Passendale and Zandvoorde

Passendale and Zandvoorde are two of the five villages east of Ieper that constitute the municipality of Zonnebeke, which also encompasses Beselare, Geluveld, and Zonnebeke proper. As peaceful as they may look nowadays, tucked away between the endless fields, these villages were ravaged during the heyday of the Great War. It is here that British and French troops halted the Germans in 1914. The area endured four major battles, the use of poison gas, deadly bombardments, and thousands of casualties. From July through November 1917, British troops gained 8 km (5 mi) at the cost of 500,000 men. Almost a century after the war, farmers still turn up a few shells every month, and bomb-disposal experts often have to be called. Five cemeteries, thirteen monuments, and numerous remembrance plaques are silent reminders of this bloody period in Europe's history.