THE YPRES TIMES 77
September, 1914.
By Captain J. G. W. Hyndson, M.C.
(Late) The Loyal Regiment.
(Author of From Mons to the First Battle of Ypres).
AT nightfall on September 13th, my battalion, the 1st Loyal North Lancashire
Regiment, together with the units of the 2nd Brigade, were billeted in the village
of Moulin. The day had been spent in close contact with the enemy who, after
severe fighting, had been driven back from the River Aisne and were known to have
established themselves on the Chemin Des Dames ridge overlooking the Aisne Valley.
To protect the advance of the 1st Division next day, the 2nd Brigade was ordered
to seize before daybreak the top of the Chemin Des Dames in the neighbourhood of
Cerny-En-Laonnois
At 2 a.m. we were roused in the grey dawn. A thick mist blotted out the whole
country-side and the rain was coming down in a steady drizzle, making everything round
us look drab and dismal.
After a hasty breakfast of rashers of very salty bacon, bread and jam, with mugs
of tea to wash it down, we hurriedly fell in and marched off in the wake of the leading
units of the 2nd Brigade who had already preceded us.
We had no sooner got clear of the village when rifle and machine-gun fire broke out
some distance in front of us and we knew that the leading units of the Brigade were already
in action. We hurried on under a barrage of stray bullets which sounded most unpleasant
as they zipped over our heads, cutting down small branches of trees from time to time in
their passage. The road twisted for about a mile down to the village of Vendresse, where
we halted to seek cover under a very over-grown hedge and to await orders. Meanwhile
the volume of fire had increased to an intensity we had not yet experienced and we
realised that we were about to plunge into a pretty big battle. The ground in front of
us sloped up in a steep ridge along the top of which ran the Chemin Des Dames. There
was a big sugar factory on the highest point of the ridge, and the ground was undulating
and broken with innumerable small woods and clumps of trees scattered here and there.
Nestling in the valley on the British side and sheltered by the ridge, were the villages of
Vendresse and Troyon.
From Vendresse the road wound steeply for about a mile until it dipped down into
the village of Cerny-En-Laonnois. The Germans, it was discovered, had found time to
dig themselves in and were well entrenched on the ridge. They had chosen an excellent
position from which they could overlook all our movements and they obviously meant
to try and stop any further advance on our part.
We remained in the shelter of the hedge, such as it was, for some time, and several
men were wounded in the arms or legs. While we waited, the 1st Guards Brigade swung
past and disappeared up the road. From the direction of the firing a batch of some
Ö00 prisoners appeared, escorted to the rear by a few soldiers. Everything was apparently
going in our favour. At - 9 o'clock orders arrived for us to move up the road and we
accordingly moved off in fours. As we toiled up the hill we saw many signs of the struggle.
In one place a gun had been knocked into the road, dead men and horses were lying about
and a stream of slightly wounded men kept passing us on their way to the First Aid post
in Troyon.
We soon reached the top of the hill and halted just short of a point where the road
turned left-handed over the ridge. Here the Brigadier met us and issued his orders which
