The Sentinel=record., 1918-04-19
SAD SCENES ON
THE BATTLEFIELD
OF FLANDERS
PEASANTS ARE DAZED BY THE
BURSTING OF THE BATTLE
ABOUT THEM.
The Plague Of War Has Deseened on
the People With a BLOW That Has
Crushed Them Completely and They
Are in Pitifm Condition.

FtN III = iAlidl NbiluillONs
WITH TINE BRITISH ARMY IN
FRANCE, April 1S-It is difficult for
one in the British war zone to adjust
himself to the new conditions here. II
all seems like a horrid dream-this
spreading German blight across the.
cultivated plains Of Flanders with
their ancient, picturesque villages.
1t is but little more than week
since one was free to motor quietly
along highways leading through Mery-'
He, Bailleul and score Of other,
nearby places which never lost their
charms. Then peaceful farm lands
lay freshly turned ready for the spring
crops. The battle lines were not far
to the eastward but death and des-
truction seemed remote with wall OF
khaki clad men guarding the land
Little lads stood at attention by the
roadside and saluted as the motor
passed and old men and women
beamed welcome from the doors )t
their cottages.
Within a few days all this has been
changed. The plague of war has de-
scended on the country side Now
one meets his civilian friends the lit
I tie folk and the aged-from many
hamlets westward from the tide Of in
vasion which is driving them from all
they hold dear.
They look back on the rolling fields
that separate them from their little
world. BY day a bank of grim gray
, smoke from bpring ham'ets and
from myriad belching guns marks the
zone along which the struggling the
splendid British soldiers in their ell
forts to block further inroads OF the
hun. by night hte skyline is some
times a lurid blaze as consuming
flames leap mp from a hundred homes
and great cannon yomit volcanic fire
10 is living hell il is a part of here
tofore untouched Flanders going the
way Of the devastated regions OF tle
Somme and so the gentle peasant folk
stand and look or wander on. As they
go they cannot comprehend 1t. It's
awfulness has numbed their brains.
The correspondent found a little
family group crouching beneath buseI
British howitzers held in reserve
Their eyes were fastened on the
mounting columns OF smoke wnicn
rose from the village whence tpey
came. There were no tears and mol
words but the expression on tAelr
faces was like that Of one just con-
demned to die.
Why they stopped beside the great
Guns was unexplained. Possibly itI
was BECAUSE 1t gave .nem a sense Of
protection from dangers ont beyond
Many of the refugees know only IN
a general way whi-le- they go; they
are following the leaf of military
guides like sheep heeing from a storm
A few cherished belongings are all
they carry with them AMI they cling toI
these desperately az their last re-
naming pos sessions.
Hundreds OF Flemish homcs have
been robbed Of their protectors who
have been called 10 the French COloIs
and for these this has been a t'me OF
double ce.ru". Some Of the peaHarts
indeed clung to their cottages amidst
the crashing of shells until British
soldiers led them away. Some have
died by their own hearths before they
could be removed. A host of these
people must have realized their dan
ger but numbers refused 70 be dracget 4
from the homes which they had heen
keeping so patiently awaiting tho re.
turn of husbands or brothers from the
war. There were many pitiful cases
of homes in which there were bed
ridden invalids whom their friends
had no means OF removing without
help from the soldiers.
1t was only yesterday that a Brit
ish official photographer who was re-
cording the history of the war on his
films, discovered a HELPLESS paralytic|
lying in a house which had already
been partly wrecked by shells. TheI
invalid had no relatives and his friends
who had looked after him were dead orI
cut off from him. SO the photographer
with the assistance of a soldier car
ried the man to safety thoueh their
road Law through what might have
been probable death at any moment
This IS one instance among many.
Some times there is no way OF saw