There are some immense monuments to the missing of the Great War - I have already mentioned Thiepval on the Somme, which is extremely imposing. Belgium also has its own wonderful memorial at the Menin Gate in Ieper. Winston Churchill wanted the whole of Ieper to remain as a wasteland but the Belgians very sensibly refused and set about rebuilding Ieper exactly as it was before. They did agree that the Menin Gate could be built as a memorial to the missing UK and Commonwealth forces who died in the Ieper Salient. There are over 54,000 names engraved on Portland stone panels, and every one has a story to be told
Reading name after name after name is deeply moving, and every evening the traffic is stopped and the Last Post is sounded. Ieper also has an excellent museum located in the rebuilt Cloth Hall where we learnt so much.
Belgium is also home to the largest Commonwealth forces cemetery in the world. This is the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing
Belgium is also home to the largest Commonwealth forces cemetery in the world. This is the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing
The visitors' centre has many letters written by the soldiers and their families - just containing little snippets of news, and hoping everyone is looking after themselves. There are also letters informing mothers and wives of the death of their sons and husbands. Many of them are preprinted with a gap to insert the soldier's name. The language is definitely of another time - hardly a word of thanks for the sacrifice of their loved one's life. Although it can hardly make up for the horror of what happened during 1914 to 1918, the Commonwealth cemeteries are beautifully kept and are a mark of the high esteem in which we now hold those who served during that time.
Another well kept cemetery, but with a completely different ambience is the German cemetery at Langemark - the only German cemetery on the Ieper salient. There are 44,000 soldiers buried here in a number of mass graves. It is an incredibly sombre place with dark granite and tall trees
Another well kept cemetery, but with a completely different ambience is the German cemetery at Langemark - the only German cemetery on the Ieper salient. There are 44,000 soldiers buried here in a number of mass graves. It is an incredibly sombre place with dark granite and tall trees
Most of the gravestones are flat to the ground, and nearly all of them have many names inscribed on them. There is a brooding sculpture of mourners, which was modelled on a 1918 mourning photograph.
Langemark enforces the futility of war.
After our day in Belgium, we just had one day left on the Somme. We consulted our guidebook by Major Holt, and travelled to Delville wood, Longueval. Here we found the South Africa National Memorial. This imposing structure marks the place where over 2000 South Africans lost their lives, and where every tree in the wood was destroyed, except one - a single hornbeam.
Here is the hornbeam - 'The Last Tree', and part of the monument - it is absolutely huge.
After our day in Belgium, we just had one day left on the Somme. We consulted our guidebook by Major Holt, and travelled to Delville wood, Longueval. Here we found the South Africa National Memorial. This imposing structure marks the place where over 2000 South Africans lost their lives, and where every tree in the wood was destroyed, except one - a single hornbeam.
Here is the hornbeam - 'The Last Tree', and part of the monument - it is absolutely huge.
I am so glad we visited the battlefields and memorials - every day we learnt many many things and were amazed afresh at the sheer enormity of what took place one hundred years ago. Even on our way back to the Channel tunnel there was one more place to visit:
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is just stupendous. It is part of the park where the Battle of Vimy Ridge took place and there are warnings not to enter parts of the park as there are explosives still buried there. This is a place of commemoration for Canadian soldiers who have no known grave. Visiting that amazing monument was a fitting way to finish our World War One Battlefield expedition