1. The Ypres Drive

The 2nd Bedfords were involved in a number of actions at Ypres; some large, others comparatively trivial. They also ‘held the line’ for considerable periods of time during the war. This drive highlights four actions from 1914, 1917 and 1918, as well as introducing two areas where a brief walk can be undertaken. All four actions are quite close to one another and in the southern half of the salient, close to the French border. The drive takes in all four in chronological order. When plotting the drive the author did it in three hours, so it is easily accomplished in half a day, allowing time for studying the ground and reading excerpts from the war diary. It would be very useful to print maps of the areas concerned from an online source, such as Multimap (http://www.multimap.co.uk), which gives street names.

The First Battle of Ypres: 18 October to 5 November 1914

The First Battle of Ypres was the first action for the 2nd Bedfords in the war. The British Expeditionary Force, including the 1st Bedfords, had already been involved in a number of gruelling encounters in the first weeks of the war – notably Mons, le Cateau and the Marne. From the War Diary in isolation it is quite difficult to work out what was going on, but the twenty-four-day battle was one of constant attacks by the Germans as they tried to break through the British line and capture Ypres. This very nearly happened: had it done so the BEF might have been cut off from the Channel ports by a German thrust down the coast and the Allies, encircled, might have been forced to seek terms.

The whole period of the battle saw constant German attacks on both the British forces around Ypres and the French troops both north and south of them. During this period the 2nd Bedfords spent time in the front line and in brigade reserve. This, coupled with the relatively fluid nature of the battle, meant that the 2nd Bedfords’ actions were quite widely spread, though always relatively close to the infamous Menin Road – now simply the N8.