The Story of the 63rd Field.' Ambulance.
12
Thb Ypres Time».
clearly heard. This very proximity made for peaceful conditions. hong tramps by
Maple Copse, Zillebeke hake and the hille Gate recur to the memory.
10. Mount Sorrel. Known to us only as a flank neighbour and the object of enemy
hate in the form of furious bombardment and a raid which was clearly visible in the
morning light.
11. Hill 60. The historic scene of so much carnage and heroism in the early days of
the war we knew only by repute.
12. Hollebeke. In this sector the Spoil Bank and the Bluff, the Commines Canal, the
White Chateau and Oak Row dump, the point to which our friends of the transport
brought us nightly rations, hostile artillery notwithstanding.
No survey of the Salient would be complete without mention of the dwellings on
the banks of the Yser, where so large a part of the British Army was in residence at one
time or another. A centre of unceasing toll and activity, yet it was a haven of rest
deafening in the crash of British guns, yet one slept the sleep of the weary. Even sport
in the form of boating (the craft a concoction of ration-boxes and duckboards), shooting
at floating targets, bathing (though this was not repeated after the first experiment!),
and sliding, when the canal was frozenall these and many other pastimes were tried in
leisure moments and helped to keep up morale. Who does not remember Bridge 4,
Essex Farm and Brielen While as for the old city itselfwell, this is an article on the
Salient, quite long enough already, and it would require a volume for the city alone.
To conclude, it would be a matter of interest to enquire if any reader served in more
than eight of these sectors, as I did, namely 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, g and 12, and, if so, who holds
the record for the greatest number and how do his memories of the sectors compare with
those described above I,. A. GOTHARD, ex-Sherwood, Foresters.
(2/2 WEST LANCASHIRE F.A. (T.F.)) 1914-1919.
By A.. W. WESTMORE, M. THOMSON, J. E. AEUSON, B.A.
To be obtained from A. W. Westmdrb, 23, Rtxburoh Avenue, Higher Tranmtre.
Every member of the 21st Division who failed to keep his own diary should certainly buy this
book if only as a record of the movements and doings of his glorious division, for as years pass by he
will certainly begin to forget the sequence of events.
It is remarkably well and easily written and, evidently being the work of men engaged in bearer
duty in the trenches, it has nothing whatever of the medical about itit is a record of the war ex
periences just of men in the front line, and as such will appeal to all front line troops.
To one who looks deeper, this, like other unit records, is the kind of book from which any future
historian attempting to portray the British Empire in arms will have to gather his data. Such an
historian requires a broad view of the war that he can get from the official history, but to make a
true picture he must obtain also a microscopic view of it. The book now under review gives just such
a close insight into the men's lives and attitude of mind at the front. At Clapham Junction a
shell landing in a shallow dug-out killed 14 of the 16 bearers who were inside at the timeEvery
casualty threw additional work upon those who remained." To those at the base and to those at
home these 14 casualties spelt a thousand and one lamentable considerations but to the writers
of this book they spelt additioanl work! and within 20 lines, the bearers having returned to the
tunnel for a short rest the night was spent in song-singing."
It is from unstaged sidelights such as this that those who remained at home may. in time, gain
some idea of the spirit of troops in the line, and learn that the terrors and horrors of war will never
for a monent have any weight in deciding the future conduct of Britishers if war should threaten.
In all seriousness I believe that the deceitful labelling of plum and apple jam as strawberry
will weigh heavier in the balance.
The thoughtful student of national psychology cannot afford to leave such books as this unread
and this is an excellent specimen on which to commence.
E. B. W.
