ioó
THE YPRES TIMES
but we took it as a matter of coursethe spectacle of the last few days had left
no other impression on us. Entering the town of Court St. Etienne about half
an hour later, we were greeted with merry peals from the church bells and allied
flags fluttering. We camped in the church, and the priest read the terms of the
Armistice to us, whilst, outside, the guards tore up tombstones to make fireplaces.
The only difference noticed the next day, when we moved off, was that the guards
unfixed their bayonets. It was a bewildering day. People sat in their front rooms,
surrounded by flags, watching the invader going back, German troops shooting
their own officers, and other officers tearing off all signs of rank and wearing red
arm-bands to escape a like fate.
Leaving Perwez the next day, we crossed the old battlefield of Ramillies, and
at the end of the march halted on a desolate plain with not a sign of life visible.
Evening was coming on and a cold wind was blowing over the plain, when the
Kommandant mounted a wagon and dismissed us with this blessing: We have
no money or rations for you. You are free. Go which way you like." We had
no alternative but to sleep in the open that night and prepare plans for the
morrow.
Some elected to stay in the vicinity until our troops came, others were for
going to meet them, some to Brussels, and the remainder to Holland.
Approaching Liége, we were informed that Germans were forcing prisoners to
work, so we side-stepped to the Dutch frontier, but the Dutch sentries would not
admit us owing to our distressful condition and the possibility of fever. Retracing
our steps, four of us reached Waremme and were kindly put up by peasants, who
shared their food with us. Under German rule for four and a half years,
they would stop talking or eating at a heavy step or knock, and mutter Les
Allemands." Door knobs, window fittings, or any brass-work had been removed
by the invader, and every week each person had to report with a passport. For
several days we amused ourselves with watching the thousands of Germans
pouring into the town, with their bands playing, and still taking cattle and loot
with them. When all had gone, people swept houses and shops clean of German
dust, and the amount of articles dug up from back gardens and allotments, hidden
four and a half years before, was amazing. A shop window full of brass-work
had a notice, No brass for the Boche."
The period between the exit of the Germans and the entry of Belgian troops
was spent in riots. Persons who had shown favour to the Germans were hounded
from the town and had their property burnt. A list appeared each morning, giving
them an opportunity to go, and at night the work of destruction commenced.
There was no one to prevent it, there being no civil police.
We joined the first train leaving westwards, and saw the havoc done at
Louvain as we passed through. Arriving in Brussels at night, we were dazzled
by the many illuminations and stood undecided outside the station, still holding
on to our cooking utensils. A British Staff officer failed to recognize us as
British soldiers, and passed on, but we were collected by someone and billeted in
a theatre. During our stay in the city we received the best of treatment and many
kindnesses. A few of the prices ruling in Brussels then were: Boots, suits, £20;
butter, ios. per lb.; eggs, 2s.a pair of socks, £1; and cotton was sold by the yard.
From then homewards, food and comforts were showered on us, everyone
doing their utmost to cheer us up. We were welcomed all along the route, but
the greatest ovation of all awaited us at Dover, where the combined shriek of
whistles and sirens from the warships and steamers in harbour continued until
we anchored.
A better ending than many had hoped for in the dark days at Quéant.
