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We provide detailed records, personal biographies, and cemetery information for soldiers from Falkirk District who served in the Ypres Salient during WWI. Explore our Roll of Honour and other dedicated sections for comprehensive insights.
Welcome to the Ypres Salient
This site presents the story of the First World War in the West Flanders region. The various categories provide a wealth of information about a range of subjects.
The Roll of Honour category is where you will find the details of all the men from Falkirk District who are buried or commemorated in the Immortal Salient.
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Ploegsteert: British Bunkers and Dugouts
The paths, tracks, rides, and fire alleys of the Ploegsteert Wood had been named by various regiments serving in the area at one time or another and many have London names. It was the London Rifle Brigade who were responsible for much of the cartography of the Ploegsteert area. The Strand, Fleet Street, Oxford circus, Rotten Row, Hyde Park Corner and Bunhill Row which is where the London Rifle Brigade had their headquarters. The Strand ran through the wood and bisected Hunter
Jan 4, 20239 min read
PART THREE: Ypres Salient, British Shelters, Dugouts & Bunkers
From a standing start in 1914, the British had, by 1918, overtaken the other belligerents in standard designs for bunkers. In the Salient, the first recorded British concrete shelter was a machine gun post in August 1915, although the Royal Engineers (RE) of the 2nd Royal Anglesey Regiment, did complete experimental concrete dugouts at Ypres in May 1915. On 1st August 1915, at Wilson’s Farm near St Jan, the 1st London Field Company, RE, later designated 509th Field Company RE
Jan 3, 20234 min read
PART TWO: Ypres Salient, German Shelters, Dugouts and Bunkers
The number of concrete bunkers built by the Germans in the Salient was staggering. Their intense building programme from late 1916 to mid-1917 saw 1,773 in the northern area, 500 in the central area, 118 in the southern area, and 385 in what was known as the Wytschaete Salient. In the area between the Ypres-Roulers Railway and Bixschoete there were 757 concrete bunkers in the first two front lines, and a further 245 in the third line.
Dec 5, 202214 min read
PART ONE: Development of Shelters, Dugouts and Bunkers in the Ypres Salient
The term ‘bunker’ a commonly used word today and used to describe the storage place for fuel or coal, was not used by either side in the First World War. The word appears to have originated with the Germans who began to use it to describe their constructions in the 1930s. The word ‘pillbox’ was first used in the war diary of the 63rd Field Company RE, which was attached to the 9th (Scottish) Division, when they used the term Pillar Box in their work schedule for March 1916 wh
Dec 4, 202213 min read
Shot at Dawn
There were seventy-six men ‘Shot at Dawn’ in the Ypres Salient and are buried or commemorated in twenty eight CWGC cemeteries and memorials across the Ypres Salient with the highest number buried at Poperinghe New Military Cemetery, CWGC. One of those included in the 76 executed was serving with the Chinese Labour Corps. In the First World War between 4 August 1914 and 31 March 1920, 3,080 men had been sentenced to death under the British Army Act
Apr 26, 20226 min read
The Scottish Soldier, Ypres Salient
Scots enlisted, not just in the well known Scottish regiments, but also in the six Scottish infantry divisions formed during the war, 9th, 15th, 51st (Highland), 52nd (Lowland), 64th (2nd Highland), and the 65th (Lowland). They also served in every branch of the Army and they could be found in English divisions, the 15th and 16th Royal Scots being part of the 34th Division. They could also be found in the Scottish Territorial battalions from English cities such as the Tynesi
Oct 10, 20216 min read
Campaign Medals - First World War
For the First World War, each person who served in a defined theatre of war against Germany or her allies was entitled to one or more campaign medals. Where the recipient had been killed, the medals were sent to the next of kin.
Mar 6, 20213 min read
Gas Warfare in World War 1
The first successful use of poison gas was by the Germans on 22 April 1915 at Langemarck, Ypres, in Flanders during what became known as the Second Battle of Ypres. The Germans had made a huge effort to deploy over 6,000 pressurized cylinders containing chlorine gas. Had gas warfare in the First World War been as effective and devastating as the myth states then the war would have been over after its first use. Gas warfare was anything but as reliable and effective as the myt
Mar 6, 202111 min read
Remembering the Dead
Every town and village in Falkirk District has a war memorial. The Town of Falkirk had 1,100 war dead, Blackness village, in the east, lost eight and in the west, little Longcroft had 87 war dead. In all, 2,400 men from Falkirk District died in the First World War from over 10,000 who enlisted, with 521 men from Falkirk District either buried or commemorated in the Ypres Salient.
