WWI memorial trees

In the run-up to the centenary of the First World War, the Flemish government launched an 'Incentive Fund 100 Years of the Great War' in 2010 via Tourism Flanders.

During the realization of the project, there was a growing need to clearly situate the first front lines, both on the Allied and German side, in a simple, clear, but also landscape-friendly and intriguing way in the current landscape and make them recognizable. In this way the essential concept of 'No Man's Land' also takes shape and content, and this often in a dramatic way, for example when it turns out that the two front lines were barely 20 meters apart for years.

For example, our municipal environmental education department, together with the IFFM, developed an original concept from 2011 that evolved into a concrete and sustainable project, namely: "the Memorial Trees on the front lines of the Kleine Ypres Salient". As a landscape signal to mark the first front lines, tall trees were resolutely chosen as a living and lasting mark, even after the commemorative years 2014-2018.

The memorial trees were eventually planted in highly visible places where they do not cause any nuisance and where they can develop fully. In concrete terms, planting was mainly done on the verges along public roads, field paths, in grazing meadows, along stream banks and forest edges.

A total of 138 commemorative trees were planted, the first 50 trees in the spring of 2014, the rest in the spring of 2015 and 2016. The planting sites were carefully selected, both from a landscape and historical point of view.

The first trees are in Boezinge at the northern start of the Ypres Salient, on both sides of the Ypres-IJzer canal. The last trees mark the southernmost part of the Ypres Salient front in Sint-Elooi.

Each memorial tree is provided with a metal tree basket. By adding a sober color signal, the brand function was strengthened into a recognizable signal, even at greater distances. Inspired by the use of color on the military frontline maps during the war, the beam baskets on the Allied, especially British, front line were given a blue top border and the beam baskets on the German front line a red top border.

Most hives were provided with a small information board showing the location within the Ypres Salient and a good historical landscape photo with the concrete front line, the name and the date. Each memorial tree was given its own number, which is used to indicate the tree on various information carriers, such as walking brochures, cycling maps, information boards and the like. The beautiful digital application that was created on the basis of the tree project is of course fully focused on this.

A lot of thought has gone into the choice of species for the tall trees. Originally, the choice went to the oak as a memorial tree on the German lines, and linden as a tree on the Allied front line. This choice was partly based on the traditional use of the oak in the German cemeteries and the lime among the British.

But in the end this division into two 'camps' was deliberately broken, and a resolute choice was made for one tree species, namely the elm or elm. This is intended to point out that the human drama and horror during this war was ultimately the same for all involved, from whatever military side.

That final choice was also inspired by the traditional use of tall elm trees in Ypres. The olm was for centuries the most common tree species planted in this region along roads, avenues and plot boundaries. Olms were also iconic in the front landscape, the rows of trees played a crucial role in the formation of the front at the beginning of the war.

After the war, during the reconstruction, many thousands of elm trees were again planted. Unfortunately, a new threat arose when the devastating 'elm disease' struck. That disease is caused by a fungus that more than likely comes from Asia and that European elms are not resistant to. It is quite possible that the elm disease reached our regions during the war years, via the massive supply of materials in wooden boxes from Asia. The eradication of the European elm may therefore be an indirect consequence of the First World War!

By 1985 90% of all elms in Flanders had succumbed, today the species has almost completely disappeared. Various nurseries have been looking for an elm variety that is sufficiently resistant to overcome the fungal disease for years. Only in 2013 was a new variety, created by crossing European and Chinese species, recognized as disease-free and suitable for replanting. That was just in time to tackle our project with these new resistant elms

Willem Vandenameele