Zonnebeke

On The War Memorial Trail In the Passchendaele Area

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December 9, 2017.  After we finished placing flags in Belgium in memory of those names on the Cenotaph outside the Borden-Carleton Legion, we decided to visit some of the memorials in the Passchendaele area.  Anyone who has been here knows that it’s impossible to see everything in such a short time, but we did our best to see as many as we could.

After we left Maple Copse Cemetery, where it’s possible the George Albert Campbell is buried, we went to the 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion – Nova Scotia Highlanders Monument in Zonnebeke.  It was a small monument, located in a farmer’s field.  It was impossible to drive right up to it, so Pieter parked the car and went there alone.

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Information sign about the 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion – Nova Scotia Highlanders Monument in Zonnebeke. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

The monument is in memory of the 85th Canadian Nova Scotia Battalion, which suffered heavy losses during the battle of Passchendaele at the end of October 1917.  One side of the monument has a black bronze plaque with the inscription: “85th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders) BEF. This plaque was erected by the Battalion in memory of their valiant comrades who gave their lives in action before Passchendaele at Decline Copse and Vienna Cottage on 28 to 31 October 1917.” Below the inscription are listed the names of the 12 officers and 132 other ranks who died in these actions.

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85th Canadian Infantry Battalion – Nova Scotia Highlanders Monument in Zonnebeke. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

From the photo above, you can notice that the sky was dark.  After a day of sunshine, it had started to rain.  But, since we weren’t made of sugar, we kept going.  Our destination was Kitchener’s Wood in Langemark, but along the way we saw a sign marking the location of the final battle of Passchendaele, right beside the Passchendaele New British Cemetery in Zonnebeke.  Of course we stopped to visit.

CIMG8869 Sep 10 2017 Sign marking final battle of Passchendaele beside New British Cemetery in Zonnebeke

Sign on the wall of the Passchendaele New British Cemetery in Zonnebeke says “end of the Passchendaele offensive 25 September 1918. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

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Entrance to Passchendaele New British Cemetery in Zonnebeke. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

650 Canadians are buried in this cemetery, including Alexander Wuttenee DECOTEAU, Canada’s first Aboriginal-Canadian police officer.  A Cree born on the Red Pheasant Reserve in Saskatchewan in 1887, he enlisted in 1916 and was killed by a sniper during the Battle of Passchendaele on October 30, 1917, the same day and battle in which Vincent CARR, who is listed on the Cenotaph outside the Borden-Carleton Legion, lost his life.  After reading about Private Decoteau, we went and put a Canadian flag by his grave.

CIMG8874 Sep 10 2017 Pieter by grave of Alexander Decoteau New British Cemetery in Zonnebeke

Pieter by the grave of Private Alexander Decoteau in Passchendaele New British Cemetery in Zonnebeke. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Our last war memorial trail stop for the day was at Kitchener’s Wood Memorial in Langemark-Poelkapelle.  This was harder to find than we expected, as the car’s GPS directed us to an empty field! A farm with what looked to be a house was across the field and we had a discussion whether to give up or knock on the door and ask directions.

Now, if you are a long-suffering wife, you know who was ready to give up rather than ask directions.  Yep, the guy who could speak the language sat in the car, while the Canadian with poor Dutch skills went and knocked on the door.  It was clear that the door was beside the kitchen as through the window I could see a group of young men around a large table, and one young man washing dishes by the sink.  The man washing dishes opened the door, and to my great relief very quickly found out he spoke as much Dutch as me.  It turned out that he and his companions were all from Poland, near where my maternal grandmother was born!

Obviously we weren’t the first to get tricked by the GPS system as he was familiar with the Kitchener’s Wood Memorial and explained that there was an error in the navigation system.  The memorial was 500 metres down the road right beside a house, on the side of the road opposite to where the GPS directed us to.

With the right directions, we found the memorial by a farmhouse.  The memorial was erected in memory of the soldiers of the 10th Canadian Battalion and the 16th Canadian Scottish Battalion, who were killed during a night attack at Kitchener’s Wood on April 22, 1915 during the first lethal chemical gas attack by the Germans.

