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Ypres Salient

For detailed information and pictures of the Great War we recommend: 
World War I : Trenches on the web

During four years Ypres was in the middle of the frontline of the First World War in Flanders, or the Great War. After the taking of Antwerp by the Germans, the Belgian troops took position in the westernmost corner of the country, behind the river IJzer. With the help of the French army, the Belgians succeeded in fending off German attacks in the neighboring city of Diksmuide. Finally, they could not hold their position and had to retreat behind the IJzer river. 

 However, the German troupes  were brought to a halt, because Belgium decided to open the locks of the river so that the entire IJzer plain was flooded. In this way, the German army could no longer continue its march towards the sea towns. Despite heavy losses, the British Army succeeded in maintaining its position on the hills around Ypres. 

All through the fighting, Ypres was heavily bombed. In April 1915, the German Army managed to push the allied front back to the western bank of the river. For the first time, chemical  weapons were used here by the Germans (gas, a.k.a. Iperite) against the French and the Canadian Armies. 

 The Allied Front withstood the attacks and the Germans were pushed back over the canal. In the middle and in the south of the battle field fierce fighting took place between 1914 and 1918 around some very strategic hills : Hill 60, Hill 62 and the hill range near Mesen. This is where the allied troupes started (under heavy and continuous rains) to reconquer the entire western part of Ypres.
On November the 6th the village of Passendale was regained. In April 1918, the German Army launched an ultimate attack by occupying the Kemmel Mountain west of Ypres. In May the first American troops landed in France and by September the German offensive was brought to a stop. The last bomb fell on Ypres on October the 14th.

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