Ypres - special New Zealand post

Busy day to today with lots of travelling - started off in Lille, popped up to the Messines ridge to finish off the Ypres Salient tour and then drove across Belgium to the Ardennes. On the way I stopped off in Namur for lunch and to see the rather splendid Vauban fort overlooking the Meuse.

To finish off Ypres I am going to do a couple of posts - this one is about the New Zealanders who fought in the salient during the various battles.

First up, with a couple of random tourists in it for scale is the memorial for the NZ troops at Broodseinde, 4th Oct 1917 (so Third Ypres). The attack went in about 10mins before the Germans were planning their own attack and therefore the artillery barrage was particularly effective. The NZ troops used the bayonet to take the lines. Over 1,100 prisoners and 59 MGs were taken.

Secondly this is at Tyne Cot cemetery

 

This commemorates the 500 NZ who were never found after the Passchendaele offensive during 3rd Ypres. The conditions for this were awful - a vast sea of mud into which people just vanished.

 

 

These next two are both on the Messines Ridge. The first one is another memorial to the 840 NZ killed in the Ypres Salient with no known grave.

 

 

This is also a British cemetery - hence the name of the side walls.

 

And the second one is on the ridge itself. It is identical to the one at Graventafel. The NZ took a very strong position here protected by lots of bunkers. There was also a tremendous number of mines exploded on this section of the front. Many of the craters are now peaceful looking pools that no longer reflect the violence that created them.

 

One final point about this part of the battlefield - it is in this area that a certain Adolf Hitler served during the War. I will do a special post on this aspect of the War later today.