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There was an extraordinary quietude in some of the port towns of northern France.  At first I could not understand the meaning of it when I went from Calais to Boulogne, and then to Havre.  In Calais I saw small bodies of troops moving out of the town early in the morning, so that afterwards there was not a soldier to be seen about the streets.  In Boulogne the same thing happened, quietly, and without any bugle calls or demonstrations.  Not only had all the soldiers gone, but they were followed by the police, whom I saw marching away in battalions, each man carrying a little bundle, like the refugees who carried all their worldly goods with them, wrapped in a blanket or a pocket-handkerchief, according to the haste of their flight.  Down on the quay there were no custom-house officers to inspect the baggage of the few travellers who had come across the Channel and now landed on the deserted siding, bewildered because there were no porters to clamour for their trunks and no douane to utter the familiar ritual of “Avez-vous quelque-chose a declarer?  Tabac?  Cigarettes?” For the first time in living memory, perhaps in the history of the port, the Douane of Boulogne had abandoned its office.  What did it all mean?  Why were the streets so deserted as though the town had been stricken with the plague?

There was a look of plague in the faces of the few fishermen and harbour folk who stood in groups at the street corners.  There was a haggard fear in their eyes and they talked in low voices, as though discussing some doom that had come upon them.  Even the houses had a plaguy aspect, with shuttered windows and barred doors.  The town, which had resounded to the tramp of British regiments and to the tune of “Tipperary,” these streets through which had surged a tide of fugitives, with wave after wave of struggling crowds, had become a silent place, with only a few shadows creeping through the darkness of that evening in war, and whispering a fear.

The truth came to me as a shock.  The ports of France had been abandoned.  They lay open to the enemy, and if any Uhlans came riding in, or a German officer in a motorcar with three soldiers to represent an army, Calais and Boulogne would be surrendered without a shot.

Looking back upon those days the thing seems inconceivable.  Months afterwards the enemy tried to fight its way to Calais and failed after desperate attacks which cost the lives of thousands of German soldiers and a stubborn defence which, more than once, was almost pierced and broken.  “The Fight for Calais” is a chapter of history which for the Germans is written in blood.  It is amazing to remember that in the last days of August Calais was offered as a free gift, with Boulogne and Dieppe to follow, if they cared to come for them.