greatwarpilgrimage

24/02/2024

This week Sabine's battlefield guide Saturday

A misbehaving major

We start off in October 1914 in the area of Beselare – Zonnebeke where RIR 243 was on the side of several other regiments .
In several blogs I had written in 2021 about RIR 241 and the battle for Broodseinde cross roads we know where they are , RIR 243 is on the left , east of Molenaresthoek between de road and 'calvaire wald.' They are under fire from the British and the II battalion was hit severely by enemy shrapnel fire. Major Pank tried to get into the front line himself and was wounded in the knee by a shrapnel bullet. Now it gets interesting , he end up in the hospital 'reserve lazarett II abt. I ( St. Georg) in Leipzig from the 30th of October 1914 till 10th of Marsh 1915 the doctor who treated him was Dr. Fritzsche

An investigation was started against our major, since he misbehaved ( I was lucky to get the paperwork d from Jürgen)

During his stay in the military hospital, Major Prank complained to the chief physician about orders issued by staff physician Dr Fritzsche, which the chief physician had initiated following a complaint from nurse Hedwig Hülse about Major Prank and which related to the fact that Major Prank should only be cared for by male personnel.
Major Prank's complaint was investigated but so was the safs complaints.

The Council of Honour found that:

1) The sisters felt their dignity had been violated by Major Pank because they always believed they saw a certain intention in Major Pank's behaviour. Major Pank, for example, washed himself in their opposite direction and was almost completely undressed. According to sister Liddy Wunderlich, she confronted him about this. Sister Hedwig Hülse also stated that she had held out the shirt to Major Pank because she was uncomfortable with this kind of washing in her presence, but he had said that he only wanted to put the shirt on when he was lying in bed.

2) that Major Pank did nothing to prevent the female staff from entering his room while he was washing himself almost completely undressed.

3) That major Pank after credible assurance of the persons in question, who have been made aware of the obligation to swear to their statements in a court of law :
a) sister Liddy Wunderlich, he grabbed her arm and said to her: Come into my arms.
b) that he called sister Hedwig Hulse 'heddy' and 'schwesterchen' and washed himself undressed in her presence.
c) That he got so close with his face to the maid Anna Naumann as if he was going to kiss her.
d) That he kissed the housemaid Klara Schnabel on the neck.
e)That once he held the maid Klara Gerstner by the shoulder with his arm as if he wanted to kiss her

The head physician of the hospital believed that major Pank's behaviour is due to erotic intentions towards the female staff.
In view of the above, the Council of Honour came to the conclusion that the Major, by the way he behaved towards the female staff in the St. Georg reserve hospital during his stay there, had violated the duties of an officer and general professional ethics in such a way that his actions require a sentence of honor. However, with regard to the continuation of the proceedings against Major Pank, the Council of Honour considers it appropriate to refer the matter to the court of honour on the basis of its last hearing and the information provided by the head of the reserve hospital I Leipzig (Tauchaerweg), where Major Pank is currently being held.

the order was not communicated to the major in person. With the consent of the major, the complaint was declared closed on 10 March 2015.

But on 10/03/15, Major Pank complained to head nurse Prohaska about the ward nurse Liddy Wunderlich because she had not administered a priessnitz bandage to his knee that he had received between 9am and 10pm without a doctor's prescription.
He even had written a letter to complain about the fact the nurse Liddy had not greeted him

On 9.03.15, shortly before his discharge from the hospital, major Pank wrote a letter to matron Zimmermann, following a request he had already made on 17.02.1915, complaining further about nurse Liddy because she did not greet him and his friends, because she had not yet apologised and because she was irresponsibly neglecting his room. He described nurse liddy as unsuitable as an Albertine and explained this in more detail in his letter.

Sources : https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/306591/351
Das Kgl. Sächs. Res.-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 243 im Weltkriege 1914-1918
https://www.diako-leipzig.de/ueber-uns/geschichte

Jürgen for helping me once again when I lost my inspiration.

