0:00:09 > 0:00:13This is a different kind of Weatherman Walking.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17I'm crossing the Channel to follow in the footsteps of those
0:00:17 > 0:00:22brave Welshman who fought in the First World War.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25I'm going to Belgium, to Passchendaele in Flanders Fields,
0:00:25 > 0:00:29places I've always wanted to visit.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34This is a guide to the battlefield.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37It's not that far away, and I'm going to try and find out
0:00:37 > 0:00:43what it was like for Welsh soldiers in that terrible war.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57This programme has brought me to Belgium.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01I'm in the historic town of Ypres.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Thousands of Welsh soldiers fought here during the First World War
0:01:04 > 0:01:07and sadly, many died.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10The most famous was the poet Hedd Wyn, and I will be
0:01:10 > 0:01:16visiting his grave, along with other places with a Welsh connection.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21To get to Ypres, you travel from Wales across to the channel
0:01:21 > 0:01:26ports and then over to Calais by ferry or in the tunnel.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Then it's across the French border and into Belgium.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Then on to Ypres, or "Leper", as it's called in Flemish.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35It's a drive of just over an hour from Calais.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40My guides are Tonie and Valmai Holt.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43They've been visiting the area for over 40 years,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47and publish acclaimed guidebooks to the battlefields.
0:01:47 > 0:01:54Tony and Valmai, so pleased to meet you.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56Nice to see you.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01Oh, Derek, the famous Welsh weatherman!
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Now, you're going to show me around First World War
0:02:03 > 0:02:04battlefield sites around Ypres, especially those
0:02:04 > 0:02:06connected to the Welsh.
0:02:06 > 0:02:07We are indeed.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08Valmai was a Williams, so she's really Welsh,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10and I'm only a proxy Welsh person.
0:02:10 > 0:02:11Well, that'll do.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12Looking forward to it.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13Let's go.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Ypres was a battleground for over four years,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18as it stood right in the way of the German advance.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21I'll be visiting places mostly within a few miles of the town
0:02:21 > 0:02:23where Welsh troops saw action.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26The first is five miles to the east of Ypres
0:02:26 > 0:02:30in the village of Gheluvelt.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34When the First World War started in August 1914,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36the German army drove through neutral Belgium
0:02:36 > 0:02:39to attack France.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43The British stopped the Germans at Ypres, and Welsh soldiers
0:02:43 > 0:02:48were in the thick of the fighting, right from the start.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Our first stop is the chateaux at Gheluvelt.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Here, on October 31st 1914, a small band of Welsh soldiers took
0:03:00 > 0:03:03part in a last ditch defence against the might
0:03:03 > 0:03:05of the German army.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10If they'd lost, it could have changed the whole course of the war.
0:03:10 > 0:03:11Well, this is a lovely spot.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Why have you brought me here?
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Well, we're at the beginning of the war and it has
0:03:16 > 0:03:18been a very mobile war.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20The Germans who invaded Belgium were pushed right
0:03:20 > 0:03:21down nearly to Paris.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24And then we pushed them back to this area.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26They were trying to get...
0:03:26 > 0:03:29the Germans trying to get to the Channel ports.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32If they could get to the Channel ports, maybe the war would be over.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Now, General French, who was commanding the British
0:03:35 > 0:03:38forces, was about a mile down the road and he said there was one
0:03:38 > 0:03:41hour in that one day, that was the critical hour.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44And that hour was between two o'clock and three o'clock.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47And within that hour, the action that mattered
0:03:47 > 0:03:50was the action of the Welsh, and where were the Welsh?
0:03:50 > 0:03:53They were around here.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Just tell me what you see when you look at that chateau, Derek.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Beautiful.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00Calm building, lovely setting.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04This is how it was during the battle.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09And here is already a poor dead German.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12And here's a wounded man.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16And you can see that the chateau is being disintegrated as well.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19So that lovely building you see now was rebuilt after the war.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21And the bayonets here belonged to the Worcesters.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24The Worcesters had been the reserve, and Sir John French was so worried
0:04:24 > 0:04:27about things here that he called up the reserve who were about half
0:04:27 > 0:04:30a mile away in woods over there.
