First World War sites

[Deleted account 231211001]

Just got back from 8 days in a tent outside Ypres.
Full report to follow: Ypres, Passchendaele, Fromelles, Loos-en-Gohelle, Vimy Ridge etc. Over 100 cemetaries in total plus ferk knows how many monuments.

2500km in 14 days, loads of sadness and loads of pride.

When I can figure out how to get the resize power toy on this feckin laptop.

 

[ilkleyal]

Just got back from 8 days in a tent outside Ypres.
Full report to follow: Ypres, Passchendaele, Fromelles, Loos-en-Gohelle, Vimy Ridge etc. Over 100 cemetaries in total plus ferk knows how many monuments.

2500km in 14 days, loads of sadness and loads of pride.

When I can figure out how to get the resize power toy on this feckin laptop.

Look forward to your pics, I did similar 2 years ago, did you get to Kemmel hill?

Al.

 

[metal_mule]

Looking foward to the report. I did a day trip to flanders fields when I was in Bruges for three nights. Certain a must do to pay respects.

 

[Big Nick]

I went last year, very interesting, very educational and most of all very moving.

This is a must do trip

Look forward to your pics

 

[Deleted account 231211001]

Here we go with part one at last

Thanks to Buz and others for assistance, I think I may have it sussed with the pix

The paperwork from P and O said 1700 latest checkin at Hull for the Zeebrugge ferry, so after some serious filtering on the M62 after a caravan fire near Halifax, I got to Hull at 16:59. Only to find myself first in the queue as it should have read 1800 hrs. Never mind, I'm here: The Varadero is loaded with my shiny new Trax SW motech panniers and topbox, tent strapped to the pillion seat, and away we go.

The usual overnight ferry to Zeebrugge passed off uneventfully, and I managed to escape the bus load of mithering kids at scoff time, so a few pints later and I'm away with the fairies for the duration.
Friday 22nd and I'm off the boat at Zeebrugge, headed for Ypres. I programmed the TomTom Rider to avoid motorways, and spent the next 2 hours slowly bimbling through the countryside. I chose to camp at Camp Ypra, which is 9km outside Ypres, located at Kemmel. This is because I was billy no mates, and planned to spend as much time away from noisy pop heads, tourists and folks in general as possible. The site was fine at 10 Euro a night including showers and hot water for the pots etc, and was sufficieiontly quiet as not be be one of those sites where a zillion herberts turn up at all hours making God's own racket. Except Friday night as it was a bank holiday in Belgium, so everyone piled into the site. Locals are very Brit-friendly, and I managed to imbibe a few SAS Pils over the duration. Glad I took some Aspirin in me panniers though!

Chez Mungrel: And that's how it stayed for a week!

I planned the whole thing using Major and Mrs Holt's guides to the Ypres Salient. £16 from Amazon complete with reference map was probably the best buy I made. If you haven't got one, and you are considering goinf solo, without an experienced guide, I seriuosly recommend getting one.
At this point, it's worth mentioning that in late April the tourist season has not really got under way, so at virtually every location I visited, I was either totally alone, or one of a very small group of bods who were on these wee battle site tours on minibuses. I don't think that I could have put up with large numbers of tourist types crawling all over the place like blue rinsed ants
Day one and off to Kemmel for a mooch.
Mount Kemmel was fought over bitterly, and at the top of the hill, out of the gloom of the tall trees, looms this monument to the French who gave so many lives. The locals just call it "The Angel"

As you go over the other side of the mountain ( a piiging big hill actually. But in Belgium, it really is their equivalent, I guess) there is another French monument which is actually an ossuary. This is where they collect all the bones of the fallen, as opposed to providing each with a grave. A bit creepy for me, but there you go.

I found this interesting little memorial right on a bend at the bottom of the road going down the mountain, and had to get off the bike, and walk back on foot. It commemorates a Polich fighter Pilot, Karel Pavlik, who was shot down in WW2, and crashed at the site, If you look behind the monument ( which has a relief of a cartoon cat on it for some reason. Anyone know why please?) you can see the crater where the Spitfire hit the ground.

A round robin of the area, and I called into the parish church in Kemmel.
There's a sad little collection of CWGC graves here of the first Allied soldier to die in the area in the winter of 1914, very early in the war. As you can see, the headstones are laid exactly where the locals buried the bodies, prior to what later became known as "concentration" burials, all planned and regimented in some of the larger cemetaries.