03/02/2024

This week Sabine's battlefield guide Saturday
Hazebrouck a murderous tommy and a dog
A sunny but cold Sunday was the perfect day to go out and visit the town of Hazebrouck.
From October 1914 till September 1917 there were casualty clearing stations posted at Hazebrouck. So the cemetery in town must have many stories to tell. One of them : A murder and then to find the victim buried in the same row, think it is the only place you will find this.
Benjamin De fehr born in Winkler 29th of Marsh 1888, Manitoba. A driver in the CASC( Canadian army service corps.
Shot his regimental sergeant major in the back on the 19th of august 1916

Corporal Jospeph Handley Smith wrote on the 24th of august 1916 in his diary that they would have to parade at 3.15 am the next morning as a result of the court marchal of the poor chap that shot James Reuben Scott, who was killed instantly.

Benjamin De Fehr was one of two Canadian volunteer soldiers who were executed during World War I for the crime of murder He claimed he had been drunk during the incident, witnesses said he was sober.

James Reuben Scott was born in 1872 in London , he left a widow behind Alice Scott, she lived Montreal Quebec
James had been with the South African Police for 3 years
The unit : No.1 reserve park where both soldiers were part of seemed to have had a bad reputation towards having disipline.
The irony of this story is plot I row A grave 13 and 10 count for yourself how many grave there are between Benjamin and James.

Now the dog comes into this trip ( for Joe and Gus)
The dog is named Flavie and was traveling with her master and me, she helped locate the graves and was very well behaved even showed her interest in the french graves of cimetière Saint Eloi in Hazebrouck.

sources : https://www.warmuseum.ca/collections/archive/3172063
Shot at dawn by Julian putkowski& Julian Sykes
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/44872
https://canadiangreatwarproject.com/person.php?pid=1611

27/01/2024

This week Sabine's battlefield guide Saturday
A postcard of 3 wounded Belgian soldiers found on my Isle (as I call the UK my isle)
As a ww1 poscard collector/ guide/researcher I always keep an eye out for a nice card whereever I go.
This one I bought in my favourite shop in Hastings a few years ago and promised myself I would dig out their story.
Since the rear of the card had a date on it, I knew that they got wounded early, my guess was oktober 1914. So military details were needed, date of birth, name it, my cup of tea I love doing research .
All 3 were serving in the same Regiment '5th regiment chasseurs a pied'
Maurice Delplancq born in Brussesl 10/05/1887 regimental number 49683
Guillaume De Becker born 08/06/1884 St. joost ten Node regimental number 49 588
Schellemans Jean born 11/12/1888 Tisselt regimental number 50440
Their regiment the 5th jagers on foot / chasseur a pied was created by the duplication of the 2nd jagers on foot./ chasseur a pied, those two regiments suffered heavy losses at Eppegem. After the retreat from Antwerp, the 5th was disbanded. On 26 December 1916, the 5th jagers on foot was re-formed.
But back to our men, where did they get wouned?And when? Finding something online towards the Belgians, I wish you good luck, you can go to Brussels to see it or you work your way around it like I did, and pretty fast too. The museum of the chasseur a pieds I asked for help, told them I have an image in my possesion of chasseurs, do you think they wanted a copy of it ? No, didn't ask at all, just said we do not have any information. I'll send them the link of this blog.
All 3 were on the list of the Belgian refuguees that arrived in Glasgow, all in the same hotel only the exacte date is not clear to me, end of Oktober or beginning november in Popular hotel, 133 Holm street Glasgow.
Did they go back to fight or what? I did find the newspaper who would give me all I wanted to know. Since old newspapers can be found online, only in the UK you have to pay for it. Lucky me, My friends are always willing to help. Thank you Nigel, you are a star.
Two of them turned up in Kirkintilloch town hall, Guillaume and Maurice,on Saturday the 12th of December 1914, Jean had already returned to the front. Both men had been shot in the right thigh. Had taken part in 6 battles in Belgium, Leuven en Diest were two of them,
Seems the image I have in my collection was made to get funds for the Belgian relief fund and they would appear at town halls, sing the Belgian anthem, said they would not ask for money, all they asked was if they could sell postcards.

sources : Postcard my own collection
The belgian refugees 1914-1920 part one glasgow life list
Nigel Marshall who helped me getting the newspaper I needed , thank you my friend
https://www.old.klm-mra.be/D7t/nl/content/persoonlijke-militaire-dossiers
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Kirkintilloh Herald of 16/12/1914
l'echo de la presse international of 07/12/1914

