A march through Ypres ruins
George Ramage's eye for detail and highly descriptive diary bring an immediacy to the appalling conditions and the sufferings of civilians and soldiers during the attacks at Ypres.
There is a touching and poignant quality to the Lance Corporal's description of what he saw in the ruined city on 26 May 1915 — the drunken resignation of some of the soldiers and the ruination of the stately buildings:
'March off in evening — several drunken men stagger into the ranks just in time minus their equipment — one collapses on the march — march thro' ruined Ypres — not an undamaged house — shell holes in the streets and the remaining walls — curtains flop mournfully from the windows of the deserted homes — pass ruined cathedral and cloth hall — no people except for a few British soldiers.'
