Paul's report from Passchendaele.
On 6th November 1917, after three months of fierce fighting, British and Canadian forces finally took control of the tiny village of Passchendaele in the West Flanders region of Belgium, so ending one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. With approximately a third of a million British and Allied soldiers either killed or wounded, the Battle of Passchendaele (officially the third battle of Ypres), symbolises the true horror of industrialised trench warfare.
Following a recent visit Paul has kindly submitted the photographs below and his account in is own words of his visit to Ypres, Passchendael and the Menin Gate Memorial.
Although its very hard to explain by picture I will try!! (and please no remarks about my photograph! it was a cold day and I had just driven 250 miles on Belgium's awful roads in the rain!!)
Pictures here are of the fields of the 1917 battle of Passchendaele. During the attack there were 500,000 casualties in just 100 days for a gain of territory of only 5 miles! Like I said, its very difficult to explain the emotion by photograph but it was the same that we experienced in Normandy. When you are actually there you try to imagine what these guys went through and standing at these fields you realise that Passchendale was just senseless military violence in its most cruel form.
Tyne Cot Cemetery is the largest commonwealth cemetery in the world - the bloody reminder of Passchendaele.
Originally Tyne Cot was a bunker on the German line ( picture where Jordan is standing) Australian Soldiers captured the position and used it as a dressing station.
One by one as the soldiers died of their injuries they were buried on site. Before long a small cemetery was established with three hundred graves.
After the war an unbelievable 12,000 dead were brought here.
Most of the dead are sadly unknown!
The rear wall of the cemetery is a memorial to the missing.
The names of 35,000 servicemen.
Next to the cemetery is the memorial centre where inside everyday the names of the fallen are read out with their photo on a white wall.
The Menin Gate marked the start of one of the main roads out of Ypres towards the front line and tens of thousands of men passed through it and onwards along the infamous Menin Road, so many of them sadly never to return.
"Tell the last man in the line to close the Menin Gate"
Every night of the year, without exception, policemen close the road to traffic at 8.00 p.m. and then stand at the salute while buglers from the Ypres Fire Brigade play "The Last Post". This happens whatever the weather and there is always someone there to watch. The people living near the Menin Gate often open their doors and stand on their doorsteps to join in this daily act of Remembrance in honour of the young and brave who came from all over the world to die in the defence of their town.
Having seen this memorial on photo's, I did not realise how massive it is.
54,896 names of the missing servicemen who died just in the Ypres Salient area are carved into the massive panels.
Photographs and words by Paul Melton.
Our thanks to Paul for submitting these great photographs and his report to the website.