Cost;  £75.00 per person. (£30 deposit each)

Special Offer for groups of 4 or more: £70 per person.
(£30 deposit each)    

Includes Coach, Crossing, Booklet with a
Brief History and Maps, Museum Entrance, Tour Guide and
Company Insurance. A EHIC is advisable.

To Book Call 01883 744342            Email: info@spiritofhistory.co.uk

 

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 One Day Tour to the Ypres Salient – Belgium

 Additional Information

• There is much to see and this itinerary is designed for those who have never been before or only a few times.
• For those who want specific itineraries, they can be arranged as weekend trips when there are 10 or more people. 
• We can put you in touch with others who might want to join in with your itinerary. info@spiritofhistory.co.uk

Some of the type of questions we aim to answer with you.               .

• Why did Ypres have to be defended at all costs?
• How difficult is it defending a salient?
• Why did the tunnellers spend nearly 2 years excavating the Messines Ridge near Ypres?
• How successful were the battles in this area?

Further information on the sites to be visited.

BRANDHOEK NEW MILITARY CEMETERY
During the First World War, Brandhoek was within the area comparatively safe from shell fire. Field ambulances were posted there. Until July 1917 burials had been made, but the arrival of Casualty Clearing Stations in preparation for the new Allied offensive launched that month made it necessary to open the New Military Cemetery, followed in August by the New Military Cemetery No 3. Brandhoek New Military Cemetery contains 530 Commonwealth burials and 28 German war graves. The burials are of July and August 1917 and among them is the grave of Captain Noel Chavasse, VC and Bar, MC, one of only three men who have won the Victoria Cross twice.
 
HILL 62 MUSEUM

This small museum is privately owned, by the grandson of the farmer whose land was destroyed. It is in a pretty raw state and doesn’t have the pristine museum look. The British army knew this area as Sanctuary Wood and had trenches here which have been preserved. The museum also contains equipment and ammunition found in the area after the war. The most unique exhibits are the collection of 3D photos in viewing boxes, which get close to showing us grim things were.

 

 

 

 

PASSCHENDAELE  “I died in Hell.  (they called it Passchendaele);”…. Siegfried Sassoon
Passchendaele, a tiny village, to the NE of Ypres, was the scene of the Third Battle Ypres. It was Haig’s attempt to break through in July 1917, after the disasters at Verdun for the French, the Somme for the British and French in both 1916 and the weakness of the Russians, who had already had one revolution in March 1917, deposing the Tsar. It was a very bloody affair, as Tyne Cot Cemetery bears witness.

            Memorial Wall. Tyne Cot Cemetery. Passchendaele

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tyne Cot, near Passchendaele, is the largest cemetery for Empire forces anywhere in the world with 11,908 graves. Its memorial wall is engraved with 34,888 names of the missing, including a few Germans! This area was captured by the Australians in October 1917, only to lose it again in March 1918.

         Graves at Tyne Cot, with Ypres in the distance.

 

   LANGEMARCK GERMAN CEMETERY

This is one of the few German WW1 cemeteries. They all hold high numbers of fallen. In Langemarck there are 44,060, with around 25,000 in the central mass grave. Their names are shown on 86 bronze panels around the burial pit. As you pass through the main gate, you see four mournful figures in the distance, which symbolise the sadness of those who have lost family members. It feels very haunting.   

The Flat Black Grave Stones.

 
YPRES AND THE MENIN GATE
Ypres was a key centre of the Medieval Cloth Industry. The Cloth Hall is no longer needed for trading cloth and today houses the In Flanders Fields Museum, which remembers the First World War. The town centre has been rebuilt in the original style and today Ypres is a ‘city of peace’. Behind the Cathedral is St George’s Memorial Church which commemorates the soldiers who died in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

The Menin Gate commemorates all British and Commonwealth soldiers who fell before August 1917 and who have no known grave. All who died afterwards are commemorated elsewhere, along with the New Zealanders and Newfoundlanders. Opened in 1927, the Gate has the names of 54,896 soldiers engraved on its panels.
Every evening since 1928, (except during much of WW2) the Last Post has been sounded here and never fails to draw a crowd.

Other Places of Great Interest in the Ypres Area;

 

 

 

 

       HILL 60

Hill 60 was made from rubble removed building a railway cutting. It is more or less the only ‘high’ ground in the area, therefore of strategic importance. There was so much tunnelling and mining here, that after the war the land was left long enough to be bought by a benefactor. As Hill 60 had been captured and recaptured many times with vicious fighting, the bodies of many soldiers from both sides lie beneath the soil still. It is therefore in reality a mass grave.

POLYGON WOOD
The scene of early fighting in 1914, when it was the site of bloody attacks from both sides. The Germans eventually gained control by May 1915, but it was retaken in September 1917 by the Australians who captured the Butte, where today their memorial stands. It was bombarded with gas shells later that year, which as the weather warmed continued to give off their poisonous fumes causing casualties. Many New Zealanders also fought and fell in this sector and they have a memorial to the missing opposite the butte at the other side of the Buttes New British Cemetery.

The Memorial to the Australian 5th Division

  The New Zealand Memorial to their Missing viewed from the Butte.

THE MESSINES RIDGE
If you have read Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, you would know how hairy the whole process was of tunnelling was. How fraught with danger. 21 mines were laid under the German trenches on this ridge which extends south of Ypres. Holding this higher ground gave them a big advantage as they could look down at the comings and goings of the salient. To get them off their perch an elaborate plan which involved professional miners excavating from far back so they could not be seen. The Germans counter-mined to try and find them. The mines were exploded on June 7th 1917. 19 of them were exploded. The whole operation was a success, as they bombarded first, stopped, waited, let the Germans take up their positions and then blew the mines. The southern end of the salient was secured in anticipation of the coming Big Push.
The other two mines were not needed, but one blew in 1955, during a thunder storm, killing a cow. The other is still down there!

Craters in the Messines Ridge Area today.

Just south of the village of Messines, looking down from the high ground is the Irish Peace Park, opened in the early 1998, by the Queen, the Irish President and King Albert II of Belgium. The memorial was sited here as the June 1917 Battle of Messines was fought by Catholics and Protestants together.

   The Irish Peace Tower

WHY NOT COME AND JOIN OUR STUDY GROUP?

If you fancy knowing more about the First World War, why not join in with one of our study weekends in the South East of England, near Maidstone, where you will not only learn about the war in an enjoyable small group environment, but relax using the spa facilities and pool as well!

Cost of the weekend is £240 per person sharing.
See full itineraries for details or phone 01883 744342 .
Single supplements available on request.