THE BRITISH LINE.

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 12, 13 July 1918, Page 4

THE BRITISH LINE.

I IN DEVASTATED FLANDERS AN INTERESTING TOUR A NEW ZEALANDER'S IMPRESSIONS. An opportunity was recently given 'to Mr. F. W. Haybittlo (formerly of Wellington) to make a. tour round the British lino in France and Belgium, in company with, a party of Red Gross heads of departments, who were visiting the various motor ambulance convoys. In an interesting account of their tour, supplied to the Post, Mr. Haybittle tells what he saw on this remarkable trip. "It gave an opportunity," he writes, "of witnessing at first-hand the wonderful organisation, the movement of troops, the array of guns both large and small, ■the air service throbbing with life and movement, and some of the very front trenches. themselves; we tz-aversed from Peronne in the south, to 'the English Channel at Dunkirk. The weather was, for the first four days, most inclement, ■; snow, ' incessant rain, and extremely .. cold temperature ruling, but for the balance of the trip fine, sunny, brisk days were experienced, thus allowing a sight of Ypres and its surroundings under the best of conditions. I reckon, travelling south to north, we passed along about 200 miles of our lines. ! "It was on the afternoon of Saturday, 2nd March,- 1918, that the O.C. of Mechanical Transport Offices and my- . self left Boulogne in slight snow and. a bleak wind. Wo ran to' Pont de 'Briqu'e and kept the road to the left leading to the highly-elevated' town of Samer; from here to McmtreuiJ, on the highlands, it blew a hurricane, with heavy snowstorms and intense cold. We were absolutely frozen and glad of the shelter of the old historic city. Running on, we had our only puncture at Wailly, three miles out of Montreuil. Snow still continued to Abbeville, where' a short stay for" refreshments was made at a bleak, inhospitable hotel. Pushing on, we eventually reached Amiens, which, being Saturday I mght, wo found full of staff, flying, and infantry officers, down from the ;i front for the week-end. Next morning I an early visit was paid to that wondi-ous | edifice, the cathedral. The view of tho I western front was a magnificent sight, !■ and one that time will not efface or memones dim. Evidence of the nearness of i war was brought sfcartlingly home by | the piles of sandbags around every | beauty spot. Entering the vast building, I one is struck by its breadth—it is said I to bo one of the four largest cathedrals I in the world, the others being St. Sophia I of Constantinople, St. Peter's of Rome, | and Cologne Cathedral. The , nave, | transepts, flying buttresses; and wond- | rous splendour of its pillars must bo I seen to be appreciated. All along the I main aisle one's view is blocked by | thousands of protective sandbags g "At 10.30 we left in rain and cold I for a two hours' run to Albert, once § (and at the time of the great Somme | push of Ist July, 1916) our railhead. I Albert is a pleasant city, situated on | the banks of the Somme, of some 8000 3 inhabitants. It .bears very strange cviI dance of ill-usage at the 'hands of tho I Boche, hit is now fairly thriving and | business is being done in any building i that has escaped bombardment. The fine | Byzantine Church, very similar, in. deI sign to Westminster Roman Catholic i Cathedral, with its severe dark red brick I front, has been badly knocked about, | and tho, well-known figure .of the Virgim 3 surmounting tho spiro still lies at "an |j angle •of ■ forty-five degrees, overhanging £ the street, and s appears niost precarious, t but I understand the French have, res inforced and strengthened it in its pros-' I onfc position and it may hang suspended I for an indefinite period. [On 31st March 5 tho bombardment of Albert resulted in ] the celebrated .figure falling to the J ground.] | THE SOMME COUNTRY. i _ "Tlie interest of the expedition into.nI sines at this. point, for here the awful | July-September, 1916, battles of the | Somme. have their starting point | —the surroundings two miles out of i Albert beggar description. The conn- | trysido 'is either flat or slightly undula- | ting, and anything that was once a | wood, in forest or copse is now a scries of | stumps not unlike an'area of felled New <j Zealand bush through which a successful firo has passed. Tho land is a succession of grey chalky shell holes, with no evidence of a return to agricultural or pastoral^ value. From this on to Bapaume, of _ villages or towns there remains no evidence of their existence, not a brick to remind the passer-by of such wellknown villages" as La Boisello, Poziei'es, Le Sar,-Warlenoourt, Martinpuich, and I Courcelette. They have ceased to exist, | and all