Only heroic actions by the surviving troops stopped the Germans from marching into town. The Third Battle was an offensive by the British, Canadians and New Zealanders for the infamous Passchendaele ridge lying above the town. That relentless — and many accuse senseless — assault, in the summer and autumn of , saw half a million casualties on all sides. The Fourth Battle turned out to be a last desperate attempt by the Germans to crush the Ypres Salient, and race to the Channel, in the spring of They pushed close to the remains of the town centre, reaching less than a mile to its east, but were halted by heavy losses and British and French counter-attacks.
By late the Americans were arriving on the side of the Allies, freeing up the reinforcements needed to break out of the Ypres Salient. The exhausted German line crumbled and retreated; ultimately, as a result, Germany was forced to sue for peace. The Great War was over, but Ypres was left only as a name on the map. The fact that there is a town here now to visit is down to the patient efforts of its citizens after the war.
Paid for by reparations from Germany, the medieval magnificences of the Cloth Hall and St. Martin's Cathedral were slowly pieced back together, only completed in the 's. There are no nearby airports regional or international that connect Ypres directly.
So if you insist on flying, you'll have to fly in through Brussels National Airport some 80 miles east, or Charleroi airport, also known as Brussels South, which is 95 miles east and very south of indeed, and then find a way back west to Ypres, by train, bus or car.
So for many, a ferry across to the Channel ports makes sense, especially if you want to bring a car, as does the Eurotunnel. Train travel is entirely plausible, if a little less straight-forward. Or you can come from the other side, either from Brussels or Ghent , changing at Kortrijk.
One thing to bear in mind is that Ypres lies in Flanders, where Flemish Dutch is spoken. So many of the names familiar from the French-based maps of the First World War are very different from the road-signs the obvious one being Ypres, which is actually signposted as Ieper.
Once in Ypres, if you don't have a car, you can make use of the local bus services, which are frequent fast and cheap, and link up to the many scattered battlefield sites. Cycling is also a good option, as the terrain is pretty flat. Ypres is a fairly small town, and so isn't overloaded with luxury hotels.
There are about a dozen hotels in total, just one of them four-star, with the rest three and two-star hotels. Most are clean, reasonably priced and well located for the town centre — but some are a little anonymous. This is entirely forgivable, as parts of Ypres outside the impressive 'Grote Markt' area lack the character and style of other Belgian cities , having been rebuilt in post-war 'modern' styles.
Nearby Poperinge offers a good example of hostel-style accommodation at the bedroomed Talbot House. None of the rooms are shared, but all facilities including cooking and washing up are, in a communal kitchen. Campers are well looked after in the wide open space around Ypres. There are several camp-sites in the area, some very well equipped. For example, one camp site in Kemmel village, has a swimming pool, shop and bar.
And there's a large site close to town, which is only five minute walk from the war memorial of the Menin Gate. The Westhoek area of Flanders — with Ypres lying slap-bang in its midst — really is hop-central for the country of Belgium. In fact the Poperinge locals call it 'the hoppe stad' — hop capital in Dutch. So this is a part of Belgium where you can almost literally taste the beer in the air in the late summer months at least.
Unsurprisingly, the area around Ypres boasts some of the country's highlights for the beer tourist, too. Top of the list for most is the Abbey of Sint Sixtus at Westvleteren, a few miles north of Poperinge. Reclusive, difficult to get hold of and rated as one of the best beers in the world, the Westvleteren XII is according to many beer lovers everything a Trappist beer should be.
If you haven't pre-ordered though, you won't be able to buy the Twelve or its counterparts the Westvleteren Eight or Blond direct from the Abbey. The monks strictly control the sale of their famous beers. Instead you'll have to sup on the Twelve's complex, creamy goodness at the Abbey visitors centre across the road, 'In de Vrede'.
Ypres has much else going for it, on the beer-front, than its proximity to one of the six genuine Trappists. The price, however, was high. Overall, British forces lost 59, men — dead, wounded or captured — in the month-long battle. More than 6, of those casualties were Canadian, including more than 2, Canadian dead. It is more than I can explain.
Canadian forces would return to the Ypres salient in for the Battle of Passchendaele — also known as the Third Battle of Ypres — a bloody conflict that resulted in 15, Canadian casualties including over 4, killed. Eloi Passchendaele Features a special section devoted to the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, army newsreels, and more.
A Heritage Minute from Historica Canada. See also related lesson plans. From Legion Magazine. Their website features a virtual tour of the museum and multimedia online exhibits that depict how Canada met and overcame wartime challenges throughout its history. Search The Canadian Encyclopedia. Remember me. I forgot my password. Why sign up? Create Account. Suggest an Edit.
Visit Flanders website External link. More ideas. Northern France. Newsletter Subscription. The race ended in mid-October at Ypres, the ancient Flemish city with its fortifications guarding the ports of the English Channel and access to the North Sea beyond.
Meanwhile, the Germans prepared to launch the first phase of an offensive aimed at breaking the Allied lines and capturing Ypres and other channel ports, thus controlling the outlets to the North Sea. On October 19, a protracted period of fierce combat began, as the Germans opened their Flanders offensive and the Allies steadfastly resisted, while seeking their own chances to go on the attack wherever possible.
Fighting continued, with heavy losses on both sides, until November 22, when the arrival of winter weather forced the battle to a halt. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The largest-ever one-day percentage decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average comes not in but on October 19, As a number of unrelated events conspired to tank global markets, the Dow dropped points— On October 19, , the automaker John Z.
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