ltfB Ypres TIMBS.
7
stood at La Belle Alliance." The road, though not heavily metalled, was clean and the
drains quite unobstructed, having evidently been recently cleaned. There was," however,
an all-pervading odour which we understood. Odd shells lay on the roadside (four years
afterto the extent of perhaps a barrow full to every 20 yards, and at each new farmhouse
were piled shrapnel fragments, a yard or so high, while here and there were scales for
weighing these cheerful souvenirs now evidently scrap iron." Every inch seemed clean
and cultivated except for an occasional bit of swamp and for the huge stacks, on the road
side, of barbed wire and corrugated iron, which stood grimly every 100 yardsevidently
not so readily negotiable as scrap iron.
We sought the mine crater on Boundary Road," in the fond belief that all the
King's horses, all the King's men could not have filled it up again, but we .couldn't find
it, and couldn't even agree as to where it once had been. There was a new house at
Kempton Park Corner." It was incredible. Even the old trenches near Minty
Farm were cultivated and a new house stood on Minty site and another opposite. There
was a small cemetery (British) near Minty, and we sought the names of some of our men,
but found only 30 or 40 crosses to represent almost 200 graves, and many were marked
believed to have been buried in this cemetery." The old pill-box dressing station and
waiting-rooms are still there, though sadly knocked about.
Bochecastle was a litter of broken concrete. The old tank opposite Kitchener's
Wood was still there engulfed. Kitchener's Wood was all ploughed up, but when
I stepped off the road Pick was quite alarmed lest I should kick something. Flemings
Wood couldn't be seen and the old Boche pillbox near Snappers' Cot was gone.
So too were the pollarded willows near by, which were to have helped me to find a piece
that had hit me in 1917. The Steenbeek boasted a new bridge, and the road had been
made up perhaps 2 ft. higher, evidently to cover up the tons of 18-pounder shells and
beach boards. Nailed to a willow stump, a tin British notice still read For light traffic
only." The concreted tank on the left near Triangle Farm wherein I was sometimes
tempted to take cover in 1917 was gone. We thought it had been carried over the road,
but that was another, the E.41, which I explored and nearly knocked my skull in in doing so.
At Keerselare where stood the somewhat ugly, if impressive, Canadian Memorial,
now nearly finished, were several houses, and turning towards St. Julien we got a good
lunch at an estaminet. St. Julien, Wieltje and St. Jean all told the same story, and except
for rather more numerous pill-boxes, presented the same appearance. We deflected through
Saville Road to the Menin Gate. A cup of coffee in a cafe in the Square, a call at the railway
station to enquire if the railway strike was over, and then a footslog through Vlamertynghe
back to Pop." finished a strenuous and enthralling day. There was scarce an original
tree till Brandhoek, but so thoroughly had each tree been replaced that to anyone new
to the place, the devastation was not apparent. Goldfish Chateau looked untouched. A
new estaminet on an elaborate scale marked the Cafe Beige near the Vlam. stoneyard and,
briefly, except at Brandhoek, where all the original trees stood sweating iron, there was
scarce a sign of war.
On Monday we had an uneventful stroll past Peselhoek a glance at our old camp
where golden broom blossomed in the depressions of our old bivouacs, a short rest at
International Corner" and a cup of coffee in a Herberg" (r.asty person Herberg
he must have been a Boche opposite Fa Louvie Chateau, so long Corps H. Q. and
undamaged. Back to Pop," supper and bed. Graves," I should have mentioned,
had a representative in our hotel. We learnt that bodies were still being collected and
that the last month had produced 200.
Tuesday, the railway strike still on, involved another taxi to Hazebruck. From
there it was a pleasant voyage and railway journey. An au revoir at Victoria completed
our trip. The skipper for Devonshire, Pick for Surrey, and I for Yorkshire on the
morning mailsome journey! LABOUR R.F.
