Flanders Fields. A place to remember. FLANDERSFIELDS1418.COM INTRODUCTION 2018 Contents PEACE AT LAST INTRODUCTION EVENTS & COMMEMORATIONS 2018 The Final Offensives and the end of the Great War By mid-October, the success of Allied operations along Introduction > 3 ComingWorldRememberMe: Land art instalation > 30 the line from Nieuwpoort to Verdun meant that the Flanders Fields: 15 most visited sites + map > 4 Calendar events and ceremonies 2018 > 32 In the spring of 1918, the German forces began the Salient had seen its last fighting. Allied soldiers broke WWI: timeline > 6 Spring Offensive, a series of major attacks along the out of their long-held foothold in Flanders and pushed Western Front. In Flanders, in April, the Lys Offensive the German Army back to the eastern Belgian border. WORLD WAR I SITES DISCOVER THE BATTLEFIELDS (Fourth Battle of Ypres) saw the Germans retake much Introduction & Tourist Offices > 8 Getting there and around > 40 of the ground that had been won by the Allies at such At 11 am on 11 November the fighting stopped on the Ypres & surroundings > 10 Gastronomy in Flanders Fields > 41 cost the previous autumn. Messines Ridge and the Western Front. Passchendaele/Zonnebeke > 16 Organised battlefield tours > 42 villages of Wytschaete and Messines were lost, then the Messines > 19 The Great War Centenary, accessible to all > 44 village of Passchendaele, before finally the Germans Estimates of fatal casualties for all nationalities Heuvelland/Wijtschate > 20 Explore WWI outside the classroom > 44 took Kemmel Hill. Ypres came close to falling, but the resulting from the occupation and fighting around Poperinge > 22 Suggestions for car or coach itineraties > 45 city remained defiant, and by the end of April the Ypres between 1914 and 1918 were in the region of Diksmuide & surroundings > 24 Hotels > 49 German onslaught had been halted. 600,000. Nieuwpoort > 27 Youth accommodation > 55 Other interesting sites in Flanders Fields > 28 Trade & press information > 58 On St George's Day, 23 April 1918, the British launched Now, one hundred years later, Flanders invites visitors Other interesting sites in Flanders and Brussels > 29 naval raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend, to block the to remember lives of all those impacted by the conflict entrances to the harbours and inflict as much damage – and what better place to do so than Flanders Fields. as possible upon both ports. The Zeebrugge operation took place with about 75 ships and over 1,700 men in Numerous museums, events, and exhibitions shed a night-time operation and was deemed a success, light on the various facets of the Great War: the however the Ostend raid did not go to plan and was military operations, trench warfare, political alliances, subsequently repeated in May. propaganda, etc. In addition, various art exhibitions offer a truly individual, artistic view of the horrors of The Americans who fought in Flanders, arrived in WWI. Wherever you go in Flanders Fields, whether by Europe in June and July 1918. The 27th and 30th car, by bike, or on foot, you come across the remnants divisions experienced their baptism of fire in July, at and scars of the Great War. The region is dotted with the front to the south of Ypres, between the Ypres- hundreds of monuments and cemeteries, some of Comines railway line and Dikkebus Lake for the 30th which contain no more than a few graves. Themed and from Dikkebus Lake to Kemmel for the 27th. Both walking, biking, and driving tours guide you through divisions remained near Ypres until 4 September 1918. this landscape. There are even several ways for visitors to contribute to the commemorations. In August, the Allies began the Hundred Days offensive which would ultimately end with the signing of This brochure provides an essential guide to the the Armistice. General Foch, the Supreme Allied key memorial sites, locations, accommodation, and Commander, decided to launch three separate attacks 2018 commemorative events, along with relevant Basic measures Weelchair Facilities for Facilities for Facilities for on the German lines. In the north, King Albert of accessibility information for Flanders Fields and other to accommodate accessible people with visual visitors with visitors with a Belgium, with a force of British, French, and Belgian locations in Flanders. disabled visitors impairments hearing learning disability troops, successfully attacked through Flanders. impairments Starting on 28 September, the Battle of Ypres 1918 recaptured the ground lost during the Lys Offensive. It took just three days to advance ten miles and for the familiar landmarks of four years of fighting to be back in Allied hands. 