Short drive around The Somme, Vimy & Ypres

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Myself & mate have been hankering to visit the WWI sites for many years now. This, combined with mum's desire to go back & re-visit some sites she'd been to last year on a guided tour, but not had enough time at (that being the nature of guided tours) was the spur for this 4 night, 5 day trip.

Thanks must also go to all on here, without whom I would have had very little idea where to go & what to see.


We set off on a bright but cold February day heading down the A1 for the Eurotunnel. A combined age of 178 didn't stop the 3 of us being verrrry excited.

We got to the A1 & made excellent time.
For 3 minutes.
As we approached a junction I could see standing traffic ahead - going way into the yonder, a far as the eye could see. Luckily I saw it before we got to the junction. The sensible thing to do was turn off & re-route.

So we joined the queue, no more than 50 metres from the turn off, and were immediately blocked in by all the other fools who'd done the same thing - honestly, some people!
And there we sat for an hour.

Fortunately, being old, we'd allowed plenty of time and as we eventually made our way past the accident I was just grateful that we'd not been involved in it. Fingers crossed that everyone was okay.

The plan was to get to junction 9 of the M2, head to Sainsbury's for a 'gravy dinner' then get to the tunnel in time for our 14.43 crossing.
After some discussion chicken pie was very much being looked forward to.
Alas.
When we got to Sainsbury's there was a notice at the store entrance. "Due to you 3 looking forward to chicken pie, all we're doing today is bacon rolls", is what it might as well have said. It actually gave some flimsy excuse about 'technical problems' meaning no proper meals were available - but we knew what they meant.
A quick glance at their menu showed it to be pretty limited anyway & certainly not even worthy of the 5 minutes diversion from the M2 - noted for the trip to Mugello later this year.

So we decided to eat at the Eurotunnel departure area.
Mistake no. 2.
I opted for sausage & mash. And I can honestly say it was the worst meal I've ever had. Congealed gravy, mash that tasted of something (I still don't know what) that was very much not potato.
Simon went for scampi. And what a plateful he got. I was impressed. He was impressed. Until he ate it. The only conclusion we could make was that they'd decided to give him a huuuuge plateful to offload themselves of yesterday's scampi.
Lesson no. 2 learned for Mugello. Eat before you check in.

That said, mum opted for fish & chips. And got a freshly cooked piece of fish, and some lovely chips.
Lesson no. 3 learned. Mum knows best.

I would heartily recommend Eurtunnel, if not their food. The return trip for the car & the 3 of us cost £91.00 & went quickly & smoothly.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Arras was the stop for the 1st night. 70 miles, 1 hour and 10 Euros down L'Autoroute des Anglais - ideal.

We'd booked into the Ibis. 50 Euros for the night. Perfectly located, right in the town centre. Parking next door , clean, warm & tidy.

I can recommend it.

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-1567-ibis-arras-centre-les-places/index.shtml

Arras was a surprise. A lovely town with 2 big market squares and plenty of restaurants. Somewhere I'd like to go back to some time.

Arras by night

Arras by day

Saturday is market day:-

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

The following morning (Saturday) having had a wander round the market, very interesting it was too, we headed to Thiepval.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiepval_Memorial

A superb place to start a tour of this nature, particularly if you have a limited, or no, grasp of the horrors of WWI, the bigger picture, or the bravery of those people who really did give so much for us all.

The visitor centre here is free, with plenty of parking and is very informative. We spent around an hour in here & some of the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place with the help of educational posters, films & graphics.

Through the visitor centre to the Memorial itself which is a truly great monument to the missing.

For some reason, I've no idea why, the flags weren't flying. It was the 16th February - though whether this is relevant or not, I'm not sure.

Rows of graves with simple word 'Inconnu' (unknown) beneath which a soldier, somebody's son, brother, husband lies............

Throughout the weekend I was surprised & pleased to see how many wreaths & Poppies had been laid - many by parties of schoolchildren. Credit to their teachers & heads for bringing them out here.

The monument sits atop a small hill which was fought over for many months at the cost of a huge of no. of lives, for an incredibly small area of land. This was to become a pattern as we visited other sites during the course of the weekend.
Until I visited and saw it for myself I had no idea just how close the 2 armies were.

Just down the hill from The Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is The Ulster Memorial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Tower

My late father being from Donegal and having many relatives living in Ulster we chose to leave a spray of Poppies here.

