he intended to send some infantry, supported by a
squadron of cavalry at Bailleul, to capture the transport wagons which
were likely to be left behind. He asked for some motor-cars to escort
the infantry back from Lille. Wing Commander Samson, having borrowed
from the French two machine-guns (he had only one of his own) and four
French artillerymen, started off early on the morning of the 6th of
September, with four motor-cars (three of them armed with machine-guns),
six officers, ten of his own men, and the four Frenchmen. An aeroplane,
flown by Flight Lieutenant Dalrymple-Clarke, was detailed to escort
them, with instructions to fly well ahead and to come down low and fire
a Very light if any of the enemy were sighted. In the outskirts of Lille
the party learned that the Germans, two thousand infantry and eighty
cavalry, had left Lille that morning, so they went on into the big
square where the Prefecture stands. The square was packed with people.
The rest shall be told in Air Commodore Samson's own words:

'We got through the crowd, and took the cars into the courtyard, lining
them up abreast facing the square. The gendarmes at my request kept the
roadway in front of the building clear of the populace, so that we were
afforded a clear exit in case we had a fight, although I did not much
look forward to one with this seething crowd of civilians in the way.
Practically the whole of Lille appeared to be here; they were most
enthusiastic, cheering, singing, and shouting out, _Vive l'Angleterre!_
I did everything I could to impress the people with our discipline and
military behaviour, placing four of my men as sentries in a line behind
the railings, and one man standing by each machine-gun. Our sentries
stood like Guardsmen, and even when beautiful French girls came on the
scene, and sponged their faces and brushed the dust off their clothes,
they stood like lumps of granite. Leaving Davies in charge of the party,
I went inside to see the Prefect. He was pleased to see us, and said
that our arrival had reassured the town to a most extraordinary extent,
demonstrating to the people that they were not entirely at the mercy of
the enemy. He then told me of the brutal treatment he had received at
the hands of the Germans, showing the marks made on his throat by the
fingers of a German lieutenant who had nearly throttled him. They had
gone so far as to lead him out to hang him from a balcony, and he said
he had only been saved