BYGONE PILGRIMAGE. YPRES AND THE BATTLES FOR YPRES

The first 46 pages of this book give an account of the fighting in the Ypres salient throughout the war, beginning with the First battle of Ypres in which the regulars and reservists of the BEF withstood every effort made by the Germans to take Ypres. The battles are described in fair detail, highlighting the French part in the fighting, and there are good, clear maps to support the narrative. The next fifty pages are devoted to a two-day visit to the battlefield with Lille as the starting point, describing what is to be seen en route, again with good supporting maps. In outline the itinerary takes the visitor along the route Lille – Armentieres – Messines – Poelcapelle – Ypres – Poperinghe on the first day. The next day carries on from Poperinghe – Les Monts – Bailleul – Bethune and back to Lille. Finally there is another tour in an area having nothing to do with Ypres, that is a visit to the Arras battlefield, from Arras – Lens – Douai and back to Arras. This is an interesting account of the battlefields, written so soon after the events they describe.