Chapter VII: The Last Phase

On the 12th November we went into comfortable billets in Sous le Bois and Neuf Mesnil, while preparations were being made to march into Germany. The 62nd Division was to form part of the 9th Corps, under our former Commander, Lieut.-General Sir Walter Braithwaite, the other divisions being the 1st and the 6th; the trench mortars were to be left behind, but were to join us subsequently in Germany. While in Sous le Bois Lieut. E. S. Lloyd, M.C., Signalling Officer of the 312th Brigade, was taken ill with influenza, and to the great sorrow of us all died after a few days' illness. On the 17th we had a thanksgiving service for the Divisional Artillery, conducted by the Rev. S. Garrett, our senior chaplain. I may mention here that the Rev. T. A. Horne, who came out from England with the artillery, was invalided home in December, 1917, and was succeeded by the Rev. H. O. Perry. The latter was with us all through the big German push, and was then transferred to another appointment while we were fighting at the Marne in July, 1918. He was succeeded in his turn by the Rev. S. Garrett.

We marched on the 18th November, a wet, unpleasant day, to Ferrière la Grande. The artillery marched for the future in a separate column from the rest of the division, our itinerary being as follows. I give as a rule the name of the place where headquarters halted; the remainder of the artillery was billeted in the surrounding area, generally within a mile or two of headquarters.

19th. Solre sur Sambre, our first entry into Belgian territory.

20th. Berzèe. On arrival here we were greeted by the local band, which played our National Anthem over and over again with remarkable persistency for about two hours. It would be tedious to describe our reception at each halting place throughout the march, but I quote here, as typical of other greetings, the address presented to the 312th Brigade on their arrival in this area; it was couched in English as follows:

"Dear Allied Friends,

"After more than four years of a terrible war without example in the history of the world, the Belgians deprived of their freedom and rights during all that time have the immense joy of seeing again the sun of liberty shining bright and joyful over their heads. To tell you what a boundless feeling of happiness and gratitude we have now in our hearts is impossible for us to do in some words. We are like slaves whose fetters would fall down all of a sudden, like birds kept for long years in a dull cage and which unexpectedly could fly freely again in the open air of a nice spring day. Our hearts sing merrily, our souls are transported with joy and hope. On this memorable day where you bring us freedom, we turn away from the hard and unjust past to look forward with hope to the future. But if we are so to say mad for joy, our hearts are large enough to make room for another feeling as sincere and powerful as our happiness--our gratefulness to all our Allied friends. Yes, to you all which have helped us to reconquer our liberty, to you all which have given your blood for a destruction of a system of oppression, violence and brutality which threatened the world, we are immensely obliged. We are full of admiration for the great exploits of your armies; their courage, their spirit of self-sacrifice, their perseverance in the duty are for us external signs of the inner forces which animate them; passion for independence, justice and liberty. We are proud indeed to have as friends and Allies men of such a noble character.

"In the name of the Civil Authorities of the village of Thy-le-Chateau I am proud and glad to have the privilege of greeting you heartily.

"Hurrah for the English people and their valiant armies.

"Hurrah for our brave Allies. Hurrah."

24th. Gerpinnes.

25th. Ermetont. The 310th Brigade on this occasion were billeted _en masse_ in the Abbey of Maredsous, where they were entertained most hospitably by the Benedictine Monks. The Prior and eight of the monks had only just got back from serving two years' imprisonment with hard labour in Germany. This savage punishment was inflicted on them for having given a few days' shelter to a wounded British soldier.

27th. A long march through Dinant, where we crossed the Meuse, to the Thynne area, where we had a long and rather tedious halt. The headquarters billet was in a most picturesque chateau situated in a deep hollow surrounded by rugged hills, on the road from Dinant to Lisangues. The owner was the widow of a retired French General. She told me that when the Germans were occupying her chateau, at the time of the Dinant atrocities, they treated her and her husband, an old man over eighty, with the greatest roughness. Finally they told the old couple one day that if any further act of hostility were committed by the surrounding villagers, _they_ would both be shot. The next day the old General fell dead of heart disease.

[Sidenote: Dec. 1918.]

10th December. Area round Laignon. Headquarters at the Chateau de Barçenal.

11th. Barvaux Condray.

12th. Clavier.

13th. Ville. We billeted in the fine chateau, which had been in the early days of the war the headquarters of Prince Eitel and his staff. Monsieur La Masch, the owner of the house, told me that his unwelcome guests drank about a thousand bottles of his wine, for which they offered him on their departure the generous payment of a franc a bottle. As most of the wine they affected had cost from 15 to 20 francs a bottle he declined their offer, and he was now entering the full value in his claim against the Boche Government. The royal Eitel, a true Boche, looted all the linen when he left, tablecloths, napkins, sheets and towels; he even carried off all Madame's lace, most of it old and priceless.

14th. Chevron. Here the scenery was as magnificent as the billets were mean and uncomfortable.

16th. Basse Bodeux.

17th. We crossed the German frontier, and marched through Malmédy to Weismes. It was decided that we should hold our anniversary dinners on this auspicious date. We halted here for a few days in rather uncomfortable billets. The weather was very bad, and it snowed continuously.

21st. Elsenborn Camp. This was a sort of German "Salisbury Plain." The huts were however far superior to those provided in an English practice camp; they were substantially built and well heated, and officers and men found them almost luxurious after the cramped village accommodation which they had been accustomed to.

22nd. Mountjoie.

23rd. The area round Schleiden. Headquarters marched straight through to Gemund, our final destination.

25th. The Divisional Artillery made their final march in a snow blizzard and went into billets as follows:

14th Brigade R.H.A. (now attached to the Division), Kal and
Keldernich.
310th Brigade R.H.A., Gemund and Malsbenden.
312th Brigade R.H.A., Gemund, with two batteries at Nierfeld and
Schleven.
D.A.C. Kal and Sottenich.
Trench Mortars (eventually), Urft.

The purpose of this work is to describe the war services of the artillery, and I shall not therefore write about our life in Germany. The ordinary military routine, under what were practically peace conditions, affords little of interest to a Chronicler, and it is sufficient to say that life was agreeable enough, and that ski-ing, tobogganing, and later on fishing broke the monotony of our routine duties in a very pleasant manner. Demobilisation dragged on slowly but surely, and on the 18th February we heard that the Division was to be broken up, and to be reformed as the Highland Division. Most of the officers now began to drift away, but it was not till the 19th April that I said farewell to my command. My Staff all left at about the same time.

The Divisional Artillery remained with the Highland Division, though greatly changed in personnel and with an almost entirely new set of commanding officers. Major Lockhart was, I believe, the only battery commander who stayed on until the final breaking up. The artillery left Germany in the middle of August, and returned to England (Salisbury Plain); on the 5th December the headquarters' office closed, and on that date the Divisional Artillery may be said to have ceased to exist.

That it may long exist, however, as a brotherhood of officers and men, bound together by a thousand memories of danger and privation borne in common, proud in the consciousness of duty done, and strong to maintain in peace the steadfast and loyal comradeship which knit them together in war, is the sincere hope of the writer of this little chronicle.