#Poperinge

[kristo-flowers]

Sunset over a hop field. Poperinge, Belgium

[bartboucke-blog]

Standing at the Gates of Hell

Counting the dead – Lijssenthoek, Poperinge Standing at the gates of hellWe did not linger, did not dwellOn days long goneOr dreams forgottenStanding at the gates of hellWe felt it keenly, felt it wellThat life was shortAnd all too brittleStanding at the gates of hellIn silence did we wonderShivering did we ponderWhich sullied choice had led us here. Lijssenthoek,…

[haverwood]

Slayer: Live at Heavy Sound Festival - Poperinge, Belgium 1985/05/26 1985

[garyholt]

James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich at Heavy Sound Festival in Poperinge, Belgium on June 10th, 1984 save me

[ernestinee]

La petite journée en amoureux à Ostende

Le petit dej dans les locaux de l'ancienne grote post, la vieille imprimerie, la balade sur la digue et la jetée, le luna park 🤍

Dans l'ancienne poste, il y a des personnages particuliers, on s'est demandé si ce n'était pas des figurants, volontairement vintage pour coller à l'époque du bâtiment des années 50. La vieille dame qui lit son journal en attendant au guichet d'informations est clairement là en train de faire son job (mais wtf la chaussette ?) mais pendant qu'on mangeait, plusieurs personnes avaient un style vestimentaire totalement vintage et étaient assises ça et là, aussi occupés à lire des journaux froissés. Il y avait aussi peut-être, parmi les personnes âg��es, des gens qui avaient travaillé là lorsque la poste était encore d'activité. J'ai eu l'impression d'être dans deux époques en même temps.

Même sensation bizarre sur la route du retour en passant par Poperinge, qui est une ville traversée par la frontière française. Le flamand/français est partout, dans les noms de rues à moitié l'un à moitié l'autre, dans les devantures des maisons, dans les pierres utilisées, dans les panneaux... Je suis frontalière, je suis habituée aux passages de frontière, à l'esthétique et aux panneaux qui changent en quelques mètres mais là l'endroit est rempli d'un mélange, c'était étrange.

Petit bond particulier dans l'espace et dans le temps aujourd'hui.

[legaltrashgoblin]

Everyone who is like me needs to read The Warm Hands Of Ghosts by Katherine Arden right now. It feels like reading a statement from The Magnus Archives, it's queer, it's really upsetting, it's based in World War I, it destroyed me so much, it's beautiful, it's gutwrenching, it's one of the best books I've ever read.

Wilfred Iven is stuck in a pillbox with a German soldier after an attack on Passchendaele. Despite their odds, they escape, and are met with an elusive battlefield legend known as The Fiddler.

Laura Iven is told by three crazy mediums that her brother isn't dead. So she makes her way to Poperinge, Belgium with her friend Penelope Shaw and boss Mary Borden, reinstated as a nurse in the war hospital under the eye of Stephen Jones, an American doctor.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[davemustaine]

metallica live at the heavy sound festival | poperinge, belgium 6/10/1984

photo by brian lew

[justplainsalty]

Made up fic title - “where your misery finds its company”

I desperately want to use this for my [redacted] AU for miss fisher, but can I be honest? I might actually steal this for another MFMM fic I've got partially written 🫣.

Jack, fresh off a march from the Somme to Belgium, and hurting from the violence and horror of it all, finds himself turned loose in Poperinge for a night. His platoon is not required to report for duty until the following afternoon. Most of his section has gone off to find food and drink, or prayer, or other soft and feminine comforts, but each option leaves an ashy taste in his mouth. He strikes off at random, haunted by thoughts of Rosie and of how adrift he feels in his own body.

Inside a cafe, fronted with broken windows and with the staff all evacuated, there are four nurses drinking, and something about their laughter and cheerful swearing at each other draws him in. There are two Frenchwomen, an irascible American, and to his surprise, an Australian, although she's got a cut-glass British accent. Phryne. The American deals him in to their card game and their drinking. It's not so bad, if he's surrounded by good people.

