Ypres and Passendale

Went on a fantastic tour of the battlefields and monuments of Ypres and Passendale with Battlefield Tours of Ypres. These are the main sites related to the Canadian involvement in the First World War that are located in Belgium.

Owner, operator and guide, Roger, has encyclopedic knowledge of the First World War and especially the Belgian theatre. He provides a number of tours for different interests; I went on the "In Flanders Field & Passchendaele ½ Day Tour." (Passchendaele is the Dutch spelling.) It was supposed to be 3½hours but was closer to 4½, which was fine. This tour had a high amount of Canadian content starting with the Hill 62 memorial, the Brooding Soldier memorial and the field hospital bunker staffed by Dr. John McCrae which included an extensive memorial to him. The tour also included visits to a trench, to a New Zealand memorial and to a large Australia/New Zealand memorial. It also included a tour of the Langemark German cemetery. On the tour with me were 3 people from New Zealand and 2 from Australia. Overall, a very moving experience.

Went to Ypres, Belgium where thousands of Canadian soldiers died in the Battles of Ypres and Passendale. Went on a tour and visited lots of battle sites, and memorials like Hill 62 (aka Sanctuary Wood or Mount Sorrel).

Went to the New Zealand Memorial at Tyne Cot - a massive neo-classical structure.

Altogether, visited memorials to British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers. On the tour with me were 3 people from New Zealand and 2 from Australia. Overall, a very moving experience.

Canadian Memorial at Hill 62 (aka Mount Sorrel or Sanctuary Wood) was the German position from which they fired on Ypres and leveled the town. The town was 3 miles away, and the German guns could shoot 8 miles.

Canadian Memorial as the statue of the Brooding Soldier is located on Canadian soil - soil was brought from Canada expressly for this. Plants there represent poison gas moving across the ground and others represent explosions. The statue is marking its 100th anniversary in 2023. The Canadian government put up a temporary public display outlining the history of the site and the memorial’s installation in 1923.

At the height of the battle 750 men were killed per day. 300,000,000 shells fired throughout the course of the war.

Today 30-40 bodies (or partial remains) are found every year, and 250 tons of munitions are dug up in fields, usually by farmers. When they find any munitions they put it out at the nearest road and call the bomb disposal unit who come and pick it up.

The Menin Memorial renovation won’t be finished for 2 1/2 years (from May 2023). Now completely covered in scaffolding.

Accommodations: In Ypres try Pilgrim’s Loft (a monestary) which was recommended by Sam of Australia. If staying in nearby Brugge (an excellent destination in its own right) stay at Hotel Ter Brughe, Oost-Gistelhof 2, 8000 Brugge. +32 (0) 50 34 03 24

Battlefield Tour Itinerary Map