We look down Menenstraat towards the center of Ypres from the same position at Menin Gate 100 years apart. Behind us, the street crosses the rampart and moat of the old fortifications and leaves the town towards Menen. Narrow, three-story brick houses line the cobbled street. It leads to the famous Gothic cloth hall …
After loosing the Battle of the Marne, the German offensive according to the Schlieffen plan had failed. The exhausted First Army had to retreat and entrenched north of the Aisne river on the slope of the Chemin des Dames (Ladies path) ridge. The allied forces soon attacked the position without success and entrenched as well. This …
Nanteuil-le-Haudouin was briefly occupied by German troops on 03. September but was on the open flank of the Germans on the days after that. The main body of the First army was engaged fighting the French and British forces from 05. September in what became known as the battle of the Marne. The French high …
In late 1918 the French high command resided in Compiégne. A place in the forest close to the city was chosen for the armistice negotiations with the Germans. Here, railroad tracks for artillery support ran parallel and on those parallel tracks 50 m apart, the two delegations came in by train. The German delegation was …
Poziéres is situated on a long stretched ridge with views going wide across the open landscape. It is a farming community today as it has been for a long time. There was a disruption of that continuous history though and it started when the village became part of the Western Front on October 1914 as …
Bavay was briefly site of the headquarters of the British army in August 1914, before the great retreat began after the battle of Mons. The road leading south-west from Bavay towards Le Cateau was used by the retreating forces and the German army following suit. Therefore, following that road gives some idea about the circumstances …
Mons was a mining town in 1914 and part of the Belgium industrial valley. The Mons-Condé-Canal is running in an east-west direction north of the city was an important part its industrial success. In addition, the canal offers a considerable defensive position. The BEF took position behind the canal to stop or delay the German …
Liége lies between the hilly Ardennes in the south and the Dutch border to the north on the Meuse river and it was only 30 km away from the border. From the perspective of the German army, it was an obstacle in their plan to outflank the French forces by invading Belgium. As the strategic …
The war from 1914 to 1918 is best known for its trench warfare, being the first of the “World Wars” and sowing the seeds for further conflicts. Not only the Second World War but also the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s and current conflicts in the Middle East can be traced to the settlement …
