Show i Battlefield Desolation to I IRema Remain Rema n Monument to to Allies' Allies Blood flood Sacrifice I By Robert Welles WI elle Rot Kitchie R clue Service Ser Correspondent BELGIAN HEADQUARTERS Xo Nov 11 JD Dy By By Mall Mail When world peace penca now actual actually In sight tho signing toda today of the tha armistice finally comes to tho the war weary nations amid all tho tremendous problems of or rebuilding destinies des des- and rehabilitating peoples several several sev sev- eral oral pur purely sentimental Is issues will await settlement One of ot these already und under r discussion among mong Belgians and beginning o 0 o attract the attention of or Englishmen Is this What I Is to bedone bo be dono done with the ser battlefield particularly that portion of ot It which embraces embraces embraces em em- braces Ypres Ever Every nation I that Hat has fought In the war has become subjected to bonds of ot sentiment attaching to this or that particular particular particular par par- bloody field which witnessed tremendous heroisms and antI deadly won victories k a I Enshrine Pinion The Thc French already have ha enshrined tho the pockmarked plains of or the tho Champagne Champagne Cham Cham- in n the national Pantheon of or adoration adoration ado- ado ration lation the tho Italians look to their winning winning win win- ning Corso while the Serbs exist ex ex- 1st their songs an and stories will be of ot tho the Great n Retreat tr at In the terrible winter winter win win- winter ter of or 1915 the American soldier soller over oyer here especially here especially tho the valiant marine counts Chateau Thierry an and Belleau wood hallowed ground With Ith the tho Bel Bel- Belgians glans gians an and tho the English the ghastly strip of or desert esert al along along- ng the canal from i ithe the North sea eastward to Ypres Ypres' through the sectors their troops clung i to so 80 desperately for tor four terrible years ears is sanctified beyond tho the power of ot i time to chat change e I It tt was as Vera hero the thc English and Belgians ns first checked the tho conquering conquering conquering con con- German Grman wave waye a few Cew months after tho the war started Hero Heio tho the first an and second battles of ot Ypres were fought the fur fury of or attack cl and counterattack counterattack counterattack counter counter- attack swept over ridge and and Kemmel Kommel hill hlll here tho the last desperate rate sally of the Germans to take tako Ypres was checked last sum sum- mer It was behind this blood bloody line lino that tho the Belgian Beglan arm army reduced from frOnt to men mert in the tho first dreadful dreadful dread dread- rea ful tul months of ot gallant resistance was rehabilitated and Increased in size launched last September on a triumphal sweep to liberate an enslaved country countr A 1 terrible altar of or sacrifice this fifty fifty- mile strip of or tortured territory pon i pon which has been laid all that was noblest noblest no no- blest in tho the character of Belgians Belgian Cam Cana Ca- Ca na m i 1 I a vi o C j-if j um AM T T.-I T. r I oli 1 V u wu men c and d English h Forever cr Untouched Recently I put tho the question What t h Is to be done dono with the battlefields battle battle- fields to Dr Modesto Terwagne on one of the leaders of or the socialist party part In Inthe Inthe the Belgian chamber of ot representatives tIcs Ho lie answered without hesitation Let th the moro more terribly scarred remain forever as they are untouched a n monument monument mon mon- umen t to war I have asked several se Englishmen Ive I've m mot met t civilians and military men alike what they believed would be the thc ultimate ulti ulti- ulti ultimate I mate disposition of this bloo bloody province I ince Each in his own manner ex expressed expressed ex- ex presse pressed the hope somo some way might b be found to consecrate a portion at least lof of the territory to thc the purposes of or a permanent memorial to tho the soli soldiers sol sol- I Biers diers of or the tho allies who there thero gave up liP tl their lives II for the worlds world's freedom I Naturally Ypres s and the country countr immediately Imme imme- Immediately me- me adjacent la is the Cho Britons Briton's choice I for the thc site silo of ot such a memorial for tor P P cry 0 soldier wearing searing tho the kings king's button button but but- I t ton n counts the bitter defense of or Ypres pre i I the water high-water mark of British courage cour cour- ago age nn and tenacity Ypres Prosperous City CHT But Dut hero practical l Issues obtrude Ypres was ono one of ot Belgium's mos most prosperous cities nn and of ot course the values of Its sites though impaired by bythe bytho tho the razing of or tho the buildings were b by byno byno I no means menns wiped out Inevitably Ypres will wilt rise from Us its dust of de destruction though I have ha heard several Belgians express the belief that the ruins of ot tho the ancient Cloth hall once hall once ono one of or the handsomest examples of mediaeval al Flemish architecture now a single le battered tower dominating a n. level plain where the city stood should stood should be I preserved for a a. monument to tho the city that was As S for tor tho tiro remainder er of the territory rising to tho the ridge to the east cast cast and antI carrying to on In the tho se sea confidence In the rehabilitation as farm lan land and the I sites of ot cities titles and villages whose onetime one one- one one-I time existence has to be marked b by a a. signboard almost almost- passes Irrin lna 1 tion Here Is the bleakest I desert the war has wrought wro ht anywhere Before Defore I passed through h It recently the auto wallowing over roads partially partially partially par par- restored restore for military purposes I ha had read descriptions of ot this Flanders Flanders Flanders Flan Flan- ders dead mans man's lan land and thought tho the I writers had hatI exaggerated Now low I know they merely undertook a task beyond their powers North Belgium Swamp To the tho north whore the Belgians flooded a vast ast acreage to check the Germans there there Is Ie now naught but a melancholy swamp whose only crop Is the dreadful vineyards of barbed wire miles miles upon miles of ot these rusted fil filaments filaments fil- fil aments threading from redoubt to re redoubt redoubt ro- ro doubt In double an and triple lines on either cither side eldo of at tho the gray eray canal Where here the tho swamp ends an even evon more terrible man made wilderness of ot haggled anu harried terrain begins Nothing but buta a n. desert of ot crosses of steel ploughed furrows little beaver darns which are dugouts spotted everywhere split guns shattered pill boxes water water- filled s like dull steel mirrors mirrors mirrors mir mir- set down own everywhere between hummocks as far tar as the eye eo carries Here Mere and there half burled British tanks rear their great snouts aloft as asIt asif asif if It they were monsters painfully lifting themselves cs up from primeval ooze Tho The land Is sown eown not only with the dead dea but with potential death eath Not a n. Quarter aero that does not conceal below the thc surface some unexploded un- un exploded ivr l shell hell r r ready adv to tn tear teal tO pieces nieces p the wielder of ot pick or mattock In somo some places splintered steel lies thick as stones In a a. Now New ew England Englan abandoned abandoned aban aban- farm tarm Barbed Barbe wire Is the weed growth of or this hells hell's pasture r For or the patient toiling Flemish Pe Peasant san to clear this wrecked war land lan an and to cause crops to grow where mens men's bones an and the trash of killing aro are no now the only fruitage ap appears appears appears ap- ap pears a task of ot such magnitude as asto asto asto to be almost boon beyond hope But Dut having having havIn hav hav- ing In seen this peasant working his farm almost under shell fire I know knot him capable for the task |