As the night wears on, and the group drifts apart, Phryne takes him to her lodging. She has a bath there (a real hot bath!), and she coaxes him into it with her and a bottle of painfully dry red wine. His hair is, after all, disturbingly filthy. She washes it with the kind of care he knows he won't see again until the godforsaken war is over.

After their bath, she trips (literally) over the pocket volume of Shakespeare he had stowed in his pocket. They huddle together under the thin woolen blankets, and he reads to her, Phryne interjecting commentary ad lib, until his mouth is dry and he is nodding off.

In the morning, she leaves him with a kiss to his forehead, and her embroidered scarf wrapped around his neck. But he loses the scarf sometime in the trenches in 1917, and with time, his recollection of the dark-haired woman's face fades. Eventually, it is replaced with Rosie's face. Eventually, he is convinced he dreamt the entire thing.

(I wrote this not knowing the rest of the lyrics to the song. Having now looked them up, I might actually steal this song for my TLOU playlist as well.)

Send me a made-up fic title and i’ll tell you what i would write to go with it!

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 10.29

Holidays

Bishop James Hannington Memorial Day (Uganda)

Black Salsify Day (French Republic)

Bob Ross Day (Abeldane Empire)

Candies Day

Coronation Day (Cambodia)

C6HO Day (Kentucky)

Cumhuriyet Bayrami (North Cyprus, Turkey)

Cyrus the Great Day (Iran)

Feed the Birds Day (UK)

Festival of Global Climate Change

Fiestas Patrias begins (Honduras)

Halloween Eve Eve

Hermit Day

Hide From Everyone Day (a.k.a. Hermit Day)

International Day of Care and Support (UN)

International Day of Degrowth

International Internet Day

Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day

Ľudovít Štúr Day (Slovakia)

Military Financier Day (Ukraine)s

Naming Day (Tanzania)

National Boner Day

National Book Day (Brazil)

National Cat Daddy Day

National Cat Day

National Hermit Day

National Martina Day

Oatmeal Day

PSC Awareness Day

Sea Slug Day

Security Guard Day (Kazakhstan)

Separation of Church and State Day

Turkish Republic Day (Turkey)

Vote Early Day

World Online Networking Day

World Psoriasis Day

World Stroke Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Gnocchi Day (Argentina)

National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day

National Oatmeal Day

Poperinge Beer & Hop Festival begins (Belgium) [Every 3 years, 3rd Friday]

Independence & Related Days

Constitutional Referendum Anniversary Day (Serbia)

Turkey (from Ottoman Empire, 1923)

Westarctica (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

5th & Last Tuesday in October

Mix It Up at Lunch Day [Last Tuesday]

Taco Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Target Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Tater Tot Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Teriyaki Tuesday [Last Tuesday of Each Month]

Transformation Tuesday [Last Tuesday of Each Month]

Trivia Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Two For Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Weekly Holidays beginning October 29 (Last Week of October)

None Known

Festivals Beginning October 29, 2024

The Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue (Des Moines, Iowa) [thru 10.31]

Feast Days

Abraham of Rostov (Christian; Saint)

Andrei Ryabushkin (Artology)

Bill Mauldin (Artology)

Blažej Baláž (Artology)

Bob Ross (Artology)

Chef (a.k.a. Theuderius; Christian; Saint)

Chiara Badano (Christian; Blessed)

Colman mac Duagh (Christian; Saint)

Desmond Bagley (Writerism)

Dominick Dunne (Writerism)

Douai Martyrs (Christian; Saint)

Gaetano Errico (Christian; Saint)

Ghatasthapana begins (Nepal)

Harriet Powers (Artology)

Isis/Osiris Mysteries II (Pagan)

James Hannington (Anglicanism)

Kojagrat Purnima [15th Day of Dashain]

Lazarus Long Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lee Child (Writerism)

Mary of Edessa (Christian; Saint)

Maximillian (Christian; Saint)

Narcissus of Jerusalem (Roman Catholic Church)

Niki De Saint Phalle (Artology)

Nut Day (Pastafarian)

Robertson (Positivist; Saint)

Second Fiddle of the Mounth (Shamanism)

Shin Saimdang (Artology)

Theuderius (a.k.a. Chef; Christian; Saint)

Warren the Warthog (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Historically Unlucky Day [10 of 11]