one possesses as a guide is the pathetic wayside signs, in large letters, erected by the British : "This is Pozieres," "This is Martinputeh," etc. Along the main road can bo counted seven or eight ' tanks, victimsi in tho Somme push, lying amongst the shell holes, rusty and donned of their contents—sheer hulks, landmarks of a terrible advance. The sadness is intensified as one follows the main AlbertBapaume road. Practically its whole seven mile length, by the host of littlo wooden crosses erected on each side of the road without any attempt at uniformity, there they stand, scattered 1 broadcast over the shell hole devastated country—nmute evidences of the heroic gallantry of the English, Scotch, Irish, | Welsh, and all .Colonial troops, and the 3 splendid naval division, and one's { thoughts irresistibly turn to Arkwright's I beautiful lines :— I 0 valiant hearts who to your glory came, | Through dust of conflict and thro' battle I flame, . ' | Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue | proved, I Your memory hallowed in the land you | loved. I ' ALONG THE ANCRE. | Before reaching Bapaume we deviated 6 to the left and followed the Ajicre for I a few miles, visiting what was once | Ovillers, Thiepva-1, and Beaumont Hamel 5: —all tough nuts for our men to crack. !' It was at Beaumont Hamel that B. 0.. Freyberg won hk V.C. with the: naval division. Retracing, we came to Bap- . aumo, of tragic memory. This thrf enemy \ evacuated in their great back movement to tho Hindenberg line, destroying by explosion every building before the rearguard departed. A nice town of 7000 inhabitants, it now presents a dreary spectacle of ruin, walls partially standing, some streets choked with bricks and building debris, and our men cheerily at work amongst the ruin clearing and road repairing. A long drive took us up to our present lino, fronting Cambria. The nearest village occupied' by our troops being Flesqueres, which in the mist and rain, with helmet on and gas-mask ready, I .was a.bl.e to reach, and managed to find myself in the front trench, with the Boche only 1| miles away at Marcoing. I managed to strike a dugout with some cheery Canadians as occupants. If they had boun English ;ij officers I am afraid the Red Cross nonj| romhatant would have been sont back, j but as a brother colonial I had a cheery * welcome. Everything was quiet, nothing ■ doing, Ona could hardly see 300 .yards

ahead for mist. Wo managed to get some tea. served, and then the quietudo was broken by the strains on that silent Sunday afternoon, of a gramophone reproduction of "Where My Caravan Has Rested," followed by Dvorak's "Humoresquo" and "Love's Garden of Roses." I thought the music in that advanced dugout seemed eerie and unreal. RUIN AND DEVASTATION. Back again at Bapaume wo crosscountried to see what was left of Guinchy, Lo Trausloy, Combles, Flers (where our Now Zealanders fohght and died), find Peronne. At all the one time villages and towns wo found nothing but ruin and devastation, and detail would be a, mere repetition. At Lechelle, near rt/ocquigivy, is a well-equipped motor ambulance convoy, which we visited, and then called at a largo casualty clearing station at Gervillers. We put up for the night in the village, or the remains of it, of Sapeigne, a few miles from. Bapaume, evidently once a hospital centra of the Boche, for there is a. large- German military cemetery here, and wandering amongst the large number of crosses, all of fanciful design, I came across the graves of four Britishers, viz., Luther Evans, tho Hood Naval Battalion, Corporal A. Smith, Seaforth Highlanders, Robert Stockton, Lancashire Fusiliers, and one which merely stated "Here Rests an Unknown English Soldier." On Monday morning we were about early and drove to Croisilles-, which is very close to the Hun lines north of Bapaume, and returning to Sapeigne looked in at an advanced dressing post at St. Leger. After luncheon we started north, passing Souchcz, now only a memory, and discoverable only by tho inevitable sign "This is Souchez." We now approached within four miles of Lens, of which an excellent view was obtained from the high hills before running into Aix. It seemed to the civilian mind a somewhat incredible circumstance that Lens should stand there practicably within our grasp and 1 yet remain tmtaken. I understand that it is the home of a large number of miners, and in deference to the French we have left tho city intact and not attempted to damage it greatly. ~ We are now in a coal mining area,- Lens being one of the chief coal centres of supply. A busy., unprotected coal-mine town, Noeux les Mines, was pa-ssed, and, I understand, has occasionally a vei-y unhappy time at the hands of the Boche, for