Ten Things I Missed on My Numerous Trips to the Ypres Salient but Discovered on Google Street View

1. Lock on Ypres-Yser Canal
A key location in the 1915 Second Ypres battle in which it was destroyed, the site became the front line for two years until the opening of the Battle of Passchendaele. Located about 3 miles north of the Menin Gate.

2.  Monument to the 20th Light Division of the British Army
This Kitchener division was rotated several times into the Ypres Salient, seeing its heaviest action in the Battle of Passchendaele.  Its monument is located on the Boezinge-Langemark Road on the southern edge of Langemark.

3.  Monument to Harry Patch
 The last surviving British combat soldier of the War, Harry Patch fought in the Salient with the 20th Light Division in 1917  and was severely wounded. The monument is located near where he was wounded on the west side of Langemarck during the effort to capture the town.

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4. Panel for Frederick Dancox, VC
Pvt. Dancox captured a Bunker and 40 German Prisoners at this Site in October 1917. He was awarded the Victoria Cross but was killed in action before he could receive the award. The panel is located on a bicycle path crossing the Langemarck-Staden Road.

5. Memorial Park for Lt. Juul De Winde, Belgian Army
Lt. De Winde was KIA 28 September 1918 in King Albert's sole offensive of the war. During the war he was a soldier-poet in a trench newspaper and, after his death, became a symbol for the Flemish (Dutch) Movement. The site is accessed by a quarter-mile long path off of N313 about a mile from the center of Westrozebeke.

6. Beecham Dugout
Site of massive German bunker on Passchendaele Ridge that has been relocated to a museum in Dixmude and partially reassembled for viewing.

7. French National Cemetery at St. Charles de Petyze 
With 3,500 burials, this is the principal French Cemetery in Belgium. The sculptor of the dramatic crucifiction monument, Jean Fréour, was a member of the Breton art movement.   Many of the men buried here were from the 87th Division, recruited in Brittany. It  is located between Potijze and Zonnebeke on the east side of the road.

8. Messines Miner Tribute
Honoring the men who dug the mines detonated in June 1917. Located at the Wijtschaete village church.

9. Observation Ridge Marker
Commemorates 1916 fighting by Canadian Forces Between Hill 62 and Mont Sorrel. Located about .2 miles south of Maple Copse Cemetery.

10. Kasteel de Lovie
Wartime Headquarters of the British 5th Division. Located 1.8 miles NW of Poperinge on N308. (Possibly contributing to the term "Chateau Generals" ?)

See my similar article on the Meuse-Argonne Sector HERE.