ROUND THE WAR-GRAVES OF FRANCE.

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 June 1927, Page 12

ROUND THE WAR-GRAVES OF FRANCE.

Battle-Scars Rapidly Disappearing from the Somme that New Zealanders Knew so We 11... Auckland Writer’s Visit to the Well-kept Cemeteries of France.

jpWfWMOR] HEN Rudyard Kipling iWrwhry/ viewe d the battlefields, he , wa said, “It rests with the ' individual tourist to have respect for the spirit that lies upon all that land of desolation, and to walk through it with reverence.” But there are few, even among the most frivolous, who could visit these places without being impressed and saddened by the tragedies enacted here during the Great War. To explore the battlefields, even after nine years of peace, brings back the memory to that terrible time more vividly than we should have believed possible. Although, at the time of the war, we were twelve thousand miles away, and ‘therefore did not see the tragedies occasioned by it, we too were among the sufferers, and many, many New Zea-

landers are sleeping “Somewhere in France.”

As at present it is too early in the season to visit the Somme, we decided to see the Marne Front and the Hindenburg Line. We started early one morning of spring, and driving through Paris and out through the Port? St. Ouen, one of the gates in the old city wall, we soon reached the outskirts of this wonderful city. Our first stop was at Claye, fourteen miles from Paris, and the extreme point of the German advance. Until we saw this peaceful little city I think few of us realised how dangerously close the Germans were to Paris. What agonies of fear the Parisians must have suffered when they knew the dreaded enemy was but 14 miles away from their beloved and beautiful capital! The canal of the river Ourcq was pointed out to us as having played an important part in the war, as it. enabled the American artillery to be brought to the front. Near this is a fine monument to Marechai Gallieni, who, at that time, saved Paris by requisitioning the Parisian taxis to convey fresh troops to the aid of Joffre. The Marechai died in 1923, and his monument stands on a slight eminence It the side of the road, and close to ft is a raised marble tablet on which is engraved a map showing the positions of the opposing armies.

We stopped again at the ancient city of Meaux, which was occupied for a few days by the Garmans in 1914, and where the Marne victory of that year has been celebrated ever since. This city, which dates from the time of Julius Caesar, is one of the most ancient in France, and is especially interesting, as it was occupied by Sir John French. Its cathedral, built in the twelfth century, is the burial place of Bossuet, who was Bishop of Meaux till 1704. His monument, which is a beautiful piece of statuary, stands in the cathedral. On one side of it are the life-sized figures of Queen Henrietta Maria of England and the Prince de Conde, and, on the other, the Duke of Burgundy and Louise de la Valliere. Near Meaux we had our first view of the River Marne, and the field where the first battle of the

Marne was fought, and the Germans driven back to the river Aisne. Here we saw the two new bridges which now replace the original ones destroyed by the English for safety. After leaving the Marne, we drove through a fine forest of poplars and elms, on which hundreds of bunches of mistletoe were growing. What are called “forests” here are very different from our own New Zealand forests. _ These are clumps of fine trees, which appear to have been planted. They are not close together as the trees are in our bush, and there is no . undergrowth and no ferns and mossy logs. They seem more like gardens than forests. We crossed the river Ourcq, passed through the pretty little villages of Gandelu, Vieully, Eloup and Bussiere, and so came to the famous Belleau Woods, which were the centre of the American drive in the war. At the foot of the hill is the American cemetery, where we saw the first group of soldiers’ graves. The United States Government bought a hundred and fifty acres and here sleep thousands of American soldiers who met their death in battle. This beautiful cemetery is entered by a wide and handsome drive, at the gates of which are the keeper’s residence and the office, very picturesque buildings. The whole cemetery is composed of wonderfully green lawns.

round which winds the wide road. It was comforting to see that those who gave their lives for freedom are sleeping in this pleasant and peaceful cemetery, their graves so beautifully kept as if they were tended by their own dear ones. Here also are many graves of German soldiers, niarked by black crosses. Through the whole tour of nearly two hundred miles, the impression of peace persisted; every cemetery is well-kept, and the soldiers of the allied armies as as those of the enemy sleep in hallowed ground, round which peaceful farms are now being cultivated. All who pass by bare their heads and think reverently of those who died for freedom.

The whole country is of gently rolling downs through which the rivers Marne and Aisne flow peacefully. Beautiful trees border the roads, and we drove for miles through splendid avenues of beech, elm and poplar, which are planted by the Government Marne went on. After leaving Chateau Thierry we drove through the ruined village of Dormans, burned by the along all the roads in France. Of course the war destroyed many of these trees, but outside the war area they are magnificent. A drive of about five miles, in which we passed through the ruined villages of Bouresches, Hill 204 and Vaux, brought us to Chateau Thierry, the scene of the famous second Battle of the Marne. Chateau Thierry is another peaceful little city overlooked by the ruins of an ancient castle of the tenth century. It is difficult to realise that in this quiet vicinity the terrible fighting of the Battle of the Germans during their retreat, past Ville-en-Tardenois, and the Hills of Resistance rendered famous by the heroic fighting of the. British, French and Italian troops, to Rheims. We entered this famous and ancient city through very beautiful gates, at which we paid a small fee, levied by the Government on tourists and devoted to the restoration of the city. The Germans occupied Rheims for about nine days in 1914, but before the occupation they hurled hundreds .of thousands 'of shells on the city. Rheims is the centre of the champagne country, and we visited the fine cellars of Heidsieck, the celebrated champagne maker. Now we drove along the line of the German advance, through wonderfully fine country, past the town of Romigny, and then past the first British soldiers’ ctemetery, which has small cement headstones instead of white crosses. Later we passed an Italian soldiers’ cemetery of green crosses with white discs for the names, and at Bligny were several cemeteries of French soldiers. There are numerous small cemeteries dotted along the whole of the route. We passed them in silence, the men bearing their heads. ’ At Vilette we saw the ruins ot the cellars and storehouses of the Veuve Clicquot, well-known manufacturers of champagne. A few miles further on we saw a tremendous pit 350 feet wide and 150 feet deep, which was the result of the explosion of a mine which the Germans left when they were forced to evacuate that trench. The mine exploded the next day and killed hundreds of the French who were holding the trench. We stopped at the fine city of Soissons, which also suffered terribly during the war. The cathedral here is completely cut in halves by German shells, and as this could be seen from the outside, it seemed almost more shocking than the damage at Rheims. Our last stop was at the ancient town of Senlis, frequently mentioned in midiaeval history. This city, was much damaged by shells and was the head quarters of General Foch in 1916. This ended our tour of the Marne battlefields, and we saw enough to cause us to realise the desolation caused by the war, and to picture the sufferings of the soldiers, as well as of the French as they law their beautiful cities and cathedrals which had been loved and revered for centuries, laid in ruins by the German guns.