The main Military Cemetary in Kemmel holds a few interesting graves. The uncle of Daphne DuMaurier for instance, and this lad: a real life Finnish Count who emigrated to Canada, joined up at the start of the war and came back to Europe, only to die in Kemmel:

OK, part two to follow after a brew and a biccy.

 

[Merv]

very good,waiting patiently for the next chapter

 

[Glyno]

Hijacking the thread if I may. Im up on the Somme from end of this week. If any forum member, who is unable to get there, has a relative buried or commemorated in the area I am more than willing to pop to the relevant cemetery or panel and take a pic of the headstone for you. I can then forward them on later via email. Not too many tho please, I have things to get on with up there.
Thanks for the report Mungrel looks like you had a great time.

 

[Deleted account 231211001]

Part two of Mugrel's Belgian adventure

I forgot how bleeding noisy the dawn chorus can be, coupled with associated horses, cows and a feckin woodpecker. So Saturday as my first morning under canvas was one I shall remember for the wrong reasons; hangover being the primary one
I had an errand to run for a mate whose maternal great uncle is commemorated on the memorial at Loos-en-Gohelle in France, otherwise known as Dud Corner. It is believed it got its nickname from the massive amount of unexploded ordnance they found after the war when the area was being cleared.

I learned this whilst over there:
As the war progressed, it became quickly apparent that burial areas would be needed, especially around forward dressing stations. Logisitcs being poor at best, and with medical science still in its infancy, many wounded men died at these stations before being shipped to the rear for treatment. Therefore many of the CWGC cemetaries are based on the original cemetaries which were located at these aid stations. From 1919, the Goverment detailed parties to locate small cemetaries, and other suspected locations of battlefield burials, exhume the remains, identify where possible, and relocate the mortal remains to the nearest designated cemetary where a white headstone would be placed above the new grave. This was known as "Concentration" of graves, and led to the massive cemetaries like Tyne Cot and Lissenhoek.
Many of the smaller ones were too large to relocate, so were given true cemetary status, and named after their wartime nomenclatures, not necessarily the nearest village.
A CWGC Cemetary will follow a general architectural ideal, but will only have the large "Cross of Sacrifice" if there are over 40 graves! The architectural duties were shared out amongst leading architects of the day, and many were designed by Sir Edward Lutyens.
However, each one shares the same dignified air of a place where honour, respect and quiet reflection are the order of the day.
So, many of those small ad-hoc sites were collected and moved into proper cemetaries like Loos-en-Gohelle. Some are simple cemetaries, some have panels recording those men who are known to have been killed locally, but whose remains could not be found after the end of hostilities.

So, Dud Corner:
This is the left hand edge of the front of the cemetary, and is unique in that there are stairs inside it to the roof, so the visitor can ascend them and look out over the countryside, as well as down in to the cemetary.
I took the pix of the name of my pal's relative, and marvelled at how clean and manicured the place is, which I came to appreciate at every single stop I made over the week.
Loos is synonimous with slaughter in 1915, and the panels around the walls contain thousands of names of men who have no known grave around that area.
More on Loos here: http://www.webmatters.net/cwgc/dud_corner.htm

View from the top of idyllic farmland

View into the cemetary:

Repects paid to all those 20,000 men whose names surround the walls of the memorial, the 1000 or so laid to rest there, and in particular Pte JE Evans of the Somerset LI, I made my way to Notre Dame de Lorette, the French National WW1 memorial which can just be seen from Loos.

Please forvgive my general unease, but Ossuaries just don't sit right in my sensisbilities, so I took a look about the place, and took some pics, but refrained from entering the church (God has left my particular building, so I don't 2do" churches to well either, sorry but that's just me). I am told that there are remarkable stained glass windows inside the church, but you'll have to go look for yourself.
The Ossuary:

The church and burial ground for French Forces: The French have a simple cross with the deceased's name, rank and date of death. Simple but just as effective when you see how many there are!

End of part 2. Next stop Vimy Ridge

 

[Twotter]

Re: Karel Pavlik memorial. I'd hazard a guess that the cartoon cat was painted on the side of his Spitfire, as his personal insignia.