Historically Bad Day (Stock Market Crash, Hurricane Sandy & 8 other tragedies) [10 of 11]

Lucky Day (Philippines) [58 of 71]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Premieres

All I Want for Christmas Is You, by Mariah Carey (Song; 1994)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, with Alex Haley (Biography; 1965)

Being John Malkovich (Film; 1999)

Blue Moon, 24th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2019)

Boy Pest with Ash (Modern Madcaps Cartoon; 1963)

Bullwinkle Busts a Brush or The Cleft Palette (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 226; 1963)

BUtterfield 8, by John O'Hara (Roman à clef Novel; 1935)

Create Dangerously, by Albert Camus (manifesto; 1957)

Don Giovanni, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Opera; 1787)

Fido Beta Kappa (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1954)

The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour (Radio Series; 1929)

Get Nervous, by Pat Benatar (Album; 1982)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Film; 2010)

Halloween Is Grinch Night (DePatie-Freleng Animated YV Special; 1977)

The Halloween Tree, by Ray Bradbury (Novel; 1972)

Hemispheres, by Rush (Album; 1978)

Hulu (Streaming Network; 2007)

The Huntley-Brinkley Report (TV News Show; 1956)

Jingle Bell Rock, recorded by Bobby Helm (Song; 1957)

Keeping Up Appearances (UK TV Series; 1990)

Last Night in Soho (Film; 2021)

Man of the Century (Film; 1999)

The Marbleheads, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S3, Eps. 13 & 14; 1966)

Maruhi Gekiga, Ukiyoe Senichiya (Japanese Animated Film; 1969)

Mind Games, by John Lennon (Album; 1973)

The Music Lesson (Ub Iwerks Flip the Frog MGM Cartoon; 1932)

My Generation, by The Who (Song; 1965)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Animated Film; 1993)

The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James (Novel; 1880)

Portrait of a Moose or Bullwinkle Gets the Brush (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 225; 1963)

Princess Mononoke (Anime Film; 1999)

Ray (Film; 2004)

Red Riding Hoodwinked (WB LT Cartoon; 1955)

The Saw Mill Mystery (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1937)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! (WB Animated Film; 2021)

The Sentinel, 25th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2020)

Trip for Tat (WB MM Cartoon; 1960)

The Valiant Tailor (Ub Iwerks ComiColor Cartoon; 1934)

Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Album; 1984)

What’ll I Do?, recorded by Frank Sinatra (Song; 1947)

Wild Target (Film; 2010)

The Woody Woodpecker Polka (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1951)

Today’s Name Days

Ermelina, Hermelindis, Melinda (Austria)

Časlav, Honorat, Ida, Narcis (Croatia)

Silvie (Czech Republic)

Narcissus (Denmark)

Alf, Alfred, Fred, Fredi (Estonia)

Alfred, Urmasimo (Finland)

Narcisse (France)

Ermelinda, Franco, Grete, Melinda (Germany)

Abramios, Melina (Greece)

Nárcisz (Hungary)

Ermelinda, Michela, Massimiliano (Italy)

Elva, Elvijs, Fortuna, Laimonis (Latvia)

Gelgaudas, Narcizas, Tolvydė, Violeta (Lithuania)

Noralf, Norunn (Norway)

Euzebia, Franciszek, Longin, Longina, Lubogost, Narcyz, Teodor, Wioletta (Poland)

Anastasia (Romania)

Zinaida (Russia)

Klára (Slovakia)

Narciso (Spain)

Viola (Sweden)

Garrison, Cyrano, Cyrena, Narcissa, Narcissus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 303 of 2024; 63 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of Week 44 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 3 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Jia-Xu), Day 27 (Bing-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 27 Tishri 5785

Islamic: 25 Rabi II 1446

J Cal: 3 Wood; Threesday [3 of 30]

Julian: 15 October 2024

Moon: 7%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 23 Descartes (11th Month) [Dunoyer / Adam Smith]

Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 7 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 37 of 90)

Week: Last Week of October

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 6 of 30)

[kristo-flowers]

Hop fields in Poperinge, Belgium

[brookston]

Holidays 10.29

Holidays

Black Salsify Day (French Republic)

