CHAPTER XIV.. So This Is France!

SO THIS IS FRANCE!

"So this is France!"

For the first time the boys of Battery D repeated this phrase in all its reality as they stood upon elevated ground in the vicinity of the British Rest Camp at Cherbourg and viewed the vista of harbor, four miles distant, where, from the gang-plank of the King Edward they set foot on French soil on Sunday morning, August 4th, at 8 o'clock.

The panorama presented the naval and commercial harbors, from which Cherbourg, the seaport of Northwestern France, derives its chief importance. The eye can see the three main basins, cut out of the rock, with an area of fifty-five acres, which forms the naval harbor and to which are connected dry-docks; the yards where the largest ships in the French navy are constructed; magazines and the various workshops required for an arsenal of the French navy.

A glance about reveals surrounding hills, in which batteries are located in fortification of the works and the town.

A second glance toward the harbor shows a large naval hospital close to the water's-edge, at the mouth of the Divette, on a small bay at the apex of the indentation formed by the Northern shore of the Peninsula of Cotentin. There is also at the mouth of Divette, the commercial harbor, connecting with the sea by a channel. This harbor consists of two parts, an outer harbor and an inner basin. Outside these harbors is the triangular bay, which forms the road-stead of Cherbourg.

The bay is admirably sheltered by the land on three sides, while on the North it is sheltered by a large breakwater, which is protected and leaves passage for vessels. The passages are guarded by forts placed on islands intervening between the breakwater and the mainland, and themselves united to the mainland by breakwaters.

Glimpses of the town of Cherbourg which the boys received as they hiked the four miles from the docks to the rest camp, through narrow and crooked streets, revealed no buildings of special interest, apart from the church of La Trinite dating from the 15th century; a statue of the painter J. F. Millet, born near Cherbourg, stands in the public gardens and there is an equestrian statue of Napoleon I in the square named after him. After reaching the rest camp the soldiers were unable to get down to the town again, although they had been told that the Hotel de Ville housed a rich collection of paintings.

It was at 10 a. m. when the regiment arrived at the British Rest Camp at Cherbourg. Halt was made on a large parade ground in front of a Y. M. C. A. hut. The boys stretched themselves on the ground while search was instituted for the area the outfit was to occupy at its second rest camp.

Rest had just been commanded a few minutes when the command to "fall-in" was sounded. Everybody hustled to their feet, shouldered the heavy pack and awaited the next order.

"About-Face" was ordered. And the regiment obeyed. "Rest" was next. This was the first time in the history of the battery that it was necessary to shoulder packs to execute an about-face.

The camp consisted of dome-shaped, sheet-iron barracks and tented areas. After an hour's wait Battery D was assigned to the 13th row of