The Somme Battlefields and War Cemeteries, Summer, 1926. 88 The Ypres Times. To-day Ypres is re-built except for the Cloth Hall-it is no longer the Ypres we knew 16,000 people are living there, trees are growing again, and the fields are under cultivation. The old historic places such as Shrapnel Corner, Salvation Corner, Hell Fire Corner and Hell-blast Corner, can only be identified by the sign-posts erected by the Ypres League. The Ypres we knew has gone, the change is a revelation. The Ypres Salient of the British Army has been transformed into a new placenature has healed all her old scars. Round Ypres the plains roll upwards to the far curve of the Salient. They were once lovely in fertilitythen a place of horror and devastationnow growing and blossoming anew. The Salienta land where Last Postever echoes, a land studded as with gems with the graves of those who Served and nothing sought, Nor knew one selfish thought." By E. M. CHANNING-RENTON, Special Commissioner of the Ypres League. Amiens Ah what memories. A silent but stout-hearted host we were when we arrived at this old French Cathedral town one night during the war. Up in the line things had not been exactly comforting. True, the Germans had halted before Albert, and yet another 28 kilometres separated them from old Amiens, but the war was not over Armageddon not yet won Eager faces, looking out of the carriage windows, beheld Amiens in the gloom, and the strange silence that followed was only broken at times by the sudden screeching of some distant engine along the line, or by the muffled yawns of bleary-eyed Tommy Atkins, who felt the need of some diversion. The momentary stop of the troop-train in the midst of a network of railway lines outside the station gave us the opportunity of stretching our limbs, as we had been huddled together long enough. But, alas only a few minutes, and the hoot of the engine's whistle, a muttered 'Blimey a jerk of the carriages, and off we were again. Entering Captain Oswald's Tourists' bureau the other day at 42, Rue de Noyon, Amiens, brought me back to those times. Maps, locations of cemeteries, military books, regimental histories, an old Army fist,and so on, presented themselves as links with the past, with the great battles of the Somme, and a thousand and one things sacred to those who went through those crucial years. Captain Oswald, who was in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, and who won the Military Cross during the War, has at his disposal first-class private cars of the best makes and it was in one of these cars that I made my first visit to the Somme Battlefields and Ceme teries. The chauffeur was a British Ex-Service man, who explained everything worth knowing about the places passed on the way. The first we visited, and a town I knew in old War days, was Corbie. There are still a few battered houses, but the Church perhaps is the most outstanding ruin. As a matter of fact, I doubt whether one can still call Corbie Church a ruin—it is once more a landmark, almost rebuilt, and a new roof added has greatly improved its once shattered appearance. Most of the roads, especially the main roads, are good, but a few still bear traces of heavy shelling. Now and again, one comes across old trenches, barbed wire, some Nissen huts, shells and shell-cases, signs on walls of Divisional baths and Divisional concert parties, etc., but it is remarkable how nature has re-claimed her own. Places which a

HISTORISCHE KRANTEN

The Ypres Times (1921-1936) | 1926 | | pagina 6