Our bikes came into their own again today as we made our way round some of the many monuments, tributes and battle grounds around Ypres. We started at the thoroughly impressive informative 'In Flanders Fields' museum on the first floor of the Cloth Hall. The exhibits, the recreation of the atmosphere and the story of the battles was so well done that emotion flowed freely. From the outset, the visitor was presented with a kaleidoscope of startling noises and images in a real and successful attempt to recreate the confusion and fear of battle. Time, events, shouts, blasts and colours were jumbled together to convey the scenes. Trying to make sense of this assault on the senses wasn't easy but it was a very effective introduction. There were plenty of interactive consoles to give information about aspects of the war and specific battles and individuals. Life size models of men and horses illustrated various scenarios and these had all been skilfully done in a light grey, fibrous material to represent the Flanders mud. Quite special were the readings of famous poems by, I think, Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen. There was a fine collection of labelled artefacts on display which had been culled from donations from other smaller museums, military units and the families of the soldiers. Tributes were, we were pleased to observe, paid to allied as well as enemy troops. The final exhibit was the re-creation of No Mans land and the visitor was given yet another vivid but grim experience with which to depart. An amazing visit which took nearly two hours to absorb.
We next went to the Menin Gate, a large memorial built on the site of an old Vauban gateway fron Ypres which marked the road taken by tens of thousands of British and Allied soldiers on their way to the front line. The memorial lists the names of 55,000 soldiers who were killed on the Salient before August 1917 and who had simply disappeared: 'He is not missing, he is here.' was the tribute paid at the official opening in 1927. On that day, The Last Post was sounded at the Gate for the first time; since then it has been played every single day to an audience of anyone who wishes to attend. It is amazingly well attended.
From there, we cycled to Hill 60 and its craters, blockhouse, trenches and memorial to the Queen Victoria's Rifles. This hill was lost to the Germans in 1914. Thereafter, it was the site of underground warfare as a large mine, perhaps the first British mine, was exploded underneath the enemy's trenches on 17 February 1915. Bigger and more destructive mines were detonated later before the infantry regained the hill in April 1915. There are many bodies still in the ground underneath Hill 60.
We continued on to the villages of Geluveld, Passchendaele and St Juliaan stopping whenever we came across a monument or cemetery which are, of course, frequent and moving for what they represent. We were particularly appreciative of the simple but remarkably effective Canadian memorial 'The Brooding Soldier' standing with arms reversed as if at a funeral which marked where 2000 deaths were caused by the first use of gas by the German forces. Finally, we arrived at Zonnebeke where there was yet another excellent museum all about Passchendaele. Relatively newly opened in 2004 its final and most moving exhibit was a re-creation of a complete underground trench network over two floors to illustrate not just the construction but the maze of interconnecting corridors and the living conditions, armourer at work repairing weapons and the bloody work of the military surgeon.
Later, before supper in the main square back at Ypres, we were two of at least 1000 people who paid silent tribute to the fallen as The Last Post was played at the Menin Gate. An emotionally draining day but we had only been able to scratch the surface of this battleground.
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