Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917

During the First World War there were no fewer than five major battles in the Ieper Salient. Of the five, the battle that has become most firmly embedded in popular memory is the Third Battle of Ieper, also known as Passendale. Half a million killed, wounded and missing was the terrible price paid for a territorial gain of 8 kilometres in 100 days. The aim was to capture the Flemish North Sea harbours, to stop the U-boats that operated from there. But the plan failed - with disastrous consequences.

The Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 tells the story of these five battles, with a special focus on the third battle. The museum not only has a fine collection of historical artefacts, photographs and film fragments, but life at the front is also depicted graphically in a number of life-like reconstructions. The techniques used by the different armies in the trenches are here shown in practice.