Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-15

oPec'df Cable TO Ecening Public Ledger
Copyright 1918. by Ne,o York Times Co.
with the British Armies on the West.
). ern Front. Oct. Is.
There Is no sign of an impending
armistice on the western front, ano
the only hint of its possibility was
In the speech of German prisoners,
brought down by Allied troops in the
new attack launched in Flanders.
1t was an international force be.
tween Menin and the coast and above
all, 1t was Belgian. Once again the
Belgian army was In the field, In.
spired with an ambition to advance
into their own country and to be the
first to carry the tidings of liberation
to their people.
To me, spectator of the drama,
which is intensified in interest because
of the peace proposals, which promise
swift ending to this war, 1t was
strange to be in Flanders again after
following the campaign down south by
Cambria and st. Quentin.
1 had an idea then that / should
never see the Flemish battlefield again
under fire, but I went out through
Ypres. as on SO many days last year.
and saw again those ruins which are
built into the fabric OF British his
tory and the most tragic memories in
this war. and went across those fright
full fields up through Zonnebeke. past
Inverness copse and Glencourse wood.
up to Brookseinde and the crest Pf
Passchendaele, still Uttered with the
wreckage of German pill boxes for
which the British fought So desper-
ately and still pitted with those shell
holes and craters over which the
British troops stumbled in bogs and
lakes on their way TO the high ridges.
Time was, and not so long ago, when
one could not put ones nose into
Ypres or out of it without having a
German SO burst extremely close, and
when there was fierce and terribly
harassing fire over all this vast belt
of country beyond Ypres, and when
British gunners below the railway EN-.
bankment at Zonnebeke and In bog
4 holes below Abraham heights and Pas
schendaale were always being searched
for by high explosives.
To-Day, after the German retreat, this
country has lost Its menace, and there
are few new shell craters among the
old ones. and there is traffic up roads
where men used to walk in single file
only under cover of night, and then
were In danger of death.
But they are the same old roads In
the same old Flanders mud and 1t was an
astonishing sight to see the tide of war
streaming along these ''traff1cs" and a
great army on the move across the raw
aged land where there is no living tree
in the charred stumps of woods and one
wide vista of Internal chaos.
The scene around Passchendaele and
along the whole sweep Of ridges for
4, many miles Is the worst In the world
except the way to Bapaume. and In It's
old solitude 1t haunted ones soul with
its foul aspect. But now 1t Is redeemed
by the masses of men marching and
riding blithely through it and going for
ward to the fats, elated by sense or
victory, a certain victory now of which
nothing can rob them. and peace not
far away. Belgian and British gunners
1hared, the roads with their limbers and
transport.
Both flying men and anti-aireraft
gunners had their camps among the Bel
gian camps. where men with tasse'ed
caps exchanged cigarettes with them ana
shouted out "al goes WELL" as fresh
patches Of German prisoners came down
the boggy tracks.
Belgian ambulances and Red Cross
cars like those which years ago / passed
when Dixmude was In flames, were es-
tablished near the old German dill boxes.
for which English and Scottish and
Irish soldiers fought terrible battles not
long ago.
Go to Caim Victory
Troops were marching forward to
drive. further into the German lines
and they had that hard look OF men
who have been through all the worst OF
the war and now go to claim their VIC
tory.
How far to the front?" asked
y colonel, leaning forward in his saddle as
ne passed me, and / said, * don't Know.
Mon Colonel. things move so quickly now
adays, and hear that our men are 60
ing on now before Ledeghem."
"Nous les aurons," laughed a gunner
perched on heavy howitzer crawling
up the road, I'VE shall have them be-
fore they make this peace"
German wounded pnd British wounded
came back together In several ambu-
lances saw Germans, Belgians. Eng
lish and Scottish soldiers mixed up as
tney hau Deen picked UP ifoHl the "o-
vanced stations.
Slogging slowly through the muddy
tracks came stalking some wounded Ger
man soldiers without escort. stumbling
stiffiy along as II weighed down by their
heavy helmets. amid groups of Belgians
with bandaged faces and arms or coats
cut away, leaving them bare on one side
from the shoulder to the waist.
Groups Of Jocks, lightly hit. supported
each other or sat down in the mud to-
gether for rest on the way back to
the casualty clearing stations or dis
cussed their fighting with troops who
had been on their right by Moorseele and
down to Gheluwe.
tr All the Same Tale
II was all the same tale they told
The enemy had put up a fight with his
machine guns and then surrendered. The
Scots, with Belgians on their left. had
gone fast, smashing through the firsl
line Of the German resistance north OF
Ledeghem to st. Peter and getting or
the high ground west Of Winkel st
Fioi. and with the Belgians going grandly
on the left, and coming forward all the
time.