I'm indy neidell and this is another exciting episode of the great war on the road.
Now, we are in Belgium shooting several special episodes. We're in Dixmude (Diksmuide) now,
longtime viewers of our show or people that are particularly interested in the first world war will recognize Dixmude
The Yser (Ijzer) river, the race to the sea and we'll be talking about them in another special episode, but today what we're gonna be talking about
is Belgian army uniforms of the First World War and by we I actually mean he because as you can see I have a guest star today.
Now, can you tell everybody out there who you are, where we are and what you do?
Hello everybody. My name is Peter Verplancke. I'm a conservator and curator of
This museum here. We are in Dixmude in the Ijzertoren. It's a huge memorial
it's a monument built after the First World War but in the tower itself, it's a museum about what happened here in
World War one. Now, this is a private museum. It's not a public museum. Yes indeed
So what we're gonna see these are things that were loaned mostly loan. Yes
most of what we see of the from the uniforms are
not
From, of us, but are given to us to show to the people. Okay?
now what we're standing in front of now, these are the early ones of the war?
As you can see it's a it's a mixture of different uniforms, there's no
Not one line and it's different colors as well
These are the uniforms that were used in the Battle of the Yser October 1914
the battle that happened here in Dixmude. Okay and one can you explain a bit about the variety and
Well, it's a it's a like I said a mixture. You have a Civic Guard, you have grenadiers, but
the carabiniers over there, but one uniform that I want to show you is the one here in the middle because
We know that it was used during the battle October 1914 because the person who has worn it
Was injured during the battle. He was a
rifleman by foot, right and he was injured and then
Transported to an infirmary and then even back to London where he recovered.
Now, what about that kind of crazy hat with the feather in it? That's pretty cool
Civic guards. Aha. So it means civils that were called upon arms and they were
helping defending
But you have to know that when the army came here. Yeah. They were already three months in war. Right.
And starting near the border with Germany. Right. They were
all the time in retreat so they were
August September October till they came here they were
tired right they
their uniform was a mixture what they took, they used what they found. So they weren't really
Ready for a major war before the war, or...?
Well, they... we had a good army, a well-equipped army
Well-equipped fortresses if the war would have been like twenty, thirty years
before. Okay. And
of course, the German army was like ten times the size too -
It was bigger. Yeah, but you still, this five percent of the country, this area beyond the Yser and stuff
You still... they never took all of Belgium. You held that for the entire war. Indeed. This, this monument is built here
for the reason because it was never taken.
Never taken. and now we're going to go upstairs and we're going to look at the evolution of the Belgian uniforms during the war
Now because of the narrowness and the lighting we're not going to be on camera there
But you will see the uniforms and that's probably what you care about anyway. Now over here, this is about
Getting all the supplies. I mean I can see made in France, made in Argentina, made in the u.s., Made in England
That's pretty impressive, right? They needed the uniforms fast. Yeah. And of course as cheap as possible
Right. So they have to look all over the world for for
Uniforms and material so they were it was really the Belgian uniforms really a conglomeration of all over the world
Yes, some of the pictures you would
You look and you think oh, this is a French soldier -like that guy- but no it is not. Okay. All right. It's a Belgian
Wearing a mixture of French looking
Finest looking clothing -and clothes, okay
So these are the headgear the hats and helmets and things. We have an overview of the evolution starting at the beginning of the war
You see there's a color in it, and then the khaki is coming up. Sure
The caps are replaced by a helmet. Yeah ok, the Adrian
First is a French again. It's based on the French model and then then
cotton camouflage over but again that was
Not good for the injuries and then replaced
and here at last you see
a police cap again and you see again, they put some color in it. All right
Okay, and now how about here? So these are, well it says spring 1915 the new khaki uniform. Yeah
You see the trenches. It's a trench
Like it was in spring 1915, right?
And you see the Belgian soldier in his blue uniform?
And he's he has a visitor and he's already in a khaki. He's looking at the khaki uniform as why
Where does it come from? Do we have something new?
Where is this new uniform coming from, right? The first time they're using khaki
We saw that and we've seen that with other armies and our other uniform special episodes. Okay
Are these guys who I think they are? Yes, indeed. These are the Belgian armored car-
Yes, but as you can see, he's still wearing the Yser cap -right- as well
So they're still here
around
in
Non-occupied Belgium. But you can't use the armored cars here. So, they are ready to go
So they went to Russia and they served in Galicia. But because Belgium and Russia were not officially allies
They had to be volunteers for the Russian army. That's how they had to serve. And they went by boat
Yeah, and the problem was when they came back
Oh, yeah in 1918 because Russia left the war you can't go north
You can't go west, can't go south- So they went all around the world, through Japan
Through the United States and then back to France. These are the Special Forces
used
Not in the beginning of the war, but from 1916
small groups
tactical
tactical forces, -okay- and their equipment
Like they put some
grenades on their rifles to shoot
rifle grenades. These Special Forces were used here in the area between
The Belgian army and the German army -oh, after the flooding- after the flooding in the flood
for the for capturing
prisoners or
In the flooded area, they try to go to the farmhouses. The ones the Germans had from the Belgians. That's-
Then I can see that picture there. That's it over there. What we have here is a
We could talk about every single subject in detail. Sure. But here we
We talk about the shoes and again in a very very very detail
You have to know
We, our Army had not enough shoes for everybody. So they had to look and
ask for other countries
like before the others
Can you make shoes for us? And how much would it cost?
Made in Belgium, made in England... So, they made a demand
to France, to Great Britain to
America, to the United States
Will you make shoes and how much will it cost? Okay, this looks very interesting. What's this?
So this is a special kind of helmet called
After an opthamologist an opthamologist, yes
With the name Veeckers, right? Okay. He was here at the front seeing that there were a lot of injuries
To the eyes? Yes, to the eyes, so he was looking for a solution right? So he made this special casque
This special helmet so you can wear something before your eyes. Right. Oh, this is near the end
Yeah, this is near the end. This is like a place where officers come together
talk about the
their life as an officer, the special things they have to do, the communication possibilities the
The maps. The maps... preparing.
Yeah, there's the phone exchange, yes the phone exchange. That's very cool. Again, every single detail is original. That's great
Okay, and so, can you tell us about this what are these things
This is
The Belgian uniform at the end of the war. Yeah, you already see it's completely khaki uniform and
You see the Mills equipment? Yeah. It was used. Oh, yeah it was used at
liberation offensives. ok. so
this is the
Belgian uniform going from a mixture of
everything
Whatever you can get. Still in the blues. -Towards a uniform that's recognizable
You see everybody -and with the more modern weaponry- and with the more... which included a few experiments like the armour. The shoes. And the helmet.
Well, that was fascinating. Ok
well
Well Peter
Thank you very much for taking the time to show us this and you guys out there if you'd like to see our episode about
French uniforms in the First World War you can click right here
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See you next time