0:04:30 > 0:04:36They had to come half a mile under German fire to get to the chateau,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39and then at the chateau they did a bayonet charge and the bayonet
0:04:39 > 0:04:41charge, combined with the Welsh resistance,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43stopped the German advance.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Gave us time to breathe, time to defend Ypres,
0:04:47 > 0:04:54maybe save the day, maybe save the war.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58It's hard to imagine a battle taking place in such a tranquil setting.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01But just up the road is a reminder of the human cost
0:05:01 > 0:05:06of this brutal encounter.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08of this brutal encounter.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Here we are at the memorials to those men who fought
0:05:12 > 0:05:14and died on the 31st October, 1914.
0:05:14 > 0:05:20Here's the memorial to the Borderers.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23They had about 200, 220 survivors.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27And the 2nd Welsh, they were down to three officers, 93 men.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32Such is the price of glory.
0:05:32 > 0:05:33Such is the price of glory.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36And what summarises this all is a little treasure
0:05:36 > 0:05:40that we were so lucky to find.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44And I'm going to ask you, if you would be so kind, Derek,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48as to read this letter from the commander-in-chief
0:05:48 > 0:05:50of the area, Sir John French, which I find very moving.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55"The gallantry and tenacity of the men in the trenches in that
0:05:55 > 0:05:58"memorable battle in face of vastly superior numbers, "barred the way
0:05:58 > 0:06:01to the Channel ports, "and thereby saved England
0:06:01 > 0:06:05and the Empire from a great disaster."
0:06:05 > 0:06:10Such bravery.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12By Christmas 1914, the British and German armies faced each other
0:06:12 > 0:06:16across lines of trenches.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19You may have heard the famous story, the Christmas truce,
0:06:19 > 0:06:24when soldiers from both sides put down their weapons and some of them
0:06:24 > 0:06:27even played a game of football.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31One of the places where Welsh soldiers took part
0:06:31 > 0:06:34in the truce is south of Ypres, in the town of Freilingen.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38So we've just come across the border into France.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40What exactly happened here, then?
0:06:40 > 0:06:42This is the front line at the end of 1914.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44The British on this side, the Germans on that
0:06:44 > 0:06:46side, come together.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50So that extraordinary thing that happened here was a truce
0:06:50 > 0:06:52between the two armies.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55So it is not a myth, it really did happen.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58It really did happen.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01And we know that because it was extraordinary well-documented,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05by a private soldier in the Royal Welch Fusiliers.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Name of Frank Richards.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12Extraordinary because it is normally officers who do the memoirs,
0:07:12 > 0:07:17but Frank Richards described how they came out of their trenches
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and they met the Germans.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23The German company commander asked if he'd accept
0:07:23 > 0:07:27a couple of barrels of beer, and assured him they would not
0:07:27 > 0:07:32make his men drunk.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35They had plenty of it in the brewery.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38And at the end of the evening, he described - "the two
0:07:38 > 0:07:39barrels of beer were drunk.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41"And the German officer was right.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44"If it was possible for a man to have drunk the two barrels
0:07:44 > 0:07:46himself, "he would have burst before he got drunk.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51"French beer was rotten stuff."
0:07:51 > 0:07:52"French beer was rotten stuff."
0:07:54 > 0:07:58The Christmas truce was brief, and both sides went back
0:07:58 > 0:08:01to the war of the trenches, which soon stretched from
0:08:01 > 0:08:03the English Channel to Switzerland.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Just outside of Ypres, at Sanctuary Wood,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08is a surviving example of one of these trench systems.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11It was left untouched by the farmer after the war and although it has
0:08:11 > 0:08:14been repaired over the years, it gives an authentic idea
0:08:14 > 0:08:19of what it must have been like to be part of trench warfare.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22You've got to watch your head, haven't you?
