Photos, videos and docs of Don Barrett (aka DBs travels), with the keywords: "WWI"

Belgium WWI cemteries (#0359)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 07:06:19 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Visiting the German cemetery in Langemark was the end of my day of visiting cemeteries near Ypres. Though my original plan had been to visit some of the WWI memorials with striking sculptures commemorating the dead, I found myself glad that it worked out that I visited relatively small and ordinary looking cemeteries located within a relatively short distance of each other.

The proximity of the cemeteries, the fact that they had been near battlefields, and the fact that many of the cemeteries filled in very short periods of time, resulted in a strong sense of the high volume of death in WWI. In addition, their ordinariness and their intermingling with fields and farm houses, created a sense of the dreariness of war – of death as a tragic but almost inevitable part of the human cycle.

Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0353)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 07:23:35 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

At the end of the "kameradengraf" is a statue of four soldiers. The artist was inspired to create the sculptures based on a photograph taken at the cemetery in 1918 of four soldiers mourning the burial of others.

Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0351)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 07:23:25 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

The mass grave is believed to include the remains of 16,940 soldiers whose names can be determined even though their bodes cannot; each of the 48 tablets contains a portion of those names. If you look at a large version of the picture, you can see that the name, position, and date of death for each soldier is listed.

Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0350)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 07:23:17 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Tablets surrounding the "kameradengraf" (comrade grave) with the names of soldiers believe to be buried in the mass grave (see adjacent picture).

Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0352)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 07:23:08 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

A grave of 25,000

The area of the "kameradengraf" (comrade grave) where the remains of approximately 25,000 are buried. (see adjacent pictures)

Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0356)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 01:05:08 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

44,924.....

The cemetery contains 44,924 war dead, the vast majority of which are unidentified. The rectangular grave markers in this picture designate locations where eight soldiers, identified and unidentified, are buried; behind me is a mass grave described in later pictures.

From what I can put together, it seems that the area where the cemetery is located was originally what was known as the 'student cemetery' due to being the burial ground of the large number of German students who died in the first battles of Ypres. At some point in the 1930's this area was laid out as a German cemetery by (or for) the Volksbund, a German charity that manages the cemetery. Various accounts suggest that there was a battle line through here during the war, so I could not figure out what happened at this location from early in the war until the 1930's. In the 1950’s there was a decision to consolidate the graves of Germans that were scattered across Belgium into a smaller number of cemeteries, including this one. Thus many of those buried here died elsewhere in Belgium.

See: www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/cemetery-langemark.htm and www.digi-cms.be/langemark-poelkapelle2.be/toerisme-en/590-www/592-www.html

Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0354)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 01:04:48 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Three basalt-lava crosses. The crosses reflect the motif of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK) which is responsible for the cemetery.

Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0349)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 01:04:31 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

The main and historic entrance to the cemetery, designed to be a reminder of the bunkers that were once at this location. See: www.digi-cms.be/langemark-poelkapelle2.be/toerisme-en/590-www/592-www.html

Belgium Langemark German cemetery (#0343)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 01:04:08 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

At the entrance (from the parking lot) to the German cemetery in Langemark. The covered area includes video screens with narrative and photos about German forces in the area during WWI. The videos cover two exceptional facts about the Langemark:

1) ‘Student cemetery’: The cemetery was at first called the ‘student cemetery’ because the initial German troops used in the area were predominantly ill-prepared students who had little military training and were forced into battle ill-prepared, resulting in very high death rates. (multiple sources)

2) Chemical warfare: The Germans are credited with being the first to use poison gas in warfare. That ‘first’ attack involved the release of deadly chlorine gas along a five-mile line that ran through what is now the site of the cemetery. The following website provides a description of gas attacks, including noting that the French were actually the first to use gas in warfare, that there were limited German uses before this attack at Langemark, and that Allied forces quickly picked up the use of gas in their attacks: firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm

Belgium Ypres Poppy Centopath (#0342)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 09:04:40 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

A remarkable marker that I wish I had known more about at the time. Subsequent searching indicates that the monument was created by an international community of blacksmiths to honor the role of the blacksmiths in WWI who maintained the very large population of horses that were necessary for fighting the war. The Centopath includes the tall central sheet of metal with a poppy cut out, surrounded by a field of 2016 steel poppies crafted by blacksmiths, plus various hand-crafted panels around the square.

The Centopath is next to the German cemetery in Langemark Polkapelle; because my focus was on the German cemetery and it was getting late in the day, I did not spend enough time understanding this monument.

The website linked here contains information on the project, including a fascinating page with pictures on the uses of horses in WWI (between 1914 and 1917, a 1000 horses a day were shipped from the US to Europe): www.ypres2016.com

Belgium Welsh National Memorial (#0337)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 09:04:22 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

The monument consists of a bronze dragon, the symbol of Wales, atop a stone slab foundation in a form common to Celtic people. The monument is the only monument to the Welsh, who lost disproportionately more people to WWI than any other country. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Memorial_Park,_Ypres

Belgium Welsh National Memorial (#0336)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 09:03:59 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

A sign describing the Welsh National Monument. The monument commemorates the contributions of all Welsh to WWI, from soldiers to those working extra on the home front.

Belgium Hospital Farm Cemetery (#0335)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 09:03:42 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

From the cemetery path, taken on the return to the car.

Belgium Hospital Farm Cemetery (#0331)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 07:24:39 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Buried here are 115 British soldiers and 1 French civilian.

Belgium Hospital Farm Cemetery (#0329)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 07:24:31 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

This cemetery is so named because there was a field hospital near here.

Belgium Hospital Farm Cemetery (#0328)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 07:24:21 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Fields of death....The presence of the cemetery in a bucolic spot surrounded by active fields created an almost surreal sense of the extent of mayhem and death that had occurred 100 years before.

Belgium Hospital Farm Cemetery (#0327)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 07:24:11 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Reaching the cemetery required walking alongside a farm field; the cemetery is not visible when you first enter the field and the path is not clearly marked, but it was a pleasant day for strolling the fields.

Belgium Hospital Farm Cemetery (#0326)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 07:24:03 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Hospital Farm Cemetery was also relatively difficult to find. Besides the cemetery I had just visited, there were two other Commonwealth cemeteries in or near Vlamertinghe and then the Hospital Farm Cemetery further out. There were signs for all three, but the sign for Hospital Farm was near an intersection where it was difficult to know which road to take. I made a wrong turn and went a fair distance before realizing that wasn't correct. I did, though, find it after a pleasant drive on a narrow road through fields.

Belgium Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery (#0321)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 07:23:53 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

The Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery Cemetery contains 1820 burials; 7 German, 1611 UK, remaining burials are other Commonwealth countries. Most of the burials are from July to December, 1917.

Belgium Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery (#0319)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 07:23:45 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery, from the farm path.