Some of the fiercest and bloodiest battles in World War I were fought in a small corner of western Belgium – the Ypres Salient. Today this area of farmland is sprinkled with reconstructed villages, but the region is nevertheless filled with soldiers’ cemeteries and war memorials, reminders of the brutal destruction of four years of trench warfare.
This video explores the preserved battlefield of Hill 60 in the heart of Belgium’s Ypres Salient. In four years of horrific combat between 1914 and 1918, Hill 60 was pummelled by shellfire and underground mines. Today the landscape has been preserved as it was at the end of the war, and it tells a tale of courage and sacrifice in one of the most dangerous sectors of World War One.
The Third Ypres started on 31st July 1917 and tour operators are running guided trips, such as Leger Holidays Walking Ypres Tour has been revised with themed walks around the Battle of Passchendaele and operations in Flanders in 1917.