You might find me on the other side ... that's likeitis
You might find me on the other side ... that's likeitis
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"IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields."
John McCrae (1872 - 1918)
IN FLANDERS FIELD MUSEUM is located on the upper floor of the Cloth Hall in the Grote markt, Eiper, or YPRES. The museum opened in 1998, replacing the dated WWI museum that had previously occupied the building. THE CLOTH HALL itself is a magnificent medieval edifice, but what is all the more remarkable is that it was only finally completed in 1962. It's actually a replica of the original town hall that, along with the rest of Ypres, was vapourized during the titanic struggle that took place here from 1914-18.
THE BATTLEFIELDS around Ypres are some of the most notorious anywhere in the world. The city was the centre of a salient (an area bulging into enemy territory which faces the opposing forces on three sides). The Germans and the Allies (mainly British and Commonwealth troops) fought a war of attrition here for four long, bloody years without a decisive victory ever taking place. New weapons such as poisonous gas, massive land mines and flame throwers helped to make it even more terrible. Add to that the fact that the water-table is barely below ground-level, meaning that for long periods, the battlefield was no more than a quagmire where men literally drowned in mud, and I think we can safely assume that to call it 'HELL ON EARTH' is no wild exaggeration.
Apart from the day-to-day slaughter, there were three major battles fought around the Ypres salient during WWI. In 1914, the first battle was the result of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) standing firm to stem the progress of the German advance. The second, in 1915, was notable for the first appearance of poison gas and its use by the Germans. It is, however, the long-planned
BIG PUSH' of July 31, 1917 that is the most infamous. With a combination of plans that were far too ambitious, over-zealousness by staff, atrocious weather, and Haig's stubborn bloody-mindedness to 'press on' regardless of the human cost, this enterprise was probably doomed before it began. When the offensive was called off, total casualties for both sides were around 250,000. This battle above all others - where men perished by drowning in green, slimy mud - is perhaps the epitomical image of THE GREAT WAR. One of the main early objectives, which was taken by Canadian forces on Nov 6, lent it's name to the 3rd battle of Ypres - the village of PASSCHENDALE.
TOTAL CASUATIES in the Ypres Salient amounted to almost 2 million - 550,000 killed and 1.2 million wounded. There are over 140,000 British graves in the immediate area - of which 47,700 are unnamed. With some 102,000 names of the missing inscribed on various monuments, this means that over 54,000 British & Commonwealth troops disappeared forever - most shredded, pulped and atomized - others simply swallowed by the earth and never given up.
But enough of this light-hearted scene-setting, let's have a look round the museum.
A walk through the courtyard of the Cloth Hall brought us to the staircase (there's an elevator for disabled visitors) and as we climbed I couldn't help but marvel at the ancient craftsmanship - then I reminded myself that this was all modern. The re-building of the Cloth hall is very authentic and it really does look like it has stood here for 800 years.
At the top of the stairs is the ticket booth where you are given a swipe card. These cards have details about real people who were connected with the city during those dark days. There are 150 different personalities. At strategic points around the museum you can swipe the cards and details about this person's life are displayed on a screen. It helps form a personal affinity with the people and the events of that time. We stepped into the museum proper and........BOOM!
The walls are covered with the ragged remnants of tattered wallpaper with patches of bare brick and old cracked pictures on the wall - it feels like you've stepped into the bomb-ravaged ruins of a town under siege, with convincing sound effects to match.
This museum is by no means a stuffy and sterile collection of artifacts. It's not about the commanders and battle strategies (what strategies?). It's concerned more with the ordinary people who suffered this war - soldiers, civilians, medical staff and children.
Computers and videos, interactive models, clever lighting techniques and sound effects - crashing artillery, the rat-ta-tat of machine guns, songs, shouts and screams - all are employed to great effect. There are films continually playing and images are projected onto walls.
