Day 2 - I died in hell, they called it Passchendaele

Today we continue our discovery of the region around Ypres. We drive through the rolling landscape. The hilltops were the stake of the bloody battle. After all, whoever controlled the hilltop had the strategic advantage over the enemy. These hilltops were fought over for four years. After months of struggle they won one and had to give it up again a few months later.  After months of struggle, one finally won the battle only to lose the hilltop again some months later. The western front line actually only moved a few miles back and forth in those four years. But the cost in human lives was phenomenal. So many sons, fathers, husbands, brothers, uncles who didn't come home anymore. They died at the frontline during the Great War : shot by the enemy, drowned in the trenches, suffocated by the gas attacks of the Germans… The conditions were insane : storming a hill from a trench right in the line of fire of the enemy, trying to move heavy artillery in deep mud, being underdressed for harsh winters and heavy rain…

The numbers don't lie: more than 60% of Canadians, New Zealanders and Australians didn't make it. Almost half of the British were also killed. A high price was paid for our freedom.

The first memorial we visit today is that of the Brooding Soldier, which was erected in memory of the 2,000 Canadian soldiers who died in the first gas attack. Be aware that 18,000 Canadian soldiers were also affiliated with the French divisions that were the target of this attack. This brooding soldier holds his weapon upside down. A military salute.

Our next stop is a German cemetery. 

There are four in total throughout Belgium. The greenery dominates in this cemetery. Among the 10,000 soldiers are also 3,000 barely trained volunteers who were part of the German army to storm Langemark. This gives rise to the myth (thanks to the German propaganda machine) that a lot of youthful young Germans (still students actually) were slaughtered here. In reality, the Germans used large numbers of untrained soldiers to try to gain numerical superiority, which in practice resulted in plunging into enemy lines unprotected. These youngsters had no chance. 

In addition to the 10,000 identified graves, the remains of as many as 25,000 originally unidentified soldiers are also located under a lawn. In the meantime, 17,000 of them have been identified. There names are ingraved on basalt blocks that surround the lawn. 

The greenery, characteristic of German cemeteries, makes this an oasis of peace. At the back is a serene and, in this rainy and foggy weather, even mystical artwork depicting  grieving soldiers.

We drive a little further to the center of Poelkapelle where the monument of the French aviator and war hero Georges Guynemer is located on the roundabout. He recorded 54 aerial victories. This war was also fought in the air.

A little further on is the Poelcapelle British Cemetery, where 7,478 soldiers are buried. 6,231 of them could not be identified. A large number. 

The most famous victim is Private Joe Condon. At 14, he would be the youngest British soldier to be killed in action during World War I, although this age is strongly doubted.

A little further on we stop briefly at the Dochy Farm New British Cemetery. This is a so-called concentration cemetery. Many small cemeteries were reduced to one larger one. Some of the soldiers who rest here ended up quite far from where they were killed.

In front of us are the slopes of Passchendaele and 's Graventafel. On the latter, on October 12, 1917, the New Zealanders lost more than 2,800 soldiers in two hours, the blackest day in their military history. 

The troops who had to attack, toiled hours in the darkness through the mud to get to their starting positions. The heavily loaded soldiers were already exhausted before the fighting actually started ...

Our next stop is at one of the most impressive and famous cemeteries, Tyne Cot. 

Here lie 11,956 Commonwealth soldiers, along with four Germans. It lies on the slope of a hill that was so bloodily fought over 100 years ago. The white Cross of Sacrifice (marks a cemetery with at least 40 soldiers) stands on a large German bunker. 

At the back of the cemetery are panels with the names of the other 35,000 missing soldiers who died after August 15, 1917 and for whom there was no room left on the Menin Gate.

New Zealand, as the only member of the Commonwealth, chose to create its own Memorial to the missing. One is located here in the central opening in the back wall.

Here one becomes quiet. Left and right, front and back, wherever you look, you are surrounded by the nearly 12,000 graves. An image that remains burned into your retina. Visitors walk around quitely. The silence is only interrupted  as a voice through a loudspeaker lists the names of all soldiers burried here. I have a wooden commemorative cross with me and put it on the grave of a 19-year-old soldier. Too young to die...

We end the day on the hills of Passchendaele. The Battle of Passchendaele ranks among the top five most infamous battles in the world. The enemy troops pushed each other back and forth over the ridge for four years. Finally, on November 6, 1917, the Canadians succeeded in taking Passchendaele. A memorial stone for the Canadians has been erected in a park.

In Zonnebeke we visit the Passchendaele museum where we get a picture of the hell of Passchendaele by photos and film.

The Battle of the Ypres Salient (the ridge around Ypres) cost 325,000 Allied dead or wounded against 260,000 German soldiers. Hallucinating numbers. Without a doubt, the survivors of this hell died, partly too...