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YPRES
: The great war
(1914-1918) |
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GENERAL Ypres (Home) History of Ypres Info on Belgium SIGHTSEEING The Great War The Cloth Hall The Menin Gate Other Monuments WW I Cemeteries Tyne Cot Cemetery Vladslo Cemetery In Flanders Fields
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For
detailed information and pictures of the Great War we recommend:
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.
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. |
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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. 
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. 