A broad abroad: WORLD WAR I- BATTLEFIELDS AND CEMETERIES

Our bus

Our guide - Philip

Part of the map of the area we would be covering on the tour. Ypres is the silent witness of the Great War. During the entire war period from 1914-1918, Ypres was the scene of some of the most important battles in the First World War. The name Flanders Fields is particularly associated with battles that took place in this area, including the Second Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Passchendaele. For most of the war, the front line ran continuously from south of Zeebrugge on the Belgium coast, across Flanders Fields into the centre of Northern France before moving eastwards - and it was known as the Western Front.

Some of the cemeteries and battlefields in the area. These are the ones we would be visiting.

Our tour guide and owner of the company was extremely knowledgeable of the area we were going to see and also of so much of the history of WW I. Although the tour was 9 hours it went by so quickly. As we drove from site to site he had running commentary on various facets of the war - events leading up to the war , battles that were fought in this area, decisions by battleield commanders that lead to tragic slaughter of troops, and so much more. He was obviously a World War I enthusiast.

There were thirty people on the tour from all over - Scotland, Australia, England, Canada, New Zealand, and the US. Some had personal stories of relatives involvment in the war.

One of the things that Philip pointed out is that farmers today still find bodies, ammunition grenades,undetonated shells, mustard gas and other gas canisters, weapons, helmets, insignia, etc. The army has a unit in the area to assist farmers in getting rid of undetonated shells . particularly those containing gas. People are still getting killed by shells in the area. Approximately 330,600 pounds of live ammunition is found each year. The farmers call gernades heavy potatoes.

Getting started.

On the trip to our first stop Philip talked about the "Christmas Peace". when soldiers from both sides crossed the trenches and participated in a celebration - talking to each other as best they could, pulling out pictures of wifes and children, sharing food and playing games. This actually continued well after the holidays. This was not a good thing in the eyes of the superiors and eventully 3 things introduced by the Germans changed this - the introduction of gas, the U-boats, and the use of bayonets whose blades were like a saw. Philip also pointed out that gas was used by both sides in the war.

Our first stop was at Langemark - a German Cemetery. This is one of only four German cemeteries in the Flanders region. There are a total of 13 German cemeteries from the First and Second World War.

Behind this entrance lie 44,304 soldiers, 24,917 of them in a mass grave. Over 3,000 cadets and student volunteers are among the dead, They were killed in October 1914 during futile attempts to break through in the direction of Ypres. Therefore the cememtery is also known as the Studentenfriedhof and the battle "The Massacre of the Innocents".

Names listed on the inside of the arch -- walls and walls of names. Thoughtout these cemeteries remember that a name is only listed once. It is either on a wall or on a tombstone - never both places. If an unknown becomes identified his name is taken off the wall and put on a tombstone.

Oak trees were planted

over 80 years ago and dominate the sombre atmosphere of this cemetery. The Oak tree is the national tree of Germany.

Statue of "Mourning Soldiers".

There was also four German Bunkers in this cemetery. Many bunkers were destroyed after the war but recent legislation prevents the bunkers from distruction. They remain as a reminder of the brutality of war.

Our next stop was the Saint Julien Memorial - The Brooding Soldier. This memorial commemorates the Canadian 1st Division in action on the 22nd to 24th of April 95. The inscription on the memorial reads:

This columnm marks the battlefield where 18,000 Canadians on the British left withstood the first German gas attacks the 22nd - 24th of April 1915. 2,000 fell and here lie buried.

Many of the 2000 Canadian soldiers were never recovered and remain as missing in action in the fields or as unidentified graves in the cemeteries around the area of Keerselare near the memorial. The names of the missing Canadians in Flanders, Belgium, are recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing in Ypres/Leper. Those whose bodies were found and buried lie in the military cemeteries in the surrounding battlefield area. Those who died of their wounds would have been laid to rest in cemeteries near to where they were being treated behind Allied lines.

The soldier's folded hands are resting

respectfully on the butt of his unturned rifle. This "arms reversed" is the traditional military salute to the fallen. His bowed head is looking in the direction from which a cloud of chlorine gas approached this section of the line on the 22 April, 1915. This was the first large scale chemical attack in the history of warfare.

The orientation table that surrounds the base of the memorial points out other important battlefield locations.

This next picture shows the ground that the soldiers were fighting. Philip pointed out that many soldiers drowned because of the composition of the ground - clay and mud and they couldn't move when they got stuck in it and many bodies just disappeared into the earth and the bodies have never been recovered.

