In medieval times
Ypres was once a center for the cloth trade, which is evident in the impressive
Cloth Hall. By 1914, the town was better known for the manufacture of ribbons
and lace. Both Cloth Hall and Saint Martin’s
Cathedral are excellent examples of Gothic architecture.
The population of Ypres
in 1914 was about 17,000, which made it the nearest large city to the North
Sea. It was of military importance because it was the road, rail, and canal
center of the area and it was only 30 miles from the Port of Dunkirk. Many of
the roads headed westward, towards the Channel ports of Boulogne-sur-Mer and
Calais, making Ypres the enemy’s last major obstacle. To accomplish their goal
of reaching the channel ports, they had to break through the Allies’ defenses,
which surrounded Ypres.
Perhaps the Battle
of First Ypres should be renamed “The Battle for Ypres” since it was a
combination of four battles, which ultimately converged on Ypres. The battles lasted
from October 10th to November 22, 1914. The Battle of La Bassee took
place between (October 12 – November 2nd); Armentieres (October 13th
– November 2nd); Messines (October 12th – November 2nd);
and Ypres (October 19th – November 22nd). The battles were
intermingled with one-another, making the timeline of individual battles
complex and difficult to sort out.
In order to
comprehend the importance of each battle, it is critical to understand the
landscape around Ypres. The area has been described as a shallow saucer with
the town of Ypres at the center. The rim of the saucer represents a ridge,
which begins seven miles south of Ypres, in the town of Messines, then
continues two miles north to Wytschaete, before curving north-east to
Hollebeke, Zillebeke, Sanctuary Wood, Hill 60, Gheluvelt, Winhoek, Nonne Bosschen,
Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Passchendaele, Langemarck, and Bixschoote.
It could be surmised that the First Battle of
Ypres was a series of battles fought to control the ridge, which became known
as the Ypres Salient.
The army in
control of the ridge had the advantage of overlooking all of Flanders plain,
permitting their artillery a choice of targets.
Sir John French
had removed two sections of Second Corps from the Battle of The Aisne, and
concentrated them at the town of Bethune, which is located 25-30 miles south of
Ypres. Winston Churchill, Lord of the Admiralty, pulled First Corps from Aisne
and transported them by rail to Hazebrouck. From there they would march through
towns north of Ypres.
Prior to the arrival of the German Army, the
Allies created trench defensive positions around Ypres in the shape of a small
salient.
The BEF held a thirty-five-mile-long line in the center of the bulge, while the
French Army protected the British flank south of the city, while the Belgian
Army guarded the northern flank.
On October 20 the German Army Chief of Staff,
Falkenhayn, ordered his army to break through the Allied lines to capture the
ports of Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne. Initially they struck the Belgian
defenses on the Yser River near Nieuport. The Belgian forces were unable to
hold their position, therefore to prevent the enemy from continuing their path
along the coast, they opened the sluice gates and flooded the surrounding land with sea water. With the water table around the Yser River only a couple of feet below ground, opening the sluice gates turned the land into a sea of mud, thus
forcing the Germans to reconsider their plans. An added benefit of this action was
that it protected the BEF's northern flank for the duration of the war.
Now that the German
Army was unable to break through the coastal area, they decided to launch a
series of attacks against cities around Ypres. As was the case in previous
battles, the German forces outnumbered the British; until some of the Empire’s
Indian divisions arrived to replace the reserves.
Nov. 22nd
– Dec. 12th
This, our period
of rest, was greatly appreciated for a time, but soon became monotonous.
Our Officers had short leaves, and I was
fortunate, through the good graces of Major Madocks, to obtain 48 hours to
BOULOGNE. He kindly gave my dear wife instructions on his arrival in England,
how to get to BOULOGNE, time etc.
I left camp on the
evening of the 1st Dec and rode into HAZEBROUCK. [I] arrived by
train at BOULOGNE 7 o’clock next morning, [and] I expected to meet my wife at 5
o’clock. [I] was delighted to see her at 11 o’clock – our stay together was
short, the shortest 28 hours of my life, and to leave her next day was the
hardest thing for me through the campaign.
I arrived back in camp next day – and we were
all getting impatient to get to business again. [We] were pleased to hear on
the 11th that we were [leaving] for the firing line next day.
Dec. 13th
Marched to PONT DE
NEIPPE and billeted in a farm just outside the village. [We] could hear the old
familiar sounds in the distance, the rockets from the trenches.
