Victoria to Vimy The First World War Collections at the University of Victoria Libraries

Page 28_verso


Creator:
Westman, Florence M.
Description:
Page contains the continuation of a news article from the previous scrapbook page and 3 photographs depicting women knitting, two soldiers, and Rockcliffe camp - a Canadian Forces base in the eastern part of Ottawa, 1916.
Subjects:
World War, 1914-1918; Westman, Florence M.; World War, 1914-1918--War work--Canada
Date:
1916
Collection:
Florence M. Westman collection
Location(s):
Belgium--Leper; Ontario--Ottawa;
Transcript:
[start clipping] We are now really in the midst of the famous salient. Here is Zillebeke, and beyond is Maple Copse and Sanctuary Wood, the heart of the great fight in early June, when the Wurtemburgers made such desparate efforts to capture the salient. Close by is Hill 60, the hill of a hundred fights, where we hold the edge of the hill and the Huns occupy the higher part beyond. Further on we come to the parapets of the flat lands, and then to St. Eloi, with the big craters of tragic and glorious memory. Beyond that we will find ourselves in the comparatively quieter regions around Dickebusch. "The dirtiest part of the line," the soldiers call this section from St. Eloi to Hooge. I want you, my friend, reading this in comfort at home, to realize something of what it is like. The first here is threefold, overhead, underground, and in the trenches. Air fights are of daily occurrence, and the Taubes are ever seeking a chance to penetrate our lines. Mining is carried out on a big scale by both sides. Not long ago the Boches blew up a mine over 400 feet long close to St. Eloi. We were ready for them; most of our men had been withdrawn from the danger point and were ready to rush in afterwards before Fritz could make a footing. Surrounded by Enemy. We are almost surrounded by the enemy. They occupy the heights nearly all around, although, fortunately, we hold some intermediate positions which prevent them from obtaining absolute fire command of the district. They can however, sweep point after point within our lines with rifle and machine gun fire. Their big guns get at us not only from the front but form the sides, and almost from the rear. Nowhere in the salient are you free from shell fire. At any moment the Huns may send a dozen or so of "heavy stuff" around where one is. The call to get under shelter from an approaching shell is so frequent that it becomes automatic to obey it. Everyone has narrow escapes. A "rum jar," - a monster shell with 200 pounts of [end column] [start column] explosive - fell at the entrance to Jones' dug-out yesterday and failed to explode. He had the cast iron case emptied and is using it today as a waste paper basket. Brown missed his way going to X wood this morning and so escaped being there when the Huns strafed it with 5.11's. A bit of shell penetrated Robinson's dug-out half an hour ago and just missed him. Every one who is in the front of the salient for a day meets with experiences such as these. One is playing a game of tag with death all the time. What is the effect of this chance shelling on the men themselves? After a very short time everyone becomes indifferent to it. I am not talking now of the heavy strafing on one point. That is another story. But the intermitten shell is regarded at the worst as a minor annoyance. From Vlamertinghe to Sanctuary Wood you see no one but soldiers save a rare and greatly privileged civilian visitor. All the old inhabitants have gone; all the houses that have not been levelled to the ground stand desolate. Here and there the ruins of a chateau, heavy protected by sandbags, are used as a field dressing station for the wounded. No Red Cross flag is flown over them. "We don't wat to draw Boche fire," say the doctors grimly. The Germans have not yet given up hopes of capturing Ypres. All they need is to take a comparatively small portion of territory, which would give them a clear command over our front. Let them take this and we would have to fall back on fresh lines, away to the other side of the city. They know this. For sixteen months they have tried in vain. Doubtless they will try again and again. Why have they not succeeded? They have every advantage of position. Wurtemburgers and Bavarians, Guards and Saxons, the very pick of the German army, have spent themselves on this front. But always at the last, however near they have been to success, the resolute determination of our boys has driven them back. [end clipping] 3 photographs
People Depicted:
Breen, J.; Bodie, Robert