1933 Recruiting Competition 212 THE YPRES TIMES and Hill 63, then on to Ploegsteert Wood and Memorial to the Missing," Hyde Park Corner, Strand Cemetery, London Rifle Brigade Cemetery and Le Bizet at the French border where the custom officials do their stuff." We went on through Armentières, La Bassée and Neuve Chapelle. Here we saw the famous Le Christ des Trenches." It consists of a figure of Christ which was shot to pieces during the war, with exception of the face, which was left untouched, and now rests at the base of a new cross and restored by the Bouquet family in 1929. Further down the road was the beautiful Indian Memorial, after which we passed a Portuguese Cemetery, La Bassée Canal, Hulloch on the left, Hóhenzollen Redoubt, Chalk Farm, Hill 70, and entered Lens. A vastly different Lens to the one we knew in the war days; incidentally, the birthplace of Georges Carpentier, the famous French boxer. We eventually arrived at the old Canadian trenches on Vimy Ridge, and descended the Grange Tunnels and examined many names carved in the chalk. At one place there is a nose of a German shell which had just pierced the ceiling after having passed through 13 feet of chalk. Old barbed wire, tin hats, shell craters, etc., are still to be seen in the vicinity. The Canadian Memorial, not yet completed, is a massive structure and will be a magnificent work of art occupying one of the most prominent positions on the Ridge. We continued our tour past Thelus, Nine Elms Cemetery, St. Catherines, into Arras where we lunched in true French style in a side-walk café. Like Lens, Arras appears to be another thriving city. We now stopped at the old tunnels at La Targette, which are of great interest. On the opposite side of the road is a German cemetery containing 35,000 bodies. Then Notre Dame de Lorette with its similar number of French bodies. Our return journey proceeded via Souchez, rebuilt by the Borough of Kensington, and its Grande Place is named Kensington Square. Then came Aix Noulette, Bully Grenay, Neux-le-Mines, Béthune, Le Touret Cemetery and Memorial to 20,000 "Missing," Estaires and Steenwerck, again reaching the Belgian border at Le Seau. Our route followed through Neuve Eglise, Daylight Corner, Suicide Corner, Sackville Street, Lovers Lane, Kemmel, Irish House Cemetery, La Laiterie Cemetery, also a memorial to the 27th and 30th U.S.A. Divisions, and so on to Ypres. For the benefit of relatives who have not visited the cemeteries in France and Belgium, I can state without fear of contradiction that there are no better kept cemeteries, and great credit is due to the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission. I cannot close without a word of appreciation to our genial friend, Capt. de Trafford, the Secretary of the Ypres League, whose untiring efforts made the trip such a huge success. E. C. F. IN view of the popularity and immense success of the past two recruiting competitions, and in order to give recently-formed branches an opportunity to compete, we have great pleasure to announce that A FURTHER PRIZE OF £5 will be awarded this year as follows TO THE BRANCH RECRUITING THE GREATEST NUMBER OF NEW MEMBERS IN 1933. All membership forms completed must be received at Headquarters bearing on the top left-hand corner the name of the branch responsible for the recruitment.

HISTORISCHE KRANTEN

The Ypres Times (1921-1936) | 1933 | | pagina 22