13/01/2024

This week Sabine's battlefield guide Saturday : Lizerne/ steenstraete (the LTA cave part two) 9é regiment de marche de zuaves
As promised part two of some artifacts seen in the LTA cave and a few maps found in the French war diary of the 9th zuave regiment.
The 9th regiment du Zuaves left Hazebrouck ( France) on the 24th of April 1915
and arrived in Poperinge( Belgium) they leave at intervals to West- Vleteren:
the battle rages some twelve kilometres to the east. We learn that the Germans are making extensive use of asphyxiating gas. A line from Langemark, Bikschote and Frank to the Yser canal at steenstraete and het sas was secured, a large number of men were asphyxiated, guns were lost, a counter attack, executed by the 45 division was able to regain part of the lost ground.. They leave West Vleteren give the names of a few locations ' den stier cabaret, de wippe cabaret et le poteu indicatoux 16( signpost 16)
the regiment moves to the hoptial farm 2300 M SW of Elverdinge, where it is in army reserve. Battalion Bastien, goes in the wood of 'Vuile Seule'. Numerous bursts over Elverdinge and Woesten. We see English and Belgian troops passing. We learn that, during a night battle, the enemy has passed Lizerne, and has taken up position to the south of the lock of het sas'.

25/04/1915 The fighting goes on, the terrain is filled with men, wounded and dead everywhere
50 metres from the German trench, a new machine gun breaks up, the leader (Bastien) of the battalion and 3 captains are killed, a quarter of the strength is out of action, 320 men, 60 men are seriously wounded.

sources :
Postcards my own collection
https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/fr/arkotheque/inventaires/ead_ir_consult.php?fam=3&id_ark_ead_les_irs=6
Visit to the LTA cave: Thank you Jan for letting me take pictures

30/12/2023

This week Sabine's battlefield guide Saturday :
Eksternest / Westhoek in Zonnebeke

The last postcard I bought in 2011 was of 'Eksternest' but it has a story to tell, many.
On the 9th of August 1915,early that Monday morning there was an enormous air activity above the Ieper sector.
Oberleutnant zur See Alfred Ritscher and his Beobachter Leutnant Heinrich Maas were send up the air. Somewhere above Polygone wood he took the a Brit under fire. Oddly enough, the British double-decker remained intact, but lost altitude. after an almost perfect landing somewhere around Eksternest it overtook. There was no movement from the tilted plane, from German infantrymen all the more. On their return to Moorsele, they were already aware of their exploits. Strangely enough, neither of the German pilots ever made a claim to this victory themselves. The British pilot, Captain Robert Pike, was hit in the head and probably killed instantly. He was buried in a nearby German cemetery. Captain Robert Maxwell Pike, Flight Commander N° 5 RFC Squadron, was a 29 year old Irishman, born at Kilwork, Tullow, County Carlow. His grave was never recovered, probably destroyed by the heavy shelling. His name is chiseled in the memorial to the missing British Air Force personnel in Arras.
But it is also the area where the 7th bn AIF was in 1917 the war diary tells us the following : 3th of Oktober 1917 batallion in trenches at westhoek ridge, preparing to moveing into assembly position at night in readyness for attack on ennemy at 6 am on the 4th. About midnight lt. Lovett reports our assembly tapes not lais out, so he had missed our party in the dark. Lt. Pollack being killed before midnight by an ennemy shell.
Sources :
Card from my postcard collection
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1338583
Henshaw Trevor: The Sky their Battlefield, Grub Street, Londen, 1995
airwar19141918
wingsofwar.org

02/12/2023

This weeks Sabines battlefields guide Saturday :
The LTA cave part one
Jan a good friend of mine has been collecting trench art for many many years, his collection is incredible, it's the rare pieces I love the most like the German 'stahlhelm' that was modified to a big manure spoon. The minature helmet, the tapestry. There is a lot to see in the Lizerne trench art cave. Trench art is a term that can be misunderstood, people think that onely soldiers during the great war made it. I'll explain next week in a second blog more on this subject plus you'll get to see a few more pictures then.
LTA stands for Lizerne trench art