Dec 14th
Marched through
PLOEGSTRESTTE, [sic] and took up position beside the 35th Btty,
behind a ruined chateau, on the grounds of which had once been a beautiful
garden.
We ran our line
beyond the chateau to some ruined houses, from where we had a good view of the
German trenches and MESSINES beyond.
On my way back, I
went into a partly wrecked house and was surprised to find a young woman and
her brother, and her five little children. The baby I took from its bed, for it
reminded me of my own, she gave me some hot milk. As well as I could I tried to
induce her to go away to a safe place, but she would not. She told me her
husband a soldier, had been killed. I was rather upset I think over the poor
little kiddies – I gave them my peppermints and odd money and came away. I
never had time to go that way again, but I thought of the kiddies very often.
Dec. 18th to 20th
Remained in position for a bombardment
of MESSINES. Did little firing until 20th, when the bombardment took
place – it was horrific, but we had nothing much at the guns in return. The
wagon line was shelled out in the morning, but fortunately only one man was
wounded. We left position at 5 o’clock and marched back to our rest billet.
Dec. 21st
to 23rd
Remained in rest
billet until morning of 23rd, then marched to BETHUNE and billeted
in a school house.
George and I
having no blankets, resolved to find a bed somewhere, and while asking a
Frenchman in our best French, his daughter came along and invited us to their
house, which was only a little way down the street. They were very poor, but
treated us handsomely.
The
mother, an elderly woman, doted on us, [and] gave us as much as we could
possibly eat and drink. [She] made us up a bed on the floor, she called us at
3:15 am and had coffee ready for us. On leaving [she] was indignant when we
went to make payment.
We marched at 4:30 am towards LA BASSEE
to take up position. It was Christmas Eve – a very grim Christmas Eve, and my
thoughts were far away.
Dec. 24th
We took up
position at CAMBRIN, CUINCHY and GIVENCHY were just on our left; all were in a
state of ruin, for heavy scrapping had been recently taking place.
George and I took over the wires of the 47th
Btty, and were very busy firing up our communications. We had a grand observing
station – a ruined brewery – It was beautifully furnished – but everything was
ruined, lovely carved furniture and ornaments –
in pieces – a piano, and large gramophone, everything had been left as
it stood. I secured plates, cups and an assortment of cooking utensils and took
[them] back to the guns.
Late that night I
had orders, to get into communication with 2nd Infantry Brigade. It
was uncomfortable laying the line on account of rifle bullets, but did the job
without mishap and got back to my dugout.
The thoughts of
the previous Christmas Eve were with me, and I felt anything but happy.
Dec. 25th
I forgot it was
Christmas Day for I was busy firing up communications all day. All was very
quiet – it was a mutual truce.
I had a piece of bacon for dinner – one of the
chaps secured a chicken and some vegetables, and at night we had a feast.
George came down from the observing station, and with couple more, we went to a
large house nearby and collared a piano, and brought it to the guns.
We had a concert,
it was not a great success – but we made the best of it. There were many poor
devils much more worse off than us.
Dec 26th
Rather quiet,
occasional shelling.
[I] had a sorely
needed wash, the first for four days.
[We] did little firing.
[The] dugout [was] swamped, [so we] moved into a small shed at rear of farm.
[It was] very cold and drizzling rain.
Dec 27th
– 28th
Nothing unusual,
[we] fire at intervals, at working parties of Germans, and [into] trenches.
They search for us but all over, and save for a shell now and again, nothing
near us.
Kept up very slow
fire at long intervals throughout nights.Am on duty day and
night with phone, but am so used to it, that it takes little or no effect,
although I never have a complete night’s rest when in action.
Dec. 29th and 30th
Did much firing – and were credited
with smacking up a German Field Battery near LA BASSEE.
Dec. 31st
The morning was
rather quiet.
At 2:30 pm we were
subjected to a fierce bombardment and a heavy attack. The enemy capturing the
KEEP, by the railway embankment, from the Kings Royal Rifles, who [then] recaptured
it again late in the afternoon.
About 10pm the
Germans again attacked and gained the KEEP and REDOUBT. We were firing heavily all night, it was very cold. After two attacks we
succeeded in again retaking the lost ground about 3 am, but could not hold it,
the KRR’s being ‘ bombed’ out soon after
gaining possession.
Throughout the
night until about 8 am we kept up hot fire – the New Year had came in, in real
war like style.
