The View From

Still in the relative safety of the Ypres ramparts, half of the 2nd Battalion were having a well earned rest from front line service.
Captain W.B. Higgins, still with his trusty camera, captured the view from his within his new billet. Inside the ancient walls of the fortified town, the French had built deep brick casements, which were serving well to the men of 2nd Suffolk as 'comfy' billets.
Higgins photograph left, shows the ground floor establishment looking across to a still undamaged St. Martins Cathedral, prior to its almost total destruction later on in the war. The heavy sandbagged defensive wall outside the door served as a blast curtain incase a shell landed outside.
The men were slightly worse off in the upper stories of the ramparts. The had no direct route out of their holes in an emergency, except for a ladder or a quick jump of over 10ft!

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