YPRES AND THE BATTLEFIELDS.

Hokitika Guardian, 31 July 1923, Page 1

YPRES AND THE BATTLEFIELDS.

A VISIT IN 11)33. (By -Mary Hose in Sydney Paper.l We left Bruges at 8.60 a.in. for Yprcs ami soon after passing Lange March found ourselves in the battle area. All the farmhouses and railway stations were quite newly put up by the Belgian Government. They looked so crude, ami quite the wrong setting for the peasants, especially as some of them are surrounded by shellholes and shattered dead trees. The trees are a curiously pathetic sight; they tell a tale in themselves, and on examining them oleser hits of shrapnel and bullets can be seen embedded in them. Everywhere there were large brown mounds, ’lnese turned out to be huge masses of barbed wire, old iron, tins, cookers, bully beef tins, and scraps of shrapnel, all rusted and collected into heaps by the peasants from the fields. We hired a ear at Yprcs fivm an ex-officer wlm Had been in the Yprcs salient and he took us first of all to the Cloth Hall. Very little remains, but they are restoring it enough to make it safe. Vprcs is now an entirely new town : they are building eveivwhere, new buildings besides ruins. Heaps of debt is are being cleared aw ay, and new bricks are being brought in. The Belgians are wonderful in the way they have set to, first clearing up their building. There is no Saturday ‘afternoon or Sunday off for them; they tire, paid by the hour, and waste no time. "HE 1.1.-FIHE CORNER.”

The first thing we passed was the civil cemetery. In the middle of this is a large wooden crucifix, and this was never burnt. Once a German shell hit the base, but it was a dud. The townsfolk are exceedingly proud of this and would kill anybody who tampered with it. We. then went along the Menin road, the red road to llongr, to “Hell-lire Corner. The Belgians have planted an avenue of copper beeches along here now out of compliment to the British, but the plants have not thrived owing to there being so much iron in the ground, ‘•llell-tire Coiner” looks very peaceful now; the train puffs along at right angles to the Meuin-road, usually full of eager workmen. A couple of miles aioiig we got oiit and walked to Sanctuaty Wood, which has not been touched since the Armistice. It looks just the same in all its aw fulness, except iliac the grass is struggling to grow. Not many people have been here, else they would have taken the tilings for souvenirs. It is a mass of shellholes, tilled with foul-smelling water, piles of onexploded ainmuuiiion twits. Tommy cookers, and human hones. The shells and "fallen in" tunnels made waluing rather dangerous, and one had to pick one's way through the mud carefully. The man L was with knew tiiis ground during and after the war. .Most of the land is cleared and ploughed; only odd hits, such as this and Iliil GO, are left absolutely untouched. We then went back to the Menin-road, which is still in a shocking condition, but veiy soon turned off again, to go along a perfectly new road made by the Canadians, and planted with maples, to their memorial, the name of which I cannot remember.

We next stopped at 110-oge. A nu\v chateau lias been built to replace the one which was Ueiieral Ereuch’s heailqiiartors. A b.mih exploded there in 1911 anti killed nearly all the stall. Neat' lloojjo is what they call the Tank Cemetery, seven tanks being in the holds with the crop's growing all round ti:em i one in a. peasant's back yartl. Tbcv bail to be abandoned owing to the mud. P'roin lluoge we went to see a mine crater at St. him. dune. 1917. This

uas tint* of the greatest successes ol tin* war. 17 mines bursting at once—some at Messines, too. It blew the (Icnnans up nearer to heaven than they v.eie ever likely to get otherwise. The craters are about 70 feet deep, and me tilled with water. Mountains of earth arc thrown up on every side. In between the craters the trenches can still lie traced. The Bosch retreated about two miles in consequence of this. The whole was in charge of an Australian engineer colonel.

JUI.L (if). We next saw Polygon Wood, where the Australians were so much. and where their biggest memorial is. Hill 09 was the next place. We got out at the road and walked across the railway cutting, which is in use again mill is the main road to Brussels. Hill 00 is only a mound 00 mel.ics high. One can walk round it in 10 minutes, but one (-an easily see the* importance of it. as it commands f pics and the country for miles round. I In* oflicei told it's that it. was no exaggeration to say that it ' Vi| s absolutely saturated m British ldood. This will always remain untouched, as there are tunnels underneath, -.'here the Hermans made themselves very comfortable with even bedsteads and pianos. Them must be thousands of bodies here, but they do not- search for them, only take those uwav that come to sight. Ibis bill is indescribable. There are musses oi fallen-in ditgouts. pill-boxes, fallen aeroplanes, twisted iron. shell boles, nonts. liats and more bones. \\ e even found the remains of a mouth-organ. On the side walking towards the Hermans is a solid concrete hut. with holes in it for machine guns, [lit* hill changed hands many times, but this hut could not have been of much use to the Hermans. as it was facing the wrong way. On the very top ol Hill 90 is the Blitish memorial to her fallen and on the slope looking touarns Ypres is a- small one. made by the comrades of ihe Australian soldiers who fell there. This was the first to be erected in tins district, as it- was made by the men themselves directly after the Armistice. All the names ,clearly printed on it. Along Huron,! are‘.small piles of unexploded shells. They have been dug up by the peasants, and await their time to he taken away to bo exploded by elect riciiy. They "ere exploding them the dav we were there at not. a great distance. This made the whole scene seem I more realistic. The roads a.re lined with debris, thrown out bv the peasants. One aerial torpedo, with its pointed end and propeller, I noticed unexploded It was about 3 feet long, and the same as those dropped in London, we were told. The appearance of the country is extraordinary—the new houses', the pill-boxes in the middle of fields, the British cemeteries all round, the blasted trees, the huge heaps of rusted barbed wire. In time will l*e cleared and ploughed except Hill 00. which is too dangerous to touch. There is not much left now. hut we were lucky to see what we did. The officer saw we wore interested, knew we wore Australians and pot nimself to a great deal of trouble. .Most people are just driven round, and see things from the road. The isolated graves in the fields are very pathetic. We were told they were Belgian and French. All British soldiers

were put into cemeteries at once. I asked why there were jio German graves and was told that they always sent their dead back to Germany, so that their losses should never be Known. EIIITLSH ('EMEYERIES. Just a few lines now about our own British cemeteries. They are most beautiful and anybody wlu, has lust their dear ones in Flanders may rest assured that their graves are being cared for just as well as if they were there to look after themselves. The grass is brilliantly green and is kept like a bowling green. I'ndcr each cross are a few flowers, no weeds at all, and at intervals between the pilots, trees are pilanted. The white wooden crosses are gradually being replaced bv stone slabs, so that they will last for always. The British Government is doing this. A great many of the crosses have

“An Unknown British Soldier” written on them. The bodies have Iteen found ami not identified. They arcburied and looked alter, just,the same as the others. There is no distinction in tin- cemeteries. Colonels are buried eoside privates, and all have exactly le same cross or stone slab.

There are seven or eight Australians amongst the gardeners looking after the graves. They are from all countries. I wish that all the mothers who have- lost their sons in Flanders could see where they are buried. They could not wish for anything more beautiful or more cared for, and it may make them feel a little less sad to see them and know this.