CIMG8883 Sep 10 2017 Pieter by Kitcheners Wood Memorial

Pieter by Kitchener’s Wood Memorial. (Photo credit; Daria Valkenburg)

French troops had fallen back, leaving a 6 km gap to the left of the Canadian sector.  During the night of April 22 into 23, the 10th Canadian and the 15th Canadian Scottish Battalion counter-attacked and captured a German held position at Kitchener’s Wood.  This prevented a German breakthrough to Ypres and beyond.

CIMG8880 Sep 10 2017 Kitcheners Wood Memorial close up of acorn

On a polished stone base is a roughly worked stone representing the mutilated oaks of the forest, with the inscription: “Kitchener’s Wood, 22 April 1915″ encircling an oak leaf with an acorn. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

This ended our war memorial tour in Belgium for this trip, and we went back to the hotel to relax.  One more stop in Belgium, at the In Flanders Museum in Ypres, and then on to The Netherlands where we will be visiting the graves of WWII soldiers.

Comments or stories?  You can share them by emailing us at dariadv@yahoo.ca or by commenting on this blog.

© Daria Valkenburg

The Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry Memorial

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November 18, 2017.  On July 30 of this year we posted a blog entry on WW1 soldier Charles Benjamin Murray BUXTON, known as Charlie, and asked for a photo and information on him. (See Who Can Put A Face To Charles Benjamin Murray Buxton?)  As well, the request was included in an article in the County Line Courier that was published on August 9.  (See CLC p30 Aug 9 2017 Face for Arsenault)

We included an excerpt from an August 13, 1915 letter written to Buxton’s aunt, Minnie Marchbank of Alma, letting her know that her son George was all right.  It was through the Marchbank connection that we were able to find a photo, actually two!

George Marchbank survived the war, and his son John of Nanton, Alberta, a veteran of the Korean War, had a photo of his father and Buxton, which he shared.

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George Marchbank on the left, and Charles Buxton on the right. (Photo courtesy of John Marchbank family collection)

John Marchbank

Royal Canadian Legion member John Marchbank, son of George Marchbank, the cousin of Charles Buxton. (Photo courtesy of John Marchbank family collection)

The second photo of Buxton came from a period just before the war interrupted his career as a school inspector in West Prince.  Through the newspaper archives, Pieter found a 1954 reference to a display of hockey photos found at Myricks store in Alberton.  One of the photos was of the 1915 Alberton Regal Hockey Team… and one of the players in the photo was C. B. Buxton!

It appeared that while inspecting schools, Buxton stayed with his aunt Minnie, and found time to play on the Alberton Regal Hockey Team.  A call to the Alberton Museum verified that they had the team photo.  We immediately made a trip to Alberton and met with Arlene Morrison, Museum Manager, who explained that the 1915 photo was donated by Eileen Oulton.

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Arlene Morrison and Pieter Valkenburg at Alberton Museum with the 1915 Alberton Regal Hockey Team Photo. (Photo courtesy of Eileen Oulton Collection)

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Inset from the team photo of Charles Benjamin Buxton, who played centre for the 1915 Alberton Regal Hockey Team. (Photo courtesy of Eileen Oulton Collection)

As Buxton was with the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry, our next stop on the war memorial trail in Belgium was the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry Memorial in Zonnebeke. The Princess Pats were the first Canadian troops to arrive in Belgium, and fought in most of the battles in Belgium between 1915 and 1918.

The memorial is right beside a corn field, on land donated by Jules van Ackere in 1958, right at the edge of the road.

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Pieter at the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry Memorial in Zonnebeke. You can see the maple tree behind the memorial. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

The memorial was redone in 2015 and has a centennial plaque plus a bronze Marguerite daisy insignia, indicative of the cap badge worn by the troop during 1915.  As well, a Canadian Sugar maple tree was planted.

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Bronze Marguerite daisy insignia on the memorial. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

The memorial, which is much smaller than Pieter expected, commemorates the Battle of Frezenberg on May 8, 1915, marking the area they successfully defended, the Bellewaarde Ridge.  By the end of the battle, out of a complement of 546, only 4 officers and 150 men had survived.

Charlie Buxton was not in this battle. He enlisted on April 10, 1915 in the 1st University Company, which was formed to reinforce the Patricia Patricia’s Light Infantry, and sailed to England, then travelled on to France.  On July 17, 1915 he was taken on strength by the Patricia Patricia’s Light Infantry in France.

