The Seed of Empire by Fred M. White

It was about this same time that Ginger and his friends said good-bye to the Keep House and went back to what was left of their regiment. The British force had now begun to move secretly up to the north, having exchanged trenches with the French higher up the line in the neighbourhood of La Bassee. On the whole they were not sorry to move, for this was their first relief from almost continuous fighting for the best part of two months. It was a masterly move, carried out so perfectly under the direction of Major-General Robertson that the Germans had no idea of what was taking place until the first of their prisoners began to fall into our hands. A Bavarian captain picked up wounded near La Bassee could hardly believe his eyes.

"I cannot understand it," he said. "We were under the impression that we were fighting French Territorials. Not a soul of us but what thought the British were quite thirty miles away. It is a miracle."