Reconstruction of the kreked valley 1920-2020

Just before WWI, despite extensive deforestation, the Westhoek was still an oasis of green, with numerous forests, orchards, rows of trees and hedgerows. The Great War not only wiped villages and towns off the map, but also transformed the rich, green countryside into a desolate steppe. The fields looked disastrous because of the many shell pits, mine craters, war debris, piles of unexploded ordnance, trenches, bunkers and narrow gauge railroad lines. Moreover, the ground was cleaved,torn and overgrown with thistles and other weeds. In the liquidation of 1 hectare of land, up to 5,000 kilos of shrapnel and "obuscades" were collected, and this still did not include the unexploded explosive devices, of which up to 5 per square meter surfaced in some places. Moreover, this was only a small part of what was then effectively stuck in the ground.

The main driving force behind the rural recovery was not the Ministerial Department of the Devastated Regions or the Ministry of Agriculture, but rather the Belgian Farmers' Union. In August 1919, it established a Service for the Recovery of
West Flanders with its headquarters in Roeselare. It is through this service of reconstruction that the
Boerenbond firmly implanted itself in the Westhoek. Numerous other bodies and private individuals were also involved in
paving and rebuilding the countryside.

PHOTOS
Eric Kellens, Westhoek verbeeldt, Postcards Collection I. Lowis

WITH THANKS TO
Jos Demarée, Eddy Vansteenkiste, Families Vandenberghe, Pattyn, Nolf, Costenoble and Deboutte, Exhibition Reconstruction IFF-Ieper

📏 19 km
🕑 2 hours
⭐ Easy
📍 CC De Beuk Kortemark
🏁 Markt Kortemark