The Ulster Tower

Unfortunately the Memorial wasn't open. A notice said that it re-opens in April (I think) - noted for future trips

Looking back up the hill towards the Memorial to The Missing.

 

[Paul Rochdale]

Thanks for posting those pics. Vimy Ridge is another 'must see' when in the area. I think visiting at this cold and damp part of the year just shows a tiny bit what those poor buggers had to go through.

 

[Twotter]

Then again visiting the Somme on a hot summer's day is much more like the conditions on 1st July 1916.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

We then headed to the Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel which is less than 3 miles away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumont-Hamel_Newfoundland_Memorial

At B-H you'll find trenches & a visitor centre. The Canadian government also send students over to do free guided tours for visitors, explaining the history of the Newfoundland Regiment, their reluctance to joining the Canadian Battalions & the bravery of their soldiers. *

These guys felt that being a small unit they really had to show their mettle in order to earn the respect of the other guys. The student guide did an excellent job of relaying their heroism & determination to us - credit to her & the Canadian government for the initiative. *

Apologies due here (& throughout). I'm sure some of the terms & 'facts' I mention will be somewhat askew. I'm doing it from memory & may well get things wrong - though this isn't deliberate or intended as any slight on anyone. Please feel free to correct any of the glaring inaccuracies.

The Newfoundlanders had a Caribou as their emblem & the Bronze here really is a lovely thing & a terrific tribute.

The trenches..........

The trench in the foreground of this picture is a 'Communications Trench', the front line was roughly 100 metres ahead of this one. The row of trees you can see (which was obviously not there at the time of the war) is where The Germans were.

Due to a series of errors, poor communication & the Generals being based away from the front lines this was a particularly bloody battlefield. Although it only took us a minute or so to walk from the Comms Trench to the front line, on the day the Newfoundlanders went over the top the same short walk took them an hour an a half. Facing heavy German artillery & machine gun fire they had to make their way over dead & dying colleagues up to their ankles in mud. Mud that had been caused not by rain, the battle was in July, but by blood.

It was said that many lessons were learnt at B-H that were to prove useful as the war went on. Our visit to Ypres make me somewhat sceptical as to how much of that knowledge was subsequently put into effective use.

At Thiepval visitor centre I read a story of a 22 year old soldier who was awarded the V.C. for his bravery here.
He & his colleagues were passing cases of hand grenades into the trenches when a box was dropped. 4 of the grenades pins came out so the young lad, knowing the carnage & devastation that was about to be caused threw himself onto the grenades in an attempt to smother the blast & save his friends lives.
This is just one indication of the mindset of these young men who really were cut from a different cloth from me, and I suspect many of us.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Thanks for posting those pics. Vimy Ridge is another 'must see' when in the area. I think visiting at this cold and damp part of the year just shows a tiny bit what those poor buggers had to go through.

I thought the same thing, though Twotter is also right – I’d like to go back in the summer. So much more to see.
Vimy to come next......

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

At the visitor centre we were given printed directions to the Vimy Ridge Canadian Memorial which is where we headed next.

Again, only a small thing but having printed & simple instructions is a great idea. This is around an hour's drive away - about 30 miles.
Well done once again.

As you turn out of the Vistor Centre car park you head towards a village called Auchonvilliers where there is an English owned cafe doing hot meals & sandwiches. We hopped in here for a bite to eat & would have no hesitation in eating here again.

I think this might well be the place......
http://www.avrilwilliams.com/

 

[MikeP]

Thanks for posting. If you visit Vimy in the future beware that what you see and hear is (understandably) a very narrow perspective.

Vimy is to Canada what Gallipoli is to the Aussies and Kiwis. That's to say that it is seen as a seminal event in their national history. As such, it has attracted a certain amount of hyperbole. It's also a good example of the way post-war beliefs, sometimes exaggerated, if repeated often enough, taken in isolation and out of context, can become accepted as the whole, unvarnished truth.

Many of those who visit Vimy will be treated to one of the best organised and sustained "experiences" of the Western Front and can be forgiven if they come away believing that Vimy Ridge was the prime objective on 9th April 1917, possibly the only thing that happened that day. Even before the current visitor centre was opened a few years ago, little explanation the Canadian Corps actions as a part of the Battle of Arras was provided, few if any references were made to context, much was made of previous failures to take Vimy Ridge by the French and British and much was made of the detailed planning for the assault. The current visitor centre does nothing to address the omission and the very personable young guides are well briefed but without much wider knowledge.

