Nieuwpoort

The King Albert I Memorial in Nieuwpoort. Albert I (1875-1934) was king of Belgium during World War I. This monument, erected in 1938 on the right bank of the Yser river, near the waterworks that saved Belgium from complete occupation in the war, is as much a commemoration of the fallen as it is of the king who led his country through these difficult years. By the time the memorial was inaugurated Albert had been dead for four years and the world was gearing up for another world war. The monument was designed by Julien de Ridder, the equestrian statue by Karel Aubroeck.

Yser

The river Yser came to symbolise the Belgian effort to halt and eventually triumph over the German invader. In October 1914 the seemingly unstoppable German advance was halted here and the Yser became the frontier of a tiny patch of Belgium that remained unoccupied for the remainder of the war.

Belgian monument in Tervate

This monument near the Curve of Tervate on the left bank of the Yser recalls the heroic, but eventually futile, counterattack by the 2nd Batallion of the Belgian 1st Grenadiers on 22 October 1914, in an attempt to throw the German army back across the river. The German invaders continued to cross the river in the following days, pushing the Belgian army further back. The German advance would eventually be halted by the inundation of the Yser plain.

Dixmude - Trenches of Death

The only remaining part of the Belgian trench system, dug in the dike on the left bank of the Yser, just north of Dixmude. The Belgians held this position from 1915 until the end of the war, often only a few yards away from the Germans. This memorial site was refurbished in 2014.

Carrefour des roses (Boezinge)

Breton War Memorial. This Breton calvary is part of a memorial commemorating the victims of the French 87th Territorial Division and the French 45th Infantry Division who fell during the first German poison gas attack on 22 April 1915. Many of the Territorials were from Brittany, the 45th consisted of Morrocan and Algerian servicemen.

Langemark-Poelkapelle

German Military Cemetery. One of four remaining German military cemeteries in West-Flanders, the "Studentenfriedhof" is now the final resting place for some 44,000 German servicemen. While already started in 1914, the cemetery was expanded with burials from abandoned smaller cemeteries until the 1950s. Some 25,000 remain unidentified and are laid to rest in a "Kameradengrab".

Langemark-Poelkapelle

German Military Cemetery. The nickname "Studentenfriedhof" refers to the many students who according to the contemporary army propaganda heroically broke through the lines in the attack on Langemark on 21 October 1914. In effect, students only formed a third of the attacking units, but they were no less inexperienced, the attack failed and they were slaughtered. A stylized group of four soldiers coming to mourn the dead was carved by Emil Krieger.

Langemark-Poelkapelle

German Military Cemetery.

Sint-Juliaan (Langemark-Poelkapelle)

St. Julien Canadian Memorial. This monument called "The Brooding Soldier" commemorates the action of the Canadian Corps in the 2nd Battle of Ypres (22 April-25 May 1915). The German attackers, aiming to obliterate the Ypres Salient, introduced poison gas on April 22. For two days the Canadians held firm, in spite of heavy losses, until reinforcements arrived. Some 2,000 Canadians were killed.

Sint-Juliaan (Langemark-Poelkapelle)

St. Julien Canadian Memorial. The designer of the monument was Canadian architect Frederick Chapman Clemesha, who himself had been wounded while serving with the Canadian Corps. The 11 meters high "Brooding Soldier" was unveiled on 8 July 1923.

Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial (Passendale)

With 11,961 burials Tyne Cot is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world in terms of burials. 8,373 are unidentified. The Memorial commemorates nearly 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom and New Zealand who died in the Ypres Salient after 16 August 1917 and whose graves are not known. Tyne Cot marks the farthest point in Belgium reached by Commonwealth forces in the Third Battle of Ypres (1917). It's located near the village of Passendale (or "Passchendaele" and "Passiondale") which came to summarize all the carnage and suffering of the Western Front, just like Verdun and The Somme. Tyne Cot is built on a slope overlooking the landscape towards Ypres. It helps to understand the strategic advantage of these ridges. The Germans reinforced them with bunkers. It took the Commonwealth Forces 4 months and 250,000 casualties to gain five miles. The scheduled breakthrough was not achieved. The cross of sacrifice in the cemetery was erected on a German pillbox.

Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial (Passendale)

The Tyne Cot Memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by F. V. Blundstone.

Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial (Passendale)

Tyne Cot is built on a slope overlooking the landscape towards Ypres - the towers can be seen in the centre. It helps to understand the strategic advantage of these ridges. The Germans reinforced them with bunkers. It took the Commonwealth Forces 4 months and 250,000 casualties to gain five miles. The scheduled breakthrough was not achieved. The cross of sacrifice in the cemetery was erected on a German pillbox.

Polygon Wood (Zonnebeke)

A New Zealand bunker in Polygon Wood, built December 1917 or January 1918. Polygon Wood, south of Zonnebeke, was the scene of much heavy fighting throughout the war. Lovely woodland areas are hard to visualize within the war context. Bunkers like these were not built in shaded lanes, but in a lunar mud-scape of shell craters. All trees and vegetation had been obliterated and were rebuilt after the war.

Polygon Wood (Zonnebeke)

A German bunker in Polygon Wood, meant to be built for the ages. It was nicknamed Scott Post, following its capture by an Australian unit on 26 September 1917. After the war the bunker was used to detonate abandoned ammunition and survived it without much damage. As often, it forms now a welcome roosting site for bats.

Buttes New British Cemetery and New Zealand Memorial (Zonnebeke)

2,108 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried or commemorated in Buttes New British Cemetery. 1,677 of the graves are unidentified. This concentration cemetery, designed by Charles Holden after the war, is located on the edge of Polygon Wood. The memorial commemorates 378 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the Polygon Wood sector between September 1917 and May 1918, and who have no known grave.

Buttes New British Cemetery (Zonnebeke)

Located within Buttes New British Cemetery is the 5th Australian Division Memorial.

Polygon Wood Cemetery (Zonnebeke)

This small, irregular cemetery on the edge of Polygon Wood is a battlefield burial ground made between August 1917 and April 1918, and used again in December 1918. It is the final resting place for 107 Commonwealth servicemen (60 from New Zealand), 19 of them unidentified.

In Flanders Fields...