How I Filmed the War: A Record of the Extraordinary Experiences of the Man Who Filmed the Great Somme Battles, etc.Malins, Geoffrey H.
History
How I Filmed the War: A Record of the Extraordinary Experiences of the Man Who Filmed the Great Somme Battles, etc.
Malins, Geoffrey H.
Malins, Geoffrey H.; Motion pictures; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British
Another officer ran up, "I say, Doctor, for Heaven's sake look in the
church here. The place is packed and half of them are ill, God knows
what with, and one or two are dead."
"Well, I will look, but I can do nothing until this evening. I have no
stuff with me."
We went into the church. Heavens! what a sight met our eyes; the
atmosphere was choking. It was like a charnel-house. Crowds of old men,
women, and children of all ages were crowded together with their
belongings. They had been evacuated from dozens of other villages by the
Huns. Women were hugging their children to them. In one corner an old
woman was bathing the head of a child with an old stocking dipped in
water. The child, I could see, was in a high fever. There must have been
at least three hundred people lying about in all directions, wheezing
and coughing, moaning and crying.
The doctor spoke to one old woman, who had hobbled forward and sank down
near a pillar. The doctor bent down and told her that he would bring
medicine in the evening. Everybody there seemed to hear that magic word,
and scrambled forward begging for medicine for themselves, but mostly
for the children. The scene was pitiable in the extreme.
I asked one women where they had come from. She told me from many
villages. The Bosche had turned them all out of their homes, then burnt
their houses and their belongings. They had walked miles exposed to the
freezing cold rains and winds, they had been packed into this church
like a lot of sheep without covering, without fires. She was begging for
medicine for her three-months-old babe.
"She will die, monsieur, she will die!" And the poor woman burst into a
flood of tears.
I calmed her as much as possible by telling her that everything would be
done for them without delay, and that medicine, food, and comfort would
be given them.
I turned and left the building, for the air was nearly choking me.
Outside I met the doctor, who was arranging to send a cyclist back for
an ambulance.
"They cannot be treated here, it's impossible. I've never seen such a
sight."
I left him and went into the house where the cyclist C.O. had made his
temporary headquarters.
"I want to get on further, is there any other village near by?"
"Yes," he said, "there is Haucourt, but I believe Bosche is in part of
it, or he was this morning. It's about two kilos from here. I shouldn't
go if I were you unless you get further information; I am expecting
another patrol in from there. If you care to wait a few minutes you may
learn something."
I agreed to wait, the "still" man came in just then, and he agreed to
come with me.
"We may as well risk it," I said. "I will take my old bus into the
place. If Bosche sees it he may mistake it again for an armoured car."
So, packing the cameras aboard, I waited for the expected patrol to turn
up. Half an hour passed; no sign. Daylight was waning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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