Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 13]
Cambrai in the Dark. We were billeted in the College, a large Building built around a square. I have been told that there is a regular Catacombs underneath. Just in front of the College there is a nice little park containing a monument in honor of Bleriot. Cambrai is the best laid out Town that I have seen in France except Paris. It has some fine Boulevards & splendid buildings. Our Airmen & also Fritzs smashed the Town up a bit. The square in particular seems to have been burnt out. A lot of the Civvies told us we were the first Australians they had seen. They nearly always take us for Yanks. We left Cambrai at about 10.30 p.m. & had another long ride to Jeumont arriving there late on Tuesday (17.12) night. We passed through Maubeuge (a large town) on the way. It was very interesting passing through Maubeuge. We passed through Gate after Gate. There were Citadelles, Ramparts, moats & all sorts of old fashioned fortifications including some Bridges, which Fritz very thoughtfully destroyed. We must have passed about 100 destroyed Bridges on this trip.
20/12, Friday
Fritz destroyed an enormous amount of material here. At Jeumont Station he packed trains for half a mile 12 & in some case 14 times abreast, these were all filled with munitions, merchandise & all sorts of valuable