Category Archives: Along the Borderline

Our final stop along this short stretch of the river is the communal cemetery in the town of Menen (yes, this was once called Menin, and yes, if you head north west from here some eleven miles you will find yourself … Continue reading →

Geluwe, like the other towns we have visited, was occupied by the Germans for most of the First World War, and, again like the others, was totally destroyed during the course of it.

Curious places, these communal cemeteries, at least to an English eye.  Every shade of grey that you could wish for, and very little green. There are six Second World War CWGC burials in Wervik Communal Cemetery, two of them unidentified, but all … Continue reading →

South of the river, in Wervicq-Sud, this French memorial mourns the dead of two World Wars.

Following the Leie north east, after a couple of miles we arrive in Wervik, another town that, like Comines, straddles the river.  This is the war memorial in the northern, Belgian part of Wervik, and like all of these memorials along the Franco-Belgian … Continue reading →

North of the river, in the Belgian section of Comines, the Commonwealth Plot in Comines Communal Cemetery bears witness to the severity of the now largely-forgotten fighting that took place in the vicinity in late May 1940.  During the subsequent German occupation, one hundred men, … Continue reading →

From just west of the town of Menen, some ten miles south east of Ypres (Ieper), the River Leie (better known to those with an interest in the First World War by its French name, the River Lys) forms the border between … Continue reading →