THE YPRES TIMES
237
Past Hellblast Cornerwhere the big shell dump went upthrough La Clytte and
Locreon to Bailleul, leaving behind us several positions which could not be visited
because of the state of the roads. It would have been exciting to have seem Busseboom
again where the Battery, in spite of very heavy gas shelling mixed with 11 inch armour-
piercing, finished with a glorious burst of firing, completing 28,000 rounds in the consecu
tive 30 days during which the final German attack on the Salient was stemmed. Do
you remember the twenty mules that were buried in one shell-hole And the Major
called them pip-squeaks
At Bailleul we were astonished to find that the Mayor desired to accord us a civic
reception, but somewhat to our relief, owing to electioneering activities, this did not take
place. Lunch was followed, however, by a visit to the new Town Hall under the personal
guidance of the Secretary-General to the Town he encouraged most of the party to
Photo] [G. G. Crispin (Press Photo Go.)
GROUP OF THE PARTY TAKEN OUTSIDE SKINDLES HOTEL, YPRES
climb to the top of the splendid belfry200 ft. above the Squareand while there,
spurred on one member to play an obligato on the carillon, much to the astonishment of
the local inhabitants. A visit was also paid to the War Memorial, a really magnificent
monument to the destruction and resurrection of the town.
Armentières was the next place of call, and the ladies simply had to be shown where
Mademoiselle used to live. Unfortunately, as every one asked separately, naturally
the famous maiden was given several domiciles. However, that did not spoil the party.
On the way back to Ypres we journeyed through Ploegstreet, past Hill 63, to Lock 7,
where the world's biggest shell hole is now a duck pond. There we de-bussed and tried
to get to the old position behind Ridgewood, but found the going too rough at the end of
a long day, but a walk up the Canal to Spoil-Bank was well rewarded when an entrance
to Canada tunnel was discovered beside Lock 6. That tunnel had indeed been a cushy