United States or Timor-Leste ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
In the month of May following a deputation, consisting of James van Artevelde and other burghers appointed by the cities of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres scoured the whole of Flanders, from Bailleul to Termonde, and from Ninove to Dunkirk, "to reconcile the good folk of the communes to the Count of Flanders, as well for the Count's honor as for the peace of the country."
But his unswerving justice never faltered. Gilbert de Bailleul, in some claim to property, ventured to make light of the charter of Henry I., by which it was held. The king's wrath blazed up. "By the eyes of God," he cried, "if you can prove this charter false, it would be worth a thousand pounds to me!
"That Monsieur de Léry should merely say off hand before his friends that what he had told of Monsieur Lecour was said at hazard." "Then, sir, tell the Chevalier de Bailleul that when I said I was willing to arrange that affair amicably I did not know that he would dare to propose that I commence by consenting to the formal and complete dishonour of Monsieur de Léry.
We had entered another epoch! Until we left Bailleul the Canadian Division had been a part of the 2nd Army under Sir Herbert Plumer. We were now to go to the other end of the British line and become part of the 1st Army, then commanded by the present Commander-in-Chief, Sir Douglas Haig.
De Léry will then exhibit the retraction, with attestations both by myself and de Bailleul." De Lotbinière contemplated the cupids frescoed on the frieze urbanely. He was victor. A knock came, and the Marquis de Répentigny was ushered in. "See," said he, "what is going all over Paris"; and he gave a newspaper passage to de Lotbinière to read. The item ran
They knew no French and were completely lost in a foreign land. But they were beautifully calm. They sat on the driving seat and smoked pipes and derided each other, as in turn they struggled to make their difficulty known. "Bailleul," said the Tommies over and over, but they pronounced it "Berlue," and the villagers only laughed. The officer in the car explained.
The buses took us through Bailleul and Nieppe to Armentières, at that time a town infested with the most appalling stinks and very full of inhabitants, although the front line trenches ran through the eastern suburbs. Having "debussed," we marched to le Bizet, a little village a mile north of the town, and stayed there in billets for the night.
All but the worst happened. In my despatches, reprinted in book form with explanatory prefaces, I have told in full detail the meaning and measure of the British retreat, when forty-eight of our divisions were attacked by one hundred and fourteen German divisions and fell back fighting stubborn rear-guard actions which at last brought the enemy to a dead halt outside Amiens and along the River Ancre northward from Albert, where afterward in a northern attack the enemy under Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria broke through the Portuguese between Givenchy and Festubert, where our wings held, drove up to Bailleul, which was burned to the ground, and caused us to abandon all the ridges of Flanders which had been gained at such great cost, and fall back to the edge of Ypres.
They were rather primitive but the water was hot. It made a nice change to get back to civilisation once more and to have a meal at a restaurant; and the shops of course were a great attraction. About May 5, just as I was about to set out a second time for Bailleul, a letter came in for me from my brother George.
I stood on the Mont des Chats looking down upon a wide sweep of battle, and saw many little farmsteads on fire and Bailleul one torch of flame and smoke. There was an old monastery on the Mont des Chats which had been in the midst of a cavalry battle in October of 1914, when Prince Max of Hesse, the Kaiser's cousin, was mortally wounded by a shot from one of our troopers.
Word Of The Day