The small Flemish town of Diksmuide (French Dixmude), 20km/12miles inland from the coast on the IJser, was flattened to ground level by week-long German artillery fire during the First World War. Like Ypres the town has been rebuilt in the old Flemish style and is now an important market center for
intensive dairy farming. The fact that the ordinary soldiers who died along the IJzerfront on the Belgian side were chiefly Flemish - whereas the officer corps was made up primarily of Walloons and French was the language of command - makes Diksmuide with the IJzer monument a place of great symbolic importance for Flemish political consciousness.
Diksmuide grew up in the ninth C. around a wooden castle built to combat the threat of Norman invasion. In 985 Count Balduin III awarded the town its charter and market rights. In the Middle Ages Diksmuide was a sea port and achieved considerable prosperity through its cloth trade with England. With the silting up of the IJser and sea-going vessels no longer able to reach the town Diksmuide declined.
From October 10 to November 10 1914, 6,000 Belgian and 5,000 French soldiers defended the town, then withdrew over the IJser and abandoned the totally destroyed town to the German troops. Following its rebuilding Diksmuide was bombed again in 1940.
The town of Diksmuide has a belfry with a 30-bell carillon that is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. The City Hall and neighbouring Saint Nicolas Church were completely rebuilt in the Gothic style of the 14th and 15th century, after being destroyed in WW I. As well, Diksmuide has a peace monument, the IJzertoren, which houses a WW I museum.
Print this page
Add to Favorites
