The Ypres Salient Battlefields, Belgium

The Front Line (red dashed line) stabilized east of Ypres, forming a salient in the Allied Armies' Front Line at the end of the 1st Battle of Ypres by 22^nd November 1914.

A salient is an area of the battlefield that extends into enemy territory and surrounded on three sides. The Ypres Salient is centered around the ancient town of Ypres in Belgium (now known by its modern Flemish name — Ieper). It was formed after the German army was forced out of Ypres early on in the war to the higher ground that surrounds it on the North, East and South.

As you stand in the main square and survey the ornate buildings around you it is hard to believe that the whole area was razed to the ground during the war and then later completely rebuilt.

Visitors to the Ypres Salient have been increasing steadily over recent years. There are now a number of good museums and memorials to visit, accommodation for visitors is plentiful and there are a growing number of tour companies eager to explain the history of the area.

Regular Events

Buglers of the Last Post Association in the uniform of the Ieper volunteer Fire Brigade play Last Post at the Menin Gate.

Daily Last Post at the Menin Gate — Every evening at 20:00 the road running through the Menin Gate is closed to traffic and up to six buglers step out and play last post.
Annual Anzac Day celebrations, Messines — On the 25th April, Mesen commemorates Anzac-day, in memory of the New Zealand and Australian soldiers who died in and around Messines.
Annual Armistice Day celebrations — 11th November is a public holiday in Belgium. Ieper celebrates with a number of events including the Poppy Parade and the Special Last Post as an act of Remembrance at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing.

Battles

German prisoners being marched through Ypres during the Battle of the Menin Road in September 1917. The damaged building on the right is St. Martin's cathedral. The gateway on the left is the cloistral gate to the St. Martin's convent. ^GWPDA

Within the first few months of the outbreak of the Great War the Ypres Salient witnessed the first of several major battles to occur there before the war ended on 11 November 1918. The major battles comprised:

First Battle of Ypres, (19 October - 22 November 1914)
Second Battle of Ypres, (22 April - 25 May 1915)
Battle of Messines, (7 - 14 June 1917)
Third Battle of Ypres [Battle of Passchendaele], (31 July - 10 November 1917)
Fourth Battle of Ypres - Battle of the Lys, (9 April - 29 April 1918)
Battle of Ypres, (28 September - 2 October 1918)

Battles of the Ypres Salient

Towns

The Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle) rebuilt stone by stone after it had been completely destroyed by 1918.

Ieper — The medieval town of Ypres (nowadays called by its Flemish name Ieper) was located at the centre of the 1914-1918 battlefields of the Ypres Salient. Ypres was razed to the ground during four years of fighting.
Poperinge — was a small town situated approximately 8 miles to the west of Ypres in the rear British Army area. The town was the location for the famous Toc H Everyman's Club, founded in 1915 by Padre Tubby Clayton.

Museums

The Picnic display in the In Flanders Fields Museum. ⁽¹⁾

The Ypres Salient battlefields today offer public and private museums. They contain resources ranging from rare battlefield artefacts and archive collections to original trench systems. Perfect for private tourists or school parties.

Ypres Salient Museums

Cemeteries

Bedford House Cemetery, south of Ypres.

The scale of military casualties from the German, French and British Armies during the battles of the Ypres Salient amounted to several hundred thousand dead. Their graves are marked by over 120 military burial grounds on the old Ypres Salient 1914-1918 battlefields.

Ypres Salient Cemeteries

Monuments

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres.

In addition to the cemeteries, several memorials list the names of “The Missing”, whose bodies were never found and commemorate those who died and who have no known grave in the Ypres Salient.

Ypres Salient Monuments

Battle Remains

German bunker near the village of Zandvoorde south-east of Ypres.

There are numerous sites to visit in the Ypres Salient where remains of the fighting can be seen. These include trenches, mine craters and concrete bunkers.

Battle Remains in the Ypres Salient

Accommodation

There is a range of visitors' accommodation in the area of the 1914-1918 Ypres Salient battlefields to suit all budgets. As a guide this website provides listings of hotels, guesthouses, hostels and camping offering Bed & Breakfast, self-catering, full board and camping facilities.

Hotels Bed & Breakfast Hostels

Acknowledgements

^GWPDA Photographs with grateful thanks to the Great War Primary Document Archive: Photos of the Great War.

⁽¹⁾ Photograph courtesy of Ieper Tourist Office, copyright Stad Ieper - Tijl Capoen.