tournai
by general-major frantz
on our arrival at tournai, towards the end of september, 1914, we were welcomed as the saviours of the country. our arrival was supposed to mean the reconquering of the whole province of hainault. the inhabitants of tournai had already suffered by the first invasion and on seeing me, with my staff and troops, they imagined that they were now saved. they were all the more convinced of this as some french troops arrived at the same time. alas, these troops were composed of a battalion of territorials, who had never been under fire, and a squadron of chasseurs, also territorials, commanded by a captain of fifty years of age; two squadrons of algerian goumiers of all ages and tribes, who looked superb. they were cavalrymen with brown faces, and were wearing their white burnous and carrying their long, slender guns in their shoulder belts. their sheiks, who had already fought for france, were proud of the crosses of the legion of honour which they wore.
these troops did not look sufficient for the defence of the town and baron stiénon du pré, the burgomaster, asked the commander of the french troops if they would really prove an efficient protection,[pg 229] or whether they would have no reinforcements and would have to leave tournai to its fate, on the first attack.
when the germans had made their first appearance here, tournai had been ordered by them to pay a tax of three million francs, and whilst this sum was being found, by means of a house to house collection, the burgomaster and several other prominent men had been taken to ath, as hostages. from there, they were sent to brussels and imprisoned nine days, although the sum exacted had been handed over to the enemy.
the french commander considered the burgomaster's question a poor kind of welcome, and i asked the latter for an explanation. he apologised amply and assured us of the absolute loyalty of himself and of all his citizens. after this, the french had no further cause for complaint with regard to their reception by the inhabitants of tournai. the remembrance of their sufferings was, however, too recent for the prominent men not to dread a renewal of them. the evil days when they had all been living under the prussian heel was uppermost in the thoughts of all the townspeople. we were constantly being asked by them whether the germans had been definitely driven back, etc.... unfortunately the information i received prevented my giving them an assurance of this.
for several days we lived at tournai in constant danger of a fresh invasion. i took the precaution to have all the civic guard scout chasseurs provided afresh with arms. their own guns were now in france and in different places in belgium, so that instead of their mausers they were supplied[pg 230] with gras rifles. this did not inspire them with confidence. they were absolutely lacking in initiative, but were always very willing. my principal forces consisted of about a hundred gendarmes of the hainault province, under lieutenant-colonel bloem, of the gendarmerie. i supplied my men and, later on, my volunteers, with fifty-seven new bicycles, which the germans had left behind them in their sudden retreat. thanks to these machines, i was able to send patrols out to a good distance. they managed to bring back a great deal of useful information and they succeeded in killing, or taking prisoners, a certain number of uhlans. at the same time, we managed to convince the enemy that considerable troops were massed at tournai and in the neighbourhood, and this illusion delayed their march forward. the famous german spying system was very defective here, and our enemies knew so little about the troops advancing on tournai that, believing they had no time to take their wounded away with them, they had left a certain number in our hospitals. i sent them away promptly, as prisoners, to bruges.
on the 30th of september, 1914, i learnt that enemy troops of all arms, estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 men, had reached ath and, in the afternoon, had sent their outposts to ligne, about half way to leuze. we might, therefore, expect to be attacked the following day. i sent a request for help to lieutenant-general clooten, who provided me with about a hundred volunteers from eecloo. their instruction had only been rudimentary, but they were excellent men.
as we had no artillery, i sent an urgent request to the commander of the french division of douai to[pg 231] come to our help, but he could not, as he was threatened on three sides at the same time. we were, therefore, reduced to gendarmes, to scout chasseurs, and to the eecloo volunteers, with the addition of a cyclist corps under lieutenant gérard. this officer had been ordered to destroy the thulin bridge, over the canal from mons to condé. unfortunately, the belgians were betrayed by a woman in the neighbourhood and fell into an ambush, thereby losing forty men out of the hundred and twenty of which their contingent was composed. the others fell back on tournai. they were all daring young men, full of enthusiasm, and quite ready to undertake the most dangerous missions in the enemy's lines. i remember, among others, a soldier of the 12th line regiment. he had walked some miles, bringing a wounded comrade with him in a wheelbarrow.
towards ten o'clock at night, on the 30th of september, lieutenant gérard had come to me and placed himself at my service. i explained to him the situation, and that very night he went and blew up several fortification works on the railway line between ath and leuze.
at midnight, lieutenant gérard came to tell me that he had been beyond ligne and had succeeded in his daring enterprise. thanks to this bold expedition, the first uhlan patrols did not reach tournai till late the following morning.
as we were threatened from the south-east as well as from the south, i was obliged to divide my poor forces in a way to bar the passage for the enemy in these two directions, and also towards the north-east, on the tournai-frasnes road. in the plains, my patrols of gendarmes and volunteers scoured the[pg 232] country. my method was to send out strong patrols of twenty men, half of them gendarmes and half volunteers. i gave them instructions to await the patrols of enemy cavalry, until they were only one hundred yards away, so that they could fire effectually, and not to let either a horse or its rider escape.
