A Tour of Zillebeke Extra – A Walk in the Palingbeek

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Parts of the Palingbeek remain relatively unknown, even today, to many visitors to the battlefields of the Great War in Flanders.  Even those who come to pay their respects to the men buried in the British cemeteries on the high ground of the Bluff, to the west of the Palingbeek, are often unaware that, on the other side of the hills to the east, there is much of interest to be found hidden away in the woods.

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Actually, the plan was to return to Polygon Wood.  Or at least I thought the plan was to return to Polygon Wood.  We’d talked about it some weeks previously, and we’d all enjoyed an afternoon there once before, several years ago now.  On this trip, Baldrick and I had already spent a day to the north of Ieper, and a day in France (time limits ensure that I can, if necessary, be pretty relentless when it comes to exploring Flanders Fields, and Baldrick, bless him, sometimes has his patience tried to, but never quite over*, the limit) so I could hardly complain if the five of us all went out for a couple of hours to enjoy the sunshine.  And anyway, the two cemeteries at Polygon Wood would keep me busy.

*I hope!

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“We’re going to the Palingbeek.”  “You what?”  “The Palingbeek.”  “What’s a Palingbeek?”  “It’s a place with woods and places for kids to play.”  “No Polygon Wood then?”  “Nope.  The Palingbeek.  You’ll like it.”  After the adventures of the previous two days (coming to a Big Note website somewhere near you next year) I was hardly in a position to object, indeed it would have been positively churlish to do so.

So we went to the Palingbeek instead.

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I really shouldn’t have worried.  As we neared our destination I realized where we were heading and that the likelihood of finding something of interest to tell you all about was becoming more than a possibility.

You see, Baldrick and I had visited the Palingbeek before, just not this part of it, and without knowing, at the time, its name.

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The Palingbeek roughly covers the area between the railway line from Ieper* to Comines in the north, and the old Ypres-Comines canal in the south, about four miles, as the crow flies, south east of Ieper itself.  To get your bearings, in the wooded area to the north east of the map you will notice The Caterpillar, where you will remember we visited the mine crater one snowy day not so long ago, Hill 60 is just across the railway line at the same point, and five cemeteries that we visited during our Tour of Zillebeke are also marked to the west of the map.

*Ieper today, Ypres back then.

Hill 60 Spoilbank Map

This trench map from April 1917 shows how close the front lines were along the low but strategically important line of hills known by the British, north of the canal in the Palingbeek, as the Bluff.  When we visited the Bluff previously, we followed the front lines north as we visited the three battlefield cemeteries* close behind the British front line.  On this occasion, as we parked the car in the huge car park (the large grey area you can see on the information board map) and headed off in an easterly direction into the woods, I was already well aware that we were somewhere in the German rear areas, and you can see on the trench map that the German Third Line trench system was once sited around here.  I wonder what, if anything, we will find?

*Hedge Row Trench Cemetery, 1st D.C.L.I. Cemetery, The Bluff & Woods Cemetery

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As we began to wander the woods I was, as you can imagine, keeping my eyes peeled for signs of warfare.  Nothing here but an old culvert in the foreground, but does the ground in the background beneath the trees look somewhat uneven?  Pitted, maybe?  Maybe.

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Ah, an old trench?  No, I don’t think so.  Just a natural water channel, nothing more.

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And nothing here either, apart from just natural beauty.  And we like natural beauty.  The Palingbeek today is a place for walkers, joggers, lovers of nature, and golfers (yes, there’s a golf course here too, just across the canal).  There’s a large cafeteria near the car park, and in the woods, places for kids to do what kids do, accompanied by shrieking voices, bubbling laughter, and the shout of an occasional parental recall.

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So as we crossed this ride we could already hear the sound of voices, and just beyond, in a clearing at the edge of the woods, dozens of people,…

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…their kids scrambling up wooden climbing frames and push-me-higher swings, all of which suited Lucas, the only official child in our party, admirably (photo above courtesy of Baldrick).

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So with the other adults happily ensconsed on a bench watching the kids playing, I took the opportunity to explore a little on my own.  Starting with whatever it is that I could see up there through the trees.

