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The Ypres Times.
was out the area was a sea of mud. The beautiful forests which were once a feature of
the landscape were almost obliterated only ragged stumps remained, and the short
rests in the back areas were no longer free from danger owing to the aerial activity of
the Hun, one machine coming, over bombing a dozen times in a night. True, we had the
advantage of tin hats and gas masks, and there was no longer a shortage of men,
guns or ammunitions, but from May to December it was like hell let loose.
It was now the new armies who had to carry on and keep this British sector in
violate. Ypres was a city of the dead not a house was left standing, sleep by day and
work by night was the rulea ghastly city indeed. Beneath the ramparts in the barracks
and in the cellars ten thousand British soldiers sleptsome were buried while they slept.
In this year the Third Battle of Ypres was foughtit lasted from J une 7th to November
6th, but this time it was a British attack. It commenced with the battle of Messines,
when nineteen mines were exploded and the famous Hill 60 was blown up for the second
time. Some of the famous battles fought were Glencorse Wood, Poelcapelle, St. Julien,
Tangemarck and Passchendaele. The month of August was the wettest for twenty years,
and the salient was one vast sea of mud, making tanks useless, and the pill box defence
of the Germans made the gain of every yard of ground a bitter struggle. But by the end
of the year Ypres could breathe again as all the high groutid was in our hands, and it was
fairly safe to live above the ground again, where rats were fewer and less cheeky.
1918, the last year of the War, saw the final attack on Ypres. On April 9th the
Germans attacked and drove the British back, several of our picked divisions having
been sent to Italy to stem the advance of the Austrians on the Piave. The grey flood
came pouring once more into the salient. All the ground gained the previous year at
RUINS OF THE CLOTH HALL AK'I) CATHEDRAL: YPRES, 28th JULY, 1918.
Imperial War Museum Photograph. Crown Copyright.
