Page 136 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Brussels Bruges Ghent & Antwerp

134  BEY OND BRUSSELS

e A Tour of World War I Battlefields
Diksmuide
In 1914, the invading German army forced the Belgians to retreat
to the far northeast, behind the River IJzer. To impede further
German advance, the Belgians opened the sluicegates of the
river and flooded the landscape, which formed an effective
obstacle as far south as Diksmuide. South of here, the Germans
confronted the Allies along a ridge to the east of Ypres called Woumen
the Ypres Salient. Between 1915 and 1917, this was the front Ijzer
line, where the gruelling stalemate of trench warfare cost more
than 500,000 lives. Today, the area around the Salient is a Blankaart
beguilingly pretty landscape dotted with monuments, Natuurreservaat
de Blankaart
museums and numerous cemeteries.

1 Diksmuide and Merkem
Dodengang
The Belgians dug in
along the canal of
Diksmuide. Some of
their trenches have
been preserved at Bikschote
Dodengang.
BOEZINGE STR
2 John McCrae Site
Bunkers, dressing LANGEMARKSWEG
stations and the Essex
Farm Cemetery recall Boezing
where Canadian medic Elverdinge
John McCrae served, Ijzer
and wrote his poem
“In Flanders Fields”. The
poem established the
poppy as the symbol
of the war dead.

3 Langemark This 4 Guynemer Monument Ypres
haunting German military A sculpture of a stork
cemetery has the flat at Poelkapelle celebrates the
tombstones of some pioneer of military aviation Zillebeekse
44,000 soldiers laid out Georges Guynemer, who was lost, Vijver
beneath a cloak of trees. presumed dead, near here in 1917.
Dikkebus VAARTSTRAAT
Dikkebusse Voormezele
Vijver
5 Canadian Forces
Memorial At St-Juliaan,
the large bust of The HEUVELLAND
Brooding Soldier
commemorates the
2,000 soldiers who died Kemmel
after the first ever gas
attack in 1915.
6 Tyne Cot Cemetery The largest
Commonwealth cemetery in the world
contains nearly 12,000 graves. The walls Wulvergem
bear the names of 35,000 missing soldiers. Mesen

134-135_EW_Brussels.indd 134 10/01/17 11:04 am