Our next stop was The Tyne Cot Cemetery which was named after a barn at the center of the German strongpoint, which was called the "Tyne Cot" or "Tyne Cottage" by men of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. After its capture in October 1917 in the advance on Passchendaele , one of the "pill-boxes" was used as an Advanced Dressing sation and the first burials were made around it. The ground was lost in April 1918 and recaptured by the Belgiums five months later .

Tyne Cot Cemetery is the largest British Cemetery in the world. 11,908 graves are registered within the cemetery. Of this 70% are unknown. On the walls of the back of the cemetery are the names of 34,927 soldiers who have no known graves and died from August 1917 to the end of the war.

Inside the cemetery, two mourning angels kneel on top of dome covered pavilions at either end of the memorial, highlighting the harrowing nature of the conflict in this area, Passchendaele. The two pavilions were built over German blockkhouses.

The crosses with the poppy and personal messages are found everywhere in the cemeteries.

There are books inside which you can sign

in as a visitor to the cemetery. There are also registers where you can look up a name and find a soldier's resting place or the location of his name on the wall.

German blockhouses in the cemetery.

There are 4 German soldiers buried here. There graves are marked by square cut tombstones. Their bodies were found here and buried and it was decided not to move them.

There is a grave of a Second Lieutenant Arthur Conway Young, located not far from the memorial cross. His parents were diplomats and aethiests. His stone has no cross and on it is wrtten "Sacrificed to the fallacy that war can end war."

We boarded our bus and headed to the 5th Australian Division Memorial and Polygon Wood Cemetery.

The Memorial.

The Polygon Wood cemetery is the Fifth's Division tribute to those who fought with it between 1916 and 1918 in France and Belgium in Polygon Wood. This monument and cemetery is on Australian land acquired after the war. The memorial itself is a stone obelisk, sits on a long, tall bank known as the "Butte", approached up a steep fight of steps. Beneath the memorial are the 2,103 headstones of Buttes New British Cemetery and the New Zealand Memorial to the missing while beyond stretches Polygon Wood.

Our next stop was lunch which included a visit to a private museum filled with World War I memorabilia which included full scale reconstruction of war scenes, and an extended collection of weapons and photos.

A battle was fought in this area in 1915. The Germans had an excellent overview over the British frontlines. They tried to eliminate this fortified area with a limited but well targeted attack. They let explode more that 1700 kg of dynamite in a tunnel made by special Tunneling Companies. This took place in July of 1915. What follows was an immediate attack of the formed crater by allies. This crater was later called Hooge Crater.

The museum's content is the collection of two people. On one hand you have an extensive collection of weapons from 1914-18 and on the other the uniforms and equipment of all the armies that fought during those years.

And there in all this memorabilia look what I found.

After viewing the museum we ate a quick lunch and I had an opportunity to talk to two ladies from Scotland who had come to look up the graves of a Grandfather of one of the ladies and a husband of one of the ladies step mother.

After lunch - on with the "Quasimodo" tour. Our next stop was Hill 60. Here Philip talked to us for some time - explaining the battle fought here and went into a lot of detail concerning the underground tunneling that went on, particularly in this area. He recommended the movie -Beneath Hill 60 and the book Birdsong to learn more about the tunneling and history of the "underground war." I just finished reading the first of the Century Trilogy Fall of Giants by Ken Follett which also discribes the conditions during the War and particularly mentions the battles in Belgium.

I believe Philip said there were 24 bomb sites built in these tunnels by the British. When they were set off the noise was deafening .. Nineteen of the mines were exloded the others did not explode. All but two were discovered after the war, One was found not too many years ago and one has yet to be found.

Hill 60 is the only preserved battlefield of World War I in Belgium There are many in France. As Philip pointed out Belgium is a very small country and the land is needed. It was known as Hill 60 on British military maps because the countoured height of the ground was marked at 60 meters above sea level.

Philiip reading and embellishing the write up on the stone.

Hil 60, the scene of bitter fighting was held by Germany troops from the 10th of December 1914 to the 17th of April 1915, when it was captured (after the explosion of five mines) by the British 5th Division. On the following 5th May it was recaptured by the German XV corps. It remained in German hands until the Battle of Messines (7th June 1917) when after many months of underground fighting two mines were exploded here and at the end of April 1918 after the battles of Lys it passed into German hands again. It was finally retaken by the British troops under the command of H.M. King Albert I of the Belgiums on the 28th September 1918.

In the broken tunnels beneath this enclosure many British and German soldiers were buried and the hill is therefore preserved so far as nature permits in the state in which it was left after the Great War.

