GREAT GRAVEYARD.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 282, 8 June 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

GREAT GRAVEYARD.

SOMME BATTLEFIELD. RESTING-PLACES OF NEW ZEALAND DEAD. (From Captain Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent 'with the New Zealand Forces at the Front.) The battlefield of the Somm j and the Ancre is one great graveyard. French and British and German dead lie there. The last rest-ing-place of many a brave New Zealand soldier is in the light an 3 troubled soil of this part of Picardy. In the cc .ling years pilgrims from Tritish Lands, near and far, will come to this 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, lead. ing on to the remaining splinters of Delville Wood, he will look over a gontly-sloping land, trench-scarred and shell-torn, across which our brave battalions marched to death and wounds of glory. For us that must be ever hallowed ground. It is perhaps somewh.it sad to think that the individual resting-places of such brave men often cannot be marked. But after ell 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 may 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 into 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 in for several years. The man who soon after the war puts a plough into the land will earn the-Military Medal! But what with live shells and bombs he would have little chance of wearing it. Besides, there will be the problem of the bodies 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 cf the honoured dead inscribed on obelisks or other suit'onuments, 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 France and Flanders in this war.

DIFFICULT PROBLEMS. Tho registration and the care of tho graves of British soldiers who have fallen in the war are problems of somo difficulty, but already much has been done. The matter is in the hands of a branch of the Adjutant-General's department epecially created for the purpose. There is an office at Winchester House in London and units in connection with the work have been established in France, Belgium, Egypt, Salonika, and Mesopotamia. These units register the position of graves wherever possible, and mark them with diirablo wooden crosses, bearing inscriptions in metal giving tho name, number, rank, regiment, and date of death. While these units have done much work :n 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, only to have all traces of the grave obliterated by enemy shelling. In other cases men killed in action have fallen in shell craters, and soon afterwards another shell has exploded near and buried them. Again, men have been buried by their companions, and unburied and buried again by bursting shells, till no trace of the original grave nor of tho cross has been left. In some cases, even within our own lines, where graves have been marked, tho position is too exposed for correct plan and survey to be made. Often during heavy fighting burials have been made under circumstances that make it impossible to transmit, and in some cases even to take, an accurate record of the position of the graves. During the retreat and the subsequent advance to the Oisne there were many burials in isolated graves that were cared for by the French landowners and peasants, and in some cases permanent concessions of land were offered. Tho French cemeteres were also used, and special burial grounds arranged for. At a later stage the French Government agreed to provide land for permanent resting-places for tho bodies of British officers and men. This they have done at the expense or the P'rench nation, and their generosity in thi.-, matter lias been greatly appreciated. There are authorised burial grounds immediately behind the British front, and near the field ambulances, the casualty clearing stations, and the hospitals right ba:-k to the -sea coist The Frvncn Government volunteered to maintain these cemeteries, but tho British Government has itself taken the matter in hand and has appointed a National Committee, of which tho Prince cf Wales is president, to control the administration.