The Battle of Ypres
The Battle of Ypres includes three battles. They were fought in Ypres, Belgium. Ypres was a town that was always under attack from the Germans because it was a key point in keeping them from the English Channel.
The First Battle of Ypres
The first Battle of Ypres took place between October 30 and November 24, 1914. British, French and Belgian troops were outnumbered by the Germans who were trying to get to the English Channel. The Allies won the battle after 34 days of fighting, it started trench warfare on the western front. The German army recorded over 134,000 casualties. The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) reported over 7,900 soldiers killed, about 29,000 wounded and over 17,800 missing. The loss of 21,500 soldiers to the Belgian Army was steep. The First Battle of Ypres marked the end of the Race to the Sea. The trench line firmly drawn, the battles of the Western Front proved costly to both sides, in terms of the lives lost.
The Second Battle of Ypres
The second battle took place between April 22nd and May 25th, 1915. Gas was the weapon chosen by the Germans to use in this battle. They used poisonous chlorine gas, it was heavier than air and flowed over the ground and into allied trenches. After five weeks of fighting the battle was going nowhere for either side, the Germans ended it. The Allies had 60,000 casualties, the Germans had a total of 35,000 casualties. In addition, the French incurred around 10,000. Though the Germans had failed to breakthrough the Allied lines, they reduced the Ypres Salient to around three miles which allowed for the shelling of the city. In addition, they had secured much of the high ground in the area.
The Third Battle of Ypres (Passendale Campaign)
The third battle took place between July 31st and November 10th, 1917. On June 17, the British took the village of Messines. Between July 31 and November 10, an extreme amount of rainfall and artillery fire made the battlefield into a muddy swamp. It was almost impossible to march across. The Germans, who were in concrete bunkers, killed a lot of the Allied troops with mustard gas and machine guns. The Canadians eventually took the village of Passchendale after months of fighting. The Allies then stopped their offensive. In the end the Allies only gained 8km, the casualties totalled 250,000 soldiers for each side.
Interview with J.R. McIlree: 7th Battalion
Transcript Excerpt, 17 minutes, 10 seconds
Q. Can you tell me about the 22nd of April?
A. Yes. When we finished our trip in the trenches we went back into relieving brigade and we were out on working parties for two or three nights and then on the 22nd of April just as the sun was going down we saw a weird light in the sky from the west and then we smelled it and then I remembered our chemistry classes, chlorine. One of our transport drivers came who had been into Ypres. He came galloping up in his limber and he said, "They've broken through, they've broken through". Someone said, "Shut up, you bastard". We'd fall in, in the meantime, quite instinctively. All that day and the day before we had such strict aeroplane control that nobody was allowed to move as long as there was a plane in sight. Consequently we were the only billet in sight, farm in sight, that had not been shelled. Well, we went up. We could see, before that, our troops coming up and our building was on fire in the background. You could see them silhouetted along the ridges coming up in single file. We dug in with entrenching tools and stayed there the next day without any action. The enemy knew we were behind there somewhere but they couldn't see us and we couldn't see them. Picks and shovels were brought up and we dug in and dug trenches. I got word in the middle of the morning from my company commander to retreat, to take our section and cover the retreat. I went up there and there was sort of a hedge, there was nobody in sight. We were there and the enemy started coming over. You could just see the tops of their heads, that was all.
The Battle of Ypres includes three battles. They were fought in Ypres, Belgium. Ypres was a town that was always under attack from the Germans because it was a key point in keeping them from the English Channel.
The First Battle of Ypres
The first Battle of Ypres took place between October 30 and November 24, 1914. British, French and Belgian troops were outnumbered by the Germans who were trying to get to the English Channel. The Allies won the battle after 34 days of fighting, it started trench warfare on the western front. The German army recorded over 134,000 casualties. The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) reported over 7,900 soldiers killed, about 29,000 wounded and over 17,800 missing. The loss of 21,500 soldiers to the Belgian Army was steep. The First Battle of Ypres marked the end of the Race to the Sea. The trench line firmly drawn, the battles of the Western Front proved costly to both sides, in terms of the lives lost.
The Second Battle of Ypres
The second battle took place between April 22nd and May 25th, 1915. Gas was the weapon chosen by the Germans to use in this battle. They used poisonous chlorine gas, it was heavier than air and flowed over the ground and into allied trenches. After five weeks of fighting the battle was going nowhere for either side, the Germans ended it. The Allies had 60,000 casualties, the Germans had a total of 35,000 casualties. In addition, the French incurred around 10,000. Though the Germans had failed to breakthrough the Allied lines, they reduced the Ypres Salient to around three miles which allowed for the shelling of the city. In addition, they had secured much of the high ground in the area.
The Third Battle of Ypres (Passendale Campaign)
The third battle took place between July 31st and November 10th, 1917. On June 17, the British took the village of Messines. Between July 31 and November 10, an extreme amount of rainfall and artillery fire made the battlefield into a muddy swamp. It was almost impossible to march across. The Germans, who were in concrete bunkers, killed a lot of the Allied troops with mustard gas and machine guns. The Canadians eventually took the village of Passchendale after months of fighting. The Allies then stopped their offensive. In the end the Allies only gained 8km, the casualties totalled 250,000 soldiers for each side.
Interview with J.R. McIlree: 7th Battalion
Transcript Excerpt, 17 minutes, 10 seconds
Q. Can you tell me about the 22nd of April?
A. Yes. When we finished our trip in the trenches we went back into relieving brigade and we were out on working parties for two or three nights and then on the 22nd of April just as the sun was going down we saw a weird light in the sky from the west and then we smelled it and then I remembered our chemistry classes, chlorine. One of our transport drivers came who had been into Ypres. He came galloping up in his limber and he said, "They've broken through, they've broken through". Someone said, "Shut up, you bastard". We'd fall in, in the meantime, quite instinctively. All that day and the day before we had such strict aeroplane control that nobody was allowed to move as long as there was a plane in sight. Consequently we were the only billet in sight, farm in sight, that had not been shelled. Well, we went up. We could see, before that, our troops coming up and our building was on fire in the background. You could see them silhouetted along the ridges coming up in single file. We dug in with entrenching tools and stayed there the next day without any action. The enemy knew we were behind there somewhere but they couldn't see us and we couldn't see them. Picks and shovels were brought up and we dug in and dug trenches. I got word in the middle of the morning from my company commander to retreat, to take our section and cover the retreat. I went up there and there was sort of a hedge, there was nobody in sight. We were there and the enemy started coming over. You could just see the tops of their heads, that was all.