advance would soon carry the front line beyond Froyennes.

The advance, however, was held up for some days along this line, which followed the general line of the River Scheldt hereabouts. The Scheldt ran through Tournai and outside the eastern and northern borders of Froyennes.

Tournai was still occupied by Germans at this time, and, as at Lille, the capture of the town was a somewhat slow process.

The situation in Froyennes remained unchanged for some few days, the posts, as has been stated, being mostly in houses by daytime. By night, further posts were held alongside the roads.

The Company Headquarters were all either in châteaux or convents. “A” Company Headquarters was in the Château Beauregard, the residence of the Comtesse Thérèse de Germiny, who, although her house had been knocked about by a shell which came through her drawing room wall, remained in residence. The Countess was the “Lady Bountiful” of the village, she having taken under her wing all the poor and homeless who cared to accept her hospitality. To these she gave not only a home, but also refuge from shell fire in her cellars.

The Countess spoke excellent English, and by the kindly interest she took in the comfort of the troops occupying her château, she became quite a favourite of the men of “A” Company.

The “B” Company Headquarters was in a convent for the aged and infirm. In this building were nuns, many of whom had been bedridden for years before the war began. These invalids had all been moved down into a cellar, which the troops endeavoured to make gas proof.

The front line posts were held by “A” “B” and “C” Companies, “D” being in reserve. Roughly speaking, “A” Company was responsible for the east of the village, “B” the south, and “C” the north.

“C” Company’s front, in fact, was right outside the town, the posts being between the river and the main road running from Tournai to Courtrai, though by day the men were withdrawn to houses. This front was much wider than that allotted to the other two Companies and it was more in the open. The Company Headquarters was in a convent at the western edge of the suburb. Civilians shared the accommodation with the troops, and it is said that the children played in No Man’s Land by day.

Between the posts along the road and the River Scheldt was a wide marsh, and it was the duty of patrols at night to make their way across the marsh and creep along the river bank.

“C” Company had further excitement on the night of the 3rd of November when the Royal Engineers tried to bridge the Scheldt, which at this point is quite a narrow stream. Two platoons, acting as covering party, got into position on the river bank without any difficulty, but as soon as the work began, an enemy machine gun across the river opened fire. The bridging operations were shut down for the night, and the troops were lucky to get away without casualties.

“D” Company occupied a large building, a convent which had been deserted, near the “C” Company Headquarters. The men had had many a worse billet, even when out of the line.

The shelling became more frequent as time went on, and casualties occurred to several civilians. On the 3rd of November the civilians were ordered to evacuate Froyennes. Hitherto they had simply been advised to go, and told that transport would be lent to them to help them remove their belongings. But it now became necessary to compel them to go, and on the night of the 3rd a fleet of motor ambulances and other transport took them all to a place of safety in Lille. It was a pathetic sight to see the poor old creatures from “B” Company’s convent being loaded into ambulances, for they had accepted the situation in the cellar so calmly and philosophically, and they were now loath to leave what had been their home for so many years. It was almost a self-supporting convent, for in the gardens vegetables of all kinds were grown. Many fowls and rabbits were also kept, and the Mother Superior on her departure presented these to “B” Company. Roast fowl in the front line was a luxury which surprised the oldest soldier in the Company.

It should not be thought, however, that life at Froyennes was free from the horrors of war for, the Civil Service Rifles lost one killed and ten wounded in the five days spent there. After the assurance from the people of Lille that the war was over, this was regarded as a heavy casualty list. Of these casualties, Private G. A. Watson, “B” Company, who was killed on the 2nd of November, proved to be the last man of the 1st Civil Service Rifles who was killed in action.

The Battalion was relieved on the 4th of November, and marched to reserve billets in the village of Cornet, just off the main road, and half-way between Tournai and Lille.

Froyennes had been described as a village of convents and châteaux. Cornet can only be described as a village of hovels and mud, but the squalor of this wretched place was forgotten in the excitement caused by the news that the war was now “all over bar shouting,” and that the signing of the terms of the Armistice was expected daily.