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Well, there’s a large chunk of concrete at my feet…

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…and this is clearly the remains of a bunker.

Before we go any further, here’s a Google map* showing the Great War sites around Zillebeke, the Palingbeek in the bottom right, with the positions of the major trench systems in the spring of 1917 marked, although this would have looked little different in either of the previous two years.  Our walk is indicated by the pink line.  The photos you are currently looking at are approximately at the point where the route crosses the German Third Line.  Our walk goes south and then west along the canal.  Click the box at the top left of the map for more details.

*If you’re using an old browser this may not work for you.  Solution.  Update your browser.

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Well that’s an interesting start.  And just a few yards away…

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…the remains of another bunker.

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As I started to look around…

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…I spotted pieces of a third bunker…

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…and began to notice the nature of the ground hereabouts; little hillocks, dips…

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…in fact if you stripped away all of the foliage, this would be a bit of a moonscape, don’t you think?

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Beneath the greenery, this is a man-made landscape, a landscape fashioned by two and a half years of bombardment, British shells blasting away at the German Third Line and the communication trenches that served it.  The Palingbeek saw almost continuous action until June 1917 when the Germans were pushed off the high ground, from Hill 60 just a little way north of here, as far south as the village of Messines, so it is hardly surprising that the ground still bears evidence of those catastrophic times.

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Above & following photos: A little deeper into the woods, the remains of more bunkers.

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And yet another, down in this dip.

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The roof of this bunker has split longitudinally and collapsed the structure; one fears for the occupants at the time, if there were any.  Maybe they are still there.

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Looking along the split in the bunker’s roof towards what appears to be a large crater beyond.

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So far I had only explored for ten or fifteen minutes, and I hadn’t wandered at all far from the kids’ play area.  At times I could still hear the odd shriek, rather surreal whilst examining a ruined bunker.

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Anyway, I’d better get back to the others.  This is another view of the remains of the first bunker we encountered.

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A little later we all headed back into the woods to continue our stroll.

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Of course, one of the problems in photographing a place such as this is that the inundations in the ground tend to look flattened out in the finished picture, so hopefully my interpretation of these photos will help.  Can you make out the crater?

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The ground here slopes away to the east as we began to descend the leeward side of the Palingbeek hills.

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And then I came across this slight ditch…

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…and nearby, another one, but this one is much clearer.  These are the remnants of communication trenches, and you can see quite clearly the spoil heap on either side created when this particular trench was dug.

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Not only that, but if you look at the trench map below, another from 1917, incidentally, and you again pinpoint the German Third Line, you will notice what at first sight appears to be one, but on enlarging the map becomes two communication trenches running almost north to south from the third line trench down towards the canal (bisecting the words ‘Oaf’ & ‘Drive’).  These may well be the same two trenches, the remains of which you see pictured in the previous and following photos.

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Looking back up the hillside, you can see that the slope is at times quite steep, and still pitted with bumps and hollows.

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If you haven’t looked at the first trench map in detail, it’s time you did.  Clearly marked are a series of planned British barrages on these rear areas, progressing further east at fifteen or twenty minute intervals.  It is just one example of how life in these areas to the east of the Palingbeek, although out of direct line of fire, was hardly much safer for the defenders here than it was for their colleagues in the front line.

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We briefly left the woods…

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…and strolled down this grassy ride…

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…before re-entering the woods,…

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…passing the remains of yet another concrete structure,…

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…and finding our way down to the canal.

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The Germans built a number of bridges across the canal, one of them just about here.

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Yours truly contemplates events of very nearly a hundred years ago.

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Our walk now continued west along the northern bank of the canal…

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…but after only a few paces we encountered this information board.  You can see another of the German bridges in the larger photograph, and a sad row of white crosses, the men buried there now long since removed, along the bank of the canal.

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And up on the hill behind, the remains of the bunker from where, presumably, the photo was taken.

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British artillery would have frequently lobbed shells over the hills to harass the German rear area here on the lee slope of the Palingbeek, and, despite the foliage, it is still possible to see the effects of this on the landscape, particularly at the bottom of the slope nearest the canal.

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On descending the hill again…

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…we once more continued our walk alongside the canal…

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…which began to peter out the further west we walked.