Nice report so far

 

[Deleted account 231211001]

Vimy Ridge, Canadians and UXB's

Vimy Ridge was one of those sites that took forever, and almost countless allied lives, to prize from the very well defended and exceptionally ruthelss German defenders.
The ridge itself dominates the area and was for several years, the front line between the allies with their backs to the sea, and the Germans facing the sea.So, for control of supplies from the ports, the area was fought over repeatedly for years.
After countless battles and attempts to storm and capture it, all four of the Canadian Divisions, with the British 24th Div, finally succeeded in taking it from the Germans. The cost was high and the Cannucks gave 3600 lives to the cause from a total of 10,600, Canada's biggest loss at one site (60,000 in the war altogether)
The Germans had spent years digging tunnels, pouring reinforced concrete, making literally bomb-proof dugouts, and the ordnance expended in the rolling barrage prior to the infantry attack of 9th April 1917 just kept their heads down, rather than destrying the infrastructure, so the victory was one gained by those hand-to hand battles, rather than artillery from distance!
The canadians bought the whole of the land around the area, and it is now Canadian territory. They pay for its upkeep, and the guides are all bilingual Canadian studenty types. The tour of the restored bunkers, tunnels and trenches is free, but donations are accepted.
The monument was restored in 2007, and is simply fecking breathtaking:
From the entrance to the car park:

About halfway down the path:

The front

Weeping mother

Lamenting father

Craters left by mining engineers:

restored tunnels/trenches (About 200 metres of tunnels, 8 metres down, and you have to go with the guides, every hour on the hour. Takes about 50 minutes)

restored tunnels

Those fences are electrified! They mean it! Stay out if you know what's good for ya!

Tomorrow Messines Ridge and surrounding areas.

 

[chad]

keep it coming

 

[Rasher]

Thanks for sharing, swept past vimy last year but did not know about the tours - will have to go again.

For regular Euroblasters Vimy is just a few minutes of the A26 a little way south of Calais so and easy stop on any trip to the Alps, Black Forest, Vosges etc.

I have been through Verdun twice (and going again for a better look around this year) and for anyone who likes this stuff a stop at Two Wheel Moorings is well worthwhile, Ian (the owner) has a fair collection of WW1 gear in his living room and is pretty knowledgeable on the area and history.

It has a huge Ossary nearby (with the bones of around 10,000 men in the basement - visible through windows round the back at foot level) and two forts you can mooch around.

Anyway, roll on part 3

 

[Deleted account 231211001]

Messines ridge

Sunday and the whole flamin place was shut! I arsed about trying to find my way to Mesen (Messines during the War) but gave up in the end and walked it.
There was a flea market come car boot sale in the middle of town, and as there's one road in from each direction, you're kind of screwed for diversions, so just chill and go with the flow

I found this massive monument to the New Zealanders on the side of the ridge on the road down to Ploegsteert to be very eerie. It looks out over the ground that falls away from Messines, and try as you might, with the birds twittering and the insects buzzing about their business, it is not possible to imagine the noise,smells, racket and terror that happened here 90 odd years ago.

Then, at the foot of the walled garden is this, one of 2 fearsome bunkers that the Kiwis and others had to overcome to storm Messines after the huge mines were detonated. Look at the thickness of the rascal and the ordnance damage. These have been sealed up, but some determined herbert has ripped open one door. No, I didn't venture in. As I explained earlier, I was totally alone, and any mishap may have left me in a pickle for fook knows how long til someone found me.(big jessie that I am!) That entrance doorway is only about 3 feet high as most of the bunker is below ground.

This is the entrance to the Messines Rodge British Cemetary. Intersetingly, this circular base is actually a seperate NZ memorial to those with no known grave. the Kiwis refrained from having their missing listed on the Menin Gate, preferring to erect their own monuments with the names of the missing at, or close by to, the locations where they fell.

The cemetary itself is fairly large, with about 1300 known graves, and 954 "Known only to God" headstones. This pic shows how the Ridge gently rolls from left down to right, where those lying at peace now would have had to attack from right to left.

Around the other side of the ridge is the Island of Ireland Peace park and tower. This was opened in 1998 by the President of Ireland and the Queen of England to commemorate the fact that at Messines on June 7th 1917, men from Eire and NI fought and died alongside each other. Putting the politics and strife aside, its just a wonderful place to sit and reflect, watch the kestrels hover over the fields, the cattle grazing on the lumpy slopes of Messines Ridge, the battered remains of a German pillbox, and thank all you hold holy that we don't have to go through such industrial slaughter.

