BATTLEFIELDS VISITED

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18153, 16 August 1924, Page 10

BATTLEFIELDS VISITED

GRATES OP NEW ZEALANDEBS. A vivid account of a journey across certain of the battlefields of Europe, serving to recall some of tbe horrors of the Great War, is contained in a letter received by Mr William Elliot, of Auckland, from bis brother, Sir George Elliot, chairman of directors of tie Bank of New Zealand. Sir Gaorgo ■writes:

'' Towards the end of June we journeyed to Ypres, where we spent two days full of interest. It is not generally known that in this neighbourhood the British lost one-fourth of ail the men who fell in all tho theatres of the Great War. The British held, at terrific cost, a big salient on low-lying oTound, while the Germans, nearly surrounding them, had all the high land. They felt, it is supposed, that they would lose prestige had they retired out of Belgian territory altogether to t..e hi eh ground ou the French border, which "they could have defended at a minimum cost of life and without being up to the miJdle in mud all tho time. "We have seen all over the Ypres salient, evorv inch of which is drenched with British blood. Tho German machine gun posts (pill boxes) are still standing, and from trenches wc got Briti-h, French, and German bayonets, rifles, tin hats, etc They are busy cleaning up tho ground everywhere, and in a few years there will bo littk? trace cf the terrible upheaval. "In some places about Passchendaele and Hill 00 (No Man's Land) the ground and trendies are just as they were left at the close of the lighting, shell holes, broken rifles, entrenching tools, tanks, and the gaping wounds of mines and counter-mines are everywhere.

The Unknown Dead. "The cemeteries are kept in beautiful order. Each one—aid there are d .zona of them—is looked after by British exarmy men, and they are full of lovely flowers. In Tyne Cot Cemetery, Gravenstafel, where 13,500 British soldiers are buried, of whom only 3000 are individualised, 10,500 tomhstones have each t>>o inscription: 'Here lies a Briti.-'i soldier known only unto God.' "It is fearfully sad. One cannot realise what war is until one stands at a cross-road just a few vards behind the old British front line trenches, known as 'Hell-fire Corner,' where shells fell continuously day and night. All the traffic had to pass this corner, and the enemy had the distance to a yard. Even' day this corner was blocked by overturned guns, waggons, dead and dyine men and horses. Notliing could be dono to clean it up until night came, for the Germans, having the high ground, oould see nearly everything that was going on.

Where New Zealanders Fell. "Being anxious to visit the grave of a young New Zealand friend who fell in the war and was interred in the LonguevaJ Cemetery, we travelled by motor from Ypres, a distance of 100 miles, and saw a great part of the. battle front. All tho towns and villages we passed through were famous, and especially so to New Zealanders, for it was here and at Ypres where most of the gallant young soldiers from the Dominion lost their lives in defending tbe Empire. We went through Popperinge, Beaumont, Pozziere, Lens, Arras, Albert. Delville Wood, Vimy. and along the ridge. Every here and there were cemeteries in which thousands of promising youths from New Zealand sleep their la3t sleep."