Uncovering the secrets of Ypres

The place to find the latest news story . . .
you can make a comment if you wish!
Post Reply
Steve-B
meble kuchenne warszawa

Uncovering the secrets of Ypres

Post by Steve-B »

Many thanks to Mooseas for the link to this fascinating story..

Uncovering the secrets of Ypres
By Robert Hall
BBC News, Belgium



Ninety years after the battle of Passchendaele, officially known as the third battle of Ypres, a group of enthusiasts is attempting to dig up some of the key trenches of World War I.

Conditions at the front were horrendous for troops


Across a flat, muddy Flanders landscape, a solitary figure is plodding along the furrows.

Geophysicist Malcolm Weale is a battlefield detective who specialises in uncovering history that has lain hidden for generations.

In this case, the ground beneath his feet shields secrets of World War I.

Read More....

Guest

Post by Guest »

Interesting but tricky, have watched programs on this before, amongst the unexploded ammo are the bones of the dead, should they leave as is in respect or dig them up and give them a proper recorded burial (mostly unknown soldier), I dunno which is the decent thing to do.

Linnet44

Post by Linnet44 »

we have a YPRES memorial just down the road , its got a couple of rooms of photos ect and a list of the fallen from around here, you can go in and sit down , very pleasant place, it was a gateway to the big hall,very impressive, just a bit of info

Flinty

Post by Flinty »

Went last year with my folks (to be the first family members to visit the graves of 2 ancestors). I've been several times to research the fate of about 6 family members lost in WWI. The last post played at the Menin gate every evening is a 'must-see'. At the end of the Great War, Ypres was little more than a smouldering ruin. It was extensively rebuilt in the 20s and is well worth a visit. I can thoroughly recommend the Hotel Ariane in Ypres - 10 mins walk from the Menin Gate - it even has a mini-museum of the battlefields.

Guest

Post by Guest »

In another lifetime when I was 18 and freshly posted to Germany I was part of some sort of honour guard at a war cemetery, probably remembrance day but I cannot remember now for sure, did the ceremony and then walked amongst some of the headstones, remember seeing Australia, Canada and New Zealand on many of the headstones but what I really remember is how many times I saw the age of 18 on many of them, imagine ending your life at 18, 30,000 feet in a burning plane, it was the first time the real meaning of war entered my consciousness, to many John Wayne films I guess when I was young.

There were lines of headstones as far as the eye could see and I was told later it was only a small war grave cemetary, I thought, Christ, how many are in the larger ones, one day I will go and see the Menin Gate and other memorials, how they put up with what they did I cannot imagine.

The only other thing in my life which made me think so hard about the meaning of life I suppose was visiting Belsen, but I was a little older then and thinking more comprehensively at that stage.
Last edited by Guest on Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

romano-brit

Post by romano-brit »

i was based next to belsen, in hohne, apparantly where the main naffi and WRVS shop is that used to be the Germans HQ and down in the cellers there are still the chains where they used to put the Jews, also, on the main staircase in the entrance hall, there is a large flat wall which was painted with a swastika, but it was painted in the Jews blood and they have to re paint it every couple of years because it reappers

belsen is a horrible place when your outside it theres birds singing but as soon as you step inside the actual camp its deadly quiet, you could hear a pin drop, theres no birds, no noises or anything

Hagar

Post by Hagar »

I think all new British Army recruits are taken to the Menin gate

Tankie1rtr

Post by Tankie1rtr »

I was a continental Coach driver for 14 years, I am also ex regimental Bugler, I used to take the old boys to the First World War Battlefields, Like Cabrai, Somme, Vimy Ridge, and visit the military cemetaries, I would always carry my silver bugle with me and at each battlefield I would always play the "Last Post" these old guys would be in tears and so would I, it was a very humbling experience, I also played "Taps" the American equivelant of our last post, at a military cemetary at Point-de- Hoc in Normandy, here lie 46000 American soldiers, as far as you can see it is just a garden of crosses. very, very moving.
Regards to all

User avatar
Deetektor
UKDN Gold Supporter and UKDN Magazine Contributor
UKDN Gold Supporter and UKDN Magazine Contributor
Posts: 6705
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:44 am
Location: S.E. England...... Amateur Callsign G0TTM

Post by Deetektor »

There was a very good programme on at the weekend "Digging the Trenches", about the latest digs to be carried out at Ypres.

Also another interesting programme where they were looking for underground mines, where the explosives weren't set off.
Support the PAS
You know it makes sense


Teknetics T2
XP Goldmaxx Power

User avatar
JBM
UKDN Valued Member and UKDN Magazine Contributer
Posts: 5665
Joined: Wed May 28, 2003 9:38 pm
Main Detector: XP Deus.
Location: Bristol UK

Post by JBM »

My grandfather fell at Ypres (Known at the time by the Tommies as (Wipers).

He was in his early 40`s and returned to the front line having been shipped home previously with a shrapnel ball in his shoulder.

No soft touch in those days the walking wounded had to return to the front.Jerry.
WHRADA Member.
NCMD member WR.

User avatar
IronRon
UKDN Silver Supporter and UKDN Magazine Contributor
UKDN Silver Supporter and UKDN Magazine Contributor
Posts: 1979
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:11 am

Post by IronRon »

Thanks for that steve, i will get in touch with him, as i have a photo of my father in a field hospital, after the battle.
He was in one of the regiments metioned, the KRR,s. :(

Post Reply

Return to “LATEST NEWS”