Chapter VII
THE LAST PHASE
On the 12th November we went into comfortable billets in Sous le Bois and Neuf Mesnil, while preparations were being made to march into Germany. The 62nd Division was to form part of the 9th Corps, under our former Commander, Lieut.-General Sir Walter Braithwaite, the other divisions being the 1st and the 6th; the trench mortars were to be left behind, but were to join us subsequently in Germany. While in Sous le Bois Lieut. E. S. Lloyd, M.C., Signalling Officer of the 312th Brigade, was taken ill with influenza, and to the great sorrow of us all died after a few days' illness. On the 17th we had a thanksgiving service for the Divisional Artillery, conducted by the Rev. S. Garrett, our senior chaplain. I may mention here that the Rev. T. A. Horne, who came out from England with the artillery, was invalided home in December, 1917, and was succeeded by the Rev. H. O. Perry. The latter was with us all through the big German push, and was then transferred to another appointment while we were fighting at the Marne in July, 1918. He was succeeded in his turn by the Rev. S. Garrett.
We marched on the 18th November, a wet, unpleasant day, to Ferrière la Grande. The artillery marched for the future in a separate column from the rest of the division, our itinerary being as follows. I give as a rule the name of the place where headquarters halted; the remainder of the artillery was billeted in the surrounding area, generally within a mile or two of headquarters.
19th. Solre sur Sambre, our first entry into Belgian territory.
20th. Berzèe. On arrival here we were greeted by the local band, which played our National Anthem over and over again with remarkable persistency for about two hours. It would be tedious to describe our reception at each halting place throughout the march, but I quote here, as typical of other greetings, the address presented to the 312th Brigade on their arrival in this area; it was couched in English as follows:
"Dear Allied Friends,
"After more than four years of a terrible war without example in the history of the world, the Belgians deprived of their freedom and rights during all that time have the immense joy of seeing again the sun of liberty shining bright and joyful over their heads. To tell you what a boundless feeling of happiness and gratitude we have now in our hearts is impossible for us to do in some words. We are like slaves whose fetters would fall down all of a sudden, like birds kept for long years in a dull cage and which unexpectedly could fly freely again in the open air of a nice spring day. Our hearts sing merrily, our souls are transported with joy and hope. On this memorable day where you bring us freedom, we turn away from the hard and unjust past to look forward with hope to the future. But if we are so to say mad for joy, our hearts are large enough to make room for another feeling as sincere and powerful as our happiness—our gratefulness to all our Allied friends. Yes, to you all which have helped us to reconquer our liberty, to you all which have given your blood for a destruction of a system of oppression, violence and brutality which threatened the world, we are immensely obliged. We are full of admiration for the great exploits of your armies; their courage, their spirit of self-sacrifice, their perseverance in the duty are for us external signs of the inner forces which animate them; passion for independence, justice and liberty. We are proud indeed to have as friends and Allies men of such a noble character.
"In the name of the Civil Authorities of the village of Thy-le-Chateau I am proud and glad to have the privilege of greeting you heartily.
"Hurrah for the English people and their valiant armies.
"Hurrah for our brave Allies. Hurrah."