British and Belgian royals were joined by about 4,000 descendants of fallen soldiers yesterday to commemorate the centenary of a bloody World War I battle in Belgium.
Britain’s Prince Charles, Prince William and his wife Kate, along with King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium took part in a ceremony at the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Cemetery near the Belgian city of Ypres. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel also laid a wreath in memory of the fallen. The Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, began on July 31, 1917, and lasted about 100 days.
On the Allied side, soldiers from Britain, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand fought for the temporary conquest of a mountain range occupied by German soldiers. The battle, much of which was fought in thick mud due to heavy rain,
inflicted massive casualties on both sides.
According to estimates, up to half a million soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. For relatives, no matter how distant, the devastating battle is a reality even a century later.
“This is something very personal,” said Malcolm, a resident of London in his 60s, who preferred to be identified by his first name only. He was participating in the ceremony with his wife, Pauline, as relatives of fallen soldiers.
Three of his great-uncles fought in World War I — one of them died in Passchendaele in September 1917. “This is something we all did not want to forget,” Pauline told DPA.
Nick Fear said he became a military historian because his grandfather died during World War I. His great-grandfather survived the Battle of Passchendaele.
Fear said that there’s a lot of interest in Britain in the centenary because of “the scale of the loss”, adding he wondered why there weren’t more commemorations of World War I in Germany.
“It’s almost like German people don’t want to remember,” he said. “But they should because the German soldiers fought for them.”
For Gabriel, that is no wonder. “In Germany, we are often captured by the horror of World War II and the genocide of the Jews,” he told reporters after the ceremony. “And I believe it is still a small miracle that we, Germans, are invited to such events.”