2017 > 2018 Brochure Flanders Fields. A place to remember. FLANDERSFIELDS1418.COM INTRODUCTION 2017 Table of contents PASSCHENDAELE REMEMBERED INTRODUCTION DISCOVER THE BATTLEFIELDS The terrible events of the year 1917 are engraved in our collective memory. Introduction > 3 Getting there and around > 46 A series of explosions created a huge man-made earthquake and soldiers Flanders Fields: 12 most visited sites + map > 4 The battlefields, accessible to all > 48 fought not only against the enemy but also against the mud. The Third WWI: time line > 6 Explore WWI outside the classroom > 48 Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, destroyed Organized battlefield tours > 49 the landscape and cost countless human lives. EVENTS Suggestions for car or coach itineraties 1917 Total war in Flanders/ for touroperators > 50 Now, approximately one hundred years later, Flanders invites visitors exhibitions and information points > 7 Hotels > 52 to remember the victims of the conflict - and what better place to do so ComingWorldRememberMe > 12 Youth accommodation > 58 than Flanders Fields. Many museums, events and exhibitions shed light Diary of other events > 14 Trade & press information > 63 on the various facets of the Great War: the military operations, trench warfare, political alliances, propaganda, etc. In addition, various art WORLD WAR I SITES exhibitions offer a truly individual, artistic view of the horrors of WWI. Ypres & surroundings > 26 Wherever you go in Flanders Fields, whether by car, bike or on foot, you Passchendaele/Zonnebeke > 32 come across the remnants and scars of the Great War. The region is Messines > 35 dotted with hundreds of monuments and graveyards, sometimes Heuvelland/Wijtschate > 36 counting no more than a few graves. Themed walking, biking and driving Poperinge > 38 tours guide you through this landscape bursting with reminders of the Diksmuide & surroundings > 40 Great War. There are even several ways for visitors to contribute to the Nieuwpoort > 43 commemoration. Other interesting sites in Flanders (Fields) & Brussels > 44 This “2017-2018 Brochure” guides you through the commemorative highlights in 2017 and 2018 and provides an overview of many of the region’s key memorial sites. Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 2 3 ©milo-profi photography ©milo-profi THE NETHERLANDS a Se h Bruges rt Ostend No Antwerp Nieuwpoort Ghent FLANDERS Dunkirk Diksmuide Calais Mechelen BRUSSELS Ypres Hasselt Poperinge Zonnebeke Leuven GERMANY Mesen FRANCE Lille WALLONIA Zeebrugge Knokke-Heist 12 MOST VISITED SITES OF FLANDERS FIELDS Blankenberge De Haan Oostende milo-profi© milo-profi© Bredene Brugge 1 In Flanders Fields Museum 5 Polygon Wood 9 Trench of Death & Menin Gate Nieuwpoort Middelkerke 12 Koksijde © Westtoer Depestele Michael © milo-profi© De Panne Koekelare Veurne 10 9 Diksmuide 8 2 Hill 60 6 Lijssenthoek 10 German Cemetery Vladslo Kortemark Military Cemetery Alveringem Hooglede Yzer Houthulst Roeselare Staden Lo-Reninge milo-profi© milo-profi© Langemark-Poelkapelle Introduction Vleteren 11 Waregem 4 3 Memorial Museum 7 Talbot House 11 German Cemetery Langemark Passchendaele 1917 Poperinge 3 7 Yper 1 5 Kortrijk Zonnebeke 6 (Passchendaele) 2 Menen Wervik © Westtoer milo-profi© Heuvelland Messines 4 Tyne Cot Cemetery 8 Yser Tower Museum 12 Goose Foot complex & King Albert I Monument 4 6 April 1917 KLM © United States declares war 28 June 1914 April 1918 Assassination of Archduke German spring offensive. Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo Deraeve Collectie © 7 -14 June 1917 Major attack by the Battle of Messines Germans at Merkem and Kemmel. 28 July 1914 © Collectie Deraeve Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. 28 September 22 April 1915 - 11 November 1918 The final offensive. 4 August 1914 First use of chlorine gas by the German army in Langemark. Reinforced by the German army invades Belgium. 21 February 12 July 1917 Americans, a series of - 20 December 1916 United Kingdom declares war First use of mustard gas Allied offensives pushes on Germany. Battle of Verdun the Germans back. (France) 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1 July - 18 November 1916 19 October Battle of the Somme 24 - 25 June 1917 - 22 november 1914 22 April - 25 may 1915 (France) First shot of cannon First Battle of Ypres Lange Max Second Battle of Ypres 11 November 1918 Armistice. End of WWI at 11 o’clock in the morning. 31 July - 10 November 1917 Battle of Passchendaele/ Third battle of Ypres © InFlandersFieldsMuseum 26 & 29 October 1914 Nieuwpoort sluice gates are opened to flood the plain Time line and halt the German advance. 