Mapping Modernity

17. Belgium

25 October 2023

Blowing up hilltops below Ypres

In this overview map, scaled at 1:40,000, Ypres takes a central position, with the village of Passchendaele situated to the northeast of the front city. This map highlights when the British army initiated a successful assault on the ridge located to the south of Ypres, which provided the German artillery with a vantage point to dominate the surrounding area.

To neutralise this threat, English miners dig deep tunnels beneath the ridge, and are able to place explosives under the hilltops. On June 7, 1917, the hilltops were blown up, the explosion so loud as to be heard in London.

General Staff, Geographical Section, Belgium and part of France, sheet 28 edition 3, (London?) 1916. Coll. S/T W.1a.200, 68.5 x 90 cm.