EIGHT YEARS AFTER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16242, 17 January 1927, Page 5

EIGHT YEARS AFTER

BELGIAN BATTLEFIELDS FEW EVIDENCES OF THE WAP. One of the most- interesting trips made by Mr. F. Wrey Nolan of Gisborne, daring liis recent tour in England and France, was that to the battlefields in France and Belgium. Strange, contrasts of old and new are provided here and there near the old battle lines, and the trip is one that- Mr. . Nolan wquld strongly recommend, as giving a wonderful impression of the magnitude of the struggle that took place over the countryside there. The stepping off place for Mr. Nolan s trip was Lille, a town which was in German occupation during the greater part of the war, and which in consequence did' not suffer very material damage. „ Few of the buildings were wrecked, for the British never attempted to shell the town. In strange contrast with Lille, with its many old and beautiful buildings, is Ypres, the Belgian town which wilT live for ever in wai memories on account of *P res safient, where strenuous fighting occurred during the whole of the war. COMPLETELY REBUILT.

The town of Yyres has been completely rebuilt, and a very fine class of building has been erected. Few signs of the war remain to be seen in the streets of the town, for very few buildings that existed during the war years are still standing. The famous Cloth Hall, in years to come, will be practically the only building left as it was at tbs end of the war, it having been strengthened without any material alteration being made. One of the* things which made very forcible impression on Mr. Nolan during his visit, was the manner in which the Germans held practically all the high ground, and he said it was marvellous to think that thev had ever been sinful out of their positions. As far as the eye could see the old German pill boxes could be observed, all on qpmmanding positions, looking down on the ground where the Allies were located. Ohe could hardly imagine how the big push had ever been successfully initiated, for from every view point, the Germans must have had tremendous advantages.' MESSINES RIDGE.

A few kilometres from Ypres itself is Messines Ridge, made famous by the blowing up of Hill 63, and here again evidences of the war are apparent to the visitor. Close by the war memorial at Messines are a few hundred yards of the German trenches as they existed during the war years, and one can gain some small idea of the hardships under which the fighting was carried out. Mr. Nolan’s companion, tyho was fighting in the vicinity of Messines during the war, said that the trenches were really infinitely better than the majority of the trenches occupied by the British, and it was easy to see that the hardships must have been almost beyond belief. Of all the impressive features of the countryside, however, there is none which so well illustrates the magnitude of the fighting as the craters still existing where different hills were blown up under the German trenches. These evidences of war will "remain a permanent feature of the countryside, and give some idea of the vast quantities of explosives that must have been used. The land throughout all the war districts is now cultivated, and apart from the few evidences here and there, it is hard to imagine that the well-ploughed fields were once torn and littered nv shell fire and all the horrors of the Great War.