Commemorative menhir for the 74th Territorial Infantry Regiment from Saint Brieve at the Carrefour des Roses World War I Memorial in Ypres, Belgium


On the Carrefour des Roses (aka Carrefour des Bretons) in Boezinge near Ypres (Belgium) stands a granite calvary, a dolmen. Everything evokes Brittany because on April 22, 1915, at this exact location, the first gas attack struck a division made up mainly of Bretons. After which it became a place of pilgrimage. On the map of the headquarters this location is marked as Le Carrefour des Roses. The area was rather quiet which is why the army command decided to station the 87th French Territorial Division there. Among its ranks, especially Bretons from older age groups, they are nicknamed "the peperes". On April 22, 1915, the Germans launched their first gas attack in this sector, the soldiers were badly affected. After the war, most of the French victims would be repatriated to the great necropolis of Lorette, but the Bretons wanted to set up a place to commemorate their deaths. In 1927, a pink granite cross of Calvary dating from the 16th century was transferred here, along with an 8-ton dolmen and several menhirs donated by a Breton veteran.


Size: 5760px × 3840px
Location: Poezelstraat 2, 890 Boezinge, Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium, Europe
Photo credit: © DE ROCKER / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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