The reality is that the Canadian Corps were not the only troops in action that day. Their superb success was one part of what is an overlooked Allied victory. Detailed planning wasn't unique to the Canadian Corps as is often claimed, all the formations that attacked along the Arras front that day went through rehearsals, all were shown models of the ground, it was part of the legacy of the Somme Offensive.

Had the Canadian Corps attacked Vimy in isolation they probably would have succeeded in taking it and the high ground would have been a useful objective both tactically and as a propaganda victory but it was one success in a day of success from Vimy down to Neuville Vitasse.

Vimy is definitely worth taking the best part of a day to visit, just try to keep an open mind about what you see and hear there.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Vimy Ridge Memorial & Tunnels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Vimy_Memorial

Having read about this place it was definitely somewhere I wanted to go and, as luck would have it, it was in the direction of Ypres, our base for the next 3 nights.

Once again a free visitor centre, plenty of free parking & guided tours (though we had to pay a fee for these, not much, maybe 5 Euros each).

Once again the guide was excellent, talking us through life in the tunnels, the fear of being heard by the enemy & the cramped conditions. Once again the close proximity of Jerry to Tommy really took my breath away here, in some places it seemed to be no more than 20 yards.

Looking through a sniper slot towards enemy lines

German snipers waiting for you to stick your head above the trenches were as close as the other side of the ridge....in the foreground.

Inside the tunnels....

My maternal Grandfather & his family were miners, so the stories of the chaps brought across to dig tunnels for he war particularly resonated.

The memorial itself is a short walk up a hill from the car park, though it has a car park of it's own.

There is a plaque here to the a battalion (?) of Moroccan soldiers, marking the place where they ALL died trying to take the ridge.

The memorial itself is a really spectacular thing and well worth a visit. It's no distcance from the Autoroute heading south from Calais, I'd recommend the diversion on your way to the sun/Alps.....

In the foreground you can see remnants of craters blown by mortars & heavy artillery.

The individual statues capture the desolation & sorrow both of those involved & those left behind.

From here you can see why the Vimy Ridge was so important. In an area of relatively few hills you really get a commanding view of the area.....

The statue in he above picture was the cause of some discussion. The OCD-er in me wasn't happy that it wasn't in the middle . Was it a mistake in the design? Was it a mistake in the build?
A more enlightened member of the party suggested, probably correctly, that it was more likely to have been designed like that so we could see the space where the missing should have been.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Thanks for posting. If you visit Vimy in the future beware that what you see and hear is (understandably) a very narrow perspective.

Vimy is to Canada what Gallipoli is to the Aussies and Kiwis. That's to say that it is seen as a seminal event in their national history. As such, it has attracted a certain amount of hyperbole. It's also a good example of the way post-war beliefs, sometimes exaggerated, if repeated often enough, taken in isolation and out of context, can become accepted as the whole, unvarnished truth.

Many of those who visit Vimy will be treated to one of the best organised and sustained "experiences" of the Western Front and can be forgiven if they come away believing that Vimy Ridge was the prime objective on 9th April 1917, possibly the only thing that happened that day. Even before the current visitor centre was opened a few years ago, little explanation the Canadian Corps actions as a part of the Battle of Arras was provided, few if any references were made to context, much was made of previous failures to take Vimy Ridge by the French and British and much was made of the detailed planning for the assault. The current visitor centre does nothing to address the omission and the very personable young guides are well briefed but without much wider knowledge.

The reality is that the Canadian Corps were not the only troops in action that day. Their superb success was one part of what is an overlooked Allied victory. Detailed planning wasn't unique to the Canadian Corps as is often claimed, all the formations that attacked along the Arras front that day went through rehearsals, all were shown models of the ground, it was part of the legacy of the Somme Offensive.

Had the Canadian Corps attacked Vimy in isolation they probably would have succeeded in taking it and the high ground would have been a useful objective both tactically and as a propaganda victory but it was one success in a day of success from Vimy down to Neuville Vitasse.

Vimy is definitely worth taking the best part of a day to visit, just try to keep an open mind about what you see and hear there.

Cheers Mike, I appreciate what you're saying.

