Peace windmill

Of the 65 windmills that stood in the municipalities of Ieper, Heuvelland, Langemark-Poelkapelle and Mesen in 1914, only two were still standing when the war finally ended in 1918. Throughout Belgium, many windmills were deliberately destroyed by the Belgian Army as they retreated towards the River IJzer. From the top of a windmill you can usually see a long way, as you can discover if you climb to the top of this mill. What's more, they often stand on hills or embankments raised above the landscape, so that you can see even further.

Millers were frequently suspected (mostly incorrectly) of sending signals to the enemy by working the sails of their mill in a particular way. At the front, the mills (like church towers) were much more useful as observation posts and orientation points than as a cumbersome signalling tool. For this reason, they were often a target for the enemy artillery. Their ruins were often fortified, or served to strengthen fortifications elsewhere.

Sometimes a mill was spared, because it served as a good observation point for one side, whilst at the same time serving as a good orientation point for the other side, allowing them to range their guns on more important targets. That was the case with this mill. It was damaged by fire in 1917, but survived the final offensives of the war more or less intact. It was restored as a peace mill in 2013.

From here you can see from the hills of Heuvelland to the sea.

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