We had a huge day today, saw and learned so much. Good thing the hotels are so good on this leg because I'm learning so much new info that I'm exhausted!! But so glad that I am.
We spent today driving throughout various battlefields of the Ypres-Salient, the frontline of the Western Front. I'll go through where we went in order and what I learned along the way...
Belgium was created in 1830 post Waterloo to be a peaceful country in between France and Germany, and was guaranteed neutrality by France, Germany, England and Russia in 1839 which is why when Germany invaded France via Belgium without permission that all changed and Belgium joined the allies. In October 1914 1.5 million Belgians fled their country which was 1/4 of the population at the time.
Our first stop was to look at some monuments in Plug Street including one for Winston Churchill. One monument for WWI had bullet holes in it from fighting in WWII, strange how the two overlapped.
Then we drove up the road to Hyde Park Corner cemetery where allied soldiers including some Australians were buried. 60,000 Aussies died in WWI - 46,000 in France and 8,000 in Gallipoli. Rod (our guide) talked about the distinction between an act of bravery and valour (which is what a VC is awarded for). The cemetery and memorial was very well looked after, all of them are around here.
Our next stop was at the Christmas Truce site of 1914. On Christmas 1914 the Germans and allies laid down their weapons and called a truce for the festive period. They came out from their trenches (which were 20m apart and have been recreated as part of the memorial here today) and played football, played cards etc. However eventually someone fired and the truce was over, so for future Christmases in WWI there were no truces. Today around Christmas time Rod said sometimes English and Germans play in a friendly soccer match here.
As we drove through the countryside the weather was stunning yet again so we could see for miles. It's very eye opening here - there are cemeteries scattered all over the place. Every few minutes of driving you pass one, some even in the backyards of little farmhouses which farmers were compensated for post war. This is because the soldiers were buried where they died. And everywhere you look is a battlefield with mine craters etc. To get an idea of the chaos that happened, Rod told us only 48 of the 5000 French soldiers found here could be named. He also said the Germans released a lot of gases in this area because they would waft down into the valley and have nowhere to go, killing a lot of allied soldiers.
Next up we went to the Island of Ireland Peace Park, an Irish monument with a tower and some really powerful poetry. I've attached photos of the two I liked best. From here it was so clear you could see Lille in the distance!
We continued on and passed through the area where at 3.30am on June 7 1917 the allies let off 19 mines in what was called the Battle of Messines. They dug tunnels underneath the battlefields and let them off, the biggest of which was as big as a cinema apparently! The strength of these explosions was so massive that the people in Lille thought there was an earthquake, and people could even feel it in London. Apparently pilots lost control of their planes due to percussion waves in the air too.
We stopped for lunch in a town called Wytschaete. The towns around here were all decimated during the war and then rebuilt afterwards. Budget life prohibited me from having lunch in a restaurant with the others, but one lady on the trip called Carol is travelling six months so in the same boat. The two of us sat in the sun on the grass next to the war memorial and ate the apples we stole from breakfast! The others told us that during lunch three men came into the restaurant in uniform and were part of the bomb disposal unit. Apparently a lot of bombs are found all the time, and just two weeks ago two men were blown up on a farm when a bomb exploded. Insane to think that's still happening 100 years on...
After lunch we then went to Hill 60, where the Australian Tunnelling Division on June 7 1917 bombed the Germans with 90,000 pounds of explosives. The craters here were absolutely massive. 650 Germans were killed immediately and the allies were able to advance 8km. 17 VCs were awarded here.
Then we arrived in Ypres. Initially we were meant to be staying here, but due to the Anzac 100th anniversary all the accommodation here was booked out before the tour company tried to organise anything. Ypres was completely flattened by the end of 1917, with not a single tree or building standing. The town was rebuilt and the famous Menin Gate built here (more on that in a minute).
Our first stop was to the 'Flanders Fields Museum'. Here we spent an hour or so reading about the war and seeing various photos and artefacts. A lot of it was similar to what Rod had told us earlier today, but I found out that 10 million soldiers died in WWI, with over 550,000 of them dying in Flanders Fields. The museum was interesting and a bough a poppy brooch in the gift shop.
Afterwards Troy and I had an ice cream and then walked to the Menin Gate. I've grown up with mum always telling me about the Menin Gate because we have a Menin Road around the corner from our house. The Menin Gate is a memorial built in the 1920s which has 1200 panels listing the names of the 54,000+ soldiers who perished in the Ypres-Salient during WWI. It was overwhelming how many names there are, it was huge! There was a quote I liked by a Field Marshal Plumer - "he is not missing: he is here!". We walked around and had a look and then I got some takeaway dinner.
Our group met at 7pm and made our way to the Menin gate for the Last Post service. Since 1928, every evening at 8pm a service is held and the Last Post played. Tonight was the 29,920th service and on July 9 this year the 30,000th service will be held. Due to it being the centenary year, each service at the moment has an individual story about a soldier that passed away 100 years ago to the day. Tonight we paid our respects to Robert Andrews who was born in Edinburgh and died here 100 years ago aged just 19. The service was really moving and I'm really glad we made it here to pay our respects. I was extremely lucky to have a spot that allowed me to see the wreath laying and most of the service. Took a few photos but not too many because I wanted to experience the service properly. Some people took photos literally the whole time!!! We were surprised at the end when some New Zealander soldiers performed the Hakka.
It's been so strange seeing so many Aussies and Aussie flags the last few days. I hadn't seen them in so long! Unfortunately one man just about knocked Janet over at the last post tonight. The whole thing was that he was sitting down and then stood up right in front of her and when she kind of went "oh!" because she nearly fell he snappily said "what did you think we were going to do?". I got really defensive and told him he needn't speak to her in that tone because he had nearly knocked her over. He shut up after that. Best he was a St Kilda supporter hey!!
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