25/11/2023

This week Sabine's battlefield guide Saturday :
Clos Whilhelm an early POW of WW1

A Flemisch book : Brugge tijdens de grote oorlog' part 1written by Jean Louis Roba and Roger Lampaert made me research one man.
Wilhelm Clos born in Pohl in 1891.
His name and a photo caught my eye and I wanted to know more of what happened to Wilhelm who was brought wounded into Brugge as a prisoner of war.
I needed to find his regiment since the book did not mention it.
Somehow I could not find his POW record in the red cross files. My penny dropped when I was reading in the 'regiment geschichte' , I had already checked the 'verlustlisten' a C might be filed under K and bingo, file found.
The Verlustlisten reported him as missing and an other entry gave the date of death. Wilhelm was an NCO in the Ulanen Regiment 11. He was brought to a gefangenlager in France : Coëtquidan , moved to Bressuire Tours in november 1916 and unfortunately died in a mixed hospital in tours. No cause of death found.

But where was he taken prisoner ? The book above told me that he was patched up in a hospital in Brugge but the regimental history ' Die Gelbe Ulanen Brigade gave the answer:

Das Ulanen-Regiment 11

On the 11th of September 1914 at 11 am the squadrons traveled to Hulste via Desselgem, where quarters were taken in a small courtyard and mill. During the night there was a lot of patrol activity by the Belgians, 30 cyclists were seen on the road from Brugge to Kortrijk, all young, people.

On the 12th they continued their journey via Ingelmunster towards Roeselare and Staden, on the way they received fire from invisible opponents. In the evening the squadrons arrived at several small farms between Essen and Diksmuide, several kilometers apart.

13th of September 1914 early morning, while trying to send an important message to KD that the area was still unoccupied, a Belgian volunteer company attacked the 5th squadron, witch was repulsed after a short fight. However, while the Ulans were getting ready to march off, the Belgians received reinforcements and attacked for the second time, so they had to retreat as quickly as possible. They had to gallop along a road that was under fire, wounding several ulans and killing some horses, Wachtmeister Rocholl Otto had the task of keeping a cross road clear with 3 men. He did that in a splendid way, only to find himself surrounded on all sides and after defending himself for 20 minutes , until the last bullet, he was taken prisoner. In the meantime the squadron managed to escape the firing range, where it joined with the 2nd squadron in 'kippe'. Here the casualties were recorded, apart from minor wounded, ulanen Rappold and Schultze were severely wounded. Wachtmeister Rocholl Otto, unteroffizier Clos Wilhelm and Ulan Kutzleb Kurt were missing.

De Kippe is near Merkem so somewhere between Diksmuide and Merkem, he got wounded, his horse shot dead and he fell, ended up taken prisoner and died in France on the 6th of Marsh 1917.
His grave can be found in Bouligny Blok 7 grave 95

Sources : https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/
https://des.genealogy.net/search/show/597614
https://p248991.mittwaldserver.info/gemeinde-pohl/index.php?Seite=Kriegsopfer
“Die gelbe Ulanen-Brigade.” Löbbecke, Published by Perleberg Grunick 1933.
A big thank you to Jurgen who helped with the pages I needed to get the answer.

22/11/2023

Still finding them

Enkele uurtjes aan de slag in de Westhoek. Onvoorstelbaar welke hoeveelheden CTE in de bodem achterbleven - sommige tientallen kilo's zwaar...

20/11/2023

Update Menin Gate

11/11/2023

This weeks Sabine's battleffield guide Saturday
Captain Bruce Bairnsfather's First World War cartoons

Captain Bruce Bairnsfather was a British humorist and cartoonist, witty at times He developed a series of cartoons for 'the bystander' about the life in the trenches featuring "Old Bill", a soldier with a walrus mustache , he became an icon and was known to boost the British moral, even ended up on postcards, pottery, play cards, a play even a film.

In my own collection I have two of the books that were published by the bystander, one is temporary missing,( happens once in a while) but I also have a decorative plate made by Grimwade,
I selected a few of his cartoons where he seems to make fun about the Germans, mind you he didn't spare the British army either. It is sense of humor you need to survive if you ask me.

