Towns & Villages on the Ypres Salient Battlefields
These are towns and villages in the area of the 1914-1918 Ypres Salient battlefields.
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Ieper/Ypres
50.851211
2.886529
Westhoek, West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders) Province
Ypres, once known to the British Army as “Wipers”, is now officially known by the Flemish name of Ieper.
Apart from an overnight stay by the German Army in early October 1914, the town was never captured and occupied by the German Army during 1914-1918. Find out more about this famous town's history, how it was completely destroyed by the time of the Armistice in November 1918, and how it has become a focal point for visitors to the First World War battlefields.
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Kemmel
50.783192
2.828368
Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders) Province
Kemmel is a village situated at the foot of the Kemmelberg or Mont Kemmel, one of the wooded hills in the area near the French border. The hill was an important vantage point for the Allied Armies to retain. From the hill, on a clear day, you can see to the north across the Ypres Salient to the low hills of the Passchendaele Ridge, and to the south you can see the slag heaps of the Artois area near Lens. The Kemmelberg was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Lys in April 1918, and held by them until the Allied Advance to Victory a few months later in September 1918.
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Langemark
50.913470
2.919853
Westhoek, West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders) Province
Langemark (spelled Langemarck in 1914-1918) was the scene of fighting in the autumn of 1914, when the German Army suffered high casualties during the First Battle of Ypres. Five months later, on 22nd April 1915, the village was on the left wing of the German's first trial on the Western Front of chlorine gas. This attack, against French troops, started what became known as the Second Battle of Ypres.
WW1 Site Nearby
One of four large German military cemeteries in Belgium is located at the north end of the village.
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Messines/Mesen
50.764957
2.897000
Westhoek, West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders) Province
Messines (also known by the Flemish name of Mesen) is located on the high ground of the Wytschaete-Messines ridge. The church of St. Nicholas has a domed spire, a landmark which can be seen from many parts of the Salient battlefields. It was rebuilt in 1928, having been damaged by artillery fire during the war. The village was in German occupied territory from the First Battle of Ypres in October-November 1914 until the British took the ground in the Battle of Messines from 7th June 1917. It was re-taken on 11th April 1918 by German forces in the Battle of the Lys, but eventually liberated on 28th September during the Allied Advance in Flanders.
WW1 Site Nearby
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Passendale (Passchendaele)
Westhoek, West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders) Province
50.900179
3.020725
The modern spelling of this village is Passendale. The 1914-18 spelling of Passchendaele is more well-known to British visitors and historians. The name of this village has become synonymous with the mud, blood and horror of the latter part of the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917, although The First and Second Battles of Passchendaele were in fact the last two phases of eight phases of action during the Third Battle of Ypres. The Third Battle lasted for over three months from 31st July to 10th November 1917, when the village was finally captured, at a cost of many thousands of casualties to British & Dominion Allied Forces and the German Army alike.
WW1 Site Nearby
The largest British military cemetery in the world is located near to Passendale village.
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Poperinge
Westhoek, West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders) Province
50.854593
2.723225
Poperinge (spelled Poperinghe in 1914-1918) was a town behind the Allied lines for the duration of the First World War. As such it was used as a railhead where troops and equipment would arrive or depart by train. After April 1915, when the German heavy artillery began a consistent bombardment of Ypres, the Ypres railway station was no longer safe to use, so Poperinge was the closest main line station to the Allied Front Line. There were depots, camps, airfields, and Casualty Clearing Stations (field hospitals) in and around Poperinge.
WW1 Sites In and Near Poperinge
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Zonnebeke
Westhoek, West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders) Province
50.872326
2.987251
Zonnebeke was occupied by the German Army for most of the 1914-1918 war. The whole area was completely devastated by artillery fire by the time of the Armistice in November 1918.
WW1 Site