Flanders Fields. A place to remember. FLANDERSFIELDS1418.COM TVL_TRADEBROCHURE_WOI-IN-2018_V06.indd 1 03/11/2017 4:13 pm Contents INTRODUCTION EVENTS & COMMEMORATIONS 2018 Introduction > 3 ComingWorldRememberMe: Land art installation > 30 Flanders Fields: 15 Key sites in Flanders Fields > 4 Calendar events and ceremonies 2018 > 32 WWI: timeline > 6 WORLD WAR I SITES DISCOVER THE BATTLEFIELDS Introduction & Tourist Offi ces > 8 Getting there and around > 40 Ypres & surroundings > 10 Gastronomy in Flanders Fields > 41 Passchendaele/Zonnebeke > 16 Organised battlefi eld tours > 42 Messines > 19 The Great War Centenary, accessible to all > 44 Heuvelland/Wijtschate > 20 Explore WWI outside the classroom > 44 Poperinge > 22 Suggestions for car or coach itineraries > 45 Diksmuide & surroundings > 24 Hotels > 49 Nieuwpoort > 27 Youth accommodation > 55 Other interesting sites in Flanders Fields > 28 Trade & press information > 58 Other interesting sites in Flanders and Brussels > 29 Basic measures Wheelchair Facilities for Facilities for Facilities for to accommodate accessible visitors with visitors with visitors with a visitors with visual impairments hearing learning disability disabilities impairments 2 ©milo-profi photography ©milo-profi TVL_TRADEBROCHURE_WOI-IN-2018_V06.indd 2 03/11/2017 4:13 pm INTRODUCTION 2018 PEACE AT LAST The Final Offensives and the end of the Great War By mid-October, the success of Allied operations along the line from Nieuwpoort to Verdun meant that the In the spring of 1918, the German forces began the Salient had seen its last fighting. Allied soldiers broke 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. (Fourth Battle of Ypres) saw the Germans retake much of the ground that had been won by the Allies at such At 11 am on 11 November the fighting stopped on the cost the previous autumn. Messines Ridge and the Western Front. villages of Wytschaete and Messines were lost, then the village of Passchendaele, before finally the Germans Estimates of fatal casualties for all nationalities took Kemmel Hill. Ypres came close to falling, but the resulting from the occupation and fighting around city remained defiant, and by the end of April the Ypres between 1914 and 1918 were in the region of German onslaught had been halted. 600,000. On St George's Day, 23 April 1918, the British launched Now, one hundred years later, Flanders invites visitors naval raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend, to block the to remember the lives of all those impacted by entrances to the harbours and inflict as much damage the conflict – and what better place to do so than as possible upon both ports. The Zeebrugge operation Flanders Fields. took place with about 75 ships and over 1,700 men in a night-time operation and was deemed a success, Numerous museums, events, and exhibitions shed however the Ostend raid did not go to plan and was light on the various facets of the Great War: the subsequently repeated in May. military operations, trench warfare, political alliances, propaganda, etc. In addition, various art exhibitions The Americans who fought in Flanders, arrived in offer a truly individual, artistic view of the horrors of Europe in June and July 1918. The 27th and 30th WWI. Wherever you go in Flanders Fields, whether by divisions experienced their baptism of fire in July, at car, by bike, or on foot, you come across the remnants the front to the south of Ypres, between the Ypres- and scars of the Great War. The region is dotted with Comines railway line and Dikkebus Lake for the 30th hundreds of monuments and cemeteries, some of and from Dikkebus Lake to Kemmel for the 27th. Both which contain no more than a few graves. Themed divisions remained near Ypres until 4 September 1918. walking, biking, and driving tours guide you through this landscape. There are even several ways for visitors In August, the Allies began the Hundred Days offensive to contribute to the commemorations. which would ultimately end with the signing of the Armistice. General Foch, the Supreme Allied This brochure provides an essential guide to the Commander, decided to launch three separate attacks key memorial sites, locations, accommodation, and on the German lines. In the north, King Albert of 2018 commemorative events, along with relevant Belgium, with a force of British, French, and Belgian accessibility information for Flanders Fields and other troops, successfully attacked through Flanders. locations in Flanders. 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. 