Dark Tourism

In 1815, after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Dutch King William I gave the go-ahead for constructing the New Dutch Waterline. This defence line extended over a distance of 85 kilometres between the Zuiderzee and the Biesbosch.

On the night of 10 May 1918, the British army attempted to block the Ostend harbour channel so that German submarines could no longer sail out.

The Hartmannswillerkopf massif in the French Vosges Mountains overlooks the Alsace and was the scene of heavy fighting between the French and German armies from December 1914 onwards during the First World War.

Monday morning, February 21, 1916. It is a quarter past seven in the morning when the German army opens fire on the forts north and east of Verdun in France.

A monumental memorial was erected in 1938 on the bank of the Yser in Nieuwpoort in honour of Belgian King Albert I.

Mobile anti-tank barriers, known as Cointet elements, formed the backbone of the Belgian KW line erected in 1939 to prevent a German invasion.

The Norbertines of Tongerlo Abbey erected a moated castle on the site where noble lords and ladies had resided since 1271.

In Antwerp, dozens of kilometres of trenches, parapets and ramparts lie hidden under a thick crust of branches and leaves.

The Zwin region between Belgium and the Netherlands has had an eventful military past as a natural border since the Hundred Years' War broke loose. Even during World War I, the border region came back into focus.

With a bunker as its foundation and on top of a floodbank, Air Guard Tower 5K3 offered a broad view over the Hollandsch Diep and the Mariapolder beyond.