Item 02: Leslie Kemnitz Stuart diary, 4 March-28 December 1916 - Page 204
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[Page 204]
(March of 20 Miles.)
[Sunday 9 July]
The Australian columns are moving today & a stirring sight it is. We move in the rear & we saw all the lads go past. Men who could tell, if they like of The Landing, of Lone Pine & of Helles. All marching to fresh fields of glory or death in the waving fields of the Somme
We left Erquinghem at 11 AM & arrived at Strazeele at 7.30P.M. & what a march it was. It reminded me of the first few lines of Barbara [Frietche?] [Barbara Frietchie], "Up from the meadows rich with corn". We passed through mile after mile of wheat, Oats & beans with here & there tall square patches of darker green that marked a hop field. Through Steenwerck & Croise du Beck [?] then a big circle round with Baillule [Bailleul] always on our left to Metern [Meteren] which we left on the same side till we came to the hill on which Strazeele sits like a verdant crown. From there we could get an uninterrupted view of nearly 20 miles to the East & South, we could see the spires of Hazebrouk [Hazebrouck], the belching chimneys of Aire [Aire-sur-la-Lys] while away to the east lay a low line of hills. France is at her best just now & is indeed magnificent