Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) MICHELIN ILLUSTRATED GUIDES TO THE BATTLEFIELDS (1914--1918) YPRES AND THE BATTLES OF YPRES. MICHELIN & Cie., CLERMONT-FERRAND MICHELIN TYRE Co. Ltd., 81 Fulham Road, LONDON, S. W. MICHELIN TIRE Co., MILLTOWN, N. J., U. S. A. _The Best & Cheapest Detachable Wheel is The Michelin Wheel_ [Illustration: _The Ideal of the Tourist_] _The Michelin Wheel is_ _ELEGANT_ _SIMPLE_ _STRONG_ _PRACTICAL_ _May we send you our illustrated descriptive brochure?_ MICHELIN TYRE CO., Ltd. _81, Fulham Road, London,_ S.W. 3. IN MEMORY OF THE MICHELIN WORKMEN AND EMPLOYEES WHO DIED GLORIOUSLY FOR THEIR COUNTRY. YPRES AND THE BATTLES OF YPRES _ITINERARY:_ LILLE--ARMENTIÈRES--MESSINES--POELCAPPELLE --YPRES--POPERINGHE-- LES MONTS--BAILLEUL--BÉTHUNE--LILLE. Published by MICHELIN & CIE. Clermont-Ferrand, France. Copyright 1919 by Michelin & Cie. _All rights of translation, adaptation, or reproduction (in part or whole) reserved in all countries._ [Illustration] YPRES AND THE BATTLES FOR ITS POSSESSION FOREWORD The town of Ypres lies in a sort of natural basin formed by a maritime plain intersected by canals, and dominated on the north, north-east and south by low wooded hills. These canals, of which the Yser Canal is the most important, follow a general direction south-east--north-west. A number of streams flowing in the same direction also water the plain. In addition, there are the Dickebusch, Zillebeke and Bellewaarde ponds. The hills forming the sides of this basin are very low and partly wooded. The line of their crests runs approximately from north to south, through Houthulst Forest (road from Poelcappelle to Clercken), Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Broodseinde, Becelaere, Gheluvelt, the strategic Hill 60 (south of Zillebeke) and St. Eloi. Further south is the Messines-Wytschaete ridge, and to the south-west the Hills of Flanders. Houthulst Forest is the largest of the woods. Next come the islets of Westroosebeke and Passchendaele, then, south of Zonnebeke, Polygone Wood, Nonne-Bosschen (or Nonnes) Wood, and the Woods of Glencorse, Inverness and Herenthage. In this region, with its essentially maritime climate, the war assumed a character entirely different from that of the rest of the front. The marshy ground, almost at sea-level, is further sodden by constant rain and mists, and forms a spongy mass, in which it was impossible to dig trenches or underground shelters. Water is found immediately below the surface, so that the only possible defence-works were parapets. The bursting shells made huge craters which, promptly filling with water, became so many death-traps for wounded and unwounded alike.