Bob Ross Day (Abeldane Empire)

Candies Day

Coronation Day (Cambodia)

C6HO Day (Kentucky)

Cumhuriyet Bayrami (North Cyprus, Turkey)

Cyrus the Great Day (Iran)

Feed the Birds Day (UK)

Festival of Global Climate Change

Fiestas Patrias begins (Honduras)

Halloween Eve Eve

Hermit Day

Hide From Everyone Day (a.k.a. Hermit Day)

International Internet Day

Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day

Naming Day (Tanzania)

National Boner Day

National Book Day (Brazil)

National Cat Daddy Day

National Cat Day

National Hermit Day

National Martina Day

Oatmeal Day

PSC Awareness Day

Sea Slug Day

Separation of Church and State Day

Turkish Republic Day (Turkey)

World Online Networking Day

World Psoriasis Day

World Stroke Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Gnocchi Day (Argentina)

National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day

National Oatmeal Day

Poperinge Beer & Hop Festival begins (Belgium) [Every 3 years, 3rd Friday, but postponed from 2021]

5th & Last Sunday in October

European Summer Times Ends (EU) [Last Sunday]

International Creole Day (Dominica, Saint Lucia) [Last Sunday]

Jounen Kwéyòl (Creole Day; Dominica, Saint Lucia) [Last Sunday]

National Grandparents Day (Australia) [Last Sunday]

National Student Baptism Day [Last Sunday]

Reformation Sunday [Last Sunday]

Visit a Cemetery Day [Last Sunday]

World Swim Hat Day [Last Sunday]

Independence Days

Turkey (from Ottoman Empire, 1923)

Westarctica (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Abraham of Rostov (Christian; Saint)

Andrei Ryabushkin (Artology)

Chef (a.k.a. Theuderius; Christian; Saint)

Chiara Badano (Christian; Blessed)

Colman mac Duagh (Christian; Saint)

Douai Martyrs (Christian; Saint)

Gaetano Errico (Christian; Saint)

Ghatasthapana begins (Nepal)

Isis/Osiris Mysteries II (Pagan)

James Hannington (Anglicanism)

Kojagrat Purnima [15th Day of Dashain]

Lazarus Long Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Mary of Edessa (Christian; Saint)

Maximillian (Christian; Saint)

Narcissus of Jerusalem (Roman Catholic Church)

Nut Day (Pastafarian)

Robertson (Positivist; Saint)

Warren the Warthog (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Historically Unlucky Day [10 of 11]

Historically Bad Day (Stock Market Crash, Hurricane Sandy & 8 other tragedies) [10 of 11]

Lucky Day (Philippines) [58 of 71]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Premieres

All I Want for Christmas Is You, by Mariah Carey (Song; 1994)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, with Alex Haley (Biography; 1965)

Being John Malkovich (Film; 1999)

Blue Moon, 24th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2019)

Bullwinkle Busts a Brush or The Cleft Palette (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 226; 1963)

BUtterfield 8, by John O'Hara (Roman à clef Novel; 1935)

Create Dangerously, by Albert Camus (manifesto; 1957)

Don Giovanni, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Opera; 1787)

The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour (Radio Series; 1929)

Get Nervous, by Pat Benatar (Album; 1982)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Film; 2010)

Hemispheres, by Rush (Album; 1978)

Hulu (Streaming Network; 2007)

The Huntley-Brinkley Report (TV News Show; 1956)

Jingle Bell Rock, recorded by Bobby Helm (Song; 1957)

Keeping Up Appearances (UK TV Series; 1990)

Last Night in Soho (Film; 2021)

Man of the Century (Film; 1999)

Mind Games, by John Lennon (Album; 1973)

My Generation, by The Who (Song; 1965)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Animated Film; 1993)

The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James (Novel; 1880)

Portrait of a Moose or Bullwinkle Gets the Brush (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 225; 1963)

Princess Mononoke (Anime Film; 1999)

Ray (Film; 2004)

Red Riding Hoodwinked (WB LT Cartoon; 1955)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! (WB Animated Film; 2021)

The Sentinel, 25th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2020)

Trip for Tat (WB MM Cartoon; 1960)

Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Album; 1984)

What’ll I Do?, recorded by Frank Sinatra (Song; 1947)

Wild Target (Film; 2010)

Today’s Name Days

Ermelina, Hermelindis, Melinda (Austria)

Časlav, Honorat, Ida, Narcis (Croatia)

Silvie (Czech Republic)

Narcissus (Denmark)

Alf, Alfred, Fred, Fredi (Estonia)

Alfred, Urmasimo (Finland)

Narcisse (France)

Ermelinda, Franco, Grete, Melinda (Germany)

Abramios, Melina (Greece)

Nárcisz (Hungary)

Ermelinda, Michela, Massimiliano (Italy)

Elva, Elvijs, Fortuna, Laimonis (Latvia)

Gelgaudas, Narcizas, Tolvydė, Violeta (Lithuania)

Noralf, Norunn (Norway)

Euzebia, Franciszek, Longin, Longina, Lubogost, Narcyz, Teodor, Wioletta (Poland)

Anastasia (Romania)

Zinaida (Russia)

Klára (Slovakia)

Narciso (Spain)

Viola (Sweden)

Garrison, Cyrano, Cyrena, Narcissa, Narcissus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 302 of 2024; 63 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 43 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 27 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Ten-Xu), Day 15 (Geng-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 14 Heshvan 5784

Islamic: 14 Rabi II 1445

J Cal: 2 Mir; Twosday [2 of 30]

Julian: 16 October 2023

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 22 Descartes (11th Month) [Robertson]

Runic Half Month: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 3 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 36 of 89)

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 6 of 29)

[intheshadowofwar]

29 June 2023

The Monstrous Anger

Ypres 29 June 2023

Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian medical doctor, is probably one of, if the not the most misunderstood of the so-called ‘war poets.’ He is the author of the famous poem ‘In Flanders Fields,’ which might be the single most prolific piece of war poetry ever written. He penned it on the back of a field ambulance the day after he’d had to bury a close friend. He himself died of pnumonia in 1918, which only adds to the poignancy of the poem. It has been read in memorial services, in schools, at war memorials and museums and cemetaries.

His words are iconic - that stanza, ‘we are the dead,’ etched itself into the minds of generations. Those first two verses are so powerful that they have blinded people from the poem’s true meaning, expressed in the final verse.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

There you have it. This most iconic and powerful pieces of prose, repeated by the mournful generations that followed that First World War, was intended to inspire men to go to war.

I do not consider John McCrae to be an evil man - he was of his time, and sincerely believed in the justice of his cause - hell, had I lived in his time, I might have agreed with him (and even today, I have very little sympathy for the German cause.) But I do consider In Flanders Fields to be an evil poem, a profoundly evil poem, because it not only inspired men to go to their deaths in Flanders and France, but it was used as a potent tool in the Borden government’s campaign to introduce conscription to Canada. I am not saying we should not recite this poem, but I am saying that we should think more carefully about what it really says.

McCrea isn’t buried in Flanders, but he’s commemorated here at Essex Farm Casualty Clearing Station, where the men he treated were buried. This was where we began today - the bunker in which the Canadian-run station was run remains on the site, and tributes are still left inside. Yet it’s not only the Canadians who have claim to this land - the 49th West Riding Division has its memorial obelisk here, and the cemetery is littered with the dead of the Yorkshire regiments that formed it. It’s a reminder that men often didn’t die instantly on the front line - they lingered, in ‘casualty clearing stations’ like this, often for days, until death finally claimed them. Some of them even suffered the final indignity of being looted by some of the more unscrupulous oderlies - the acronym of the Royal Army Medical Corps, RAMC, was sardinically corrupted by British troops into ‘Rob All My Comrades.’ (The British had a knack for this - NYD (‘Not Yet Diagnosed’) signs above medical cases became ‘Not Yet Dead.’)

After Essex Farm, we entered Poperinge, which is a lovely town which I absolutely do not recommend visiting until they find out where that open sewer smell is coming from. (Perhaps they are trying to emulate the smell of frontline latrines?) Odour aside, there’s a fine Belgian memorial outside the cathedral there, but we were most interested in the Execution Post. There were dozens of these on all fronts - the Italians in particular were very profligate when it came to shooting their own men. In Poperinge, the execution site was outside the town hall, and today is a memorial to the men killed by their own side.

