Europe 2019 : Day 26 North to Ypres

Tuesday 3rd September

Prior to this trip, and after we had decided to visit some World War I memorials, we’d undertaken a bit of research to see what sort of tours were available. We found some that were run by Australians but they would have entailed a very long day: 6:30am hotel exit from Paris for a return at close to midnight the same day. We just couldn’t face it. Plus they were expensive and probably wouldn’t have been as specific to our requirements as we would have liked. So we decided early on to do it on our own, in car, at our own pace. I’m glad we did. Though, of course, things don’t always run smoothly.

After breakfast we drove around Villers-Bretonneux to get a feel for the place. We’d noticed a number of Australian references in the town the night before and a quiet drive in the morning identified quite a number of others. Some of the shop and pub names were specific and there were Australian flags flying outside the town war memorial and town hall.

Town sign

Town war memorial

We dropped back into the Sir John Monash Centre again as Robyn wanted to check out the gift shop – nothing she was looking for – and to take a few photos. And then moved on.

The main aim of the day was to visit Fromelles where Robyn’s great-uncle had been killed, and for me to check out the memorial at Le Hamel where my mother’s father had been severely injured.

Le Hamel was first. This was the major battle of Monash’s career (4 July 1918), one that he won in around 90 minutes using a combination of all his armed forces: infantry, artillery, tanks and aircraft. Monash’s meticulous planning ensured the Allies suffered only minimal casualties, with one of the wounded being my grandfather. His new tactics became the norm for the Allies for the rest of the war, even though Monash himself was despised by the other Allied generals.

Being so close to Villers-Bretonneux the memorial at Le Hamel isn’t that big. The interesting thing was standing on the main rise on the site, looking around the countryside and realising that just over 100 years before the whole scene would have been one of total devastation. None of what you can see now was there at the end of 1918.

From there it was 90 minute drive north to Fromelles where we hoped to visit the new museum that had been built in the town by the Australian Government. Unfortunately when we got there about lunchtime we found that it was shut on Tuesdays. So not the best planning after all. We stopped for lunch outside the museum at a small bench and table and discussed out next move. There didn’t seem a lot of point staying in that particular area as we had the chance to pass through it again the next day as we returned back into France from Ypres, where we were staying the night. Maybe the guided tour would have known about the closure but then we might well have been forced to miss the museum completely if we’d gone with them. In any event we had some level of flexibility and intended to make the most of it.

Perry cuts

We had a room booked in a B&B in Ypres in Belgium for the night and given we’d missed out on Fromelles we decided to make a couple of more stops along the way north.

The Plugstreet 14-18 Experience is a newish museum in Ploegsteert in Belgium – the Allies in the first World War tended to Anglicise (or more accurately bastardise) the place-names. An interesting little place with details on the war in Wallonia.

Memorial at Plugstreet

That helped to pass a bit of time. As did a visit to nearby Saint-Yves, site of a Christmas truce between Allied and German troops over Christmas 1914. I’m not sure the current locations of the trenches shows the true gap as I wouldn’t have had any trouble tossing a grenade from one to another, which is what I would consider to be a better indication of the separation distance.

Ypres B&B (middle)

Ypres was attained and a good park found in the street outside the B&B. Robyn had booked a place that was very close to the Cathedral and the Menin Gate which we wanted to visit. So finding a park, and being able to utilise the B&B’s visitor’s parking pass for the night was an added bonus.

Dinner was at a small restaurant in the town square. Robyn was stumped by a huge cauldron of mussels which she needed help to finish. I think she might have struggled after getting stuck into my frites.

Robyn eats

Each evening at 8pm in Ypres, a ceremony is held at the Menin Gate to honour those that passed through the arch on their way to the Western Front. We had been warned to get there early and by 7:30 the best spots had already been taken. I was okay as I could see over most of the people in front of me and it was only later that Rob told me that she watched most of the ceremony on the phone screen of the bloke in front of her. There were a lot of phones being used to record it.

Menin Gate, waiting for the ceremony

Gate post-ceremony

Last Post was played, a minute’s silence observed, wreaths were laid by about 5 or 6 groups of people, and then Reveille was played as a call to the living. It was a very moving ceremony.

Ypres main square

A Belgian beer in a nearby bar, and then an ice-cream back on the square finished off a busy, but excellent day.