28/10/2023

This week Sabine's battlefield guide is going behind the lines to Veurne
The museum : "Veurne vrij vaderland" it is focused on the small part of Belgium that was unoccupied.
Marie Curry came and brought her radiology equiment, queen Elisabeth set up hospitals, you will also find the guillotine that was used to execute a Belgian soldier( Emile verfaille) who killed his pregnant girlfriend, and many more items. The cat is for Joe and Gus, it is playing : you will not find me.

26/07/2023

22/04/2023

This week's Sabine"s battlefield guide Saturday is going to Beernem for a mystery that is still today far from solved. (17/10/2020)
We start in December 1914 on the 19th to be correct. Part of the German imperial guard settles in the castles of Beernem, Oostkamp and ruddervoorde. The prince Von Wied moved into the Bulskampveld castle of Mrs. Lippens in Beernem. His staff officer Prince Johann August zu Stolberg-Rossia is billeted by baron d'Udekem d'Acoz in Ruddervoorde. The Colonel of the 3rd Regime of the Kurassiers also stayed there with 4 of his senior officers, including Captain Heinrich Franz Hans Gustav Rikholt von Gagern.
Two names will catch our attention. Baron Rickholt von Gagern, Rittmeister (squadron leader) in the Cavalry Division of the Guard and his friend Prince Johan zu Stolberg-Rossla, lieutenant in the same Division. "Gagern, a handsome and tall young man of 27 years old, crooked moustache, gallant and extremely considerate; Stolberg, 25 years old, frail and sickly looking", these are the memories of a young linen maid employed at the time at the castle.
But soon a flirtation sets in between the seductive Cécile and Baron Rickholt von Gagern, whom she affectionately nicknames "Ricki", in allusion to his first name. Prestige of the uniform?
Wasn't it whispered, without the slightest proof, that she had already had an affair with a German officer residing in another castle of the Ydewalle family in Ruddervoorde?
On March 25, 1915, the officers of the General Staff had to leave Lakebos Castle, some of their units being called to the Russian front. After a farewell dinner the evening before, Gagern heads for Hasselt while his friend Stolberg stays another month with Prince zu Wied at the Lippens'. Will they really have left Belgium?
Trying to objectively trace the course of events is a delicate exercise. A balance between different and sometimes contradictory testimonies, a relation of facts oscillating between the true, the probable or the fanciful ... A PREMEDITATED MURDER?
It is nearly eight o'clock in the morning on May 25, 1915. A car stops in front of Lakebos Castle in Ruddervoorde, not far from Bruges, where Henri d'Udekem d'Acoz and his wife, née Cécile van Outryve d'Ydewalle, live. Two men wearing German uniforms under a gray cape, driven by a driver. They urge the lord to follow them to the Kommandantur of Tielt. As Henri d'Udekem has complained to the German authorities about the savage cutting of wood on his property, they want to hear from him about it. Henri d'Udekem will never be seen alive again.
During the day, anxiety settles in the castle because Henri is still not back. A friend of the family goes to the Kommandantur in Tielt where he is assured that they know nothing about it. Weeks go by, the disappearance of Henri is a mystery. Two months later, on August 28, 1915, a new fact caused trouble among the people of Beernem. Camiel Dierickx, Marie Lippens' faithful gamekeeper, disappears without a trace. The German authorities saw this as an excellent opportunity to divert suspicions of the disappearance of the lord of Lakebos from the gamekeeper. Notices are posted with the promise of a reward of 5,000 marks to whoever finds him, insinuating that he could be the author of a serious misdemeanor.
September 2, 1915, coup de théâtre. Two pruners are at work in the woods of Bulskampveld. At one point, they see a decomposing hand emerging from the dead leaves. In a hurry, the burgomaster Etienne de Vrière is informed. He reports the discovery to the public prosecutor of Bruges who goes to the scene. The body is dug up. On the left hand, a finger bears a wedding ring with the inscription "Cécile à Henri, unis le 19 février 1903". On a handkerchief, one reads the initials "H.d'U.d'A.". It is noted that the unfortunate man was shot twice in the back and that he would have been buried alive because he had earth in his mouth. Judging by the position of his right hand sticking out of the ground, he would have tried in vain to stand upright.
Very soon, a Belgian newspaper published in Holland talks about an assassination carried out by a German officer. The honour of their army being called into question, the German authorities decided to take matters into their own hands. Fritz Geissler, a German non-commissioned officer in charge of criminal investigations, conducts her investigation. Speaking fluent Flemish, disguised as a carbide merchant, he mingles with the population. According to the testimonies gathered from the neighbourhood and the castle staff, he learns that it was indeed the two officers, Gagern and Stolberg, who kidnapped the lord. It was soon established that the two men were the murderers of Henri d'Udekem. Paradoxically, Geissler receives only a few vague congratulations from his superiors. No doubt he was resented for having, in spite of himself, compromised the honour of the Cavalry of the Imperial Guard. He is sent back to Germany without the promised reward.
The trial of the murderous officers was held at the Palais de Justice in Brussels in 1917, in the presence of an envoy of the German Emperor and numerous military justice advisors. The judges' decision was final: the crime was obvious. It was coldly premeditated and executed with revolting cynicism. Rickholt von Gagern allegedly provoked his rival into a duel and the latter refused to fight. Losing his head, Gagern would have coldly shot the squire. What was the reason for this? Because he had fallen madly in love with Cécile d'Udekem and wanted to marry her after the war, but to do so he had to eliminate the husband. Both men were sentenced, Gagern as instigator to fifteen years of hard labour, Stolberg as a comparator to six months' imprisonment. However, at the behest of Emperor Wilhelm II, the governor general of Belgium ordered a reduction of the sentences handed down. Four years after the end of the war, the Belgian judiciary decided to take the matter in hand. On 27 and 28 July 1922, the Court of Assizes of West Flanders, presided over by Pierre Kervyn of Marcke ten Driessche, judged Baron von Gagern and Prince zu Stolberg-Rossla guilty of the murder of the lord of Lakebos. Both men are sentenced in absentia to be shot in public in Bruges. But it never occurred to anyone to find the convicts, one of whom, Prince Stolberg, had already been dead for two years!
sources
dydewalle.be
De geheimzinnige zaken in Beernem by A. Ryserhove
Pictures : Henri, Cecile,castle Ruddervoorde, Zu wied and Grave of Johan

