In late May 1940, the area around De Moeren and Bulskamp lay on the front line during the retreat to Dunkirk. British troops mounted fierce resistance here to enable the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the coast (Operation Dynamo). These lesser-known battles and bombings claimed military and civilian lives. Graves in Bulskamp cemetery still commemorate this period. It was during these days that La Cense Castle, on the grounds of La Compagnie des Moëres, burned down. It was rebuilt only after the war, as the house now standing in the centre of the estate.

By late 1943, the German occupiers feared an Allied landing on the beaches of the Pas-de-Calais. In January 1944, Field Marshal Rommel ordered the low-lying land behind the coast to be flooded. The plan was to hold out in Dunkirk in the event of a landing or liberation, keeping its port unusable by the Allies. Residents of De Moeren were ordered to leave their villages before 15 February. The French side, Les Moëres, was flooded in February, while the Belgian side remained dry until 23 March. An embankment near the French border was breached and the sluices of the Ringsloot were opened. The water rose rapidly. The buildings now belonging to La Compagnie des Moëres — the barn, farmhouse and caretaker’s house — stood in up to two metres of water for several months. The former farmhouse was destroyed. Farming families in the region received a ‘Moerhuisje’ as compensation for the flooding. Our holiday home for six guests, along with 27 similar houses, remains a reminder of that period. Harvesting could only resume three years after the war, once the farmland had been treated with lime to remove salt.