Battle Studies The Second Battle of Ypres 1915

Damage and civilian casualties in Ypres

A British eye-witness reported,

"Shelling was now on the increase everywhere and all ranks had noticed it. On Monday 19th April the roads and bridges to north and east of Ypres had begun to receive attention. Now on Tuesday Ypres itself was being pounded. Enormous 1 ton shells from the German 42 cm howitzer had begun crashing into the old town. This 'Big Bertha' fired at the rate of ten rounds per hour and caused horrendous damage. A shell landing in the open blew a crater 15 feet deep and 40 feet wide."

The photograph depicts some British soldiers standing on the lip of a deep crater - named Jack Johnson crater - in Ypres. This crater was made by a large calibre German shell a couple of weeks prior to the heavier bombardment beginning on 18 April.

As the shelling continued to increase a trickle of civilian refugees began to leave the city, heading west for the town of Poperinghe.

War Diary of the Ypres Town Major

The Town Major, Lieutenant-Colonel Hankey, wrote the War Diary for that day as follows:

"20th: Captain H A Pearson (Canadian YMCA) came and arranged for a house in the town to be appropriated for his use, for a branch of the YMCA for all troops in the town. A house was allotted ... near the POPERINGE gate.

A meeting was held of the Town Sanitary Committee.

An intermittant bombardment of the town continued all day and all night till 7.30am the following morning. Civilian casualties - 9 killed, 7 wounded." (1)

During the next 24 hours most buildings in the centre of the town, including the famous medieval Cloth Hall and St. Martin's cathedral, would be systematically destroyed.

Acknowledgements

(1) War Diary of the 5th Army Corps, DA & QMG for the month of April 1915 dated 30/4/15: ref. WO95/4048 Public Record Office

(IWM) neg. Q61618: photograph by kind permission of the Imperial War Museum Department of Photographs

Copyright Joanna Legg & Graham Parker © 2002 All rights reserved