If there was nothing remarkable about the publication of "In Flanders Fields",
there was something momentous in the moment of writing it. And yet
it was a sure instinct which prompted the writer to send it to `Punch'.
A rational man wishes to know the news of the world in which he lives;
and if he is interested in life, he is eager to know how men feel
and comport themselves amongst the events which are passing.
For this purpose `Punch' is the great newspaper of the world,
and these lines describe better than any other how men felt
in that great moment.
It was in April, 1915. The enemy was in the full cry of victory.
All that remained for him was to occupy Paris, as once he did before,
and to seize the Channel ports. Then France, England, and the world
were doomed. All winter the German had spent in repairing his plans,
which had gone somewhat awry on the Marne. He had devised his final stroke,
and it fell upon the Canadians at Ypres. This battle,
known as the second battle of Ypres, culminated on April 22nd,
but it really extended over the whole month.
The inner history of war is written from the recorded impressions of men
who have endured it. John McCrae in a series of letters to his mother,
cast in the form of a diary, has set down in words the impressions
which this event of the war made upon a peculiarly sensitive mind.
The account is here transcribed without any attempt at "amplification",
or "clarifying" by notes upon incidents or references to places.
These are only too well known.
