The Battle of Langemarck The French commander thought that only one German corps was at Ypres. As a result, he ordered his troops to launch an attack on October 21. On October 22, the German troops launched an attack on the British line. The next day, the French forces attempted to launch a major counterattack.

The first day of the Battle of the Somme, in northern France, was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army and one of the most infamous days of World War One. On 1 July 1916, the British forces suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 fatalities. They gained just three square miles of territory.

The start of the battle The battle at the Somme started with a weeklong artillery bombardment of the German lines. 1,738,000 shells were fired at the Germans. The logic behind this was so that the artillery guns would destroy the German trenches and barbed wire placed in front of the trenches.

The French lost at least 50,000 at Ypres, while the Belgians suffered more than 20,000 casualties at the Yser and Ypres. A month of fighting at Ypres cost the Germans more than 130,000 casualties, a staggering total that would ultimately pale before later actions on the Western Front.

In the first week of April 1915, the Canadian troops were moved from their quiet sector to a bulge in the Allied line in front of the City of Ypres. This was the famed—or notorious—Ypres Salient, where the British and Allied line pushed into the German line in a concave bend.

Four Canadians won the Victoria Cross, while countless other acts of bravery occurred through the division. Fighting with great resilience against incredible odds, the Canadians suffered great losses, and the horrific events at the Second Battle of Ypres inspired what became Canada’s best known war poem.

On October 19, 1914, near the Belgian city of Ypres, Allied and German forces begin the first of what would be three battles to control the city and its advantageous positions on the north coast of Belgium during the First World War.

The defence of Ypres, or “Wipers”, was key to the British hold on this sector of the Western Front. The town was an important strategic landmark blocking the route for the Imperial German Army through to the French coastal ports.

This was to help toward building basic accommodation. People were also paid war damages and this helped them make a start to rebuild again on the ground where their old property had once stood. King Albert had set up a fund in 1917 with the aim of helping inhabitants of devastated regions to return.

6th September 1944

Belgium

Flanders Fields is a name given to the battlegrounds of the Great War located in the medieval County of Flanders, across southern Belgium going through to north-west France. Today, the region still bears witness to the Great War’s history with many monuments, museums, cemeteries and individual stories.

600,000 fatalities

The phrase was popularized by a poem, “In Flanders Fields”, by Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae which was inspired by his service during the Second Battle of Ypres.