S & J's Big Adventure

We returned to town via The Salient. This is the area around Ypres which was the scene of some of the biggest battles in World War I.

Ypres had long been fortified to keep out invaders. Parts of the early ramparts, dating from 1385, still survive near the Lille Gate. Over time, the earthworks were replaced by sturdier masonry and earth structures and a partial moat. Ypres was further fortified in the 17th and 18th centuries while under the occupation of the Habsburgs and the French. Major works were completed at the end of the 17th century by the French.

Sharyn Sinclair

69 chapters

The Ypres Salient

October 11, 2015

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Belgium

We returned to town via The Salient. This is the area around Ypres which was the scene of some of the biggest battles in World War I.

Ypres had long been fortified to keep out invaders. Parts of the early ramparts, dating from 1385, still survive near the Lille Gate. Over time, the earthworks were replaced by sturdier masonry and earth structures and a partial moat. Ypres was further fortified in the 17th and 18th centuries while under the occupation of the Habsburgs and the French. Major works were completed at the end of the 17th century by the French.

In military terms, a salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. Therefore, the salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops occupying the salient vulnerable.

The Ypres Salient was formed by British, French, Canadian and Belgian defensive efforts against German incursion during the 1914 "Race to the Sea", culminating in the Battle of the Yser and the First Battle of Ypres.

These battles saved Ypres and the corner of Belgium from German occupation, but also led to the beginning of trench warfare in the salient as both sides "dug in" around the line. The landscape around Ypres is mostly flat, with few rises or hills. Those that did exist became the focus for the 1915 Second Battle of Ypres, which saw the first use of gas and the almost total destruction and evacuation of Ypres. During this battle, the Allied units were forced to draw back to a line of trenches closer to Ypres. This line was to define the Ypres Salient for over two years, during which Hooge lay in one of the eastern-most sectors of the salient and became a site of intense and sustained fighting. This situation changed little despite extensive tunneling prior to the Battle of Messines in 1917 and the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele in the same year.

After the Third Battle of Ypres, the Ypres Salient was left relatively quiet until the Fourth Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Lys, when the Spring Offensive threatened to overwhelm the entire area. This offensive was stopped at the point the Allies were closest to being forced to abandon the salient. By August 1918, the Fifth Battle of Ypres (part of the Hundred Days Offensive) pushed the German forces out of the salient entirely and they did not return.

Today, it is a serene park like area where locals walk with their children and dogs. It is still and peaceful and there is pleasant residential housing on the outside. Quite a contrast to the town on the inside.



1.

Hello Hong Kong

2.

Western Markets

3.

Kennedy Town

4.

Victoria Peak

5.

Old Blighty

6.

Leaving Lancaster

7.

Kendal

8.

Lake District

9.

Grayrigg & Manchester

10.

Birthplace of the Gallen's

11.

Derg Castle

12.

Belleek and Donegal

13.

Dublin

14.

Dublin to Chester

15.

The friendliness of the Irish

16.

Rugby & Crick

17.

Northampton

18.

Cambridge

19.

Granada Television

20.

Afternoon with Anne

21.

No 14 Bus to Harrods and the Victoria & Albert Museum

22.

Buckingham Palace

23.

Westminster

24.

Supreme Court

25.

Imperial War Museum, Covent Garden and China Town

26.

St Giles and Oxford Street

27.

Trafalgar Square & National Portrait Gallery

28.

Eurostar to Brussels

29.

Alone in Antwerp

30.

Fabulous Antwerp

31.

Arrivederchi Antwerp, Hello Holland

32.

Spijkenisse

33.

Bruges, I'm on my way

34.

In Bruges

35.

Still In Bruges

36.

Last morning in Bruges - return to Brussels

37.

Back in Brussels

38.

Another City, Another Hospital

39.

Brussels to Ypres, oops!!!

40.

We will remember them

41.

The Ypres Salient

42.

In Flanders Fields Museum

43.

Ramparts War Cemetery and Hill 62

44.

Ypres to Paris

45.

Washing Day

46.

Notre-Dame Cathedral

47.

The Green Wall of 2nd Arrondissement

48.

Little French Shrug

49.

Eiffel Tower

50.

Sacre Coeur & Montmartre

51.

A Little Smoke Signal

52.

Paris to Milan

53.

Milano

54.

Window Shopping

55.

Castello Sforzesco

56.

Milan to Florence

57.

Piazzale Michelangelo (Michelangelo Square)

58.

A Little Retail Therapy

59.

Siena, San Gimignano & Chianti

60.

Porta Romana, Florence

61.

Viareggio

62.

Florence to Rome

63.

Rome

64.

Villa Magnolia

65.

St. Peter's Basilica etc

66.

Aurelio, Rome

67.

Roman Fountains

68.

Arrivederci Roma (what else?)

69.

Kowloon

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