Passchendaele

After visiting the Arras museum and touring the tunnels mainly constructed by New Zealanders our pilgrimage to the battlefields took us north today to the fields of Flanders.

First to Fromelles where we saw the relatively small cemetery holding the graves of 250 Australian soldiers more recently discovered and mostly identified after being virtually forgotten for nearly 90 years.

Then on to Passchendaele and the impressive Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial where 12,000 Commonwealth and 4 German soldiers are buried.
8,300 of these have never been identified and rest under tombstones simply marked "Known Unto God".
In addition the names of 35,000 men missing in action in the Flanders area are recorded on the walls of the memorial. These were to supplement those recorded on the Menin Gate which had room for only 65,000.
Of the 250,000 servicemen commemorated in Belgium, 100,000 have no known grave.

It is overwhelming to realise the extent of the sacrifice when you see the size and number of theses cemeteries and memorials which are dotted all over the countryside.

We were in Ypres to see the nightly remembrance ceremony at the Menin Gate at 8pm.
Once again it was moving to see the crowd of several hundred people solemnly paying respect at the brief service.
Totally devastated in the war, Ypres is again a beautiful city.

It only took a bit over an hour to drive back to Arras.
Tomorrow we move on to Normandy and WW2.