THE YPRES TIMES
133
reached the tunnel dug-outs. Captain Illingworth himself tackled the biggest
having placed guards at the five entranceswhile the remainder of the company
began consolidating. Revolver in hand and accompanied only by his orderly,
Private H. Farnath, he entered, and found no one. They were in a long deep
tunnel opening out into a marvellous dug-out panelled with wood and lighted by
electricity. There was no sign of life. They passed on farther and still found no
one. Cautiously they advanced till they were a hundred yards from the entrance,
and found no sign of anyone yet. They began to be afraid the birds had flown, or
perhaps that they themselves were in a
trap. Undeterred, however, by these
disagreeable considerations, they
pressed on with increasing caution for
another fifty yards, when their persist
ence was rewarded by hearing shouts
of Kamarad reverberating down
another passage. Private Farnath ran
to the entrance to warn the company
outside. The ceremonial of sur
render was protracted. The Germans
came along in single file, roaring
Ifi Kamarad in chorus and insisting
on offering a welcome to Captain
Illingworth by shaking hands with
H him. After each of the 81 members of
H the garrison had thus satisfied the con
ventions, he passed down the passage
and was duly unarmed at the
- 1° the meantime Second-Lieut.
~Vi —i*- Holland and a small party had
Mj 43MMM advanced further forward, and arrived
a TT - JSu at t^le ru'ns St. Pierre Divion,
T where they found the German battalion
Cjk» j headquarters. Before the occupants
Wt knew what was happening the whole
headquarters staff was captured60
other ranks, including several officers,
the Battalion Commander, the Adju-
Itant and another Medical Officer.
Many of the prisoners seemed re-
the ancre valley. lieve(J at bf.inS taken, as they were
so demoralized by our shell hre.
They said that for the last few weeks they had scarcely dared move out of
their dug-outs, and the state of their refuge certainly bore this out, for they
were in a filthy condition and full of rubbish and garbage of every description.
The smell was appalling. But if there was much debris, there was plenty of booty
as well, e.g., revolvers, field glasses, champagne and Rhine wine, besides a fully
equipped aid post, with enough aspirin and other drugs to last a battalion for six
months. Breakfast was being prepared in one room, and a grim relic in the shape
of a dead German was stretched on the table of the Medical Officer; his Iron Cross
(First Class) lay on his desk.
The main body of the 4th/5th Battalion Black Watch had lost direction, but in
the course of Lieutenant Holland's advance beyond St. Pierre Divion, 2 officers
and 10 men of that battalion loomed out of the clouds of vapour and joined his