234
The Ypres Times.
which play no small part in ameliorating the pain inseparable from such an occasion,
deserve special mention.
A tour of the battlefields was organised for Monday, the following route being taken
Querrieu (4th Army Headquarters, 1916)Pont Noyelles (outside the village is the
monument erected in memory of the French
who fell in 1870)La HoussoyeAlbert,
where a short halt was made for luncheon.
Incidentally, this small town has been
adopted by Birmingham. From Albert the
party continued their tour past the junction
of the Bapaume-Contalmaison roads, marked
by a beautiful memorial to the Tyneside
Irish and Scottish, arriving eventually at
the great La Boisselle mine crater. The
mine was "put up" by the British on
July 1st, 1916, and contained 60,000 lbs. of
gun cotton (i.e., about 27 tons). Some of
the more agile members of the party, feeling
reinforced after a substantial mid-day meal,
descended into the crater, when a photograph,
here reproduced, was taken by Captain
Oswald. Thence to Pozières, where the
memorials to the K.R.R.C. and 1st Australian
Division are features of the landscape. The
Ulster memorial tower, erected on the
Thiepval Ridge to commemorate the un
successful attack of the 36th (Ulster) Division
on July 1st, 1916, was then visited. From
this ridge it is possible to appreciate the
dominating positions held by the enemy,
who commanded everywhere to the south,
Albert, to the west, Beaumont Hamelto the
1 The Great Mine Crater at I,a Boisselle.
north, Serre, and to the south-east Pozieres.
Crossing the Ancre, Newfoundland Park was then reached. Here attention was
arrested by the striking memorial erected to the 29th Division, with which the New
foundland Regiment fought. The memorial takes thé form of a carabou perched high
upon a rocky pinnacle, the art of the sculptor endowing his subject with an almost life
like alertness. The next move was a walk to the Y Ravine, at the head of which stands
the 51st Division memorial.
After passing Auchonvillers and Mailly Maillet, the actual war area was left behind
and the rest areas entered. These so-called rest places invariably meant real hard
work. It was no unusual happening for troops who had reached these temporary homes
after a hard, fatiguing march, to be detailed for a working party in, perhaps, the same
area from which they had lately come.
The party returned to Amiens thoroughly interested in what they had seen.
Grateful thanks were extended on all sides to Captain Oswald for his excellent
arrangements in connection with the battlefield tour, as also for his clear instructions to
those pilgrims visiting cemeteries, whereby they were able to make the difficult journeys
in complete ease and comfort. In addition, Captain Oswald presented each pilgrim with
an interesting souvenir of their visit in the shape of a chart of the itinerary, a graceful
act, and one which was greatly appreciated by the recipients. On this happy note of
mutual goodwill ended what was generally acknowledged to have been a delightful,
comforting and instructive experience.
