Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 411
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[Page 411]
marble borders, along each wall were planted a variety of fruit trees & the display of flowers in bloom must have been a magnificent sight.
Interspersed all through the garden at well selected spots were placed a wonderful collection of beautiful marble statues. The garden could easily be pictured as the hobby & daily delight of some elderly retired gentleman or woman with a passionate fondness for flowers. All kinds of gardening seemed to have been brought to perfection & even after years of neglect evidence of its beauty was seen on every hand
But what must these terrible Huns do! They had sawn down all the splendid fruit trees, torn down all vines, cut down every rose bush & all other plants, broken off the heads & limbs, & thrown down all the statues, yet not satisfied with this, they used it as a place to throw their filth even when to do this caused them some extra exertion.
Such despicable work could not under any stretch of imagination be deemed a military necessity, 12 feet walls could be treated as likely to afford some protection from view for a battery of howitzers & if so, why not knock the walls down? but what earthly good from a military point of view, the total ruination of the cherished & life long work of an enthusiastic expert, in his efforts only to make more beautiful his insignificant plot of ground, is entirely beyond ordinary comprehension.
After about another week of road repair work every man was ordered back to his own battalion. Of course the men clearly understood that this meant, at no very distant date an action of some importance was pending.
After joining the Battalion there were quick marches with barely one whole nights delay in each were made through several villages the usual shell shattered villages that one sees for about 30 miles