15/04/2023

This week Sabine's battlefield guide Saturday :
Beer and fighting flees during the war
Poperinge was one of the few unoccupied cities and it is generally known that the Allied soldiers of different nationalities (Belgians, French, British) often stayed in those cities. Poperinge itself served as a place of relaxation and resting place just behind the front and it is plausible to say that during those relaxed moments, quite a bit of beer was consumed. until 1916 there were 32 breweries. Strong breweries included Bataille, Germain Devos, Lahaye and Pyck in Poperinge, Verfaille in Proven and Petyt and Van Eecke in Watou. Brewery Bataille (Poperinge) went from a malt consumption of 60 350 kg in 1914 to 166 625 kg in 1915. A strong increase thus. a successful brewery is Pyck's. This brewery had a malt consumption of 49 043 kg in 1914, which during the war years onlywould increase. It went from 187 670 kg in 1915 to 196 170 kg in 1916.
The Abbey of Saint Sixtus during the First World War brother Victor Van Staten, Father Ludovicus, Maria De Cleyn and Edmundus Joye kept a war diary about the situation in the abbey of Saint-Sixtus. In this war diary there are some fragments which tell us more about when it was allowed to brew. It becomes clear that they were not allowed to brew during the day because this was too dangerous for the German planes. It is mentioned that sometimes they were not allowed to brew at night because there was too much light burning in the brewery, which could attract German planes again. Father abbot, Bonaventura de Groote, did not bother much with these orders and kept the brewery running. At one point a British general, who was quartered in the monastery, even gave the order to stop the brewery in July 1916, but again the father abbot ignored this order. During the war year 1916, peace returned to the Westhoek. There were no large-scale military offensives like in 1914 and 1915 and the soldiers were relatively relaxed. The abbey wanted to earn some extra money and opened a canteen for the soldiers. An average of 600 to 700 bottles of beer were consumed per day.
"British soldiers in brewer's tubs" ? true or not
above the brewery 't Zwynland along the Casselstraat in Poperinge the following text was written: "Not only was the Belgian gendarmerie established here, but for a while there was also annex of the hospital in the meadow opposite, the YMCA had a canteen here and there were... baths. To fight the ubiquitous itch, every battalion obliged to collectively bath in the big yeast at each period of rest - and refrigerated bins inside the brewery. And the next day beer was brewed again. There were three giant barrels in the brewery with shelves in between. The first barrel was full of hot, dirty and soapy water. The next barrel was filled with hot water and was not so dirty. A soldiers account :The last barrel was filled with cold water, fairly clean. You started at the first keg and undressed. You tied your khaki uniform in a bundle, together with your boots and your kepi. the underwear was taken to a decontamination unit. Also your uniform was supposed to be taken to the disinfection unit, but that didn't happen that much. You started and ropes were stretched over the barrel, so you had to pull yourself up with the rope to get to the next barrel. Then you climbed to the next plank in the next barrel, jumped into the water, washed away the worst dirt and ended up in the last barrel. When you came out on the other side, you grabbed a towel, dried off and looked around questioningly. "Where's my kepi?" It was the only way you could find your own bundle of clothes, because together with your kepi your identity badge was attached to it.
sources :
aan de schreve 2013
Bier hop en de eerste wereldoorlog scriptiebank 2014
Mac donald, L : They called it Passchendaele

