My main reason for wanting to visit the area around Ypres was because there is good evidence from my Grandfather's military record that he spent two years in the Belgium sector of the First World War. He was a narrow gauge train driver and it appears mainly around the Ploegstreet area and the Menin ridge area. These were all battles around the city of Ypres, where fighting was pretty much continuous for the four years of the war.
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| The arch is built over a German Pillbox |
One of the main stops on the tour I took from Brugge was the Tyne Cot Cemetery. This is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the world. But just like all of the other World War One cemeteries I have visited, the number of headstones, albeit many, are nowhere near the number of men which died. Many men are still "missing in action". Tyne Cot is the final resting place of 11 900 soldiers from all over the commonwealth. The total number of British killed, or missing from the 3rd Ballle of Ypres is estimated to be between 244 897 (official records) to around 275 000. As can be seen, only a very small percentage of these have known graves. The names of the missing can be found on the Menin Gate and also on the walls at Tyne Cot cemetery.
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| Last resting place of a South African solider |
This cemetery was built over the German front line. The 3rd Battle of Ypres, better known as the Battle of Passchandaele, finally ended in November 1917 after the village of Passchandaele was captured. South African soldiers also took part in this battle and there are graves of the South Africans in Tyne Cot Cemetery. Someone from South Africa had obviously visited before me as there were South African flags on a few of the graves of the South Africans. Very moving to see this.
According to official documents, the name "Tyne Cot" was named after a "farm building" on the road from Passchendale and Broodseinde. Our tour guide said the name Tyne cot was given to the main German pillbox (cement blockhouses) which was camouflaged to look like a cottage and the British said it looked like a cottage on the Tyne River in England. I much prefer this version. There were a number of German Pillboxes in the area, which were obviously part of the front line. In fact the Cemetery is built around the five German pillboxes. Two of them still stand at the lower end of the cemetery as a memorial. The Cross of Sacrifice, which can be found in all British military cemeteries, is built over the main German Pillbox (apparently the one that looked like a cottage on the Tyne River). The arches at the back of the cemetery are also built over the remaining two German pillboxes.
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| Gentle slop on which so many men died. |
The Tyne Cot Cemetery is on a gentle slop, overlooking the now quite farm lands. These German pillboxes, which would have had machine guns covering the slop probably accounted for so many of the men that are now resting in the Tyne Cot Cemetery. This gentle slop would have been the main battle field in the 3rd Battle of Ypres. As always, the Germans held the high ground.
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| Captured German soldiers helping the British wounded |
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| The mud! Gun is on a narrow gauge railway line |
The battle for Passchandaele is widely regarded as the one of the deadliest and most terrible battles of the First World War. One of the main aspects of this battle was the terrible mud. The geology of the area is dominated by a very fine clay and with the destruction of the top-soil as a result on continual artillery shelling and the very heavy rain, this clay became a very thick and deadly mud. Heavily laden troops who slipped into the mud often could not get out and drowned. Many of the missing ended up this way.
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| Tank stuck in the mud |
Every effort must be made to ensure that the history of this terrible war is kept alive for generations to come. Much of the focus on the tours to the battlefields are on the Allied side. It must be remembered that the Germans went through exactly the same as the Allies troops and many thousands of them lost their lives as well. Due to the way in which the First World War ended and the tremendous burden which was placed on the German people after the war, there is little effort from the German side to remember this war. They too should be remembered!
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| An iconic photo showing the mud and effort to get a wounded solider out. |
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