Webmatters : Royal Welch Fusiliers memorial at Zandvoorde

1st Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers

Location

Zandvoorde is located 8 km south east of Ieper town centre, on the Kruisekestraat a road leading from the Meenseweg (N8), connecting Ieper to Menen.

From Ieper town centre the Meenseweg is located via Torhoutstraat and right onto Basculestraat. Basculestraat ends at a main crossroads, directly over which begins the Meenseweg. 7.5 Km along the Meenseweg in the village of Geluveld lies the right hand turning onto Zandvoordestraat.

At the end of the Zandvoordestraat you will come out at a junction with the church just to your right. The memorial is in front of the church next to the town war memorial..

GPS	N	E	OSM
Decimal	50.813062	2.980809	Map

Historical Information

Memorial to the Royal Welch Fusiliers — The Memorial

The decision by King Albert to flood part of the Belgian polders brought an end to the Battle of the Yser in the last week of October 1914.

Whilst the Belgian coast had been saved the Germans, now realising that they could not achieve a breakthrough there, brought more weight to bear on the British holding the line to the east of Ypres (Ieper).

During the night of the 29th/30th October 1914 the Germans reorganised themselves replacing the 6 Bavarian Reserve Division in the front line and bringing up their heavy artillery (260 heavy pieces that the British could not match).

The British still had no idea that a new army under General Max von Fabeck had been ranged against them and although noise of transport had been heard through the night, many commanders thought that, following their own steadfast stand during the 29th, that the Germans were retiring.

The German order of the day read :

“The breakthrough will be of decisive importance. We must and will conquer, settle for ever the centuries-long struggle, end the war and strike the decisive blow against our most detested enemy. We will finish the British, Indians, Canadians, Moroccans and other trash, feeble adversaries, who surrender in great numbers if they are attacked with vigour.”

At about 0700 hours Fabeck’s heavy artillery opened up on the trenches in front of Zandvoorde. These were held by the 1st and 2nd Life Guards of the 7th Cavalry Brigade. Situated on the forward slopes of the hill the makeshift trenches were soon devastated and although the four hundred or so defenders hung on for an hour they were quickly overwhelmed when the Germans launched their infantry assault with over a Division of men.

The RWF still wear the old black ribbon — The black *flash* of the RWF

Orders for retirement were given but it was too late and a squadron of each Life Guard Regiment as well as the Royal Horse Guards machine guns were cut off and killed or captured.

As the 7th Cavalry Brigade pulled back to a line in front of Klein Zillebeke, the Germans very warily took possession of Zandvoorde. It would remain in German hands until the last months of the war.

Although reinforcements were brought up to steady the new position, nothing could be done to assist the 1st Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers who were the right flank unit of 7th Division. Like the troopers of the Household Cavalry, they were in trenches fully exposed to the bombardment and worse, the only way to retire was over open ground.

Once Zandvoorde had fallen their own flank became exposed and the Germans managed to infiltrate a farm right behind them. Raked by close range shrapnel shells the battalion fought on until they too were overwhelmed. Lt Colonel Henry Cadogan was killed with almost a hundred of his men, fifty-four were taken prisoner leaving just eighty-six unwounded men at roll call that evening.

The situation became untenable and early in the afternoon orders were sent out to other battalions to pull back about a kilometre to a new line behind Zandvoorde.

The Memorial

The memorial was inaugurated on the 26th October 2014 in a joint ceremony for the Household Cavalry (at their memorial in the village) and the South Wales Borderers at their memorial in Geluveld.

Colonel Henry Cadogan assisted in the unveiling of the RWF memorial adding a direct link to the battle. His grandfather Lt Colonel Henry Cadogan had commanded the 1st Battalion until his death on 30th October 1914.

He is buried in Hooge Crater Cemetery (Grave: IXA L 11).

This memorial is dedicated by the Royal Welch Fusiliers in honoured memory of those officers and men of the 1st Battalion who gave their lives during the First Battle of Ypres.

Between 19th and 30th October 1914 near this spot the Battalion was reduced from 1,350 offciers and men (including 200 reinforcements) to the Quartermaster and 85 men.

We will not forget the other 10,000 members of the Regiment who gave their lives during the Great War.

This memorial was consecrated
on the centenary of the battle.

Soldiers of the Royal Welch Fusiliers wear a flash, consisting of five overlapping black silk ribbons on the back of their jackets. This dates from a time when it was usual for soldiers to wear powdered pigtails. In 1808, the Fusiliers were serving in Nova Scotia and never received the instruction aboloshing the practice. When they returned to England in 1834, King William IV gave his consent for the officers to continue wearing the flash as something peculiar to the regiment and the honour was later granted to all ranks.