This is what Ypres looked like in 1918.
During the years following WWI, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to accept sole responsibility for the war (Article 231). They were also required to pay massive financial reparations. The final total was set at 132 billion gold marks, about $33bn, which in turn devastated the German economy and inadvertently paved the way for the rise of Hitler’s Nazi party and a second world war. The same mistake wasn’t made after 1945. In fact, there was support from the US for many European countries in the form of the Marshall Plan, which was designed to help the recovery of all the most devastated economies in Europe, including Germany.
However, WW1 reparations allowed a city like Ypres to be re-built just as it was before the war. This is what Ypres looks like now.
There are a few areas left in ruins as a memorial, while in and around Ypres there are other key sites commemorating the war that was fought here.
The Menin Gate
The Menin Gate, erected in 1923, is just outside Ypres. This marks the location where the British and Commonwealth soldiers crossed the original bridge over the River Ieperlee from Ypres to the front lines known as Passchendaele. The bridge would have been the last they saw of civilisation before entering Hell.
The Menin Gate memorial, built over the original bridge, has 54,585 names carved into the stonework – names of soldiers whose bodies could not be found and who therefore have no known graves. Since 2 July 1928, the Last Post has been played here every night at 20.00 hours by the Ypres fire brigade . The only interruption to this tradition occurred during WWII, when German forces occupied Ypres. During this period, 20 May 20 1940, to 6 September 1944, the ceremony was instead held at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey, England. However, the very evening Ypres was liberated, the ceremony resumed at the Menin Gate and has continued nightly ever since.
The local police stop the traffic at 7.55, then, depending on the anniversary, any number from one to six fire fighter buglers perform the ceremony. We may perhaps imagine that the quality of playing might be a little amateurish, but it isn’t. We have attended this very moving occasion four times and I can guarantee that there is not a dry eye in the house.
Vimy Ridge
This is the Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge, also not far from Ypres, commemorating the Canadian regiments who were the last to take and hold that part of the front lines. It was designed by Walter Allwood and unveiled in 1936.
Up to fairly recently, when travelling from Calais to Paris we could see this 100-foot memorial in the distance, but a new main road passes further away now.
Nearly the whole of the northern French and Belgian battle grounds were flat, so any area higher than the surrounding countryside, like Vimy Ridge, which is 200 feet higher than the surrounding area (hence its name), was of great strategic importance. For this reason, it was bombarded and attacked by both sides for most of the war; all the shell holes are evidence of this.
The photo shows the shell holes in the surrounding fields. Only the road, and the memorial site have been cleared of unexploded shells. Sheep are allowed to roam freely in the hope that one will find an unexploded shell, and occasionally they do. Cows would probably find more, but they are too expensive.
The beautifully carved statues here are in my view the best to be found on any memorial.
Many of these statues appear as if they could step down from their pedestal and walk away. There are a further 11,285 names of soldiers with no known graves carved into the stonework.
As movement on the surface near the front lines was very dangerous, six and a half miles of tunnelling was contracted under Vimmy Ridge.
Much of it is now open to the public; in fact, the whole site is well worth a visit. The Canadians do not allow any commercial activities, but there is a visitors’ centre and toilets, and guided tours around the site are conducted by students from Canadian universities.
The black shape in the top left corner here is a lovingly painted, unexploded artillery shell. Probably a 75mm (French), 77 mm (German), or an 18-pounder, about 84mm (British). Left there for dramatic effect, I assume.
I took this photo in 1990, so it had been there for approximately 75 years (what could possibly go wrong …). You may be glad to learn that sense has prevailed and it has since been removed.
There were approximately 1.45 billion shells fired in WW1, of which it is estimated that a quarter were duds. That meant that 362.5 million shells along the 440 miles between the Belgian northern coast to the Swiss border were still there after WW1. Tons of unexploded shells are still being dug up by farmers and construction workers each year, with many injured in the process. Even amateur metal detectorists go out of their way to look for them. Madness.
Tyne Cot
This is Tyne Cot, again just outside Ypres, the largest Commonwealth war grave site in the world.
The graves in this photo all contain the bodies of soldiers within, but not all have a name. The headstone may say something like “A soldier of the British army”. Under the trees is a pillbox, originally built by the Germans but later used as a front-line British aid station, which is why there are so many graves with names: many mortally wounded soldiers would have been taken there who did not survive.
In the background here, facing the other way from the previous photo, is a wall with a further 34,991 names of soldiers with no known graves.
There is, as you will be beginning to realise, a staggering number of soldiers with no known graves. There are 100,860 names on memorials to British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known graves just in the Ypres area. Travel further south and there is the South African memorial at Thiepval containing containing 72,173 names, Arras Memorial with 34,744 names, Loos Memorial with 20,585, Pozieres 14,698, Le Touret 13,415, Ploegsteert 11,347 and many more.
At one time we wouldn’t be able to travel far in that part of the world without seeing a few commonwealth graves in the corner of a field. Most have since been moved to the nearest large commonwealth grave site, so that the farmers could have their fields back.
In the final part of this series, we’ll be looking at some of the tactics, successful and otherwise, employed in WW1 battle grounds such as those commemorated above, before finishing by describing the lighter side of a visit to modern-day Poperinge. Its excellent beer may get a mention …
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