Belgium.


YPRES.

Ypres! That wonderful place, the sound of whose name makes the heart of
the Englishman at home glow with pride, but makes the soldier, friend or
foe, shudder at the mere recollection. It was the scene of much stern
work, and if Belgium has been dubbed the Cockpit of Europe, surely the
"Salient" was the cockpit of cockpits. More men lie buried in that small
patch of ground than one cares to think about, and when instances of the
unreasonableness and veritable folly of war are cited from other fronts,
they can always be equalled by experiences at Ypres.

In many respects, however, the 7th were lucky in this sector, for we did
not actually go over the top during our stay. Other units of the
division carried out what would be termed minor operations (which are
anything but minor operations to the people concerned), but the 7th
escaped any such work. So far as we were concerned it was a continuation
of line-holding, but under vastly new conditions. It would be useful,
perhaps, to indicate the nature of these conditions.

As all the world knows the third battle of Ypres commenced on the 31st
July, 1917, preceded by a terrific concentrated bombardment of the Hun
positions lasting about ten days. The effect of this bombardment was to
obliterate all signs of life on that part of the earth, with the
exception of a few horrible, naked, and shattered trees. Nothing green
was visible anywhere. In fact the land looked as though it had been a
very choppy earth-brown sea suddenly frozen to stillness. Everywhere
was shell-holes, shell-holes, shell-holes--large and small. Only by