But
before we arrived the civilians were busy, some with shovels, others
with their hands, filling in the enormous craters. The people seemed to
be dazed with excitement. The sudden relief after four years of misery
proved too much for one poor woman, who in her sheer joy lost the kindly
light of reason. We halted for a few hours at Chene Raoul, but time was
precious, and by night we were in comfortable billets across the Belgian
border.

At dawn on the 10th November we set out for our last taste of the war,
little thinking that our hours of danger and discomfort were now
numbered. The Battalion was advanced guard to the Brigade, which was
moving forward via Pommeroeul, Hautrage, and the Bois de Baudour.

In the advance from Vimy we had so far been only among the first
friendly troops to enter the villages deserted by the Hun; now we were
the first, and we shall not readily forget the enthusiasm with which we
were greeted. We were bombarded with flowers, coffee, and cigars. The
generosity of these kind people was much greater than their knowledge of
the enemy's dispositions, with the result that our approach was well
advertised. The latter part of our advance was along the north edge of
the Bois de Baudour. Immediately east of Garenne we had to cross a wide
gap, and here the enemy machine-guns, which were cunningly sited and
carefully concealed, got busy. As our van-guard closed with him, one
Hun, whose gun was mounted at the top window of a house, waved the white
flag. The ruse, however, was transparent, and the last shot of the war,
as far as we were concerned, silenced him.

At 17.00 we got orders to relieve the cavalry outposts; but, as this
would have involved a considerable march in an anti-Bosche direction,
the spirit, rather than the letter, of this order was obeyed. At about
midnight the shelling, which had been fairly heavy, ceased, and some
hours later there was not a sound to be heard. Patrols sent out before
dawn reported that all was clear for over a mile. It had been a bitterly
cold night, and we were quite glad when it was time to move again.

At 07.00 on the 11th November we set out for our last attack, our
objective being the Mons-Jurbise road. There was no opposition of any
kind and by 09.00 we had reached the objective. Our job had proved an
easy one, and we quite expected to get orders to continue the pursuit.
But of a sudden there arose a clatter of hoofs and an obviously excited
transport offi