As you can see from the above pictures we did go, but weren't there very long.
I totally understand what you're saying about the information given by the guides & at the visitor centre, though to be fair to the young lady who showed us around she did seem to give a very balanced view of the whole thing, based on my extremely limited knowledge (shame on me).

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

And so we went to Ypres for 3 nights.

We stayed at the Novotel on the recommendation of a jocular rotund fool we know who comes to this area regularly and for once (just once) he was right.

It's a great base, right in the town centre with free parking alongside or (for 11 Euros a day) secure parking in the basement car park below (accessed along the side the building).

Book early enough & you'll get a decent rate. We paid 231 Euros each for 3 nights. The advertised rate if you just turn up is 135 Euros per night. So to quote Fred Pontin "Book early".

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-3172-novotel-ieper-centrum-flanders-fields/index.shtml

Breakfast ain't cheap however. 25 Euros, or thereabouts. We chose to buy croissants from the bakery across the road & eat in the rooms which are provided with tea & coffee making facilities. Result.

 

[MikeP]

The main memorial has only recently been restored and I think that it's probably even more stunning up close than photos can capture.

It's one of the finest memorials both architecturally and in execution.

An interesting fact is that 67% of those who fought in the Canadian Corps were born in Britain. Recent emigres still felt a strong attachment to Britain, Canada at that time was not yet an independent nation and many of those in uniform had family members fighting in the British units.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Sunday - day 3, Ypres/Ieper/Wipers.

Tyne Cot Cemetry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyne_Cot

The largest cemetery in the area IIRC. So named, I believe, as there was a row of cottages here, prior to be completely obliterated, that resembled a row of cottages on the River Tyne. Why-aye.

This was a place mum had particularly wanted to come to. She'd been here on the guided tour last year but only briefly. Her Great Uncle John Duwoodie is named as one of the missing and another poppy spray was to be left.
Ridiculously I didn't get a photo of either the plaque or the poppies. . A good excuse for another trip methinks.

Fields surrounding the cemetery giving an indication of how bad the mud might have been during the battles.

Just imagine if you can what it must have been like..................

Entrance to the cemetery

Each individual grave has it's own sad story, many of which will simply never be known or told.

Multiply that by tens, then hundreds, thousands & tens of thousands if you can. I can't.....

From here we went to the Hooge Crater. My brother in law's Grandpops is laid to rest here so the last of our poppy sprays were laid....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooge_Crater_Commonwealth_War_Graves_Commission_Cemetery

Mum knew where Dave's Grandad was buried so that wasn't a problem (cough).

In search of the grave. Spread out chaps, we'll do a wide sweep........

Fortunately at each cemetery there is an index showing who is buried there & the exact location of the grave. The brighter one amongst us decided to use this and the correct grave was found.

R.I.P. and thank you.......

Immediately opposite the cemetery is a cafe serving hot food, sandwiches & drinks. Again a big thumbs up this place. I had the biggest croque monsieur (spelling?) I've ever had in my life & bally good it was too. The walls of the cafe are surrounded with trench art shells.

There is also a museum as well but we didn't go into it.

Cafe & Musuem here

http://www.hoogecrater.com/en

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

We had a short stop off at the museum in Zonnebeke.

http://www.passchendaele.be/eng/museumEN.html

Not really my sort of thing but having said that I did see some horrific footage in here of flamethrowers being used during WW1. In my ignorance (there's a theme developing here ) I had no idea how far these things spat their fire. The horrors just kept piling up at every twist & turn. There's also some god information about the use of Chlorine & Mustard gases & an awful piece of footage showing a poor guy suffering from shell shock. Far worse than I realised.

Maybe I would recommend the museum after all.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

I was also keen to see some German graves. I don't know why but it felt appropriate. They were ordinary folks, just like the Allied troops & I felt I should also pay my respects to them. Fortunately the rest of the party felt similarly.
Birds of a feather & all that......

So we went to Langemarck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langemark_German_war_cemetery

As you enter the Cemetery you see names engraved on the walls. I assume these re the names of the soldiers buried here.

So many names, so many lives, again....

The graves are set out differently here. The headstones are laid flat, with the excpetion of a few crosses.

