Saturday 12th September 1914: It has been another wet day in Fr
Sadly our
contact with the battalion is feeling unwell. He told us: “I woke up feeling
very seedy indeed and was violently sick several times and could hardly move. I
could not eat any breakfast at all and somehow managed to fall in and move off
with the Battalion when we moved off at 5 am”. The act of throwing away his
overcoat during the retreat has obviously resulted in a chill after being
soaked in yesterday’s rain. He went on: “We marched through several small
villages and I felt as if I were going to die all the time and had to several
times fall out at the side of the road and be frightfully sick! After about
five miles of this and after a long halt I gave up and did the next four hours
in the mess cart and managed to sleep most of the time”.
The
battalion has had a number of German prisoners with it which they have now
surrendered to the authorities. Our source notes: "These prisoners were a most
tame lot altogether and were very sorry to leave us and we were sorry to part
with them as they had been most useful during our fatigue work. They could
practically all speak English and one of them knew one of our men well and had actually worked with him in the Old Kent Road
Two companies
of the battalion are billeted tonight on the River Aisne.
Sources: X550/2/5; X550/2/7
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