YPRES—THEN AND NOW

Evening Star, Issue 18809, 6 December 1924, Page 15

YPRES —THEN AND NOW

A TRANSFORMATION. [Written by Frederick Stores, F.R.G.S., for the ‘Evening Star.’] • (All Rights Reserved.) By “ then ” I mean my last visit, in 1922; by “now” the latter half of the year of grace 1924. So much has been written on the Ypres battlefield during the last ten years that one hesitates to add even a single column on the subject. But while the ruined Ypres has been made familiar to all by means of photographs and letterpress, that has not been the case with “ Ypres Redivivus,” the rebuilt and revived Ypres of to-day; and I venture to think that a brief contrast drawn between what I saw two years ago and what I have since learned may not prove unacceptable to the reader. FOURTEENTH CENTURY YPRES. It is not generally known that Ypres, which had a population of 17,500, was once a great city with a population of 200,000. It was tho capital of Western Flanders, and in the fourteenth century ranked in importance with Bruges and Ghent. Occupying a strategic position, it was seldom left long in peace, and on one occasion resisted the attack of the British, and, after indicting heavy losses, compelled them to retreat, I'ho famous and beautiful Cloth Hall, which survived changes until tho Germans battered it to pieces, was built as early as tho thirteenth century. But, from causes which are paleut to the student of history, the trade, and with it the population, of Ypres gradually shifted to other towns, so that at the period which witnessed the commencement of the recent war, although much of the beauty of tho old city remained, the. population had dwindled to less than a tenth of its former dimensions. Then, in 1914, began tho four-years’ duel between tin the main) the British and the Germans, which left the beautiful city little more than a heap of ruins whose population was nil. Contrary to popular belief, however, Ypres was never taken by the Germans, but remained r “salient ” of the Allied armies throughout tho period of the war. At what frightful cost of human life this important position was hold is known to all tho world. Nearly 250,000 men yielded up their lives iu its defence. But it was held, and though tho terrific bombardment almost obliterated the town and destroyed tho land for many miles around, the enemy was never allowed to pass. PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS.

It was not till 1922, nearly three years after tho armistice had been signed, that I was able to visit Ypres. Starling one day from Bruges, 1 soon found myself iu tho battle area. It appeared an ugly, desolate region—farmhouses blown to pieces; trees shot-shattered, some of them, or rather the dead, gaunt remains of them, still hearing the scars of war in the shape of bullets and bits of shrapnel embedded in thoir blackened trunks and branches; fields ti mass of shell holes and rubbish heaps; not a living creature, not oven a bird, to be soon. For one of (he results of tho destruction of tho woods was that bird life ceased, every bird in the district migrating to some part of the country where the trees wore still standing. Today the woods are being replanted and tho fields cultivated once more; but one interesting and instructive result of the migration of tho birds is that hero in Belgium, as iu the French war zone whore the trees were destroyed, the fields are infested with caterpillars and other insect pests—the natural food of birds; surely a warning to those parts of tho British dominions where the forests arc being rapidly, and often quite unnecessarily, destroyed. You have only to cut down the trees in order to drive tho birds away; but it is not so easy to destroy tho plague of insects that will follow.

Walking across the country, I found huge masses of barbed wire, old iron, petrol tins, beef tins, cookers, etc., all rusted and collected into heaps (since removed) by tho peasants. In some of the heaps could bo seen bits of stretchers and blankets, old hats, hoots, ammunition. Rome shell holes tvere full of putrid water. They were so, of course, during the period of the war also; and I was told by a Belgian gentleman who accompanied me that many British soldiers had been blown into,” or fallen into, one of these waterfilled cavities and been drowned. At Hooge. I saw a place which had been General French’s headquarters, where in 1914 a bomb exploded and killed more than half the staff. THE TANK CEMETERY,

Not far away is a spot that was known as tho tank cemetery, numbers of tanks—some of which I saw—having been .abandoned there on account of tho mud. At Eloi there was a different tale to tell, for here in .1917 tho British fired seventeen mines simultaneously, throwing mountains of earth up on every side, creating craters 50ft deep, and, best, of all, destroying so many of tho enemy that tho German forces had to retreat nearly two miles. It is pleasing to record that the officer in charge of this effective exploit was an Australian engineer. POLYGON WOOD. Then I visited Polygon W T ood (not much wood two years .ago!), where the Australians fought so bravely, and where their biggest memorial is situated; also Hill 60 —reminding mo of 203-metre Hill, which I saw a few years ago at Port Arthur. Hill 60 is not to bo compai'ed in bulk with the Manchurian battlefield, but it witnessed some desperate fighting, and was said to bo literally saturated with British blood. Underneath tho bill there were still numerous tunnels which had been constructed by the Germans, and in such they lived, and I was informed that there are thousands of bodice still in tho .ground. There were certainly masses of fallcn-iu dug mils, pill boxes, shell boles, old iron, etc. On tho top of tho hill Is now the i British memorial to the fallen, and, looking towards Yprcs, a smaller one erected immediately after tho armistice by tho comrades of tho Australian soldiers who fell there. j INSIDE THE CITY. ( Entering tho city itself. I found a few of the old houses still standing, and many ; more being repaired or rebuilt, but only I ono-eighth of the town had been restored; most of it was still in ruins. Hundreds of men were at work on the famous Cloth Hall, some sorting out tho fallen stones and putting them in order for rebuilding; others employed on tha new masoniy. ’J ho rebuilding of the cathedral was mure adI vimeed, and tn-day is almost completed, j Ono portion of tho Cloth Hall has also I been fully restored, tho remaining portion being purposely loft as a memorial of German ruthlessness. Many hundreds of new houses, senres of smart shops, am) a number of modern hotels have been erectedThe streets have also been repaired, and to day little evidence of the bombardment remains except tho battered walls of the hospital, and one end of the stately ruins of the Cloth Hall. The mayor had hoped that, (ho British would have rebuilt (he Cloth Hall as their own memorial ; but tho British thought otherwise, and have built a huae arch, 75ft high, on the spot where the Menin gate stood. Tho new city is in some respects smarter and more up to elate than the old, but it is not tnrosrpie. In 1918 there was not a, single inhabitant; to-day there are nearly 14.0T0, and rt looks as though in a. few years the old total of 17,500 will bepasserb I bear that some even of the British soldiers have drifted back to the city, married Belgian girls (which some of my readers will hardly condone!), and settled down as shopkeepers, chauffeurs, (->■ interpreters for tho new hotels. In addition to the memorial Arch, we have in the British Peerage a Viscount Ypres (General French' and a Ypres League (which arranges an annual pilgrimage on tho anniversary of the first battle), so there is no fear of the city being forgotten by us. IN THE SUBURBS. Around'the city, too, the reconstruction is no less remarkable. I myself saw hundreds of farmhouses and cottages being re-_ built, and to-day tbaxe are garden villages, 8 witi flrettv Jive-roomed cottages let at the

(to as) ridiculously low rent of 10s a month. How our own workmen would like to ho able to rent a five-roomed modern cottage at sue!) a figure. - the land, too, is’ making a remarkable recovery. It appeared to me two years ago as though it would not grow crops again for twenty years, hut already the fields have been cleared and ploughed, and the great holes made by the shells filled up, and the land is regaining something of its old fertility. So one man, or one generation, dies that another may live.; and one sows that another may reap; and out of the misery and destruction ot the past there arises a, now prosperity for those that survive. The prospects of tho new- Yprcs are bright, hut one can never forget at what a cost this has been made possible.