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[Page 87]
Rue Dormoire, Erquinghem, Lille Post
10/6/16
Left at 8 am per bicycle for the trenches. Crossed emergency road to Rue Marle – a very muddy track. Turned round into La Chapelle d'Armentieres and found it nearly blown to bits. Every house & every room in every house is in ruins and the place looks like a dead resting place. In one old place some soldiers were bashing tunes out of a piano.
No civilians live as far forward as this. The whole place is under view from the enemy lines and from here we can see the high ground in rear of their trenches. Pushing on we came to a railway crossing near which is a neat little new post office and a room in which the village [indecipherable] are. It was partially wrecked by shell fire.
On the left hand side of the road are clusters of graves with their wooden crosses nearly lost in the luxuriant growth of herbage surrounding them. Further one there is a church square and imposing surrounded by good type of house. The whole is literally blown to shreds as and grass covers the floors instead of carpet.
[indecipherable] there is another crossing and one suddenly runs into a sand bag barrier right across the road and a sentry with a fixed bayonet. To right and left the trenches start. The road is blocked and bushes and grass grown and deserted right trough the trenches. It is the main Lille Road and runs on like a broad stone ribbon right through the German lines.
Dismounting from the bicycle one walks along the familiar duck walks past dugouts full of men shaving washing and lousing. Noticed in one place a patch of graves close pass which the saps have been dug. Shavers rested their glasses on the grave of Pte so and so while they shaved. It was pathetic to see the grave decorations. There a faded wreath, there a [indecipherable]Catholic image, there a big 6" shell case there a bismark kerosene lamp