2 3 ©milo-profi photography ©milo-profi Europe, Flanders, Flanders Fields 15 KEY SITES IN FLANDERS FIELDS © milo-profi© © milo-profi© 1 In Flanders Fields Museum 2 Polygon Wood 3 German Cemetery Vladslo n Zeebrugge © Westtoer Depestele Michael © NORTH SEA Ostend n n Bruges 4 Menin Gate 5 Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery 6 German Cemetery Langemark & Visitor Centre 9 n Nieuwpoort n Dunkirk Koekelare n n De Panne 3 © milo-profi© n 14 milo-profi© Veurne n Diksmuide n 11 Ghent n Calais FLANDERS 7 Hill 60 & Caterpillar crater 8 Talbot House 9 Westfront Nieuwpoort Visitor FLANDERS Centre & Goose Foot Lock Complex FIELDS n Roeselare Langemark-Poelcapelle milo-profi© milo-profi© Poperinge 6 n 13 15 n 8 n Zonnebeke Ypres n 10 Waregem n 5 2 Yser Tower Museum Island of Ireland 4 1 10 Memorial Museum 11 12 n Hooge Passchendaele 1917 Peace park Introduction 7 n Kortrijk Wervik Messines n Menen n Kemmel n n FRANCE 12 WALLONIA © Westtoer n 13 Tyne Cot Cemetery 14 Trench of Death 15 Essex Farm Cemetery Lille & Visitor Centre 4 6 April 1917 KLM © United States declares war on Germany 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 Third Battle of Ypres/ Battle of Passchendaele © InFlandersFieldsMuseum 26 & 29 October 1914 Nieuwpoort sluice gates are opened to flood the plain Timeline and halt the German advance. 6 © Imperial War Museum 7 WORLD WAR I SITES The First World War left an indelible impact on the area In Flanders fields side, along with New Zealanders and Australians, who played the First World War, also provides a unique viewing platform across now known as Flanders Fields, transforming the region into a significant role in the success of the Messines offensive. Flanders Fields. one of the most thought-provoking and inspirational war In Flanders fields the poppies blow This battle also took place across the area of Heuvelland and landscapes in the world. In 1914, local farmers witnessed Wijtschate. Kemmel Hill provides a view over the countryside Behind the front line was Poperinge, "Pop" as it was known to their fields turning into a battleground for one of the most Between the crosses, row on row, and nearby is the American monument erected in 1929 and a British soldiers, an important rail centre and gateway to the terrible conflicts in human history. Over 600,000 men and Demarcation Stone erected after the war to mark the furthest battlefields. It was a place of temporary camps and hospitals women died on Belgian soil during the First World War. The That mark our place; and in the sky point to which the Germans advanced. where soldiers came to rest from the trenches or for medical military cemeteries that dot these same fields are a sad treatment. There were also shops, restaurants, hotels, pubs, reminder of the tragic cost of this “war to end all wars”. The larks, still bravely singing, fly In the north of the area, the towns of Nieuwpoort and cinemas, and theatres at their disposal. It was here that an army Diksmuide were also totally ruined. It was in Nieuwpoort chaplain, the Reverend Philip “Tubby” Clayton, founded Talbot British and Commonwealth soldiers passed through the city Scarce heard amid the guns below. that the sluices were opened and the Yser river plain and House, an Every-Man’s Club, a place to relax where everybody of Ypres on their way to the battlefields along the Ypres front region was flooded at the end of 1914. This inspired was welcome, regardless of rank. Today, Talbot House is a “living Salient. Reduced to rubble by constant bombardment, We are the Dead. Short days ago plan played a crucial role in the defence of the French museum” and is still a place to stay. the town came to symbolise the meaningless slaughter Channel Ports. Diksmuide’s Yser Tower, which houses a of the Great War. After the war, Ypres rose like a phoenix We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, museum focusing on the Belgian- German confrontation in www.flandersfields.be/en from its ashes, rebuilt as an almost perfect copy of the medieval city that had been destroyed during the fighting.