Bodies of 22 Great War soldiers found in Ieper

In 2022, a Flemish archaeological research team carried out a preliminary survey on a field next to the Palingbeek golf club in Ieper (West Flanders). Besides the remains of 22 Allied and German soldiers, the archaeologists found bunkers and trenches as well as personal and military items.

It was here that the front line ran during the First World War. Between 1914 and 1917, both the Allies and Germans hid in trenches here.

To investigate the site further, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) was contacted.  It decided to start a joint excavation together with the co-operation of the Flemish minister of immovable heritage Ben Weyts (nationalist/N-VA), the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge and the French Direction de la mémoire, de culture et des archives.

Soldiers to be identified

This is a unique collaboration, says minister Weyts. "It is almost unheard of since the Second World War for such an international group to carry out excavations together and thus keep the memory of war victims alive. Together, we want to ensure that the dead soldiers get an honourable burial after all."

All the remains and objects found have been handed over to the police, who will entrust them to the War Heritage Institute (WHI). Researchers will establish the nationality of each victim so that their remains can be identified in their country of origin. After that, they are likely to be given a final resting place at a military cemetery in Flanders.

A complex enterprise

The excavations were quite complex and were led by Flemish archaeologists from Monument Vandekerckhove. "Researching World War I archaeology can be quite intense, with traces of fierce fighting and poor living conditions just below the surface," says leading archaeologist Bert Heyvaert of Monument Vandekerckhove.

The remains were found just below the topsoil. The topsoil consists of about 30 to 40 centimetres of earth that is regularly ploughed up by agricultural activities and with a large excavator can therefore be dug away in one go. After this layer, great care is needed as the archaeological traces start to appear. You can recognise these by the discoloured earth around them. Archaeologists then proceed more carefully, either manually with a trowel and brush or with a smaller excavator.

"In any excavation of remains you need specialists, physical anthropologists who specialise in the examination of human bones. At the Palingbeek, we mainly found the severely mutilated remains of German soldiers. In one grave we found a torso, a leg, and an arm. The soldiers had no choice but to put the remains together as best they could and bury them together," Heyvaert explains.

A tract of Flanders that forever bears witness

Archaeological excavations like these are very informative for the archaeologists. "We learn about life and death on the battlefield. It seems that in the chaos of the fighting there was no or hardly any time to bury the dead. This grave proves that once again," Heyvaert says.

There’s a misconception that fallen soldiers were removed from the front line and buried behind it. "They often remained on the surface or received a shallow grave. The living took precedence over the dead in the heat of battle. That was the only option. It would be no different in a conflict today."

That is why the parties involved want to give the deceased soldiers an honourable final resting place.

‘More than ever the landscape in Ieper and the Westhoek District of West Flanders is the last witness to the Great War,’ says Ieper mayor Katrien Desomer. "These excavations contribute to historical awareness and remembrance of the fallen. They not only provide insight into the past but also give relatives the opportunity to remember their loved ones and visit their final resting place. "