There are dozens upon dozens of war cemeteries dotted around northern France and Belgium. They vary in size from just a dozen graves to the massed ranks of Tyne Cot where there are 11,956 graves. The memorial also bears the names of some 35,000 ‘identified’ casualties. All of whom died during the offensive at Ypres in 1917.
Passchendaele has been described as New Zealand’s greatest military catastrophe. However saying it is a New Zealand catastrophe neatly avoid the fact that it was the stupidity and obstinate idiocy of British commanders who caused such an avoidable loss of life for New Zealand and other Commonwealth counties.
Tyne Cot is a sobering place and, to be frank, it is almost impossible to imagine what it was like in 1917. As I mentioned there are many cemeteries for the Allied forces but now there are only 4 left for the fallen German solders. And one of those summed up the sadness and grief of war on a personal level. It is at Vladslo in Belgium and has the sculpture of the Grieving Parents by Kathie Kollwitz.
Enough Said