Ypres Salient

We started the following day with a wonderful breakfast, then packed a lunch provided by Charlotte: sandwiches, fruit and chocolate (who could be in Belgium without eating chocolate?). Our route through the Ypres Salient was thoroughly planned now, thanks to Charlotte and her guest, Gordon. The itinerary took us through Passchendaele, where thousands of soldiers lost their lives. There is a huge memorial there, at Tyne Cot Cemetery.

We also visited Hill 60, high ground which had been occupied for the most part by Germans, then the Allies took it and I believe the Germans took it back before ultimately losing it for good. As we walked the mound of earth, spotting remnants of bunkers, I couldn’t help but imagine all the blood that was shed for this bit of land. It felt sacred somehow, where physical and perhaps even spiritual battles were fought.
In the picture to the right, you can see the narrow opening for machine guns, which were used in WWI. Fighting was primitive compared to today, but for its time the machine gun was an innovation.

This is a cement block that was used in one of the battlements.

This was also the day we visited Zonnebeke which I mentioned yesterday—the museum with its explicit and thorough chronological presentation of the war, ending with the recreation of the trench galleries. We lunched just outside the chateau beside a peaceful pond then headed back to Ypres.

There we visited cathedrals, did some shopping, and finished at the Menin Gate (pictured below). This was one of my many favorite memories of this trip. At 8 PM every single day of the year they play the bugle and lay wreaths at the memorial to those lost in the Great War. When I speak to people about the books I’m writing, it’s sad to me how many don’t know about this war. It’s easily confused with WWII, perhaps because everyone’s heard of the Nazis (the Nazi party developed in the 1920’s, after WWI). Or perhaps everyone first thinks of WWII because there have been so many movies made about that war. But there wouldn’t have been a second world war without the first, and the sad fact is that the second probably wouldn’t have happened except for the harsh conditions set by the armistice of WWI (although I suppose that’s debatable).

Countless names are carved in this huge Menin Gate memorial. These men gave their lives with so little explanation of why, so it seems especially fitting not to forget them.
This says: Here are recorded names of officers and men who fell in Ypres Salient but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.
It’s such a sobering fact to know that these men were simply lost, their remains never found or were buried in one of the many graves of the unidentifiable.

The descendants of those who were lost lay wreaths of poppies, which grow so abundantly in this area. Poppies are their symbol of remembrance, whose red was replaced by the blood that was shed.

Poppies weren’t in bloom when we were in Belgium, so I’ve borrowed this photo from an online site. But I’m sure you can see why the image is such an appropriate comparison.