In the south-western corner of West Flanders, in the region known as the Westhoek, lies a landscape forever marked by the First World War. Around the town of Ypres one of the bloodiest fronts of the entire war raged between 1914 and 1918. Today visitors come from all over the world to these fields — not for spectacle, but to pause, to remember and to understand what happened here.
Ypres on the front line
Ypres (Ieper in Dutch) lay in what was called the Ypres Salient, a bulge in the front line that the Allies defended at the cost of enormous losses. Three major battles were fought here. During the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, the German army used poison gas — chlorine — on a large scale for the first time against the lines near Langemark, a turning point in the history of warfare.
The Third Battle of Ypres in 1917, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, became notorious for the mud, the rain and the unimaginable number of casualties for just a few kilometres of ground gained. The name Passchendaele has since become synonymous with the futility of trench warfare.
The Menin Gate and the Last Post
After the war, the completely destroyed Ypres was rebuilt stone by stone according to its old medieval design. On the eastern side of the town rose the Menin Gate, a monumental triumphal arch bearing the names of more than 54,000 missing Commonwealth soldiers who have no known grave.
Every evening at 8 p.m. the traffic beneath the gate is halted and the Last Post sounds, played by buglers of the local fire brigade. This ceremony has taken place without interruption since 1928 — broken only during the German occupation in the Second World War — and is one of the most moving tributes in the world. Anyone visiting Ypres should not miss this moment.
In Flanders Fields
The poppy became the universal symbol of remembrance thanks to a poem. In May 1915 the Canadian army physician John McCrae, after the death of a friend, wrote the poem In Flanders Fields, which opens with the image of poppies blowing between the crosses. The flower, which springs up on disturbed earth, grew in profusion on the devastated battlefields and thus became the sign of the fallen.
In the beautifully restored Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle) on the Grote Markt now stands the In Flanders Fields Museum. It tells the story of the war in a personal, understated way, through the testimonies of soldiers and civilians, and helps the visitor grasp the human dimension of the conflict.
The cemeteries
Around Ypres lie more than a hundred military cemeteries, each with its own atmosphere and silence.
- Tyne Cot Cemetery near Passchendaele is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world, with nearly 12,000 graves and the names of a further 35,000 missing on the memorial wall
- The German war cemetery at Langemark has an altogether different, sombre atmosphere, with flat stones and dark oaks; tens of thousands of German soldiers rest here, many in a mass grave
- Numerous smaller cemeteries, tucked away among the fields, show how all-pervasive the loss was
Visiting in practice
A visit to Flanders Fields requires time and attention. Ypres is easily reached by train and makes the ideal base. Allow at least a full day: the museum in the morning, the cemeteries in the afternoon and the Last Post at 8 p.m.
- Visit the In Flanders Fields Museum and climb the belfry for the overview
- Rent a bicycle or take a guided tour to Tyne Cot and Langemark
- Be on time for the Last Post and keep silence during the ceremony
- Dress appropriately and respect the calm of the cemeteries
Flanders Fields is not an ordinary tourist destination, but a place of reflection. Those who come here leave with a deeper understanding of the price of peace — and with the image of the poppies that still bloom among the fields.