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To our right, away from the canal, the slope of the hill still bears the scars of war.

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Note the crater in the centre of the picture.

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Wherever you look, the landscape reveals the marks of warfare, the mounds and hollows still giving the ground a scarred, somewhat unnatural, appearance.

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Another information board, this time dealing with the construction of the canal.

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The trench maps show that tunneling took place in this area and, moving off the path…

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…the forest floor is still far from easy to navigate.

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Another shell hole…

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…and another.

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Difficult to see, I know, but the greenery in the centre grows in yet another shell hole…

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…and this shot looks down into a huge depression, presumably the result of something very big hitting something very combustible.

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Nearing the end of our walk…

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…we found the remains of yet another German bunker. Wooden stairs lead from here up to the cafeteria and, yes, what else could you ask for, a bouncy castle.

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Above & below: Add your own annotation.

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Cool dudes.

And that, folks, ends our afternoon walk in the Palingbeek.  I hope you enjoyed it.  We most certainly did.  In fact, we liked it so much, we returned a few years later to
explore some more.

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21 Responses to A Tour of Zillebeke Extra – A Walk in the Palingbeek

  1. Baldrick says:

    Two unofficial children in that last pic! Epic post Sir.

  2. Filip Jacques says:

    There is an art project running now. The aim is to make 600.000 sculptures (standing for the estimated 600.000 people that died in Belgium during WWI) and put them next to the Palingbeek on a field. The project is called CWXRM (Coming World Remember Me). The internet will tell you more. It would be opened in 2018. If ever they come around, join the initiative! It is worthwile! And if you would come and visit the Palingbeek from 2018 on, go and contemplate how much 600.000 really is…

    • Magicfingers says:

      I shall check it out Filip. Sounds, as our American friends would say (actually, everyone says it now, don’t they), awesome. The poppies at the Tower of London (more than 800,000 of them) were pretty impressive (or pretty and impressive), and I promise you, equating each poppy with a real living breathing person was serious food for thought ; hopefully the Palingbeek project will be equally so.

  3. Filip Jacques says:

    You’ll find all the information on http://www.comingworldrememberme.be/en

  4. Mark says:

    Thanks for the post just discovered your site by accident after visiting de Pallingbeek a few weeks ago, last visited 25 years ago as a teenager. I returned to Belgium for the first time in 20 years to visit my great grandfathers grave in Mouscron 100 years on and thought I would stop for a walk here, so glad I did I never expected to discover so much. The art installation is worth a visit in itself but sobering. You’ve inspired me to plan a return trip to the area ASAP.

    • Magicfingers says:

      Hello Mark. How funny, because I returned to the Palingbeek for the first time since this post on Armistice day this year – saw the art instillation – and walked along the rest of the canal up towads Klein-Zillebeke. Nothing to see, apart from shell holes, but a beautiful walk. I too shall return there next year because I want to find the locks where the British set up an HQ – they must be to the west of the restaurant. Glad you found this site – loads more interesting stuff on that area of Flanders to be found here – and thanks for taking the trouble to comment. Nice to be an inspiration!

      • Mark says:

        Thanks, yes we got as far as the locks, they are to the west of the restaurant. Battalion HQ and aid post. It was only meant to be a stopping place on the way to Ypres as a leg stretch that I remembered visiting as a child but spent some time there. Found the bunkers while the children played at the playground but wish I’d discovered this first! Yes keen to return my great grandfather was shot as a spy, part of the train watchers network in March 1918. So we visited the execution site in Ghent but keen to get on the ground for more discoveries, it’s when you wish you’d listened more as a child! I’ll certainly use the site to do some planning.

        • Magicfingers says:

          Be my guest. And wow about your Grandfather. Gosh! Stumped for words, which ain’t the norm!

          • Mark says:

            Thanks, he was station master at Mouscron station, if you look on the map it’s one of the main train lines through towards Lille and therefore the front line. Train watchers, observed the number and type of trains going to the front, this indicated troop build ups, fresh reserves, different carriages for artillery, horses etc. Through the network this was reported to the Allied intelligence services through agents in Hollard and back to the UK. Sadly like many others, discovered, imprisoned in Ghent and the rest is history. Unfortunately the occupying forces returned in 1940 and targeted families of agents from the first world war so some documents and medals were removed then. It was all a bit raw for my grandad who was only 6 when his dad was taken away so sadly never talked too much about it hence why I’m trying to piece the dots now. Sorry to digress away from Palingbeck but ultimately it’s why I was in the area.