on the northern border of a little wood, about a mile and a half to the west of ramecroix, to the south of the tournai-leuze road, a patrol of twenty men, under the orders of captain motry of the gendarmerie, allowed an enemy patrol of seven men, commanded by an officer, to approach within a hundred yards. with one single volley, they then brought down all the riders with their horses. our soldiers took the horses' bits and the overcoats of the men they had killed, in order to show me the result of their work, and made off at once, as, to the south of the wood, a second enemy patrol was on its way to the rescue of the first one. a good number of uhlans of this fresh troop also had to eat the dust.
we could not, nevertheless, hold out against hordes twenty times, or rather fifty times, superior in numbers to ourselves. towards mid-day, the french beat a retreat in the midst of the exodus of the unfortunate inhabitants of the town. at orcq, i showed the major in command a magnificent place from which he could sweep the whole country right up to the entrance to tournai. he took up position there, but soon after received orders to continue the retreat towards the west, that is towards lille.
the french had left behind them, at the st. jean barracks, all that would have impeded their retreat: wounded and sick, horses, luggage, etc.
before leaving tournai, it occurred to me to go and[pg 233] see what had become of this convoy. it was a fortunate thing that i did so, as no one had any idea of the immediate danger. i had only just time to give orders to the senior quartermaster to collect all, men, horses, and baggage, and to set out for the tournai-lille road, where they would find the french troops. at the same time, i told my patrols to guard all the roads out, in order to allow the goumiers and mounted chasseurs to keep their retreat line in the direction of lille. they were all saved!
with my staff, i took up quarters in the froyennes convent, on the tournai-courtrai road where, thanks to a telephone, i could communicate with the various gendarmerie posts. the brothers of the christian doctrine, who were nearly all french, received us with open arms and, in spite of our protestations, while we were getting information and i was giving orders, they prepared a meal for us and looked after us generally.
they had transformed their convent into a hospital and, unfortunately, all their trouble only served for the boche wounded, as i received strict orders, in case the french left tournai, to beat a retreat in the direction of courtrai and to organise the defence of the espierres canal.
i started at once and arrived at espierres on thursday, october 1st. i saw at once that all the drawbridges of the canal opened on the south side, that is on the enemy's side, and that it was impossible to change them and make the bridges work on our side, that is on the north side. this was most unfortunate, and is another proof how little we had thought of going to war. i quartered my staff at dottignies and took measures for guarding the various points[pg 234] where it was possible to cross the canal between the village of espierres (escaut) and the herseaux-tournai railway. this compelled me to spread out my men and so divide my poor forces, on account of the number of bridges. for the next three days we were in contact with the enemy. we drove back patrols and took prisoners. my young volunteers were under fire for the first time, but they were so brave and so eager to fight that, on the second day, i made seven soldiers corporals for their conduct before the enemy. this encouraged the others, as they all wanted to distinguish themselves.
on saturday, october 3rd, at dusk, the enemy, after being driven back three times, came again in force and drove back two of my posts at the extreme right. on another side, the enemy advanced by herseaux and estampuis. i was in this way turned on my right and, at the same time, wedged in at espierres. i had only just time to constitute a strong flank-guard of gendarmes and cyclist volunteers to oppose the enveloping movement and beat a retreat in the direction of courtrai. we were being pursued all the time and our march was difficult, on account of the darkness. i stopped a local tramcar coming from courtrai and put the tournai civic guards into it. these men had no notion of a fighting retreat. half way from courtrai, i met the east flanders gendarmes coming to our aid and, under their protection, we reached courtrai.
at the roll-call of my soldiers, i saw that three of my volunteers were missing. i thought they were either dead, wounded, or prisoners. not at all. these three brave men had performed the following exploit. on sunday morning, october 4th, two of these missing[pg 235] men arrived at courtrai, carrying the saddles of two uhlans with all accessories. they had carried this weight, about 80 lbs. each, from espierres, through the enemy's lines, a distance of about twelve miles. when we questioned them, they replied that they knew we were beating a retreat towards courtrai, but they each wanted to "have their prussian" before rallying. they had been pursued by the uhlans along the canal bank. they had crossed the muddy espierres brook, which runs parallel with the canal, on a plank of wood. the uhlans had attempted to do the same thing, but had sunk in the mud. our soldiers had killed them and had dragged the horses out and taken the saddles, in order to prove to us that they had attained their object. the third missing soldier brought back to courtrai a horse, fully equipped, after having killed its rider. he had come back quite alone with his plunder. we thought these feats superb, considering that they had all three come through an invaded district.
