French and Belgium Homes, "All Blown Up and Nothing Left For Them."

Today we visited the "In Flanders Fields" Museum in Ypres. The picture posted above came from the museum. When I saw this photograph of this civilian home blown apart, it made me think about how widespread the impact of World War One really was. The suffering and sorrow continued long after the Armistice was signed on November 11^th, 1918. Throughout the war years, massive amounts of citizens on the Belgium and French homefront were forced to flee from their homes. Taking whatever meagre possessions they could, these families became refugees and relocated to territory well behind the battle lines. Tragically, upon the conclusion of hostilities, many families returned to their homes only to find piles of bricks and dust. Joseph Boute served with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps and was in the city of Valenciennes, Belgium after the Armistice. He described how he watched “old men, women and children, who [were] just alive hauling all they own on a little cart.” Boute concedes that their efforts might be in vain, saying: “perhaps when they get to their homes they are all blown up and nothing left for them. I tell you it is a sorrowful sight.”1 Captain Agar Adamson of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, also voiced his opinion about the destruction of civilian homes. You can sense his anger against the Germans in his letter on December 14^th, 1918, he wrote: “I think the Germans who have lived in comfort here for years should all be marched through the devastated parts of Belgium and France to make them realize what the people have suffered… the poor creatures pushing handcarts along the roads with their few belongings only to arrive at their homes, in many cases not existing.”2 This destruction was a harsh reality of war. Nothing could mend the emotional cost of the widespread destruction left behind after the Great War. An incredible amount of French and Belgium families lost so much. Countless families mourned the deaths of their sons and fathers. Many families also had the added grief of picking up the pieces of their lives after their homes were reduced to rubble.

-Graeme Arkell

End Notes    
   1. J. Morrison, "Hell Upon Earth: A Personal Account Of Prince Edward Island Soldiers In The Great War, 1914-1918." (Summerside, Prince Edward Island: Privately printed, 1995): 163

2. N. Christie, ed. “Letters Of Agar Adamson, 1914 to 1919,” letter December 14^th 1918, (Nepean, Ontario: CEF Books, 1997): 354

Originally posted May 11, 2011