  5. Magicfingers says:

    This is something that I knew nothing about, and I am fascinated. Seriouly. I have been writing today about executed civilian buried in Estaires Communal Cemetery for a future post, and couldn’t help thinking about your Great Grandfather as I did so. And wondering how many of the people I was writing about were really francs-tireurs or just civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time. The terror. Oh, and no suggestion that your Great Grandfather was anything but a train watcher. Do not misunderstand me. I was just putting myself in the position (far too much of a coward to even be a train watcher, probably) of a civilian in that wrong place. Thank you very much for sharing all this, and no problem with the digression whatsoever.
    Btw, I highly recommend this; Hugh sometimes reads this blog:
    Palingbeek 1915. The Battle for the Ridge between The Bluff and Hill 60 by Hugh Shipman. Hopefully still available from Hugh himself on Amazon. Tell him where you got the recommendation too!

    • Mark says:

      Glad it was of interest. Yes, interesting to think what you would have done in a similar situation. I’ll watch for the post. Thanks for the recommendation, now for mine, if you ever want to find out more about the intelligence service behind the lines, Henry Landau’s ‘All’s fair: the story of the British Secret Service Behind the German lines’ is a good starting point, or if your flemish is better than mine ‘Voor Den kop geschoten’ by Jan Van der Fraenen. The old Ghent shooting range has a memorial to the 52 who died there, just off Offerlaan (not sure if you need an appointment). If you ever visit the 6 CWGC graves in Mouscron communal cemetery my great grandfather is to be found nearby (Achille De Backer) also the street of the same name in the town.

      • Magicfingers says:

        Mouscron is eight miles as the crow flies from where I stay when I’m in Flanders, and has now been added to my list of places still to visit. Thanks for that. And the books? I think I’ll go for the Landau book first! Oh, what was Great Grandfather’s name?

        • Mark says:

          That’s why as a child we spent lots of time all around Ypres as it’s not far, added Polygon wood to the list for Christmas visit as years since I’ve been there. My great grandad was Achille De Backer, he was part of the Alfred Pagnien network. A quick Google of Achille De Backer 1918 gives some basic info (French/ Flemish).

          • Magicfingers says:

            Thanks Mark! There’s a new memorial at Polygon Wood – too new for my last visit there in May. Four Polygon Wood posts elsewhere on this site too – use the search box.

  6. Mark says:

    Always good to read these again after a visit, I did my own return to Palingbeek last week and it never disappoints, a good mix of remembrance and actual physical evidence on the ground. I visited the bunkers you describe and identified what I thought was a likely trench on the downward slope, which you concur with and they had a modern aerial photo of the area with the trench map overlaid which triangulated this. Its so easy to miss the signs of conflict, meters away from the play area, nodoubt landscaped, the lumps and bumps are all but hidden under modern trees. But having just come from hill 60 you can see the underlying ground looks exactly the same, pot marked by explosions. A good video of events and the timeline now by the area with the dog tags (each representing one of the 600,000 allied soldiers who died defending belgian soil in WW1). I didn’t remember (since 2018 and my last visit) the walk along the line of the German trench which is shown by a zigzagging hedge. I’m sure they’ve moved the ‘pod’ or giant egg too.

    • Magicfingers says:

      Hello Mark. Sometimes these things work the other way round too – so I reread the post, after your comment, and it reminded me that I too must return one of these days. Still more to see there. Unfortunately, although I shall be in Flanders for the first time in three years later this week, my itinerary is decided. By me, but I’m not changing it!
      Many thanks for the Palingbeek update. As far as I remember the pod and its podettes were going somewhere soon after my 2018 visit.

      • Mark says:

        Enjoy Flanders, my first time back in four years. I also thought the pod was moving but it just appears to have moved within Palingbeek, in fact strangely only a few hundred meters. Talking of things moving I need to comment on another memorial that has moved…..

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