This week Sabine’s battlefield guide Saturday will focus on what life was like for the inhabitants of Zonnebeke after weeks of seeing what it was like for RIR 241 I think it is important to also know how it was for the Belgians
Life in Zonnebeke during the first months of the war. Part 1
The first local from the village that dies is Mylle Valère, a 21 year old farmer’s son killed in Visé on the 6th of August 1914.
In the towns, inspection and enlistment offices are set up, volunteers for the army easly sign up, also Marcel Stamper from Zonnebeke, on the 5th of August he leaves for Dendermonde, the next day his training period starts in the barracks in St Niklaas. volunteers for the gendarmerie are asked for and he signs up, receives a purple armband and is sent to Ypres, to hunt down German ulans.
One of the local Bakers named Vandenbulcke is reading the newspaper out loud for his neighbours every evening. Over the next few days, these not very encouraging articles will be continued and amplified into worrying statements . After a few days the gendarmes turn up and demand him to stop since it is creating panic under the population.
Other young men join the local ‘ garde civil’. No uniform, only a tricolour armband, their only weapon a sturdy club. Mission : policing the municipality, making official announcements, keeping the main roads clear and tracking down spies and German patrols.
Saturday 22nd of august all civilians have to hand over their weapons to the town hall, the ‘garde civic’ is disbanded.
Sunday the 23rd , the first German patrols are seen in Beselare and Hooge.
By the 27th of August British troop arrive in Oostende, small detachments’ are send out, one of them is staying in the chateau of baron Devinck at Hooge, he hands over voluntary his car so it can be used to patrol the area, several times the car passes at high speed through the village.
The Belgian government who fled to Antwerpen is taking some emergency measures:
Identity control, what nearly never happened before is normal now, it is mandatory to have an identity card now, so rows of people in front of the town hall to get an identity card, it would also be useful when an evacuation would happen.
Acquisition of non-perishable food, like sardines, meat and vegetables in tins, everything has to be handed over and a voucher for the value is received . English trucks arrive in the village and load up everything.
The annual carnival on the 6th of September is cancelled.
Patrols of Ulans are spotted on several places, they are not that violent like in other places, but they cut down phone wires, public officials and, in particular, priests are harassed or they even stop for a quick beer in local pubs. Some are recognized as former German tradesmen of knives and horses, but none are recognized in Zonnebeke. People are getting really scared by now since the rumours of Germans atrocities have reached the village. People are hiding when they hear horses . They turn up at the post office several times
On Wednesday the 7th of October early evening a group empty the shop of the local clockmaker and take everything they can carry.
Some British cavalrymen had tied up their horses in front of the ‘Jagershof’ café, while they were taking refreshments, someone came to tell them that the Ulans were approaching the village. Meanwhile, a fairly large group of Germans pass by on ‘Grote Molenstraat’. They stop at the café ‘Saint Antonius’ where they demand beer and sandwiches. They remain in the saddle and the inn’s daughter has to go between the horses to hand over the beer.
At the same time, a large group of Germans came along ‘Grote Molenstraat’, they stopped at cafe ‘St Antonius’ where they demanded sandwiches and beer. They stay in the saddle and the daughter of the house has to go between the horses and hand them the beer. After this short delay, they headed for the centre of Zonneke, where they noticed a Belgian soldier in the ‘station street’. Startled by the sudden appearance of the Germans, he flees through a garden over a fence and takes shelter in the deep bedding of the “Zonnebeek”. The house is searched by the Germans but no success. He cannot be found. Belgian soldiers with two cars come driving from the ‘broodseinde’ towards the village, first an open vehicle, second a high armoured car with machine gun. They open fire on the Germans, who flee via the Ieperstraat and the Grote Molenstraat.
One of them falls down, bleeding profusely, near the second entrance gate to the church. He is carried into the town hall, where Dr Vanwalleghem tends to his wound. His papers show that he is a Catholic, Vicar Declercq administers the holy oil to him. A little later he is taken to the castle where he dies. On a wheelbarrow the corpse is taken to the cemetery and buried.
This is not the only incident in the village.
The infantrymen of the 7th British Division slept in the schoolrooms and the party hall ‘St Elooi’ next to the cemetery. Their officers have seized the lounges of the mansions in the village.
Thursday, October 15, 1914
The British lay barbed wire fences in numerous groves east of Broodseine and Molenaarelst. One-man pits are dug. For a change, a section of bulkheads hold a parade through the main streets. The bagpipe player and the checked kilts attract many spectators. Even the nuns come to watch at the convent gates. But that same evening, the English left again, heading east …
Source : Zonnebeke 1914-1918 by Aleks en Andre Deseyne