The Bulgars, the Austrians and the Turks had already accepted terms, but these had caused no excitement. The only terms that mattered to the troops in France were those to be imposed on the Bosches. A big sweepstake was organised in the Battalion at Cornet on the hour at which the Armistice terms to Germany would be signed. But before the prize was won the military situation in the immediate vicinity had undergone a change, and the Civil Service Rifles were pursuing the enemy in open warfare once more.

News was received on the 9th of November that the Scheldt had been crossed and the Germans had left Tournai. The Battalion immediately left Cornet and moved to Froyennes, Companies occupying their old billets. Pursuit of the enemy was slow owing to the fact that the pontoon bridge constructed by the Royal Engineers at Froyennes was the only passage across the river for the whole Division. The arrangement was for the two Infantry Brigades holding the front line to advance simultaneously, with the Reserve Brigade following close up.

The 140th Brigade on the right accordingly advanced on Melles, a village about six miles north-east of Tournai on the main road to Ath. The Civil Service Rifles, being the Reserve Battalion, did not move beyond Froyennes on the first day of the advance, but on the 10th of November the Battalion crossed the river and joined in the hunt. Although the advance was continued well beyond Melles the Germans had retreated so quickly that they were not seen even by the advanced guard, and the 140th Brigade halted for the night in the villages around Montroeul Au Bois, the Civil Service Rifles being billeted in the little hamlet of Barberie. The natives gave the troops a warm welcome, for it was only on the previous night that they had been compelled to shelter the retreating Bosches.

It was now decided that each Brigade in turn should furnish the advanced guard for the advance of the Division, and the 140th Brigade was detailed to act in that capacity on the morrow. The Civil Service Rifles would be the vanguard, and the details were explained to Company Commanders late on the night of the 10th. The Battalion scouts, on bicycles, were to move off at 6.45 a.m. and keep in touch with the cavalry screen furnished by the 19th Hussars. The Companies were to move off at 7.30 a.m. and the duty of the Battalion was to advance on the general line of the river Dendre and seize the bridges over the Dendre canal on the outskirts of Ath, not far from Brussels.

This would have given the Battalion its first experience of vanguards in real war, and the troops were eagerly anticipating a visit to Brussels during the next few days. These hopes, however, were never fulfilled, for at 2.30 a.m. on the 11th of November, the news reached the Battalion that the orders for the advance were cancelled. No explanation was given, and a rumour that the war was over was strengthened by an order received later in the morning for the Battalion to march back to Tournai.

The rumour was discredited when the Battalion got on the main road to Tournai and met a whole Division going in the opposite direction, but when a low-flying aeroplane appeared, gaily decorated with coloured ribbons and making a terrible noise with its Klaxon horn, there could be little doubt that the Armistice terms had been signed. This was confirmed by a passing officer in a motor-car, and the news was conveyed to the troops by the Regimental Band, who, by a happy inspiration of Sergeant Blackmore, the Bandmaster, struck up an air which had been popular throughout the British Army during the past four years:

“When this ruddy war is over Oh, how happy I shall be.”

It should be placed on record that this was the only intimation of the armistice which reached the Battalion beyond announcements in the Press. The Civil Service Rifles received no official news that an armistice had been granted, although a telephone message from Brigade on the night of the 12th of November gave particulars of the various armaments, etc., which were to be surrendered.

Tournai was reached in the afternoon of the 11th of November, and the men were once more accommodated in a convent, where the nuns came out in a body and expressed their gratitude to the British troops.

So the Civil Service Rifles saw the end of the Great War, and a tamer finish it is impossible to imagine. There were many whose ambition it had been to be in the front line on the last day of the war, and many were the conjectures as to what it would be like, but none ever guessed that it would fizzle out in such a miserable and uninteresting fashion. To be left to read of it in the newspapers was about the feeblest finish that could have happened, and while there were jubilations in London and elsewhere on armistice night, there was absolutely nothing in the area occupied by the 140th Infantry Brigade in the nature of a celebration of so great a victory. The district was very gloomy, and its name, La Tombe, appeared a very appropriate one.

Things looked up somewhat on the following evening, when a Battalion concert was held in the Convent, to which the civilians were invited. They did not understand a word of the concert, but they applauded everything vigorously, and at the close, when the chairs were cleared away, the natives went fairly mad with joy at an impromptu dance.