Johan R. Ryheul

Born at Bruges in 1964, I have been researching World War One for over 30 years and have worked with the BBC and History Channel.

 

I live at Jabbeke, Flanders, together with Toulouse, my cat :-)

I also did some research for the Vampire Farm archeological dig team at Zonnebeke in 2008 for Peter Barton and his team with Tony Pollard, Johan Vandewalle and others.

 

Most of my research concerns the German Army in Flanders in WW I and the Marinekorps Flandern and the famous Zeebrugge Raid in 1918.

 

The same research would also lead to the identification of Sgt William Harold Roebuck as the unknown aviator buried at Bovekerke Churchyard in 2005 and to the identification of Wing Commander Frank Arthur Brock and Lt. Commander Arthur Leyland Harrison VC as the two buried unknown officers on the Zeebrugge Churchyard who were killed in the Zeebrugge Raid on Saint George's Day 1918, in 2008.

 

Since 1996 I have written several books on various WW I subject.  Among them Marinekorps Flandern, published twice in Dutch, once in German and an upcoming version in English.  Kek's and Fokkerstaffels was my first book published by British editor Fonthill Media. 

 

During this research, in 2014, I was able to locate the village where the famous German ace Oswald Boelcke had his fatal crash in 1916, it was not Bapaume as historians alway have written, but the small village of Favreuil just to the norht of Bapaume.  Further research together with Boelcke specialist Lance Bronnenkant and the president of the League of WW I Aviation Historians JR Williams did also lead us to the place in the village where his body was rushed to and where a doctor officially stated that this great airman was dead.

Research for this book also resulted in the identification of some of Boelcke's victories that had remained a mystery for 98 years.

 

This year, 2015, The German Jasta's and Air Service during 3rd Ypres is to be published.
 

Among the other books I published is one on the German/Allied aerodrome of Jabbeke and Stalhille, with the title Flugplatz Jabbeke - Flugplatz Stalhille.  Jabbeke was the most important WW I aerodrome on the German side in Belgium.
Another important amount of research went into a book on the German 38 cm guns nicknamed Max in Flanders.

 

In the past I was also able to locate the almost exact crash sites of two other very famous airmen from the Great War who have no known grave, Werner Voss at the Frezenberg near Zonnebeke and Langemark-Poelkapelle and Arthur Rhys Davids at Potterijebrug near Dadizele.

 

A lot of research was done the last twenty years as well on the German cemeteries in West-Flanders leading to a number of most interesting and unknown stories.  One of the most emotional ones is the story of a female civilian, Helene von Klutzow, killed on the battlefield near Liege while in search of the body of her husband that was KIA in early August 1914.

 

I also produced and wrote one WW I documentary with the title Bellewaarde 1915 which was published in December 2014, 81 minutes long, together with Stijn Vandamme from Jabbeke.  This was done for a British WW I charity.

I'm also working on interactive guiding, a complete new way of guiding on the battlefields of the Great War.

 

Writing books and the costs of the research in foreign archives did cost me more then what I gained from this, money wise, but I write to keep the memory from all these men and women of the Great War alive.  I prefer subjects that have not been deeply researched.

 

I have travelled along the Western Front from Nieuwpoort till the Saint-Michiel area, very often in the company of some very good friends.
Fromelles, and the French Argonne, Marne and Aisne regions are visited every year.  As I have French roots partially, this is a part of the battlefield that is very special and dear to me.
 
Next to this I'm active in the Officers Circle of Blankenberge.

 

Professionally I'm working as a shop manager in the DIY branch