VIII
REST AND DISCIPLINE[ToC]
We stayed in that region of the Front for a few more weeks, preparing for any other task that might be demanded of us. One day the Battalion received its orders to pack up, to load the tanks that were left over, and to be ready for its return to the district in which we had spent the winter.
We entrained on a Saturday evening at A——, and arrived at St.-P—— at about ten o'clock on Sunday night. From there a twelve-mile march lay before us to our old billets in B——. As may well be imagined, the men, though tired, were in high spirits. We simply ate up the distance, and the troops disguised their fatigue by singing songs. There were two which appeared to be favorites on this occasion.
One, to the tune of "The Church's One Foundation," ran as follows:—
"We are Fred Karno's[1] Army,
[121] The ragtime A.S.C.,[2]
We cannot work, we do not fight,
So what ruddy use are we?
And when we get to Berlin,
The Kaiser he will say,
Hoch, hoch, mein Gott!
What a ruddy rotten lot,
Is the ragtime A.S.C."
The other was a refrain to the tune of a Salvation Army hymn, "When the Roll is called up Yonder":—