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.
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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men had been withdrawn from the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
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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.
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3 photographs