Volkssturm in training. Note the popular Hitler-moustache.

Volkssturm

Like in ancient tribal Europe, everyone in Hitlers Germany was expected to fight for their people.

Total war

On 9th October 1917 eight tanks deployed into Poelkapelle village. Each tank was either destroyed by enemy fire or sank into the mud. This was to be the last time that tanks were deployed in action in large numbers in the Ypres Salient.

Tank D29 Damon II was knocked out of the fight at this crossroads, having slipped in the mud into a shell crater and being unable to drive out again.For years after the war it remained in front of 'De Zwaan',a local pub.As traffic augmented the tank became an obstacle and it was moved to the marketplace as a remembrance monument.Countless British tourists visited the site but that was to change.When WW2 started and Belgium was defeated the nationality of the wartourists changed.Now Germans came in flocks to see the monster  of old times.The fun didn't last long ,in 1941 the Germans removed the remains to feed their ever hungry war economy .Nowadays there is a remembrance monument that was inaugurated in 2009.A local enthousiast has been building for years on a replica of the WW1 tank.Don't know if he's finished yet.
Greetz,brummbar