On the way back to Kemmel, I spied one of the many hundereds of green CWGC signposts, so turned off the road to find this; Spanbroekmoeler (Windmill) cemetary. This is so typical of what I alluded to earlier, where there was a forward dressing station sited at a windmill. Those poor sods that didn't make it were buried close by. The Germans later destroyed the windmill with artillery fire, and the small cemetary was, like countless others, churned up with shellfire. However, at the armistice, it was decided to gather the burials from the fields and mud close by, and inter the remains in their original location. Hence the fact that you have to do some walking down the (immaculately trimmed) grass path to pay your repects on this lonely hillside as the farmers of the last 90 years have ploughed all abouts.

Tomorrow : Plugstreet

 

[Buz]

Great report Mungrel, well worth the effort

We did some of the Somme a couple of years ago, around the Theipval Area, very thought provoking but very interesting.

Looking forward to the next installment

 

[wheeledwidewebb]

Great report and pics, it is a sobering place isn't it.

That Kemmel camp site is on a right old slope though, I used it a couple of years ago when we cycled to Ieper. Lesson learned, if your taking a bike, make sure it's got a motor

 

[Deleted account 231211001]

Plugstreet

Thanks so far for the kind words, much appreciated after being somewhat hesitant at first.

Ploegsteert was so known by the Tommies who couldn't get their gobs round the Flemish (ploog-steer-t) so Anglicised it as Plug Street.

There's a great big wooded area on one side of the main road, with the usual fields on the other, and as you ride with the wood on your right, you catch sight of the massive circular memorial on the left from a fair old distance off, it's so large. It commemorates nearly 12,000 men who have no known grave in the surrounding area, fought over from 1914 til the end of the war.
It is guarded by 2 lions, one bearing his teeth, the other with his mouth closed:

Across the road is the small Hyde Park corner cemetary which holds only a few graves, but was the precursor to the main circular one opposite known as the extension!
Ploegsteert wood is about 2000 yards long and about 1000 yards wide. It was fought over many times as it was the furthest point out of the Yres Salient. There are many memorials in the area, many of which I missed, but they include one to Churchill who served there, as did Anthony Eden, future PM. Just up the road Bairnsfather made his first cartoons which evolved into "Old Bill" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bairnsfather.

Up the road aways is Prowse Point, with a crater nicely surrounded by reeds.

From this vantage point, you can wander on foot down the adjacent lane into Ploegsteert wood,

Passing Mud Corner cemetary on the bend before entering the woods

On entering the woods, there's a nice sign which in English means summat like "Gerrorf Moi Laaand" or something like that

There is a fair old trek in Bike boots (slog more like) into the woods, at least a 20 minute walk, when you meet a crossroads. Many places are named after the Tommy's nicknames for trenches. This one is Toronto Avenue. Strangely enough there are no Canadians here at all! Very secluded, and very peaceful

A further trek through the woods brings you to the 2 smaller cemetaries, Rifle House and Ploegsteert Wood. As ever, immaculately kept.
Rifle House:

Plugstreet Wood:

Back to Prowse Point, back on the bike, and a ride of about half a mile brings you to a single wooden cross with a descriptive board. This is the site where at Christmas 1914 the much talked about truce is said to have taken place, and where somebody brought out a football. The opposing enemies kicked the ball about on Christmas day, hence the footballs as mementoes from visitors:

Tomorrow: The Germans, Gas and In Flander's Fields

 

[Deleted account 231211001]

The GEEERMANS were there as well you know!

Being as thoroughly pissed off at being invaded, over run and generally dissed by the Germans, naturally enough the Belgians and the Frnech were nowhere near as helpful in repatriating their dead foes, nor giving them any of their precious Belgian/French soil in which to bury the German war dead.
However, they are not completely inhuman, and there are 2 cems I found which contain entirely German remains.
The big one is at Langemarck.
Like many cems, it is built around the ruins of fortifications, as can be seen from the bunkers in the photo.

Langemarck was nothing like what I expected. There are over 20,000 german soldiers buried here, but nearly all the grave markers are flat on the floor like this one. In English it says "20 unknown German Soldiers". There are literally hundreds like this with anything from 2 to over 30 bodies under each one.

Occasionally there are clusters of small crosses:

and at the back is a set of mourners cast in bronze:

The perimiter is also guarded by a moat!

And the entrance is very sombre indeed

Immediately inside the entrance is a bronze plaque in the floor, which a recent visit by British schoolchildren and others had left wreathes at.
This also states that there are 44,000 men in this place.

