In Flanders Fields

Reconstructed trench

This will be my last post on the Beers and Battlefield of Belgium. As mentioned previously, I wanted to visit the World War One battlefields around Ypres as there is good evidence that my grandfather was there for the last two years of the war.

Photo taken at a spot where we stopped to see the "Iron Harvest"

The areas where such terrible battles were fought are now beautiful rural pastures were the cows graze. Just the ever occurring "Iron  Harvest" of unexploded shells bear witness to the battles. There are also the many graveyards scattered around the area which bear witness to the carnage. I have visited the battlefields of the Somme in France and Galipoli in Turkey. Both of these areas have quite large areas of preserved battlefields, where the trench lines can still be quite clearly seen. There are some preserved battle fields and trench lines around Ypres. One such example is the very small recreated trench system at Hooge crater. The large graveyard across the road from the Hooge Crater Museum attests to the heavy fighting in this area. A small section of what was once the German front line has been restored so that the visitor can get an idea of what the trenches were like. Of course the constant stench of rotting human and animal bodies and the smell of cordite is missing. So is the constant "shrill, demented choirs of wailing shell" (from the poem by Wilfred Owen - Anthem for Doomed Youth). But still, the reconstruction of the trenches are a very interesting experience. You can see the main differences between the German and British trenches. The Germans mostly used wood from the area to support the sides of their trenches. The British used corrugated iron. Around the reconstructed trench, the area is scattered with the typical debris which would have been typically found around the trench, including the Barbed wire.

Reconstructed trench

Old  photo in the trenches

View of No-mans land from the trench

Standing on the fireing step, peeping through a small gap in the sandbags, looking out over the debris of no-mans-land, was a very moving experience. You could just imagine looking through the crack and hearing the crack of a bullet sent in your direction from an enemy sniper. To think that men lived like this for years is just mind-blowing. The concept that a whistle would sound and you would scramble up over the top into the hail of bullets and certain death is just unbelievable. Very, very sad.

Narrow gauge railway line

Ammo case in the museum

The museum at Hooge Crater was also very interesting. There was a section of a narrow gauge railway line in the grounds of the museum.  This was particularly interesting to me as my grandfather was a train driver on the narrow gauge railway in the Ypres area.

We stopped for a light lunch at the Museum and there was, as in all placed in Belgium, beer on tap. This was a St Bernarbus Watou. A very nice thing about the beers in Belgium, each beer has its own glass! A pretty good beer

The museum had an excellent collection of items from the First World War and was very well worth a visit.

After lunch, we visited Hill 60, which was a small section of the battlefield which has been preserved. Two of the massive craters which were left after various mines were detonated can still be seen. These craters are mass graves of hundreds of soldiers, many of whom would have been blown to bits when the mines were detonated.

Menin gate

The next visit was to the Menin gate. From this point many hundred of thousands of men marched off to the front line, many never to return. The names of the missing are now inscribed on the walls of the massive monument to the missing which now stands at the point where the soldiers would leave the ruined city of Ypres.  Ypres was often within range of the German guns and the city was pretty much flattered. We drove along the Menin road and my thoughts went to my grandfather who might very well have been involved in moving supplies forward, under German fire along thos very road. This was the main supply route into the Ypres salient. The most dangerous spot during the war was called Hell fire corner. Basically supplies could only be moved past this point at night. It was under constant German fire. It is widely regarded the most shelled spot on earth! Now it is just an innocent looking traffic circle.  Did my grandfather experience Hell fire corner? No-one will know. His unit was involved in the Menin ridge area, so there is every likelihood that he experienced hell fire pass first hand.

Hellfire corner

Menin road - the supply route into the Ypres salient

The final stop, basically when the sun had already set, was a field dressing station were the famous poem, In Flanders Fields,  was written by John McCrae. It was as a result of this poem, that the poppy has become the universal symbol of remembrance for not only the First World War, but for all soldiers who have fallen on active service. In the cemetery at this casualty clearing station, the grave of the youngest known solider to loose his life can be found. He was V.J. Strudwick and was only 15 years old.     

This is where the poem In Flanders Fields was written