Produced by Al Haines. [Illustration: A Landmark of the Canadian Battlefields] These ruined towers of the Church and Monastery of Mont St. Eloi—relics of the revolutionary wars of France—overlook the Battlefields of Vimy Ridge and Arras, and were a familiar landmark to tens of thousands of Canadian soldiers during the war. *Over the Canadian Battlefields* _*Notes of a Little Journey in France, in March, 1919*_ By JOHN W. DAFOE THOMAS ALLEN TORONTO COPYRIGHT, CANADA, 1919 BY THOMAS ALLEN, TORONTO PRINTED IN CANADA TO GENERAL SIR ARTHUR CURRIE, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., THE CIVILIAN COMMANDER OF THE CONQUERING CANADIAN CIVILIAN ARMY THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COURTESIES EXTENDED TO HIM. *AUTHOR’S FOREWORD* The articles which go to make up this little book were written for newspaper publication immediately following the journey over the battlefields, in France in March, 1919, which I had been enabled to make, through the courtesy and kindness of the Canadian Corps Commander. They were published in April, 1919, in the Manitoba _Free Press_, Winnipeg; and are now republished at the request of many friends who have asked that they be made available in more permanent form. Though the articles reveal their journalistic origin alike in their form and in a certain evanescent timeliness, already partly out of date, it has not been considered advisable, under the circumstances, to re-cast them into more permanent form. They are re-published as written save for some slight textual corrections. J.W.D. *CONTENTS* A Landmark of the Canadian Battlefields . . . _Frontispiece_ Dedication Author’s Foreword Chapter I. A Hurried Pilgrimage Chapter II. The Battlegrounds of the Souchez Chapter III. The Abomination of Desolation Chapter IV. The Marks of War Chapter V. The Canadian Hammer Strokes Chapter VI. The Civilian as Warrior Chapter VII. Compensations *OVER THE CANADIAN BATTLEFIELDS* *CHAPTER I* *A HURRIED PILGRIMAGE*