0:08:22 > 0:08:25You have to watch your head - much more than just your head
0:08:25 > 0:08:28if you were here during the war.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31I mean, each side had different types of trench.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33The Germans produced quite different trenches to the British,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36but as the war went on, particularly in a position something
0:08:36 > 0:08:39like Ypres, the same ground, the same ground was fought over
0:08:39 > 0:08:41for anything like four years, the trenches began to be filled up
0:08:41 > 0:08:44with sandbags and dead bodies.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Dead bodies?
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Bodies, because of the number of people killed.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53It was impossible sometimes to clear the battlefield of bodies.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56I mean, it's the apocryphal story, I think, probably, but of a hand
0:08:56 > 0:08:59that stuck out from a dead body and as the soldiers came
0:08:59 > 0:09:02in and went out of the trench they would shake the hand.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05And one observer commented upon the fact that one
0:09:05 > 0:09:08of the fingers had a ring on it and the ring stayed there.
0:09:08 > 0:09:09Nobody stole it.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Comradeship grew out of the trenches.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14You relied upon the man next to you.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18He relied upon you.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21He relied upon you.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23And I'm surprised in coming here, Valmai, that the trenches,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25they're not in a straight line, are they?
0:09:25 > 0:09:26But in zigzags.
0:09:26 > 0:09:27Why is that?
0:09:27 > 0:09:29It is a very practical reason, Derek.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Imagine if you're in a trench, a long straight trench.
0:09:31 > 0:09:37A German managed to get to the trench with a machine gun,
0:09:37 > 0:09:42he could mow the whole row of men down.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46So this is for their protection or if a bomb was thrown
0:09:46 > 0:09:49into a trench, a whole section could be put out.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51So really it is for the protection of the men.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53As well as the trenches, there's also a small
0:09:53 > 0:09:55museum at Sanctuary Wood.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58It's well worth a visit, as it's packed to the rafters
0:09:58 > 0:10:02with First World War memorabilia.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04It really is an amazing collection.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06So many different things to see.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08Yeah, it is extraordinary, isn't it?
0:10:08 > 0:10:10You've got the shell cases up there.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13You've got Picklehaube helmets, you've got figures.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Don't forget the rum jars there, that's very important.
0:10:15 > 0:10:16Oh, the rum jars, yes.
0:10:16 > 0:10:17Very important.
0:10:17 > 0:10:18Oh, yes.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20SRD.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23The letters SRD on them, which means "seldom reaches destination".
0:10:23 > 0:10:24And what about these things here?
0:10:24 > 0:10:26These wooden boxes?
0:10:26 > 0:10:28What are they?
0:10:28 > 0:10:34Ahh, now, Derek, come and sit down here and all will be revealed.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39Now, these are machines like What The Butler Saw, in a way.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43And they give you the most incredible 3-D impressions,
0:10:43 > 0:10:45of the actual reality of war.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Some of them are quite horrific.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Well, I can see into one of the trenches.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55With the high sides, a couple of soldiers.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58And some machinery.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03Some of the pictures are really shocking.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Dead bodies, devastation, destruction.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Must have been awful.
0:11:11 > 0:11:12Telling, isn't it?
0:11:12 > 0:11:14It really makes you think, doesn't it?
0:11:14 > 0:11:16Yeah.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19It does, and I think it adds a dimension to a battlefield tour,
0:11:19 > 0:11:20the dimension of time.
0:11:20 > 0:11:21There it is.
