MEMORIES OF 1918.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1923, Page 3

MEMORIES OF 1918.

(Australian Writer)

Many of our returned soldiers will remember the Hois tie Mai at Allonvi 1 If, the Somme, and the unique Lilliputian village that was built amongst its ancient oaks and elms. Marly in .May, 1918, several Australian units, wearied by long weeks of warfare in Hit.' trenches defending Amiens, retired to Allonville, and the springtime glories of the Hois de Mai. In the month after which the wood is named, the latter is the fairyland of the Somme. It was amongst the ancient trees of this wood that the Diggers limit a quaint village, which added a fairylike charm to their surroundings. In a few short hours a colony of miniature homes was erected from brushwood and bundles of tough straw. Ihe usual military atmosphere of a soldiers’ crimp was missing. In place of tents quaintly-shaped mia-niias, and guttynhs, not more than live feet high, accommodated the Diggers. This quaint village was a constant source of delight to the inhabitants of Allonville. and to the Diggers themselves, who revelled in a life that recalled liovhood's’ camping-out adventures in the Australian bush. You must picture these little brown homes of brushwood and straw, surrounded by seas of blue wood hyacinths, and nestling under the llaming canopies of copper beeches, and the green roofs of ancient oaks. Mach house had its garden already planted. Wood violets and primroses formed patches of purple and gold near titer doorways; and, here and there, spreading chestnut trees massed their pink blooms over the house-tops. To enter these tiny homes it was necessary, in nearly all eases, to crawl on all fours. After long weeks in muddy dugouts the Diggers took a great pride in the homes they had built. Hrusliwood lints in a llower-filled wood were a delightful novelty after the usual village restbillets, and their attendant odours ot manure heaps, cow-hails, and pig-sties; and with their walls decorated with photographs, a real homely effect was gained. The crowning glory of the Hois de Mai was its leathered choir. Mere, undisturbed by the noises of war, the thrush and blackbird all day long poured forth a wondrous flood of melody; while high above the treetops, the prima-donna of the songsters, the skylark, sang a song of spring.

The quaint Australian village had many visitors, who evidenced great interest in the “petit maisons;” and the Diggers found that Mademoiselle of Allonville was not averse to a stroll along sunny glades in the merry month of May, with its bird songs, sunchine, and flowers. Life in the woods quickly Vemedied the ravages of long weeks of war. Tired eyes lost their strained look ; and ghostly faces recovered their normal expressions under the healing influence of restful days spent in this fairyland of the Somme. It was these restful days of May that gave so many Diggers a new lease of life, and strength to win through the hard victorious months that followed.