08/04/2023

This week Sabine's battlefield guide Saturday is going to focus on a Belgian baby
The baby called Pervijze
Pervijze, British nurses and Helen Gleason chose this village in mid-November 1914 to set up an aid station. after all, they wanted to give Belgian soldiers who had been wounded , help as quickly as possible, and this could only be done as close to the front as possible. life during the winter of 1914 was no fun, more and more houses were hit and reduced to rubble. The Anseeuw family lived in the house diagonally opposite the relief post. Herminie Declercq was married on 20 August 1912 in Pervijze to Désiré Ameeuw. Until 1912 she lived in Pervijze after which she moved to Keiem, but on the run from war they moved back to Pervijze with her mother in the Veurnestraat On February 20, 1915, the help of the nurses was called in, it was urgent, this time the women were happy, a baby was on the way. Albertus Josephus Cornelius was born. The German shelling intensified the following weeks
On 25 March 1915 she and her two children Marguerite and Gerard were killed in a bombardment. The house in which they stayed almost completely collapsed and all three were buried under the rubble. As by a miracle, a third child, Albert, survived the disaster. He was taken by the American nurse Helen Gleason, injured, to the hospital l'Océan in De Panne where he recovered from his serious injuries. On his crib was written ' Pervyse', after 3 months the baby is transferred as an official orphan to an American orphanage in Neuilly near Paris. Shortly after the armistice his life changes. In Neuilly, a Walloon war invalid, Leopold Harte, sees a group of playing children, notices a male toddler limping . He asks the supervisor of the group for the name of the child. On l'apelle Pervyse' is her answer. Suddenly everything became clear to Leopold, he remembered the story about the crib with the name Pervyze, he stayed in De Panne for a while after being wounded, later he was transferred to Caen.
Leopold Harte and his wife Jeanne Delang from Gilly near Charleroi , childless and wealthy, take him under their care. raise him lovingly in their villa opposite the castle of Bouillon. At the age of 11, he happens to find the papers in which his true identity is revealed. In 1926, they travel to West Flanders to meet his real father, it was not a success, an interpreter had to help, he grew up in a completely different world, father and son had little to tell each other. for Pervyse, Leopold was his father, so it was decided that he would stay with the Harte family in Boillion.
on March 8, 1934 a second drama for Pervyse, Leopold Harte dies in a car accident. Albert alias Pervyse gets lost and struggles through life. In 1988 a documentary is made about him, he returns briefly to "de westhoek". He dies in 2002 in Ukkel
sources :
Vluchten voor de grote oorlog by Siegfried Debacke
www.pervijze.be
jewaserbij.be 2012
Images : Elsie on of the nurses in Pervyze,remembrance card of Herminie, situation in Pervyze,