Ypres Veurne Dixmuide

IEPER (Ypres) Veurne Dixmuide- Belgium

Day tour 8/10 hours 400.00 euros

    West Flanders Middle Ages Cities, and Locations of World War I Battlefields , Sites and Memorials IEPER - YPRES. In the 13C., along with Bruges and Ghent, Ypres was one of the great Cities Of Flanders Though it later entered a long decline. In the First World War it was the fulcrum of the Ypres Salient, a bitterly fought-over enclave protruding into the German lines, and the town was almost completely destroyed. After the war, it was rebuilt in traditional style. Today, it is a focal point of commemoration of the terrible slaughter that took place between 1914-1918, while the countryside around is a vast necropolis with around 170 military cemeteries and many other reminders of war. Beside visiting the town , we will discover:

    Australians and Canadians ?paid for an advance of 8km/5mi towards the ruined village of Passendale with almost 400.000 casualties. The cemetery here is the LARGEST COMMONWEALTH WAR CEMETERY anywhere, with 11.856 tombstones . DIKSMUIDE

In October/November 1914 it was one of the strategic points in the Battle of the Ijzerwhen the Belgian and French units put up heroic resistance to the German advance. The bombardments were so intense that the town disappeared from the face of the earth. In Diksmuide, we will discover the famous "odengang". For four years, Belgian soldiers resisted the German advance in these dug-outs, which became known as the French of Death" Visitors can walk throught the two long trenches, in which the sandbagged parapets have been faithfully reproduced in concrete.

    VEURNE - (FURNES)

    The principal historic buildings of this charming little town are grouped around its magnificent market square. Their characteristic Flemish sumptuousness is tempered by a touch of Spanish solemnity. In 1914, during the Battle of the IJZER (Yser), Veurne was the headquarters of the Belgian army.