0:11:21 > 0:11:22Dead bodies.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25You don't see those on a battlefield tour, but you do
0:11:25 > 0:11:30when you look through there.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35when you look through there.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41It was really shocking looking at those photographs.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44It brought home to me the sheer scale of the war.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Welsh regiments fought many famous battles around Ypres,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52including the defence of Frezenberg by the First Monmouths.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55There are still signs of the war everywhere.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57Tonie and Valmai took me to an old German bunker which Welsh
0:11:57 > 0:12:01soldiers captured in 1917.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04There's a plaque here to the Welsh division.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08It's a German defensive bunker.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09It's a German defensive bunker.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12In 1917 the Welsh attacked across this field in what became known
0:12:12 > 0:12:13as the Battle of Passchendaele.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15And there are lots of interesting things about this bunker.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18And the Germans literally built hundreds of them on the ridge,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20the Passchendaele Ridge, towards which the Welsh
0:12:20 > 0:12:22were heading.
0:12:22 > 0:12:32So, they took them and a couple of other bunkers as well,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34together with help from other regiments but then
0:12:34 > 0:12:35they proceeded that way.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37And just around the corner was a rather nasty surprise.
0:12:37 > 0:12:38What is that?
0:12:38 > 0:12:40It's not a shell, is it?
0:12:40 > 0:12:41It's a shell.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43And whatever you do, Derek, do not touch it.
0:12:43 > 0:12:44It's not safe?
0:12:44 > 0:12:45It's totally unstable.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47It's what they call the iron harvest.
0:12:47 > 0:12:48This happens all the time.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Every time a farmer ploughs a field he'll find some,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53and stack it at the corner of the farm, and the Belgian army
0:12:53 > 0:12:57come round, collect them and then have a controlled explosion.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59This bunker was really built to last.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02It is now being used as a farm building.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Oh, wow.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Almost certainly a command or telephone exchange, I'd say,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11judging by the structure.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14It's not very comfortable, is it?
0:13:14 > 0:13:16No, it's not designed to be.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18But you see it's probably built round a very early structure.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20You see the size of those bricks?
0:13:20 > 0:13:24They are very small.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26They are very local bricks.
0:13:26 > 0:13:27Not much good if you're six foot tall.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29No.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31But in those days they weren't quite that tall, were they?
0:13:31 > 0:13:32Difference in height.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33We're talking 100 years ago.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36People didn't eat as much, didn't have such good food, did they?
0:13:36 > 0:13:39A mile or so from the bunker is a site of huge significance
0:13:39 > 0:13:40to all Welsh visitors.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Elis Evans was a soldier from North Wales, who was killed
0:13:43 > 0:13:47near this spot on July 31, 1917.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Just weeks before he was awarded the main poetry prize
0:13:50 > 0:13:53at the National Eisteddfod.
0:13:53 > 0:13:59He wrote under the pen name Hedd Wyn.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Derek, I'd like you to look at this memorial here.
0:14:01 > 0:14:02It is to Hedd Wyn.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05It was put up about 24 years ago.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08This is become the centre of Welsh commemoration in this area.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10And I'd like you to look at the bottom plaque
0:14:10 > 0:14:12and to read what's on it.
0:14:12 > 0:14:13Yeah, it is great, isn't it?
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Yes.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21BOTH: And poetry in your soul!
0:14:21 > 0:14:22How true is that!
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Yep.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28We're going to take you to see yet another memorial, Derek.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30A national Welsh memorial.
0:14:30 > 0:14:40And you're going to meet some very special people there.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04I had a dream, knowing what happened here. Many soldiers lost their lives
0:15:04 > 0:15:14and I decided to do something with my neighbour. This is it, just here.
0:15:14 > 0:15:21I know that headwind is very special to you all. Can you tell me why? --
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Hedd Wyn.He's a special poet for Wales and he's a role model for the
0:15:26 > 0:15:36Welsh in the war. All of the Welsh regiments were a mixture of the
0:15:36 > 0:15:40territorials. It really stands for the nation of Wales and their war
0:15:40 > 0:15:44effort.And the daffodils are absolutely beautiful, why did you
0:15:44 > 0:15:58plant them?We planted daffodils for each dead soldier. 40,000 Welsh
0:15:58 > 0:16:03soldiers lost their lives and we did that too, married them.Thank you so
0:16:03 > 0:16:07much for helping to keep the memory of all those soldiers that died in
0:16:07 > 0:16:14the First World War alive.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Hedd Wyn died of his wounds on 31 July 1917.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19He's buried about a mile up the road from the memorial,
0:16:19 > 0:16:24at Artillery Wood Cemetery.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27We're looking for Hedd Wyn in the cemetery.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32He is buried out here amidst all the others.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35And the way we find him is to look in the register box,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37which you'll find in most Commonwealth War Graves
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Commission Cemeteries, and here you'll find a register.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44So, what you do is you look up the name in the register,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46although if you looked up Hedd Wyn you wouldn't find it.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Why is that?
