Europe & Mediterranean
The beauty and greenery of the landscape, with hop and corn fields ready to harvest, make a poignant contrast to the lines of white stones. Many of the graves are of unidentified soldiers “known unto God”. The nearby town of Poperinge lay behind
the battle lines and was almost untouched by war, and this is where British forces came to rest. I look around Talbot House where soldiers of any rank came together to listen to concerts and wander around the lovely garden. In the attic is a chapel where many prayed before going into battle. After visiting the Hop Museum where the
story of local beer production is told, I move on to Tyne Cot cemetery where nearly 12,000 are buried. This was one of the key sites in the Battle of Passchendaele, the bloodiest of the war, and is so called because the German pill boxes here were thought to resemble the workers’ cottages of Tyneside in England. A disembodied voice reads a roll call of the dead, many in their teens. The Memorial Museum Passchendaele, in
the town of Zonnebeke, is also expanded. The many displays include the gas masks used to protect against the world’s first use of chemical weapons, and a reconstruction of the underground living quarters and trenches dug by the British and Germans. It gives you some impression of life on the frontline, but without the mud, the stench, the rats and the ever-present risk of death that made life hell. After two days of touring the battlefields
around Ypres I have all kinds of images, impressions and statistics running through my head. I have learned a lot and become even more of a pacifist. Most thought- provoking of all is the list of wars and conflicts that have erupted since the Great War, up to and including Syria, on display as you leave In Flanders Fields Museum. Sadly, there is room on the display for many more.
Between the lines The Great War Centenary is a major opportunity for Tourism Flanders to attract visitors from all the countries that fought on its battlefields, but especially from the UK and British Commonwealth. Australia
Many who died in the Battle of Passchendaele are buried in Tyne Cot cemetery Lea Winkeler, Great War Centenary
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
project co-ordinator for Tourism Flanders, says: “The west of Flanders already receives about 350,000 visitors a year to see the battlefields, and we are expecting about 500,000 a year from 2014 onwards. “The UK is the main market but we are
also targeting Commonwealth countries where the story of the war lives on, and next year we will have a representative to cover Australia and New Zealand. We will also promote in France and Germany but these are less important markets. “The Germans come to see their
cemeteries, but the Great War does not seem to be in the front of their minds. But the German media are beginning to pick it up and we hope German coach operators will give Flanders a try.” Joint funding of about €30 million shared
and New Zealand were heavily involved in the fighting, as were Ireland, Canada, India, South Africa and some other former British colonies. Americans joined in at the end of the war and about 50 nations were involved. A project called Between the Lines brings
together Flanders with parts of France where major battles were staged, especially the Somme.
by Tourism Flanders and the private sector has created better visitor facilities, including larger and more interactive museums in Ypres and nearby Passchendaele. More than €11 million will be spent on special events
over the four years of the centenary. Large numbers of groups and visitors are
expected, and although Ypres itself does not have many hotels, there is plenty of availability in nearby Bruges, Ghent and along the coast around Ostend. Many are expected to arrive by P&O or DFDS ferries in the nearby ferry ports of Dunkirk and Calais.
Major exhibitions
n War and Trauma, World War I to the Present n In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres, until June 29, 2014 n Armistice Remembrance, Ypres, November 11, 2014 n Battle of the Yser and Frist Battle of Ypres, Ypres, October 1, 2014 to January 4, 2015 n Old Contemptibles, Zonnebeke, August 15, 2014 to December 28, 2014 n ANZAC Day, Zonnebeke, April 25, 2015
n Tourism Flanders (EM1200) is the Premium Partner of WTM and the stand will have a Great War Centenary theme with more than 30 trade partners. Pick up your own pack of Flanders poppy seeds before departing WTM, available at the pyramid stand near the Custom House entrance at ExCeL
In Flanders Fields Museum brings war stories to life
There are 10,784 gravestones at Lijssenthoek, many of unidentified servicemen
Talbot House was a meeting place for soldiers 06.11.2013
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Hans de Regt
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