Buxton died in June 1916 in Sanctuary Wood, during the Battle of Mount Sorrel, our next stop on the war memorial trail.

Comments or stories?  You can share them by emailing us at dariadv@yahoo.ca or by commenting on this blog.

© Daria Valkenburg

A Visit To Tyne Cot Cemetery

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November 10, 2017.  While we were in Zonnebeke, we made a stop on the war memorial trail at Tyne Cot Cemetery.  In France, unless it was a big cemetery or memorial, like Vimy Ridge or Beau Hamel, there were few visitors.  In Belgium, to our surprise, members of car and motorcycle clubs visited the various cemeteries and memorials as part of their touring schedules.  During our visit to Tyne Cot Cemetery, a club for a car named Burton stopped on their own war memorial rally tour.

The Burton is a Dutch sports car based on French 2CV technology. The Burton is an open, nostalgic-looking sports car built on the chassis of the 2CV with a modern fibreglass body and built from a kit. Of course, car-mad Pieter couldn’t resist taking a few photos as he made his way from the parking lot to the cemetery.

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Burton sports car in the parking lot of Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

Tyne Cot Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Cemetery in the world, with 11,956 graves, of which 1,011 are Canadian.  Most were killed during the Battle of Passchendaele.  In addition, 34,957 soldiers with no known grave, who died after August 15, 1917, have their names engraved on the cemetery walls.  Those soldiers with no known grave who died before August 15, 1917 are listed on the Menin Gate Memorial (See A Daytime Visit To Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres).

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Names of soldiers with no known grave, who died after August 15, 1917 are engraved on the walls of Tyne Cot Cemetery. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

Surprisingly, with the large number of war dead in Tyne Cot, no one from the Cenotaph outside the Borden-Carleton Legion is buried or commemorated there.  But if you are on a war memorial trail, it would be a shame to miss seeing the largest cemetery.

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Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

As we made our way to the cemetery and the visitors centre, we passed by a grassy area of plastic poppies with messages from the public in Britain. This was an initiative of the Royal British Legion’s Passchendaele 100 Memorial, who collected the poppies and brought them to the cemetery.  Some of the messages commemorated a loved one, others were very general in nature.  It certainly made for a colourful display!

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Plastic poppies with messages from the British public on display at Tyne Cot Cemetery. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

We learned that a Victoria Cross recipient from the 27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion is buried here, James Peter Robertson, a private who was killed on November 6, 1917 during the final phase of the Battle of Passchendaele.  When his platoon was blocked by barbed wire and a German machine gun, he dashed to an opening in the enemy position, and rushed the gun, killing four German soldiers and turning the machine gun on the rest of the Germans.  This allowed the platoon to continue towards its objective.  Afterwards, when two Canadian snipers were wounded in front of their trench, he went out and carried one in, while under fire.  Unfortunately, he was killed as he returned with the second man.  With Daria being from Winnipeg, Pieter of course visited the grave of this soldier and placed flags.

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Grave of Victoria Cross recipient James Peter Robertson, buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

 We are continually humbled by the depth of sacrifice from the soldiers.  Like in northern France, you can’t go very far before you encounter another cemetery or memorial.  As we continued on the War Memorial Trail, we thought of the two other soldiers from the Cenotaph project who died in this area, George Campbell and Charles Buxton, and whose names are on the Menin Gate Memorial.

As Buxton was with the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry, our next stop was the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry Memorial in Zonnebeke.  Comments or stories?  You can share them by emailing us at dariadv@yahoo.ca or by commenting on this blog.

© Daria Valkenburg

Visiting More Memorials In The Passchendaele Area

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November 7, 2017.  After visiting Cement House Cemetery and the grave of Vincent Carr, and the St. Julien Monument to commemorate the position where Canadians were during the first poison gas attack, we stopped at the German Military Cemetery in Langemark.  Its official name is “Deutscher Studentenfriedhof”, one of four German cemeteries in the Flanders region of Belgium.   ‘Studentenfriedhof’ means ‘the students’ cemetery’ and is called that due to the large number of young volunteer soldiers who are buried here.

