<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This is the place that caused the German advance to be bogged down. The dikes
\nwere opened here flooding the lowlands along the river. The result was a
\nfour-year-long stalemate broken when America joined the fray pushing the
\nGermans back and forcing the armistice (how is that really spelled?) and
\nthe end to the war (but then setting the almost inevitable next war’s
\nstage).<\/p>\n
I’m at a restaurant for dinner. I never stopped for lunch, and almost all
\nthe restaurants here feature seafood. Being on the ocean and a popular
\ntourist destination adds to the demand for seafood. I wanted steak, so it
\ntook a couple of stops in different restaurants until I found one that
\nfeatures red meat on the menu. Even at that, rather than bread, they
\nbrought some strange looking shrimp, probably cooked in something, still in
\ntheir shells. Along with them came an empty bowl. I tried to peel one, but
\nit just came apart. I’m not interested in whole tiny, cold, damp shrimp so
\nthe small bowl full of them are just sitting there. I’ll let the waiter
\ntake them away when he brings my meal.<\/p>\n
I’m not even half way done on this tour. It’s 6:30 pm and I’ll be here
\nanother half hour. There’s two more stops in this town, including a walking
\ntour around the locks, before continuing back south on the German side of
\nthe line.<\/p>\n
Since this was the sector assigned to the Belgians and they were supposed
\nto be neutral in this conflict (the Germans certainly didn’t care about
\nthat), the Beligian army took essentially a “stop them and hold them”
\nstance. They did not attack or become the aggressors in the war at the
\norder of their then King Albert. My next stop is a monument to him.<\/p>\n
Also, most of this tour has been about the Belgian involvement, told from
\ntheir viewpoint. I learned today some interesting things. At that time the
\nofficial language was French. The officers spoke French and had been
\ntrained by the French. Most of the enlisted \/ conscripted ranks spoke
\nFlemish (a dialect of Dutch) and didn’t read or write French. That lead to
\nhuge communication problems that were never really solved during the war.<\/p>\n
There had already been a big separatist movement before the war. As these
\ndissidents were conscripted into the army, they began organizing the
\nsoldiers and campaigning for equality of Flemish. Many were sent to jail
\nand a few were executed for insubordination, further exacerbating the
\nsituation.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, on the other side of the line, the Germans were promising a
\nFlemish state under German rule, of course, in return for Belgian
\ncooperation, which was meet with disdain by dissident and loyal citizen
\nalike. The Germans were not light in their retribution, executing 10
\nBelgians for each act of supposed insubordination. So there was a kind of a
\ncivil war going on under the umbrella of the larger conflict.<\/p>\n
The meal has been good. Steak with a mushroom sauce, fries (of course), and
\na pretty good side salad. The sky, which has threatened rain all day, has
\nbrightened up a bit. I’ll at least visit King Albert and then decide what
\nto do after that.<\/p>\n
————————–
\nSent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is the place that caused the German advance to be bogged down. The dikes were opened here flooding the lowlands along the river. The result was a four-year-long stalemate broken when America joined the fray pushing the Germans back and forcing the armistice (how is that really spelled?) and the end to the war … Continue reading Nieuwpoort<\/span>