Although our Headquarters were at Nieppe, the village was really (p. 112)
in the British Area, and so we were informed towards the end of
November that we had been ordered to move to St. Jans Cappel. On
Monday, November 22nd I started off by car via Bailleul to my new
billet. Although I had left Nieppe and its pleasant society with great
regret, I was quite pleased with my new home. It was a small house
belonging to a widow, on the road that led from St. Jans Cappel up to
Mount Kemmel. The house itself was brick and well built. The
landlady's rooms were on one side of the passage, and mine were on the
other. A large garret overhead gave a billet for Ross and my sergeant
clerk. In the yard there was a stable for the horse. So the whole
family was quite comfortably housed, and Ross undertook to do my
cooking. The room which I used as my office in the front of the house
had two large windows in it, and a neat tiled floor. The furniture was
ample. At the back, up some steps, was my bedroom, and the window from
it opened upon the yard. A former occupant of the house, a Major
Murray, of King Edward's Horse, had left a series of maps on the wall,
on which pins were stuck with a bit of red cord passing through them,
to show the position of our front line. These maps deeply impressed
visitors with my military exactness. In that little office I have
received many guests of all ranks. I always said that the chaplain's
house was like a church, and all men met there on equal terms.
Sometimes it was rather difficult however, to convince them that this
was the case. On one occasion two privates and I had just finished
luncheon, and were having a delightful smoke, when a certain general
was announced, and the men seized with panic, fled up the steps to my
bedroom and bolting through my window hurried back to their lines.
The landlady was quite well to do, and was a woman well thought of in
the village. She both paid calls upon her neighbours and received
callers in her rooms. Sometimes I used to be invited in to join these
social gatherings and frequently she would bring me in a nice bowl of
soup for dinner. Philo, too, made himself quite at home, and carefully
inspected all visitors on their admission to the mansion. In front of
the house, there was a pleasant view of the valley through which the
road passed up towards Mont des Cats. Our Headquarters were down in
the village in a large building which was part of the convent. General
Currie and his staff lived in a charming chateau in pleasant grounds,
on the hillside. The chateau, although a modern one, was reputed (p. 113)
to be haunted, which gave it a more or less romantic interest in the
eyes of our men, though as far as I could hear no apparitions disturbed
the slumbers of the G.S.O. or the A.A. & Q.M.G.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account