This is the only German cemetery that seems to get visitors at all, especially non-Germans.  It’s an impressive but depressing cemetery.

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Bronze sculpture by Emil Krieger of four soldiers in mourning. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

The cemetery has 44,061 burials.  25,000 of these were unknown and buried in a large communal grave.

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Memorial says “In this cemetery rest 44,061 German soldiers from the war of 1914-1918”. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Over the decades, researchers have identified 17,000, whose names are now on bronze plaques positioned around three sides of the cemetery.

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Bronze plaques with the names of identified German soldiers. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

After this rather chilling stop, we continued on to the Passchendaele Canadian Memorial, located on Canadalaan (Canada Lane) in Zonnebeke.

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Canadalaan was named in honour of Canada’s role in the Battle of Passchendaele. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

It was here that we were reminded of the madness of the Battle of Passchendaele. British and Australian soldiers had tried, from July until early October 1917, rather unsuccessfully, to capture the German-occupied Belgian coast.  They made only minimal advances and the commander of the British forces, Sir Douglas Haig, ordered the Canadian Corps to take their place and capture Passchendaele.

20,000 Canadian soldiers arrived in the midst of heavy rainfall and waist-deep mud, and no one seemed to have enough sense or authority to force a rethink to the plan to begin an assault at that time of year.  The only voice of sanity was Canadian-born Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur Currie, who took the time to inspect the battlefield and, after doing so, protested that the planned attack would cost 16,000 Canadian casualties.  No one listened to him.

So, on October 26, 1917, Canadian troops began a series of attacks in the area.  On October 30, 1917, with the help of two British divisions, they began the assault on the village of Passchendaele, inching their way from shell-crater to shell-crater, under heavy fire.  The landscape was already destroyed by shelling and heavy rain.  Roads, trees, and most buildings were gone.  It was in the midst of this that Vincent Carr from North Tryon died, instantly killed by a high explosive shell.

Troops reached the outskirts of Passchendaele during a terrible rainstorm, and held on for five days, waist-deep in mud and exposed to German shelling. Reinforcements arrived on November 6, and by November 10 Canadian troops occupied the village, thus ending the battle.  Almost 12,000 Canadians were wounded, and over 4,000 died.

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Pieter at the Passchendaele Canadian Memorial in Zonnebeke. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

The Passchendaele Canadian Memorial has the following inscription on one side, on a granite block, saying:

“The Canadian Corps in Oct-Nov 1917 advanced across this valley – then a treacherous morass – captured and held the Passchendaele ridge.”

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The Passchendaele Canadian Memorial has maple leaves carved in the form of a wreath on the front and back. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

The Battle of Passchendaele, which lasted 100 days, had more than Canadian casualties.  275,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were killed and wounded, among them the Canadian casualties already mentioned.  220,000 German soldiers were also killed and wounded.

Beside the Passchendaele Canadian Memorial is the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 in Zonnebeke, which concentrates on the Battle of Passchendaele itself.  They have begun a Passchendaele Archives Project of trying to put faces and stories to those who died between July 12 and November 15, 1917 during the battle.  If you have a relative, and a photo, please consider supporting this project. You can email them at archives@passchendaele.be or visit their website at www.passchendaele.be for more information.  They will send you a form to fill out: Passchendaele Archives Questionnaire.

After these two visits, Pieter was finally persuaded to go for a snack before continuing on with the war memorial tour.  Across from the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 was a lovely restaurant, Brasserie De Volksbond, where Pieter and I shared Belgian bread and Passendale cheese.

CIMG8762 Sep 9 2017 Passendale cheese at Brasserie de Volksbund in Zonnebeke

How could we resist having Passendale cheese for lunch? (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Yes, while we Canadians know Passchendaele for the battle, it’s better known for its Passchendaele beer and Passendale cheese.

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Pieter didn’t get a chance to sample the Passchendaele beer! (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

If you are wondering about the spelling difference, the Belgians have a much simpler spelling of their village and region!

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Passchendaele = Passendale. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

Our next stop on the War Memorial Trail, after a much needed lunch break, was Tyne Cot British Cemetery, which was also in Zonnebeke.  Comments or stories?  You can share them by emailing us at dariadv@yahoo.ca or by commenting on this blog.

© Daria Valkenburg