Men were, of course, shot for serious crimes - murder and rape were capital offenses. For the most part, however, they were shot for desertion, for refusing to fight, for dropping their weapons in the line of duty - essentially, for cowardice. Today, we know that soldiers can and do reach their limit, and that they need to be treated in compassion, but in 1917, PTSD wasn’t understood, and a man having a trauma induced panic attack could find himself judicially murdered by unsympathetic courts martial. Elsewhere, particularly in Italy, executable offensives could be truly absurd. One man was shot for failing to remove his pipe from his mouth when saluting. Other men from ‘underperforming’ units were shot at random to encourage the others - a revival of the Roman practice of decimation. It was not only the battlefield that could be pitiless.

We departed Poperinge and headed to Hill 60. Hill 60 was actually one of two points on one hill - the north was called ‘Hill 60’ while the southern portion was called ‘the Caterpillar.’ I say it ‘was’ one of these points, because Hill 60 and the Caterpillar are no longer there. Although this portion of the line was not on the Messines Ridge, it was attacked as part of General Herbert Plumer’s attack on the ridge in June 1917. Prior to the attack, tunnellers - famously the 1st Australian Tunneling Company, but also Canadian and British miners at various points - dug beneath German lines and planted massive mines beneath their strongpoints. On the 7th of June 1917, they were detonated. Hill 60, the Caterpillar and ten thousand German lives were extinguished in a pair of colossal explosions - just two of nineteen exploded that day. The assault that followed was a example of an unqualified British success - but the opening of the Third Battle of Ypres shortly after prevented much exploitation.

The craters remain, covered in grass, trees and water, but clearly visible as a scar upon the land. To see the sheer size of the crater at the Caterpillar, and to contemplate the sheer destructive power that caused it, is truly a sobering thing. This, effectively, is the grave of thousands of men - not that anything remained to be found after the mines went off. At very least, I suppose, it would have been quick.

We returned to Ypres for a quick lunch, and then headed back out to Tyne Cot Cemetery, where lie the dead of the late stages of the Passchendaele battles. This is the largest Commonwealth cemetery anywhere in the world, with 13,000 men interred within - a smaller number than Langemarck, but it must be remembered that the vast majority of them have individual graves or headstones. We were guided through by a CWGC intern, shown a few particular graves, and talked through the process of maintaining a cemetery and working for the CWGC.

Tyne Cot is so large that it is numbing. I remember staring at the endless rows of dead - 8000 of them are unknowns, and whole rows can consist of ‘Known Unto God’ repeated ad nauseum. The numberless dehumanised ‘blank’ graves, broken occasionally by one with a name and an epitaph, put me in the mind of old pictures of units before and after major battles - a full parade ground before, a few dozen men afterwards. It made me think of one of those dark trench songs - ‘if you want the old battalion, I know where they are. They’re hanging on the old barbed wire.’

We moved on from Tyne Cot to the Flanders Field American Cemetery. In the last few months of the war, two American divisions - initially the 27th and 30th Divisions, then the 37th and 91st Divisions - fought under British and Belgian command in the last battles around Ypres and the Lys. This was contrary to General John Pershing, the American commander’s, belief that Americans ought to fight under their own command in their own units (a policy that, alongside Pershing’s complete refusal to take advice from the British and the French, led to proportionately higher casualties amongst US forces.) I’m not quite sure why the Americans let these divisions fight with the other Allies, but my guess is that they politically felt they ought to be shown to be fighting in Belgium.

We were guided around the cemetery by the superintendent there, and it reminded me of how differently the United States thinks of the First World War (if they do at all of course.) The Americans frame their involvement in the war as a sacrifice for freedom - the freedom of the Belgians in particular being emphasised here. They’re not so much on the mud and blood as they are on the duty and heroism. I don’t think they’re necessarily wrong - Belgium was absolutely fighting for it’s freedom from the Germans - but I think their outlook reflects the limited amount of time they spent fighting in the war. The Americans didn’t really experience disillusionment with modern war until Vietnam - they were only in the tail end of the First World War, and the Second was fought against such an unambiguously evil opponent that it would be hard to form a pacifistic argument against it.) Add that to the current attitude towards soldiers and veterans in America today, which is in itself a reaction to how Vietnam veterans were treated, and the US attitude to it’s First World War isn’t surprising at all.

