The days before the First and Second Battle of Ypres differed greatly. First Ypres was characterised by manoeuvre and ‘the fog of war’. For commanders to build up a clear intelligence picture in what was a rapidly changing situation was extremely difficult. Aircraft were available but they were not sophisticated machines – and the combination of pilot and observer in many of them was to ensure that one of the crew could give complete attention to spotting enemy troop movements, batteries or positions. The pilot often needed his full attention to keep the aircraft flying. Tethered observation balloons were also used and here a field telephone link meant that information could be passed rapidly to headquarters and their staff.
Radio communications were a very recent development, and as such they were cumbersome and unreliable. The First World War would see huge improvements in size and reliability, however communications would still rely on techniques that dated from the nineteenth century. Runners at company and battalion level would carry messages – crossing terrain in which there were few obvious reference points and sometimes doing this at night or in harsh weather was testing even for the fittest soldier.
Flags, heliography or pyrotechnics could be a fast, if obvious, way of signalling and relied on line of sight and were not secure. Normally with flares a pre-arranged set of signals would have been laid down. Communication by field telephones was fast, but not reliable. Shell fire often cut the telephone lines, however deeply they were buried, and tracing and locating the break would mean that signallers had to cross exposed and dangerous terrain. Dogs and pigeons were also used to carry messages. The French and Germans favoured dogs which presented less of a target and could carry bigger messages than a pigeon. The British favoured pigeons and it is reported that 95 per cent of their messages reached their destinations.
Once trench warfare had set in, it was easier in some respects to build up a picture of the battlefield. Both sides printed detailed trench maps showing the frontline and secondary trenches, communications trenches and other positions. Aerial photography ensured that these maps were up to date and accurate. Behind these field fortifications were dumps of stores and ammunition and some of the Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries bear their names because regimental aid posts and clearing stations were co-located. What the days before battle were like depended on whether the soldier was going to be part of an offensive or whether he would be on the receiving end. For men destined to be attacked there might be unusual air activity as hostile commanders attempted to build up as detailed a picture as possible. The pattern of artillery fire might change as new batteries brought up to support the offensive registered their guns. Trench raids might be launched to gain localised intelligence and dominate no man’s land and drive in the opposing patrols.
For men about to be part of an attack there would be briefings about objectives and also morale boosting pep talks. These could backfire when, having been promised a ‘walk over’, attacking troops found their way blocked by uncut wire and unsuppressed machine guns. From spring 1915 at Ypres some of the British attacks were preceded by the explosion of mines buried deep under German trench lines. For the troops waiting the detonation – far bigger than any weight of artillery – the sight was spectacular and reassuring. The artillery bombardment would follow and then the men would scramble up ladders that had been brought forward into the trenches and start the steady advance across no man’s land towards the enemy.
Ypres was a medieval town known for its textiles; however, it became infamous during the Great War with trench warfare, poison gas and many thousands of casualties. As the German Army advanced through Belgium, it failed to take the Ypres Salient. On 13 October 1914, German troops entered Ypres. On looting the city, the Germans retreated as the British Expeditionary Force advanced. On 22 November 1914, the Germans commenced a huge artillery barrage killing many civilians. Today the battlefields of Ypres contain the resting place of thousands of German and British soldiers. Battle Story: Ypres explores the first and second battles of Ypres through narrative, eye-witness accounts and images.