This week Sabine’s battlefield guide Saturday RIR 235 winter 1914
Now what caused my interest in that battalion? I was reading in a Belgian book in French about what went wrong during the German occupation towards civilians.
A Poelcapelle, les allemands blessèrent d’un coup de feu, fin novembre ou commencement de décembre 1914, Van den broucke Marie, qui mouru au bout de quelques instants des suites de ses blesures. Sa Soeur fut violée et perdit la raison. Le 13 décembre suivant, la population de Poelcapelle fut évacuée et les habitants ne purent revenir qu’au bout de six mois. Dans l’entretemps les Allemands pillèrent les masions du hameau de Sleyhaeze( auteurs 51 kaval. Abteilung et 51 sanitätsKompagnie et autres groupes sous les commandement d’un rittmeister du nom de Meyer. En Décembre 1914, Le sous officier Allemand Schmitz décrouvit une somme de 34 000 francs qui avait été cachée par un habitant de Poelcapelle du nom de Nevejan. Schmitz remit la somme à un autre sous- officier, un nommé Semrau, du même régiment que lui ( 235 RIR) tout deux refusèrent de rendre l’argent. Le allemands dérobèrent dans les conditions identiques un certain nombre de titrres au préjudice de Vandeputte, Gustave, habitant également Poelcapelle
There is a Vandenbroucke Julie that died on the 15th of November 1914 in Poelkapelle, she is on the memorial next to the church
I did find one NCO named Schmitz Anton who got wounded on the 16th of December 1914 in Poelkapelle, These eyewitness accounts were collected after the war I guess. So I wanted to know when RIR 235 arrived in Poelkappelle and if there would be anything mentioned about civilians still being in the village.
RIR 235 on their way to Poelkapelle October 1914
Early in the morning of 20.10.1914 the division entered the streets of Roeselare. All that was known of the enemy was that it had also cleared Oostniewkerke and was heading for Westrozebeke. A cavalry patrol of the Reserve Cavalry Division 51 had been sent at dawn for a reconnaissance in the direction of Westrozebeke. It was not until 7.30 a.m. that the division left Roeselare in two columns: on the left the head of RIR 235, in the order of I, II, III Battalion, MG Platoon, on the road to’ de Ruiter’, the right colum on the road to Sleihage. Sunshine over the fields, the farms and small woods scattered everywhere. There was no sign of the enemy. In the marching column, the 235s told each other about their quarters and calculated how far it was to Ieper. Suddenly there was a loud crash somewhere in the countryside, and at the same moment shrapnel burst over the companies and the road was cleared fast. Everyone felt that this time it would not be an easy walk like the day before. English cavalry was reported. The commander therefore ordered the cavalry to deploy and continue towards Passendale, Everyone over whom the shrapnel flew , buckled, there were casualties here and there, and repeatedly it was a case of ‘lie down’ and then ‘get up’. but it was not yet serious. Until the infantry and machine gun fire sank in. Then it hit: March! March! and ‘Position! And now came the great moment of the first opening of fire. Somewhere at the edge of a forest, behind a hedge, enemy troops: Fire order! The command sounded a little hoarse, it was supposed to come out loud. But the war volunteers did not hear it. They thought very little at all. Silence! Silence! The machine-gun fire passed over their head by a hair’s breadth. The resistance was hardly worth mentioning. “Seitengewehr pflanzt auf” und “kartoffesupp, kartufesupp”. ( potato soup, potato soup came from an old German song)
The men couldn’t run any more, everything went forward in an upright halt. it was probably the most beautiful sight that all those who were there at the time experienced when, to the rattling of drums and the blowing of horns, the endlessly long chains of fire went all around Passendale.
The 2 company stumbled upon an English baggage and took it. The faces were beaming. The 4th company was even happier, they captured four French officers and 120 men. The 1st company was also successful, the 5th company could call 3 officers and 103 men their booty. These prisoners were not sent to the rear, but were proudly dragged forward. Thus, in the early afternoon, the mass of the regiment won the hollow street from Passendale – Westrozebeke without heavy losses. The division now gathered in Westrozebeke and here the first dead of the regiment were buried, the village was alive and bustling. every street was full of troops of all masses; this time the III Battalion was in the lead when they marched along the large Westrozebeke-Ieper road towards Poelkapelle. In the meantime, it had slowly become dark. To the right and left of the road, the houses were burning. The first stop was just after the village exit. A convoy had got bogged down, a lot of swearwords and shouts! The men could feel the day in their legs and longed for accommodation. After 50 meters they stopped again. No one knew why. The enemy and his artillery pushed into the countryside. Now it was even: turn back march, then ‘Forward’ again. Artillery drove past from behind. Behind them came a second column, pioneers on the spike. Out came another firing, orders, counter-orders, a new halt, then it went on again. But it wasn’t long before the road became too narrow. Now three columns pushed side by side and forged ahead. The infantryman gradually became indifferent to everything. Such a night march dulls the senses. One sank down at every stop. It took five hours to cover the 4 km from Westrozebeke to Poelkapelle!
Poelkapelle
there seems to be a lot going on here! the students from Bonn thought when they saw the midnight hustle and bustle in the town. It was impossible to get around in the main street. In the “crowded, fearful narrow”, there was a row of columns next to each other. there was no way forward and no way back. The whole division with all its baggage stood in Poelkapelle on the main road, and every battalion commander thought with horror of the moment when enemy shrapnel would burst on the road, but there was not much artillery fire. Instead, their own troops misbehaved to each other a little in the houses. French or British stragglers may also have been in the cellars. And the night was swarming with spies. but otherwise it remained quiet. ( I suppose they saw alleged spies in civilians everywhere, the British thought the same)
And so at last some order could be created in the chaos. The officers of the higher staff intervened. The first column was turned into a side street with the most emphatic orders. A second column followed. In the meantime, all the houses had been occupied. of course! With all this waiting and confusion, there was nothing else to do. With regret, the regiment saw the possibility of staying in Poelkapelle disappear. The laconic order came: “The regiment will proceed to langemark and take up quarters there. Whether langemark was free of the enemy or not ,was not known for certain.
They would soon find out!!!
We will next week.
Sources :
RAPPORTS SUR LES ATTENTATS COMMIS PAR LES TROUPES ALLEMANDES PENDANT L’INVASION ET
L’OCCUPATION DE LA BELGIQUE by Albert DE WIT Libraire-Editeur I Veuve LARCIER, Editeur Rue Royale, 53. | Rue des Minimes, 26. LIEGE ,Georges THONE, Imprimeur 1923
Das Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 235 im Weltkriege Otto Hennig
Digital liberary of India