Mar 4, 20215 min read
Armistice and the Aftermath
The Armistice was signed at 0510am on the 11 November 1918, and the fighting officially ended at 11am on all fronts. After 1,564 days the war had come to an end. The war left a psychological affect both on those who had served in the armed forces and seen front line action and the civilians at home. The war left a psychological affect both on those who had served in the armed forces and seen front line action and the civilians at home.
Mar 4, 202110 min read
Recording the Dead. How it Began. Recovering, Identifying and Burying the Dead
The problem of recovering, identifying and burying the dead was apparent from the beginning of the war. As the fighting went back and forth the dead often lay around and many could not be recovered with many more buried only for their grave to be churned over by the artillery fire their bodies to join the thousands of the missing. Graves and cemeteries sprang up in a random fashion and the recording of the dead by the various units was on an ad hoc basis. Fabian Ware
Mar 3, 202112 min read
He Is Not Missing. He is Here! The Menin Gate
The Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission) decided that four memorials would be established in the Salient to commemorate those with no known grave, the missing. These numbered some 90,000. The most iconic memorial to the missing, is the Menin Gate which lists 54,896 names of the missing of which 168 are from Falkirk District. In 1919, Churchill convinced the Cabinet that Britain should pay for and erect memorials to the Army on the principle
Mar 3, 20215 min read
Evacuation Chain and Treatment of the Wounded.
Evacuation Chain and the Treatment of the Wounded, By 1917, the Royal Army Medical Corps had an established evacuation pathway for the wounded from the frontline all the way back to the base hospitals on the French coast, and onward to establishments in Britain such as the hospitals in Falkirk. Getting to these aid stations after being wounded was a different story. When troops went forward into the attack the wounded would be left to be collected by the stretcher bearers and
Mar 1, 202113 min read
War Widows-WW1 Widows Pension An Overview
By 1919 there were 200,000 WW1 War Widows and a third of a million children receiving a pension. The provision of a pension was of great importance to First World War widows. The pension dictated the War Widows everyday lives and decision making. There was no attempt by the state to provide the wife with an allowance or pension in line with her husbands civilian earnings.
Mar 1, 20219 min read
'Better meddle wi’ the Deil than The Bairn 'O’ Falkirk’, - Fundraising to support the war effort
The tank was a symbol of the new warfare and in Falkirk a great wooden model was mounted on a fire engine chassis and rolled round the district collecting money for new tanks. The ‘Bairn’, as it was called travelled under the slogan ‘Better meddle wi’ the Deil than THE BAIRN O’ FALKIRK’, and it was a huge attraction which helped to raise thousands of pounds. It was not just the ‘Bairn’ that was used to raise funds, during tank week in Larbert in October 1918, the tank ‘Julian
Mar 1, 20214 min read
VADS AND HOSPITALS IN FALKIRK DISTRICT
Voluntary Aid Detachments in Falkirk District, Voluntary Aid Detachments (known as VADs) were set up by the British Red Cross across Britain following an appeal from the government in 1909 in anticipation of future warfare at home. By 1911 there were six women's and one mans VAD detachment in Falkirk District. The main purpose of the VADs was to provide volunteers who would be available for the formation of clearing hospitals and ambulance trains in the event of invasion.....
Mar 1, 20217 min read
Munitions Work & the Munitionettes
Nobel Explosives Works at Redding. The work could be dangerous, especially for those employed at the Nobel began to manufacture detonators at his chemical plant at Westquarter. The wages for munitions work was at first liveable and later very lucrative, munitions work offered women an opportunity to escape the drudgery of domestic service. For those women employed at the Carron Company their wages were lower than their male co-workers however, they were more than in the more
Mar 1, 20216 min read
Ypres Salient The Rest Camps
Poperinghe could not cope with billeting the vast numbers of troops in the town. There developed a suburbia of camps around Poperinghe and the surrounding villages. These were either tented or had wooden huts to accommodate the troops. Both the tents and the huts leaked and were draughty. The names of the camps tended to reflect the nationality of the units that had originally established them. Between April 1915 and June 1916, the Canadian 1st and 3rd Divisions established c
Feb 20, 202117 min read
Life Behind the Lines
Poperinghe, today it is Poperinge, is located within 50 miles of the channel ports of Calais and Dunkirk and only a short distance from...
Feb 19, 20218 min read
25 April 1915 - Catastrophe at St Julien: The 7th Argyll's
At Wieltje, St Julien, the 25 April 1915, is a day that brought catastrophe to 7th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and to the towns and villages of Falkirk District. The 7th Battalion were seen as Falkirk District’s Battalion. The men were all serving Territorials, work mates and friends. The battalion had just returned from summer camp when war was declared. Like all Territorial Battalions they had been formed as part of the 1908 Haldane reforms of the army and as
Feb 9, 202111 min read
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