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Destruction of Ypres 1914 - 1918

During the entire duration of the First World War, the city was surrounded on three sides by German troops, the arch was called the Ypres Salient in the front by the British defenders. The same situation also occurred, further southeast, near the French city of Verdun.
The Germans failed to conquer the city. The German cavalry could - before the fighting around Ypres - entered and penetrate the city; this campaign lasted only a few days. Despite a number of large-scale battles that killed 500,000 soldiers, Ypres remained out of the hands of the Germans.

First Battle of Ypres

The First Battle of Ypres started on October 21, 1914. The 26th German reserve corps faced French and British troops. The Germans attacked at six, but they soon lost the battle. The German soldiers tried twice later, but without success. On November 22, 1914, the German Supreme Command decided to stop the offensive.

Second Battle of Ypres

The Second Battle of Ypres started on April 14, 1915 around Hill 60. It was again the Germans who took on the French and British. This battle is best known because chlorine gas was first used near Ypres. The Germans used poison gas on April 22, 1915. Later the Germans also used mustard gas. It was thus given the name yperite because it was used on a large scale here for the first time.

Third Battle of Ypres

The Third Battle of Ypres started on July 31, 1917. British Field Marshal Douglas Haig wanted to break out and inflict the final blow to the Germans. The battle itself was fought until November 10, 1917. This battle is also called the Battle of Passchendaele, after the village near Zonnebeke. This village was completely destroyed.

Fourth Battle of Ypres

On March 18, 1918, the Fourth and last Battle of Ypres was fought. After this last battle, the city of Ypres was completely destroyed. On September 28, 1918, the Germans left Langemark. More than six weeks later, on November 11, 1918 at eleven o'clock in the morning, the war had officially ended.

Ypres in 1919, after the war

However, the city of Ypres was completely destroyed. After the war, especially among the British, people voted not to rebuild the city but to leave it as a macabre memorial.
Churchill said: I would like to keep all the ruins of Ypres: there is no more sacred place for the British people in the whole world. Still, the city was brought back to its pre-war state, largely with money from German reparations.

The reconstruction, led by architect Jules Coomans, took more than forty years.

Ypres plays an important role in commemorations of the First World War and is seen - especially by British people - as the center of commemorations of this war. The fields surrounding the city are dotted with more than 170 well-maintained cemeteries.