In Flanders Fields the Poppies blow...

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Hallo,

I got up at the crack of dawn after socializing the night before at the outdoor party at Montgomery in order for me to arrive in Ypres in time to catch my tour. I got my first taste of Belgian wildlife on the way there as I saw rabbits, quails and a pheasant from my train window.

I don’t usually do tours but Ypres is special. You see, Ypres was one of the major sites of conflict during World War I. Numerous battles were fought in the area as the Germans pushed towards the French Channel ports and the allied forces tried to hold them at bay. The town was completely obliterated during the War and very little was left standing after the conflict.

I got off the train at the town and I was quite surprised. I knew it had been rebuilt, but I still couldn’t believe my eyes. One would never know that the city had been damaged. Every building was trim and proper and all the gardens were manicured. I was even more amazed when I arrived at Grote Markt and saw the Lakenhalle. Ypres used to be a major city in the cloth trade, and its massive cloth hall was used to house all of the cloth before it was shipped to other parts of Europe. I’ve seen pictures of what it looked like in 1919, and you would never know it had been damaged as it has been immaculately rebuilt! There was also a large market in front of it where people could by flowers, bread, meat, vegetables or baby poultry. I walked to the Menen Gate, which is where the names of 54, 896 British and Commonwealth soldiers are inscribed because their remains were lost during the carnage. They play the last post there every night at 8pm.

After the Menen Gate, I met up with my tour (which was comprised of 4 other people) and we got going in our little van and proceeded on our drive around the Ypres Salient. The driver, Steve, was actually from Kitchener but he had been working in Ypres for six years or so. We went past Hell-Fire Corner first which was an intersection of several roads which was zeroed on by the German guns because Allied troops would use it as a transit point to go off in their respective directions.

We arrived at the Sanctuary Hill Museum where there is a collection of old military paraphernalia such as bombs, gas masks, mortars and guns as well as existing trenches that were used as support trenches during the War. There were also craters in the ground and trees that were riddled with bullet holes and damage from the fighting.

We then went on to the Essex Farm Cemetery which is where Canadian John McRae was stationed during the War. I got to stand where he wrote “In Flanders Fields”, and it was quite moving. We also looked at some of the gravestones which are all white and have flowers planted in front of them. They very much resemble an English country garden, as is the intention.

We then continued to the German Cemetery at Langenmark. It was one of the first battles of the War when a mass of German conscripts and youths faced a smaller but significantly more experienced British force. The result was the death of 44,000 German soldiers who are now buried in the cemetery. The cemetery is different from the Allied equivalent. It is very dark and stoic, devoid of colour but still poignant in a different way.

Next was the St Juulian Memorial which is located at Vancouver Corner. It is better known as “The Brooding Soldier”. It is a statue of a Canadian soldier, leaning on the butt of his rifle and bowing his head. It was here where the Canadian soldiers fought and held the line during the first German gas attack. The chlorine gas had a tremendous affect on the French soldiers, but a Canadian chemist recognised the smell of the gas and new the way to neutralise it so many of the Canadians were saved and thus able to continue fighting. I think the Memorial is probably one of the most fitting tributes to soldiers that I had seen.

We drove past the New Zealand memorial before arriving in the middle of a field. Today, it is grass on one side and turnips on the other but in 1917; it was the site of the Battle of Passendale. The battle was fought in horrendous conditions. Due to the extremely heavy rain and consistent artillery barrages, the area was nothing short of a quagmire with massive puddles, death and debris scattered everywhere while the mud stretched for as far as the eye could see. Where I was standing, I could see the village of Passendale a mere two kilometres away, but it took 100 days for the soldiers to reach it. They held it for a while, but it was determined that the line needed reinforcing in other areas and the soldiers were told to pull back from the town they had fought so hard to conquered. The town was returned to German hands after three days.

The last stop on the tour was Tyne Cot Cemetery. The Cemetery is Commonwealth cemetery in the world and is the resting place 11,956 soldiers. On top of that, 34,857 more soldiers’ names are engraved on the wall at the entrance. Their bodies were lost during the War and their names were unable to fit on the Menen Gate. The cemetery is very different to the American ones at Omaha Beach. There is no ostentatiousness to speak of at Tyne Cot. It is simple and elegant; a poignant reminder to those soldiers who gave their lives during the War.

The tour ended at Tyne Cot. After that, I went to the Flanders Field Museum and got to learn more about the history of the city and its environs during the War. The whole day was quite an experience and one I won’t soon forget.

I normally would include my “Things I’ve Learned” bit here but I don’t feel its right to do so at this time.

Bye for now,
Peter

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