Flanders

Ypres, in Belgium, became a pivotal battlefield in the years of The Great War and the Ypres Salient is the name given to the ridge of higher ground around the city.

The British were determined never to let the city fall to the invaders even though the onslaught was sustained throughout most of the time.

The area around Ypres saw four major battles between the Allies and the Germans, one of which was the memorable conflict at Passchendaele in 1917 when hundreds of thousands of men on both sides perished.

Here the British suffered enormous losses and there are over 250,000 fallen lying in some 600 cemeteries in this region.

Soldiers often referred to ‘being in France’, although they were in fact in Belgium, at a place that was dubbed ‘Wipers’ by the servicemen. The old medieval city, despite almost complete devastation during the four war years, was rebuilt and serves as a perfect centre from which to explore the sites and cemeteries of Flanders.