Chapter I: Preface

In the words of the Chief of the Italian General Staff, the war correspondent is the link between that part of the nation that fights and that part which is watching--“a noble and fertile mission, as great as any mission ever was, and as necessary, too, for no army can long and resolutely march to victory if it has not the support and enthusiasm of the whole country behind it.”

As the accredited correspondent of the _Daily Mail_ at the General Headquarters of Field-Marshal Sir John French, I have spent the greater part of the past six months with the British Army in Flanders. I have seen for myself the life and work of our army in the field. I have visited in person the trenches along practically our whole front. I have talked with our organizers of victory from the Commander-in-Chief downwards to the man in the saphead ten yards from the enemy.

This book is the result. It was written in the field, under the Censorship. That familiar phrase, “Passed by Censor,” stands at the foot of every chapter in the manuscript, as it will stand at the foot of this preface. To that part of the nation which is watching at home I could, in fulfilment of my mission, have offered a more detailed narrative of the life of that other part that is fighting in Flanders, did not considerations of military necessity stand in the way. But, apart altogether from the question of patriotism, the large measure of trust which the army has, in most instances, extended to the writer has made me the more anxious to respect a privileged position, and to eschew anything calculated to afford to the enemy the least information of value. My endeavour has rather been to present a picture of the life of our army in Flanders built up out of a series of impressions, to reveal the soul of the army as it has been unbared to me in the actual conditions of warfare.

If I should not seem to paint war as terrible or our task in Flanders as stupendous as it is, you must set it down to the army’s contagious habit of making the best of things. The army knows that, man for man, it is more than a match for the German. It knows that, given a lead, it can draw upon resources which, both physically and mentally, are better than anything the Germans have now remaining. With unconcealed impatience it looks to the Government at home to increase our machinery of war until, in this respect as well, we can claim superiority over our redoubtable and unscrupulous foe.

I have praised freely--and God knows there is enough to praise out here!--and if my criticism is sparing, it is solely because military criticism in the mouth of an accredited war correspondent acquires a weight in the eyes of the enemy that gives it the value of direct information.

I am anxious to express my gratitude to the Editor of the _Daily Mail_, who has generously allowed me to reproduce some of the admirable photographs in my book, and to M. René Baschet, _Directeur-Gérant_ of the very excellent French weekly, _L’Illustration_, for his courtesy in permitting me to reprint M. Georges Scott’s striking sketch of “Silent Ypres.”

G. VALENTINE WILLIAMS.

IN THE FIELD,
_September, 1915_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. OF OUR ARMY IN THE FIELD 1

II. THE WAR OF POSITIONS 21

III. THE FIGHT FOR THE SALIENT 46

IV. SILENT YPRES 97

V. BILLETS IN THE FIELD 117

VI. CASTLES IN FLANDERS 139

VII. G.H.Q. 151

VIII. THE CHIEF 169

IX. INTO THE FIRING-LINE 188

X. THE COMRADESHIP OF THE TRENCHES 213

XI. THE PRINCE OF WALES 234

XII. THE GUARDS IN FLANDERS 245

XIII. THE ARBITERS OF VICTORY 264

XIV. CHILDREN OF THE RAJ 280

XV. T.F. 300

XVI. THE EYES OF THE ARMY 319

XVII. ENTER THE NEW ARMY 337

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

SILENT YPRES _Frontispiece_

PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR _Facing page_ 1

A CORNER OF A TRENCH WITH A TRAVERSE ON
THE EXTREME LEFT ” ” 24

THE WAR OF BOMB AND KNIFE; FRENCH SOLDIERS WITH MASKS
AND STEEL HELMETS ” ” 28

A BURSTING MINE ” ” 34

MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES ” ” 49

BILLETS IN THE FIELD: THE BRITISH SOLDIER
AND HIS PEASANT HOSTS ” ” 126

CRICKET AT THE FRONT ” ” 132

A SCENE AT A BASE ” ” 160

“THE CHIEF” ” ” 170

UNDER THE EYE OF “THE CHIEF”--TROOPS MARCHING PAST SIR
JOHN FRENCH AT THE FRONT ” ” 180

IN A GERMAN TRENCH ” ” 202

GERMAN PRISONERS ” ” 230

BIG SHELL EXPLODING ON A ROAD IN FRANCE--GERMAN
SOLDIERS IN FOREGROUND ” ” 266

INDIAN CAVALRY IN A FRENCH VILLAGE ” ” 288

INDIAN INFANTRY ON THE MARCH ” ” 296

_Elliott & Fry phot._

MR. G. VALENTINE WILLIAMS.]

WITH OUR ARMY IN FLANDERS