Where the fighting raged

World War I images are vivid in a visit to Belgium's Ieper

Author: By Paula J. Flanders, Globe Correspondent

Date: SUNDAY, November 9, 1997

Page: N13

Section: Travel

Yet, if you sit in the center of the Grote Markt, or Market Square, today, you'll be as impressed by the magnificent Gothic Lakenhalle, or Cloth Hall, as were the members of the Hanseatic League who traveled to this city to purchase woolen cloth. Baldwin IX, count of Flanders and emperor of Constantinople, laid the foundation stone in 1200, and the mighty building took 100 years to complete. The Renaissance-style town hall, the belfry that houses the 49-bell carillon, the cobblestoned streets, and the Gothic arches of St. Martin's Cathedral -- each lends its own touch to Ieper's historic ambience.

Surprisingly, though, nothing here dates from much before 1930. For four long years, the front lines of battle in World War I ran through the city, and constant shelling gradually reduced the once glorious buildings to rubble. In all, 1.7 million soldiers from both sides would be injured or killed in the fighting in and around Ieper. No one knows how many civilians were casualties.

In spite of the injuries suffered and the loss of homes, possessions, and livelihoods, the citizens of Ieper chose not just to rebuild but rather to re-create their destroyed city using the original plans. The work was slow and had to be completely suspended during World War II when the city was occupied once again.

Most visitors make Ieper a day trip from Ghent or Brugge, since both are within easy driving distance. We visited on a warm, spring day when local farmers were planting their fields, some plowing carefully around neat rows of white headstones that inhabit parts of their land. These cemeteries that crop up along the sides of the road, in the middle of fields, or along the edge of a canal as you approach Ieper make it clear that these are the ``Flanders' fields where poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row'' about which John McCrae wrote his famous poem.

From the outskirts of town, you can follow the signs marked Centrum to the center of town, the Grote Markt, and ample parking. The Town Hall houses the tourist information center, where you'll find maps and information about the many military cemeteries and monuments in the region. But before visiting the burial grounds, stop first at the Ieper Salient Museum, located on the second floor of the Lakenhalle.

The term ``salient'' describes an area of a battle line or other military defense that extends closest to the enemy, certainly an accurate representation of Ieper, where the fighting was sometimes hand-to-hand combat in trenches and tunnels.

The museum's World War I artifacts paint a clear picture of the horrors of trench warfare. Although not all of the items and exhibits are labeled in English, many need no additional explanation. And most Flemish people speak at least some English, so staff members can usually answer questions without a problem.

My husband enjoyed examining the physical remainders of the war -- weapons, uniforms, exhibits on how the trenches were constructed, and so on. I found the human side more interesting.

Copies of a military newspaper, The Wipers Times -- Wipers was the British nickname for Ieper -- and letters written by British and American soldiers in the trenches gave insights into the realities of a war where little ground was ever gained or lost. Given the somewhat rainy climate that often turned the countryside to mud and the massive numbers of men killed at the Ieper Salient, ``Wipers'' seems an appropriate gallows-humor kind of nickname for the town.

Since England is just a short trip through the Chunnel, many Brits make pilgrimages to Ieper. I listened avidly as a British amateur archeologist escorting a group of high school students on a school trip pointed out some recently found artifacts and described the painstaking recovery process. Although many of the items found in the fields around Ieper are as benign as regiment badges or cigarette cases, Flemish farmers still find about 200 unexploded shells and poison gas canisters a month from the two world wars.

To me, the most moving exhibit consists of the hundreds of photographs taken during the war. Every facet of the war, from meager holiday celebrations to fear and uncertainty on the faces of the young men in the trenches to civilians attempting to prop up the walls of their nearly ruined houses, shows up in stark black and white.

And a constant theme running through them all is the systematic destruction of the city. One startling series of photos shows the center of the city at the start of the war, during the war years, at the end of the war, and after reconstruction. So exact was the restoration, that without the photographic evidence of devastation, it would be difficult to believe Ieper ever needed to be rebuilt.

After leaving the museum, a short walk down Meenstraat, one of the roads bordering the Grote Markt, toward the city's moat (called the Majoorgracht) brings you to the Menin Gate. Back in the Middle Ages, a town as prosperous as Ieper needed solid fortifications to protect its riches, and a gate here provided access to the Menin Road.

The present brick and stone gate, a 130-foot arch topped with the British lion, stands as a massive tribute to the soldiers of the British Commonwealth whose bodies were never found or identified. Although the names inscribed in the stone go on for panel after panel, both inside and outside, the gate is not big enough to list them all. In all, 54,896 officers and men are listed on Menin Gate. The names of an additional 34,984 who died after Aug. 16, 1917, are listed on a memorial at Tyne Cot Cemetery outside Ieper, near the town of Passendale.

Although Menin Gate straddles one of the busiest roads in Ieper, wide sidewalks and stairs to the top of the ramparts make it an accessible and easily examined memorial. For the most moving visit, time your arrival for shortly before 8 p.m. Every day at that time, traffic comes to a halt while the buglers of the Ieper Fire Brigade sound the Last Post. Only during World War II, when the city was occupied by German forces, was there a break in this tradition. On Sept. 6, 1944, the day the Germans left the city, the bugles sounded again and have continued their nightly tribute since.

Today grass, trees, and gardens cover the wide ramparts that lead from either side of Menin Gate, creating a picturesque walk along the moat. However, during World War I, the vaults and casemates inside the ramparts offered an area safe from bombardment to serve as a hospital, the signaling headquarters, a cinema, and even the printing office for The Wipers Times.

If you follow the path that meanders along the top of the ramparts, you will soon arrive at Lille Gate. Lille Gate, which once protected the road to France, is now the site of the British Military Ramparts Cemetery. The white grave markers atop the resting places of some of those lucky enough to have been identified before burial stand in neat rows overlooking the Majoorgracht.

From Lille Gate, a short walk back along Rijselsestraat brings you to the Grote Markt once again. The tourist office has maps of the military landmarks and monuments scattered over the countryside around Ieper.

Although most of the fighting in this region was done by Commonwealth troops, an American Memorial commemorating American units attached to the British army who fought here in summer 1918 overlooks the Ieper battlefield, 4 miles south of Ieper on the Kemmelberg Road. Canada and New Zealand have built monuments as well, and several of the important landmarks, like Hill 60 and Polygon Wood, can be visited, too.

In the end, it's the dichotomy of the seemingly ancient city and the modern burial grounds that stays with you. Ieper rose from the ashes, but not without scars.

Where to stay: Although most visitors prefer to stay in either Brugge or Ghent, where there are many hotels to choose among, there is a small hotel in the center of Ieper. The Hotel-Restaurant Regina has 17 rooms with bath and is located at Grote Markt 45. Rates are in the $80-$100, range depending on the exchange rate.

Where to eat: As with most Belgian cities, Ieper has a selection of restaurants and tea shops clustered around the Grote Markt. The tea shops offer far more than just tea and are good choices for a quick lunch or snack. For a more leisurely meal, the Hotel Regina, has a restaurant. Another good choice is the Yperley, at St. Jacobsstraat 1, across from the Lakenhalle.