28/9/1918 Fifth Ypres: another drubbing for the Germans

The Allies are piling the pressure on the Germans, with the American and French attacking them in the Argonne, the British and Canadians advancing across the Canal du Nord towards Cambrai, and British artillery blasting away at Germans defending the St. Quentin Canal in the Somme sector in preparation for an attack there tomorrow.

Today though it is at Ypres that the Allies attack. Ypres has already seen four battles in this war, the last being the second of Germany’s spring offensives earlier this year. Now it sees a fifth, as British, French and Belgian troops attack. The last British offensive here, in 1917, was a horrific affair that saw men butchered as they drowned in mud for nothing. This time though things are different. The short preliminary bombardment stuns the Germans. Although they hold what little high ground there is here and are defending positions that can only…