The Ypres Times.
185
At this time General Rawlinson was in direct communication with the War Office,
and on the 8th he had received orders from Lord Kitchener to cover the retreat of the
British and Belgian forces from Antwerp on Ghent and Ostend, but on the 9th he was
placed under the orders of Sir John French, and the retreat on Ypres began.
By the nth the Corps staff had assembled at Ostend (H. Q. at Baron Empain's house,
the Villa Doris), consisting of R. A. K. Montgomery, Dallas, and Gossett of the General
Staff, "Gunner" White, Shekleton, Daly, Collins and Airey on the "Q" side, Kerr
{Signals), Gale (R.A.M.C.), Dugan (P.M.), Hussey (R.A.), and myself, whilst Girouard
was there in some capacity helping to run the train service. We also had several young
temporary officers who had escaped from Antwerp, including the brothers Stafford, Lock,
and C. W. Booth, whose private cars formed a welcome reinforcement to our official
Daimlers. Norman Wilkes, the pianist, was our interpreter.
Ostend was full of mixed troops from Antwerp, and the roads from the east were
crowded with refugees, most of whom seemed to be intent on saving at least the family
bed, the mirror, and the perambulator!
The 7th Division left Ghent late on the nth and, marching via Aeltre, reached
Roulers on the 13th. The 3rd Cavalry Division from Bruges reached Roulers (via
Thourout) on the nth, and subsequently covered General Capper's southern flank, arriving
at Wytschaete on the 14th. On that day the 7th Division took up a line east of Ypres,
their H.Q. in a chateau just east of the 5th kilometre mark on the Menin Road, and
south of it, the ruins of which were subsequently known as Stirling Castle.
Meanwhile Sir Henry Rawlinson motored with a few of his staff from Ostend to
Wynendale Chateau, near Thourout, on the 12th, next day to Roulers, and to Lovie
Chateau (Elverdinghe) on the 14th, whilst the rest of us motored by easy stages, via
Nieuport and Dunkerque (where we saw the first bomb fall on that peaceful town) to
Poperinghe, where Corps H.Q. were established in the Convent School, west of the church.
B mess fed chez Madame veuve Bontin, who, with her two daughters and a niece,
ran an estaminet in a small street north of the main square, known later as Skindles."
The first few days were spent entrenching the line, which from Zandvoorde through
Gheluvelt to Zonnebeke was held by the 7th Division, with the cavalry on their left from
Moorslede to Westroosebeke, but tools were deficient, and local purchase in Ypres pro
duced only 20 implements and no wire.
From the 19th onwards an advanced Corps H.Q. was opened daily at the Hotel de
Ville in Ypres, with an overflow in the Cloth Hall, French cuirassiers being stabled on the
ground floor, but we soon moved up into billets in Ypres, the Corps Commander to No. 10
rue de Lille, and B mess to No. 40, a snug little house with over 120 pieces of china
in the sitting-room, and the most primitive sanitary arrangements. I trust that the old
brandy, which the owners buried in the garden, was in due course dug up by them from
the ruins!
On the evening of the 17th, Sir John French issued orders for an advance next day,
the IV Corps being directed to move on Menin, with its left covered by its own cavalry
division. On General Byng's left four French cavalry divisions were to march on Roulers.
At the same time Sir John French told General Rawlinson to keep an eye on enemy
detachments known to be at Bruges and Roulers, with which it was intended that the
I Corps should deal when it came up into line.
Those who know the country about Ypresand who that survived the War on the
western front does not?will realise that the front of the IV Corps already formed a
handsome salient, which an advance on Menin would render still more pronounced.
Consequently the movements of the IV Corps on the 18th were confined to a general wheel
to the S.E. pivoting on Zandvoorde, whence in the evening the line ran through Terhand,
to Waterdamhoek, whilst one battalion was thrown forward on the right front to America.
According to the official account it was only at noon on the 18th that a liaison officer
from G.H. Q. told General Capper that it had been intended to attack Menin on that day,
