"ONE GREAT GRAVEYARD "

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3089, 21 May 1917, Page 6

"ONE GREAT GRAVEYARD "

BATTLEFIELD OF THE SOMME AND ANCRE REGISTRATION OF GRAVES (From Captain Malcolm Ross, Corrrspoudent with tho N.Z. forces.) Northern France, Jlarch b. Tho battlefield of tho Sommo and the Aucre is one great graveyard. French ami British Gorman dead lie there. The last resting-place of many a. brave ISev Zealand soldier is in the light and troubled soil of this part of Picardy. In tho coming years pilgrims from British lands, near and far, will come to thi3 place to see where their fallen lie. There is one long narrow rectangle that will for ever be sacred ground to the New Zealand pilgrim. From the heights of High Wood, or what was High Wood, leading on to the remaining splinters of Delville Wood, ho will look over a gently-sloping land, trench-scarred and shell-torn, across which our brave battalions inarched to death and wounds and glory. For us that must be ever hallowed ground. It is perhaps somewhat sad to think that the individual resting-places of such brave men often cannot bo marked. But after all what better burying place could a man wish than the vast expanse of the Somme Battlefield? What matters it that his grave is unknown? His sacrifice is his best memorial.

Yet where individual memorials mav be impossible, one would like to see some permanent National Monument raised. Our Divisional General has an idea that the Somme Battlefield might, after the war, be turned iiito an International Park, in which suitable monuments might be raised to the memory of the British and Overseas Forces; who have fallen there. Possibly that might be arranged with.the French Government. For years the soil will be unfit for cultivation. It has been turned over and over so often that little of the good soil now remains. It will also be dangerous to work it for several years. The man who soon aftor the war puts a plough into that land will earn tho Military Medal! But what with live shells and bombs he would have little chanee of wearing it. Besides, there will be the problem of tho bod\es of the dead. In time no doubt the bones of our soldiers who fell there will be gathered together and buried in one place. It will be quite impracticable to put headstones over the graves that are known, but if a National Park could be formed the regiments that fought there might have their deeds and the names of their honoured dead inscribed on obelisks or other suitable monuments, and there might be one general, monument of finer conception than all the rest raised in honour and in memory of the British armies that fought on the fields of Trance and Flanders in this war.

Care of the Cerreteries. The registration and the care of the graves of British soldiers who have fallen in the war are problems of some difficulty, but already much has been done. The matter is in the handa of a branch of the Adjutant-General's Department specially created for the purpose. There is an office at Winchester House in London, and units in connection with the work have been established in Prance, Belgium, Egypt, Salonika, and Mesopotamia. These units registpr the position of graves wherever possible, and mark them with durable wooden crosses, bearing inscriptions in metal giving the name, number, rank, regiment, and date of death. While these units have done much work in' registering graves, even at the front, there are many graves at and beyond the firing-line that it is impossible to register. During the stress of battle many men are buried in a common grave, and often the means of identification have been blown away. In other cases bodies'have been buried and graves marked with crosses, (inly to have all traces of the grnve obliterated by enemy shelling. In other cases men-kill-ed in action have fallen in shell craters, and soon afterwards another shell has exploded near and buried them. Again, men have been buried bv their companions, and unburied and buried n<rain bv bunting shells, till no trace of the original grave nor of the cross has been left. Tn fiome cases, even within our own lines, where graves have been marked. ■ the position is too exposed for correct nlan and survpv to bf made. Often during heaw fighting burials have been mode under circumstances that make it impossible to transmit..and in some ca c es even to tokp. an accurate record of the position of the graves. ■During the retreat and the subsequent advance to flip Aisne, there were many bu.Tinls "in isolated ErravPS. that were cared for T.y the French landowners and peasants, and in some case' -permaront concessions of land were offered. _ The French cemeteries were also vseci. ar<l special burial irrouivls arrant! for. At. a later staee the French Government agreed to provide land for pormauent rp=tiiig-plares for Fi» bodies of British officers and men. .Tin' they have donp at. Hie expense of tlio French notion, and their generositv in tin' s matter has been ureatV onoreciate'l. T!ier» arc authorised bi'i-ij-l "rounds immediately .b»hi™l flip British front, ami npnr +hp field ambnl.irres, the casualty elparincr stations, and the lir>sp ;t .ils right bock.to the sea coast. Tim French Government volun-(■ofn-ixl to maintain tliwe cemf>terios. but Hie British Government lint itself token, ftp matter in hand, ami lias-ai)"oint<>d .-> National. Committee, of which. Hip Prince of Walp* is president, to control the ndmiu.istrn.tion.

