the 3rd cavalry division , which was the one that arrived in Ypres. In charge was Lt.-Gen. von Unger and contained:
16th cavalry brigade: 7th Jäger zu Pferde, 8th Jäger zu Pferde
25th Cavalry Brigade: 23rd Guards Dragoons (1st Grand Ducal Hessian), 24th Leib-Dragonders Regiment (2nd Grand Ducal Hessian)
22nd Cavalry Brigade: 5th (Rhenish) Dragoons “Baron Manteuffel” ( last week’s blog), 14th (2nd Kurhessian) Hussars “Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Homburg”
Horse Artillery Abteilung of the 11th (1st Kurhessian) Field Artillery Regiment
Cyclists
2nd Machine Gun Detachment
Group Driving Artillery (3 batteries)
Pioneer Detachment
Signals Detachment : Heavy Wireless Station 11, Light Wireless Station 18, Light Wireless Station 19
Medical and veterinary services
Administrative and supply service
Cavalry Motorized Vehicle Column 3
Early in the afternoon, around 1.30 p.m., the actual entry of the Germans began.
First a German plane circled above the city. Half an hour later, at the Lille Gate, from the “Steenen haan ” (that is a restaurant on the Komenseweg ), a grenade and a dozen other projectiles were fired at the city. The German artillery had come into action because they had seen movement on the ramparts.
Duflou wrote in his diary around 30 horsemen (the vanguard of the 14th Hussars) entered the Market via the Menenstraat, mayor Colaert and alderman Vanden Bogaerde had gone to meet the attackers to surrender the city and to vouch that there would be no shooting. A horseman trotted back up the road to ‘t Hoge and came back with a group of about 200 horsemen. up front were two officers. The gates of the city were occupied with German guards.
The mayor and the aldermen escorted the German officers to the town hall, where the city treasury containing around 62,000 Belgian Francs, was seized. Also 8000 breads, hay, straw, oat and several other things were claimed to feed the men and horses. 4 hostages had to stay in the town hall, One of the officers asked the mayor for an explanation about the gunshots fired at them earlier in the day at the Lille Gate. The mayor kept silent about the’ garde civic’ and put the responsibility towards the already fled gendarmes. Gustaaf Delahaye writes de following about the garde civic in his diary ( Flemisch, old style) : Een inwoner uit de Waterkasteelstraat verwittigde mij dat de Burgerwachten van Yper in hunne vlucht naar den tram van Veurne al hun goed hadden gesmeten tegen de smis. Als ik daar kwam hadden de geburen reeds heel dat boeltje in de vaart gesmeten.
The troop movement lasted until about 9 pm. As they passed by, the streets became crowded again. Now that there was no immediate danger anymore , people dared to show themselves again. The officers had a list in their hands and drove around the town to find shelter for them at the nicest houses . Lt. Gen. von Unger moved into a house on the Market Square opposite the Halls, where he set up his headquarters. Most of the troops, horsemen, cyclists and foot soldiers were quartered in public buildings, but especially among the population. The quartermasters wrote with chalk on the front door the number of men that had to be quartered. Hospitals and monasteries were not harassed. This was, of course, a good thing for them, since many of them cared for wounded Belgian soldiers and they were terrified of reprisals. Kamiel Delaere ,Priest in Ieper wrote the following in his diary ( French)
Soldats Belges blessés à Anvers soigneés dans différents établissements : 90 à L’hôpital Notre Dame, seulement 8 au couvent des soeurs Noires. Ils ne furent évacués avant l’arrivée des Allemands, ni apercus par eux à l’hôpital notre Dame mais évacués en France queques jour plus tard.
Berghman the railway guard for him the meeting with the Germans was less pleasant, he was obliged to open the barbell and then, with his hands up in the air, he had to lead the horsemen to the station, where he served as cover for possible attacks. Where the Germans expressed their satisfaction with the cooperation of the shopkeepers, it is more likely that this cooperation was encouraged by fear than by kindness. shopkeepers did receive money, some received (fake) claim slips and others were simply robbed and looted. examples of the looting found in the diary ( old flemish again) of Remy Duflou : In de brouwerij Proot, Elverdingestraat, haalden zij tonnen bier uit de kelder. in sommige burgerhuizen werd ook vernield en gestolen, onder andere : binst den nacht sloegen zij de voordeur aan stukken van de goudsmederij van Mevrouw Heursel in de Boterstraat. Zij stolen al het goud en zilverwerk uit de toogvensters, laden en schuiven. Enige trokken zelfs naar boven en doorsnuffelden meubels en kassen. Mevrouw Heursel is met haar kind en de meid kunnen vluchtten bij een gebuur, langs een plate forme.
Thursday 8 October – Exit German troops
Early in the morning, the Germans start leaving the town. The cavalry mainly via the Poperingseweg, the foot soldiers via the Dikkebusseweg, many wagons of tradesmen were taken, horses were confiscated , around 11.30 am the German staf left, a few German guards were still guarding the Menin gate, Lille gate and the area arround the Dikkebusseweg, all morning planes were circling over the town.
A German soldier had written “Gute Leute” on a front door, where a number had been placed in chalk the previous evening. Some people who read this thought that the soldiers had made a lot of fun ( leute is a local dialect Flemish word for fun) until someone with more language skills explained the correct meaning of the words!
To ensure a safe retreat, four hostages were taken: Mayor Collaert, Vanden Boogaerde, Fraeys and Baus . They were taken in a private car, with a small escort in a lorry, as far as the town border into Vlamertinge. There, Hauptman Blanck waited for the hostages to be taken into his care until after the complete withdrawal of the troops was finished.
small piece I forgot in last week’s blog :
Bodecker Karl-Adolf, born on 27-08-1896 in Peine, entered the Army as a Fahnenjunker in the 5th Dragon Regiment, on 24-04-1914, age 17. He ended the war in the 11th Cavalry Regiment, as a Oberleutenant. He retired from the Army Service on 30-09-1920 but reactivated in the new Reichswehr on 01-06-1923. He climbed up the ranks to Oberst on 01-08-1939 with the command of the 59th Motorized Pioneer Battalion at the beginning of World War II. he kept in touch with a family in Ieper and wrote the following : “Aus allen Schilderungen geht jedoch hervor, wie überrascht die Soldaten über die besondere Freundlichkeit der Einwohner gewesen sind. Die Geschäfte seien geöffnet gewesen, und die Verkäufer und Verkäuferinnen hätten ohne Weiteres deutsches Geld als Zahlung angenommen”.
sources :
oorlogsdagboeken over Ieper 914-1915 part one written by Jozef Geldhof based on the diaries of Pastoor kamiel Delaere, schepen Gustaaf Delahaye en Remy Duflou
nummer 5 – 2003 tijdschrift “Westland Gidsenkroniek”
Images : all from my private collection ,on is indeed marked with the name of my own tour company, because it is rare and in the past I have seen people share some of my cards as if they owned them