3 TVL_TRADEBROCHURE_WOI-IN-2018_V06.indd 3 03/11/2017 4:13 pm Europe, Flanders, Flanders Fields n Zeebrugge NORTHTH SEA Ostend n n Bruges 9 n Nieuwpoort Dunkirk n Koekelare n n De Panne 3 n 14 Veurne n Diksmuide n 11 Ghent n Calais FLANDERS FLANDERS FIELDS n Roeselare Langemark-Poelcapelle Poperinge 6 n 13 15 n 8 n Zonnebeke 5 Ypres n 2 10 Waregem n 4 1 n Hooge 7 n Kortrijk Wervik Messines n Menen Kemmel n n FRANCE n 12 WALLONIA n Lille 4 TVL_TRADEBROCHURE_WOI-IN-2018_V06.indd 4 03/11/2017 4:13 pm 15 KEY SITES IN FLANDERS FIELDS © milo-profi© © milo-profi© 1 In Flanders Fields Museum 2 Polygon Wood 3 German Cemetery Vladslo © Westtoer Depestele Michael © 4 Menin Gate 5 Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery 6 German Cemetery Langemark & Visitor Centre © milo-profi© © milo-profi© n 7 Hill 60 & Caterpillar Crater 8 Talbot House 9 Westfront Nieuwpoort Visitor Centre & Goose Foot Lock Complex © milo-profi© © milo-profi© 10 Memorial Museum 11 Yser Tower Museum 12 Island of Ireland Passchendaele 1917 Peace Park Introduction © Westtoer 13 Tyne Cot Cemetery 14 Trench of Death 15 Essex Farm Cemetery & Visitor Centre TVL_TRADEBROCHURE_WOI-IN-2018_V06.indd 5 03/11/2017 4:13 pm 28 June 1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo 28 July 1914 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. 22 April 1915 4 August 1914 First use of chlorine gas by the German army invades Belgium. United Kingdom declares war on Germany. 1914 1915 1916 19 October 22 April - 22 November 1914 - 25 May 1915 First Battle of Ypres Second Battle of Ypres m eu us M ds el i F s er d n la F n I © 26 & 29 October 1914 Nieuwpoort sluice gates are opened to fl ood the plain and halt the German advance. 6 TVL_TRADEBROCHURE_WOI-IN-2018_V06.indd 6 03/11/2017 4:14 pm 6 April 1917 KLM © United States declares war on Germany e v ae e Der e April 1918 ti c e l l o German spring offensive. © C © 7 -14 June 1917 Major attack by the Battle of Messines Germans at Merkem and Kemmel. © C ollectie D eraeve 28 September - 11 November 1918 The fi nal offensive. Rein- 21 February forced by the Americans, a 12 July 1917 series of Allied offensives - 20 December 1916 First use of mustard gas pushes the Germans back. Battle of Verdun (France) 1917 1918 1 July - 18 November 1916 Battle of the Somme 24 - 25 June 1917 (France) First shot of cannon 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 Timeline m eu s ar Mu al W ri e p m © I 7 TVL_TRADEBROCHURE_WOI-IN-2018_V06.indd 7 03/11/2017 4:14 pm WORLD WAR I SITES The First World War left an indelible impact on the area In Flanders fields now known as Flanders Fields, transforming the region into one of the most thought-provoking and inspirational war In Flanders fields the poppies blow landscapes in the world. In 1914, local farmers witnessed their fields turning into a battleground for one of the most Between the crosses, row on row, terrible conflicts in human history. Over 600,000 men and women died on Belgian soil during the First World War. The That mark our place; and in the sky military cemeteries that dot these same fields are a sad reminder of the tragic cost of this “war to end all wars”. The larks, still bravely singing, fly British and Commonwealth soldiers passed through the city Scarce heard amid the guns below. of Ypres on their way to the battlefields along the Ypres Salient. Reduced to rubble by constant bombardment, We are the Dead. Short days ago the town came to symbolise the meaningless slaughter of the Great War. After the war, Ypres rose like a phoenix We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, from its ashes, rebuilt as an almost perfect copy of the medieval city that had been destroyed during the fighting. Loved, and were loved, and now we lie The famous Menin Gate stands at one entrance to the city; a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial was In Flanders fields. placed here in 1927 inscribed with the names of more than 54,000 soldiers who died before 16 August 1917 and have Take up our quarrel with the foe: no known grave. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers passed through the gate on the way to the front, many of them To you from failing hands we throw never to return. The Last Post will continue to be sounded here, nightly, in perpetuity, by volunteer local buglers in The torch; be yours to hold it high. remembrance of those men. If ye break faith with us who die Around Ypres there are over a hundred military cemeteries, the resting place of those soldiers and airmen.