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Because his name is Elis Humphrey Evans.
0:16:52 > 0:16:53So we have to look him up.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55So you find him, alphabetical order, of course.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58And at the end of the entry you'll find Roman numeral
0:16:58 > 0:17:01two, letter F, 11.
0:17:01 > 0:17:08That means we go to block two, Row F, and grave 11
0:17:08 > 0:17:10and that will be Hedd Wyn.
0:17:10 > 0:17:11Well, here he is.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14Hedd Wyn.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Well, here he is.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28Hedd Wyn.
0:17:28 > 0:17:28Hedd Wyn.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31It's a long way from North Wales, but a very peaceful spot.
0:17:31 > 0:17:32It's lovely, isn't it?
0:17:32 > 0:17:36So a little Welsh tribute for him.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Hedd Wyn was killed at the beginning of the Battle of Passchendaele,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52one of the bloodiest encounters of the whole First World War.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57It's estimated that nearly a quarter of a million British soldiers
0:17:57 > 0:17:59were casualties during the four months of the battle,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01which took its name from a small Belgian village
0:18:01 > 0:18:05on the outskirts of Ypres.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07We are standing on the Passchendaele Ridge.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11This was German territory.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15In fact, if you look that way, you can see a couple of spires.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20That's the centre of Ypres.
0:18:20 > 0:18:21That's the centre of Ypres.
0:18:21 > 0:18:28We Brits were down there for three and a half years trying to get up
0:18:28 > 0:18:30here on the ridge where the Germans are, and the Germans
0:18:30 > 0:18:33on the ridge were trying to get down there to Ypres,
0:18:33 > 0:18:34where we were.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36And why we remember it particularly, is because of
0:18:36 > 0:18:37the weather, oddly enough.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Because the weather in October of '17...
0:18:39 > 0:18:41well, what was the weather in October of '17?
0:18:41 > 0:18:42It was very wet.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45There was much more rainfall than usual, so this whole area
0:18:45 > 0:18:46turned into a swamp.
0:18:46 > 0:18:47Exactly so.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50And Derek, I've got a photo to show you the results of that weather
0:18:50 > 0:18:51you were talking about.
0:18:51 > 0:18:52That's appalling.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Absolute quagmire.
0:18:56 > 0:19:02Thick clay, Flanders mud in which men drowned.
0:19:02 > 0:19:03Huge pools of water.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08Yes.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Yes.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13If you can imagine what it must have been like coming up there.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15We did it for 16 weeks.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17Before the Germans finally withdrew from Passchendaele village,
0:19:17 > 0:19:18it was taken by the Canadians.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21It's that length of time that we kept going through the rain,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23and the mud, and the gas, and the guns that
0:19:23 > 0:19:24people find fault with.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26That is the battle of Passchendaele.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31That's why we remember it.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34It's hard to imagine the horrors of Passchendaele
0:19:34 > 0:19:37and the huge loss of life, but near the village is
0:19:37 > 0:19:40a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44The scale of which simply takes your breath away.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Well, I've never been to a cemetery as big as this before.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49I'm not surprised, Derek.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52This is Tyne Cot Cemetery.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56It is the biggest Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in the whole world.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58And how many soldiers are buried here?
0:19:58 > 0:20:00We do believe 12,000.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02That many?
0:20:02 > 0:20:05It's horrific, isn't it?
