Belgium: Menin Gate in Ypres

On Saturday I got six postcards: one from Belgium, one from the USA, one from Hong Kong, one from the United Kingdom, one from Indonesia and one from Germany.

The card from Belgium shows the Menin Gate in Ypres. Ypres is a city in Flanders.

During World War I Ypres was at the centre of various battles between German and Allied troops. The city was attacked by German troops because it stood in the path used according to the Schlieffen Plan. The First Battle of Ypres was fought between October and November 1914. The Second Battle of Ypres, which was the one of the first battles in which poison gas was used, was fought between April and May 1915. The Third Battle of Ypres, fought between July and November 1917, ended without much won ground but many casualties.

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing marks one of the main roads leading to the front line. It commemorates the British and Commonwealth soldiers killed during the Battles of Ypres, who do not have known graves, It was unveiled in 1927.

Update: As one of the Funerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front) in Belgium and France this site is since 2023 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

With related stamp:
Centenary of World War I (from set of five) (issued 06-10-2014)

Thank You very much Gerda!