44
THE YPRES TIMES
spot in 1914 when the German bullets broke the tiles of her cottage as they came
over the canal bank. Many old dug-outs still exist on the canal bank, and from
the top of the bank it was possible to pick out, with the aid of a map, such
well-known spots as Lancashire Farm, Burnt Cottage, and many other places where
the R.E. fiends delighted to send the weary infantry with loads of revetting
frames, barbed wire, stakes, sand-bags, and other necessary adjuncts to modern
war. It was here the 20th
Light Division experienced the ft
horror due to the enemy
getting "wind" of a big
relief. In the course of a few
days the strength of the
battalion was reduced by
nearly three hundred. Shell
fire seemed to come from all
directions, including the rear
of our front.
After lunch, a visit was
paid to Pop'a name whicii
conjured up visions of chips
and eggs, beer, baths, and
coffee (not beer baths, although
war-time beer might easily have
been mistaken for rainwatertyne cot cemetery.
a little yellow). Alas! poor old
Pop' seems to have lost its war-time glamour and prosperity.
Having visited the original Toe H., we partook of a bock in a kitchen where
the writer remembers haying slept in 1916. What a haven of rest Pop' was to
troops, tired and jaded with the shock of battle and the constant bombardments of
the Salient
Returning to Ypres, a
pleasant hour was spent at the
League Headquarters.
On Wednesday morning
a journey on the San Faery
Ann Railway brought us to
Elverdinghe completely re
built, and, like all tiny Belgian
villages, possessing a large new
church. From here we took
the Pop' road with a view to
visiting Canada Farm. Deep
in conversation as we walked,
a sudden deep boom behind
the German lines startled us,
and for a moment I believe we
instinctively looked for cover.
Then realizing that this was
1929 and not 1916, we laughed
and resumed our stroll.
It is strange, but, looking eastward, one still scents something sinister in that
more or less familiar landscape. It is sometimes difficult to believe the scourge
has passed.
