Our fighting experiences at Mons were not very severe, as the work fell to the lot of other Brigades. The 1st Brigade, which contained two Battalions of Guards, the 2nd Black Watch, and the Munster Fusiliers, suffered far more heavily than did we, who were moved from one place to another, mostly in support. Operating as we did chiefly round the outskirts of Mons, our casualty list was very slight.
CHAPTER III
THE RETIREMENT
CHAPTER III
THE RETIREMENT
It was from that field that we commenced the great Retirement. My recollections of the villages and towns we passed through on our way are now slight, since we often marched at night, though I have a clear remembrance of some of the larger ones which we traversed by day.
It was the twenty-fourth of August, on a blazing hot afternoon, when we started upon our great task. There was not a soul amongst the Officers or the men who had the slightest idea as to what was our destination. The first day or two we tramped along happily enough. It was not, I believe, until the evening of the second day that we obtained an inkling of what was about to happen, when we found ourselves passing through the outskirts of Mauberge once more. Most of us got the impression that we were retiring with a view to taking up a better position. A rumour went the rounds of the regiment that day to say that the C.O. was leaving us for a Staff appointment; and he did leave us, but returned again in the course of the next few days.