History
The town of Ypres formed the centre of the so-called "Ypres Salient" during most of the First World Warâan area of Allied British and Belgian-held land surrounded on three sides by the German front line that formed the northernmost section of the Western Front. Holding Ypres was vital for the Allies in their bid to prevent the Germans gaining control of all the Channel ports, vital for the transport and supply of the British Expeditionary Force. As a result, the city became the focus of several major battles to break in / out of the Salient and was subjected to fairly continuous bombardment by German artillery for most of the war. By 1918, little remained of the town but shattered ruins surrounded by muddy shell-pocked fields.
After the First World War, most of central Ypres was rebuilt with German reparations war debt money. This was a lengthy process: the famous Cloth Hall was not completed until the 1960s.
Town name and languages
The official Dutch name for the city is Ieper - this is the version of the name you will see most commonly in and around the Flemish-speaking town. Most native English speakers, however, will know the town by its French name Ypres, as popularised in media and history texts during and immediately after the First World War.