On Sunday August 22nd I joined my friends: a group of battlefeld enthusiasts accustomed to organising walking tours together, and we went up to the Franco-Belgian border where the French Werwyck meets the Flemish Werwik. Here we were met by our guide and friend on his territory : Michel Decru, a Flemish Belgian who speaks French and who is also proficient in English. Michel is a WFA member and has written two books on the history of Avelgem in the Great War.
The walk around the French Werwyck brought us into contact with a number of German bunkers and Hitler's place of convalescence after being gassed in 1918. The building is today occupied by the Education authorities.
A visit to the German cemetery led us to some interesting graves: Musician, Pilot etc... and one in French read chevaux légers.... most unusual for a German soldier.
We then drove to Ploegsteert and began a long walk that took in an incredible amount of history. We saw , to name but a few sites, the Ultimo crater, the location of the Birdcage and the site of the Christmas Truce football match, which was particularly poignant for me. Visits to numerous cemeteries revealed a host of different moving stories. I was taken aback to see a fresh grave dug for an Australian soldier, something I had never seen.
I was also especially thrilled to see the graves of the two Lancastrians buried in the last decade after being discovered in the Flanders mud with their ID disks on.
What was pleasant about walking in Belgium was the presence of cafés where we could sit down and obtain refreshments after tiring ourselves out.
A big thank you to Michel for all his research and hard work. I know what it involves and I really appreciate the time he spent on the project.
By Paula Flanagan