We were told that this cemetery had over 45,000 dead Germans buried in it, that each grave had a number of bodies put in a box, all together with just the one plaque above.
We were also told that in the mid - late 1950's the Belgian authorities decided that they wanted some of their land back for farming and decided to dig up allof the german graves scattered in various cemeteries & put them in 1 mass buriual site to free up the land.
I don't know how true it is, & I appreciate that times & thinking change, but if it is right it seems incredibly disrespectful (though I do appreciate it was not long after the 2nd WW. Indeed the stories we heard about some of the Belgian people really weren't pleasant, but I guess they are for another day.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of what we were told (which this was the day after our visit to Langemarck) both my mum & my mate found this cemetery to be particularly sombre (if that's the right word) & desolate. As if it had a different atmosphere & sadness of it's own kind.
It didn't affect me any more than any of the others had but we're all different.

Maybe the 4 statues overlooking the graves added a different level of poignancy?

What was really good to see was that once again there were a no. of poppies that had been laid by British Schoolchildren. Well done, respect is due though. Innit.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Day 4, Monday.

In a quite brilliant move I'd suggested that we have Monday AM off, before visiting Essex farm & Talbot House in the PM.

http://www.talbothouse.be/

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/cemetery-essex-farm.htm

I thought this would give everyone a bit of space, chance to look around Ypres & visit the museum if they so chose & more importantly chance to get a break from me.
I can be annoying you know.
No, honestly.

And what a masterstroke it was. Mum opted for the museum but couldn't find it. . If you've ever been to Ypres you'll understand quite how brilliant a feat this is.
This wasn't the only thing she'd failed to find.
On the Saturday evening she suggested a restaurant she'd eaten at before - close to the Menin Gate. So off we went looking for the Menin Gate. She knew where it was. Only some bugger had moved it. That would have to wait until Monday evening.

I decided to use the time finding routes for the places we wanted to go & plotting them into the Sat Nav. OCD again you see.
All went well. Routes sorted & plotted. Only took an hour & a half.
Talbot House, here we come.
Then I checked their actual website. About 30 minutes before we'd agreed to meet up & head off. It's shut on a Monday. Arse.

So I went for a quick scoot around Ypres mulling over what to do next & came across a shop advertising guided tours of the Ypres Salient.

http://www.salienttours.be/

So we decided we'd spend the afternoon with these guys.
(But not before we'd spent a fruitless hour looking for Essex Farm - despite my brilliant planning.)

30 Euros each bought us, by chance, a private tour lasting 4 and a half hours. Well worth the money & gave us an added dimension to the overall trip.

You can look around monuments, cemeteries etc & mind-blowing as they are there are just so many of them, literally hundreds, that you can be lost as to where to start & finish. If you're doing it yourself, without the proper research, they become almost meaningless without being 'meaningless' if you see what I'm saying.

The 1st place we went to was Hill 60

There's a plaque alongside the railway commemorating 2 Belgians who were shot by the Nazis during the 2nd WW as they made their way up the embankment opposite.

Hill 60 was of strategic importance due to it's height (a familiar story in this area) and was man made by the Navvies building the railway cuting that runs alongside it.

Again, the proximity of the 2 sides is apparent here.

The allied soldiers were based where we're standing, the Germans on the other side of the field atop the hill where the trees are. The hill giving them superb views across to Ypres.

The guide explained to us how the hill had been tunnelled into & blown up by a massive amount of explosives. Apparently as they went into the German tunnels after the explosion they'd come across 4 German officers in their underground room,playing cards, sitting bolt upright, all 4 dead. Killed by the aftershock & vibration alone. This was at around 0320 hrs. At 0250 hours one of the Germans had noted in his diary 'All quiet'.
Apart from the blast itself other Germans were killed as the tunnels & trenches collapsed in on themselves.

The guide also explained to us the differing approaches to mining by the Allieds & Germans

This photo is an attempt to show the size of the crater, but doesn't really do it justice.

.

There's also a plaque in the car park to an Australian regiment. The bullet holes you can see in it were inflicted in the 2nd WW when once again this piece of land was fought over.

On to Bayernwald (Bavarian Wood).

This is the site of some German trenches, the only ones left in the area, I believe(?).

http://toerisme-ieper.be/en/page/33...-the-great-war-from-a-german-perspective.html

These have been reconstructed relatively recently, after they'd fallen into disrepair.
Because they're on private land, I assume, you do need a ticket to get through a barrier to see these.

Many of the original barbed wire posts from the 1st WW are still standing. lots, though not this one, obviously, are still in use.