Intersting to note that Prince Albert I of Belgium was the only monarch who actually lead his troops into combat during WWI.

Debris from the mine explosions.

Probably part of a bunker.

British Bunker but used by both Britsh and German armies.

This monument on the Hill is a memorial to the Queen Victoria Rifles. This was replaced after the original was damaged during the Second World War.

No requests to be buried on Hill 60 are honored. Today two stones have been placed there by families without permission but have not and probably will not be removed out of respect.

The craters caused by the bombs and the shelling leave quite an impression.

The Menin Gate in Leper, Belgium. It is a memorial to the Missing and is one of four British and Commonwealth memorials to the missing in the battlefield of the Ypres Salient .The memorial bears the names of 54,389 officers and men from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Forces (except New Zealand and Newfoundland) who fell in the Ypres Salient before 16 August 1917 and who have no known grave.

The location of the Memorial was selected as from October 1916 British and Commonwealth troops began to march east through the town's eastern exit or gateway. For the next four years of the Great War soldiers from practically ever British and Commonwealth regiment passed over this spot. Many thousands of them never returned.

Every evening at 8:00 Last Post , the traditional salute to the fallen warriers, is played at the Menin Gate Memorial. This started in 1929 and it has been played almost every night since except for a period in the Second World War when Ypres was occupied by German Forces. It started a year after the inauguration of the Memorial. A number of prominent citizens in Ypres decided that some way should be found to express the gratitude of the Belgium nation towards those who had died for its freedom and independence.

The privilege of playing Last Post was given to the buglers of the local volunteer Fire Briade. The "Last Post" bugle call is used at military funerals and memorials and times of Remembrance. It symbolizes the end of a soldier's day in so far as the dead soldier has finished his duty and can rest in peace.

So many fallen. Among those are eight recipients of the Victoria Cross the highest award, equivalent to the Medal of Honor, are listed on the memorial under their respective regiments.

The serenity of the area today.

The town of Ypres / Leper which had been almost completly destroyed was reconstructed. Buildings were buillt as a close likeness to their original architecture.

Then....

Today....

We only had a half an hour so we didn't have much time to explore. Would have loved to have spent a night there and attend the evening post and just spend a little time in the town itself. (One could depart the tour here and stay for the ceremony but it meant getting back into the Bruges around 9:00. We decided not to do it.)

There was a lovely square with lots of restaurants and we stopped and had something to drink.

Found the bus and took off again. This time to the Yorkshire Tench and Dugout. As we were driving to the site its in the least unlikely of locations. Iit's in an industirial park and wind farm.

In 1992 a group of amateur archeologists named " The Diggers" first discovered the remains of an original British trench. Between 1998 and 2000 they spent many hours digging and examining the trench which also had tunneled digouts. At the same time major construction for new buildings in Ypres' industrial zone were also being carried out. In addition to many artifacts "the Diggers" also discovered the remains of 155 First World War casualties. The bodies they discovered were French, German and British, lost in battle and never recovered for seventy years. Only one of the 155 were identified - a French soldier by the name of Francois Metiingzer

Because of safety concern and other issues, a law was passed in 2009 which forbade any amateur archeological ventures.

Our last stop was Essex Farm Cemetery and Dressing Station.

There are 1,199 burials at this cemetery though there are 1,185 graves . There are headstones grouped together for men who are known to be buried here but no one is sure where. The large majority of those buried here were named as they would have been known to the men who worked in the makeshift 'medical centre' there. There are only 102 gaves which are marked 'Known unto God' or 'A Soldier of the Great War'.

A memorial to Lieutenant-Colonial John Mc Crae who wrote the poem "In Flanders Field the poppies blow stands near to the concrete shelters or dugouts that remain to this day. LTC McCrae described working at Essex Farm as a 'nightmare' as the shelling was constant as it was only two miles from the front line.

The poem in his own handwriting.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing,fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn,saw sunset glow.

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch, be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields.

The grave of Rifleman Valentine Joe Strudwick of the 8th Battalion the Rifle Brigade who died on January 14, 1916 at age 15, one of the youngest fatalities in the British Army in World War one.

And so we ended our tour. It was certainly a solemn experience walking around the cemeteries and viewing the graves and names of those who had fallen in the war. In total the number of casualties in The Great War totaled 37 million: 16 million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths include 9.7 million military personnel and about 6.8 million civilians. The allies lost about 5.7 million and the Central Powers lost about 4 million. (The exact death toll is unknown).