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This Week Sabine’s battlefield guide Saturday is going back to Zonnebeke

everyday life winter 14-15 in Zonnebeke

the landscape : when the French arrived in October 1914, the region around Ieper still had its original appearance. Houses are still houses, the woods are still woods and the fields are planted with crops. but gradually the houses become ruins, the trees are shot to pieces and the fields become a gigantic mud pool.

During the night of 31 October to 1 November, the church tower of Zonnebeke burnt down completely, the bells came crashing down and were buried under the rubble. The art treasures dating from before 1797 were lost in the process. Only a liturgical vestment and a missal are saved from the fire by the French stretcher bearer Chupin (RI 77). It is brought to Ieper and hidden in the cellars of mayor Collaert, via Poperinge it is finally brought to safety in France.

The town hall also quickly becomes unusable. The castle also gets its share, plundered, holes in the walls and roof. parquet floors sprinkled with the contents of the cupboards; The 10th of November it is snowing .The French are happy that ammunition trucks and the food carriers have arrived in one piece, everyone joins in to eat.

In the centre of Zonnebeke, houses were simply swept away by the impacts of the heavy German artillery, the houses that were still relatively intact are used as first aid posts or command posts. The 114 RI used the St Jozefs institute as there commando post.

Not only does the German shelling take its toll, other dangers threaten: the harsh winter cold, rain and snow, hunger and the shortage of materials and winter equipment. It is not surprising that hundreds of French soldiers fall ill, initially only the worst cases are taken back to France. But in December the number of sick people rises so quickly that the army command deems it necessary to take measures.

1 Do not wear shoes for more than 24 hours

2 Wash feet regularly.

3 dry trenches by laying down ladders and straw

4 use hot food as often as possible

In reality this was a joke, shoes couldn’t be removed because of feet being so swollen, and washing their feet while being in the trench, that didn’t happen either. Warm food a dream that didn’t come true while being at the front line.

Grimmelpon Oscar from Zonnebeke had fled with his wife to Ypres on the 20th of October 1914 on the orders of the British army and like many others had found refuge with friends. He spent the winter in Ieper and hoped to return to his village in the spring, but the spring brought no improvement in the military situation and Zonnebeke remained under cannon and rifle fire so that the hope of returning was fading.

Oscar had hidden some valuables and a pot of butter in his cellar during the flight. He sat for days pondering how to get it, especially now that butter had become so expensive. He devised a plan to return. He tried it alone in broad daylight but was stopped by the sentries and sent back. He realised that without the military authorities, he would not succeed. He approached the French but nothing worked. When the British took over the sector in March 1915, he tried again. This time he was allowed to go to Zonnebeke at his own risk, equipped with a pass.

One night when the troops were being relieved, he was allowed to march with a company of soldiers to Zonnebeke. He marched with the soldiers in the last line. Around the Frezenberg the soldiers separated into two long lines on either side of the street. The Germans bombed the road because they knew the time of the relief. Now and then the soldiers had to dive into the ditch and take cover. Oscar followed their example. As they approached Zonnebeke, the soldiers crouched down in the ditches and ended up crawling . The shells exploded in increasing numbers and the debris flew over the road and above their heads. The company reached Zonnebeke without loss of men. The houses and rubble offered some shelter and oscar felt somewhat safer in the village. There was no light to be seen anywhere. At the village centre he left the soldiers and headed for Langemark. He found his house again, badly damaged. The door was gone, the windows were gone, the furniture all gone . The bullets clattered against the walls and he had to crawl around on the floor in total darkness.

In the cellar, he lit a candle he had brought with him and found the valuables and the pot of butter in the shelter. Then he started on his way back. This was even worse now that he was burdened with a pot weighing about 10 kg, which he had to protect against bumps and falls. The bombardment was so severe that he had to flee into abandoned and ruined houses. In one of these houses English soldiers were playing cards by candlelight. He had to tell his story and was sent on.

in the early morning he arrived back in Ieper. Back home he realised how stupid his reckless adventure had been to find a pot of butter.

He is not the only one that came back to the village during the winter to collect money, paperwork, jewellery and what seemed so important then : butter.