We were told that the same Swedish company provided both the Allies & the Germans with their barbed wire posts, slightly different designs, however.

Once again, having the high ground at these trenches gives the Germans commanding views over Ypres

 

[The Grey One]

We recently met Martin & Kate at http://www.orchardfarmsomme.com/ Biker friendly B&B plus a self catering apartment. Martin has a wealth of knowledge of the WW1 sites in the area and there are some very interesting items in the house itself. A great base for the area, set on the edge of a village. Martin has a GS (amongst others) and offers tours of the area. He will give advice as to the best places and help fill in the historical background for you.

John

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Onto Messines (Mesen), a major part of the Ypres Salient offensive. Once again sitting on a high ridge.

The Germans advanced rapidly to this area & understanding the advantages holding the Messines Ridge gave them dug in for the long war.
Any chances of this being over 'by Christmas' 2014 were scuppered.

The Catholic Church in Messines was, like everything else, destroyed.

(There was a story in the museum at Zonnebeke of a chap who'd lived his 1st 21 years in the town being asked to locate the church so the Allies could use its crypt (Zonnebeke's church crypt) as a communications centre. Despite his born & bred knowledge of the town the young man was totally disorientated when he went back as there was simply nothing left of any of the buildings. Some of the before & after photos beggar belief.)

I digress.

Before the war the crypt had held the bones of Countess Adela, mother in law of William the Conqueror, 1st queen of England. During the war these were removed, by persons unknown. It's not known why, whether as some sort of trophy or for safe keeping. But they never came back & have never been found. Whether the person who took them died, forgot about them or never wanted to return is not known.

The church, along with the crypt has been rebuilt.

The crypt was used as a hospital by the Germans.

A young German soldier who was based here (Messines) as a 'runner' was awarded the Iron Cross (2nd class?) for bravery. He and a comrade went into no-mans land to rescue their officer & pull him to safety. When the officer, who was Jewish, was fully recovered he personally pinned the medal onto the soldiers chest. The soldier awarded the medel by the Jewish officer was, alledgedly, Adolf Hitler.

Not far from Messines is the Irish Peace Park, a memorial to the Irish soldiers, from all over the 32 Counties, who gave their lives in the fight for the Messines Ridge.

32 Counties united in the struggle.

There are some quotes here, laid on plaques that really sum up the horrors & apparent futility of the battles....

and this one suggesting that there could be no winners....

Possibly, for me, the most poignant thing I saw.

There was also a quote I saw,possibly at Tyne Cot, where one of the British Generals declared in 1917 when he visited the front line 'Dear God, is this where we've been sending them'? Shame he hadn't seen it 3 years earlier perhaps....


A short drive up the road is the field where the truce of Christmas 1914 broke out along a 20km section of the front line and where the famous football match between German & Allied troops was played.
One of the German soldiers was singing 'Stille Nacht' on Christmas Eve & was heard by the Allied troops. When he finished one of the British soldiers sang a carol in return.
Eventually the German soldier walked into no-mans land with a bottle of schnapps & invited the Allied troops over. Naturally they were hesitant. More Germans joined their comrade & eventually the Allied troops joined them.
The football match was played on Christmas Day but the cease-fire was maintained for 3 for 4 weeks afterwards. If the Germans got wind that one of their senior officers was due to visit they'd warn the British that they'd be opening fire at a given time so the Brits could keep their heads down. This was kept up until the German troops were relieved, moved back & replaced by a new battalion (?) who obviously knew nothing of this informal arrangement & hostilities recommenced.

The field where the match was played, with Messines in the background.

This concluded our afternoon tour and was a real highlight, being a football fan & all that.

We finished our trip with a visit to the Menin Gate for the last post.
We found it this time.

The wreath's were laid by some English schoolkids who, unlike their dickhead teacher*, were a credit to themselves, their parents, their school & their country.

*Dickhead teacher clearly thought he was some sort of Steven Spielberg-a-like & showed absolutely no grace or dignity whilst filming the kids laying the wreath, He should be ashamed of himself.

Menin gate

Ypres by night.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

As a complete aside I noticed these when I was looking round one of the shops in Ypres.

I wan't tempted to try one though, didn't fancy finding out what the 'surprise. was.

And ironically, lovely though the Novotel was it also had a similarly themed 'Partner Hotel'.....