Tuesday evening April 2nd to Monday April 8th} Le Cateau
In hospital at Le Cateau. All I needed was rest. Stayed in bed all day. Foot, ankle and knee got rather better. Could hobble about a bit. Rheumatism at nights. Food not so bad judging by after standards.
8am: Thick slice of black bread, with traces of butter. Coffee (a quaint substitution for coffee, which is of course unobtainable. Made, some say, from burnt barley. Others, from acorns). No sugar or milk.
10am: Thick slice of bread with traces of butter or jam.
12pm: Basin full of soup. Very good. Macaroni, Barley, Semolina, or something similar. Sometimes as second basinfull.
3pm: Bread with butter or jam, and coffee.
6pm: Two slices of bread with meat paste or Limburger cheese, and coffee.
Nothing much happened during my stay. Several men died. One of ours, a DCM fellow too, cut his throat at midnight one night and died instanter. Poor fellow was probably mad with pain. Thursday April 4th. Sent off a letter. Friday April 5th. Warned to be ready to proceed as a sitting case to hospital at Cologne.
