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CHAPTER XXIII
FAREWELL TO BAPAUME
THE day of Hubertus falls on November 3rd, and is
celebrated throughout Germany with the diligent
pursuit of game, for Hubertus is the patron saint
of all huntsmen. Nor even at Bapaume was the day allowed
to pass by unnoticed. A field of fifty-five officers of all ranks
forgathered early in the day at the village of Miraumont,
situated nine kilometres west of Bapaume, immediately in the
rear of the fighting line. With Captain Schliiter of the cavalry
as guide, I drove out with Duke Adolf Friedrich to Mirau-
mont to be present at the day’s sport. We took up our posts
on a hill by the side of the road, and had an excellent view
over the broken country with its natural and artificial obstacles.
We had not been there long before a couple of horsemen
hove in sight, and immediately on their heels came the entire
field in scattered groups. They took the fences and ditches
in fine style and then disappeared up a steep hill like a whirl-
wind. There was nothing remarkable in this, nor perhaps in
the fact that amongst them were many riders who would
never see sixty again. But the remarkable thing about this
ride was that all the horses were recently requisitioned farm
animals, which had not even been trained. The Germans
spare their horses no less than their men. When the horses
of cavalry and train begin to tire and need rest and care, they
are replaced from the farms of Germany and of the conquered
countries.
After the sport all the members assembled in a field, where
in the shadow of the willows a table stood laid with sand-
wiches, kaltes Aufgeschnittenes’^ and hot punch. Here I made
the acquaintance of many of the horsemen, among others
Infantry-General von Soden and Lieut,-Gen. von Pawel,
1 Cold collation.
362
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