Though we've known this as the Great War, we were still taken aback by the amount of casualties in total - over 10,000,000 soldiers killed - and over a million from individual countries.  There is one cemetery after the other on the Western Front, each one near a battle field where soldiers were lost.  The British Commonwealth have white headstones, the French and American graves have white crosses, and the German graves have black crosses.   

British and French graves in Thiepval - Peronne in Somme, France

German cemetery in Fricourt, in Somme, France

American Cemetery, Bony in Somme, France

We were also amazed at how many memorials there were that commemorated missing soldiers. For example, this one gate, Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, displays over 54,000 names of soldiers from the British Commonwealth lost in battle with no known graves.

And, here at Tyne Cot, Belgium, another 35,000 names on the walls around the cemetery of missing soldiers with no known graves from the British Commonwealth, including New Zealand.  This is a continuation of names from the Menin Gate.

There are also tributes to all the animals killed in WWI, including 800,000 horses.  This war animal memorial is in the Somme region.

Walking the Trenches

We finally got the opportunity to walk what is left of some trenches in various sites...

These trenches have been stabilized and reinforced for preservation in the past 100 years (we've seen some grown over as well), but the original dug-out formations are there.  We were quite amazed how close each side's trenches were and were often taken over from the other side.  As we were in them, it was very difficult to imagine "living" in them, with danger so imminent.  Also, the tranquility surrounding these trenches now, with the trees and quiet, also gave this setting a much different feeling than what it must have been.

Vimy, France

Sanctuary Woods, Ypres, Belgium

Messines, Belgium

Notice the red flowers, poppies, in front of the trenches.  Poppies are resilient flowers even in extreme conditions; they came to be a symbol of remembrance of WWI soldiers who have died during WWI because so many died in trench warfare in the poppy fields of the Flanders region in Belgium.

FFT - Sextant logo

 Fund for Teachers' new logo encompasses their goals and mission - to support and encourage educators on their learning journeys. We were encouraged to display our sextant to represent FFT while delving into our inquiry of WWI on the Western Front.   These sextant photos provide just a snapshot of our WWI experiences in Belgium and France these last few weeks:

Historic town of Leuven, outside of Brussels, Belgium

Stadpark in Antwerp, Belgium

With our very knowledgeable Western Front tour guide, Christian

Christmas Truce Monument in Mesen, Belgium

The Christmas Truce was a series of widespread (though unofficial) ceasefires along the Western Front of WWI around Christmas 1914.  In some areas, men from both sides ventured into "No Man's Land" on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle, exchange food, and play football (soccer) with each other.  This was early in the war; subsequently, there were direct orders from high commands prohibiting such truces.

Canadian Memorial on Hill 105 in Vimy Ridge, France

Australian National Memorial in Villers - Bretonneux, France

Peace Pool (Lone Tree Crater) in Wijtschate, Belgium - a peaceful reminder of the great Mine Battle of June 1917.

Canadian memorial at Hill 62 outside of Ypres, Belgium

Flanders Field American Cemetery in  Waregem, Belgium

Sanctuary Woods in Ypres, Belgium

German Bunker in Messines, Belgium

Red Baron site - near where the Red Baron was shot down.  The Red Baron's name was Manfred con Richthofen, considered the ace of aces of the war, officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

Connecting to pop culture, Charles Schulz introduced Snoopy as a WWI  flying ace, which was based on the real Red Baron.  Interestingly, when Schulz introduced Snoopy's alter-ego (in 1965), this was a period of resurgence that glamorized WWI aviators in films, radio dramas, novels, and comics.

We were able to see quite a few sites in Antwerp as well...

Grote Markt by day

GroteMarkt by night

Stads Park Antwerp

And  we found WWI memorials there....

And saw such great architecture as we walked the city...