The killing fields at Flanders are worth a visit
SOMETIMES it’s the little things that have the greatest impact. Like the tiny piece of German shrapnel that our guide retrieves from a drill in a cornfield in Flanders, Belgium, a century after “the war to end all wars” devastated this place.
It’s not unusual to find wartime munitions here. Every other day, 100-year-old shells, mortars and gas canisters are taken from the ground as part of an ‘iron harvest’ that is a constant reminder of a war that claimed the lives of millions, including 30,000-plus Irishmen.
Yet, somehow this tiny piece of rusting metal hammers home the reality of these killing fields. You can, literally, reach out and touch what has been left behind by soldiers.
That same sense of history hangs heavy in many of the commemorative sites around the Ypres Salient in northwest Belgium, an arc of defensive lines along the Western Front that saw fierce fighting between 1914 and 1918.
It’s hard not to feel an emotional charge on Suicide Road — so named because it was wide open to attack. Pillars now mark the spot where the 16th Irish Division and the 36th Ulster Division, pushed their way through the German lines to capture the town of Wytschaete (or White Sheet, as they called it) in 1917.
The irony of having Catholics and Protestants fighting shoulder to shoulder at a time of political upheaval at home is underlined in some of the 170 military cemeteries in Flanders where servicemen, from north and south, are buried side by side.
The numbers of the Irish dead, wounded and missing are chilling. They are spelt out in detail at the Island of Ireland Peace Park war memorial in nearby Messines. The exact number of Irishmen who signed up for the war is estimated at 200,000. The number of dead is over 30,000, but that figure rises to over 49,000 when the first-generation Irish of other divisions are included.
In the Peace Park, the words of Chaplain Francis Gleeson, Royal Munster Fusiliers, are set in stone: “Spent all night trying to console, aid and remove the wounded. It was ghastly to see them lying there in the cold, cheerless outhouses, on bare stretchers with no blankets to cover their freezing limbs.”
Patrick MacGill of the London Irish Rifles wrote: “I wish that I were back again in the Glens of Donegal; they’ll call me coward if I return, but a hero if I fall.” While this graphic account of the Battle of Messines comes down to us from JFB O’Sullivan, 6th Connaught Rangers: “In a matter of seconds, a hissing and shrieking pandemonium broke loose. The sky was splashed with light. Rockets, green, yellow and red, darted in all directions; and simultaneously, a cyclone of bursting shells enveloped us.”
The scars of that week-long battle in June 1917 are still visible. The evening before Commonwealth forces blew up 19 great mines on the Messines Ridge — an explosion so loud it was heard in London — General Plumer wrote: “Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we will certainly change the geography.”
He was entirely right about that. The countryside around Messines is still pockmarked with deep craters. Some of them, like the Pool of Peace, are filled with water, forming picturesque, tree-lined lakes belying their past.
And there is no escaping the past in Flanders. The landscape is dotted with cemeteries, memorials and museums. On April 25, a new visitor centre opened in Messines Town Hall, telling the story of the Battle of Messines Ridge and the Irish involvement.
A series of events to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War will start on August 4 — the day Belgium was invaded by Germany in 1914 — and continue for the next four years.
It is certainly the time to visit if you are interested in military history. Even if you are not, there is much here for the Irish visitor — the memorial of Meath poet Francis Ledwidge at Boezinge; the grave of William Redmond (brother of John) at Loker in West Flanders; the Irish cross to commemorate the Munster soldiers who fell near Ypres (or Wipers to English-speakers).
There are lots of excellent museums too. If you had to choose, here are our don’t-miss top three: the Yser Tower Museum in Diksmuide, a 22-floor, cross-shaped building with a breath-stopping view of the frontline; the interactive In Flanders Fields Museums in Ypres, and the wonderfully evocative Memorial Museum in Passchendaele 1917 where you can lift up a soldier’s regular-issue pack weighing 30kg (4 stone 10 pounds).
The more fervent military enthusiast might want to book accommodation in Ypres, but Ghent also works very well as a base for battlefield tours. While it doesn’t feel entirely appropriate to suggest frivolity during such a sombre tour of duty, it is worth making a detour to Ghent to see this fairytale city with its exuberant collection of well-preserved medieval buildings.
For a complete contrast, try the nibbling tour (www.vizit.be) and sample local cured hams, Belgian fries and the region’s world-famous chocolates. To wash it all down, there are any number of local beers (the Trappistes Rochefort is one of the best and the Gruut brewery has a wonderful selection of beers without hops).
One of the best ways to see the city is by bike, although the cobbled streets do make it seem as if you are sitting on a pneumatic drill at times. Don’t miss the Opera House with its 95m-long ballroom, the Ghent Alterpiece by the van Eyck brothers’ (the most stolen painting of all time) at St Bavo Cathedral and the beguinages, the secluded compounds of 13th-century buildings that gave refuge to women while their husbands were away on the Crusades. They are now included on the Unesco list of World Heritage Sites.
If you have time, take a boat trip on the canal. The facades of the buildings with their zigzagging roofs look stunning from the water and our guide from De Bootjes van Gent boat tours managed to sum up 1,000 years of architecture, history and legend in a highly entertaining, wry commentary.
But it’s back to the Menin Gate in Ypres for sundown where, on average, 1,000 people have gathered daily since 1928 for the Last Post ceremony to honour the dead and the remains of the countless fallen who are still out there in Flanders Fields.
The hairs on the nape of my neck stand to attention when a line from Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poem ‘For the Fallen’ is recited: “At the going down of the sun, we will remember them.”
How could we ever forget?
Aer Lingus flies daily between Dublin and Brussels and twice weekly from Cork, Monday and Fridays. Fares start from €55.99 one-way, including taxes and charges, from April 1 to May 31.
The website www.visitflanders.co.uk is a font of useful information about Flanders and www.flandersfields1418.com if you are particularly interested in the Great War.
A number of Irish tour operators offer tailor-made packages to Ypres and the Salient. All include Aer Lingus flights and ground arrangements and transfers. Alternatively, passengers can take a train to Ieper (Ypres) from Brussels by booking on www.b-rail.be.
For information on the new visitor centre in Messines, email info@mesen.be. To book a specialised battlefield tour contact Simon Louagie (simon.louagie@peacevillage.be)
The Travel Department has a number of packages to cater for gardening enthusiasts this summer, amongst them two tours led by Dermot O’Neill. One is a three-night package on June 8 to France, and another on May 10 for five nights to Tuscany, priced from €799. www.traveldepartment.ie
September packages to Orlando are now available from Sunway with prices starting from €560. People who pay extra (from €742) can be accommodated in a three bed superior home with pool and one week’s car hire. See www.sunway.ie or phone 01-2886828.
Crystal Summer announced €60 off per booking on holidays departing in 2014. The company is marketing summer breaks in Austria and Italy, with several options in the Lake Garda region. Call 01-6733839 or visit www.crystalsummer.ie.
Contiki has Greek packages that takes in a couple of islands and Athens. The 13-day trip takes in Athens at the start and finish with island hopping between Mykonos and Santorini and Ios in between. One departure date is May 10 and it’s priced from €1,476. Call 01-7753838 or see www.contiki.com.
Flight prices from Ireland to Australia fluctuate from month to month, but value can be found. Abbey Travel is quoting fares to Perth from €745. Abbey says that about a third of the Irish heading down under choose Perth. Call Abbey Travel on 01-8047188 or visit www.australia.ie
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