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.Nulli Secundus -
'Second to None'
by Terence Cardwell
Chapter
Thirty Two - Retreat with glory
At one a.m. on the morning of the twenty-fourth of
August, the Guardsmen were advised that there would be a
controlled withdrawal of all troops from the front lines
to the town of Le Cateau, some ten miles to the south.
‘What the hell are we retreating for?’ Jim asked.
‘We’re holding the germans back, we’ve got ’em bluffed.’
‘The sergeant has just told me that it would appear that
our friends the French have buggered it up again,’ Jack
informed them. ‘The French have been defending Charleroi
over to our right, some fifteen miles away, and have
been driven back by the German Second Army. They’re
retreating to the Marne River to regroup, leaving our
right flank exposed. If we don’t move back pretty
quickly we could be surrounded on both sides, especially
the right flank.’
‘Bugger— we just got here, and now we’ve got to go back.
If we’d waited a day or two we could’ve saved ourselves
a long march,’ Bob cursed.
‘Well, don’t worry too much Bob, they’re going to make
us live up to our motto. The Gordon Highlanders are
leaving first, followed by the Artillery and then the
Scots Guards, and we’re to act as rear guard and cover
the retreat to Bavai, then retreat further to regroup at
Le Cateau,’ George explained.
‘All the way back to Le Cateau?’ Jim asked in an
incredulous voice.
‘As far as I’ve heard, all the way back,’ George
replied.
‘That should be interesting,’ Jack said in a thoughtful
voice.
An hour later the soldiers to the right of them started
firing again, one after the other, maintaining a
constant barrage of rifle fire. They looked over to see
if the enemy was coming but there were none.
‘What the bloody hell are they firing at? I can’t see
anything,’ George complained.
‘Damn if I know, they must be getting twitchy,’ Bob
replied.
To their right the Gordon Highlanders started to move
quietly away from their position, taking their equipment
and wagons, located behind the hill, with them. They
slipped away like ghosts, their commanding officers
whispering to them as they left.
‘That’s what the noise is about— they’re covering the
Highlanders’ retreat so the Germans won’t hear. Clever
buggers,’ Jack enthused.
The Coldstreamers and the Irish Guards watched the
soldiers fade away. Shortly after, the Scots Guards
stopped firing and followed the Highlanders. In the
distance came the faint clink of metal as the artillery
guns were quietly towed away.
It was now very quiet, and the half moon shone from a
clear sky on a no man’s land of craters with grey and
black heaps scattered across the ground. The terrible
sounds of agony had slowly decreased until now there was
silence.
The Guardsmen felt very alone as they stared into the
distance to see if there were any enemy soldiers, and
seeing only shadows and black trees in the cold of the
night.
Suddenly there were whistling sounds followed by loud
pops, as a dozen bright white lights appeared floating
high in the sky. It lit up the land between the Germans
and the allied troops like daylight.
‘What the hell are they up to?’ Bob whispered.
‘Damned if I know— never seen anything like them,’
George whispered back. ‘But they certainly light up the
ground.’
‘I wonder if they explode? They might be a new weapon,’
Jack asked.
‘Either way, we’re about to cop it again,’ George said.
‘Looks like the beginning of another attack.’
The guardsmen watched the lights slowly float to the
ground, and waited for the mass of German grey coats to
appear, but nothing came. The lights faded out,
returning the area to darkness. But they had been so
bright that the men had lost their night vision, and
they struggled to see into the distant darkness.
They waited for the German troops to rush at them but
the attack never came, and they spent the next two hours
in nervous anticipation.
Two hours after the Scots Guards and the rest of the
Second Division had left, they were told to quietly move
back in an organised fashion, keeping together as best
as they could.
Slowly at first, they retired by successive echelons to
Harveng and Bouginies, then back a further two miles to
a line between Quevy le Petit and Genly.
The Germans fired their heavy artillery intermittently,
but without any real target, causing little or no
damage.
Once more the men dug trenches and took cover behind
buildings, carts, mounds or anything that would offer
protection. Each time they stopped and waited for the
onslaught of the Germans, but it never came. There was
some shelling which did little damage, but the worst
agony was the lack of sleep They had gone for over sixty
hours without any sleep except a quick nap as they
staggered down the roads, bumping into the man in front
when they stopped.
Jack staggered along with the others, each one nudging
or shaking the other if they fell to the sides asleep,
or started weaving.
Voices whispered in Jack’s ears, ‘Close your eyes. Give
them a rest. You won’t go to sleep. Just rest your eyes.
You can walk with your eyes closed.’ He fought to resist
the voices in his mind, knowing them to be false. But as
he staggered along he slowly gave in to their insistent
whispers.
He felt someone grab him and shake him roughly.
‘Hey, Jack, you’re off again— wake up.’ The shaking
persisted and Jack forced his eyes open to see Bob,
bedraggled with four days’ growth, his greatcoat covered
in dirt, manhandling him as they kept marching.
‘Um, Oh thanks, Bob. Didn’t know I was asleep,’ Jack
mumbled.
‘Company halt,’ they heard an officer call; and they
knew they were to dig in once again.
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