Hooge is a small village on the Bellewaerde Ridge, about 4 kilometres east of

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality c ...

in the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

province of

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Hooge and the nearby locations of

Bellewaerde Bellewaerde is a theme park in the West Flemish countryside at Zonnebeke near Ypres, Belgium (it is physically located just inside the Ypres municipality boundary). It was established in 1954, on the grounds of the World War I Battle of Bellewa ...

and

Zillebeke Zillebeke (also known as Zellebeck) is a village in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium. It is a former municipality which is now part of Ypres. History On 3 March 1914 the then municipality was granted the arms of the last Lords o ...

were merged into Ypres in 1976. The economy of Hooge is dominated by tourism and agriculture. Tourists are attracted by the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

fields as well as ''

'', the oldest operating

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

in Belgium.

History

World War I

, the village belonged to one of the easternmost sectors of the

Ypres Salient The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee ...

, which made it the site of intense and sustained fighting between German and Allied forces. From 1914 the front line of the Salient ran through the Hooge area and there was almost constant fighting in the area over the next three years, during which the village and the ''Château de Hooge'' (see below) were totally destroyed.Hooge on ''ww1battlefields.co.uk''
accessed 25 April 2015 Even during times of relative quiet on this part of the Western Front, the average casualty rate for the British and Commonwealth forces was around 300 per day. During the

First Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Ypres (french: Première Bataille des Flandres; german: Erste Flandernschlacht – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle was part of the Firs ...

(19 October – 22 November 1914), when the Allies captured the town of Ypres from the Germans, the Château de Hooge was used by the 1st and

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit, ...

Divisions for their joint headquarters.Duffy, Michae
firstworldwar.com
25 August 2002, accessed 16 February 2007 By the end of the battle in November 1914 the Germans had been driven back, but the front line of the Salient now ran around Hooge.http://www.webmatters.net/belgium/ww1_hooge.htm access date 24 April 2015 During the

Second Battle of Ypres During the First World War, the Second Battle of Ypres was fought from for control of the tactically important high ground to the east and south of the Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium. The First Battle of Ypres had been fought the pr ...

(22 April – 25 May 1915), Hooge was again the site of intense fighting, including the

Battle of Bellewaarde During the First World War, the Second Battle of Ypres was fought from for control of the tactically important high ground to the east and south of the Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium. The First Battle of Ypres had been fought the pre ...

which was fought in the area from 24 to 25 May 1915. By the end of July, the Germans again took control of the area.Battlefields 14-18
undated, accessed 16 February 2007 On 30 July 1915, Hooge was the site of the first use of flamethrowers ("liquid fire" as it was referred to at the time), employed by the Germans against British positions.With the British Army in Flanders: Hooge Crater
access date 26 April 2015. Hooge was retaken by the British on 9 August 1915, reclaimed by the Germans on 16 June 1916 (for strategic developments in this area during June 1916, see Battle of Mont Sorrel) and retaken by the British on 31 July 1917. The Germans retook Hooge in April 1918 as part of the Spring Offensive but were driven back from the area by the British on 28 September 1918.

Landmarks

Château and ''Bellewaerde''

Before the war, the village of Hooge was the site of the ''Château de Hooge'', a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

which served as country house of the local landed gentry and residence of the

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

. By July 1915 artillery had reduced the

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Now ...

to rubble and it was never rebuilt. After the war, much of the site was redeveloped as a

and is now occupied by the ''

'', the oldest operating

in Belgium. Established in 1954 as a zoo and safari, the park expanded in the early 1980s and is now the most frequently visited amusement park in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

. On the site of the château's original stables, there is now a hotel and restaurant.

World War I battlefield

During World War I, the entire village was completely destroyed. Both sides exploded mines beneath the front line trenches there, the evidence of which are still visible today. Although the largest mine crater (created by a mine detonated at Hooge by the

175th Tunnelling Company The 175th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of ...

of the Royal Engineers on 19 July 1915) has since been filled in, several other large mine craters that were created over the course of the fightingWWI Battlefields
undated, accessed 16 February 2007 can still be seen. The most visible evidence remaining today is a large pond near the hotel and restaurant at the ''

'' theme park. The site is the result of Baron de Wynck, who landscaped three mine craters (blown by German units in June 1916 as part of their offensive against Canadian troops) into the existing pond near the hotel
image
. There are many memorials and war cemeteries in and around Hooge. These include the Hooge Crater Cemetery, opposite which is now a museum, founded in 1994. A short distance away is the

RE Grave, Railway Wood RE Grave, Railway Wood is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorial and war grave located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is located on the Bellewaerde Ridge near Zillebeke, about 4 kilometres east of Ypres, and a little ...

, which marks the spot where soldiers of the

177th Tunnelling Company The 177th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of ...

were killed between November 1915 and August 1917 whilst tunnelling under the hill near Hooge during the defence of Ypres.www.wo1.be
accessed 19 June 2006 One of the twelve men commemorated here is Second Lieutenant Charles Geoffrey Boothby (1894–1916), whose wartime letters to his girlfriend were published in 2005.Arthur Stockwin (ed.), ''Thirty-odd Feet Below Belgium: An Affair of Letters in the Great War 1915-1916'', Parapress (2005),
online

Notes

{{coord, 50, 50, 46.97, N, 2, 56, 36.73, E, type:landmark_scale:1000_region:BE, display=title Ypres Populated places in West Flanders