CHAPTER XI

A REAR-GUARD ACTION

In a couple of hours’ time the march was continued in the darkness.  The men lurched from side to side, with brains too fagged to control their feet.  The Company was sent out to act as flank-guard on the top of the crest beneath which the column was moving.  This movement was very tiresome, as they had to move over broken country in an extended formation, and to keep up with the column which was moving in close formation along the road.  To compensate for this they were able to fill their haversacks with a peculiarly sweet kind of apple.

Later in the morning they emerged from the close country into the typical open plains of France, covered with corn and vegetables.  About five or six miles of this, and then the darker greens of pine and fir forests appeared in view.

The General Staff had selected this as the site of yet another rear-guard action.  One of the other Brigades in the Division was already busily engaged in constructing a line of trenches not more than a hundred yards in front of the woods.  To their front the view was uninterrupted, offering a field of fire unbroken by the least suspicion of cover from view or fire.

The artillery was no doubt concealed in the woods behind.  The men were doing their work with a quick, noiseless efficiency that would have made you very proud if you could have seen them.

Soon after the Column had passed into the woods, the noise of the guns was heard.  The Subaltern could imagine the whole scene as vividly as if he could see it:  the van-guard of the German Advanced Guard suddenly “held up” by the bursting of the British shells; the hasty deployment of the German cavalry; the further “holding up” of the main-guard of the Advanced Guard while a reconnaissance was being carried out with the help, perhaps, of a “Taube.”  Remember that the Germans must have been daily, almost hourly, expecting the Allies to make a determined attempt to check their continued advance, and must have been very nervous of walking into some trap.  Therefore the Commander of the German Advanced Guard would have to discover very exactly the nature of the resistance in front of him before the Officer commanding the main body—­some miles behind, of course—­could decide what force it would be necessary to deploy in order to dislodge the enemy from his position.

This is no easy matter.  What the retreating army is fighting for is time—­time to get clean away.  Consequently, if the Officer commanding the advancing army deploys a larger force than is necessary, he grants his opponent the very thing that he wants—­time, since the deployment of, say, a Division is a very lengthy operation, occupying at least three hours.  On the other hand, if he details too small a force for the work, his attack is held in check, and more time than ever is wasted in reinforcing it in a measure sufficient to press home the attack.