The Scotsman - Tuesday, 12th November 1918, page 5

HOW PEACE CAME TO . TMiiJ AEMIES -TNT THE FIELP .

THE MESSAGE PROM,. GJfiNJSKAJj HEADQUARTERS. [i'noji Oca Corhesponde-nt.] . , . . . . With the Ebitisk .Absiks in the Field, .. . ¦ 'Monday l^li ght. ¦ "Eleven o'clock torday, Norembe* 11, troops will stand fast on the positions, reached at tho hour named. ' The line of outposts will bo established and reported to Army Headquarters. . The remainder of thetecdops wiU be collected ready to meet any emorgoncy. All military precautions will bo preserTed , and there will t>e no communication with tho enemy, Further instructions will ho issued. Acknowledge." : ¦ In these words peace camd to the armies in-thn field. The greatest war in history was brought to an end b y a curt message for. :' which a . singlo' pink slip ' sufficed. It came ¦ in the night, from «¦ mysterious train ' whidi is part of General-Headquarters to fcb© five Army Commanders who have" guided our advance 1 .to viote .V. Ill tile £wt )\6UH of JaWn it travelled /rom armies to corps and from corps to divisions arid brigadesfinding at last thn vanguard, which still Sought contact with the beaten enemy. . It reached its journey' s end at Aloti3, where British troops, this time' from overseas, once more mid nn nntnnst lino thn furthest linn nf thnti nn the battlefield where the fate of Europe has been decided. Could there be a more fitting finish than this to the four years' struggla for the freedom of the world ? Who would have dared to prophesy that the day of victory would find tho soldiers of the Empire again in Mons, triumphant at last over the Hun, that the."Cease fire" wuld be pounded on tho very ground whore the first sacrifice -was made ? Tho " Old Contemptibles " are indeed avenged. . , . A single pink slip, the ordinary Army fignah formbearing pierliaps a dozen, lines o£ writing in indelible pencilling, I saw it at the head quarters of the. Third -Army dorps in Tcmrnai at half past eight on the second stago of.-its journey to tlie front , Jine. It had.been dispatched from tho Kfth 'Army in Lille at 7.30 and received at 7.41, Two staff officfii'3 irero at (hat moment hurrying through and tangle of traffic on the Brussels highroad with copies for, the divisions fighting under the Third Corps—the 55th West Lancashire arid, the 74th -Yeomanry . -Within an hour the order was"Iniotto: at th,e froptHfchtid veactal tho battories and infantry. Only the cavalry patrols and infantry out in the bluo wore ignorant of the imminence of peace. Word could not bo got to them-quickly, and they did- not learn tho -wonderful news until they camo back with their reports—to find that their work ind Hppti rtMvilpea NO DRAMATIC ENDIXG. ' I havo no thriUingly dramatic story to t«!I of the actual suspension of hostilities ^ You may have pictured. tho sudden cessation of a heavy bombardment, the silencing of innumerable batteries and of riflo fire by the nptes'of a bugle, the strange liU3h which would follo>y such an. abrupt termination of a battle. . I do not; believe that there havo beon such incidents of. tho beginning of the armistice at many, if indeed any; parts of the front. 1 can only speak definitely of the area in which I ha-ro been this morning 1 —that of the 3rd Corps, which has beon fighting from Tournai and holding the front on ' both sides of Ath. In this localit" thore has been practically no fighting, for t'af.Germans eluded us. All yesterday the cavalry felt for them—King 1 Edward's Horsp.ranching the outskirts of Ath itself—without finding more than ;i few machine gunners.. Then the infantry pushed up to the line of tho river Dendrs. A mobiJecomposite column, including mounted troops, cyclists, a company of tunnellers, and a dotachment of engineers with five days' rations, went out to pick up the lost enemy. 