Battlefieldroute Wijtschate

The walk begins at the De Kroonaard recreation area, with views towards Kemmelberg and the mine craters of Petit Bois.

A little further on, you enter a small wood known to the Germans during the First World War as Zahnstech or Zahnstocher Wald. British maps marked it as Unnamed Wood. Before the Battle of Messines in June 1917, part of the German front line ran through this woodland.

Near walking junction 31, a German concrete military post still stands among the trees. Hidden in the greenery, it is easy to walk past without noticing it.

Country paths lead you to Kampagnebos. Among the trees lies the German Dietrich counter-mine shaft, one of the most distinctive wartime remains along the route.

From autumn 1915, British tunnelling companies dug deep tunnels beneath the German positions on the Wijtschate–Messines Ridge. When the Germans discovered these operations, their miners began digging counter-mines to locate and destroy the British tunnels.

Work on Dietrich and the nearby Daniel shaft began in early 1917 to counter the British mines at Petit Bois. The circular shaft was built using specially cast, curved concrete blocks. According to the Inventaris Onroerend Erfgoed, it is thought to lead to an unfinished wooden tunnel at a depth of around 45 metres.

The route continues through Kampagnebos before returning to open farmland. Further bunkers and smaller military remains can be found among the trees, hedges and fields.

The walk continues through the Huikerbossen towards Sint-Elooi. Here too, fighting took place both above and below ground.

On 27 March 1916, the British detonated several deep mines almost simultaneously. Two craters survive along Eekhofstraat. These explosions were a precursor to the much larger mine detonations on the Wijtschate–Messines Ridge in June 1917.

At the roundabout, you will find a memorial to the fighting and a Belgian 12 cm Krupp gun dating from the First World War.

The landscape becomes more open here, with broad views across the fields. Some of the craters and other wartime remains lie surprisingly close to houses and working farmland.

After Sint-Elooi, the route passes Bus House Cemetery. Its name comes from a nearby farm known during the war as Bus House.

According to local tradition, the farm gained this name after a London omnibus broke down here in 1914 while carrying troops to the front. Hundreds of London buses were used to transport soldiers in France and Belgium during October and November of that year.

The cemetery was mainly used between June and November 1917 and also contains graves from the Second World War. Today, it lies peacefully among the fields, just a few hundred metres from Sint-Elooi.

From here, a mixture of paved and unpaved roads takes you back towards Wijtschate, passing chapels, small memorials and further traces of the front.

If you still have time and energy, you can add a visit to Bayernwald or Croonaert Chapel Cemetery. Both are close to the route.