Belgium’s wartime ghosts

With World War I’s centennial currently being marked, Isabel Conway took a trip to some of Belgium’s most picturesque locations to revisit the scene of the conflict.

Mons, Belgium: the city is known chiefly for its wartime past, but will be a European Capital of Culture next year. Picture: Bigstock

It was a glorious summer, and bicycle-mad Belgium was caught up in the excitement of the annual Tour de France – so much so that most people hardly noticed the news of the assassination of an obscure prince somewhere in central Europe.

In Mons, a former centre of coal mining in Wallonia bordered by France to the south and Germany to the east, the most dramatic event in recent memory had involved a ...