Photonraphs of Graves. < Tn connection with soldiers' burials the following points should be noted by those interested-.— . 1. Some time may elapse after mirial before the grave has been properly registered and marked nnd the position accurately recorded. As soon as this is dono a notification will b<; sent to the next-of-kiii. This notification mt be taken as final verification or correction of information received from other (sources. " 2. Tt is not"possible to arrange for the distribution of flowers or wreaths for individual grave?, but the cemeteries, as a whole, are grass-sown and planted ■ with (lowers and shrubs, where military conditions allow, -under the* advice of the Director of the Hoyal Botanic Gardens, TCow. Their maintenance is under the supervision of officers of the Graves Registration Units. •3. Photographs of such graves in France and Belgium as are accessible to the photographers employed for the pnrposo are furnished to relatives ton. application, free of cost, out of funds placed at the disposal of the directorate, for this object as well as for the planting of burial grounds, by the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and St. .John Ambulance Association. All applications are carefully noted, and photographs are sent as soon as possible, but it will lie understood that in many ■casei! weeks or months may pass beforo photographs can he taken. i •t. Circumstances not. infrequently arise which make it undesirable in the interests of the military situation to disclose the position of a grave aHhongh it ha? been duly registered and recorded. 5. Many considerations, among which is ihe desire felt at the front to avoid inequality of treatment, have made it necessary to forbid the erection of any permanent memorials during the progress of hostilities; the sending of crosses to France is also prohibited, as all transport is required for material of war._ fi. The exhumation of bodies during the war is strictly forbidden by both the French and British military authorities. 7. Owing to the great difficulties that exist in Mesopotamia due to local and climatic conditions, the proper registration and marking of graves will necessarily be » lcnsthy , and difficulproblem. . ' ■

N.Z. Graves in United Kingdom. Tho graves of New Zealand soldiers in the United Kingdom are as far a 9 poseiljle in, plots,of srround specially set n part toy Hie purpose. Each prave is temporarily marked with an oaken cross, on which is painted the words "New Zealand," and tho soldier's number, name, rank, regiment, and dato of death. In

theso plots it will afterwards be possible/' u> have erected a single permanent me- , morial u> the wbolo- of tho soldiers buried in the locality, while from time to lime, as people wish, gravestones mar, bo erected at eiieh crave. All New Zealand soldiers who die at Walton-on-.l names and in. tho-London area will be. buried in the Brookwood Cemetery, where a plot has been specially set aside for! (.he purpose Burials of soldiers who. die at j\o. 1 and i\o. .1 New Zealand general Hospitals will be arraneed loe"II.V at Brockenhin-st ami Codfbrd re-, h, cohvely ' hose o our soldiers who die, in British hospitals outside the ; London area wil bo buried locally. TheNew Zealand War Contingent Association has been requested to assist in keeping in order the graves outside the Son * area l-irinc parties are detailed from Headquarters, The Ordnance .Office ofl tho N.Z.I.F. is responsible for thesupXi and erection of the temporary wooden. Darin? a recent leave visit to England, I raiule inquiries at Headquarters and also at the offices of the Director ot Craves, filtration and Inquiries! Winchester House. St. James's Square. London, and ascertained that everything practical that can be done is bcin"- dono (o place on record the hist resting-places of our brave soldiers who have fallen in the war. Parents and other relatives in the Dominion will be glad to knowthis.