In Flanders Fields.

I have been missing for a few days as I have been over in Belgium and France with my brothers having a look around some of the WWI sites. We traveled via Eurostar to Lille and then one of my brothers drove us to Ypres.

We first visited one of only four German cemeteries in Flanders where,  after consolidation during and following the war, 44294 bodies are to be found, many is mass graves. The buildings are the original German bunkers that were  built as the lines passed through the area. The whole place had an atmosphere of brooding gloom. Adolf Hitler visited this site after conquering France in WWII

We then visited Tyne Cot cemetery. Tyne Cot is said to be named by the Tyneside soldiers that saw a resemblance in the German bunkers to there local cottages! I think it is the biggest Commonwealth Grave. There are 11954 graves here. There is a code to the stones erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commision. They are just about all made from white Portland Stone. If you see a flat topped stone it denoted that it is a grave of an 'enemy'. Otherwise they are arranged in rows with the Regimental emblem engraved, unless a Victoria Cross or George Cross had been awarded. There is also a cross, or other religious symbol, or non if required. The rank, unit, name, and date of death. Many also have an age inscribed. I personal chosen by the relatives can also be inscribed. If the stones are separate it indicates separate burials. The memorial cross that can be seen in the top left, was actually built on top of an old German pill box. Many of the graves have no information other than 'A soldier of the Great War' and 'Known unto God'.

Tyne Cot Cemetery is also the site of a memorial to the dead that have no known grave. All the dead who have no known grave following 15th August 1917 are listed on these walls. That is almost 35000 names!

We also visited Hill 62 near Sanctuary Wood, named as it was a quiet sector of the front at one time. Not later when it was fought over at Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Passchendaele. There is a small private museum that is run by the family that resettled the land following peace. There are doubts to it's authenticity but there are collections of finds and it is certainly interesting. Hill 62 refers to its height above sea level in metres!

By April 1915 both sides had started tunneling under the others lines. Oppositions tunnels were detected and blown up or infiltrated but on 17th April the British exploded huge mines under the front line of the Germans as a prelude to an attack. There are many memorials to regiments that fought here, but the most striking is the huge crater that is left from one of those mines. For scale you may be able to make out a bloke standing on the opposite side of the fend in line with the left hand bright tree trunk close to the middle, wearing blue.

We were staying in Ypres and later went to see the 'In Flanders Field' Museum that is housed in the cloth hall. This was almost flat following WWI and was rebuilt as an almost replica, as was much of the town.

A memorial to the missing with no known grave in the Ypres Salient was planned it was completed in 1924. There are 54 395 names inscribed on the memorial. However it was found that there was not enough room for the 90,000 that were neededs, and hence the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Since the day it was unveiled there has been a ceremony every night at 2000 when the last post is played by the locals of Ypres. Wreaths can be laid. When the Germans occupied Ypres the ceremony was stooped her but continued in a military cemetery in England.

On the way to our last days's accommodation in Arras we stopped over in Oppy where the City and people of Hull erected a memorial to the East Yorkshire Regiments and the 'Hull Pals' that fought at the Battle of Oppy Wood, where many friends and neighbours lost their lives together. The land was given by a local French family who lost their son in WWI.