The killing fields

BELGIUM’S invasion by Germany brought Britain into the First World War, and the first and last shots fired by British and Commonwealth troops sounded out in a small Belgian town.

Where better to start, then, for the traveller seeking to find the traces of this terrible conflict as the centenary of its beginning approaches in August 2014?

Unlike the troops of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) 100 years ago, my starting point was not one of the Channel ports but the rather more convenient one for a York resident of Hull, catching the P&O overnight ferry to Zeebrugge.

Belgium has been called “the cockpit of Europe”, and the visitor can find military history all around, from Waterloo to the killing grounds of the Battle of the Bulge. From the First World War we have Flanders fields, with the Ypres salient and the tragic memories evoked by Passchendaele and the huge memorial at the Menin Gate.

But the fighting also carved its bloody path through Wallonia, the “Latin” parts of Belgium, which is where this journey took me – east to Liege, the first Belgian city in the path of the great German advance in August 1914; then west to Mons, where the BEF first met the Kaiser’s armies; and finally north-west to Ploegsteert (“Plugstreet” to British Tommies), the scene of Winston Churchill’s war service and one of the war’s most unusual events.

The Germans swiftly marched on Liege, but their plan to finish the war quickly began to unravel as they found their way blocked by a series of fortresses, including the Fort de Loncin, where an epic defence took place.

Completed in 1892, the fort was built to withstand any big guns of that time. But German artillery technology overtook its design and the fort was largely destroyed on August 15 when, after three days of shelling, one of its magazines was ignited by a shot from the Germans’ “supergun” known as Big Bertha, causing an explosion which killed 350 Belgian soldiers. The effects of the devastation are still clear to see, for the fort was never brought back into use and is now a national monument as well as a place to visit.

The delay imposed by the defenders’ self-sacrifice gave the BEF time to reach Mons. The first encounter with the Germans took place on August 21 when a member of the British bicycle reconnaissance party, John Parr, was killed.

The next day the 4th Dragoon Guards – an ancestor regiment of the Royal Dragoon Guards, whose museum is in York – chased off a party of German lancers.

On August 23 the BEF held positions along the Mons-Conde Canal, where the accurate, rapid rifle fire of the British regular soldiers took a heavy toll of the attacking Germans. But the invaders changed their tactics and their greater numbers and artillery power eventually forced the British back – though not before the war’s first two VCs were won by Private Sidney Godley and Lieutenant Maurice Dease.

Two main points where fighting took place are easily found, because the road and rail bridges that formed the focus of the British defence are still there. They’re included on a handy battlefield guide produced by the local tourism office and plaques commemorate what happened.

News that an adjoining French army was pulling back forced the BEF to start “the retreat from Mons”, and British and Commonwealth forces did not return until literally the last days of the war, when Canadian troops liberated the town in November 1918.

The evidence of these opening and closing days of conflict is apparent in the St Symphorien Cemetery near Mons, which contains the graves of the men believed to be the first and last British troops killed in the war – John Parr and George Edwin Ellison, from Leeds.

It is also unusual for a First World War cemetery because you can find German and British graves on the same site. Their comradeship in death was ensured partway through the war when the occupying Germans sought a permanent resting place for their dead, and the Belgian landowner agreed on condition fallen British soldiers were also reburied there.

The experience at “Plugstreet” was slightly different, being close to the front line for most of the war – though there were relatively quiet times here, including (we were told) the period Churchill spent as a battalion commander during his political exile due to the failure at Gallipoli.

But there’s another, very human and poignant side to the war in this area, for if you travel down a country lane you can find a simple memorial at the side of a farmer’s field to when the land was used not for crops but for football.

Here was the scene of one of the Christmas truces of 1914, when troops stopped firing and ventured into “no man’s land” to greet their opponent and even swap mementoes. Famous wartime cartoonist Bruce Barnsfather was based in this sector and recalled exchanging buttons with a German officer.

In some places, including here, the war died away sufficiently for the opposing sides to play football between the trenches – until the top brass stepped in to halt such fraternising.

The war went on, its human toll commemorated in the nearby memorial and cemeteries, while a new visitor centre, under construction during my visit last month, will focus on the experience of local people during the war years.

This is only one of many preparations being made for next August’s centenary events, when a member of the British royal family is expected to attend ceremonies both in Mons and at the Inter-Allied Memorial in Liege, and new memorial tours will be run in the Mons area taking in sites linked to the events of both 1914 and 1918.

Bomber dedication

VISITORS to Fort de Loncin can also see a room dedicated to an event from the Second World War, when a Halifax bomber flying from RAF Lissett, near Bridlington, was shot down near the fort in July 1943.

Canadian pilot Charles Preston, aged only 19, managed to avoid heavily populated areas before crashing. Of the crew members who survived, John Redman, is still alive and visited the fort in 2011, at the age of 90.

Fact file

• P&O Ferries has one sailing in each direction daily on the Hull-Zeebrugge route. For latest fares visit poferries.com or phone 08716 646464.

• The Belgian tourist office website covering Brussels and Wallonia is at belgiumtheplaceto.be

BELGIUM is well known for its food. Andrew enjoyed tasty meals at the Brasserie aux Cocottes in the impressively restored historic Crowne Plaza Hotel in Liege (crowneplazaliege.be) and the Vilaine Fille, Mauvais Garcon restaurant in Mons (vilainefillemauvaisgarcon.be).

But the most satisfying (and filling!) one was lunch at L’Auberge Plugstreet (auberge-ploegesteert.be), whose owner, Claude Verhaeghe, also acts as a guide to war sites in the area.

Andrew stayed at the comfortable and centrally situated Best Western Plus Lido in Mons, the town which is due to be the European Capital of Culture in  2015.