Ypres, Battles

Ypres, Battles of

Three costly battles in World War I in western Flanders. In the first battle (Oct. 12–Nov. 11, 1914), the Germans were stopped on their march to the sea, but the Allied forces were then surrounded on three sides. The second battle (April 22–May 25, 1915) marked the Germans' first use of poison gas as a weapon. In the third and longest battle (July 31–Nov. 6, 1917), also called the Battle of Passchendaele, the British were initially successful in breaking through the left wing of the German lines. The seasonal rains soon turned the Flanders countryside into an impassable swamp, but Gen. Douglas Haig persisted in his offensive. On November 6 Haig's troops, including the Canadian Corps, occupied the ruins of Passchendaele, barely five miles from the start of the offensive. Total Allied and German casualties exceeded 850,000, including the deaths of 325,000 British soldiers.