Guynemer Path

Before the walk has really begun, you are already surrounded by history. The roundabout at Guynemerplein is dominated by the memorial to Georges Guynemer, the French fighter pilot who took off for the final time on 11 September 1917 in his SPAD XIII. Lieutenant Jean Bozon-Verduraz flew with him but lost sight of Guynemer over the Poelkapelle area. He never returned. Neither his body nor his aircraft has ever been recovered with certainty, and his disappearance remains a mystery to this day.

The monument was unveiled in 1923 and is crowned by a stork, the emblem of Guynemer’s famous Escadrille des Cigognes. Nearby, the Guynemer Pavilion continues the story of Guynemer and other First World War airmen.

The Tank Memorial Ypres Salient also stands close to the square. It commemorates tank crews who fought and died in the Ypres Salient and incorporates an original armour plate from a British Mark IV tank. Guynemerplein therefore feels less like a simple starting point and more like the first chapter of the walk.

Leaving the village by Houthulstseweg, the route gradually opens out into the surrounding farmland. At Schreiboomstraat, a memorial commemorates Sergeant Joseph Lister VC of the Lancashire Fusiliers.

On 9 October 1917, his company’s advance was stopped by German machine-gun fire. Lister went forward alone, dealt with one machine-gun position and then pressed on towards a second. Around one hundred German soldiers eventually surrendered. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions.

Farther on, beside the old railway line, two German concrete bunkers still stand in the fields. They formed part of the defensive system around Poelkapelle. Today they sit quietly in the open landscape, but during the Third Battle of Ypres this area lay directly in the fighting. That contrast between the peaceful countryside now and the events of 1917 is what gives this section much of its impact.

On Poperingestraat stands the memorial to Adjutant Charles Dresse. He was killed here on 28 September 1918, the first day of the Allied liberation offensive.

That morning, the Belgian 9th Line Regiment had advanced towards Westrozebeke before German attacks struck its flanks. During the withdrawal, orders stopped coming through. As the most senior soldier present, Dresse took charge near Bultekot and led a group of men against a German machine-gun position blocking the road to Ferme Davout.

The attack succeeded, but Dresse was fatally wounded at its outset. He was 21. He is buried in the Belgian military cemetery at Westvleteren. The memorial stands where he fell.

Quiet, mainly paved country roads eventually lead towards Poelcapelle British Cemetery. The cemetery was created after the war by bringing together graves from the surrounding battlefield and smaller burial grounds.

Nearly 7,500 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried here, and more than 6,000 remain unidentified. That number of unknown graves is difficult to ignore and gives a very tangible sense of the losses suffered during the fighting around Poelkapelle and Passchendaele.

After the visit, the route turns back towards the village and Guynemerplein. The farmland often looks simple and peaceful, but after passing so many memorials, bunkers and individual stories, it is hard to look at the landscape in quite the same way as when you started.