Walking with the Dead

The Great War lasted four years, yet it killed over twenty million people, and wounded countless more. A year ago I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to the city of Ypres (Often spelt Ieper), and learn a great deal more about those who fell in what was one of the bloodiest conflicts in all time. I took most of these pictures myself, and the full sized versions can be seen by clicking the thumbnails. I dedicate this article to the memory of my Great Grandfather Blundle, while he survived the Great War; he experienced things no human should ever have to endure. May he rest in peace.

Ypres During the War

In an act of bravery befitting heroes, the Dutch army engineers had managed to slow the German advance by destroying some of the levees that kept the area country from being reclaimed by the sea. The result was the German forces had only one way to get into France: Through Ieper. The defenders grimly dug their trenches and prepared their weapons. They would not allow the Germans to pass without a fight.

And fight they did. Over the next four years, the defenders fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the Great war, the infamous battleground of Flanders. Over the course of the war, Ypres changed hands three times.

It was first captured by the Allies in 1914 to prevent the German war machine marching across France. In 1915, the Germans mounted their counter attack with a terrifying new weapon. Although they had used it on the eastern front before, the Germans now turned their latest weapon on Ypres defenders- Chlorine Gas. Unprepared for the new weapon, the Allies where driven out, and forced to entrench themselves around the city again. The third battle of Ypres commenced in 1917, and was the bloodiest yet. Pushing into the city, the Allies paid a cost that was on the wrong side of half a million lives- for only few miles of terrain.

The worst part of all this? By now, Ypres itself had been all but destroyed by each side’s attempt to destroy the other with heavy artillery. Soldiers fought and died over a piece of rubble. A strategically important piece of rubble, but rubble nevertheless.

Ypres Today

My journey began with the town of Ypres itself. Currently a thriving area of around thirty thousand people, it would be hard to picture Ypres as anything other than what it is today: a pleasant market town, filled with friendly people, and a hotspot for tourists. The marks of the war remain of course, the Menin gate (discussed later), a war museum, and a number of other landmarks that point to a violent past. Perhaps the most amazing thing though, is the fact that the city was there for me to wonder through at all. In 1919, the city was nothing but a smoking ruin, with practically no buildings standing.