It’s unsurprising, but the way the superintendent danced around anything that might have come off as critical of the US war effort was a little bit troubling. One doesn’t have to be a pacifist to say that attacks launched hours or minutes before the armistice were probably pointless - and yet he seemed almost to justify them. I’m sure that’s just the line he’s been told to say, but just because these doughboys were still ‘on the clock’ didn’t mean they had to die on the altar of Pershing’s vanity.

Can you tell I don’t think much of Pershing?

We went back to Ypres again, had a little break, and met beside (what we could see of) the Menin Gate for a discussion of that. I had volunteered to read Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘On Passing the New Menin Gate,’ which is one of Sassoon’s angrier works, and I quickly regretted it as the park we were standing in was soon occupied by a lot of old men in Royal British Legion suits and guys with tattoos who looked like they could steamroll me in a fight - but they’d all gone by the time it came to speak, and I managed to read it without having my arse ripped out through my mouth by an angry ex-serviceman.

We headed down to the Last Post ceremony. Ken Inglis once said that rituals are most interesting when they go wrong, so he’d have loved this one. First of all, the entire Menin Gate was covered in scaffolding, so it was like half of Ypres had congregated in front of a construction site. The crowd was such that nobody could see, so a sea of arms holding phones emerged from the mass of people. Then the ceremony began, and silence fell, save for the ringing of bicycle chains as a band of cyclists for Prostrate Cancer UK, wearing form-fitting, neon blue bike suits, rolled up to see what was happening. The Last Post was sounded, and then ‘quiet’ as dignitaries and school children lay wreaths. I say ‘quiet’ because one motorist drove past the barrier and nudged his way through the crowd to get home a little more quickly, and a few kids down the road were miming guns and shouting ‘Pew! Pew! Pew!’ One kid in a red shirt was either miming being shot or dancing, I’m still not certain which. Halfway through, the Prostrate Cancer guys got bored and cycled away. A man from the Royal British Legion stood behind me, and I noticed him die a little more inside at every absurdity. A piper began to play, and immediately hit a bum note. All the while, Belgian pedestrians walked past, some still talking or whistling as they did. The ceremony didn’t so much end as it petered out - the bugle stopped, silence turned to confused mumbling and then speaking, and then a great wave of people stumbled forwards, through the scaffolding and into town - the vast majority headed for pubs and bars.

It wasn’t a very solemn or moving occasion, but it was sure as hell entertaining.

I would like to end on a little indulgence. All day, I have wanted to read a poem as a sort of rebuttal to In Flanders Fields, but time simply wasn’t on my side. As a result, I’m just going to print it here. This is Wilfred Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth - the spiritual antithesis, in my opinion, to John McCrae.

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

[sccchris]

🚴‍♂️🇧🇪🚴 MTB'tje doen .... 🚴🏽‍♀️🇧🇪🚴‍♂️ P O P E R I N G E #passion #mountainbike #belgium #lowhills (bij Poperinge, Belgium) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpVyxmdNH_oZBdEDYnlgqmbtSLbx7_pdHhqnoI0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[indegazettevanindegazettepuntbe]

Passagier levensgevaarlijk gewond na botsing tegen boom in Poperinge https://www.indegazette.be/passagier-levensgevaarlijk-gewond-na-botsing-tegen-boom-in-poperinge/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[porciaenjoyer]

i miss talbot house the museum in poperinge not the addiction treatment centre which apparently exists..

[superblysupercolor]

Keuze uit eigen werk 'Talbot House', Poperinge, tuinomgeving met pen en bister op bewerkt papier naar notitie in Tekeningendagboek, maart 2024...

#tekenkunst #drawings #giedevostekeningendagboek#pleinair#dessins #landscapesart #giedevos#worksonpaper #artistoninstagram #pleinairpainting #landscapeart