Spring Beak

We'll chums what a week I've had. Its been a rare old holiday, not as good as being in blighty though but nevertheless its been grand.

We packed our bags and left Le Touquet and our billets in Le Bizet on the 12th. I must say it was with mixed feelings. I've known nothing but death and destruction interspersed with snatches of joy and frivolity for the best part of five months. It had become a way of life, a manic one at that, not knowing if you were going to come a cropper at any time. But we are now out of that hell.

As I left Le Bizet I was full of emotions. After the order went out that we were on the move I said my goodbye to my fallen chums and bade farewell to the few townsfolk who were still holding out. This was mainly the estaminet owners. We formed up in the town square and full of swank with our best kit on we stepped out for pastures new.

I couldn't help but glance back and look at the ruins that had been our home for what seemed to be an eternernity. I thought once more of my fallen comrades and said a silent farewell to them, thanking them for their ultimate sacrifice.  I also thought on of the long gone townsfolk. They had greeted us like family and long lost sons. Now they are all gone. Their houses were homes to us. They were warm, cosy places were we slept well and ate well. Now they are all shells blown apart with some bearing very little resemblance to a dwelling.

I thought of everything we had gone through, from the first crude trenches we had constructed through to the elaborate trench systems that we built to replace them. It had been a continual matter of learn and improve.

Then my mind wandered back to my fellow soldiers that wouldn't be coming home. Their fate was to stay here interred in this place as though they were on guard forever. With that I held my chin high and puffed my chest out. My mates did the same, almost as one, and we marched off full of respect and honour.

We marched to Armentieres, we were full of excitement and happiness, yes happiness. It seemed strange after all those months of fear and death and destruction but we were out of all this now. We Marched to some old billets in the town and made our home for who knows how long.

It was just four miles to Armentieres from Le Bizet and Le Touquet but the difference between the towns was tremendous. Armentieres had hardly been touched by the war, people were carrying on with their lives as though the war wasn't even happening.

We were given plenty of rest and were able to wash and clean all our kit. We were given plenty of marching and drills as well. In the evenings we went to the many different estaminets that the town had. These were bigger than Le Bizet and had more entertainment. There were plenty of madamoiselles as well.

The men got quite drunk. I'm not a big drinker but I had a good few. The mademoiselles were well frequented. In the larger estaminets queues formed on the stairs leading to the rooms where they entertained the men. I'm a chaste man usually but after the hell of the front lines I must admit that I took to an evening of entertainment.

During our 'drunken' evenings of the 12th to the 14th the actions of the men got louder and bawdier. There were drunken Tommies all over the town and the queues to meet the mademoiselles got bigger and bigger. The top brass decided this had to stop. They came into the estaminets and ordered the men back to their billets. The next morning we got a ticking off by the colonel.

In the morning we were all summoned on parade. The colonel rode up on his horse and gave us a right rollicking. He berated  us on our conduct. He stated it was ironic that our drunken sojourns were on the Rue des Bons Enfants. He said 'Do you know what the Rue des Bon Enfants means? It means the street of the good children.' The men let out a little titter. The colonel was enraged. He said he was going to put a stop to it. We would only be allowed out for two hours in the evening and only with passes. These would be issued to only a quarter of the men at a time.

Well that dampened the mood a bit but when considering what we had been through who could blame us though.

On the 15th we left our old billets to take up residence in some new billets. This was in the Blue Factory. I'm not sure what used to be produced here but it had been cleared and converted to provide us with some first class accommodation.

Since the 15th we have been doing plenty of route marches and general fitness activities.such as gymnastics, football and running. We've been making the most of the 2 hours we get every four days. Its surprising how much you can cram in!

This small section of a map that shows the location of the Blue Factory, it is marked Factories:

Location of the Blue Factory

I have some snaps of Armentieres also, I've copied these below:

I also have a couple of snaps of the Ecole also marked on the map:

Well folks, I must say I'm enjoying my time here. It certainly beats living in fear and dodging bullets. I don't know what the top brass have in mind for us but we have certainly done more than our bit over the last five months. Hopefully we will stay here quite a while. Who knows?

I'll leave you with that song I promised to teach you. Its Madamoiselle from Armentieres. I've tidied it up a bit to make it not too smutty. We actually have another one to the same tune called Three German Officers Crossed the Rhine. I can't tell you the words to that, its far too crude.

So chums wishing you all the best from my 'Holiday Camp' in Armentieres. Theres no fear of wondering whether I'll be here next week, that's a certainty. So until next week its bye for now.

Albert X

Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous,
Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
She hasn't been kissed for forty years,

Chorus:
Hinky-dinky parlez-vous.

Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous
She got the palm and the croix de guerre,
For washin' soldiers' underwear,
Chorus:

The Colonel got the Croix de Guerre,
Parlez-vous
The Colonel got the Croix de Guerre,
The son-of-a-gun was never there!
Chorus:

Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous
You didn't have to know her long,
To know the reason men go wrong!
Chorus:

Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous
She's the hardest working girl in town,
But she makes her living upside down!
Chorus:

Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous
She'll do it for wine, she'll do it for rum,
And sometimes for chocolate or chewing gum!
Chorus:

Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous
You might forget the gas and shell
But you'll nev'r forget the Mademoiselle!
Chorus:

Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parlez-vous
Where are the girls who used to swarm
About me in my uniform?
Chorus:

Oh, Mademoiselle from St. Nazaire,
Parlez-vous
The Mademoiselle from St. Nazaire,
She never washed her underwear.
Chorus:

Oh, Mademoiselle from Montparnasse,
Parlez-vous
As soon as she'd spy a Colonel's brass,
She'd take off her skirt and roll in the grass!
Chorus: