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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Menin Gate during WW2 - video


egbert

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Thanks Egbert, that is fascinating.

Pete.

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That is something special. A few of those cities I have been.

The cemetery just before the Menin Gate, do we know which one it is?

Cheers Andy,

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  • 5 years later...

I chanced across a film containing footage taken by a German cameraman of a CWGC cemetery, I think in 1940.  It's Sanctuary Wood according to the accompanying notes - can anyone confirm? - but there are also shots of Ypres and the Menin Gate.  There's a lot of damage to the Gate from bullets and shellfire though, surprisingly, it seems whoever was taking pot shots decided to spare the lion couchant atop of it - or wasn't especially good.  

 

http://archiv-akh.de/filme#35

 

It makes interesting viewing.

 

 

 

Edited by Tom Kilkenny
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My understanding is that, on the whole, war memorials and graves of WW1 were generally respected by the Germans in WW2. The only exceptions which come to mind are the memorial to the first use of gas, which they destroyed because the wording referred to "Hun barbarism" or some such phrase, and the demarcation stones where the inscription "Here the invader was stopped" was deleted. There may also have been some damage to the VVK Tower at Dixmude, but it is some time since I was in that area.

 

Ron

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12 minutes ago, Ron Clifton said:

My understanding is that, on the whole, war memorials and graves of WW1 were generally respected by the Germans in WW2. The only exceptions which come to mind are the memorial to the first use of gas, which they destroyed because the wording referred to "Hun barbarism" or some such phrase, and the demarcation stones where the inscription "Here the invader was stopped" was deleted. There may also have been some damage to the VVK Tower at Dixmude, but it is some time since I was in that area.

 

Ron

 

All monuments were checked by a special commission and those that were too unfriendly towards the Germans were destroyed or adapted (pieces of text removed, trampled German eagles removed etc). However, the damage to the Menin Gate was not deliberate but a result of the fighting (partly also because the British used too much explosives when blowing up the bridge in front of the memorial).

 

There are several threads already about this subject.

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French memorials less so, including those of the 1870-71 War.

 

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