Brussels Stories

Our Remembrance Day weekend took us along some of the Western front lines of WW1 in northern France. Starting at the Clery-sur-Sommes and ending in Ypres, stopping along the way at museums, cemeteries and memorials around Peronne, Amiens and Arras in Artois, France and Ypres in Flanders, Belgium. Chronologically we followed the front from the declaration of war at Clery-sur-Somme museum (l'Historial de la Grande Guerre de Peronne) to Armistice at the Menin Gate with the Last Post.

Friday Nov. 11, 2005 [1 of 3]

A 2 hour drive from Brussels to Peronne brought us to l'Historial de la Grande Guerre de Peronne, whose main exhibits were displaying the standard issue equipment and uniforms of the different countries represented in the war and the art of Otto Dix.

British army items, and on the right, their descriptions.










Scottish army with South African army in the background. Note the quilt.








Belongings of nurses and doctors at the front









The old castle which the museum is in, we ate lunch in the dungeon of this.












We walked the rampart that still exists in the city. This is the moat.




















Next stop: Lochnagar Crater. The result of the July 1, 1916 British mine explosion (on purpose) containing 66,000lbs of ammonal in two charges 18 meters below the surface. The explosions was then the loudest man-made sound in history, and could be heard in London. The mine created a crater 80 meters across and 30 meters deep, with a 3 meter high lip. The Tyneside Irish and Tyneside Scottish battalions lost 6,380 officers and men that day, and was the hardest-hit British division.













Just off in the distance we could see Thiepval. A memorial to the 58 000 that died on July 1st, 1916 and 72 087 soldiers never found. Graves of the French marked with crosses and English with the headstones.






Thiepval.











The crosses on the left are French graves, and the headstones on the right are British graves.








Each one of these legs to the monument had names, for a total of about 72 000.











The next monument was Beaumont Hamel, the Canadian Park dedicated to the role of the Newfoundland soldiers. The park has preserved the trench system they built for their main battle. Though the trees are new, as is the wooden duck walk in the trenches,, it gave a sense of how small the space was and how close they were to the enemy. The operators and tour guides of the park are Canadians as it is Canadian land donated by the French originally to the colony of Newfoundland.

Fortunately for us the area had grown over with grass and trees, and the Government of Canada had laid down a walkway in the trenches so we could keep our shoes clean. This was very different back in the war but it gave us a better feel for what it would have been like.








The moose monument at Beaumont Hamel in the background, the symbol of Newfoundland.










We then arrived in Amiens for dinner, a night on the town and our hotel. We remained in Amiens for the following day......

Saturday Nov. 12, 2005 [part 2 of 3]

Amiens was a city almost completely destroyed by WW1, except for the Cathedral Notre Dame which was saved by orders from high in German command. Built in the 13th century, it is twice as big as the Paris cathedral of the same name and is listed in the UNESCO Heritage. It also contain the head of St. John the Baptist, stolen from the body of the statue in Constantinople during the 4th crusade by Wallon de Starton. Science has not been able to deny this claim as it is a skull of the right age person from the right era. At night the cathedral is lit up to appear as it did when it was first built because they used to paint all the statues.

We had the best tour guide for a very indepth tour of this church













Worshipping St. John the Baptists head.








We visited the St. Acheul archaeological site, which had this viewing tower to see the whole area and drove by Jules Vernes house. Something stuck to the lense in this photo that was wearing a red jacket.








The final planned part of the day was the Picardie museum. A large museum including works of El Greco, Rodin, Picasso, etc. and a whole floor dedicated to the archaeological history of the area.

Then it was off to the Amiens on the Somme for dinner.