Ypres and the Battles of Ypres Part 7

VISIT TO THE BATTLEFIELD

A visit to Ypres Town and Salient requires two days, and may be made most conveniently by taking Lille as the starting-point.

_First Day_: Visit Messines, Wytschaete, Houthem, Zondvoorde, Gheluvelt, Becelaere, Zonnebeke, Pa.s.schendaele, Langemarck, Ypres, Zollebeke and Hooge, spending the night at Poperinghe.

_Second Day_: Visit the Hills: Scherpenberg, Vidaigne, Rouge and Kemmel; then, after re-crossing the French frontier, those of Cats and Noir, returning to Lille for the night, via Armentieres, Estaires, Bethune and La Ba.s.see.

=FIRST DAY: LILLE--YPRES= (_See Itinerary, p. 47._)

Starting-point: The Grande Place, Lille.

_Take Rue Nationale to the end, go round Place Tourcoing, take Rue de La Ba.s.see on the left, then the first turning on the right (Rue de Turenne), Canteleu Gate, and Rue Lequeux. Cross the bridge over the Haute-Deule Ca.n.a.l, and turn to the left into N. 42._

_At Canteleu follow the tram-lines leading to Lomme. At the end of the village, cross the railway (l. c.). Go through Lomme by Rue Thiers, leaving the church on the right_ (transept greatly damaged).

On the left are the burnt ruins of a large spinning mill. In the fields: numerous small forts of reinforced concrete, which commanded all the roads into Lille. The road pa.s.ses through a small wood, in the right-hand part of which are the ruins of Premesques Chateau, of which only the facade remains. Further on, to the left, is Wez Macquart, whose church was badly damaged. Trenches lead to the road, while in the fields, traces of the violent sh.e.l.ling are still visible.

_Pa.s.s through Chapelle d'Armentieres (completely destroyed). After crossing the railway (l. c.), a British cemetery is seen on the right._ =Armentieres= _lies on the other side of the next level crossing._

_After entering_ =Armentieres=, _and immediately beyond the railway, take Rue du Faubourg de Lille, leaving the Church of St. Roch on the right. After pa.s.sing a public was.h.i.+ng-place, turn to the right into the Rue de Lille, then cross the Grande Place._ Here will be seen the Hotel-de-Ville, completely ruined. _Take a few steps along Rue de Dunkerque, then turn into the first street on the right, which leads to the Place de l'Eglise St. Waast._

=Armentieres=

Armentieres suffered in many wars, being taken by the English in 1339, by the French in 1382, by the Calvinists in 1566, by Marshals de Ga.s.sion and De Rantzau in 1645, and by the Archduke Leopold in 1647.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES (_ancient engraving_)]

Occupied by the Germans in August, 1914, it was retaken in September.

Nearly four years later (April, 1918) it again fell into the hands of the enemy. On October 2, it was finally liberated by General Plumer's army.

Until the later war, Armentieres had preserved its 17th century belfry of chimes, its church of Notre-Dame, and another church dedicated to St.

Waast--patron saint of the town.

This personage, to whom many of the churches in this district have been dedicated, was Bishop of Arras in the 6th century. While still a priest, he is said to have cured a blind beggar in the presence of Clovis. This miracle was one of the causes which led to the conversion of the king, to whom St. Waast acted instructor in the Faith.

The town also possessed a national technical school, dating from the previous century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW OF ARMENTIeRES (_before the War_) THE RIVER LYS AND ST. WAAST CHURCH (_Cliche LL._)]

Belfry, churches, schools and houses are all in ruins.

In everything connected with the spinning and weaving of linen Armentieres, like Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, and the whole of Northern France in general, was considerably in advance of Germany. Consequently, the Germans destroyed all the mills, factories and metallurgical works, and what machinery could not be taken to pieces and sent to Germany they ruthlessly smashed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES. ST. WAAST CHURCH AS THE GERMANS LEFT IT (_Compare with photo, p. 50._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES AND THE RIVER LYS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES. THE HoTEL-DE-VILLE AFTER THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES. BEFORE RETREATING, THE GERMANS MINED THE TOWN]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES. NoTRE DAME CHURCH WAS NOT GREATLY DAMAGED BY THE BOMBARDMENTS (_see below_)]

