Letters From the Front

Dated:

I shall begin by giving you the latest and most exciting news that has happened in our vicinity since coming to Europe.  This morning, just before dawn, I was awakened by the distant droning of the engine of an approaching German aeroplane.  I was not left in doubt as to its identity, when it began dropping bombs at Poperinge, a mile and a half from here.  The noise of the engine grew louder, and then a descending bomb began whistling its way towards our camp, and ending in a violent explosion, when it fell on a field 300 yards away.  No sooner had the explosion occurred then the sing of a second bomb began whistling down and exploded, and so on until about eight had been dropped.  We had no idea of the bombs were so far away as they were.  None came any closer than 100 yards to any hospital, but all the same one feels they are making straight for his head.  I picked up a couple of small pieces of shell beside one of the holes for souvenirs.  It was gradually growing lighter and as the Bosch moved away down the track dropping his bombs we all came out of our huts to have a look at him.  I saw it in the starlight coming back, when he dropped a couple more bombs, and went overhead towards the front lines.  It was now quite bright, and we could see him quite plainly and all the men were running round looking for the bomb holes and souvenirs in the shape of pieces of shell.  The holes were all small, except one in a hop-field, that was 7 feet across and 4 feet deep, the others were about 3 feet across and 18 inches deep.  One incendiary bomb burned, after falling, for 15 minutes with a bright light.  I think they were trying to hit the railroad but apparently, it is impossible to hit anything they aim at.  Every bomb lit in soft earth and all the evidence of his visits is the few holes and, in one field, where it fell on a small pile of manure, it scattered that around a bit.

Last Sunday the Colonel and I went about 5 miles to visit his son, who is with a battery of howitzers.  The Germans were shelling the town as we went along with 6 inch shells.  These great shells whistle for a long time before they explode, when the earth and smoke fly in the air, and the sound of the explosion reaches you.  The guns are splendidly concealed and when any of our batteries fire one hears a terrible explosion but cannot see the gun that has fired.  The Colonel of the battery showed a picture, taken from an airplane, of the crater areas near St. Eloi, and not one foot of that ground but has been turned up by a shell.  The field looks exactly like a badly pock-marked face.  It is simply an innumerable series of shell holes.  We had a good view of Ypres with glasses from a hill, about 5 miles away.  The shattered towers stood up plainly of the cathedral and the cloth hall.  About four battalions are billeted there in cellars, and the Germans shell the place every day.

There is a continual procession of wounded to the hospital here, a large percentage of them Canadians.  We are dozens of airplanes passing to and fro overhead daily, and have seen a few fights in the air.  They seem to have a few shots at one another and pass on.