News

The 90th anniversary of the battle of Passchendaele is to be commemorated with a series of special events taking place in the West Flanders region of northern Belgium this summer.

The battle, which lasted for three months in 1917, was hugely instrumental in the outcome of the war, marking the initial withdrawal of the German lines of defence.

However, in just over 100 days, 500,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or went missing in action.

The official remembrance ceremony for the battle is set to take place at the Tyne Cot cemetery on 12 July.

The cemetery, the largest Commonwealth burial ground in Europe, currently receives over 180,000 visitors annually, including relatives of soldiers from the Canada, New Zealand and Australia, as well as the UK.

The ceremony will also coincide with the opening of a new visitor centre at the cemetery, while the 80th anniversary of the inauguration of the Menin Gate in Ypres will also be commemorated on the same day.

For visitors, five themed weekends are to take place, each one coinciding with the various offences that took place between June and November 1917.

Several exhibitions are also planned along the length of the popular Westhoek cycle network.

Also, villagers of Zoonebeke are planning to raise a Celtic cross on a nearby ridge to commemorate the deaths of thousands of Scottish soldiers killed during the four-month offensive.


© Adfero Ltd