THE ADVANCE
The following morning we left Bernay behind, and, going out the opposite side of the town from which we had entered, we marched two miles along the road until we came to a hill on the left of the road about five hundred yards off. There we advanced to the cover of the hill and were ordered to lie down. We were then informed that a four-days' battle was expected, and that a force of 40,000 Germans was on our front. Nothing, however, came of it that day; so we advanced a few more miles, and took rest in a field for an hour. There we were told that all men who wished to do so could grow a beard. From there we marched on to billets in a village.
The next morning we were away early, and during that day we passed through a village from which the Germans had obviously made a hurried exit, for we found that many things had been left behind. We were the ones that were doing the chasing now, and a nice change it was to us! Of course, we could not go very fast, not as fast as we had been made to go when retiring; and we were allowed to march in greater comfort. During the Retirement the infantry had had to put up with many trials—for instance: we took the right of the road and on the left we sometimes had Cavalry, Artillery, and Transport, which made marching most uncomfortable, whereas during the Advance we had the road to ourselves.
On the third day out we came across several dead horses and dead troopers, where our advance party had come into contact with the enemy's rearguard.