One of the most poignant moments, I think, is in the area concerned with poison gas. There are large perspex columns with plumes of smoke bubbling and billowing upwards and all the time changing colour from putrid pink to bilious blue to ghostly green. Images are projected onto walls depicting gas attacks and there are various gas-masks adorning the walls. As if that's not enough, you're subjected to a faint, but continuous background noise of laboured breathing, coughing and spluttering. Then, at short intervals, a voice narrates the following poem:
"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And floundering like a man in fire or lime.- Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI."
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
On through the replicated trench system and into a sealed room where, somehow or other, they've managed to simulate a battlefield in a confined space. You enter the room in almost total darkness then .... BOOM! Explosions rent the air. It seems as though the breath is being sucked out of your lungs in the fetid, smoky atmosphere, then...FLASH! The world erupts in a cacophony of stroboscopic, bright white lights, starkly illuminating what at first you thought was a normal floor, but is in fact a glass panel covering over all the debris you could ever imagine would litter such a scene of DEVASTATION and CARNAGE. Again there are films played on the walls. Images of men charging towards their destruction....men falling....explosions....mud and dirt erupting - spewing death everywhere. Then you hear the pathetic cries of the wounded. Many of them no more than boys who, in their dying agony call out for their "MUMMY".
There are many other points of interest and exhibits: Ypres before the war, how the war began, paintings by Paul Nash, the plight of the 7.5 million POW's, newspapers of the time, the evacuation of refugees, life behind the front line, the 1914 Christmas truce, and much, much more. There's quite a substantial display of the medical services, the care administered and the medical advances made.
The last area deals with fact and figures - casualties etc, and examines who, if anyone, exactly won the war. This is where you'll find an electronic counter which tallies the wars that have occurred around the world since the end of THE WAR TO END ALL WAR. I can't remember the exact figure when I was there but it was well over 100 - and rising.....
This leads to the staircase down into the tourist office - which incidentally has some pretty good displays as well, not to mention an excellent book shop.
But wait, there's one other thing.
Descending the stairs, there are glass cabinets stuffed haphazardly with hundreds of old sepia photographs --- Groups of Tommies posing with their mates, proud Highlanders in full regalia, Anzacs grinning from under a slouch hat, big strapping Canadians, Indian Lancers, Caribbean soldiers, Frenchmen, Belgians, Portuguese, Africans, Asians - men from every far-flung corner of the globe. Some in groups and some with a local sweetheart - some intended as keepsakes to send to family at home. These were all handed in to be developed at local photography studios.....
.....but none of these men ever came back to collect them.
This is not what you might term a 'fun day out'. But it is extremely interesting and very sobering. The museum is arranged in such a way as to give maximum effect and some of it can be shocking, but not in such a way that is sensationalist or gratuitous. I've been there twice, once a few years ago with my wife, and again last year with my son. It loses some of its, I hesitate to use the term 'shock value' - novelty perhaps, second time around, but I still profited from the second visit. I would recommend a visit here for anyone who has the slightest notion that there's any glory in war. It would even make pacifists of Bush and Blair......OK, that's maybe stretching it a little.
To get the most out of the experience, combine your visit with THE LAST POST ceremony at the Menin Gate. This occurs at 8pm every night of every year.
It's not all doom and gloom though, you can pass the time between the museum visit and the Last Post in the Grote Markt, or Grand Place. Ypres is a charming little city with any number of quality restaurants and as for the beer - well that's another review.....
The museum is open: April - September: every day from 10.00 to 18.00 hours; October - March: Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 17.00 hours. It's closed during the first three weeks following the Christmas holidays.
Entrance fee is 7.5 euros for adults, 3.5 euros for 7-15 year-olds and other concessions. Under 7's are free.
Official website: http://www.inflandersfields.be
Šproxam2003
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A fabulous review. I visited here myself last year.
KarenUK 26.11.2004 10:53
What an amazing experience & an amazing review!
raeisthehippychick 16.11.2004 16:59
A very moving review that - I definitely want to go. I know it won't be a comfortable experience, but I do want to go. I would like to to take my son too. Time for some checking on prices I think. Rxxx
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