Mons

A city in Hainaut, Belgium, close to the French border. Marked once already, in the margin of an August 23, 1917 entry: "MONS – 1914," the third anniversary of the battle here that opened Britain's war. Fourteen months later, Robertson's own war closes in on the same name: the 3rd Canadian Division reported in the city November 9, 1918 (two days ahead of its actual, fuller capture on November 11, the war's last day); Robertson himself walks in on the 17th to buy chocolates and have tea; and by the 20th he's evacuated to a Casualty Clearing Station here with influenza, staying through his diary's last confirmed entries, November 21–23.