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Published: June 19th 2013
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BELGIUM The next day we headed back out to the airport and picked up our hire car (a much better idea than trying to negotiate the Paris traffic). From there it was straight onto the motorway and up to the WW1 battlefields of Flanders in Belgium. Unfortunately, we didn't have a map or GPS and so we wasted a lot of time getting lost but finally found our way to Mesen (of Messines Ridge fame) and Wijtschate where both Australians and New Zealanders fought so bravely in WW1. Our next stop was Hill 60 (made famous in the movie Beneath Hill 60) where there is a memorial to the 1st Australian Tunnelling Division. Hill 60 is not really a hill as such, just a place where the soil from the nearby railway cutting was piled up. But in this flat area, any rise in elevation gave you an advantage over the enemy so it was heavily contested and it's been left pretty much the way it was at the end of the war with craters and trenches and what's left of the concrete German blockhouses. Of course many of the trenches have collapsed and filled up with dirt over the
years and the once barren landscape, bereft of even a blade of grass, is now a small peaceful wood filled with wildflowers and birdsong which lend the place an air of tranquility and respect. So much so that you catch yourself lowering your voice to a whisper, as though you'd just entered a magnificent cathedral and found yourself awed.
Having paid our respects, we moved on to Polygon Wood and the Butte then Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth Cemetery in the world. So sad to see row upon row of white headstones ... so many lives lost. Tyne Cot was at the other end of Messines Ridge from Mesen and it took many years for the Allies to capture the whole of the ridge. By the end of the war, this area was a sea of mud, pockmarked by craters and trenches. Not a tree was left standing and towns were ruinous piles of bricks and rubble. Looking out at the landscape today, it's hard to imagine that because it's so green and beautiful but the farmers still plow up ammunition and artillery today which has to be collected by the Army and disposed of. Our hosts at
B & B La Passerale showed us one of the bombs that had recently been dug up in the field behind them, a 100 year old German bomb!
After checking into our accomodation, we made our way in the main town of Ypres where the local fire brigade plays the Last Post every night at 8pm, rain, hail or shine. This is a tradition that stretches back to the end of the first world war. It's an extremely moving ceremony but you have to be early to get a good view. Afterwards we wandered into town to find somewhere to eat and saw the beautiful Cloth Hall all lit up as it was just on twilight. Nearby we found this fabulous little pizza place just off the main square of Ypres. The pizza was freshly made right there in front of us and was absolutely delicious.
The next morning we went back to have a look around Ypres and visited In Flanders Fields museum which is in the Cloth Hall. The original Cloth Hall dated from the 13th century with some extensions being added over the years but it was badly damaged in WW1. They rebuilt it brick
by brick after the war and today you'd never know that it's not the original building. From the top of the bell tower you have fabulous views over the town and surrounding countryside.
Leaving Ypres, we headed for Brugges, a medieval town that's been called the Venice of the north because like Venice, it's set on canals. I have to say that I was a little unimpressed by Brugges - to me it just didn't look anything like the photo's that I'd seen that made it look so appealing. We went on a boat ride through the canals (with the world's rudest boat driver!) and I kept thinking "maybe this is the canal where those photo's were taken" but we never seemed to find it. We did however find the Grote Markt or Market Square. Above the tourist information area, on the first floor, is a bar where they sell Krieke - cherry beer. We drank ours out on the balcony which has a fabulous view over the square where you can watch the world go by (which they do here on foot or in horse drawn carriages!). Of course, after our beer we had to try out some
more quintessentially Belgium foodstuffs so we munched on waffles and bought some chocolate. Cath dragged (;-0) us into every lace shop in town trying to find one that showed how the lace was made but we never did find anyone actually making lace, just selling it at prices beyond our budget.
SOMME BATTLEFIELDS - FRANCE The next day we headed back down to France, trying firstly to find the cemetery where Kevin's great uncle is buried but unfortunately we were navigating without a map or GPS and ended up giving up. One benefit of having been lost on our way up to Belgium was that we had accidently travelled up a road which had a sign pointing to Fromelles. In a place where signage in English is rare, this was a great find! We retraced our steps and re-found the road, albeit travelling in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, there was no sign when travelling from this direction so it was lucky that we had seen the sign when travelling the other way and were able to recognise the turnoff, otherwise I doubt we would have ever found Fromelles and it was one place I really wanted to pay
my respects to the Diggers who died there as it is still recognised today as the bloodiest 24 hours in the history of the Australian Army. It was still difficult to find (the road led to a T-intersection but there was no sign indicating which way to go from there and we went the wrong way, finding some really interesting blockhouse remains before turning back) but we eventually made it.
Finally we made our way down to Arras where we visited the Wellington Quarries. The town of Arras is built from the stones carved out of the limestone quarries that lie underneath the town and during WW1, they were expanded by the New Zealand tunnellers so that 24,000 Allied troops could be housed there. By the time we left Arras it was starting to get late so we headed down to our accommodation in Vecquemont near Amiens to check in. Just on twilight we arrived in Amiens for a quick look at the outside of the beautiful cathedral and dinner.
Day 2 on the Somme was a magnificent sunny day with weather that rivalled a spring day in Brisbane. We spent the morning visiting various memorials at Villers
Bretonneaux, Sailly-le-Sec and the German cemetery at Fricourt (actually one of the most beautiful cemeteries we saw with its simple black crosses in a field dotted here and there with majestic trees, like peaceful sentry's guarding these soldiers' rest). We also visited the Welsh memorial (with it's majestic red dragon), the Ulster memorial (built like the bell tower of a castle) and the magnificent caribou memorial to the Newfoundlanders. After visiting the cathedral in Albert with it's gold plated statue of the Virgin holding the baby Jesus, we visited the Australian memorial at Pozieres and the windmill site (where Albert Jacka of Gallipoli fame was recommended for a second Victoria Cross). On the way to the Thiepval memorial to the missing, we passed by the Mouquet Farm memorial so we stopped to pay our respects there. At Thiepval, there is a small but interesting display - we were particularly moved by the photo's of men who survived the war but were horribly mutulated by their wounds. It's a perspective on the true cost of war that we don't often see.
Lastly we made our way to Newfoundland Park, several acres of ground that were left as they were after
the war. Some of the trenches have been restored so that you can walk through them and get some idea of what it would have been like, albeit without the noise and terror. There is no glorification of war here, no victors and no vanquished. Like most of the cemeteries and memorials we visited, the feeling of peace and respect is palpable and descends upon you the moment you walk through the gates. Those who fell here, rest peacefully and with honour.
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Emily Mccleery
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Are there any photos of Wood cemetery Ypres row F