Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-04
BY PHILIP GIBBS
Continued from Page One

Continued from Page One
1t is now October. and the men who are
advancing today belong to the same divisions
as those who fought back in the desperate
rear-guard actions when the enemy flung his
massed armies against them in March. These
are men of the same divisions who fought
in the beginning Of the British offensive bat
ties when the tide turned in August, ana
every day since then or almost every DAY
they have fought forward through trench
systems and village fortresses against the
desperate resistance of the German troops
until they have thirty miles of liberated LAND
Behind them, from Albert to lie Catelet, ana
every mile of it is strewn with relics of their
frightful strife,
They have lost many comrades on the way
this wake of war is scattered over with
little white crosses-and new drafts come
out TO fill the gaps, but the spirit OF the ola
divisions goes and new boys mingle WIN
veterans not much older than themselves
and carry 0n the tradition, They are Jus'
workngmen of Britain and the colonies
farmers and factory hands, clerks ana once
BOYS and lads who were at school tour Years
ago and with their steel helmets ana 'her
khaki. with dust and mud on them. tneg aIs
ali reduced to a dead level of humanity ana
discipline, and one sees no difference between
them.
They Keep on Going
one young Tommy, trudging along the
road is the type of all BRUSH loiiiihles'
One lean Australian stands for all Australla'
one Canadian for all Canada pu' III .n,s
mass of men there have been revealed anew
In recent weeks a high and wonderful aver
age of courage and devotion to some ioeal
that burns inward and does not iiame IN
their eyes or in their speech. Day aiter
day, they fight and trudge on through heids
Ia or
come, whether they have few hours or no
sleep whether their bones acne WIN
fatigue or their bodies weak with their
burden Of toll they keep on going until they
reach the breaking point when Is III human
nature.
,ben, they go toward the enemy's guns
knowing well the full cost of victory, they go
and claim il. There is nothing funny IN
shell fire. but they kill their fear by some
magic they have and many VINO are AFRAID
TO do the most heroic things
Not only the men, but their young OFF,
GERS and their headquarters staff do not
SPARE themselves the last spark of vitality ;
and a tribute Is due to those brigade ana
divisional corps and army stats who have
been toning for victory and what help they
can give their men. In the old days of
trench warfare they lived In chateau or
| far behind the lines and were targets OF
satire because of their comfort. There Is
precious little comfort for them now, ana
| the corps flags and divisional flags fly over
| holes In the ground, amid old trenches and
| old ruins. and generals and their officers are
very far forward with the hostile fire digging
| pits around them, while in the German dug
| outs abandoned by the enemy they direct
| battles within sight of them and snatch a
| few hours sleep in some narrow bunk be-
| tween cozy walls If Nhey have the luck to
| sleep.
| Every other day now they seem to shift
| their lodgings In the earth to some spot
| further forward. Yesterday for instance, /
| met a general washing outside his dugout
| like a private soldier whom only week or
| so before had met in dark cave fifteen
| miles back which is long way to fight
| when every yard of IL is under fire.
| So the whole army is animated by the
| single purpose Of grim endeavor to make
haste 10 victory, so that the world may get
| back to its sane life and men to their women
and babies after these years OF exile and
| agony.
! Average Men. These Heroes
| already have written accounts of the
| astounding feat Of the Sixth Midland ~Divi-
sion. which on Sunday last flung itself
| across the Scheldt canal at Bellenglise and
| captured 1900 prisoners. great numbers OF
guns and over 1000 machine guns, but
further details that come from these Leices-
ters. Staffords and Sherwood foresters in
i crease the marvel Of this achievement which
will rank In history as one OF the mos
heroic episodes of the war.
These men were not romantic fellows
like Greek heroes. They were bootmakers