As part of our series on the Western Front, we examine the importance of the town of Ypres. This slide set outlines why it became so important and explains the action here.
One important area during the war was the town of Ypres:
Ypres lay on the most direct route to the Channel ports of Calais and Dunkirk
If Germany were to catch these ports they would cut off British supplies
Ypres had to be defended to keep the British War effort going
The Ypres Salient (salient means ‘bulge’) was a vulnerable area of the Allied line
German forces occupied high ground overlooking the Salient, which made it easy to fire down at the British and American forces
These higher areas were well drained and made for better treatment and defence on the German front
British trenches were on low-lying ground that was easily waterlogged and flooded
The second Battle of Ypres in 1915 saw the first extensive use of poison gas by German troops
The Battle for Hill 60 near Ypres in April 1915 was an example of how German armed forces maintained control of the higher ground but also of the methods utilised to try and capture this ground:
Hilll 60 was a man-made hill
This gave the German troops an advantage over the British armed forces
In 1915, a decision was made to attack Hill 60
Soldiers who had worked as coal miners in Wales and Northumberland dug tunnels into and under the hill
The Germans dug counter-tunnels
Tunnels either caved in or were blown in by the enemy
