Invading Belgium

Rememberance Day

So today being Rememberance Day, and being that Im in the country home to both Ypres (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypres) and Passchendaele (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passchendaele) I got my host-dad to take me on a little road trip.

First we stopped in the village of St. Ghislain and my host-dad took this time to tell me that during WW2 the Germans used that train station ALOT, so the Allies decided to bomb it to make things harder for the Germans. So they all had their planes and whatnot, and it just happened that it was a Canadian who was to give the signal for when to drop the bombs. He...uh, accidentaly gave it at the wrong time and the entire village was distroyed. The train station is still standing to this day. Oops...

Next we drove for about an hour into *insert scary music* Flanders. The Northern half of the country which while very beautiful and rich in history, I despise because I understand NOTHING, because I, unfourtunatly, do NOT speak Dutch. We stopped at a few small Commonwealth cemetaries, then we found what we had been looking for. The St. Julian Memorial. It was truly incredible. It's a Canadian Memoral that stands about 30 meters high and the plaque reads 'This column marks the battlefield where 18,000 Canadians on the British left withstood the first German gas attaks the 22-24 April 1915 2000 fell and lie buried nearby.' We were there the same time a tour group was going through and the tour guide talked about the different gasses used, and that the French were acually the first to use gas, but it was just an irritant tear gas type thing, but it gave the Germans the idea to go on to use Cholrine gas and Mustard gas.

So, then when I had finished crying, we went to Hill 60, another Commonwealth Memoral. The Germans had a very strategic position there, but they were too strong to just attack...normaly. So the English/Commonwealth dug tunnels 7 meters deep to get closer to the German camps and then exploded bombs,but that still didnt work. So then they dug tunnels 40 meters deep from 800 meters away and exploded bombs in the German camps from there and won the position. I took pictures of the ground because its unbelievable how bumpy it is now, it just looks so out of place because that part of the country is in general flat.

Finally we went to Sanctuary Hill/Hill 62 Museum. There is a Commonwealth cemetary with close to 200 Canadian Airmen buried there and close to 2000 British Soldiers, not to mention other Commonwealth soldiers, only 600 are identified by name. The museum was amazing, it is one of the only 2 places left in the world where there are still real trenches from the war still in tact, there are alot of places that have replicas, but these were real acual trenches.They were alot narrower than I had imagined, and there were still big craters everywhere from the bombs. The whole museum was just really well done though. Loads of photos, slides, uniforms and weapons from pretty much every commonwealth army.

So, Ill send out a photo email, I know its been a while anyways. And...you all had better have taken your minute of silence at 11.00. I know I have an entirly new outlook on what the day means for me.

Oh, and the Northern part of Belgium is called Flanders, as in...

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. I
f ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

posted by Lissa @ 1:59 PM