6 © Imperial War Museum 7 EVENTS 1917 TOTAL WAR IN FLANDERS ROUTE OF EXHIBITIONS FROM 3 JUNE 2017 TO END 2017 The ‘1917: Total War in Flanders’ project connects various Today we still see the scars in the locations in a route of exhibitions and information landscape and the places of points. remembrance and commemoration. The entrance of an exhibition in In 1917, the Great War escalated in Flanders into a total a museum is included in the ticket war. Science, technology, industry, economy, and society price of the museum. The other 1917 TOTAL WAR were the cogwheels of a war machine operating at full exhibitions are for free. IN FLANDERS FIELDS MUSEUM, YPRES speed. INTRO OK The thematic exhibition in the Royal Hall of the In Flanders At the front, the scope and the severity of the violence Fields Museum gives the visitor a general introduction to the defied all imagination. An unprecedented number of Mine Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres. troops, modern weapons, and new technologies formed There is an important place in the exhibition for the work the machinery of armies that could no longer afford of the Australian war photographers Frank Hurley and to lose. The huge destructive power of the artillery Hubert Wilkins and the re-worked contemporary wreaked havoc in the landscape. Behind the front, the photographs of Ian Alderman. whole society was mobilised to keep the war industry going. Daily life became bleaker and the image of the i For practical information, see p. 26 other side was reduced to that of ‘the enemy’. 1917 TOTAL WAR 1917 TOTAL WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM PASSCHENDAELE 1917, THREE INFORMATION MODULES IN THE YPRES ZONNEBEKE SALIENT, YPRES The imposing ‘Villa Zonnedaele’ mansion is the setting for Each of the three modules explains the position of the a thematic exhibition about the crucial role played by the Allied armies on the eve of the Third Battle of Ypres. At each devastated landscape during the Battle of Passchendaele. location, films reflect on the terrible storm that would soon Both armies were forced to adjust their tactics, their break: a storm that was destined to dramatically reshape methods of attack, and their logistical systems. The impact the landscape around Ypres. on ordinary soldiers, too, both physically and psychologically, was immense. i For practical information, see p. 31 Events i For practical information, see p. 32 8 © Imperial War Museum 9 1917 TOTAL WAR 1917 TOTAL WAR HEUVELLAND VISITORS TYNE COT CEMETERY VISITORS CENTRE, © Westtoer CENTRE, Heuvelland (Kemmel) Zonnebeke Events The thematic exhibition ‘Zero Hour 07- An information module in the visitor centre next to the imposing Tyne Cot 06-1917: The Archaeology of a Battle’ Cemetery tells the story of the landscape. Using an interactive panorama panel, in the Heuvelland Visitors Centre the visitor will learn how to read the different layers of this landscape: what was illustrates the material heritage left the effect of the Third Battle of Ypres and what traces can we still find today? behind by the Mine Battle of Messines. A selection of excavated artefacts i For practical information, see p. 32 occupies a central position. The visitor will learn about the function of these objects during the battle and how they were rediscovered many years later. milo-profi© The exhibition also demonstrates how the wartime heritage has been dealt with in the years since the Great War came to an end. 1917 TOTAL WAR i For practical information, see p. 36 TOURIST INFORMATION POINT (TIP), Messines 1917 TOTAL WAR The thematic exhibition ‘100 New Zealand Faces of Messines’ 1917 TOTAL WAR BELGIAN MILITARY CEMETERY, focuses attention on the enormous impact of the First GUYNEMER-PAVILION, Houthulst World War on New Zealand. From a population of barely Langemark-Poelkapelle (Poelkapelle) one million inhabitants, almost 10% travelled to the other side of the world to fight in the Great War. Using the stories An information module at the of 100 individuals, the dramatic effects of the war on this The Guynemer Pavilion houses a two-part exhibition, which Belgian Military Cemetery in Houthulst small country are explored. tells the stories of the role of military aviation highlights the impact of munitions in the war and of the French participation in the Battle of on the region in 1917. During the Third i For practical information, see p. 35 Passchendaele. The part played by the French Army in this Battle of Ypres, the concentrations of largely British and Commonwealth offensive was crucially artillery fire were much heavier than important. Although that army was in a state of crisis in Events anything previously seen. The number 1917, it was still able to make a cautious but significant of shells fired by the guns reached 1917 TOTAL WAR advance towards Houthulst Forest. Increasing use was made staggering new levels. Even today, SINT-LAURENTIUS (ST. LAURENCE’S) CHURCH, of military aviation throughout 1917, evolving from a purely these munitions are still being found Heuvelland (Kemmel) observational role to become an integral part of the war and their effects are still being felt. machine. i For practical information, see p. 42 The church in Kemmel is the setting Opening hours: i For practical information, see p. 31 for the thematic exhibition ‘Irish Blood 1 April – 15 November on Flemish Soil’.