0:20:05 > 0:20:08You can't really take it in.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10And you know, of the 12,000, about 8,000 of them
0:20:10 > 0:20:13were never identified.
0:20:13 > 0:20:19And, if you look around, I'm sure soon we'll see a headstone,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21a soldier of the Great War, and at the bottom it
0:20:21 > 0:20:27says "known unto God".
0:20:27 > 0:20:30And we give a stone like that to every unknown soldier.
0:20:30 > 0:20:40And that's why there just are so many.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Visiting Tyne Cot is an experience I will never forget.
0:20:44 > 0:20:50Alongside the 12,000 gravestones is a wall with the names of another
0:20:50 > 0:20:5435,000 soldiers whose bodies were never found.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57But sometimes, it is the individual stories that really give
0:20:57 > 0:21:00you pause for thought.
0:21:00 > 0:21:07Oh, Derek, look, there's a Welsh grave.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Drummer G Brown, Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Yes, that's very interesting, actually, that he is a drummer.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15So he's probably a member of the regimental band.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19And in warfare the band become stretcher-bearers,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21so the chances are that G Brown, Drummer Brown was probably
0:21:21 > 0:21:23stretcher-bearing when he was killed.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28And he was of course killed during the Battle
0:21:28 > 0:21:34of Passchendaele itself, October 1917.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53German casualties at Passchendaele were even higher than the British,
0:21:53 > 0:21:57with half a million killed or wounded.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00The largest German cemetery is at Langemark.
0:22:00 > 0:22:07It has a very different feel to the Commonwealth War Graves.
0:22:07 > 0:22:12This large stretch in front of us, it's a mass grave.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16How many are we talking?
0:22:16 > 0:22:1825,000 men.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19It's hard to take in, isn't it?
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Incredible number.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25And in the whole cemetery, there are well over 44,000 soldiers
0:22:25 > 0:22:28in this small space.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Staggering amount, isn't it?
0:22:30 > 0:22:34It is absolutely extraordinary when you consider that Tyne Cot,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36which is our largest cemetery, we're talking around 12,000.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Yes.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40Plus the commemorative on the wall, but I mean 12,000 headstones.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44But there's a very practical reason for that, of course.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48After the war, the Belgians were far more willing to give land
0:22:48 > 0:22:55in perpetuity to their allies rather than to their old enemy,
0:22:55 > 0:23:01and therefore they had to compact, and in the flat headstones that
0:23:01 > 0:23:05you can see around you, most of them will have up to 12 names.
0:23:05 > 0:23:12There will be 12 people under that one.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15It's an amazing cemetery, because it tells so many things.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20It remembers...
0:23:20 > 0:23:21It remembers...
0:23:21 > 0:23:23..and maybe a cemetery should say that.
0:23:23 > 0:23:32I mean, this does say, "War is not very nice."
0:23:32 > 0:23:35You go away saying, "We remember," but you go away saying,
0:23:35 > 0:23:40"I'm uncomfortable."
0:23:40 > 0:23:40"I'm uncomfortable."
0:23:40 > 0:23:42The town of Ypres suffered terribly in the war.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47To finish my journey, Tonie and Valmai take me
0:23:47 > 0:23:49back there to find out about the destruction of the town
0:23:49 > 0:23:54and how it recovered.
0:23:54 > 0:23:54and how it recovered.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57So, Derek, what are your impressions of this town?
0:23:57 > 0:24:02I really like it.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05I really like it.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07It's a lovely old medieval town.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10You certainly would get that impression.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13But I think I'm going to shock you now, because that's how it
0:24:13 > 0:24:15looked just after the war in 1919.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Completely devastated.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19You see the tower up there?
0:24:19 > 0:24:22That's all that remained of it.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Churchill decided that he'd like to see the whole town
0:24:25 > 0:24:27preserved as it was, destroyed as it was, as a memorial
0:24:27 > 0:24:29to all those who died there.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31But the local population decided, "No, we're going to look
0:24:31 > 0:24:33for our houses," and that's what they did.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Build it back brick by brick.
