_To leave the town, return from the Grande Place to the Place de la République_ (in June, 1917, it was impossible to take the Rue d'Arras, which is the direct road, all this part of the town being obstructed by ruins). [Illustration: RUINS OF ST. WAAST CHURCH] _In the Place de la République take the Boulevard Victor-Hugo on the right, and then Rue Marcelin-Berthelot, also on the right. At the cross-roads take the Rue de Lille to the left._ The Faubourg de Lille suffered severely from the bombardment. _Take N. 41 alongside the Aire Canal._ [Illustration: BÉTHUNE. RUE D'ARRAS, BEFORE KULTUR'S BLIGHT FELL ON IT. (_Cliché LL._) (_See below_)] [Illustration: BÉTHUNE. RUE D'ARRAS--WHAT THE GERMAN SHELLS LEFT OF IT (_see above_)] [Illustration: DESTROYED BRIDGE ACROSS THE BASSÉE] For four years the fighting never ceased in this region. _Leave the Festubert sector on the right._ Throughout the struggle, the Canadians fought so bravely that one of their recruiting posters was dedicated to the heroes of Festubert, with this inscription: "Oui, vous avez raison, c'est hideux le carnage, Oui, le progrès blessé recule et se débat, Notre siècle en fureur retourne au moyen âge, Mais sachons donc nous battre, au moins, puisqu'on se bat." _At the crossing of N. 41 and 43 leave the latter on the right._ _Cross the Grande Rue d'Annequin._ From here, on the right, coalpit No. 9 can be seen, with its wrecked machinery in the air--a mass of twisted ironwork. _The ruined village of_ =Cambrin= _is next passed through. On the other side of the level-crossing, leave on the right the badly damaged village of_ =Auchy-lez-La-Bassée=. _The road now follows the canal._ After crossing the railway (l. c.) vast heaps of broken railway trucks smashed by the shells can be seen in the fields on the right. Further on are eight or nine blockhouses which were formerly brick-kilns. _Turn to the left, cross the railway, then the Aire Canal by the new suspension bridge_ (beside the old one shown in the photograph) _and enter_ =La Bassée=, _now a heap of ruins_. La Bassée, an important centre standing at the junction of several roads and railways, in the heart of the plain of Flanders, south-west of Lille, was the objective of many desperate struggles during the war. In October, 1914, the district of La Bassée was the scene of endless conflicts between the Allied and enemy cavalry forces, the little town finally remaining in the hands of the Germans. A year later, the British offensive in Artois drove back the Germans south of La Bassée, whilst to the north the positions of Neuve-Chapelle and Aubers were bitterly disputed. However, the lines shifted but little, and La Bassée still remained in the centre of the line of fire. [Illustration: LA BASSÉE, _from an old engraving_]