Memorials Town Hall Passendale

On the facade of the town hall in Passchendaele are memorial plaques commemorating:

- The 4th Carabiniers Regiment of the Belgian Army that conquered the village of Passchendaele from the Germans on September 18, 1918.
- The grenadiers of the Belgian Army who fell at Passchendaele on 28 and 29 September 1918.
- The Battle of Passchendaele. Text on the plaque:

"On 10th November 1917, the Canadian Army Corps captured the high ground where the village of Passchendaele had stood. This marked the close of the third Battle of Ypres. The offensive launched by the British Fifth and Second Armies and the French First Army on 31st July.
A German general called this battle "The greatest martyrdom of the World War".

- The Polish liberators. On 6 September 1944 Polish troops, a tank regiment of the Polish First Armoured Division of general Maczek, crossed the Belgian Border and liberated Ieper (Ypres) and Poperinge. The following day they went further on on two different routes, The first group went to Hooglede passing Sint-Jans and Westrozebeke, the second group went to Roeselare passing Potijze, the Frezenberg, Zonnebeke and Passendale. More than 20 Polish soldiers were killed during this operation.

On 1 July 1945, 296 days after the liberation, this remembrance plaque was erected. It is fixed on the Townhall of Passendale, between three other plaques of both World Wars.

A plaque attached to the town hall commemorates the killed soldiers of the 43st Line Regiment around Passchendale in May 1940.

The plaque contains the following text in Dutch and French.

"To their fallen. To their heroes. Who fought in desperate days in May 1940 in Passchendale for the salvation of the homeland."

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Source

• Text: Luc Van Waeyenberge & Rino Deltombe
• Photos: Luc van Waeyenberge