A Transport Incident
240
THE YPRES TIMES
group of officers collecting stragglers; when there are about twenty, they are formed
up and one of the officers marches them off to fill yet another gap in the line.
Then, with almost dramatic suddenness, the whole atmosphere changes. The
tension is overpeople are smiling. What has hapened? A Staff Officer walks up,
filling a pipe. We ask, "What news?" He lights his pipe, and throws away the
match, then, quietly, "The Worcesters have recaptured Gheluvelt, and the London
Scottish have taken Messines with the bayonet." It is impossible to put into words
the feeling of security which that simple statement inspired. The episode is as vivid
in the mind to-day as when it occurred.
We visited Nonneboschen Wood, the scene of the failure, on November 11th,
1914, of the attack of the Prussian Guard; Langemarck, where the director told
us the story of the attack of the 2nd Bn. Grenadier Guards up to Houthulst Forest
on October 9th, 1917; Hill 60, stopping en route at Hooge Chateau to pay our
respects to the Baroness, and being shown by her over the grounds of the charming
house, built to replace the former mansion, and the "Crater," now transferred into
a delightful ornamental water. For the student, each of these places has its lessons;
for all who visit them, memories, whether they fought in the salient or not.
Standing later at the Menin Gate at sunset, as the "Last Post" sounded, then
walking back in the deepening dusk along the outer margin of the moat to the Station
Square, these memories of three years came flooding back. But through this flood
one question persisted, and remains unanswered. If it were to happen again, would
we still hold the enemy as our incredibly thin line held the Germans in 1914?
Pessimists and pacifists may groan and scream as they will, but the writer is con
vinced that the spirit that inspired the defenders of the Salient is not dead. We
pray that it may not again be put to such a test, but if the time should come, it will
not fail.
Thousands visit the Salientsome to make a pilgrimage to a certain graveyard
others to see the many memorials, of which few are so beautiful as the lovely
Canadian memorial at Sanctuary Wood; many go merely as sight-seers. But for
the soldier, a study of a battlefield under the guidance of a capable instructor, who
himself took part in the battle, and has since made it his special study, is at once
a lesson and an inspiration. Those of us who were privileged to take part in the
visit to Ypres here recorded will not soon forget a delightful experience.
One of the Party.
AGAIN we were about to move into position. At this date, 13th September,
1918, it was supposed that the battery would take part in a show in support
of Belgian troops operating near Ypres. For some days the column (12
S.B.A.C. 70th A.S.C. Brigade) lay parked along the main street of Wormhoudt,
whence we had moved from the low hills of Mory and left behind a district of sorry
desolation and come to a place where at least there stood houses, populated by civilians
who walked in safety in the streets and worked in the fields around. As a matter
of fact, before undertaking another bout of hauling gun baulks and "ammo'," some
needed repairs would have to be done, and during this temporary respite all hands
fell to making a complete overhaul, and with the assistance of M.T. inspectors (Nuts
and Bolts) and a whole lot of new spares, "Twelfth Siege" lorries looked equal to any
in the Park.