0:24:35 > 0:24:36Yeah.
0:24:36 > 0:24:37Yes.
0:24:37 > 0:24:38Absolutely.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41And we're now going to take you to the very first building to be
0:24:41 > 0:24:42rebuilt after the war.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45And the benefit to you, Derek, is it's a chocolate shop.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50Sounds nice.
0:24:50 > 0:24:50Sounds nice.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58Your family has owned this business for five generations, yeah?
0:24:58 > 0:25:00I believe it was ruined in the war.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Did anything survive?
0:25:02 > 0:25:06Yes, indeed, something survived.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08Yes, indeed, something survived.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12It was this statue of the Virgin, the Madonna, who was found between
0:25:12 > 0:25:17the ruins of the house in 1919.
0:25:17 > 0:25:18the ruins of the house in 1919.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21So it was burnt, it didn't have the white colour,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24but it was restored as it is now today.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27It's wonderful that it survived.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Yes, and it's a symbol of the surviving of our house,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35but also of the rebuilding and the surviving of
0:25:35 > 0:25:43the whole town after the war and during the later period.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54But the most famous symbol of the First World War in Ypres
0:25:54 > 0:25:58is on a much larger scale, and it's an unmissable part
0:25:58 > 0:26:01of any visit to the town.
0:26:01 > 0:26:02Well, here we are at the Menin Gate.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04A very famous landmark, of course.
0:26:04 > 0:26:05Yes.
0:26:05 > 0:26:06Can you tell me more about it?
0:26:06 > 0:26:10This is probably one of the most emotive memorials in the whole
0:26:10 > 0:26:16world, because it bears the staggering figure of 55,000 men
0:26:16 > 0:26:19whose bodies were lost, completely unfindable.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22They have no grave.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25But this is their memorial.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Their name is inscribed here forever.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32I think that emotion carries through to the ceremony that's
0:26:32 > 0:26:34held here every night, because it's a ceremony
0:26:34 > 0:26:37for the people, the population.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40It's not for the bigwigs, it's not for the chaps
0:26:40 > 0:26:42who are the ambassadors.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Of course, you get the ambassadors and you get the royalty coming,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47but every single day, you get the people coming,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50and they come from all over Europe, all over the world, to be
0:26:50 > 0:26:51here for the Last Post ceremony.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53And that's the ceremony we're going to see tonight.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55Every night at eight o'clock.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Every night at eight o'clock.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Yeah.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04It's an increasingly popular event, so make sure you get there early.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06It begins with the Last Post, played by members of
0:27:06 > 0:27:08the local fire brigade.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12LAST POST
0:27:19 > 0:27:23I had special permission to lay a wreath in memory
0:27:23 > 0:27:33of all the Welsh soldiers who died during the First World War.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41When you go home, tell them of us and say "For your tomorrow,
0:27:41 > 0:27:46we gave our today."
0:27:46 > 0:27:47we gave our today."
0:27:48 > 0:27:51The Last Post ceremony of the Menin Gate was a fitting
0:27:51 > 0:27:55place to end my journey around Ypres.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58If you want to find out more and go there yourself, there are details
0:27:58 > 0:28:02about all the places I visited on our website, at
0:28:02 > 0:28:06bbc.co.uk/weathermanwalking.
0:28:06 > 0:28:07bbc.co.uk/weathermanwalking.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Tonie, Valmai, thank you so much for taking me on a fascinating
0:28:10 > 0:28:13and very emotional journey.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16I've learnt so many new things.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18It's been an experience I'll never, ever forget.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22Well, Derek, it's been a great pleasure for us,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25because we have felt just how much you were getting out of it,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28and that means a lot to us, too, so thank you.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Thank you, Derek.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32Enjoyed your company and your interest.
0:28:32 > 0:28:33Keep up the good work.
0:28:33 > 0:28:34Thank you.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38We'll do our best.