The End is in Sight

Saturday 9th November 1918

It seems as if the worries aired in yesterday's piece were unnecessary. The enemy really are finished. Their Kaiser, we understand, abdicated this morning. It is not clear exactly what this means inside Germany but with the despot gone there must be a vacuum at the heart of the state. Clearly Germans themselves believe the war is lost and Willy has paid the price.

In a clearing in the Forest of Compiegne there is a railway car. This morning a German delegation entered this car and heard terms dictated by a delegation of senior allied officers, headed by the allied supreme commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch. These terms are believed to include complete withdrawal from all occupied territory, including the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which they surrendered to Germany after their defeat in 1870. Germany has two days to respond.

At the front today the city of Maubeuge fell to our troops. The 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment again attacked and retook Blaugies and moved on to take Sars-la-Bruyere and Quevy-le-Petit, three miles south-west of Mons, for the loss of four men killed and thirteen wounded.

Source: X550/5/3

Catching Breath

Saturday 30th March 1918

Today, once again, the Germans have attacked our Fifth Army and our French allies south of the River Somme. If any did not believe that this great attack was on its last legs, they now will have changed their mind. The attack gained a small amount of ground but it did not have the energy, the force or the cohesion of the attacks of the last ten days.

The 2nd Battalion have left Rouvrel today, marching to Saleux, just south-west of Amiens and then taking the train to the pretty fishing village of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. They have more than earned a spell by the seaside! The 4th Battalion is at Forceville, just two or three miles north-west of Bouzincourt. It is refitting and reorganising.

The 6th Battalion is now at Couin, only about seven miles north of the 4th Battalion at Forceville. The 7th Battalion has been a Nampcel for a few days but today took buses to Compiegne and then to Amiens. Their final destination was Boves, south-east of Amiens. They are battered and much reduced, but the indomitable 18th Division now stands ready to defend the city of Amiens from any enemy attack.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/5/3; X550/7/1; X550/8/1