KING AMONG ANZACS.
. TOUR OF MB9SINES RIDGE. j ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. . London', July IC. The Kin» and the Queen crossed to Fr ancc on July 3. Tlie Prince of Wales was among those who received them. The Queen proceeded to tour the hospitals while the King began his tour on July 4 >by visiting Messines Ridge. He climbed the slopes while German shells wore flashing l and crumping upon the other side. His Majesty was heartily greeted by the British and Dominion troops. Accompanied by the Prince of Wales the King walked from Vierstraat to the Ridge. He lialted upon the threshold of the battleground of a month ago, and passed through a scene of desolation, '\vith innumerable craters strewn over with broken rifles, unexploded grenades, helmets, bandoliers and gruesome objects which did not invite closer inspection. The scene affected the King visibly. Away northwards a German battery was shelling, overhead enemy ''archies," were searching the heavens for our airmen. IN A GERMAN DUG-OUT.
Sir Herbert Plumer, acting as guide, took the King to the old German front line. The King paused f • inspect a ruined chateau, which had i ■ reduced to a mound of reddish dust. '■ ll stepped into the entrance of a wrecked dug-out, and saw with an electric torch how the Germans had been disturbed at their meal by the historic explosion. He stood' several minutes silently besides a gigantic mine crater. Meanwhile the Germans were shelling the crest near Wvtschaete, just 'loooyds away. There the King spent hours in the old German defences.
He was conveyed along a narrowgauge railway by a dwarf engine, the Royal saloon comprising a rough wooden car with open sides, a solitary chair and plank benches. Thence, via an electriclit tunnel, he moved to the shell-proof observers' posts on the ridge, where he got a view of the Plain of Flanders and the adjoining valleys. Returning, the party met a group of divisional generals, artillery commanders, and others who had contributed to the victory of (Messines, drawn up beside a peasant dwelling. woman occupant continued her work at a creaking mangle a few yards away while the King talked to the officers. Subsequently the King visited the miniature Wytschaete battlefield, where the attack was rehearsed for weeks beforehand. ANZAC GUARD OF HONOR.
The King had luncheon in an oldworld town. Anzac troops lined three sides of the market square. The Anzac corps commander, with his staff, and the Premier of New South Wales. Mr. W. A. Holman. were present. The King chatted with them, and subsequently drove off, amid outbursts of Australian cooees. He motored thence through fields and villages alive with Australians and New Zealanders. They came bursting through the hedges, flocked on the fences, flocked on the fences, and swarmed trees to give a welcome to His Majesty. On the second day the King had luncheon with the King of Belgium at the tatter's coast villa. He visited naval and military aerodromes, and drove through camps of vociferous Belgians. At the aerodromes the King was most interested in prodigal exhibitions of freak flying, machines tumbling about like an artist in a variety knockabout turn. He chatted with a batch of Naval Volunteer Reservists just back from a successful raid. All dav airmen overhead accompanied the King, keeping the skv clear of foes.
Tho King on July 0 visited an establishment where lie 'witnessed the art of deception carried to amazing length, including "the disappearing trickery which is specialised here. He inspected workers employed in disguising snipers as hollv bushes. Then ho watched a practice battle, the features of which included a horseman slowly advancing, representing a creeping barrage., behind whom drummers were realistically rataplanning a. bombardment. The drummers were preceded by hundreds of laden soldiers guiding their pace by the horseman. The troops dashed headlong at a trench parapet, lowered bayonets, swept over tho trenches, capturing Tommies who represented Germans, putting np their bands and crying "Kamerad." His Majesty subsequently watched another practice attack under different conditions. The King heard later that enemy aeroplanes had dropped bombs over one place he had visited earlier.
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Taranaki Daily News, 30 July 1917, Page 6
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684KING AMONG ANZACS. Taranaki Daily News, 30 July 1917, Page 6
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