I also called at this remarkably discreet cemetary in Laventie in France:

Simple iron crosses mark the graves of thousands of German dead, yet this one is well maintained. Like the French, the crosses merely show the name, rank and date of death.

 

[Hustler]

Excellent Mungrel, excellent.
Mrs. H and I have visited some of these sites in the past and this autumn plan to trace the steps of my Great Uncle, Charles Richard Needham, and have decided to try and visit a few of the railway stations we know that he used.
Charles and his brother Alfred both died in the war.
Last year I found his WWI war medals and my son surprised me and bought them and we've got the war diaries so can trace his steps quite well.
Charles is listed on Tyne Cot and his brother Alfred is on the Menin Gate and neither brother has a known grave.
All the records for his brother Alfred were among masses of records destroyed in the second war when a German bomb landed on them so we cannot trace his steps.
Thanks again Mungrel.

 

[Deleted account 231211001]

Hill 60 and other random sites

The beauty of the Ypres salient is that nothing is very far away from anywhere, and on the bike, the lovely empty country roads are as much a part of the experience as the focus of the trip; the sites themselves.
A nice sunny day, a few notes made from the guidbook, and I just set off and followed my front wheel.

first stop was at Hill 60. I arrived to find the cafe closed as it was out of season, and roamed the area on foot for a good half an hour before I saw another soul. That soul just happened to be a Leiut General from Australia who, with a couple of other Antipodean dignitaries, had visited the Caterpillar crater and Hill 60 to leave a wreath on the monument to the Australian tunnelling company. I just smiled and said "good morning". He replied "g'day. How's it going?" We had a brief chat and went our seperate ways. I didn't know whohe was until that evening when I went to the Menin Gate to see the last post, and saw him in uniform with the rest of the Anzacs who laid the wreath there. It was 25th April: ANZAC day and I had just chatted with the CO of Australian Forces in a field in Belgium that morning.!!

Hill 60 was really just a spoil heap made from a railway cutting, as was the "caterpilar", a similar spoil heap on the other side of the cutting.

When the Germans took Hill 60 in 1914, it gave them a massive advantage as this is the only high point for miles around, so any invading force (i.e. us) could be spotted and dealt with easily.
Therefore, Hill 60 and the Caterpillar (so called becasue of its wiggly contours) became an extremely important target for the Allies to retake if they were to do anything to advance the line.

The Australian tunnellers memorial records the fact that the Aussies dug enough tunnels under the Hill to get half the world's supply of explosives under the Germans in order to blow them to bits and prepare for the attack.
There were 5 mines laid, and the damage is truly awesome in the truest sense of the word.
More here: http://www.webmatters.net/belgium/ww1_hill60_01.htm

The monument:

Crater evidence

Remains of German pillboxes

the caterpillar crater on the other side of the raiway cutting. This is in lush woodland, and you emerge from the path to see this massive hole in the ground, half filled with water, the sunlight dappled on the surface through the canopy. It's simply not possible to comprehend the violence that led to its creation as it is so serene today.

But if you mooch through the woods nearby, there are still remnants of german defences which remind you of the reason the crater exists:

second pillbox

Another crater famed for its size was at Hooge, just up the road aways.

Hooge is on the Menin Road, and was yet another area that was obliterated several times. The Menin Road has great stretches of almost unbroken arrow straight tarmac nowadays, and has not changed much for 1000 years. It was a doddle to defend for the Germans. The British trenches criss-crossed the raod, and at one point there are two monuments on either side of the current Menin road at a place nicknamed Clapham Junction as it was such a busy intersection:

Going towards Ypres from Clapham Junction you come into the little village of Hooge. On the right is the Hooge Crater Museum and cafe (great toasted chees and ham butties by the way) and on the left of the road is the British Hooge Crater cemetary.
The crater was massive, created by tunnellers laying massive amounts of Ammonol under the hill, but it was shelled so heavily during the war that it literally disappeared into history and became just another area of unrecogniseable muddy wasteland.
More about Hooge here: http://www.webmatters.net/belgium/ww1_hooge.htm
After the war a church was built at the site which also served as a school. It fell into disuse, and was later bought and turned into a rather good museum. Enter via the cafe for about 4 euros.
Museum and cafe:

trench art shells inside the cafe:

The British Cemetary at Hooge

More later....

 

[Negligent Discharge]

It was the first long trip I did after getting a bike. Looking at your pics brought back all the memories. You cant help but be moved by sacrifice.

There but for the grace of god....