On our trip to Belgium and the Netherlands last year we again visited Ypres and I took more photos of the Menin Gate.

Menin Gate from west, bathed in early evening sunlight:-

Menin Gate from Ypres ramparts:-

Menin Gate from street:-

Moat from Menin Gate:-

Relief Map of Ypres, situated right by the Menin Gate, on the west side:-

On approaching the Menin gate from the Menin Road I noticed two statues that had not been there the year before. It turned out these had originally been at the Gate but had been presented in 1936 to the Australian War Memorial in memory of the thousands of Australians who passed through the Gate during the Great War. They had been temporarily returned in April 2017 (till November 2017) to their original location.

Close up on one of the lions:-

Menin Gate Lions information board in four languages:-

The information in English:-

Wieltje Farm Cemetery is close to Ypres (Ieper,) Flanders, Belgium, just off the N313 road. The access is up a grassed path between two houses into a field growing crops. The path continues round the edge of the field until it is at a right angle to the cemetery to which it then leads.

115 Commonwealth servicemen of the Great War are buried here along with one German.

Graves and Cross of Sacrifice:-

The German grave; Unteroffizier O Hoffmeister, R Inf R, 22/9/1917. This lies off to the left of the previous photo:-

Poelcapelle is today spelled Poelkapelle. The village is a few miles north-east of Ypres (Ieper.) The British War Cemetery (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) is by the N313 road from Bruges (Brugge) to Ypres.

I’ve been to Tyne Cot but nevertheless still gasped when I entered Poelcapelle Cemetery. There are nearly 7,500 burials here, the vast majority, 6,230, of which are “Known unto God”.

View of interior from entrance:-

Graves:-

Some of the unidentified soldiers of the Great War:-

Lines of graves:-

Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of Remembrance:-

Memorial to some of those whose earlier graves were destroyed in later battles:-

As usual the graves are beautifully kept. A Soldier of the Great War, Known unto God and Private F J Patten, Hampshire Regiment, 4/10/17, aged 21:-

Two Soldiers of the Great War:-

There is one World War 2 grave at Poelcapelle. Private R E Mills, Royal Berkshire Regiment, 30/5/1940, aged 19:

Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of Remembrance:-

On our way back from Ypres to the north of The Netherlands we stopped off at the small town of Naarden.

It’s a stunning place, built as a fortress surrounded by fortifications which stick out into a canal acting as a moat giving the whole the appearance of a many pointed star – and apparently only the one road in or out crossing the moat/canal.

It has typical Dutch streets. The day we visited was a national holiday by the time we got there it was late afternoon so it wasn’t very busy.

Right by the church was this statue of the man known as the father of modern education, Jan Comenius, who is buried in Naarden:-

Here’s a flavour of the fortification earthworks and surrounding canal/moat:-

Some of the houses had an Art Deco feel, especially in the stained glass, but which may have been just Dutch:-

There was more than a hint of deco about this doorway canopy and fanlights in “rule of three”:-

I think this may have been the old gateway to the town:-

A delightful wee place, but it’s not as unique as you might think. There is another such canal/moat surrounded Dutch town. Its near the German border and called Bourtange; but we didn’t get to there.

German Great War memorabilia in Hooge Crater Museum. In my own Great War collection I have a mug similar to one shown here:-

Trench Art including inkwells in the shape of Renault tanks:-

British Great War memorabilia (above) and German (below.) Again I have some of the featured British items in my own collection:-

More trench art, Renault tank inkwells with poilus’ helmets:-

Trench art cabinet:-

More trench art:-

Mock-up of British dugout:-

If you are ever in Ypres/Ieper I would recommend a visit to Hooge Crater Museum as well as to In Flanders Fields Museum.

Zonnebeeke is in Flanders, Belgium, just west-north-west of Ypres. We passed through it on the way to Tyne Cot and Langemark War Cemeteries.

I had stopped to photgraph a distinctive building in the town (more of which later) and this War Memorial was on the same crossroads.

I could only see the date 1940 on it but Belgian soldiers from Zonnebeeke certainly died in the Great War.

The Liverpool Scottish were raised in Liverpool from Scottish stock and wore kilts. They made an attack at Hooge (Bellewaarde) in June 1915 by Railway Wood.

There is a memorial at the edge of Railway Wood.

In Railway Wood itself, near the Royal Engineers Memorial, there were several large craters.

It was quite spooky walking round the shell shattered ground, the peacefulness contrasting with what it must have been like for the soldiers of both sides, some of whom must lie underneath all this.

Pinned to a tree we found this memorial note for Private John William Ogley:-

From the Menin Road we could see just on the ridge of a hill a Commonwealth War Graves Cross of Sacrifice. A signpost pointed up a very minor road to RE Memorial Railway Wood. We had to make the last bit on foot – past several Remembrance Trees. The line had shifted up a bit from the Menin Road by 1915.

It was now such a peaceful setting with cows grazing hard by the memorial:-

Royal Engineers Memorial, Railway Wood, Ypres:-

Unless there are at least forty graves a Commonwealth War Cemetery will not have a Cross of Sacrifice. This memorial commemorates only twelve men but the graves are not individually marked, hence the cross.

Royal Engineers Memorial, Railway Wood, Ypres, from Entrance:-

Royal Engineers Memorial, Railway Wood, Inscription 1, 177th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers:-

Royal Engineers Memorial, Railway Wood, Inscription 2, six names:-

Royal Engineers Memorial, Railway Wood, Inscription 3, a further six names:-

View Towards Ypres from Royal Engineers Memorial, Railway Wood:-

Crater, Railway Wood, Ypres, Royal Engineers Memorial in background:-

Italian Field Gun beside horse ambulance in In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres:-

Machine Gun:-

Stokes Mortar:-

Trench Mortars:-

At the exit there was a list of wars since 1918 – so many I had to take three photographs.

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