it is situated on an open plain. Soon we reached a large city, used as a. base by our Third Army, viz., Beth une. It is ,a busy place, of ICOO or 1200' inhabitants, easily in range of-12 and 15 inch heavies, and bears evidence of rough treatment .in isolated ruined houses and hops considerably knocked about* Howover, the residents go about their business unconcernedly, and trade is steadily maintained. DESOLATED AREAS. From here to the fin© city of Arras is only the question of a few miles. This historic place had once- a population of 27,000, and is very finely situated on slopes gently descending to the now world -remembered River Scarp©,' which flows through the city. At a distance, the fine town looks intact, but what a sceno of desolation presents itself when once traversing the melancholy streets! It is no -exaggeration to say: that there is not one sound house or building; all are ruined irretrievably, simply shells of places which, before rebuilding takes place, must be razed to the ground. One hotel, tho Dv Commerce, :s operating, and as tho sights to see' were so interesting, we decided to risk discomfort and stay the night. This hostelry has all windows blown out and strips of hessian do duty consequently. With no central heating (which was provided), no electric light, no gas, no fires, the cold and rawness 'of .the 'apartments "must be apparent. Candles were provided, and a few smelly parafin lamps in the diningroom replaced the gorgeous appointments of what was once a first-class caravanserai. The cathedral, a fine 13th century structure, is a heap of masonry strewed around tho grand place, and the like may be said of a very fine Hotel do Ville, erected away back at the time of our Edward the First. Both, I understand, are to be preserved in their present conditions as national monuments of tho frightfulness of the Hun. Out of its 27,000 inhabitants only 700 remain, tho rest are fugitives., and refugees spread throughout itho length and breadth of France. The railway station possessed noble buildings—these have all gone the way of devastation.. The metals, however, are kept in order, and traffic keeps going. The enemy occasionally shells this area, but otherwise Arras is left alone in its chaos. It is a great centre for our Army, and hutments for housing many thousands of troops are- spread amongst the debris of the town. The day following we passed through Hazebrouk and Cassel, and arrived at West Capelle, where another Main Ambulance Convoy is established. There wo stayed the night amongst old friends of the old _ Etaples Convoy, and foregathered until the shadows were long past, entertaining each other with story and reminiscences. ALL THAT REMAINS OF YPRES. Our final day, Wednesday, formed one of the most interesting of the tour, for an early start was . made for Ypres. We passed through Bast Capelle (where we crossed, the Belgian border), Proven, and Poperinghe, which latter contains a good number of our Casualty Clearing Stations. It was a. sunny morning when we motored up to the Grand Place and gazed on the remains of that wondrous architectural triumph, the Cloth Hall, and the' equally interesting cathedral adjoining. To use a biblical phrase, "hardly one stone remains on another." And this applies to the city itself, once the junction of the industrial towns round about which utilised tho Yser River.and Canal for conveyance of their wares to the sea coast at Dunkirk. As in Pea-onne and Bapaume, so at Ypres, nothing remains. After being provided with steel helmets and gas-box masks, we followed the Mennin road to Hooge, Zillebeke, and St. Julien, and walked on close up to the. Pilkem ridge, which dominates poor "Wipers.'" Returning and deviating to tho left, we revisited Messines, and saw what was left of the liistorio ridge, and finally, before leaving, motored along the Yser Canal to Booainghe and Bixsehoote. The day was drawing to a dose, sa saying a reluctant farewell to our good Red Cross Convoy guides from West Capelle, we steered a course through Bergues to Dunkirk, where a hurried visit was made to a fmo ■mediaeval cathedral, now a ruin, as a 12 inch plumped into its very vitals. This great soaport centre is very busy, and being visited at regular intervals by aeroplane raiders, is pretty well knocked: about, but still the equanimity of the inhabitants does not seem to bo greatly disturbed, judging from the busy scenes of traffic on all sides. A run through Calais brought the car and its occupants: back to Boulogne, filled' with many memories of a wonderful opportunity given to see, certainly hurriedly, but fairly comprehensively, some portion of the magnificent British lines in Franco and Belgium in tho world's greatest war.