Belgian coast

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.

The Belgian army erected an observation post on the remains of the presbytery of St Catherine's Chapel in Pervijze during World War I. 

Not much remains of Ramskapelle's former railway station today, as it was shot to pieces during the Battle of the Yser. The station was, therefore, right on the front line along the Yser.

A severe storm lashed Belgium on Monday, 29 November 1897. Over a length of hundreds of metres, the sea dyke was washed away in the sea town Middelkerke. A drinking water reservoir did not remain unscathed either.

The Trench of Death on the Yser Front in Dixmuide is the only preserved Belgian trench complex from the First World War.

Ostend is a lot more than sand, sea and sun. Two wooden slipways, built in the United States and installed in 1931 in Oostend, are floating on the Oosteroever.

The Frontzate, the former railway line 74 connecting Diksmuide with Nieuwpoort, suddenly played a leading role as a front line during the First World War.

More than a hundred years ago, on May 12, 1917, the biplane of Count Paul de Goussencourt and Lieutenant de Cubber thundered from the sky during a firefight above Kaaskerke, a small town part of Diksmuide. Both died instantly.