29/09/2018
The Grenadier from Passchendaele who Fought and Died for his Village:
Leander De Paepe was 20 years old when the Germans invaded Belgium in their attempt to get to France. Born in the village of Passchendaele on February 3 1894, he survived four years of fighting before he was killed 100 years ago this Friday while liberating the village for the final time.
Leander completed his military training in 1914 and became a First Sergeant-Major in the third company of the 2nd Regiment of Grenadiers, number 653. In 1915 he was awarded the Knight's Cross in the Order of the Crown for his part in an attack on a German position near Kaaskerke in the Diksmuide sector on September 3 that year.
Together with 13 other Grenadiers, two of whom became bogged down, one by mud and the other by barbed wire, Leander and the remaining 11 stormed the German position in full light just after 7 pm in the evening. According to a Major de Callatay, there was a brief fight, a Belgian and a German were killed, several Germans fled and then others came one by one from their trench with their hands in the air. After searching the trench system the Grenadiers returned with 12 weapons, 10 grenades, a telephone, a periscope, two loaded belts and a short knife. They also took nine prisoners including an angry officer wearing an Iron Cross. All of the Grenadiers were awarded medals for their role in the attack.
Just over three years later the 2nd Grenadiers were one of three Belgian regiments attacking Leander's home village of Passchendaele on the mid-West Flanders Ridge. Leander was killed on the first day of the fighting 100 years ago this Friday (September 28) according to the documents we have. The Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 has let us know that he died on the second day, September 29, according to official documents of the time. He was buried at 's Graventafel and in 1921 his remains were moved to the communal cemetery at Passchendaele, the town where he was born.
(By Martin O'Connor with Freddy Declerck and Peter Roets.)