'So hustled were the Germans that they had no time to blow up bridges or their mines on the main roads on tihis'side of Ath. They simply scurried away, fully ' awaro that nothing mattered. TAKING NO CHANCES. ¦ The Atmies took no chances of tho armistice- not being signed, and so our troops rested overnight prepared to push on- this morning. , In the 3rd Corps area the 55th and 74th Divisions were to resume their advance at 6 o'clock, find tho Germans if possible, and push on as far as they could. They wove off at daybreak. Then at 7.41 enmo the messago from tho 5th Army—the order to "Stand, fast" at 11. A telegraphist took it down as it ticked into ¦ the ¦ receiving room at " Corps ISignais." At Toumai an orderly took it into hie " operations 7 rooms'-.' of Headquarters in a private house- in tho Rue St Jacques. Five minutes later it was in tho hands of General Butler, the Corps Commander. The General summoned two Staff officer.-. H° tfroto Ilia order to the tiro Divisional General? under his command , and ivhilo . two copies iroro being-made it was telephoned to flio Headquarters ofthe 74th Division, near Toiirnai, and to the 55tli Division at Barry, bflfwwn Tonrriai and Leuze. The Staff officers arrived, mid \yhife they breaklasted the-Corps Commander gave them instructions regarding- the line to bo occupied an the Corps front by the. time the .irnii-*Ce went into effect. He handed them fhe ™P m ol . his order, and soon after eiht o'doct *'"" r ™° t01 : <^K was Imrrviii ff through the Gran* H"™ at,Tournai towards the front. Peoplo were just opening their houses, and the. streets, still tenWd after the wild ' rejoicinga o£ yester<!»r., Jiold j voty..,few pedestrians. ' Little children had already resumed their vigil at tho canal bridge and were watching thenfiver-ending stream of men and waggonswhioh flowed through tho town. ¦ - ' . ' .:- .... The - country beyond- through- which ¦ these bearer? of good tidings passed - gave; httlo hint that the ,ffnr '™s at an; end, You would have thought thatanother ;gteat- battle was imminent.. Field bsttencs followed each other, at iu. 4_:i _t ,:n^;ncc hnttahons, and there were lonir columns of limbers fu of ammunition, and ambulances , and.cavalry, with the-horse batteries clatterina aftor thpniall pressing eastward without haste or confusion. 4t w?s a ra^'. f 1 ? ii»tumn morniriir and the aeroplanes, which -.kept-'diving low flho ' ve tho crowded highway^ were " soon lost to viow wherever they soared again into tho dull grey sky. REFUGEES'.; ' RETURN. ¦ ... ¦B eating against the tide of khaki came- acountercurrent of humanity in strange ' contrast -with that oroVrlr pageant of¦' war. " 1 Hundreds of mon in fhsbby civilian 'dress ..trainped the slippery ; road, pusiiing between them, littlo oai'ts full of incongruous Kit, and even perambulators . Vhich didduty a^ transport.; These men were of.all ages,, from boys staggering under the weight 6| their-Uankfit rolls to old men \ 60,-who ivero as burdened by tho curious equipment they-wore about their bont bodies. They had flags in their coats, while enormous tricd!oufa : and Belgian- national cmbtans floated proudly over their dilapidated barrows ma oar&f Some of'them had discarded hats, andJ<>™ instead, knotted .pieces o£ yellow and blacK cw ¦ Otto wo : dedked iritli odd' little eajw^o1. same cblo .uW, and they even-carried fl««4 . ¦ hands aa Veil! ' " ' .; " ' , ., ' . n j':French. : . These, were- the ' returning , ^f.f/f e¥ w»k9 - civihans deported by tho Qe'^^, 0B S'rid w> . *So ;--vThey were torned ^^ 'f^home. - Home; ovet 10,000 of them - and told to S? an rabb]o ihej-went through ^P-^^Tthe machine guiv and hopelessly, indeed intantry ¦« _ Uan > s ^and un. . outposts: across tho miagina^... [( . p^-odv-emn. challenged and. on ^fe^Britisfi Army;:. They: patrols .into tho z? 110 , ?^n<ls, whert'thoir . Wiss came sirigintr, --waving "lajri j. - j^. . - permitted drunk iv* «^3 tleir ¦ y ^^h m , The staff - office . " «*fr»g ihiheadiv.miiet3 medloy of f»!f o 7 S" Biv!sion3. - Their mission-was of the'55tll and <4th,i» ,, t6 ; hand over f^^ SIe aS continue their-journey, to the u^' r j^ and so ori'to the forward positions. brigades, and t^ oeYKlQST ¦ Reserved.1 ; ., -; .- -¦ , - - ' -. ; ' -' ' - - ' . rOoKWOKT IN ; 'U.S.A;] '.-- ; :. - : . ¦ '-.,; ¦