_Visit the ruins of_ =St. Waast Church=, _then return to Rue de Dunkerque. There take the first street on the right and cross the Lys._ From the Bridge there is a general view of the church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES. NoTRE-DAME CHURCH, WHICH THE GERMANS BLEW UP BEFORE BEING DRIVEN OUT OF THE TOWN (_see above_)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES. RUE NATIONALE, AS THE Sh.e.l.lS LEFT IT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMENTIeRES. RUE DE LILLE IN RUINS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BIZET. POST ON THE FRONTIER _On the left of motor-car_: TEMPORARY CUSTOM HOUSE]

_Cross the Cloth Market, then follow the tram-lines along Rue de Flandre and Rue Bizet. Follow the Lys Ca.n.a.l, then cross the new bridge. Go through Bizet Village_ (badly damaged houses). _Leaving the ruins of the church on the right, turn first to the right, then to the left_ (the photograph shows an army hut on the left, now temporarily used as the office of the Receiver of French Customs). _Cross the frontier a few yards further on, then at the fork just outside the village, take the road on the right opposite the Villa des Roses (photo below). Leaving on the right the road to the gasworks_ (of which nothing is left but a wrecked gasometer) _the first houses of_ =Ploegsteert= _are reached._ This village lay west of the first lines in May, 1918, and was captured by the Germans on April 12 (see p. 39).

[Ill.u.s.tration: BIZET. END OF VILLAGE, GOING TOWARDS PLOEGSTEERT _Take the right-hand road._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRITISH CEMETERY AT THE ENTRANCE TO PLOEGSTEERT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MESSINES ROAD (_seen from the Chateau de la Hutte_) _In the background_: MESSINES RIDGE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRITISH CEMETERY ON THE PLOEGSTEERT ROAD AT MESSINES]

British cemetery No. 53 (photo, p. 56) lies at the entrance to the village. _Go straight through the village_ (in ruins). _On leaving it_, Cemetery No. 54 is seen on the right, then beyond a large concrete shelter, Cemetery No. 55. Cemetery No. 56 is on the left, beyond the level-crossing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CROSS-ROADS AT NoTRE-DAME-DE-GRaCE _The Messines Road (bordered with tree stumps) was not practicable for motors in June, 1919. Take the Neuve-Eglise Road on the left (see Itinerary, p. 47)._]

_Cross Ploegsteert Wood, leaving the road to Pet.i.t-Pont Farm on the left. Here the road rises._ To the left, on the slopes of Hill 63, are seen the ruins of La Hutte Chateau. On the crest opposite stand the ruins of Messines (photo above). In June, 1919, it was not possible to go direct to Messines, the road being cut at the Pet.i.te Douve stream.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AMONG THE RUINS OF MESSINES _The motor takes the left-hand road to Wytschaete (see p. 47)._]

_Follow the road as far as the fork to the place called Notre-Dame-de-Grace_ (the ruins of the chapel are barely distinguishable), _then take the Neuve-Eglise road on the left._ Stop the car at Rossignol terre-plein and walk a few yards into the little wood on the right; numerous concrete shelters, from the top of which there is a very fine view over the Hills Kemmel, Rouge, Noir and Cats.

The last-named can be recognised by its abbey, which stands out against the sky.

_Return to the car. The road now descends. Pa.s.sing by a few ruined houses--all that remain of the hamlet of Haubourdin--a fork is reached, where take the Neuve-Eglise-Messines road on the right._ British cemetery on the right. _Cross the Douve river, then the railway (l. c.).

Turn to the right at the first ruins of Wulverghem, then go through the village, pa.s.sing in front of the cemetery. Next cross the Steenbeck, by the St. Quentin Bridge. The road now rises sharply to the crest on which Messines used to stand._ Numerous small forts are seen to the right and left. These machine-gun nests are all that now mark the site of the village.

At the entrance to the village leave the car at the junction of the Ypres-Armentieres and Neuve-Eglise-Warneton roads, and visit these pathetic ruins on foot.

=Messines= maybe regarded as one of the hinges of the "Ypres Salient."

An important strategic point, it was hotly disputed throughout the war.